Little Pink Starfish

Finger-pricked blood… must hurt a lot. She really didn’t hold back.

Gao Ling didn’t fully understand the principles, but she earnestly copied down every step of the process.

As for whether it should use demon blood or human blood… it wasn’t written clearly for now. If she made it too specific, it might attract unwanted things.

Gao Ling finished drawing, posted the comic online, and quietly watched the little spinning daisy as it loaded.

Spin once.

Spin twice.

Suddenly, the page jumped and displayed “Successfully Published.” She slapped her thigh and thought, Damn, it actually worked!

The internet was still lively and buzzing. No one paid attention to this corner… yet Gao Ling somehow felt sneaky. She waited online for half an hour but saw no one mention the tiny charm she had drawn. She couldn’t tell if she was relieved or disappointed — just a bit anxious.

It wasn’t until 2 AM that Gao Ling finally went to bed, turned off the lights, and tossed and turned under the covers.

——

Yuan Yuanyuan still hadn’t figured out who the man outside was, but when he finally approached, she suddenly froze.

Oh my god… so handsome…

As she watched him walk over, she almost stood up instinctively, staring at the man step by step approaching.

“Excuse me,” the man said with a smile, “are you the esteemed Lantern?”

His eyes were a striking, deep blue — different from human blue eyes — large, misty, almost as if covered by a thin fog.

“Yes, that’s me,” Yuan Yuanyuan answered quickly.

“If you’re Lantern… may I have a word in private?” the man said.

His voice had the same misty quality as his eyes, like someone talking in their sleep — soft and gentle.

“Sure, sure,” Yuan Yuanyuan almost stood up to offer him her seat. Liu An, beside her, gave her a “What the hell, Boss, are you high?” look and quickly said, “No need to trouble yourself, Boss. I’ll get another chair. You two take your time chatting. I’ll step out for a bit.”

Saying so, he ran out and came back shortly with a chair. Yuan Yuanyuan carefully observed the man in the blue clothes as he walked over and sat down, then slowly pulled out a box from his hand.

“I was delayed by some family matters earlier, so I’m a little late,” he said softly, his long, dark hair looking fluffy and floating slightly, like a black mist. “So this time, I brought a small token from my family as an apology.”

Oh god, he even brought a gift? So formal? Yuan Yuanyuan stared blankly as he slowly opened the box and pulled out a long, slender bottle.

It was a wine bottle.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t recognize it, but she knew she’d never forget it for the rest of her life.

The bottle was a blue glaze, flawless, looking like it was carved from a piece of blue jade.

“I don’t have much of value,” the man said, carefully pulling out the wine bottle along with two small cups — one placed in front of Yuan Yuanyuan, the other in front of himself.

“This is the first time in nearly a hundred years that my family’s Black Deer Pearl wine has been uncorked. Please have a taste.”

Black Deer Pearl?

Yuan Yuanyuan turned it over in her mind. She had worked in a tavern long enough to have handled more than a hundred types of alcohol, but she had never heard of Black Deer Pearl.

Even though she didn’t know what it was, one thing was clear:

If she hadn’t heard of it, it must be expensive.

Instinctively, Yuan Yuanyuan picked up the full cup in front of her. The man’s pouring posture was elegant, matching his dreamy, misty presence — as if he had stepped out of a dream.

“I’m late. As punishment, I’ll drink three cups first,” he said, raising his glass.

——

That day, the school remained as peaceful as ever, at least in the eyes of most of the demons.

Tang Shi, carrying her schoolbag, passed by the students leaving school and glanced at the small two-story wooden house.

Ever since she had returned to school, she hadn’t been back to that shop — her dad had said the boss might be dealing with some tricky matters lately and told her not to visit.

More trouble, again…

Tang Shi really didn’t understand what kind of trouble the boss could constantly be having… The things the boss encountered always seemed so complicated. She imagined if it got any worse, the boss would bury her head under her pillow and hide.

She had even asked her dad about it, “Dad, why does the boss always seem to be in trouble, especially around New Year’s?”

Her dad had responded by smacking her on the head, tousling her hair, and dodging the question, “You really like hanging out there, huh?”

“Of course,” Tang Shi said. Free tea, free comics, and a lot of jokes — what’s not to love?

“Then… wait a bit longer before going back. Just for now,” her dad said.

Tang Shi didn’t argue, but her train of thought was interrupted by a sharp shriek.

“Where are all these crows coming from?” People around her stopped, pointing upward — a dense flock of crows was settling onto a withered tree.

“Damn, that’s creepy,” someone said while filming with their phone. “How come there’s suddenly so many crows?”

“Aren’t crows a sign of death? I’ve never seen so many in the city before.”

“I think it’s kind of cool, honestly…”

Tang Shi stopped and looked at the tree.

Her pupils suddenly contracted — she locked eyes with a pair of blood-red eyes among the crows.

This was… the Wu family’s crows.

Why… why are the Wu family’s crows here?

Other demon students nearby also stopped, exchanging glances.

What’s going on? Why are there suddenly so many demon crows?

These students were, after all, still considered kids among the older demons — even toddlers in some cases.

So they didn’t realize the gravity of the situation.

Tang Shi didn’t either — but years later, she would understand it all too well.

That night, the student forum exploded. Countless students posted furiously.

A post titled “Taoists Illegally Capture Local Demons at Border” instantly set the forum ablaze, throwing this small online community of minor demons into chaos.

Those crows covering the skies? They were C City’s special messengers. The Wu family was responsible for communication within C City, but for the past decade, nothing major had happened — the crows had never appeared en masse.

The sight of those crows flying across C City by day was like a silent dirge.

——

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan was still slowly drinking with the man in front of her.

His porcelain-pale face had turned flushed, even the corners of his eyes reddened, and his misty blue eyes seemed brimming with water.

He looked dead drunk — about to collapse any moment — but he still kept pouring wine and clinking glasses with Yuan Yuanyuan.

Even though he looked like he might fall over at any second, he had already been like this an hour ago.

Yuan Yuanyuan herself was dizzy. The man across from her was becoming blurry, like a painting out of focus.

The last time she drank this much was at her university graduation. She was drunk, sure, but still conscious enough to control herself — at least she wasn’t going to end up streaking through the streets.

Damn… never thought someone who looks so delicate and frail could hold their liquor like this.

He looked like he would collapse any second, but kept drinking, dragging Yuan Yuanyuan along — and now she was about ready to pass out.

She didn’t know if her own face was red, but her vision was definitely blurry… She couldn’t even focus on anything for long.

In her mind, she desperately recited multiplication tables — Three times eight is twenty-four, four times eight is thirty-two, five times eight is forty… Okay, still sober enough if she could recite multiplication.

…Although seriously, who in their right mind would be silently reciting multiplication tables at a time like this?

“I’ve heard of you long ago, but never got a chance to properly meet you. I apologize for that,” said the Blue Clan Leader, his voice even mistier after drinking — it made Yuan Yuanyuan’s head ache.

She tried hard to listen.

“To be honest, you are a senior among all the C City families now,” he said, pouring her another drink. “Hard to believe… just a hundred years, and C City has changed so much. A hundred years — barely enough for a child to grow into an adult.”

Child? Adult? Yuan Yuanyuan was dizzy — how long do demons live, anyway?

And why was he even talking about this?

“A hundred years…” the Blue Clan Leader sighed, raising another glass and draining it in one gulp. His face was so red that Yuan Yuanyuan wanted to stop him from drinking more, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

“Senior, when you returned, you must have found everything unfamiliar,” he said. “Today’s demons are very different from those of the past. But it’s not that we didn’t try… When our ancestor fell, he took us along with him. I was just born that year.”

Fell… he fell? Was he talking about what she thought he was talking about? Yuan Yuanyuan thought dizzily.

“But let’s not talk about that today,” the Blue Clan Leader said drunkenly. Then suddenly, he added, “Actually… I decided to come after reading last night’s Yao Chronicle.”

“Last night’s Yao Chronicle?” Yuan Yuanyuan’s head cleared slightly. What was in last night’s Yao Chronicle again?

“I think what the Li Clan Leader said was biased… Here, let me offer you another drink,” he said, pouring again. “You were never that kind of person.”

What kind of person? Yuan Yuanyuan felt so dizzy she almost fell asleep. Why was the other guy still so coherent after drinking three times as much as her?

As she drifted toward sleep, she vaguely heard him ask a hazy question:

“So… did you come back for yourself, or for the demon race?”

For herself… or for the demon race?

That wasn’t right — she had never come back for the demon race. What did the demon race have to do with her?

The demon race — wasn’t that supposed to only exist in comics? She wished it had stayed fictional forever.

This was what Yuan Yuanyuan truly thought. But at that moment, she felt a strange sense of wrongness.

Something… something wasn’t right.

But she couldn’t say what.

Couldn’t say?

Yuan Yuanyuan raised her head and stared at the man in front of her, a sudden chill running over her body.

What had he just asked?

The man was still playing with the small cup, seemingly carefree.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan pressed her lips tightly shut.

Because after working in a tavern so long, she knew one thing:

— People who drink too much can’t control their tongues.

So… had she accidentally said something just now?

Her head was still spinning, but she kept repeating to herself — Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

It’s a secret! A secret!

A secret that must never be revealed!

The man played with his cup a little longer, then turned back and, in a voice so soft she barely caught it, said:

“For the demon race.”

“I came back… for the demon race.”