Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan stared hard at the man above. As far as she was concerned, there was no need to fear anyone anymore. Worst-case scenario, she’d just turn into smoke and disappear.

Back when Tang Shi was still there, she had to be cautious. Now, Yuan Yuanyuan realized one of her shortcomings—she could always escape easily on her own, but if there was someone with her who couldn’t run, then things got a lot more awkward.

Thankfully, she could still rely on illusion magic to buy some time, but that was hardly a perfect solution.

As she listened, she analyzed what the man above was saying.

Yu Wu? Wasn’t Yu Wu that cocky high-ranking demon? He was actually working with these black-clad people? And judging by their words, it didn’t even sound like he was being forced into it?

More importantly—who exactly were these people in black?

Yuan Yuanyuan figured she wouldn’t be able to figure that out. She’d never seen anyone dressed like this—not in the real world, and not in any manga she’d read.

Maybe she just hadn’t seen enough of the world. But she did know one thing for sure—these people weren’t here for her as the “shopkeeper.” They were after “Yuan,” and they clearly knew something about the events from back when Yi Qi was still around.

They’d mentioned Red Sand Well—and claimed Yi Qi was no longer a threat since escaping it. Yuan Yuanyuan remembered reading about Red Sand Well before. It was supposedly a sacrificial well, one that would reduce any demon to a pile of bones.

They must have thought that even if Yi Qi escaped, he’d barely survive.

But Yuan Yuanyuan had the opposite view. She didn’t think he’d come out skin and bones. Why? Because he just flat-out died in there.

She listened to the people upstairs rifling through her things and felt her blood boiling.

Damn—who do you think you are, flipping through someone’s stuff like it’s yours? You got no shame?

Yuan Yuanyuan hated it when people messed with her stuff—especially this kind of home invasion-style mess. Just listening to them upstairs was enough to make her furious.

To be honest, Yuan Yuanyuan only acted timid when she knew she couldn’t win. But she knew her temper well—she had a short fuse. After years of surviving in the demon world, she’d learned to solve things with violence.

Because in the demon world, there was one truth she’d come to accept: reasoning was pointless. When dealing with demons, talking usually got you nowhere—fists were far more effective.

She sensed her demon energy dwindling fast. She had spent a long time using illusion spells. Now, she only had enough left to use the Heavenly Gang Earth Fiend Technique once. That gave her roughly ten minutes of action.

In other words—she had ten minutes to do what she needed to do.

That would be enough.

Her eyes locked onto a man standing right above her.

She could hear his heartbeat as clearly as if it were inside her chest.

Thump. Thump…

“Liufeng, what are you doing? There’s no one here. I’m leaving,” a burly man nearby shouted. But when he turned, he suddenly realized that “Liufeng” was no longer there.

“Liufeng?” he called again, but no one replied. As unease crept into his heart, he suddenly heard a faint noise—like a mosquito buzzing past.

But… there were no mosquitoes this time of year.

He whipped his head around and saw that the three men who had been behind him were now lying on the floor. A figure stood silently between them, calmly staring at him.

“…It’s you,” he said quietly. “Can’t you just sit down and have a nice chat with me?”

Yuan Yuanyuan listened to him talk. Honestly, the proper real-world reaction to that would’ve been: “Chat your ass. You just trashed my house, you psycho.”
But she was afraid this scene might get drawn into the manga, and if that line made it in… yeah, probably wouldn’t fit the tone too well.

So instead, she said,
“Just how weak do you think I am, for you to act so recklessly in front of me?”

See? Same meaning. Totally different mood.

She took the opportunity to glance at all the broken crap scattered across the floor.

Damn… you really didn’t hold back, huh? What kind of grudge do you even have against Yi Qi?

While Yuan Yuanyuan was trying to guess, back in C City, the demons were still gathered in a room on a mountain known as Immortal Mountain.

It was one of the few untouched mountains in C City, and the reason it remained undeveloped was that it housed many demon families.

Lots of demons had been born on that mountain. The higher-ups in C City’s demon society lived there. The mountain was ancient—unfamiliar to humans, but well-known among demons.

Many aristocratic families resided there too—including the Iron family, one of the old lineages in C City.

That night, ordinary demons in the city knew nothing about what had happened. Meanwhile, the mountain was completely sealed off.

In the Ma family courtyard, a woman wearing an elegant outfit was talking to a man.

He wore a mustard-yellow overcoat and had long hair tied back in a ponytail. Standing at the gate with arms crossed, he stared at the glowing lights of the city below.

He wasn’t especially handsome or ugly—just plain-looking. But the way he stood there exuded a gentle, scholarly air. He gave off a very comfortable vibe.

“Why go down there now?” the man said.
If Yuan Yuanyuan had been present, she would’ve been startled. She recognized that voice—it belonged to the man in black who used to randomly show up to chat with her.

But he hadn’t visited her in ages. She didn’t even know his name or where he lived.

“The mountain is sealed tight,” the man continued. “If I go down now, every demon watching this place will know within five minutes.”

“Aren’t those people from S City?” the woman in yellow asked. “Why come now?”

“It does feel like they’re looking down on us,” he replied. “But honestly, there’s not much for them to respect here either.” He looked out at the mountain’s base. “Even if I went down, it wouldn’t help. I’m just a regulator—caught in the middle. No one’s on my side, so what’s the point?”

His expression remained calm the entire time, as if none of this stirred him at all.

…

Meanwhile, back below, Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t hear any of that conversation.

She just kept watching the man in front of her. He was different from the others—the marks on the others’ hoods were three red slashes, jagged and uneven, like they’d been cut with a blade. But the mark on this guy’s hood had four.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know exactly what that meant. But she knew one thing: this guy wasn’t an ordinary demon.

She sat down on one of the few unbroken chairs and asked,
“Why are you here?”

“I hope you’ll start seeing things clearly,” the demon said. “You keep misjudging the situation. But if you fail to see clearly this time… you might find yourself in Red Sand Well.”

Before he could finish, he saw the person before him suddenly smile.

That smile was sudden and chilling. One second she was smiling—the next, a silver dagger flashed across his neck.

“You think I don’t understand the situation?” a low, magnetic voice whispered beside his ear.
“Seems like you forgot where you are. You’re on my turf now.”

“And even if I did come out of Red Sand Well—I’m not some cripple.”

…

The room went silent.

As if, after a nightmare, everything had returned to peace.

…

“I think Yuan is so cool. Even if he hasn’t done much yet, he just gives off that vibe,” a girl said as she walked with her friend to go shopping the next morning, chatting about manga and bubble tea.

“Yeah… but they haven’t really revealed anything about his past. I’m super curious. Oh, and Fa Ning’s been going through it lately. Poor guy’s like a little cabbage.”

“Honestly, I think he and Fa Ning could totally have a thing. Though I guess the official ship is probably him and that red-sweater guy.”

Tang Shi rubbed her eyes. She’d gotten up early and came here pretending to just be a random passerby—planning to sneak a peek at the shop.

If nothing seemed off, she’d go in. If it felt dangerous, she’d walk away like she was just a clueless stranger.

That was the plan… until she got to the door and saw the boss standing in the courtyard mopping the walkway.

“B-Boss?” Tang Shi stepped inside. “Where… where is everyone?”

“Mm…” Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the ground beneath Tang Shi’s feet. Tang Shi was probably standing on one of them right now, but Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t say that out loud.

“Wait? Wait?? Where did they all go overnight?” Tang Shi was completely baffled.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t answer. Instead, she handed her a rag.

“Here—wipe this down. Let’s clean up a bit. And don’t come here for the next few days.”

“Why?” Tang Shi asked. “And what about Liu An?”

“Ah… I was just thinking about that. Maybe he can rent a place for a few days?” Yuan Yuanyuan scratched her head.

She didn’t think it was a good idea to have Tang Shi or Liu An stay here right now. She needed to see how things unfolded. If it kept escalating… she might leave too.

As she was talking, her phone suddenly buzzed. She opened Penguin and saw a message from Fat Cat.

[Circle: Fat Cat, what’s the deal with the hoods that have three red flower-like marks? They look round and sliced open with a knife.]

[Group Owner: Those? Those are the demons under the Sub-King of the Hundred Demons. Only his people wear those hoods. But why the hell would they be in C City? Where did you run into them?]