Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan was on the train to find “Yuan Yingli” when Demon Chronicle updated again. She read it all on the ride, and while she did, a little kid next to her kept giggling and staring at her. Yuan reached over to ruffle the kid’s hair and showed her some of the comic panels.

She had come this time aiming for a quick, decisive mission. Unlike Yuan, who was always slipping in and out of sight, Yuan Yuanyuan had to buy train tickets with her own ID. If someone paid attention, they might start getting suspicious.

Though realistically, no one was bored enough to go around checking a demon’s ID.

She’d hoped that like last time, Jiuqiu would give her a sign or direction. But this time, nothing. She was totally lost in the big city.

That night, she checked into a hotel, lay on the bed scrolling through comments on the latest Demon Chronicle chapter:

【I’m back on the Fa Ning x Doctor ship. They’re seriously the sweetest now.】
【Nah, I’m still shipping Fa Ning x Yuan. The angst is delicious.】
【Are y’all okay? There’s no angst. You fujoshis need to chill.】

【You mean that ongoing fanfic on the forum, right? I’ve been reading it too. Honestly… I kind of get the appeal now.】

Yuan thought, Idiots. Let Fa Ning go be gay with his bros. Not my problem. Honestly, that Si Qun guy in the comic is more my type…

As she wandered around S City looking for Yuan Yingli, she also started considering how she was going to pull this off. The manga had started revealing more and more about the secret organization lately, which gave her some ideas.

Recently, the organization had caught wider attention. According to the comic, they had begun recruiting talented outcast demons. Most either vanished… or turned up dead.

And everyone in the organization wore unique masks. So far, only one had shown up in the manga—a white mask with a golden butterfly pattern. Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know that one. She drew a circle around it in her notes.

After scouring remote hills and using her Chessboard Art, she finally pinpointed the Yuan family’s general location. She was ready to check it out.

Outcasts, huh?

The moment she saw Yuan Yingli, the word from the manga echoed in her mind: “The secret organization is searching for edge people.”

People who couldn’t fit into mainstream society.

She didn’t know why he had become an outsider, but it was clear his family didn’t care for him.

Yuan Yingli lived way out on the edge of the estate, like a pitiful little afterthought, surrounded by overgrown weeds. Yuan put on her mask, listening to the footsteps above her. For some reason, she found herself sympathizing with him.

She was about to move in when someone else came to see him. A patient. Yuan paused. She listened as the visitor asked a few questions, and Yuan Yingli, sounding polite, gave a diagnosis and prescribed some medicine.

Once the patient left, Yuan emerged again. She remembered now—this guy was a miracle doctor. Even Fa Ning had heard of him.

So she thought, Why not ask him to check my pulse while I’m here?

She transformed herself into someone else and asked a young servant boy to announce her. A moment later, she was invited inside.

The man sitting there really did look like a celestial sage.

As she sat across from him and reached out her wrist, she thought, Dude, dressing like an old Taoist priest? Really? No wonder you live out here.

He was quite handsome—though his narrow-set eyes made her recall the saying that men with such features were easily irritated. But to her surprise, he was very courteous. Nothing like his cold attitude toward Fa Ning in the manga. He was a professional, ethical doctor.

Huh… not bad, Yuan thought. Maybe he didn’t help Fa Ning for some other reason. Maybe it was just timing or miscommunication.

Yuan Yingli finished the pulse check and handed her a prescription. Yuan glanced at it and immediately recognized the list.

Restrictions on what she could eat, what she could touch… and that one line again.

She blinked. Wait. Didn’t the female doctor tell me the exact same things?

She almost wanted to hold both prescriptions up and compare them line for line.

That odd little thought returned—What’s going on? The first time I got this list was when I disguised myself as Yuan. Now, disguised as someone else, I get the same list?

Is Jiuqiu covering for me again?

But something told her—this time, it wasn’t just Jiuqiu’s interference. Something might actually be wrong with her body.

This was the first time she truly considered that possibility. Until now, she hadn’t felt anything out of the ordinary.

Feeling uneasy, Yuan grew quiet. Yuan Yingli noticed.
“Is something bothering you?” he asked.

“No… no, not really.”

“If you can help it, don’t use your demon powers for a while,” he advised as he tidied up.

Another line she’d heard before. Her anxiety deepened. She stepped out of the house and glanced back.

The same overgrown yard.

Sigh… Even though she’d been told not to use powers, what choice did she have? If she didn’t handle this doctor, she’d have to report failure to the entire organization.

That night, she came back.

She carried a brand-new blade—something she picked up at a local shop. She couldn’t use her signature twin daggers; they were too closely associated with Yuan.

When the moon rose, Yuan stepped into the courtyard and quietly phased into the house, appearing beside the doctor’s bed.

“Who’s there?” Yuan Yingli startled awake, immediately spotting the masked figure beside his bed. “Someone from that organization?”

“Do you want to live, or die?” Yuan said in Yuan’s voice. There was no sound in the manga, so she figured her voice wouldn’t give her away.

“What do you mean?” Yuan Yingli asked.

“Join us,” she said, twirling the blade in her hand. “Or I kill you right here.”

“Oh? So it’s my turn now? All those demons who joined… and died. Now it’s me?” he said calmly.

Yuan felt like some overbearing boss character, standing at the bed of a half-dressed innocent… Cough cough. Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best look. But hey, she was nervous—this guy was a guishu master too.

She raised her blade and rested it against his throat, releasing a flood of suffocating, blood-scented demon energy.

Her aura was notorious. More than a few weak demons had wet themselves just from the pressure.

She didn’t want to kill a doctor without reason. Her goal was just to scare him into submission and bring him back alive. Better weird than dead.

The room was so thick with demonic energy that you could barely see. Not that she could see anyway—her mask still had no eyeholes.

A black-cloaked figure loomed over the bed. It was a terrifying image.

The doctor didn’t move. She found it odd and asked, “So? What’s your answer?”

“What will you do if I say no?” he replied.

“I’ll kill you.” she said flatly. “But don’t worry—I’ll give you time to write a will. You’ve heard of lingchi, right? Slicing flesh off piece by piece. You’ll still be alive for all of it.”

She thought her tone was plenty menacing. She even used that creepy whisper-voice. She could hear his heart rate spiking.

As she stepped closer, just as she expected him to beg for mercy, he said—

“I don’t want to join you.”

…What?

She froze.

Wait. Is my scare game slipping? I thought I was good at this. I literally made a few demons piss themselves before.

Her mask and cloak hid all facial expressions, but somehow… he still seemed to sense her reaction.

“You seem unhappy with that answer,” he said.

Huh? What’s with this guy? she thought, stunned.

“Did you freeze because you thought I’d cave under pressure?” he added.

Well, yeah… that was her plan.

She was about to try a new angle when he suddenly chuckled.

“You know, I recognized you this morning,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d joined that organization.”

…What?

Even Yuan couldn’t play dumb anymore. She’d officially been exposed.

He went on, “That pulse of yours… no one else has one like it. You can’t use water techniques. And your energy’s always chaotic. When you came to me earlier, I almost panicked—thought I’d attracted a real bigshot.”

“Honestly, I thought all that online stuff was just hype… but you really are kind of tsundere, aren’t you?”

What the hell??

Yuan had no words. She was supposed to say “yes” or “no.”

Instead, she turned and ran.

Faster than anyone could blink, she vanished from the room.