Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan hadn’t recognized Gao Ling earlier because it was too dark upstairs, but now that she saw her face clearly downstairs—she remembered instantly.

Oh my god, it was that girl!

The moment she recognized her, Yuan Yuanyuan began to feel suspicious. She glanced around to check if there were any lipstick messages on the nearby windows… When Ji Qiu had told her to come here, she’d already felt it was fishy. Now it seemed the reason was probably this girl.

Had she been bumping into this girl way too often?

Suspicion began to rise in Yuan Yuanyuan’s heart—maybe this girl was a little spy Ji Qiu had planted, or some kind of secret weapon… Meanwhile, Gao Ling was silently staring at Yuan Yuanyuan, and doubts were forming in her own mind too.

No, wait… the person in front of her… wasn’t that the shop owner she’d seen before? Why was she now dressed like some kind of eunuch-version of Dongfang Bubai and pretending not to know her?

There’s definitely something going on. Gao Ling stared at Yuan Yuanyuan with narrowed eyes, making Yuan Yuanyuan so uncomfortable that she cleared her throat and asked, “What are you guys doing here?”

“We…” Gao Ling gave a couple of dry laughs, “We were just passing by and saw a shop…”

“How could you just casually enter some random, unknown store?” Yuan Yuanyuan was ready to scold her. “And with that much spiritual energy, why didn’t you sense anything?”

“Uh…” Gao Ling was at a loss for words, “We were knocked out and dragged in…”

Yuan Yuanyuan choked on her words. By this point, she had totally forgotten that Gao Ling had once bought something from her. All she remembered was that this girl had strong spiritual energy—and seemed to attract trouble like a magnet. Or maybe she just liked stirring up trouble herself.

Dragged in… Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the two little monsters on the floor. This seemed like a typical case of clueless small fry causing trouble—dragging innocent people along for the ride.

It was always monsters like this who did dumb things. The stronger ones usually kept their heads down. And based on how recently these little ones had shown up, they probably weren’t powerful at all.

Still, the fact that they’d even made it in here surprised her. They must’ve used some trick. Small-time monsters might not be powerful, but they sometimes had odd little techniques.

Her sudden arrival had clearly scared the two monsters witless. They were now lying on the floor, unable to say a word. Yuan Yuanyuan pushed open the door and motioned for the humans to leave. The courtyard outside was overrun with weeds.

The entrance was full of thorny brambles. Yuan Yuanyuan took out her small dagger and began cutting an opening through the outer edge of the bramble patch.

She could let monsters in and out freely—like Tang Shi, who would waltz in as soon as the door was open. But when it came to humans, she didn’t dare. The brambles had never actually harmed a human before, but if someone got hurt, that’d be bad.

Behind her, Gao Ling watched Yuan Yuanyuan cutting the thorns and suddenly felt that this place looked familiar. The people following behind were all uncharacteristically silent. Their worldview had clearly been shattered and rebuilt several times by now. Gao Ling had been through this before and understood how they were feeling, so she said nothing either.

The atmosphere was cold and full of demonic aura—completely different from human presence. Gao Ling, though, wasn’t scared anymore. She had seen this sort of thing before, and now she was oddly calm.

This place must be hard to enter… Gao Ling turned a suspicious gaze on Yuan Yuanyuan. How had she gotten in so easily? And why was she so casually slicing through something that looked like a magical barrier?

Even though Yuan Yuanyuan had just denied being the shop owner, she kept unintentionally showing how familiar she was with this place… Maybe she wasn’t even aware of it herself.

“Hey, in the future… don’t go poking around anywhere near this street,” Yuan Yuanyuan warned while continuing to slash at the brambles. This wasn’t even her usual blade, so it wasn’t cutting well. These thorns really were something—gifted by C City, no less.

She would’ve asked those two monsters how they got these people in here, but they were still unconscious. Yuan Yuanyuan kept cutting when she suddenly heard knocking at the front door. She paused. “Who is it?”

“It’s me!” A voice outside responded with excitement. “I saw from upstairs that someone came into the store—it’s you, boss! I was wondering when you’d be back. Things outside are so chaotic lately, I was really worried. I thought for sure you were holed up somewhere every day…”

The person hadn’t even finished speaking when Yuan Yuanyuan yanked the door open and clapped a hand over their mouth.

Oh god… this was spiraling out of control. What was happening to this little rundown shop of hers?

Gao Ling heard the voice and her eyes widened. “…Tang Shi?”

Silence for two seconds.

Then a girl’s voice followed.

The rest of the group had gone numb. Seeing that Gao Ling apparently knew these people didn’t surprise them anymore. Ever since earlier, their sense of reality had been completely shattered and reshaped. This place obviously wasn’t normal. Combine that with the wild imaginations of modern people, and they were pretty sure by now—these people… probably weren’t human.

There was only one lingering doubt. Everyone’s gaze slowly shifted to Gao Ling, each with a look that basically screamed What the hell… Someone even muttered aloud.

No way… was this whole monster encounter some big stunt she pulled off to show us? Like… come on. If we were wrong, why the need for all this?

Gao Ling, for her part, visibly relaxed the moment she saw Tang Shi. She was certain now—they weren’t going to kill her. Turns out Tang Shi knew these people.

Wow, what a small world. You could bump into acquaintances just wandering around. Once Tang Shi entered, Gao Ling fully let down her guard and even pulled out her phone.

“Boss, how do you know Sister Gao Ling?” Tang Shi gave Yuan Yuanyuan and Gao Ling a suspicious once-over. Yuan Yuanyuan responded with a kick. “Shut up and help me cut these brambles.”

“Oh.” Tang Shi obediently pulled out her knife and crouched down to help. Gao Ling waved to reassure the people behind her—these were friends—but found that everyone was keeping a wide berth.

…What the hell? Gao Ling was confused. Yuan Yuanyuan glanced back and called her over to help too. People with spiritual energy tended to be physically tougher, so they could usually endure more.

Gao Ling stumbled over in a daze and had a knife shoved into her hands. It was heavy—her hands were shaking from the weight.

This… looked like a demon’s weapon.

Gao Ling hesitated, then crouched down to join them.

While Yuan Yuanyuan and Tang Shi cut brambles, they chatted about recent happenings. Tang Shi asked how Yuan Yuanyuan had been. Yuan Yuanyuan replied, “Surviving.” When Tang Shi pressed further, Yuan Yuanyuan said, “Grown-up stuff. Stay out of it.”

Tang Shi huffed and sulked to the side. Then, with one glance, she noticed something red on Yuan Yuanyuan’s hand.

It was that patch she’d seen before when she touched Si Qun’s hair—not yet healed… Tang Shi’s eyes went wide. She alternated between cutting brambles and sneaking glances at Yuan Yuanyuan’s hand, again and again.

After several rounds of this, Yuan Yuanyuan noticed and turned to glare at her. Gao Ling also glanced at the hand—then immediately looked away.

Oh damn, that looks painful… Gao Ling thought. The wound looked deep, under the skin—swollen and throbbing. That kind of pain where the blood’s stuck under the surface and won’t come out…

This monster… probably hadn’t been having an easy time lately. At this point, Gao Ling no longer doubted that this was the shop’s owner. The confirmation came from Tang Shi’s accidental slip-up: “boss.” Yuan Yuanyuan might not admit it, but Gao Ling didn’t plan to confront her about it either.

Maybe everyone has their own reasons.

And just from that one glance, Gao Ling had already memorized the shape of the wound on Yuan Yuanyuan’s hand.

---

“Why hasn’t Yuanyuan come back yet?” Li Zi Jie looked up at the darkening sky. “It’s getting late. We’re about to open soon.”

Si Qun sat quietly behind her. Li Zi Jie walked over and ruffled his hair, plucking out a few white strands and tossing them into the fire.

“She hasn’t come back yet. Could someone have lured her away for their own reasons?” Li Zi Jie sounded worried. “Should we go look for her? Maybe she should’ve just stayed in the tavern recently, not gone out at all…”

“She’s fine,” Si Qun said softly, watching the fire crackle in front of him.

“Hm? How do you know that?” Li Zi Jie jumped—Si Qun rarely spoke, and suddenly hearing his voice startled her.

Si Qun was a weird little guy. He rarely talked, but when he did, it was always strange and cryptic.

“Oh, right.” Li Zi Jie suddenly remembered something and leaned in close to whisper, “If your brother comes looking for you soon, hide. Don’t let him find you.”

Si Qun looked up at her, his eyes reflecting the firelight.

“He’s going crazy trying to find Yuan,” Li Zi Jie said quietly. “People always lose it a bit when they’re close to death. I’m afraid he’ll do something to you. Just hide and don’t let him see you.”

“…Okay.” Si Qun responded softly.

Back on the other side, Yuan Yuanyuan was about to collapse. Her arms were sore beyond belief. She wanted nothing more than to knock everyone out and pull out her usual dagger to end this quickly.

Meanwhile, Gao Ling was growing more and more suspicious of Yuan Yuanyuan. There was something she couldn’t quite put her finger on—just one thin layer of veil away from understanding…

The person hadn’t really tried to conceal anything while speaking. But her words were full of implications and vagueness. A normal person might not catch it, but Gao Ling wasn’t normal.

Her ears were perked up, hands still working through the brambles. With a crisp snap, one thorn finally broke off.