Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan’s eyelids were starting to droop. She wondered if she could sneak in a nap and deal with everything later. But when she turned her head and saw Liu An slurping his noodles beside her, she instantly lost the will to live.

…Gotta endure.

She leaned back and stared at the ceiling, then suddenly activated the chessboard technique again. She couldn’t keep it on constantly—had to use it in bursts—but this time, the moment she turned it on, she noticed something different.

…There was someone there.

She whipped her head around—and locked eyes with someone peeking in through the window.

Yuan Yuanyuan had thought she’d see some monster coming to pick a fight. But when she saw who was outside, she froze. The person outside the window froze too.

“What’s wrong, Boss?” Liu An looked up when the room suddenly went quiet. He quickly put down his chopsticks and walked to the window. One glance, and his expression turned… very interesting.

He stepped back a few paces, circled behind Yuan Yuanyuan, and said, “So uh, Boss, I’ve got something to do, I’m gonna head out now. You should, like, maybe go for a walk or something. Don’t wait up.”

And then Liu An bolted upstairs in a few long strides. Before Yuan Yuanyuan could even react, someone outside started pounding on the door like they were about to break it down.

What the hell…

Yuan Yuanyuan was completely stunned by all this chaos. Her mind was foggy, but she still had the presence of mind to run upstairs after Liu An before opening the door.

The moment she opened it, a woman in white stormed in and immediately snapped, “Where’s the guy who just ran upstairs?”

“…” Yuan Yuanyuan stood silently in front of her. Whether she was in her normal or transformed form, she was tall enough to look down on the woman, so she just silently stared down.

But this woman wasn’t intimidated. She glared back, then stormed past Yuan Yuanyuan and dashed upstairs. Yuan didn’t bother stopping her.

As the woman ran up, someone leapt down from the second-floor balcony—it was Liu An.

From a distance, he gave Yuan Yuanyuan a big thumbs-up… and then turned tail and ran without so much as a backward glance.

Yuan Yuanyuan leaned against the door and watched as the woman stomped back down the stairs, clearly pissed. She immediately felt a headache coming on.

She knew this woman. Unfortunately, they didn’t exactly have fond memories of each other.

Back when Yuan Yuanyuan handed over that knife, she’d done it with the full intention of running away right after. And now… the woman had actually tracked her down? Was this karma?

Yuan Yuanyuan felt a little guilty. She wasn’t malicious, just a bit sneaky—but if someone came knocking at her door, she’d fold fast. Still, she didn’t let that show on her face.

It was in that moment that she suddenly remembered something—

Wait… did she still have my knife?

She looked at the woman, who had been sizing her up like a butcher appraising where to start cutting on a pig. Yuan Yuanyuan felt a chill run down her spine.

Holy crap… what the hell is she planning? Fine, fine, I admit I was wrong, okay? I’ll apologize!

“You!” the woman suddenly shouted.

Yuan Yuanyuan flinched.

“You live with that guy?”

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know how to respond. She hesitated for a long time before finally squeezing out a sentence. “…Did you run away from home again?”

The moment she said it, the woman turned and shot her another glare—one so intense Yuan Yuanyuan’s stomach started hurting.

She was actually pretty, clearly had makeup on today. Compared to her bare-faced look from last time, she looked like a whole new person.

Seriously, girls need to learn makeup. This one looked at least a few levels hotter than Yuan remembered.

And her makeup today was especially interesting—around her eyes were fine, intricate patterns, drawn with something she couldn’t identify. They almost looked like demonic tattoos.

What’s that about? Holiday makeup?

Yuan Yuanyuan’s mind was spinning. How did this woman even find her? Then she realized—

Wait, she wasn’t even here for me. She came looking for Liu An!

Once she had that thought, suddenly everything made more sense.

But still… why was she looking for Liu An?

Yuan Yuanyuan watched the woman pace around the room, and a terrible possibility popped into her head.

Could she like Liu An?

No way.

Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure herself or who, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Everything lined up in the most ridiculous way.

Please no… if she remembered right, that guy—

That girl circled the room and eventually gave up looking. She walked back over and plopped down in the chair Yuan Yuanyuan had just vacated. “Didn’t expect to run into you here.”

“I didn’t expect it either,” Yuan Yuanyuan replied.

“When you gave me that knife the other day, bet you didn’t think we’d meet again, huh?” the woman said with a cold laugh.

“Honestly… didn’t really see it coming.” Yuan looked down at her lost seat and, with nowhere else to sit, just stood there. “How about this—you pretend you didn’t see me today. That thing back then was just a small misunderstanding. If you’re still mad, I’ll apologize and we can be done, okay?”

“Why do your words sound so light?” the woman sneered. “Do you even know who I am?”

Shit… this is bad. Yuan Yuanyuan felt a pang of dread—this woman clearly wasn’t here for something trivial.

She reached for the little mirror someone had given her, intending to call for backup, but suddenly saw the woman pull out her phone and glance at it.

Yuan Yuanyuan kept her guard up. But before ten seconds had passed, the woman jumped up from the chair, snapped, “You stay right there. This isn’t over,” and ran off in a blur—vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Yuanyuan stood there, staring at the door in a daze, not recovering for a long while.

What the hell… she really did run away from home again, didn’t she? You’ve really gotten used to this whole runaway routine, huh?

Yuan didn’t know what to say. After a while, she sighed—crap, she’d forgotten to get her knife back.

Eh… maybe I’ll just let it go. It’s not like I’m that broke, she thought.

Though that woman had annoyed her, Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t let it ruin her mood for long. She felt a bit guilty—yeah—but she wasn’t scared. Honestly, this little thing didn’t even register compared to the massive mess she was currently dealing with.

You know what they say… when you’ve got enough fleas, you stop itching. Yuan gave a bitter smile.

She didn’t know what happened with Liu An, or if he’d gotten into trouble. But if he had, she’d help if she could. Having someone like that woman fixate on him… didn’t seem like a good thing.

Liu An never came back that night. Yuan didn’t go looking for him, but she did leave the door open, just in case.

It was New Year’s Day—the first day of the new year—and Yuan Yuanyuan spent it in a daze. She kept drifting off, then forcing herself awake.

If Liu An still didn’t return tomorrow… maybe she’d just go home and sleep for a day. Deal with everything later.

That was the vague plan in her head. She lay on her desk, yawning hugely. As night fell, the streets began to fill with monsters again, just like the night before.

She wondered if there would be another Night Parade of One Hundred Demons tonight…

As she thought this, she suddenly saw a bunch of little monsters fly down the street. They were all bundled in thick clothes, tiny hands and feet visible, each carrying an enormous golden flower petal. The petals were about as big as both of Yuan Yuanyuan’s palms—probably big enough to use as a blanket for them.

No sooner had she thought about the Night Parade than this mini version appeared—at least a hundred little demons flying down the street in a colorful swarm. Compared to yesterday’s ominous parade, this one was downright adorable.

What are they doing? Yuan leaned on her arm, watching curiously. Was something being handed out?

She loved little demons. They couldn’t do heavy work, so the only time she saw them was during random festive events like this.

Each little demon scattered golden petals across the ground. Yuan opened her window and waved one over. The tiny creature flew up and handed her a huge petal.

Too bad… if these little guys weren’t protected by some big-shot, she’d probably end up doing something unspeakable.

She sighed, lifting the petal. She had no idea what it was made of, but it felt surprisingly sturdy in her hand.

It felt almost like leather. Very different from the flimsy ones they usually handed out. Guess the higher-ups really pulled out all the stops for New Year.

Curious, Yuan Yuanyuan flipped the petal over. It felt just like parchment. She sent a bit of demon energy into it and skimmed what was written on it.

“Year of the Dingyou – Demon Records”

What the heck is this? It was her first time seeing something like this. She’d gotten good at reading traditional characters lately, so she flipped through a few pages. It seemed pretty formal.

The first section was titled “Annual Record of the Demon Realm,” listing major events from the year. But some of it was written in confusing old-style terms like “Chou Month, Mao Day”—made her head spin.

She kept flipping casually—just for fun. It was something new, and she liked to explore strange things.

Then she saw the section:

“Year of the Dingyou – Great Demon Index”

She skimmed through it, checking out the listed demons. Some of the names were so bizarre she couldn’t even pronounce them.

Then, suddenly, she stopped.

Her eyes landed on a line:

“Yuan – First appeared in the Year of the Dingyou. Sorcery is strange and unpredictable; personality volatile.”

“The final glimmer of the Blood Jade Demon Army.”

…

Huh??? What the hell?!

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at that line for a long time, stunned.

Wasn’t Yuan supposed to be a traitor? Do traitors get listed in official records like this?

Honestly, she could’ve missed the page entirely—this was the first time she’d seen “Yuan” written out in traditional script in a demon compendium.

But the reason she hadn’t missed it? Each major demon had an accompanying illustration—done in delicate ink wash.

Yuan’s image was a tiny portrait—about the size of a passport photo.

Plain black clothes, no insignia. Short black hair. Dark eyes staring straight ahead.

In the middle of all the other demons with their strange, powerful auras… he somehow looked completely out of place.