Little Pink Starfish

“Yuan hasn’t shown up in so long, he only popped up that once to save the male lead.”
“Yeah, and then vanished without a sound… it’s honestly heartbreaking.”
“Honestly, I kinda ship Yuan and the male lead… I don’t know why, but after Yuan saved him, I just… kept feeling there was something more going on.”
“What more? It’s just a regular bro-saving-a-bro moment. What’s wrong with you people? You’re making the comment section unbearable.”
“A bunch of fujoshis getting off on this nonsense. Can’t you keep those fantasies to yourselves?”
“Oh, I see—you can speak, but we can’t? How big is your ego?”

As always, the forums were in a mess of daily arguments. Hei Hongse had been lurking for a while before finally messaging in the group chat:

“Too scary. Thank god most demons don’t browse Tieba. It’s just us weirdos.”

“What happened? What’s scary?” the group admin popped up to ask.

“People are fighting in the forum again—over Yuan,” Hei Hongse said. “I’ve noticed anything involving Yuan tends to spark fights. Why is that?”

“Hmm… not sure,” the admin replied. “Maybe because of his face? He caused plenty of drama back then too.”

“Ugh, whatever. Are you going to C City?”

“I want to, but it’s too dangerous right now. My family won’t let me.”

Recently, countless demons from all directions had swarmed into C City. If you peeked out your window late at night, you’d notice even the stars in the sky looked dimmer.

Shadows floated eerily through the air… accompanied by strange, quiet sounds. Those particularly sensitive to such things might feel that something was off these past few days.

Yuan Yuanyuan had spent the entire night in a nursery. The next morning, she returned on a public bus, dusty and disheveled. She startled the driver when she got on—her clothes were fine, and her face was clean, but her hair was clumped and dirty, filled with soil.

She collapsed into the last seat of the bus, half-asleep, and only snapped awake when she realized she was almost home.

The bus was packed, yet no one dared sit next to her.

She mumbled apologies and got off, stumbled into her home, and immediately went into the bathroom. She grabbed the shampoo and started scrubbing the dirt out of her hair.

One basin of water turned muddy instantly. She ended up using three full basins to get her hair clean.

After finishing, she washed the clothes she wore the night before, hung them up to dry, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Apparently… this thing wasn’t so easy to train.

Yuan Yuanyuan had always been a quick learner. Everything she’d practiced so far came naturally. But this… this had her stuck.

She’d been buried in soil all day yesterday, constantly repeating the cycle: dig—bury—dig—bury. She’d exhausted herself completely.

The worst moment? She sank up to her chest, couldn’t breathe, and had to claw her way to the shovel and dig herself out, gasping by the time she emerged.

She almost died out there. If she’d been buried by Emperor Qin, maybe she could argue her way into the afterlife. But buried by herself? She’d just become a laughingstock for the underworld reapers.

After all that, not only did she not feel more confident—she felt anxious as hell. She now fully understood that this wasn’t something you could just push through with effort alone.

There were two huge obstacles she needed to overcome:

1. Fear of being buried alive, and
2. Fear of losing control / falling.

Both terrified her.

The thought of being buried alive… Every time she sank to her waist, her instincts screamed:

“You’re going under! You’re going under!”

What if the chant went wrong and she got trapped underground?
What if no one ever found her body in that deserted field? She’d just rot there… a natural grave.

Every time she thought of that, she’d panic and claw her way out. Then she’d regret it.
And the more she regretted it, the more flustered she became.

Then there was the loss of control. It’s like why most people don’t go bungee jumping.

The moment you leap, your whole body goes cold. Blood and even urine feel like they’re rushing backward. Your brain sounds the alarm. If you’re particularly sensitive, you might even wet yourself.

Yuan Yuanyuan clutched her little backpack, deep in thought. What should she do tonight?

At first, she’d thought she could master it quickly. It wasn’t about effort—it was about overcoming fear.

But how?

Only twenty days left until the 15th…

She looked up at the moon, and just then, a dark cloud drifted past, covering part of it.

The night… didn’t feel quite right.

She walked to the fridge—

Outside, under the moonlight, there were whispers. Soft, almost like rustling wind…

“Where do you think he is?”
“No idea. He’s hiding deep. A demon that powerful—if he wants to hide, no one’s going to find him.”
“Sigh…”

C City was crawling with demons, each using their own methods to search for this powerful demon—Yuan—and guess his identity.

Demons didn’t just use forums or message boards. They gathered offline too, holding parades or mingling in taverns, where information flowed freely.

In the pitch-black woods, a figure was digging furiously. She dug a hole just large enough to fit a person, compared it to her body—

Yup. Just big enough to bury herself.

Yuan Yuanyuan sighed, wiped her sweat, and stared at the deep pit.

If she couldn’t master the technique in 20 days… she was dead.

So maybe… better to just get it over with?

She’d thought about it all day and had a sudden realization:

If I’m gonna die anyway, maybe I should just get it over with myself.

That kind of thinking… was definitely a step toward becoming a masochist.

She looked down at the hole—no nearby villages or houses. About two meters deep. Deep enough to bury a person.

She clenched her teeth, jumped in, and landed with the ground above her head.

Let’s try again.
No turning back. Die now or die later—it’s still death.

It’s like never studying until the night before an exam, or never writing homework until the deadline. This was probably the same.
Except, well… the consequences were a bit more severe.

Yuan Yuanyuan closed her eyes and began chanting the incantation.
Instantly, the sensation of falling returned—and she sank into the earth.

For a moment, she wanted to scream. But she forced herself to hold back.
Countless thoughts rushed to her head.
She had buried herself.

Don’t panic! Don’t panic! she screamed internally.

The sensation of weightlessness was overwhelming. She didn’t even dare open her eyes, afraid of what she might see.

But soon, an unexpected comfort slowly crept in—replacing the fear.

She opened her eyes and looked around.

Her body… had vanished.

At that moment, in the sky above, a blood-red cloud suddenly appeared—like a splash of crimson across the dark heavens.

People nearby gasped and turned to look.

The red cloud was like sunset…
Except it was deep night.

“What the hell is that?” one man asked, standing up from a pavilion where a few others were drinking warm wine.

“Who knows… what do you think?” he asked the serving girl beside him.

The girl giggled, dodging his hand, and replied thoughtfully, “I think… he looks a lot like Ruhua.”

“You think so too?” the man asked. “Most people think it’s him. Others guess it might be Qingqing… or Liang Ping. All possible.”

“No, I still think it’s Ruhua,” another chimed in. “So many people think it’s him—it has to be.”

“Actually…” the first man took another sip of wine, “there was one more name. But no one would think of him.”

“Who?”

Meanwhile, underground, Yuan Yuanyuan had no idea how long she’d been falling. It felt like she was tunneling into the planet’s core.

She finally opened her eyes and observed her surroundings.

A strange, soothing sensation washed over her, replacing the panic from earlier.

And she realized—
Her body was gone.

Aboveground, the blood-red cloud lingered, casting a surreal glow. People—humans and demons alike—stood up, staring in awe at the sky…