Little Pink Starfish

“You Seem to Be Drawing Me” by La Qi Xiao Xue – Chapter 140

[“Yuan!” a demon shouted wildly.]
[That flickering shadow was gone almost instantly, leaving no trace. Many demons tried to cut him off—but none succeeded.]
[As he zipped past another demon, a mocking smile flashed at the corner of his lips.]
[The demons began to panic. No one could find a single trace of him.]
[Some, thinking they’d spotted him, threw spells at those places—but all they hit was empty space.]
[“Where did Yuan go?”]
[“Did anyone see him clearly?”]
[“Nope. He was too fast.”]
[“It was Yuan… Hurry! Block the exits!”]
[Shadows filled every alley and street corner.]
[Civilians felt a strange unease in the air. Though unsure of what happened, they all hid indoors.]
[Things all across the city were disturbed. A skinny alley cat let out a wail, splitting the silence.]
[No one knew what would happen tonight—or when this farce would end.]

---

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the manga, whipping out her phone and frantically calling Fat Cat. “Pick up! Fat Cat! Have you seen the latest Demon Chronicles?! Something huge just dropped!”

“Stop yelling… I’m watching it right now,” Fat Cat’s voice came back, oddly calm. “Mm… This Ji Qiu’s more spontaneous than I expected. Kinda surprising.”

“Surprising?! Do you know how bad this is?!” Yuan Yuanyuan shouted. She was terrified Ji Qiu had latched onto Fat Cat as a muse. In her mind, being noticed by Ji Qiu was basically the same as being hunted by a demon.

Fat Cat’s voice was steady, oddly composed. “No, this is good. I’m checking the situation first. Honestly, I think I might survive this one. If Ji Qiu wanted me dead, he wouldn’t bother drawing me—he’d just kill me off. But he seems like he wants to negotiate.”

“Negotiate? Negotiate what?” Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t get it.

“I thought Yuan was coming to kill me,” Fat Cat said. “But Ji Qiu kind of saved my life here. Relax, I think he’s stronger than Yuan.”

“You—” Yuan Yuanyuan started to call him an idiot but swallowed it. After all, Fat Cat didn’t know she was Yuan. And she’d never intended to kill him.

Still, she felt this frustrating, ironic twist in her gut—like she was trying to liberate the people, but they went and pledged loyalty to the enemy instead.

“Like 30 pages in—that whole chase is me,” Fat Cat bragged. “Turns out, my stealth steps are the real MVP. I’ve been training them for decades. Still not as good as the real Yuan, though.”

“Well yeah,” he added. “But I must’ve cut Yuan off mid-mission. Ji Qiu probably just continued the plot using my actions…”

“You’re overthinking it. What if Yuan didn’t even intend to do that?” Yuan Yuanyuan snapped, annoyed again.

Fat Cat didn’t flinch. “I’ll be straight with you. That guy you saw the other night—he was the real-world Yuan. Didn’t that freak you out?”

Not even a little. Yuan Yuanyuan clenched her teeth as she stared at her phone.

“We ran into him by coincidence—means he was heading that way. But I got there first. He must’ve been stunned, then turned around and followed us. That’s how he found us.”

He sighed dreamily. “Wow… Thinking back, it was pretty epic. We bumped into one of the scariest demons in the realm, exchanged a few words, I even got caught in his hand…”

Yuan Yuanyuan imagined Fat Cat sighing dramatically on the other end. “Anyway, can’t go home for now. We’ll talk if it gets worse.”

He hung up without letting her reply. Yuan Yuanyuan stared at her call history, fuming. She flipped through the manga again.

From her perspective, it was easy to tell which parts showed Fat Cat and which parts showed her. She was sure Fat Cat could tell, too. But outside of the two of them… maybe only Ji Qiu could tell the difference.

[No one could find Yuan. Not even a trace of his presence.]
[High above the city, a great demon stood silently.]
[The wind was stronger there. Another demon stood beside him, a little smaller, expressionless, but composed.]
[Half the city was ablaze with light, half swallowed in shadow.]
[The elder demon took out a handkerchief, wiped his face, and muttered, “Did we do the right thing back then, bringing that thing here?”]
[“Why do you ask, sir?” the younger demon bowed. “You’ve protected this city for fifty years. If you hadn’t done that, we might not even exist now.”]
[“Is that so…” The elder sighed, a demon mark slowly surfacing on his brow—it looked like a wrinkle.]
[…A deep, weary sorrow lingered.]
[“Since we chose this path, there’s no turning back.”]

[Suddenly, a scream echoed from below.]

Yuan Yuanyuan frowned. She could tell—this scene had switched to her.

A small detail tipped her off: no demons had died earlier. But from this point on, casualties began appearing. That was her.

Fat Cat might be mischievous, but he hadn’t killed anyone. She, on the other hand, had a violent streak—slashing her way through.

[“Why is it so noisy over there?” Fa Ning looked toward the city’s edge, where demon activity stirred. That place was usually quiet.]
[He held a demon’s corpse in his hands—clearly dead, chest torn open, heart missing.]
[Beside him squatted a girl in a white dress, watching everything with disturbing interest. Fa Ning was sweating nervously.]
[“Miss…” he said. “Don’t you need to go home?”]
[“Why?” she replied blankly. “They don’t care if I’m home.”]
[“…Fine.” Fa Ning bit his tongue. There was no point arguing.]
[She was that odd demon girl he’d met a few days ago—claimed to have a human friend. Fa Ning had realized something was… off about her.]
[Still, every time he changed forms, she always managed to find him. He didn’t know how.]
[He lifted the demon’s corpse with effort. The girl wasn’t the least bit scared. “I’ll help you,” she offered.]
[Fa Ning suddenly felt completely defeated.]
[She was… he couldn’t even describe it. If she didn’t keep popping up like this, he’d have vanished long ago.]
[He smiled awkwardly. “Let’s… go somewhere else.”]
[Just as he stepped away, the girl shouted, “No! Don’t go that way!”]
[“Huh?” He turned.]
[“You can’t go that way!” she cried again. Her innocent face twisted with panic.]
[Fa Ning didn’t understand. But then—
[BOOM! A massive explosion shook the city.]
[Both of them turned to see flames rising from the city’s edge.]

[A lone figure stood quietly at the border, looking back.]
[Flames illuminated half his face. He wore black and stared forward with calm eyes.]
[Debris flew past, grazing him—but he didn’t move, as if certain nothing would harm him.]

Yuan Yuanyuan recognized it immediately—that was her, standing at C City’s entrance.

This was the only full-frontal drawing of “Yuan” in the entire issue.

In all of Fat Cat’s scenes, “Yuan” had only been shown in glimpses—half a face, a silhouette.

That gave her a strange feeling, but when she thought about it—it made sense. Ji Qiu wasn’t drawing Yuan, but people pretending to be him.

[“He’s stopped at the entrance,” a demon murmured.]
[“W-what do we do? Should we report to the elders?”]
[“Too late.”]
[“Yuan!” one demon called out. “You entered our city without permission. Is this how a great demon behaves?”]

…Wait. Was that what they yelled? Yuan Yuanyuan blinked, confused.

Her ears had been ringing from the blast that night—she hadn’t heard anything clearly.

[“Your city’s demons…” the figure at the entrance—until then expressionless—suddenly smirked, a mocking twist to his lips.]
[He said nothing. Just shook his head, and in the blink of an eye, vanished.]

Yuan Yuanyuan stared blankly at the final panel, stunned for several seconds—until Li Zi Jie started howling nearby and Si Qun dove under the table.

She nudged Si Qun aside and quietly checked her messages.

[Fat Cat: Ji Qiu really is a cunning bastard… You think that line Yuan didn’t finish meant “You M City demons are all trash—you couldn’t even recognize a weak-ass imposter”? I bet he was just silently screaming inside.]

Yuan Yuanyuan nodded. Yeah… that probably was what Yuan wanted to say—just swap “weak-ass” for “Fat Cat.”

But why… now that it was drawn… why did it feel like it wasn’t what she meant anymore?

She stared at the screen, feeling conflicted. Has Ji Qiu brainwashed me too…? How did my own thoughts start to feel like someone else’s?

Forget it. Ji Qiu’s just weird like that.

Then Fat Cat messaged again:

[Fat Cat: No need to worry now. That thing I lost… Yuan took it.]

[Yuan took it? Where is it?] Yuan Yuanyuan asked.

[In the manga, duh.] he replied. [You saw the little black box in his hand? That’s the thing I stole.]

Yuan Yuanyuan flipped through again. Sure enough, buried in all the dark panels, she found a tiny black box in “Yuan’s” hand.

Wait a second… I never took that!

She went home, kicked Fat Cat out, and dug out the clothes she’d worn that night. Checked every pocket—nothing. No black box.

She didn’t remember taking it. Had never even seen it. So how could she have it?

But Ji Qiu drew “Yuan” holding it—which meant, if she was Yuan, she must have it.

Yuan Yuanyuan gave up on figuring it out—until three days later, when she returned to her boutique.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside… and immediately smelled something strange. A faint, rotting blood scent.

There, on the table, sat a small black box.

In broad daylight, her legs started shaking.

Next to it was a tiny slip of paper, with a smiling face drawn in red ink.

Yuan Yuanyuan opened the box—and finally saw what Fat Cat had stolen from M City.

—It was a bone.

Snow-white. Translucent like jade, glowing faintly under the light. A small, delicate shard of bone.