Little Pink Starfish

At a comic convention, things were usually pretty standard: browsing booths, taking photos, watching performances, and if there were any guests, maybe inviting a few to walk around… that was basically it.

Oh, right… or maybe flirting with a few guys and girls.

If the convention was large, you’d naturally spend more time there; if it was small, you could be done in an hour or two.

This particular convention was considered one of the better ones—plenty of space, lots of cosplayers, many booths. Rumor had it that a few internet celebrities were invited too, with their giant posters plastered outside.

Because of these internet celebrities… many people hadn’t left yet, all waiting. Apparently, the celebrity was set to arrive around 5 PM. Yuan Yuanyuan looked up at the sky.

Five o’clock… it would already be dark, right?

Holding some food in her hands, Yuan Yuanyuan sat with Liu An under a tented seating area, taking a break.

It was crowded under the tent; someone nearby was smoking. Yuan Yuanyuan waved her hand to disperse the smoke a bit.

“Seriously, smoking in public… Have a little basic decency?” Yuan Yuanyuan said as she fanned the air.

“…Boss, I remember you smoke too. Why such a strong reaction?” Liu An asked.

“We’re not smoking the same thing, alright,” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

She stood up, wanting to see who exactly was smoking, and spotted a guy cosplaying a Mushi-shi character. He was posing for photos with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, while his friend fanned smoke around him, trying hard to create a ‘misty’ effect.

Unfortunately, all that smoke was being wafted straight toward Yuan Yuanyuan’s side.

“That’s not even accurate… In the manga, the smoke is supposed to be dense but not messy. He looks like he’s starting a fire,” Liu An said.

“You’re a demon. What do you know about scientific accuracy? Keep talking about science and I’ll tie you up for dissection one day,” Yuan Yuanyuan replied. “Let’s find another place to sit… No wonder no one else is here.”

They stood up. Yuan Yuanyuan glanced around. She had rushed out and forgotten her phone, otherwise she could have taken pictures with some cosplayers. Now without her phone, she could only look around aimlessly.

Suddenly, lights flickered on over there. Yuan Yuanyuan looked toward it and saw ropes being strung up across the venue, small paper lanterns being hung on them, each painted with monster faces, looking very much like ukiyo-e style art.

One lantern was hung, then another… soon the whole place was filled with glowing lanterns.

Cosplayers in all sorts of costumes strolled under the lanterns, laughing and chatting. Booths also lit up their own lanterns. The entire venue became bathed in a soft candle-like yellow light.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked up. Right above her head hung a small lantern painted with a little demon.

“Wow… is it supposed to be this formal? So many lanterns… aren’t they afraid of starting a fire?” she muttered.

She reached up to touch a lantern, only to realize something was off. Liu An beside her said, “These little lanterns aren’t using real candles. They’re fake electronic ones… I’ve seen them a lot before, very handy.”

Hearing this, Yuan Yuanyuan peered through the cracks in the lantern and vaguely saw the internal structure.

“Ah, it really is like that. That’s pretty clever,” Yuan Yuanyuan said, letting go of the lantern. “From the outside you can’t even tell they’re electronic… By the way, why have you seen these things so often?”

Before she could get an answer, a commotion broke out nearby. Yuan Yuanyuan turned her head and saw that the internet celebrity had arrived.

“Do you want to go have a look?” Liu An asked.

“What for…” Yuan Yuanyuan said. “I don’t even know them. Besides, you have to buy posters to see them up close. Costs money.”

…

“Boss, can we go over and take a look?” a girl shouted, “We’re going together, wait for us!”

“Ah? Oh…” Gao Ling watched them charge into the crowd. The internet celebrity seemed pretty popular, and they wanted to join the fun. Gao Ling didn’t feel like squeezing through the crowd and stayed outside.

She sighed. She had initially come over to check things out after spotting the boss, but now those friends of hers were way more excited than she was, roaming from daytime into nighttime.

The five of them lived close by and shared similar interests, so they came together. Although Gao Ling was a local, she actually felt a little awkward among them, not speaking up much.

Ahh… just shy, she told herself. Must toughen up.

She glanced around the venue and then spotted him looking up at the lanterns.

Standing there, he was strikingly out of place… Gao Ling didn’t even know how to describe it. A beauty that could topple kingdoms? No, that wasn’t right either…

Ah… she sighed inwardly at the boss’s effect.

Usually by this point in a con, once the internet celebrity left, the place would empty out.

But today, the venue was still packed. Gao Ling knew it was at least eighty percent because of the boss. Lots of girls were braving the cold wind just to catch a glimpse of him.

Although the number of girls didn’t visibly change, the ones staying were subtly shifting around, following the boss’s movements… When he was at the west side, that side was crowded. Now that he moved east, the east side was bustling.

Gao Ling grumbled to herself, debating whether she should… maybe… join in?

…Better not. Didn’t want to cause any trouble.

Earlier, her companions had secretly snapped quite a few photos, all claiming that this was the best Yuan Zhenren cosplay they had ever seen.

Someone even joked, “Maybe it’s the real Yuan himself coming to stroll around,” causing a wave of laughter. Gao Ling broke into a cold sweat.

She always worried that someone would realize that the boss was actually a real demon.

Even though the group knew that demons existed—and some had even seen them firsthand—Gao Ling felt it was better if fewer people knew about the boss’s true nature. After all, he loved human culture so much, he probably didn’t like being labeled “demon” all the time.

As she was thinking this, her vision blurred for a moment.

She froze, and then it blurred again.

For a second, it felt like all the cheers around her paused.

Gao Ling wasn’t sure what was happening. She thought it might be an illusion, or like during her “spiritual vision” phase when she often saw ominous things. But looking around, she realized everyone else was glancing upward too.

She raised her head and saw a small, creepy ghost face.

It was painted on a small black-and-white lantern, swaying eerily as it stared straight at her.

In that instant, an overwhelming discomfort flooded her body, making her shiver.

The next moment, the venue plunged into complete darkness. A piercing scream erupted from the densely packed east side.

Gao Ling immediately understood what had happened.

Oh… it was a power outage.

The girl selling stir-fried noodles had stopped frying and was now looking around. Gao Ling figured there would be some chaos now and thought to find a quieter spot to avoid being trampled. People around her pulled out their phones for light. Gao Ling tried hers, only to realize her phone had somehow shut itself off.

Frozen? Out of battery? She pressed the power button, trying to restart it, but nothing happened.

“What the hell? Why won’t my phone turn on?”

“Mine’s dead too!”

Gao Ling heard two girls nearby complaining, and her heart dropped.

No… something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

She turned sharply to where her friends had gone. The screaming from over there hadn’t stopped. Normally a power outage would cause just an initial shriek, not this prolonged panic. It had been over a minute…

Wrong, this was very wrong.

Gao Ling felt like her brain was going to explode. She hesitated, wondering whether to rush over or stay put. Feeling the protective charms on her, she gritted her teeth and began pushing through the crowd, shouting, “Excuse me! Coming through!”

“Stop pushing… can’t you see?”

“Why squeeze through? Take it slow!”

Ignoring them, Gao Ling squeezed forward. After a few steps, she suddenly saw a strange glow.

It was a faint green light on the horizon—creepy and unnatural, like something out of a horror movie.

Under that eerie glow, every person’s face looked bluish-gray, their expressions stiff as if frozen.

Gao Ling felt like she was suffocating.

Shadowy figures flew out in all directions, each holding a small flame that they placed into the lanterns. Slowly, the entire venue lit up with green flames.

“Why isn’t the power back yet? Where’s the event staff?”

“Damn, it’s so dark… can’t see a thing, not even the moon.”

Gao Ling exhaled carefully. Her voice was much softer now as she whispered, “Excuse me.”

Some people moved aside; some didn’t. Gao Ling didn’t argue, just kept moving. After about five or six steps, she finally spotted a striking figure.

Amid the crowd of girls, a man over 1.8 meters tall was hard to miss.

He was staring into the distance, frowning slightly, holding a long, black smoking pipe, the mouthpiece glowing red.

He took a slow puff and exhaled.

The smoke drifted upward—but strangely, it didn’t dissipate. Instead, it hung suspended in the air, like ink dropped into water.

Gradually, the smoke began weaving together into a surreal pattern.

To Gao Ling, it completely defied Newtonian physics… Smoke wasn’t supposed to behave like this. If Newton saw this, he’d probably claw his way out of his grave and streak around in outrage.

Yet here it was, real as could be. The smoke wove itself like thick ribbons, curling through the air…

It was like rough, sketchy lines from a painting…

Gao Ling watched the ribbons of smoke drift toward her. She couldn’t resist reaching out to poke one.

Unexpectedly, the ribbon snapped apart instantly, dispersing into mist—and released a strange, indescribably sweet fragrance.

Startled, she worried if she had messed something up, but then saw the man with the smoking pipe turn his head slightly and glance at her.

In the eerie green light, his eyes flared blood-red.