Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan looked down at the people below and felt like her brain had completely stopped working.

She wanted to go down and check on the man lying on the ground. Even though she knew the man was probably beyond saving, she still held onto a sliver of hope.

She leaned in closer, staring at the man on the ground for a long time, but in the end, she didn’t go down.

She couldn’t even hear his breathing. With her hearing, from this distance, she should be able to hear someone’s breath. If she couldn’t, then it meant this person really was gone.

The woman below was still struggling with the few monsters behind her. In a sudden burst, she broke free. Yuan Yuanyuan’s eyes followed her as she ran in this direction, and only when the woman was running toward her did Yuan Yuanyuan realize she was actually headed her way.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t think much of it. No matter how fast the woman ran, she wasn’t going to get up to the rooftop. The few people behind her chased after her again, all of them pulling and grabbing as they ran.

“You always want to drag me back,” the woman shouted through gritted teeth. “Besides dragging me back, what else do you people know how to do?”

The people behind were still chasing her, clearly ignoring her earlier threat that she’d rather die than be caught again. And now that she was being caught a second time, she looked like she was about to explode. She swung her fists furiously at their faces.

But obviously, this young lady wasn’t as strong as the people behind her. Her punches were intercepted before they even landed.

Yuan Yuanyuan rested her chin on her arms, watching from above. She wasn’t doing anything else anyway, and honestly, she kind of wanted to watch this whole drama unfold.

To her, the situation below had turned from a romantic soap opera to a suspense thriller in under three minutes…

Everything felt so different from the usual storylines. From the moment she noticed that the woman didn’t look sad at all, Yuan Yuanyuan had been confused, and now she was even more confused.

Now that she was closer, though, she could tell that the woman was actually quite pretty. Even without makeup, barefoot and clearly having no time to fix herself up, she looked fresh-faced and youthful—seventeen or eighteen, maybe. Back in Yuan Yuanyuan’s high school days, a girl like her could’ve easily been a school beauty.

As she listened to the scuffles below and picked up fragments of conversation, Yuan Yuanyuan slowly pieced together a bit of what was going on.

This woman hadn’t escaped for the first time—it sounded like she had run away multiple times. And judging by the tone of those people… this kind of thing had happened more than once.

What the hell? Are you… habitually murdering your boyfriends now? And you have to do it with someone else’s hands?

Yuan Yuanyuan raised her left eyebrow.

A minute later, her right eyebrow joined in.

…

“Put down your papers. We’ll gather on the field.”

Tang Shi put down her physics exam paper, got dressed, and headed to the field. The field was full of monsters now, all wearing school uniforms and lined up in rows.

Next to them were the human students leaving after school. They acted like they couldn’t even see the students on the field, chatting casually and walking right past.

Tang Shi found her spot and took a deep breath. She rubbed her wrist and looked at the teacher standing at the front.

“Today we’ll start with the Five Elements magic exam, then trickery arts and demon world knowledge. We’ll finish around eleven. Everyone, be prepared.”

“How did you do on your review?” someone behind her asked. “What are we gonna do about our trickery arts?”

Tang Shi turned to look—it was a monster as clueless at trickery arts as she was. She replied, “No idea… but it can’t be worse than last time, right?”

“Your parents are so powerful. Why didn’t they get you a better teacher? Look at the people in your class, they all have one,” the person behind her said.

“I do have a teacher…” Tang Shi’s face suddenly twisted into a strange, conflicted expression. “But this teacher… tsk, I really can’t tell how good they are.”

“…Why’d your parents get you such a teacher?” the monster behind her was speechless. “Quick, quick, they’re calling you. Go.”

“He’s handsome…” Tang Shi tossed out casually before tidying her clothes and walking forward.

…

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the group below with a strange expression.

From the moment she started watching, her teeth had started to ache… and now, with everything they were saying, they ached even more.

“You must return.”

“Why should I? He controlled me, and now he has the nerve to say something like that?”

“These are the master’s orders… be careful, don’t hurt the young miss…”

“Don’t touch me! You think I’m joking around? Who gave you permission to touch me? You better be careful.”

Even if you tell the master, he won’t do anything to me anyway. Stop making a scene.”

“Making a scene?” the woman’s voice rose. “None of you understand me, and I’m the one making a scene?”

“You don’t need to act like this, miss. You should go back and listen to the master…” The leader who was holding her looked really troubled. Clearly, he didn’t know what to do, because he had to protect her.

From her perch, Yuan Yuanyuan mentally filled in the rest of his sentence: Can’t you just go home and behave? You’ve got a good life, why go out and elope with someone?

That girl’s tone was full of sadness and despair. The more she shouted, the more hoarse she sounded, even choking back sobs.

It sounded like she lived in a family with no affection, trapped, lacking freedom, in a very small world.

A young lady who had never known love.

But honestly… eloping, huh?

Hmm… if Yuan Yuanyuan were ever to consider eloping, first, the person she ran with would have to be rich. Second, that money had to be available for her use.

But… all of this didn’t matter. Yuan Yuanyuan would never let herself fall into such a situation. She’d probably chicken out. And her circumstances were completely different.

At the very least, the people chasing that spoiled girl didn’t dare lay a hand on her, but if Yuan Yuanyuan acted even a bit spoiled, the people chasing her might turn her into a human stick.

Just like that guy who was already cold on the ground.

So… it’s not the same at all.

Yuan Yuanyuan listened a little longer, sighed, and lightly jumped down from the roof, landing quietly.

Seriously… she’d been listening way too long.

Yuan Yuanyuan realized something was off in her emotions. This was someone else’s family drama, and the woman really was miserable. But listening to it all made her feel… dazed, like there was a veil over her eyes.

She knew the woman was hurting, angry—but she just couldn’t connect with it.

There was still a dead man lying over there.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s expression turned cold, her face blank with a strange indifference. She touched her own cheek and felt it wasn’t right to take out her frustration on others—but she couldn’t help it. That only made her more annoyed.

She didn’t want to watch this drama anymore. She wanted to go home.

She pulled the hood of her puffer jacket over her head, hands stuffed in her jeans pockets, and walked into the shadowy alley.

The tall buildings on either side cast heavy shadows, making it feel like the alley was being crushed.

Inside the alley, it looked like some renovation was going on. Bricks and cement bags were piled up, and there was a small construction cart. Some of the cement had been freshly applied to the wall—stark white—while the rest was bare, grayish, covered in graffiti.

…

“Please eat something… you haven’t had a single bite or drop of water since you ran away yesterday…”

“I want to survive on my own terms. I want to chase something. When I’m chasing something, I can’t back down, because if I do, I’ll just get dragged back to that tiny little place again.”

Before Yuan Yuanyuan had even made it out of the alley, the woman’s voice suddenly rose to a near scream, cracking with strain.

Her throat was completely hoarse. Sounded like she’d been yelling for hours. Yuan Yuanyuan remembered drill week back in school, yelling military chants until their voices went like that.

Right after the woman finished shouting, Yuan Yuanyuan heard a wave of messy noises. Before she could react, she suddenly heard footsteps in the alley.

What the hell? That woman was coming this way now? Yuan Yuanyuan quickly turned her head, startled.

She looked back down the alley—it was long and straight. Even from this end, you could see the other.

She immediately dampened her demon energy, making herself look like just another ordinary passerby monster.

This was getting bad… the other person had definitely seen her already.

This was practically family-secret-level drama… and judging by what she’d heard, that family was probably rich and powerful. If they wanted to make trouble for her, it’d be a real pain. Better to play it cool, pretend she hadn’t heard a thing.

Yuan Yuanyuan walked slowly ahead, pulling her hood tighter to cover her face, keeping her pace relaxed.

She couldn’t walk too fast—if she did, it’d look like she was fleeing.

Past this alley was a bustling street. Even at night, there were options. Once she reached it, she’d have plenty of ways to slip away.

She took a few more steps forward, but the woman was faster than her fake casual pace, and quickly caught up.

Yuan Yuanyuan gritted her teeth, pretending not to notice, focused on walking ahead. In her washed-out jeans and old puffer jacket, she looked dirt poor. And thankfully, the woman didn’t seem to care much about her.

This area was a mess due to renovations. The woman had no shoes, stepping barefoot on all kinds of debris.

She ran up beside Yuan Yuanyuan, glanced at her coldly, and then looked away. For some reason, that glance felt like she was looking at trash…

The woman ran straight toward a spot on the ground covered in shattered glass.

Probably left behind by someone during renovations.

She ran straight into it, barefoot, stepping into the broken shards.

“Young miss!” “Stop!”

The group behind her suddenly shouted, all of them panicked.

Standing among them, Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly felt like a broke idiot…

She didn’t even know why she was being forced to watch this “spectacle” — from family feuds to emotional entanglements, and now, we’re getting into R-rated territory.

Yuan Yuanyuan figured she really should leave now… this kind of rich-family soap opera probably wasn’t something they wanted a random third wheel watching. And she hadn’t even bought a ticket for this show…

Seriously, she was just some random passerby—how were they still performing with her here?

Their urge to perform was unreal.

To her shock, this whole group of insane people actually kept going.

“You’re still coming? You’re still coming?” The woman shouted while stepping on the glass, staring at the person in front of her.

Her face showed a strange calm, and the blood beneath her feet quickly pooled into a small puddle.

Maybe she’d hit a major blood vessel.

“You still dare come near? Still dare?” she said.

Suddenly, the entire alley went silent.

Self-harm wasn’t rare… and the reasons were always varied.

Like… feeling unwanted.

Like… feeling grief.

There were people who hurt themselves, but Yuan Yuanyuan never understood that feeling. Even at her lowest, she’d never thought about hurting herself.

Because when people do that, it’s either to make themselves feel better—or to get the attention of someone they want to see it.

But if it doesn’t help you feel better, no one sees it, or no one cares even if they do… then what’s the point?

As the two sides froze in a standoff, suddenly a hand reached out beside the woman, holding a small knife.

“Use this,” said a guy nearby, looking poor and ragged.

“Cut along the artery, find the spot with the strongest pulse, and do it fast.”