Little Pink Starfish

[Amidst the faint smoky haze, the two people sat facing each other.]

[The man called the “Family Head” wore a faint, almost imperceptible smile. Opposite him, Yuan kept silently smoking, making no other movements.]

[The whole room was enveloped by thick chains of smoke, heavily surrounding the place. From the outside, all one could see was a misty, reddish haze.]

[Late at night, this house hidden within the fog looked just like a concealed secret…]

---

That day, Demon Notes saw its highest number of comments in history.

[Holy crap, Yuan is way too strong! Even Orochimaru back then wasn’t this arrogant—at least he lost both arms when he tried to kill the Third Hokage.]

[Yuan’s insanely powerful… Seriously, none of those guys back then could even dodge one move!]

The monster forums were also filled with lively discussions.

[Who was that man? Who was it that Yuan captured back then?]

[No idea… I combed through the historical records last night and couldn’t find who it was.]

[I thought the person who could catch Yuan back then must’ve been insanely strong… but couldn’t even last one move? Isn’t that a bit too scary?]

[He’s practically a demon king. Who could even beat him?]

[What about the old white snake down south?]

…

While flipping through the comic, Yuan Yuanyuan secretly peeked at the comments in the monster forum.

For humans, their main reaction to the comic was simple: [So cool!] or [Such a badass! That’s the aura a demon should have!]

But for monsters, their concern was completely different—they focused on Yuan’s combat strength.

The biggest topic of discussion was Yuan’s technique in the latest issue.

[Screenshot it! Screenshot it! Is that Ghost Step?!]

[Yes, it’s Ghost Step… God, I can’t believe I’m seeing a perfect Ghost Step demonstration right in a comic. This feeling…]

[Damn, it’s even better than the textbooks. You could literally use this as a training manual—if only the art style weren’t so intense.]

Yuan Yuanyuan herself glanced at the scene where she attacked Li Jia’s Family Head.
Sure enough, she had used Ghost Step.

At the time, she must have been exploding with rage—she had used probably the strongest Ghost Step of her life.

Now rewatching it in the comic, even she found it hard to believe that she had pulled off something so clean.
And looking at that big boss-like face on the page—well, it was kind of… shocking.

That day, she really had been confused and furious.
She knew her own face must’ve looked fierce as hell—but only after seeing it illustrated did she realize just how terrifying it appeared.

Especially when Li Jia’s Family Head said:
[“I remember telling you once—your face looks just like a fox’s face.”]

Yuan Yuanyuan immediately covered her own face in embarrassment.

That smile… was way too “friendly” in the most horrifying way.

Basically like a blackened Yoruichi from Bleach, or Kaneki after snapping, or Hisoka sprinting at you while giggling…
In short, it was the kind of expression you really didn’t want to see up close.

Even now, if she were asked to recreate it, she probably couldn’t do it.

How the hell did my face muscles even do that…

Yuan Yuanyuan was still practicing weird facial expressions when Liu An walked in.
Startled, she immediately reverted to a normal expression.

Liu An stared at her blankly for a second—then burst out laughing.
He laughed uncontrollably for five minutes straight, to the point Yuan Yuanyuan almost jammed her phone down his throat.

“Holy crap, Boss, what were you doing?!” Liu An laughed so wildly, his laugh had an oddly infectious madness to it. Even ten minutes later, Yuan Yuanyuan could still hear his laughter echoing in her mind…

“Have you seen the latest issue of Demon Notes?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked. “Any thoughts?”

“Thoughts… yeah, I have some,” Liu An said. “I feel like… Yuan’s actually pretty pitiful.”

“Huh?” Yuan Yuanyuan instantly perked up.

She had scrolled through tons of comments all day—there were all sorts, but none said she was pitiful.
In the comment sections, she was universally hailed as a rising new demon lord, radiating power.

Yet here was Liu An saying she was pitiful?

She suddenly wanted to hear more.

“Yuan’s an old demon, practically at retirement age, and now he’s being dragged back to help the demon world save face,” Liu An said.
“I used to wonder why he even appeared in the Yearbook. After reading Demon Notes, I realized—it’s because the higher-ups begged him to come back.”

Huh? Really?

Since Yuan Yuanyuan had lived through it herself, she hadn’t paid close attention to that detail.
Flipping back through the pages—sure enough, it was there.

[“Why did you come back?”]

[“I didn’t want to come back. They cried and begged me to return.”]

In the comic, Yuan’s eyes were still narrowed lazily, blowing out smoke with a sarcastic smile.

Holy crap, it’s there!

Yuan Yuanyuan was shocked.
Wait… isn’t that basically exposing the fact that the higher-ups “sold” me out?

Since they even drew that… then did they also draw Li Jia’s Family Head?

She hurriedly flipped through the pages.

She muttered, “Originally I thought an old demon like that would live a relaxed life after retirement… maybe not as easy as Fa Ning, but at least peaceful.”

As she said this, she noticed Yuan Yuanyuan had suddenly gone silent.

“Boss? What are you doing?” Liu An asked.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the comic panel showing Li Jia’s Family Head speaking to Yuan.
Her hands were trembling slightly.

[“Maybe your path has been perfectly calculated all along—getting C City to recognize the Blood Jade Demon Army, then protecting the Nursery District, slowly building favor with other races, and gathering human support…”]

Yuan Yuanyuan instinctively glanced up at Liu An.

Liu An was just smiling awkwardly, clearly not understanding the deeper meaning behind the words.

Good.
If even Liu An didn’t realize it, then no one else would, either.

Yuan Yuanyuan secretly sighed in relief.

Getting C City to recognize the Blood Jade Demon Army…
That had been a private, covert negotiation.
If Jiuqiu hadn’t drawn it, no one would know that “Yuan” had secretly signed the Blood Jade Demon Army’s name into the human world’s registries.

Protecting the Nursery District…
Sure, she had helped, but there were many powerful demons guarding it too.
No one would immediately link her to the big incident before New Year’s.

Even if someone made the connection—they wouldn’t link it to “Lantern.”

Phew… Thank god.

Yuan Yuanyuan patted her pounding heart.

Although a lot of information had leaked, the specific details were still hidden.
Only those who had been directly involved would understand the hidden meanings behind those few lines.

[Building favor with other races, gathering human support]…

Yuan Yuanyuan scratched her chin.

Huh, I didn’t even realize I had that effect…
No wonder some factions in the higher-ups secretly support me—maybe it’s because of those actions?

She was still pondering when suddenly—the door was knocked.

A soft, pleasant male voice called from outside:

“Excuse me… Is Lantern here?”

“Here!” Liu An shouted, rushing to open the door.
As soon as he opened it, his voice lowered respectfully:

“Hello, sir. May I ask what business you have with our boss?”

“I’m here to discuss something,” said the man outside, his voice carrying a smooth, seductive softness that made Yuan Yuanyuan’s bones go weak just hearing it.
“I sent an invitation before, but due to some delays, I’ve only managed to visit now. May I ask if Lantern is available?”

An invitation?

Yuan Yuanyuan looked up, puzzled.
Through the doorway, she could vaguely see a flash of blue.

Her phone slipped off her lap, but she caught it in time.

Geez, scared me.

She quickly locked the phone, ready to put it down and go out—
but her eyes accidentally swept over the still-lit screen.

There it was—still showing the words Li Jia’s Family Head had said:

[“Maybe your path has been perfectly calculated—recognizing the Blood Jade Demon Army, protecting the Nursery District, building favor, and gathering human support…”]

…

[Why is everyone online treating Yuan like he’s the ultimate final boss?! He’s seriously injured, damn it! SERIOUSLY INJURED!]

[Yeah!]

Gao Ling watched the group chat explode in chaos and didn’t know what to say.

[A guy this injured—yet they still build him up like some unstoppable force! Are they fattening him up just to slaughter him later?!]

[Of course! Look at how it goes—they build them up high, then crash them down for maximum emotional damage!]

[Damn it, why! Why spoil it for us this early!]

[I’ve already imagined the next fifty chapters… This is too cruel, isn’t it?]

[He’s not dead yet… just coughing blood. Damn, you’re worse than the author. Two sentences and you’ve already killed him off.]

[Well, Itachi didn’t seem to be in bad shape before he died either…]

The real events were only the tip of the iceberg.

Before, readers used to complain about not being able to predict future plot twists—
now they could guess clearly…
and it hurt even more.

It was like reading Harry Potter—knowing someone from the Twin Weasley brothers would die before the finale, while everyone else was still laughing about them pulling pranks…

Maddening, heartbreaking…

But you couldn’t say anything.

Gao Ling watched the chat refresh non-stop.

[Holy crap, the author draws so well—it’s like she can read Yuan’s mind!]

[Hey, would monsters notice if I have too much spiritual energy? If yes, what should I do when I go outside?]

…

[Boss? You went silent all of a sudden?]

[I… have something to do.] Gao Ling said.

She picked up her stylus and started drawing furiously on her tablet.

If forum posts were blocked…

…then what about other formats?

Like fanfics, video edits, audio dramas—or even comics?

Those wouldn’t be intercepted—
because in the human world, they were dismissed as harmless entertainment.

Which meant—they could spread.

Gao Ling glanced at the sigil she had drawn.
Then, holding her pen, she carefully traced the sigil onto a new page.

And finally, she added one last instruction:

[Use blood—draw it with the blood from your fingertip.]

---

Pinky says: Google translate had that last line as [Draw with blood…fingertip blood. 】NOOOO NOT THE FINGERTIP BLOOD! GAH!!