Little Pink Starfish

After finishing the porridge, Yuan Yuanyuan felt a little more alive.

Just moments before, she hadn’t felt much, but now that she was starting to recover, her throat felt dry and her head was spinning. It was probably from all the blood loss—combined with three days of not eating.

Luckily, she was a half-demon. If not, she might have been dead by now.

After seeing off Li Zi Jie and Xue Jie, Yuan Yuanyuan quickly turned on her phone. She was desperate to find out what had happened over the past three days—because right now, she had absolutely no clue. It felt like someone had cut a reel of film from her memory. The only things that stuck in her head were drifting pink petals and the pitch-black night.

She unlocked her phone. Sure enough, it was Thursday.

The DreamMan app was sitting on her homescreen—its icon a cutesy little character grinning at her. Looking at that smile, Yuan Yuanyuan had the strange sense it was laughing at her.

The latest cover of Demon Notes was as colorful and otherworldly as ever, full of eerie, vivid hues. Yuan Yuanyuan tapped in, met with a sea of red. It was like Ji Qiu had upended an entire bottle of red ink and smeared it across the pages.

The chapter opened with Fan Ning arriving at Peach Blossom Alley in search of the antidote that Tong Xin had promised. But instead of Tong Xin, he found a woman in pink standing under the peach trees.

[“Peach blossoms…” Fan Ning murmured, pulling a tiny talisman from his pocket.]

[A string of complex incantations left his lips in a low whisper, like a voice brushing against one’s ear.]

The two exchanged blows—Fan Ning was clearly no match for the pink-clad woman. Just when he tried to go for another move, she suddenly looked up, distracted by something in the distance.

[Someone’s coming.]

On the next panel, a figure in a white shirt and jeans slowly stepped onto the screen.

In that moment, the memories of the past three days slammed back into Yuan Yuanyuan’s mind—drawn out by Ji Qiu’s art like a fish on a hook.

She stared at the panel, dazed. The scene was split in two. The protagonist stood on one side, she on the other. Fan Ning seemed to be able to see her through some invisible barrier, but she couldn’t see him.

Like looking through one-way glass.

And the version of “her” in the comic… didn’t feel like her at all. More like someone else.

The events that followed were exactly what she remembered.

[Pain is a good thing. It reminds you you’re alive. It burrows into your bones, into your soul, leaving memories you’ll never forget.]

The pink-clad woman smiled on the page. Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the panel of herself in the bottom-left corner—red-eyed and worn—but couldn’t find a shred of resemblance to her actual self.

Even the aura was different.

Do I… have a split personality or something? she wondered.

But she’d still been conscious during all of that…

If not for the comic, she wouldn’t have known that her eyes had turned red. Like a rabbit’s. She guessed it had something to do with that red jade spell she’d barely managed to activate.

She flipped forward, eager to see how the big demon ended up and what happened to Fan Ning.

[You’re being naughty.] The woman’s soft, sticky-sweet voice was written again.

Fan Ning clearly tried to break through the invisible divide to help her—but couldn’t. He could see what was happening on her side, but not hear a word. The readers could only “hear” the pink woman and Yuan Yuanyuan through narration, which made Fan Ning all the more anxious.

Then came the moment when Yuan Yuanyuan was called “Yuan’er-niang,” insulted for having no backbone, and even stomped on.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at it calmly. She didn’t really feel much about it now. Honestly, she was just glad she’d survived. That night, she’d been 100% sure she was going to die.

On the next page, the sky on her side of the screen suddenly erupted with red and black threads—an overwhelming tangle. And then… came the red vines.

One, two… twelve vines? Yuan Yuanyuan counted them, dumbfounded.

What the hell did I even do that night?!

Fan Ning, watching from the other side, could feel the surge of demonic energy in the air. He was frozen in shock.

[A high-level demon battle feels like this…]

Before he could react, he turned—and there was Tong Xin, the girl who’d gone missing.

[Let’s go!]

[What are you—]

[We need to leave. I have the antidote. I was being forced before. Those two over there are century-old demons—if they remember we’re here after their fight, we’re screwed.]

[Wait…]

Yuan Yuanyuan watched as the comic showed the fight dying down. Her heart tightened.

The red vines and glowing lines slowly faded. Ji Qiu had even given her a full-page close-up—surrounded by peach blossoms and red-black threads. Her eyes were blood-red, her lips bitten and bleeding.

[Don’t forget. You must not forget…]

A thought bubble hovered above the red-eyed version of her.

Petals fell.

And then, in one shocking panel, “she” got up and unleashed a full barrage of demon spells. Though static on paper, Yuan Yuanyuan could practically see the animation.

She recognized it instantly.

They were all basic demon spells.

All of them.

Each hand sign was crystal clear. Each one accompanied by softly spoken incantations. Her lips in the drawing were moving, though Ji Qiu didn’t write what she said.

Because Yuan Yuanyuan had drilled those basics into her soul, she recognized every single move.

But for those unfamiliar with the spells… they’d be utterly lost.

Because on the page, those “basic” spells looked insane. At one point, she was literally summoning a fire dragon.

Yuan Yuanyuan had never even come close to casting anything like that. When she’d practiced that fire spell in real life, she could only produce a tiny spark.

In the comic, the fire dragon roared through the illusionary realm. Fan Ning cursed aloud and dragged Tong Xin to safety.

Yuan Yuanyuan watched “herself” bombarding the scene with a whirlwind of low-level spells. The peach blossom illusion cracked and shattered like a mirror hit by a hammer.

Fan Ning and Tong Xin were totally freaked out.

So was Yuan Yuanyuan, watching from her phone.

The comic version of her suddenly sprang from the ground and hurled spell after spell—still only the basics, but each one looked enhanced like it was on steroids.

Mouth agape, Yuan Yuanyuan realized how stupid she must look and shut it. She raised her hand and formed a seal. A tiny flame danced steadily at her fingertip.

Unlike the flickering mess from before, it now burned calmly—like a tiny fire spirit.

Something had changed.

A few days ago, she’d barely been a novice. Today, it felt like her meridians had been thrown wide open.

That little flame was stable, warm, obedient.

She blew it out, gently rubbed her fingertip, and went back to the comic.

The fight ended with Fan Ning and Tong Xin retreating. The illusion barrier had shattered, so they were finally able to escape.

As they left, they glanced back.

A sea of fire engulfed the sky, like blood staining the clouds.

[Was that… a high-level demon?] Fan Ning murmured.

[That demon… I think he’s a survivor from the last war. I saw a blood jade on his chest,] Tong Xin whispered.

[What?!] Fan Ning’s eyes went wide. The panel zoomed in on his shocked expression.

And the chapter ended there.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the page, utterly confused.

She looked down at her chest—where her own jade lay. It was white now, quiet, like a lucky charm.

So plain.

She flipped to the comments. After three days, there were thousands.

[I KNEW Yuan was a badass! Didn’t expect him to be an ancient demon from the war! Top-tier boss vibes.]

[Same!! OMG Yuan is so OP! That fight scene? Insane.]

Yuan Yuanyuan said nothing.

Because, to be honest, this was the most intense demon fight she’d ever seen.

Even though she was one of the fighters, she had to admit… she’d never witnessed anything more brutal. Not even during her years on the run.

[Ji Qiu is building a massive arc! Was there really a demon war in the past?]

[There must’ve been. If humans fight, why wouldn’t demons?]

[“Lieutenant General”… Sounds like a big deal. But why wasn’t his name carved on the tombstone? Sounds sketchy. Maybe he was a deserter?]

That last theory… hit a little too close.

Honestly, Yuan Yuanyuan had thought the same thing. But that wasn’t good news for her.

Even in human society, deserters face serious consequences—no civil service, no exams… And for demons?

That could be a straight-up death sentence.

[Yuan is such an interesting character. He even saved that ghost girl a while back. There must be so much more to his story… And god, those red eyes—smoking HOT! I’m in love!]

…

Yuan Yuanyuan touched her own eyes. They were black. Clear.

She glanced at herself in the mirror—same old face, a little pale.

She hadn’t forgotten what she did.

She walked to the fridge, opened a small mirror compact, and peeked inside the container with the blood bead she’d made.

Just a glance.

When she looked back into the mirror, her eyes were completely blood-red.

…Crap.