From the Start, Grilling Squid: I Can Tell at a Glance When the Campus Belle Will Die

[Urban fantasy, play the pig to eat the tiger, multiple heroines, supernatural powers, suspense] I’ve spent ten years grilling squid at the night market, and I’m so broke I can’t even pay my rent. Then my left eye twitches, and I see that the stall owner next door will be blown to pieces in three hours. I kick over his grill. I save his life, but my hand is ruined. Silver threads begin burrowing beneath my skin, and the first paper-like mark appears on my back. A voice in my head tells me I have 107 more chances to survive. A nurse, a flight attendant, a fitness trainer, a female detective, a funeral director, and a vendor who sells grilled cold noodles all come looking for me. They say the fortunes above their heads are tied to the flames on my skewers. The flight attendant has a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, and her smile is lovely. But she’s a spy sent by the Kiku Sect. The owner of the Japanese restaurant across the street hands me a yellow chrysanthemum and says that each petal that falls will claim a life. I tell him, “Extra chili costs two yuan. Reading your complexion costs extra. If you won’t pay, then I’m done.” A grilled-squid vendor takes on the Japanese evil cult, the Kiku Sect, all by himself. Six women are fighting over him, and one of them is a mole.