Little Pink Starfish

“…A big monster?” Yuan Yuanyuan sat cross-legged and straightened up. “You mean that demon who pretended to betray but ended up being taken down?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Fat Cat said, licking his whiskers. “When I was really, really little, my grandfather told me this story. Back then, I wanted to know who that person really was. Later I did some digging and found out… that person was Yuan.”

“How… did you figure that out?” Yuan Yuanyuan hugged her quilt, sitting cross-legged with a humble, eager-to-learn look.

“This story has been circulating in the demon world for a long time. Basically, all adults would tell it to little kids, warning little demons to run fast if they ran into a big monster. There are a few related stories too, but those usually end with little monsters getting screwed. This one is different — the big monster suffers instead.”

Fat Cat paused for a moment, then suddenly said, “I always felt that because it’s the big monster who suffers, this story became the most widely spread.”

“…Is it because everyone enjoys seeing big monsters suffer?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked weakly.

“You could say that,” Fat Cat lowered his head and started licking his paw.

“Stop… stop licking! I don’t want my pillow covered in your slobber!” Yuan Yuanyuan grabbed Fat Cat’s paw. “So how did you find out?”

“It’s just piecing things together. Even though it’s just a story, and some parts might not be accurate, certain details are reliable. Like that ‘civil war after the first war,’” Fat Cat said. “That time period matches the famous Red Sand Well War — that’s what humans call it, anyway. Most little monsters don’t know; they just say ‘the civil war after the first war,’ just like you.”

“I know the Red Sand Well War! Wasn’t that the war Yi Qi fought back in the day?” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

“The Red Sand Well War lasted a long time,” Fat Cat said. “It’s not just one battle. It’s a general term for all the wars that happened when the Blood Jade Demon Army rose to power, like the way people say ‘the Civil War’ or ‘the Liberation War.’”

He hopped onto the table as he spoke. “Nowadays it’s hard to find a cat as knowledgeable as me. Don’t you have a notebook? Hurry up and take notes.”

“Oh, oh!” Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly snapped back to attention and rushed to grab her notebook.

…

Liu An frowned as he read the events unfolding in the comic.

He thought, isn’t this the story that San Dao Ba told me a few days ago…

Actually, what San Dao Ba had told him was very different from what was shown here. At the very least, San Dao Ba definitely hadn’t described it so clearly. That rough guy didn’t seem like someone who could tell bedtime stories anyway. If he actually did tell them like a grandmother… well, that would have been a hilarious sight.

At the time, San Dao Ba had just casually mentioned it when Liu An asked about customs. He barely said anything.

Ji Qiu really blew this up and expanded it into a whole chapter…

As Liu An looked at the panel, a strange thought popped into his mind.

Could he maybe… casually mention something he was curious about in daily life, and then see if Ji Qiu would later draw a detailed explanation into the comic?

Hmm… nice idea, he thought.

…Except it might be hard to pull off.

Liu An shook his head, tossed the idea aside, and kept reading.

When “Faning” was talking with his friend in the comic, the panel suddenly shifted, like a flashback, showing a new scene.

[There was a person… He was lowering his head, quietly fiddling with something in his hands. In his right hand, he held a brush — a fair and slender hand — carefully painting a vivid plum blossom onto a bottle.

The plum branch curved elegantly, looking full of strength despite its delicate form, leaving a large empty space around it.

There was no expression on his face. He simply focused on the blossom he was painting, turning the bottle slowly as he worked.

His eyes stared at the bottle, occasionally blinking, his long lashes fluttering like feathers.]

[“…This big monster had it so rough,” came Faning’s voiceover at that moment. “What happened to the little monster afterwards?”]

[“The little monster…” his friend’s voice followed, [“Who knows? But I guess it didn’t end well either… If even the big monster ended up that miserable, the little one probably didn’t fare much better. Still, it was better than dying in prison.”]

The scene suddenly cut back to Faning’s side.

[“Huh?” Faning said, [“No one knows who he was?”]

[“How would I know!” the friend snapped, “You’re asking for so much detail! It’s just a story! Who tells bedtime stories to little kids with this level of detail anyway?”]

…

“So I pieced together all the clues from that story, sorted out the sources and backgrounds properly,” Fat Cat said as he rested in the crook of Yuan Yuanyuan’s legs.

As he reminisced, he said, “The war they talked about matches the Red Sand Well War. The civil war afterward was caused by bloodline purges. That matches the Yi Qi era. The little monster matches the friend shown on the comic cover this time. I seriously suspect this story hides the real cause behind the Yi Qi incident.”

“Hey, why are you lying down on my legs while you’re talking?” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

“Because it’s warm. Didn’t you just turn on the electric blanket? Don’t you have a clue?”

“And your fat ass weighs how much exactly? You don’t have a clue either?” Yuan Yuanyuan retorted.

“Shut up, you unfilial student,” Fat Cat whacked Yuan Yuanyuan with his tail. “Just listen carefully. Why so much nonsense?”

“Oh,” Yuan Yuanyuan sat back obediently. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, “Hey, you mean… those two were best friends back then?”

“How close were they really?”

“My grandfather said they were basically the two flowers of the army — the faces of the whole military. Whenever the army needed promotional posters or slogans, they would get those two. You know, holding signs like ‘Join the Army!’ and standing at the gates smiling warmly,” Fat Cat said.

“Was the little monster also part of the Blood Jade Demon Army?”

“No,” Fat Cat said. “He didn’t make it in. He was from another army. Back then, it was insanely hard to get into the Blood Jade Army. How could an insect monster get accepted?”

“But Yi Qi got in, didn’t he?”

“Yi Qi is Yi Qi,” Fat Cat said. “The Blood Jade Army always kept the species of their members secret. The few whose identities are known had traits that were too obvious to hide. But Yi Qi’s race has been a mystery from the start. I think even if his family had fallen, his ancestors must have had powerful bloodlines.”

Without realizing it, Yuan Yuanyuan stroked the cat in her hands. She only noticed when she got scratched. She sat there thinking about how Si Qun had actually been good friends with Yi Qi back then.

She thought about it for a very, very long time before slowly speaking.

She didn’t even know what emotion she felt. She just suddenly wanted to talk to someone about it.

“Fat Cat… that little monster… you’ve actually seen him too. Right now, he’s already lost his mind, you know? And worse than that, he’s not just crazy… he’s also stupid…”

“Yeah… I kind of noticed,” Fat Cat lazily swished his tail. “For someone who was once the Northwest’s Fourth King of Gu, to be scared of blood now… it’s pathetic.”

“I remember you and Heihong also knew him,” Yuan Yuanyuan said quietly. “Was Si Qun really that famous?”

“The legendary Li Si Qun,” Fat Cat said. “No one knows what his original name was, but back then, among the northwest Gu furnaces, he was the fourth Gu King to survive. After that, everyone just called him Si Qun.”

…

[The one wearing white clothes! Damn, this guy is ridiculously handsome!!!]

[He must be a big monster, right? I really want to see him… Maybe after seeing Yuan, we can check out this guy in white too…]

“That guy in white clothes isn’t a big monster! He’s a little monster! A little monster!” Gao Ling shouted into her mic.

The chatroom froze for a second.

[Damn… that ear-splitting yell, my ears.]

[What’s the big deal, why so intense… Wait, did she just say the white-clothed one isn’t a big monster?]

[But the way Ji Qiu draws it, it seems like the guy in white is either the big monster or the little monster, right…?]

“I know what you’re thinking! But it’s not what you think!” Gao Ling kept shouting into her mic. “Ji Qiu’s art is super misleading. He uses hairstyles and clothing to throw people off, but body shape doesn’t lie.”

Gao Ling took a screenshot as she spoke. “Look at this silhouette — I overlapped them using Photoshop. The body shapes are basically identical. Only the clothes and hairstyle are different.”

She uploaded the side-by-side comparison. Instantly, the chat exploded.

[Holy crap, what’s going on? Why do they match so perfectly?]

[My god, if you take away the clothes and hair, it’s exactly the same person! Why didn’t I notice?!]

[You’re amazing, Gao Ling! How did you even spot that?!]

Actually, Gao Ling hadn’t noticed it right away either… But she had studied drawing before and was more sensitive to body shapes. Something about one panel gave her a weird feeling.

So she spent hours digging through images, found an old picture of Yuan, zoomed and shrank it with Photoshop, and compared it.

And sure enough — it matched perfectly.

But very few people could notice that easily… Ji Qiu was too good. He only changed the hair and clothes, and it looked like a totally different person.

…Or maybe it was Yuan who was too good — just changing his clothes and hairstyle was enough to become another person.

Gao Ling sat frozen for a while. Then suddenly the door opened. Her mom stuck her head in. “Xiao Ling? Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“Ah, I’m going now,” Gao Ling quickly turned off her computer, grabbed her phone, and hid under her blanket, continuing to secretly read.

The group chat had gone from [Wait, that person is Yuan?] to [HOLY CRAP IT REALLY IS YUAN AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!]

[My god… if that person is Yuan… this foreshadowing is insane…]

[I can’t take this… I seriously can’t… Knowing that monster really exists in real life makes it even crazier…]

[Wait, hold on… HE EXISTS IN REAL LIFE?! HOW DID I FORGET THAT?!]

[!!]

[AAAAHHHH I CAN’T SLEEP TONIGHT SOMEONE SAVE ME AAAAAAHHH!!]

Gao Ling stared at the chat records. She suddenly felt a faint, eerie shiver.

God… this person really exists in the real world…
He’s not just a 2D character…

And she… had once met him face-to-face.

…Would she ever get to meet him again?

She turned to look at the little charm she had just hung by her bed, straightened it a little, then buried herself deeper under the covers, letting out a strange little laugh.