Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at Tang Shi, and Tang Shi looked back at Yuan Yuanyuan. Just now, Tang Shi had handed her a cup of warm tea. Yuan Yuanyuan took a sip, then held the cup in her hands.

The atmosphere between them was inexplicably awkward.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt that her current face and the one she used to have as the boss looked only slightly different—barely enough to matter. But in Tang Shi’s eyes, the difference seemed huge.

She took another sip of milk tea. In truth, she was still pretty worried that a powerful demon might have followed her here. But by her count, it had already been six or seven hours and no demon had shown up, so maybe everything really was fine.

She glanced at Tang Shi again. Ever since earlier, Tang Shi had kept her head down playing with her phone, only looking up when she spoke to Yuan Yuanyuan. Yuan finally called Tang Shi’s name, and only then did Tang Shi look up, as if she’d been startled awake.

This won’t do… Why does she seem so timid? Yuan Yuanyuan had no intention of letting this kid—who apparently used to be her disciple—talk to her so awkwardly. So she decided to say something she often said to Tang Shi back when she was still the boss.

She said, “Got anything to eat? I’m a little hungry.”

Tang Shi gave a surprised “Ah!” then quickly put down her phone. “Yes, yes! Hold on, I’ll go get something right away.”

She turned and walked out. Yuan Yuanyuan got out of bed and followed. Her legs felt a little weak and her body sluggish, so she walked while supporting herself against the wall.

Once out of the bedroom, they entered the main living area. Yuan Yuanyuan had been here before, so she recognized it immediately. Tang Shi’s home was warmly decorated. The windows were tightly shut, and the curtains drawn, blocking the view outside.

Yuan Yuanyuan lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out. It was nearly dawn. The sky’s red hue was still eerie, and under the morning light, it looked especially strange.

Wouldn’t this kind of scene scare ordinary people? she wondered.

But she recalled that there were protocols in place for situations like this… There had been battles before where demons caused utter chaos, even making the whole city look like a pixelated mess. The next day, the demons in charge of clean-up would come and fix everything. In fact, C City even had a special department for this.

She had heard about it years ago when she was stationed in C City. But she figured the cleanup teams might not be able to come today—because the battle still wasn’t over.

The only good news was that the fighting was happening in the sky, so it didn’t affect ground-level traffic too much. Although, in her opinion, that wasn’t exactly “good” news either.

Maybe the battle would pause once daylight came… Demons usually didn’t like exposing their business in broad daylight.

Yuan Yuanyuan let the curtain fall and caught the smell of something delicious. She walked over and saw Tang Shi had made instant noodles—with an egg and some sausage added in. It was sitting on the table.

The aroma suddenly gave Yuan Yuanyuan some strength. She sat down and started scarfing it down.

While she ate, Tang Shi sat beside her silently, watching her, looking like she wanted to say something but held back several times.

“You closed the curtains? Smart move,” Yuan Yuanyuan said. “But what’s with the mosquito coil in this kind of weather?”

“I thought it might help mask your scent…” Tang Shi replied. “I heard powerful demons have really strong demonic energy…”

“I’m a special kind of demon. I don’t have any scent,” Yuan Yuanyuan said. “Hurry and put it out—no one burns that stuff now.”

“Really? That amazing?” Tang Shi leaned in curiously. Yuan Yuanyuan still had an egg in her mouth and said, “Have you smelled anything on me since earlier?”

“I thought demons might be able to pick up smells we can’t…” Tang Shi muttered.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt the vibe between them had returned a bit to how it used to be. She finished the big bowl of noodles but still felt hungry. She was about to ask for more but hesitated out of embarrassment.

While she was struggling, Tang Shi stood up, went and grabbed a plastic bag, and dumped a pile of snacks—chips and the like—onto the table.

So the two of them sat there, eating chips from opposite sides of the table.

“Where’s your dad?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked casually during the meal.

“He’s not home,” Tang Shi replied.

“I figured. If he were, he’d never have let you carry me back here. That’s basically suicidal,” Yuan Yuanyuan said, licking her fingers.

“Your old face was even more handsome than the one the boss has now,” Tang Shi said. “There’s not much difference, but this one… is kinda scary-looking.”

“Handsome, huh?” Yuan Yuanyuan chuckled. Tang Shi asked, “Boss, how’ve you been lately?”

“Same old…” she replied. “Still reading comics and drinking Coke every day?”

“Pretty much.”

“Liar…”

The two chatted idly for a bit. The battle outside seemed to have paused, and as daylight spread, the scene in the sky…

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at it and felt chills. She didn’t think air quality alone could explain what she was seeing.

“By the way, boss, why did you suddenly collapse on the street yesterday?” Tang Shi asked. “Did you get sick or something?”

“You’re the one who’s sick,” Yuan Yuanyuan shot back. She looked out at the height of Tang Shi’s apartment and suddenly thought of something. She turned and asked, “Hey, did anyone come around here yesterday and take something? Like a thin, string-like thing?”

“A thin string? What do you mean?” Tang Shi said. “How could I see something like that? I’m not a hawk…”

“I just figured your place is pretty high up, so maybe you saw something,” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

She was referring to that time ages ago at a comic con—someone had pulled out a thin silver thread. The moment it appeared, Yuan Yuanyuan collapsed instantly… It had been almost a year, and she still didn’t know what that thing was.

But she remembered being terrified at the time, only to calm down later. First, she’d been injured but still managed to fight; second, there had only been one thread, and it had been carefully stored away. It didn’t seem like there were many of them.

Since Tang Shi didn’t seem to have seen anything, Yuan Yuanyuan let it go. She figured she’d better head home while she still had the strength. If that thing came back out tonight, she wouldn’t be able to make it back.

But just then, Tang Shi suddenly said, “I just remembered… There were some strange demons here yesterday. I didn’t see them take anything, but they did burn something on the rooftop.”

“Burned something?” Yuan Yuanyuan turned to look at Tang Shi. What did they burn? That silver thread?

No way… there was only one, right? But what the hell was that thing? Why was it so powerful?

“I think it was some kind of smoke,” Tang Shi said. “After they lit it, they summoned a gust of wind… It seemed like they were spreading the smoke throughout the city.”

Yuan Yuanyuan, who hadn’t been too concerned before, suddenly froze. She turned her head sharply with a “huh?” and started pressing Tang Shi for more details.

…

After returning home, Yuan Yuanyuan felt dizzy. She lay in bed eating an apple. The fat cat tried to snuggle close, but she pushed it away. She didn’t want it noticing anything strange about her.

Lying there, she started thinking over the details of that night… A group had shown up, stood atop a high-rise, lit something, then used a spell to blow the resulting powder across the city.

Just how much of that stuff had they used? Did they only do it in one spot? Or were there multiple?

But what exactly was that silver thread? She could still recall what it looked like—thin, not very long.

Yuan Yuanyuan kept turning the question over in her mind. The fat cat crept back over persistently, and she held its head down and said, “Tell me—what the hell is that silver thread?”

“Silver thread? What, like the ‘three thousand strands of silver hair’ thing?” The fat cat blinked. “What trashy costume drama have you been watching lately to suddenly ask something that cheesy?”

Yuan Yuanyuan’s hand froze as it stroked the cat’s head.

Hair…

Right—that silver thread looked exactly like a strand of white hair…

The fat cat kept chattering, “You suddenly asking me what silver thread is… how am I supposed to answer that? Oh, that reminds me—when I was a kitten, I used to like this little cat next door… When she got married off, I really wanted to join the enemy temple, but I was afraid they’d kill me… Do you think cats go bald if they shave their heads?”

Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly sat up straight. The fat cat jumped in fright. She hurriedly got dressed and dashed off toward the tavern. She needed to find the boss lady and ask her what the hell that was.

When she arrived, she had to clock in and report that she’d successfully returned those female students yesterday. She came in through the kitchen and saw Si Qun squatting there. She greeted Si Qun, who looked up and just stared at her.

Yuan Yuanyuan got nervous—worried Si Qun might notice something was wrong. Her body still wasn’t fully healed, with plenty of bruises that still hurt to the touch.

She quickly changed her face and left the kitchen, heading to her usual area.

But before she could enter, she saw the boss lady already waiting anxiously outside. The moment they met, the boss lady let out a long breath of relief.

What’s going on? Yuan Yuanyuan stood at the door, confused. Could it be… she knew about the terrible night Yuan had just experienced?