You Look Like You’re Drawing Me

Demons was a manga drawn by a new artist called Ji Qiu. No one’s heard of Ji Qiu until a month back; he seemed to have suddenly appeared out of no where, and landed himself a seat among the hottest trending mangas on the app.

Ever since she became a demon herself, Yuan Yuan Yuan lost interest in reading demon related manga. Despite so, she still gave in to her curiousity, and checked out the manga dangling before her eyes on the trending front page every time she opened the app. 

If you were to ask why Yuan Yuan Yuan liked this manga, her reply would be — the demons in the manga were really realistic.

Uncannily so. 

Yuan Yuan Yuan looked at the manga; sometimes she wondered if the artist drew the demons based on someone real. In fact, she’d even wondered for a while whether the artist was a demon him or herself, and one day was struck with a sudden adrenaline and drive to barge into the mortal realm and leave in his or her wake an artwork like this.

Honestly speaking, there were a lot of very powerful and insanely talented demons that would be well-versed in the four traditional Chinese arts*. After all, they’d lived for so long — a good portion of them have been around since the ancient times. 

* 琴棋书画 the four arts: zither, Go, calligraphy, painting

But those demons that really did live that long… probably won’t be so free to produce something like this. 

She looked at the phone in her hands, mincing her lips togther. In the romance novels she’d read in the past, demons would be able to get along harmoniously with humans, not only so, the former were very eager to assimilate themselves into the human society, and would even try their hands at falling in love. Back in the days, she’d have found this so adorable, but the more she thought about this now, the more ridiculous it seemed. 

It’s not that she’s not a romantic, it’s just that she finally learnt what it’s like here only after she became a demon herself — the well-known grand demons were never around enough to be found, the lesser demons would be too busy trying to eke out a living. The hierarchy among the demons was as stifling as that back in a feudal society; the majority of the demons had it difficult.

Yuan Yuan Yuan went to pour herself a cup of milk in the kitchen before lying herself back on her bed. The more she thought about it, the more absurd and unfortunate it all seemed. Having grown up as in socialist society, she’d never expected life to revert back to feudalism. 

She’d not gotten over this, in fact she’d been chewing on this for years. It’s only recently did she finally decide to shelf this. 

Yuan Yuan Yuan took a sip of milk, the residue of the milk leaving a mark on her nose. She looked at the drawing on her screen; a girl in red laid in a pool of blood. Her raven hair splayed out behind her down her back, her entire being was doused in blood.

The girl seemed to be staring ahead. She had a pair of deep, bottomless eyes, with the tails of her eye tilting upwards. As though a red Queen of the Night flower, her crimson dress was as beautiful a bloom as it was a swift wither. 

As Yuan Yuan Yuan drank her milk, she observed the girl on the manga. It was evident that the artist favoured this character very much. Ji Qiu had dedicated an entire page to drawing her; Yuan Yuan Yuan’s entire screen was splashed with red, black and a mix of both colours. It was overflowingly rich, and so realistically textured, as though you’d personally witnessed the death of the character.

If such a grand demon were to truly exist… Yuan Yuan Yuan could not imagine how it would have been when the demon died. ♢ YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’RE DRAWING ME, CHAPTER 02 is hosted at ZHANLANN.COM ♢

Suddenly, Yuan Yuan Yuan felt a little cold, and frightened, as though a shiver just ran itself down her back and through her entire body, leaving in its wake a sense of numbness.

She flipped the page, ready to read what happened next. Suddenly, a wild series of knocks sounded at her door.

“Who is it?” Yuan Yuan Yuan got up and grabbed the dagger that had been stored beside her bed as she shouted.

It was almost close to eleven at night. People usually don’t visit at such a timing, so she had no idea who would be at the door.

Her heart trembling, she got off her bed. She paused for a moment as she neared the door, before recalling the rune that Sister Xue had drew on her door. At that, she found that she’d managed to gather a little more courage than a moment before as she inched over to the door. 

To her surprise, the person knocking on her door was her neighbour.

“Yuan Yuan! Yuan Yuan are you there?” Banging sounds came from the knocks. As Yuan Yuan Yuan listened to the familiar voice, she slowly opened her door. A woman shoved herself in from outside; she was wearing a black coat, and her hair was drenched. Worry colouring her face, she asked: “Yuan Yuan, have you seen our Xiao Ying?”

“Xiao Ying?” Yuan Yuan Yuan paused, “she’s still not back?”

Xiao Ying was Yuan Yuan Yuan’s neighbour’s child. While Yuan Yuan Yuan had to pay demon rent every quarter, the neighbourhood she stayed in was filled with humans. Her neighbour for one was a pure human.

“No she’s not, I went to pick her up at her tuition place, but I didn’t find her; her teacher said she left after class, but she’s not picking up her phone.”

“…” Yuan Yuan Yuan looked out at the sky outside, it was raining today; she could smell a faint fishy smell.

“Yuan Yuan, I’m gonna head out with her dad to look for her, can you help me keep a lookout here, if Xiao Ying’s back, please call me immediately.” After speaking, her neighbour turned to leave, leaving a stunned Yuan Yuan Yuan in her wake. “Hold on! Aunt! Aunt! Come back first! It’s still raining outside! You should call the police first!”

Her neighbour was already a distance away, “we called the police earlier!”

Yuan Yuan Yuan stood at her door, flabberghasted. She figured that it won’t be of use even if they did call the police.

The wiff of fishy stench outside grew stronger by the minute, Yuan Yuan Yuan had noticed it for a long while now, but she didn’t go out. It was usually best if you don’t get yourself involved in other demon’s business, especially when it came to things like hunting.

The rule around here was — they were not allowed to hunt or kill demons that were quiet and obedient. But if it escalated into a private or underground battle between demons, their head demon was not going to meddle.

She’d stuck to this rule religiously for the entire year she’d been here so far. She’d never went out at night. Rather than a defense enchantment, the rune drawn on her door was more like an insignia of her identity, one that spelt that she was a legal resident, and she was under the protection of their head. 

Of course if it was a private conflict, then the rune was as good as nothing; the other demon would be able to enter her residence without obstruction and kill her without worrying about any form of punishment. 

Though she hadn’t joined the demon society for long, as a half-demon, Yuan Yuan Yuan still knew of these unspoken rules. Though she was only a half-demon, she was definitely not the kind to cook up any trouble. But today… they were people she knew.

Yuan Yuan Yuan closed the door and stood in the hallway, a sudden sense of loss engulfed her for the first time. This was probably the worst possible situation that had ever happen to her; it was even worse than being chased by a bird-faced idiot that had discrimnated against her for being a half-demon in the middle of the damn night.

She stood there for a very, very long time, so long as though she’d become solidified into a statue, so long until the voice-activated lights outside switched itself off, before she suddenly flew into action.

Yuan Yuan Yuan didn’t return to her bedroom to continue reading the manga. Instead, she dashed over to her closet and started rummaging through her clothes. As she dug through, pieces of clothing not to her desire gradually filled the floor. 

After digging around for a few minutes, Yuan Yuan Yuan finally found a black windbreaker, and held it up against her to check if it fitted.

The windbreaker used to be her dad’s, so it was very very large, large enough to submerge her head and entire body within its material to the point that she’d be unrecognisable.

Yuan Yuan Yuan covered her face with one hand and rubbed. Three seconds later, she looked up again.

She now had a very different face.

…she should still give it a go.

Yuan Yuan Yuan shrugged on the windbreaker, her gaze sharpening instantly as a tinge of red climbed up the edge of her eyes.

A breeze flitted past outside the window… as though someone had quietly sneaked in and witnessed the changed Yuan Yuan Yuan.

In a swirling mix of blacks and reds, the scene suddenly froze itself, emerging on a piece of drawing paper.