The Secret Under the Red Moon

Shen Ruoshuang hid herself well. By day, she was the most unremarkable ordinary girl in the city, wearing a mask to squeeze onto the subway, ordering takeout, binge-watching shows. No one knew that in the woods outside the city, she would shed all her disguises, revealing those crimson eyes and sharp fangs. Until her best friend—Lin Wantang, who seemed carefree but always had a knack for diving headfirst into danger—stumbled upon her hunting in the forest on an evening that shouldn't have happened. Shen Ruoshuang thought she would scream, would run, would see her as a monster like everyone else. But Lin Wantang didn't. She just stood there, the blood-red sunset reflected in her eyes, her entire body seeming to be bathed in that twilight glow, frozen in place. And then, the corners of Lin Wantang's mouth curved into something. She smiled. "Ruoshuang," she said, "you look really cool like this."