The encounter with that masked man had left a big impact on Yuan Yuanyuan… so much so that she hid in her house for two whole days before daring to go out again.
On Saturday, Yuan Yuanyuan went back to work. After washing twice as many dishes as usual, Li Zi Jie tugged on her sleeve and quietly led her out through the back door.
Yuan Yuanyuan followed, clueless, until she was brought to a street she rarely visited. It wasn’t until she arrived that she realized it was actually a kind of marketplace.
Li Zi Jie had brought her there to see if there was anything to help her physically—she thought it was weird that Yuan Yuanyuan had passed out for three straight days.
The East Gate Market was a place where demons gathered, mostly a night market. Though far from the city center, it was the closest market to the tavern. They walked to a large open plaza, which had once been a small bus terminal. Since the construction of the new station, it had been abandoned for nearly a decade.
This was Yuan Yuanyuan’s first time there. With work and training draining her time, and her not fitting well into the demon world, she’d never had the chance to explore. As soon as she stepped into the wide square, she was dumbfounded. In the dim night, ghostly green flames floated in the air, and the place buzzed like it was broad daylight.
Looking out over the crowd, it felt like she’d stepped into some bizarre version of a village fair. Strange-looking demons bustled around, shouting to advertise their wares.
She walked a narrow path between packed stalls, eyes wide like a country bumpkin entering a palace.
“Latest demon spell manuals! Two thousand per copy! You can trade spirit beads or other manuals…”
“Pair of freshly caught blue-gold rats, lively and squirmy! Hey, miss, come take a look—cute little mice!”
The booths were uniquely decorated, each like something from a demon folktale.
“They’re even using human RMB here?” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered, seeing someone pull out a gold iPhone. The sight was so absurd it felt like a comedy sketch.
“There’s no fixed currency here,” said Li Zi Jie. “As long as what you offer pleases the seller, it’s good enough—RMB, spirit beads, trinkets… Some old monsters even pay with gold. What a demon uses for currency can tell you a lot about them.”
Yuan Yuanyuan couldn’t help but think—no wonder the demon world couldn’t surpass the human world… they couldn’t even settle on a unified currency. Hadn’t Qin Shi Huang unified currency first when building an empire?
Surrounded by eerie green flames, she quickly began to feel dizzy.
Li Zi Jie, obviously familiar with the place, walked deeper into the market. But Yuan Yuanyuan fell behind, and within seconds, she was swarmed by a crowd of demons, each trying to push their wares.
“Come take a look, miss! This warm jade stone’s perfect for you…”
“Hey, don’t leave! I’ve got enchanted clothes stitched with defensive spells. They’ll look great on you!”
“Excuse me, excuse me! Sorry!” Yuan Yuanyuan panicked as she squeezed through the crowd, several hands grabbing at her clothes. She rushed back to Li Zi Jie, who looked over and said sternly, “What were you doing? Stick close.”
“Y-yes, ma’am,” Yuan Yuanyuan nodded quickly.
Li Zi Jie led her to a black tent embroidered with lotus flowers. She went inside, telling Yuan Yuanyuan to wait. Yuan Yuanyuan stood outside, rubbing her hands together.
It was so freaking cold.
No, she wasn’t imagining it—her breath came out as white mist. For some reason, wherever demons gathered, the temperature dropped, even if there were fire-type demons nearby.
After a while, the tent flap lifted. Li Zi Jie stuck her head out and called, “Come in. The shopkeeper wants to check your condition.”
As Yuan Yuanyuan stepped forward, a long silk thread suddenly flew out and wrapped around her wrist. She froze.
The thread stayed for less than thirty seconds before retracting. Li Zi Jie disappeared back into the tent. After another minute or so, she emerged with a large lotus leaf and tossed it to Yuan Yuanyuan.
“Take this. One packet per day. The cost comes out of your wages.”
Back in the tavern’s kitchen, Yuan Yuanyuan opened the lotus leaf package. She figured her three-day coma was just anemia. If it was deeper than that, she doubted anyone could tell anyway. She still had faith in Ji Qiu.
Inside the lotus leaf was a massive shell—so large she had to use both hands to hold it. Opening it revealed a collection of small, colorful shells packed tightly together.
Li Zi Jie said, “No rush. You can make spirit beads whenever. This won’t delay anything.”
Yuan Yuanyuan picked up a tiny shell and pried it open. Inside was a small pill, bitter in smell.
So this was demon medicine?
She grabbed a glass of water, swallowed two pills, then casually tossed the shell to Si Qun to play with.
“Hey, check the comic update yet?” she asked.
Since their appearance in Yaoji, Si Qun had become especially attentive to new chapters. Yuan Yuanyuan waited patiently. When the clock hit 2 a.m., she opened the app—and sure enough, there she was, back in the pages.
As her scene came up, she sighed and tossed her phone to Li Zi Jie. She crouched beside Si Qun, playing with shells.
Li Zi Jie stared at the dark comic panel. The masked man spoke coldly:
“I thought you were long dead.”
“Since you’re alive, do you still want to go back?”
The comic’s “Yuan” had a distant, emotionless expression—almost cold. His downcast phoenix eyes were half-covered by bangs, hiding any hint of emotion.
Yuan Yuanyuan, meanwhile, washed shells with a calm face, already bracing herself. She’d made sure not to show any emotion at the time, fearing it’d be drawn.
An old comrade reunion? After one vanishes for years?
Readers would go wild with theories.
Even Yuan Yuanyuan couldn’t help but imagine a few.
[“Oof… are we about to see a showdown?”]
[“Not yet, but it feels close.”]
[“Yuan’s still angry, but he looks so… delicate? No wonder people call him Yuan-er-niang.”]
[“Hey! He’s got a majestic vibe, alright? Super high-level demon energy and all that.”]
[“It’s just that he’s so thin… and with that face… even his cold lines feel kinda sad. It’s hard not to feel bad for him.”]
[“Right? He’s an ancient big shot, but Ji Qiu draws him so tragic lately…”]
[“He’s got this strange aura… Maybe it’s a ‘you had to be there’ thing, but I kinda wanna give him a hug.”]
[“You girls are wild. If that badass demon found out you were saying this, he’d probably cough blood.”]
Where was the pitiful part, exactly? Yuan Yuanyuan couldn’t see it herself.
Maybe it was the red jade—readers had mistaken her for someone else. As for the different face, perhaps the original demon had been good at shapeshifting too.
After Li Zi Jie finished the comic, she handed back the phone and said, “Good thing Si Qun only got drawn once. Let someone else get dragged into this mess. We’re staying out of it.”
“Why? Isn’t it normal for people to get drawn into these things?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked.
“This time is different,” Li Zi Jie replied cryptically.
Yuan Yuanyuan wanted to dig further, but seeing Li Zi Jie keep quiet, she let it go.
Later, she crouched next to Si Qun and whispered, “Hey, what did your sister mean?”
“She said Ji Qiu’s comic is… bad,” Si Qun blinked up at her with innocent eyes.
Yuan Yuanyuan ruffled his messy hair. His answer was vague, but he looked so earnest she didn’t press.
Back home, she sat on her bed and replayed that masked man’s words.
War. Death. Graves. Winning the lottery. Surviving.
Piecing it together—it all sounded like the story of a demon soldier from a great war who survived by doing something… questionable.
That’s probably why he was called a coward. A traitor.
Yuan Yuanyuan touched the jade at her chest. If she remembered correctly, Ji Qiu once said she was “filling in” for a tragic side character… meaning the jade probably belonged to that deserter.
But… what was that demon like?
She figured some demons had to know what happened back then. But judging by their reactions, they were clearly avoiding the topic.
It must have been a big deal. That’s why Li Zi Jie warned her not to get involved.
But what if she was already involved?
Yuan Yuanyuan sat up abruptly. Doing nothing might be the safest, but the longer she delayed, the riskier it became.
Better to investigate the truth herself than stumble in the dark.
The next day, she went to work an hour early and returned alone to the abandoned terminal market.
Wearing a black jacket and a dust mask, she had disguised herself again.
Since practicing the blood jade spell, she noticed she carried a faint trace of blood aura, which demons with sharp senses would definitely notice.
She browsed stall after stall, casually flipping through spell manuals. Most were probably junk, but she had a specific goal—some spellbooks included travel notes.
She was hoping to find something—anything—connected to that war.
As she wandered, she unknowingly circled back to the same spot she and Li Zi Jie visited the other night.
Looking at the tent embroidered with black lotus flowers, she kept her head down, flipping through books.
Just then, the tent flap lifted slightly. A girl wearing a lotus on her head poked out. Her eyes were a vivid, piercing blue.
She sniffed the air and turned her gaze toward a nearby stall.
Something smelled… strange.
Little Pink Starfish 
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