Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan counted heads. One, two… there were seven girls in total, not counting Qiu Ling and Tang Shi.

All seven were real human girls—and classmates of Tang Shi and Qiu Ling.

“There are memory-altering spells among the monsters…” Yuan Yuanyuan told Qiu Ling. “But I’m not a specialist, so I’ll leave it.”

She did know one such spell, but it came from the Blood Jade Demon Army and she’d only seen it, never used it. Naturally, she didn’t dare experiment on a group of innocent teenage girls.

The security team and the street cleaners arrived quickly and locked down the area. A demon walked over to Yuan Yuanyuan, bowed, and asked, “Ma’am, could you please explain the situation?”

“Sure.” Yuan Yuanyuan walked forward, and the girls tried to follow her but were held back by Qiu Ling and Tang Shi.

“Hey hey, where are you going? Stay here and behave,” they said. “You can’t follow her where she’s going.”

“Why not?” the girls asked. “That scary demon is gone now. Can we really trust the rest of them?”

Tang Shi was speechless. Truthfully, the most unreliable one among the demons present was their own boss. She wasn’t even officially registered with the government, and her demon energy was the most terrifying. But she didn’t say that—she figured it’d scare the girls even more.

Inwardly, she was grumbling: just because someone has a good-looking face doesn’t mean they’re a good person… In fact, the most down-to-earth and well-known good guy around here looked the worst and hadn’t even successfully transformed into human form yet.

The girls were eventually taken away. Their memories of tonight would be erased and they’d go home, remembering none of it—just a forgotten dream when they woke up.

Once Tang Shi and Qiu Ling finished their part, they hurried back to the clothing store. The shop lights were still on, glowing warmly. When they pushed open the door, they saw the shopkeeper asleep at the table, a yellow lamp softly glowing beside her.

“Boss!”

Yuan Yuanyuan rubbed her eyes and sat up from the table, seeing Tang Shi and Qiu Ling at the door.

“Boss, you’re a high-level demon?” Tang Shi came up close, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve never met a high-level demon before…”

The way she looked at Yuan Yuanyuan had completely changed. Before, she’d seen her as nothing more than a pretty-faced couch potato. Now, she stared at her like a rare species.

Yuan Yuanyuan shivered under her gaze.

“Don’t look at me like that. You’re giving me goosebumps.”

“Boss, where did you hang out before?” Tang Shi leaned in curiously.

“‘Hang out’… why does that sound so sketchy?” Yuan Yuanyuan rolled her eyes. “Didn’t I tell you to focus on school? Stop picking up bad habits.”

Qiu Ling didn’t really understand what being a high-level demon meant, and she started feeling a little awkward, so she dragged Tang Shi back.

High-level demons were essentially like gods. Even the weakest among them had legendary pasts that could easily be turned into a full novel, with all the tropes you’d expect from a fantasy story.

Tragic backstory, fateful mentorship, discovering ancient texts, rising to fame… everything the typical protagonist experiences, they’d all gone through. Real-life stories of these demons were even more dramatic than fiction.

Why did high-level demons always have such colorful stories? Because only those blessed by fate could survive long enough to become one.

Tang Shi had heard many such tales growing up, but meeting a real one in person was a different story. She was still struggling to process it, a bit of her childhood awe shattered—but also replaced with newfound anticipation.

Seeing Tang Shi’s hopeful little face, Yuan Yuanyuan felt a bit awkward. She hesitated, then finally said, “I was just wandering around. Later I realized how hard it was out there, so I came to C City.”

“Hard? But you’re a high-level demon!” Tang Shi said.

“It’s tough out there…” Yuan Yuanyuan recalled her first few years as a demon, ready to use her sad past to teach this little demon girl a life lesson—study hard, master your spells, or you’ll regret it.

“I was always hiding… couldn’t let anyone know where I lived. Sometimes I’d be halfway through a bowl of instant noodles and have to run off with it in my arms. By the time I found a safe place to hide and eat, the noodles were soggy… and I didn’t even have money to buy more…”

Yuan Yuanyuan was reminiscing with heartfelt emotion. By the end, she was nearly crying.

But as she looked up, she saw Tang Shi and Qiu Ling both staring at her…

Chins lifted, eyes glancing down, staring directly at her face.

The expression known to all as disdain.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared back, mouth half-open.

No…

Just because I’m poor, do I not deserve basic respect?! Is this world really so cruel to broke people?!

Her worldview had taken a serious hit.

She realized some things shouldn’t be shared too freely—otherwise, you risk ruining someone’s childhood. As a little demon who’d grown up listening to tales of great demons, Tang Shi had never imagined the first real one she’d meet would be… like this.

Soggy instant noodles. Hiding in bathrooms. The mental image was too much. She couldn’t even process it.

Still in a daze, she went home and suddenly realized someone was there.

Hmm? Did her mom or dad come back?

She went over and saw it was her dad, whom she hadn’t seen in a month. He was burly and fierce-looking, always exuding the vibe of a thug—but Tang Shi knew he was actually gentle. He just used his face to scare people.

“Big girl, Dad’s back,” he said as soon as he saw her. “Why are you back so late tonight?”

Tang Shi rolled her eyes internally but ran over to him, acting all obedient. “I ran into a demon on the way home, so I got delayed.”

“You see? You don’t know how to fight, and you still love getting into trouble. One day someone’s gonna slice you up. Remember last year? Got your leg broken. Let’s see when you finally learn.” Her dad shook his head.

Everyone knew Tang Shi’s personality—kind of dumb, a bit of a troublemaker, but with a good heart.

She was the type who attracted beatings. Last year, she saw a demon attacking a human and threw down her backpack, rolled up her sleeves, and charged in. Result? Her leg got broken…

The demon was kicking her relentlessly and even called in backup. Fortunately, the security squad found her in time. Otherwise, she might’ve died.

After that, her dad didn’t let her out for a month.

“I was worried. Heard there’ve been too many foreign demons in C City lately. Wanted to check on you,” her dad said. “But now, looks like the rumor about a high-level demon guarding the district might be true. I caught a really strong scent on the street just now…”

“Oh, I know the high-level demon,” Tang Shi said casually, pointing out the window. “See that two-story building? Yeah, the one with the shop sign? That’s her. She’s the clothing store owner.”

Her dad suddenly stopped mid-sentence, stunned, eyes wide, staring at her in disbelief.

He said, “Girl… Dad knows you’re not the brightest, but you can’t just call any random demon a high-level demon.”

---

When Yuan’s betrayal was revealed, many assumed he’d be eliminated in the next round of the popularity polls. But to everyone’s surprise, his votes kept climbing.

People have complicated feelings about traitors. Just look at Sasuke, who left the village. Even though he bounced back thanks to his looks, his reputation remained mixed. Fans couldn’t understand why he left—especially before the truth of the Uchiha massacre came out. He got a lot of hate.

This was a shounen manga, after all. In these stories, right and wrong are usually clear-cut, especially for the younger audience—or immature adults like Yuan Yuanyuan.

Even Naruto painted the Leaf Village as the good guys early on, and rogue ninjas barely got any screen time—regardless of which village they were from, they all came off like villains.

Later on, Naruto pulled a plot twist and redeemed several major villains—a bold move. But that’s hindsight.

For now, readers had mixed feelings about Yuan, because his actions had too much weight.

“The entire demon side’s spy division was wiped out.”

That was a bloody mark left on Yuan’s name.

Some villains in manga are written to be likable. Even someone like Hannibal is portrayed with elegance and intelligence, downplaying the cannibalism to make him seem cool.

But when Ji Qiu wrote the spy camp’s demise, she described it in chilling detail—so realistic it disturbed readers.

If you knew someone had a serious moral stain, it’d be hard to like them. Sometimes when we like morally gray characters, it’s because we project ourselves onto them or mentally separate the 2D world from real life.

Younger readers in particular tore into Yuan. Older ones, however, suspected something deeper and waited to see more. But for a while, Yuan’s name was being dragged through the mud.

Only his steadily increasing votes proved he still had fans. After all, his “likes pretty girls” character was oddly endearing, and his unique androgynous beauty made him a visual favorite. Like Sasuke—people were confused by his betrayal but couldn’t resist that face.

Readers flooded comment sections, begging Ji Qiu to rewrite his story arc. “Such a great character, why give him this bone-in-the-throat betrayal plot?”

But Ji Qiu was unmoved. No one could even harass her on Weibo—she didn’t have one.

---

“How heavy was that demon’s energy?” Tang Shi’s dad asked. “Was it really that bad?”

He released a thread of demon energy. The room instantly felt heavier. Tang Shi calmly shook her head.

“How about this?” He increased it slightly.

She shook her head again.

Huh? Her dad blinked. He’d thought that demon might’ve been lying to his daughter, but now he was at 80% strength and she still said no?

“This, then?” He pushed it to full power. The room felt like it might collapse from the pressure.

Tang Shi started to feel it—but then remembered the night the boss killed that rhino demon.

That night, the boss’s energy was way more terrifying than this.

She shook her head again.

Her dad immediately withdrew his energy. Now he wasn’t worried about her being stupid—he was worried she might actually be crazy…

“Girl… when you saw a demon that strong, why didn’t you run?”

“Huh?” Tang Shi blinked, then answered, “Was I supposed to?”

She had felt the boss’s energy was scary. But once the boss retracted it, everything felt fine again. Having never encountered a high-level demon and growing up in the child demon district, Tang Shi hadn’t realized how serious it was.

It was like a kid vaguely remembering going to the hospital. He remembers pretty nurses, playful parents, and tasty snacks. Later in life, he learns he actually had a life-threatening illness. But back then, it was just a fun memory.

Tang Shi was nearly twenty now—but in the world of demons, she was still just a kid.

Now, she finally realized it—her mouth hanging open.

“Enough.” Her dad saw her delayed reaction and waved his hand. “What kind of high-level demon… could it be?”

He hesitated, looked across the street, and noticed a faint candle glow outlining a blurry figure.

“Male demon… terrifying energy… high-level… mysterious identity…” Tang Shi’s dad mentally pieced the clues together.

For a high-level demon to hide their identity was extremely rare. Their stories were too legendary. There was no such thing as an anonymous high-level demon.

Even in a city like C City, where high-level demons were more common, they were usually clan heads or top-tier officials. Who would live in a child demon district, hiding their name, running a clothing shop?

Then suddenly he asked, “Girl, your human friend… has she seen him?”

“She has,” Tang Shi replied. “She even said the boss gave off a red light—like a pillar of red light shooting into the sky.”

Red light piercing the sky?

A thought struck Tang Shi’s dad like lightning. He jolted upright.

“What is it?” she asked, confused.

“…Nothing.” Her dad forced himself to stay calm. He waved his hand and said, “Girl, tomorrow I’m coming with you to meet this boss of yours.”