You Look Like You’re Drawing Me - Chapter 1

“Yuan Yuan, you haven’t paid for this term yet.”

“Oh, hold on.” A voice sounded from within the apartment. Following which, the door cracked open, its width but a thin sliver. A fair hand stretched out from within. In the hand laid three translucent red pearls. “Sister Xue, is this alright.”

An exquisite face, snow-white skin and blood-red lips, the person known as “Sister Xue” was a beautiful lady. On a rainy day as such, she appeared at this apartment, donned in a sheer dress. 

Despite the fact that a person like her appearing in such a run down residential compound should be a particularly striking sight, the voice-activated lights along the hallways remained dark. The corridor was silent as well, as though no one was there.

Sister Xue took the pearls, weighed it in her hands and said: “It’s good.” After which, she took out a calligraphy brush and drew a few strokes on the anti-theft security door.

A faint light emitted from the shabby anti-theft door before the door returned to its original, mundane appearance.

Sister Xue placed the pearls in one of her pockets at her waist, smiled and bid a farewell before turning to leave. Shortly, the slighty ajar door was lightly closed. Everything had occurred silently, without catching the attention of the surrounding neighbours. 

It was only when a sharp yowl of a stray cat that sounded from outside a few minutes later did it immediately activate the lights on the corridor. 

Her tightened muscles relaxed immediately as she laid back down on her bed again.

She was the only one in the apartment unit. The small, yellow light at her bedside shined on quietly in a warm, weak light.

It was quiet all around, only the phone that had been placed on the bed was glinting in the dark.  

The pretty lady from earlier was the “second landlord” around here; she was the person in charge of collecting “rent” for their head from the demons living around here. 

Yuan Yuan Yuan had moved into this apartment a year ago. This was a very mixed area — they had demons from all over everywhere here — perhaps both the good and the bad. Hence, this wasn’t exactly the safest area per say. With that being said, as long as you don’t head out in the middle of the night pulling something that’d get you killed, life around here was still pretty routine and basic.

As a half-demon, Yuan Yuan Yuan had spent quite some time and effort trying to find a peaceful place to settle down. Even if this area was similar to that of the demons’ slums, she was still incredibly thankful that she finally found a place she could settle down properly in. 

Provocation and fights were a common sight among demons; in addition, they were an exclusive bunch, so they weren’t the most welcoming when it came to half-demons like Yuan Yuan Yuan.

The city that Yuan Yuan Yuan was currently residing in was a demon and human mixed city. She would often jokingly call this place as “the city of freedom”. Their head was quite a decent grand demon; the rules he set was – as long as you pay your protection fees, he would protect you as long as you are living in his territory.

Hence, there are a lot of other ostracised demons like Yuan Yuan Yuan living in this area; while this was a disorderly place, there remained a certain sense of structure beneath it all.

Normal demons wouldn’t be fond of this city; only the notorious ones would truly find this place to their liking. Notorious demons referring to indiscriminate killers, or those that were on the run. 

Before becoming a demon, Yuan Yuan Yuan had previously on many occasions let her imagination about demons run wild. In the past few years however, she couldn’t even be bothered to properly figure out her own situation. There were some things that seemed riveting from the outside, but once you’re involved, everything would appear different – the blood, the cruelty, all these were pretty revolting; none of this was anywhere near the glitter and gold she had been imagining.

She’d paid the “rent” for this term… she would probably be able to live peacefully on for the next three months. 

Yuan Yuan Yuan got up and looked at the light drizzle outside. She was beyond satisfied with this place. Demons were usually active at night. However, to the former human being like herself, Yuan Yuan Yuan persisted her human biological clock and practices, and so, she’d never went out at night. 

It was night… the perfect time to “cultivate”, aka stay up late into the night. Having settled the “rent” also had her incredibly relaxed and carefree; Yuan Yuan Yuan felt that she could probably stay up till 2am in the night.

After switching on the mobile phone she’d bought from three years ago, she opened an app that she’d been using to read manga and flipped to the one that she’d been particularly obsessed with. The manga was called Demons, and it told about the story of a little demon slayer*. 

* note: this novel is not affliated to the anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba; i’ve considered using the word “exorcist”, but exorcist is more for dispelling something (evil) that has possess a person; the demons here are beings of their own and don’t possess anyone so the term “slayer” seems more accurate