Little Pink Starfish

Things had stabilized on the Demon Chronicles side. If Yuan Yuanyuan had still held some doubts about whether the person she was currently pretending to be was Yi Qi, then after the release of the special edition, she was now completely, absolutely certain.

The tragic supporting male character she was playing was, indeed, Yi Qi.

Ji Qiu’s foreshadowing had been laid out for that long… Starting from a few issues ago. To say this character wasn’t important? Even she didn’t believe that herself.

But right now, this tragic male supporting character was still seen as a tragic female by fans… a bunch of fanboys were still treating “her” like a goddess… cough.

All she could say was, thank goodness this character was a minor supporting role. If it had been someone like Tohru Honda suddenly switching genders, the readers would probably have collectively lost their minds.

Yuan Yuanyuan was a little stressed. She had no idea what Ji Qiu’s intentions were. Was he trying to forcibly pin Yi Qi’s past onto Yuan’s identity? Or what? Honestly, if he really did merge Yi Qi and Yuan into one character… it wasn’t impossible.

It just felt weird. Kind of like using a dog’s tail to complete a mink coat. Or like being a body double in a movie’s nude scene and then having audiences rave about how great the lead’s body looked…

When she left the house, Yuan Yuanyuan lit three sticks of incense at her little burner.

One for the heavens, one for the earth, and the last for Yi Qi—wherever he was now, dead or alive.

She slung on her small backpack, took the bus, transferred twice, and finally arrived at the train station to pick up their group chat’s ever-informed admin.

The group admin was supposedly a very energetic male demon, and this time he was bringing all his luggage to move in with Yuan Yuanyuan.

At first, his family wouldn’t let him go. But he tricked them by saying he had friends in C City. When they hesitated, he pulled out screenshots of his chats with Yuan Yuanyuan and somehow, somehow, managed to convince them.

Yuan Yuanyuan stood at the station holding a sign that read “Jixiangyu,” quietly waiting for the admin to get off the train.

Jixiangyu was his name. When she first heard it, she thought it was really weird and even asked if his surname was Ji or Jixiang. Turned out, according to Heihongse, he was from a well-known Ji-surnamed family in the demon world.

In her impression, the group admin had always seemed like a rough-speaking guy, but it turned out his background was pretty impressive.

Thinking about it, it made sense. If his family wasn’t prominent, how else could he have had access to so much information on the Blood Jade Demon Army?

But this guy didn’t act like some aristocratic young master. In the group chat, he was always dropping “WTF” and “666,” constantly spamming anime memes and even tossing in the occasional NSFW pic…

Sometimes when Yuan Yuanyuan scrolled through the chat, she really couldn’t tell that the two people on the other end were actual demons. They seemed more human than she was.

While she was mulling that over, the train pulled in. Yuan Yuanyuan immediately held up her sign and stared at Carriage 16.

The train slowed to a stop in front of her, and a stream of people poured out with their luggage. Yuan Yuanyuan kept her eyes on Carriage 16. The first person to step out was a handsome young man. He glanced around, spotted her, and walked toward her.

Demons who’ve transformed always stood out more than humans. Unless a transformation failed, most of them looked pretty good.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s eyes lit up. The young man had a warm, gentlemanly smile, wore a long trench coat and a scarf. He gave off such a pleasant vibe—one of those people who would stand out in any crowd. Even the train attendant at the door sneaked a look at him.

Wow, group admin. You’re out here posting NSFW stuff in group chats, but in real life, you look this good? Talk about deceptive packaging. No wonder you’re from a prominent family.

Yuan Yuanyuan clicked her tongue in admiration. These noble-born demons all had such impressive “masks.” Even that big shot she’d met in the tavern before had looked like an immortal in plain clothes. They were all masters at putting on a show.

She saw he was dragging two suitcases and walked over to help, but just then, the warm-looking guy veered off—walking in the opposite direction.

Huh? Not him? Then who?

Yuan Yuanyuan blinked and kept holding up her sign.

About five minutes later, with most passengers off the train, a man in a beige oversized sweater and black-and-white cow-print pants stepped down.

He was carrying a suitcase and coughing like he was about to hack up a lung. He glanced up and walked toward her.

No way…

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the man in the sweater. After seeing the guy before, this drop in appearance hit hard.

The man coughed as he walked until he reached Yuan Yuanyuan. He looked at her, paused, and said, “…Red—Red Sleeve?”

“Ah…” Yuan Yuanyuan replied instinctively. Then she realized it sounded kind of rude, quickly took his suitcase, and said, “Here, let me help you with that.”

Cough cough “No, no need.” The admin was red in the face from coughing. “You… you’re that Red Sleeve?”

“Yeah, I work at the tavern. The one that got attacked that day? That was the one I work at,” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

“Ohhh—!” the admin lit up. “Didn’t expect to meet a celebrity just like that! Cough cough… This is wild. When I was reading the comic, I thought Red Sleeve would be some cool, aloof big sis type. Never thought she’d be the same person who spams in our chat group. Such a small world.”

Yuan Yuanyuan was speechless. The admin’s face was especially pale—not a healthy pale, but a sickly one. His features were nice—demons never had ugly faces—but his expression was gloomy.

Especially his eyes—more black than white, like nothing was behind them. Empty.

He didn’t seem like a very friendly person.

Yuan Yuanyuan hailed a cab and helped load his ridiculously heavy suitcase. She’d originally planned to find him a hotel, but then thought—forget it. He was a demon after all, and C City’s strays were dangerous, especially with how sickly he looked…

Her place was shabby, but at least it was registered with the local boss. Most demons wouldn’t dare mess around there.

After a 40-minute ride, she brought him home, helped him inside with the suitcase, and then went out to buy groceries.

Guests meant good food. It was how she was raised—even if she didn’t have much money.

She counted her wages, bought a chicken, some meat, veggies, sesame sauce… figured she’d make a light hot pot.

But the moment she opened the door, a bitter medicinal scent hit her in the face, stunning her.

The smell… it was bitter, really bitter. Slightly fragrant, but only barely.

Yuan Yuanyuan, bewildered, walked into the guest room. She opened the door and saw Jixiangyu sitting cross-legged on the bed, surrounded by pill bottles. His suitcase was open—inside, only one change of clothes, toiletries, and… that was it.

“Three, four…” he was counting pills. They were all huge herbal capsules, just looking at them made her tongue go dry.

He glanced up at her but didn’t stop. “Sorry, I’m not very healthy. Gotta take my meds every day.”

“No worries, go ahead.” Yuan Yuanyuan sat on the bed and watched him count pills for ten minutes—two massive handfuls—then wash them down with water.

Yuan Yuanyuan cringed just watching him. Jixiangyu sighed, “Okay, all done. Big task completed. What’s for dinner?”

“…You just took enough pills to count as a full meal, and you still want dinner?” Yuan Yuanyuan was exasperated. “Seriously though, with your health like this, how did your family let you out?”

“Talked my way out,” he waved. “I’m good at that.”

That was when Yuan Yuanyuan finally caught a glimpse of their group admin’s vibe—the same guy who posted memes and NSFW pics. Honestly, his looks were more gloomy-Goth than anything. Definitely the mysterious, quiet type. Totally didn’t fit the horny meme persona…

Later, while Yuan Yuanyuan was butchering the chicken, she overheard Jixiangyu muttering prayers to her little incense burner. He was holding sticks of incense too.

Yuan Yuanyuan listened in while collecting the chicken blood.

“Please let me successfully witness this duel. Let me at least be able to breathe while I’m there…”

“Please, I’ll pray sincerely! I even brought red paper—I’ll put it over the bed to ward off evil…”

“It’ll work out! I’ll survive to make it home! My brothers and sisters are still waiting for me! Hahaha—cough cough…”

…

Oh my god!!!!!

Yuan Yuanyuan, still holding the chicken, instantly went full “rage comic face.”

Is this guy planning to die in my house?!

She paused for three seconds, then quietly picked up the bowl of chicken blood to freeze it.

For protection.

The 15th of next month was approaching fast. Yuan Yuanyuan had finished training her ultimate move, so she wasn’t worried.

Jixiangyu stayed for a week. Didn’t go out, didn’t cause trouble, was basically invisible—except that bitter medicine smell. Yuan Yuanyuan never asked what was wrong. She figured if he wanted to talk, he would.

And so, in this calm before the storm, a certain fan artist published her first Demon Chronicles doujinshi on a small site…

And thus began her legendary journey.