Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan was sitting in her house, balancing her accounts.

This year had probably been the easiest year she’d had in recent memory. After all, she had money, a house, and—most importantly—central heating.

Since she’d been running back and forth between places a lot, she told the tavern she wouldn’t be coming in regularly on weekends anymore. Sure, she made a bit less money, but the tavern’s benefits were decent, and Yuan Yuanyuan had lived poor long enough to know she could survive anything.

Out on the streets, people were dressing thicker and thicker. This year had seen little snowfall, and Yuan Yuanyuan had assumed it would be a mild winter. But in the final stretch of the year, snowstorms had hit one after another.

She sat in her room, gazing at the snowflakes outside, zoning out a little.

She thought back to those years when she’d had no money… that was what it meant to “keep warm with love.”

As she was spacing out, Tang Shi waved a hand in front of her face. “Boss, you’re daydreaming again.”

“Don’t interrupt. Boss’s life is hard, okay?” Yuan Yuanyuan set down her ledger.

“My dad gave you that big package recently, didn’t he? It was so heavy it nearly broke my shoulders, and you’re still saying you’re broke?” Tang Shi said.

Yuan Yuanyuan remembered that package… She’d snuck it open at home, excited like she was unboxing a prize, only to find…

A bunch of stones.

Dark brown, semi-transparent stones.

She stared at them for a long while in silence before shakily picking one up and weighing it in her hand.

They looked familiar. She had a pile of similar ones back home. They were called demon beads—the same things she had to hand in to the local boss every quarter. Except hers were red, and much smaller.

Honestly, she had enough to last ten years straight. Demon beads were byproducts from her Blood Jade practice.

She didn’t want demonic energy; she needed human blood. So every time, she condensed the demon energy into beads and then used the leftover blood to train. After processing, it was closer to human blood.

And then… somehow… she ended up with an entire bag of this stuff.

What the hell am I supposed to do with this?!
Even a few bags of plasma from a hospital would’ve been more useful!

Thinking about it still gave her that bitter “swallowing a wasp” feeling. She looked at Tang Shi but didn’t bother explaining what her dad had really sent. After all, he clearly meant to keep it a secret.

She peeked at Tang Shi’s notebook. It had a few messy lines of notes—some rough impressions about stealth techniques. Yuan Yuanyuan glanced at it and got a headache. It was clear as day that Tang Shi hated studying this stuff.

Back when she was learning the Blood Jade Manual, her favorite section had been the Heavenly Gang and Earth Fiend. It was brutal, but at least exciting. There’d been something exhilarating about it.

Sure, flashy spellcasting scenes in manga looked great—waves of fire, water dragons—but in reality? You had to memorize the boring techniques first.

It was like memorizing ancient poetry. Except memorizing wasn’t enough—you had to master it.

Yuan Yuanyuan stood up, waving her hand. “Come on. To the courtyard. I’ll teach you.”

Tang Shi tossed her notes aside and followed her out eagerly. She’d been dying to see the boss show off since learning she was a big-deal demon.

Out in the courtyard, Yuan Yuanyuan looked up at the bare tree, took a deep breath, and silently recited the first of the twelve basic techniques.

Her body began to blur and fade.

Tang Shi sat on the corridor steps, watching. At first she was slouching, but then she straightened up, eyes glued to the figure under the tree.

The boss usually acted like a slacker, but every time she used demon techniques, there was something incredibly cool about her.

Now, under the tree, her eyes were closed. Her lips moved faintly, reciting something.

Her pale lips glowed faintly red. When she softly whispered the demon technique, it made you instinctively want to lean closer and listen.

Tang Shi barely managed to catch the words—it was the first of the twelve.

A sudden wind stirred through the courtyard, and the snowflakes began swirling in a single direction…

---

[Let’s guess what next week’s update will show. Where do you think Fa Ning is going next?]

[He’s still stuck at the basic commission office. He can’t even get into the advanced ones.]

[Right, but seriously—why can’t this story have a demon protagonist for once?]

On the school forum, everyone was online chatting after class. A new update had dropped, and for these demon students, Demon Chronicle always trumped homework.

For them, refreshing the site, watching the update drop, and gossiping about it was practically a ritual.

[That white-robed guy… I’ve been seeing him around.]

[Where? Where?!]

[At Qiu Ying. People say he’s always been there, but no one knows what he actually looks like.]

[Qiu Ying? Holy crap—really? That place’s got a deep history. My mom told me the water runs deep there.]

[Yeah, it’s got layers. Some of the manga scenes were clearly based on that place. Even Yuan appeared in a setting from there.]

[Speaking of Yuan… I heard he just landed on the commission bounty board.]

[For real? Show us a pic!]

A blurry photo was posted, but one detail was clear:

[Ghost Demon, Yuan – Bounty: 3 million]

The forum went silent for a moment—then exploded.

[Wait WHAT?! That nickname… wasn’t that something WE made up? How did it reach the Taoists?!]

[That photo looks like it was taken from that video!]

[What the hell?! How’d it get leaked?!]

[Anyone find out who Yuan really is yet? I’ve been digging everywhere. My mom didn’t know either.]

[Nope. Total mystery. And if he’s a traitor, why are the Taoists still hunting him? Doesn’t add up.]

[Maybe… maybe he betrayed demons, but now he’s on our side again?]

[Don’t kid yourself. Look at his attitude the last few issues. No way he’s with us.]

[So… he’s with no one? Isn’t he afraid BOTH sides will come after him?]

[Dude, this ghost demon is crazy. He’s practically flying solo.]

[Thinking about a real-life demon spy from that era gives me chills. Forget the power—their experiences probably make novels look tame.]

[Maybe think about the Zoldyck family’s daily life. They’re not spies, but they’re pretty freaky. Or go look up what human spies were like back then.]

The thread went wild with speculation.

Back in a quiet courtyard, a figure stood in the center, now cloaked in night. Stars flickered above.

“Watch closely. This is the twelfth one.”

The figure in black spoke softly.

Then, he vanished—so fast he seemed to melt into the shadows.

Tang Shi sat on the veranda, eyes wide open, not daring to blink.

She knew—if she blinked, she might miss everything.

Not a single snowflake stirred. Like last time, she scanned the yard, wondering where he’d appear.

Under the tree?

Back in the center?

Her eyes stung from the strain—but still, she couldn’t find him.

Then she felt something cold on her neck.

She looked down.

A thin silver blade was pressed to her throat, dull side inward. Even so, the chill was unmistakable.

Only then did she realize someone was standing behind her. The candlelight that had once lit her fully was now blocked by a shadow.

When had he gotten there?

She turned her head—

“Hey, hey, you gotta be careful,” came the boss’s voice—suddenly casual and salty. “You had a knife to your throat and still turned your head? What if I slipped? Even the back of the blade is sharp, you know!”

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at Tang Shi, and thought: This is officially the most naive kid I’ve met. But then again… she did look a lot like her dad.

Maybe it was a family trait. Some demons were just naturally soft.

She looked Tang Shi up and down, still trying to guess what kind of demon she was.

Honestly, she seemed dumber than her old college roommate’s hamster, who used to choke on its snacks.

“Whoa, so cool!!” Tang Shi ran over, eyes sparkling like literal stars.

She circled around the blade. “Boss, is this your weapon? How did you sneak up on me like that?! And are the little demon techniques really that powerful? I couldn’t even walk ten meters without stumbling—but you made it look just like the manga!”

Yuan Yuanyuan watched her bounce around. So this is what kids are like, huh? Sometimes they didn’t like studying because they didn’t think it was “cool.” But once they did? They’d dive in headfirst.

Tang Shi looked at the boss, silhouetted against the night. Her black clothes blended into the shadows. If it weren’t for that glowing pale face, she might’ve disappeared entirely.

Yuan Yuanyuan checked the time. Almost midnight.

“Come in. It’s cold,” she said.

“Boss, how can I be like you?”

“Study. Start by memorizing those twelve basic techniques.”

“How long did it take you to learn them? You make it look so easy.”

“Me?” Yuan Yuanyuan thought for a moment. “A month… maybe?”

Tang Shi buzzed around her a while longer, then finally flopped down to scroll her phone for warmth. Yuan Yuanyuan was also waiting for the latest manga update before heading to bed.

They sat in silence for a bit.

Then Tang Shi tugged her sleeve. “Boss, look at these people. Their imaginations are wild.”

Yuan Yuanyuan leaned in. It was a forum thread titled:
[Predict tonight’s Demon Chronicle!]
But as usual, the conversation had gone completely off-track.

[Spies were probably trained through brutal programs. All the novels say so—especially the Blood Jade Demon Army’s spy division. I doubt that place was full of kind souls.]

[Weren’t spies basically disposable? War back then was a meat grinder. The Blood Jade name sounds impressive, but they were just elite cannon fodder.]

[Did you see his stealth step?! It’s cleaner than any tutorial I’ve watched. Maybe failure meant death back then, so they fought tooth and nail to master it.]

[Probably starved, too. And they couldn’t even form bonds with others… no wonder so many ended up mentally unstable.]

“There’s no way,” Tang Shi said. “Boss, you seem fine. Maybe not as amazing as Yuan, but you’re already really good. You said you learned it in a month, right?”

She waited for a reply.

But the boss, usually so casual and carefree, said nothing. He just sat there quietly.

The candlelight cast a glow over his face, highlighting the sharp line of his nose and the pale curve of his jaw. His bangs cast a deep shadow over his eyes.

Tang Shi didn’t dare speak again.

The candle burned low between them. A single wax tear trickled down.

Then, finally—

“Huh? It’s almost midnight. Let’s check Demon Chronicle,” the boss said softly, like waking from a dream.