Little Pink Starfish

It had been more than a week since the incident with the man in black.

During this time, Jiqiu had released two more chapters of Monster Chronicles, and Yuan Yuanyuan kept a close eye on the updates, curious about what was going to happen with the exorcist.

Honestly speaking, she was secretly hoping that the exorcist would just leave already. As long as he stuck around, she felt constantly on edge.

After all, that was an exorcist — and if she was right, a full-fledged Taoist. Having a Taoist lurking around was enough to give any yokai the creeps.

Not to mention, the Taoist had a mysterious shadow — the artist “Jiqiu.” The comic revolved around this exorcist as the main character. Logically, if her interactions with him decreased, then her appearances in the comic would also drop off.

Over the past few days, Yuan Yuanyuan had prayed to the Buddha, made offerings to Guanyin, and was one step away from visiting that scammy temple in the suburbs to draw a fortune stick…

But as always, things didn’t go as planned. As she flipped through the latest chapters, she felt an overwhelming urge to cover her face.

Instead of leaving after seeing the defeated monster, the exorcist found an excuse to stay in the city.

For an exorcist, staying here should be extremely dangerous. But then again, this city wasn’t called “Chaos City” for nothing. As long as your power was strong enough, you could do whatever you wanted — bring a whole team of exorcists if you liked, so long as you made it out alive.

The exorcist was still in the rookie stage. After all, the manga had only been running for a little over a month. Typical shonen-style development meant he’d level up gradually. Even Naruto didn’t become Hokage overnight, right?

Right now, this guy was at the phase where he’d just made a few good friends. No “I’ll beat the gods and destroy the heavens” signs yet. But since he was the protagonist, he naturally had some kind of special talent — like the ability to completely suppress his exorcist aura.

That’s right. This dude wasn’t just talented — he was straight-up busted. Not only could he mask his identity as an exorcist, he could even disguise himself as a yokai. Imagine an undercover Taoist slipping undetected into a yokai crowd — that’s basically an A-tier spy setup.

At this point, Yuan Yuanyuan slapped a hand over her face. Great. This is just great.

If she could pick up on the hints in the comic, others probably could too — maybe even earlier than she had. And here Jiqiu was, casually drawing someone’s livelihood right into the spotlight… truly impressive.

Now Yuan Yuanyuan was scared the artist might one day, in a moment of inspiration, depict her own ability to suppress her yokai aura.

She had no idea whether the exorcist read the comic too. If he did, he might feel even more like crap than she did. At least she was a minor side character — he was the actual protagonist. No escape for him.

Yuan Yuanyuan had a pretty pessimistic take on all this. But as far as she could tell, no one else seemed to have caught on to the real-world parallels in the comic. After all, only someone inside the situation would realize what was going on. Most humans and even most yokai were still in the dark.

She had said before — yokai weren’t nearly as interesting as literature made them out to be. Most were rigid and old-fashioned. She guessed that many of them didn’t even know what a comic was, let alone read one.

The series had only been running for a short time, and the gap between the human and yokai worlds meant it hadn’t drawn wide attention yet. Even if someone did notice the parallels, Yuan Yuanyuan figured they wouldn’t say a word…

Why?

She opened the comments below the latest chapter. The top three comments had over a thousand likes each. The app’s traffic was clearly no joke — and the comic had only been out for a week.

[Comment 1]: “I think the author had Da Ning (the exorcist) stay in this city to start his level-up arc. Think about it — in a chaotic place like this, killing a monster is no big deal. Add in the protagonist’s unique skills, and this ‘Chaos City’ becomes a perfect grinding ground. Might even snag a few yokai girls along the way…
Also, I’m calling it — the black-clothed yokai is going to be an important supporting character. Judging from his attitude toward humans, he’s probably a good yokai. Maybe he’ll be the exorcist’s loyal companion. Could be some bro moments to win over the fujoshi…”

[Comment 2]: “This city looks huge. But… is it just me, or does it look a lot like where I live? Did Jiqiu base it on CC?”

[Comment 3]: “I swear that black-clothed guy’s gonna die tragically. The series has been going for just over a month, and the tension between humans and yokai is clearly high. Traitor types never end well — even if he’s absurdly handsome. Think Itachi. Think Snape. Ughhh now I miss my precious Ran-niang. Damn you, Jiqiu, you heartless beast! She was such a good girl, and you gave her that ending!”

After reading those three, Yuan Yuanyuan took a long, deep breath.

And this — this was exactly why no one would say anything.

Everyone had something to hide, and this comic laid all their secrets bare.

There was nowhere to hide, no way to avoid it.

Take her, for instance — if her “traitor” stance was exposed, she wouldn’t need to worry about rogue yokai hunting her down. Her own protector — the “boss” of this district — would be the first to rip her apart.

She had said it before: yokai… were cruel.

So everyone’s choice would be the same — hide as best you can, and don’t let anyone connect the characters in the comic to real people.

Yuan Yuanyuan told herself, No way I’m getting exposed. That one time was the last. I’ll never use that identity again.

The man in black would disappear from the world, never to show his face again.

She flipped through the latest chapter again. One panel stood out — under the dark night sky, the exorcist, now named “Fa Ning,” stood on a windowsill, looking up at the endless clouds and glowing orbs of light.

Inside those clouds hid countless yokai — some bloodthirsty, some cruel, others elegant or mysterious — all marching forward together, participating in a centuries-old tradition…

That night sky was the same Hyakki Yagyō scene Yuan Yuanyuan had seen a few days ago. It was entirely possible that she and the exorcist had stood beneath the same black sky, feeling the same chill down their spines.

Yuan Yuanyuan clicked her tongue. This artist… he was bold. If she wasn’t tangled up in this mess herself, she’d probably be applauding.

He had the guts to draw this — and do it so well. That panel transported her right back to that night, the adrenaline of feeling thousands of monsters passing overhead.

She wondered what Jiqiu’s endgame was… Maybe he’s just some ancient yokai who got bored of the world and wanted to spice things up a bit.

She shook her head, locked her phone, picked up the cosplay costume she’d made, and headed out the door.

People often think about a lot of things… except the most important. Yuan Yuanyuan was no different — she hadn’t thought about this: If the artist had risen this quickly, then he must be very good. Not just in terms of art, but in storytelling, world-building… and pacing.

There was no way a plot like “grinding through a monster city” would just be dropped halfway. And if even readers could tell the black-clothed yokai was an important supporting character, why would the artist just write him off?

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“Mm? Okay, okay, I’ll make a better-fitting one next time…” Yuan Yuanyuan said into her phone while grabbing a bottle of water at a shop.

She hung up and sighed.

Dammit, she thought. After all these years, I didn’t expect that girl to put on so much happy weight…

She looked at the costume in her hand, feeling a headache coming on. Her friend clearly couldn’t fit into it, so she had no choice but to bring it back and make a bigger one to send over.

She glanced at the sky. Looked like it was going to rain again. This city rained a lot. She picked up the pace, trying to get home before it started.

As she passed the alley by her building, she slowed. That was where she had rescued Xiaoying. Now, there was no trace of what had happened — but she remembered every detail.

She paused for just a second, then walked past it like nothing had happened.

Back home, she opened the door and flicked on the light.

The moment the light flickered on, she saw a woman sitting on her couch — pale skin, red lips, shining black eyes. The sight made her scream.

“Holy sh—!”

“What’s with the yelling?” said Sister Xue, brushing her hair back casually. “I got tired of waiting outside, so I came in.”

“Sister Xue, you scared the hell out of me.” Yuan Yuanyuan let out a breath of relief when she realized it was just her landlady. “You could’ve said something. I thought someone was here to chop me up…”

“Look at you, so jumpy,” said Sister Xue. “If one of your enemies really shows up, you’ll faint before they even make a move.”

“Can we not jinx it?” Yuan Yuanyuan walked into the kitchen, poured two glasses of water, and set one in front of Sister Xue. “So? What brings you here?”

“Not much. Just got a directive from the top, so I came by.” Sister Xue tossed a small stone over to her. “If you see the monster described here, report it immediately. There’s a reward.”

“What kind of reward… a year of free rent?” Yuan Yuanyuan caught the stone and joked.

Their area was considered one of the safer districts in the city — mostly because the boss was strong. But even so, troublemaking yokai still showed up from time to time, so underlings were asked to keep an eye out.

Yuan Yuanyuan was one of the lowest-level underlings. She’d told them from the start she was basically useless. Sister Xue had covered for her and let her stay.

She infused the stone with a bit of yokai energy. A line of text appeared mid-air — detailed and specific.

“See that?” Sister Xue said. “Anyway, I’m off.”

“Okay, take care,” Yuan Yuanyuan said, standing to walk her out.

After Sister Xue closed the door, Yuan Yuanyuan stood frozen in the living room for several minutes.

No one knew her legs had gone weak.

She tossed the stone into a drawer, her mind still replaying the words she’d just seen:

“Black hair, black eyes, delicate features, excellent combat skills. Weapon: red ropes. Report immediately upon sight.”

Her thoughts were a mess. One sentence kept echoing in her mind: “Those weren’t ropes…”

See? She wasn’t the only one who knew. If even someone at the boss’s level had caught on, then maybe… all the high-level yokai already knew.

Only the low-level ones were still in the dark.

She thought about why the boss would issue such an order — maybe because this black-clothed figure had appeared silently in his territory, powerful and apparently siding with humans. No boss could tolerate that.

So he passed down the directive — though low-level yokai like her wouldn’t understand the full implications. As for the comic… those higher-ups were definitely keeping quiet.

Yuan Yuanyuan clenched her teeth, not sure what to say.

Well, she thought, I really am loyal to the boss… seriously… it’s hard to find one this decent these days.