Little Pink Starfish

In the middle of the night, as Hua Rongyue lay with her back to Wu Wangyan, she suddenly opened her eyes.

She had heard a sound outside.

Wu Wangyan was still awake behind her, but he didn’t see her eyes open.

As she abruptly awoke, Hua Rongyue realized something was wrong—her eyes were stinging slightly, and she felt a deep, unsettling agitation in her chest. It wasn’t the usual kind of discomfort.

Perhaps while awake she could suppress herself, but now, having relaxed in sleep, her condition had surfaced naturally.

She slowly sat up. Wu Wangyan, sensing her movement, instinctively sat up as well and asked, “What’s wrong?”

The last thing she wanted to see right now was him—and yet here he was, adding trouble.

She grabbed a small object from the table, spun it between her fingers, and without turning around, struck one of Wu Wangyan’s pressure points.

“You—” Wu Wangyan hadn’t expected this at all. Shocked, he collapsed slowly to the ground.

—On a normal day, she might have missed. But in this state, her precision was uncanny.

Just as she suspected…

Hua Rongyue knew she had to get away from Wu Wangyan first and foremost.

She had briefly felt relieved when she first saw him, thinking nothing strange would happen. Clearly, that relief had come too early.

She pushed open the door and slipped out into the night.

Outside, chaos had erupted—the guards had discovered that Jiang Lianhuan had vanished.

A whole person, gone just like that—and with several unconscious guards around—it was clear that Jiang wasn’t some rich idiot, but someone smart and very dangerous.

The entire stronghold was now in a frenzy. Every bandit capable of standing was on their feet, armed and scouring the mountain for him.

Hua Rongyue listened to the commotion and quickly pieced together what was happening.

Where did Jiang Lianhuan go? she wondered.

At the same moment, Jiang Lianhuan was probably wondering the same about her.

He had searched almost the entire place, turned every stone—yet still no sign of her.

This was bad. They were supposed to be gathering intel, not losing people.

He could no longer worry about staying hidden. Boldly, he started asking anyone he saw. Moving in a uniquely evasive way, he avoided most of the searchers and pressed forward, his only thought: Find Hua Rongyue.

Hua Rongyue, meanwhile, was far from emotionally stable. About ten minutes into her search, she encountered someone. The moment their eyes met, she knew—

She had been seen.

And not just her face—they’d seen her blood-red eyes.

She remained calm. She had never expected to simply walk out undetected. Now that she’d been spotted, she might as well confront it directly.

The man who spotted her was clearly frightened. He recognized her—she was the girl sent earlier to entertain the “honored guest.”

He pointed at her eyes, voice trembling. “You, you…”

She glanced at him. He backed away, stammering, “You know martial arts?”

She didn’t answer—just swiftly struck.

The man collapsed before he could utter a second word.

Footsteps approached. Someone leapt down from the rooftop ahead of her. She was just about to strike again when she heard a quivering voice say, “Wait—I just want to ask you one question.”

She had left Wu Wangyan a while ago and was feeling slightly more composed. Otherwise, she would’ve struck without a word.

Surprisingly, she paused and allowed the man to speak.

“Are you… Yi Linglong?” the man asked excitedly. “Do you remember me?”

Hua Rongyue hadn’t heard Jiang Lianhuan’s theories, so she was stunned that someone had guessed her true identity. What’s going on? she thought.

She took a closer look at his face—he did seem a little familiar.

That face… Yes, there was something there.

She vaguely remembered—when she escaped from Tianyi Tower, she had used the keys taken from the tower lord to unlock the dungeon and release everyone inside.

There were hundreds of people—it was impossible to remember every one of them.

But this man had left an impression.

He had the air of a leader. Back then, dozens had fled alongside him. More importantly, before he left, he’d turned and shouted, “Thank you!”

She hadn’t looked back, but that gesture had stuck with her. For someone as face-blind as her, that “thank you” had cemented his features in her memory.

She slowly sheathed her blade.

Surprised and delighted, the man’s eyes lit up. “You really are…”

He stole a glance at her, eyes lingering on her red ones—as if wondering whether the rumors about Yi Linglong’s madness were true.

From her outfit alone, he could tell this Yi Linglong was very different from the one he remembered.

When he noticed her eyes, he paused—but quickly recovered and said, “Thank you for what you did back then. But why… why are you here now?”

“Personal matters,” she said coolly.

Now facing someone familiar, she no longer needed to pretend to be mute. Her voice was male, and she had no idea how this man would feel hearing a cross-dressed Yi Linglong speak with such a voice—but it didn’t matter.

“Did you hear about us and come to save us?” he asked, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. “You really didn’t need to. We were just being careless.”

Hua Rongyue frowned slightly.

“Speak slowly,” she told him.

…

Jiang Lianhuan had never imagined—

He spent all that time searching for Hua Rongyue, only to unexpectedly run into two of his colleagues.

His feelings were complicated as he stared at the two figures standing up.

“You two came here too?”

“We’ve been here for days,” said Gu Xia, the baby-faced Sword Saint.

The other was a beautiful woman who clearly didn’t care to greet him—Shen Qinglan, Jiangnan’s famous beauty, and Jiang Lianhuan’s eternal nemesis.

Jiang had thought they were part of the first wave to arrive. But seeing that they’d arrived even earlier than him left a sour taste in his mouth—especially since Shen Qinglan was with them.

“We were hiding in the mountains,” Gu Xia said cheerfully. “When we heard someone call your name, we came to look.”

Jiang Lianhuan felt strangely humiliated. So, as usual, he chose not to respond, turned elegantly away, and continued playing the role of aloof young master.

“Anyone else with you?” Gu Xia asked.

Jiang Lianhuan replied tersely, “Hua Rongyue.”

“Ah, it’s him…” Shen Qinglan, silent until now, gasped.

“If it’s Little Yue, then this might be bad,” Gu Xia said. “The people on this mountain… they’re not normal.”

“They’re the ones who escaped from Tianyi Tower, aren’t they?” Jiang Lianhuan asked.

Gu Xia nodded. “Yep. That’s them. But if it’s Little Yue, even the slightest slip could blow her cover. Many of these people have seen the real Yi Linglong.”

That was a serious concern. Hua Rongyue’s position in the Six Doors was already delicate. Truth be told, she was likely a pawn in a high-level power struggle.

Jiang Lianhuan had never explained everything to her in detail. Before the mission, he had tried to hint at it—but who knew if she understood.

The current situation was simple: if Hua Rongyue kept her identity hidden, his superior would back him fully, and he’d be safe.

But if her cover was blown—it would be a disaster.

Honestly, the Six Doors never intended for her to do anything involving “close contact.” Even during the Drunken Residence incident, she had stayed distant and wore a mask.

But here? She was in close proximity to people who once knew Yi Linglong. That could spell disaster.

“The ones who escaped from Tianyi Tower have nowhere else to go. So they became bandits,” Gu Xia said. “But once in, it’s hard to get out. This stronghold isn’t easy to leave.”

“That’s why I’m looking for her,” Jiang Lianhuan said. “If we don’t get her back, it’s over.”

“Let’s help you search,” Shen Qinglan murmured. “We need to find her fast.”

So the solo rescue effort grew from one to three.

They moved carefully through the bandit-infested mountain, their formation much safer than going alone.

Suddenly, they saw firelight flaring in the distance. Jiang Lianhuan took one glance and recognized the spot—where he had been tied up for so long.

But when he left, there hadn’t been this many flames or this much noise.

“What’s going on up there?”

The area was lit like day. Unease crept into their hearts. They removed anything too conspicuous from their clothing and peeked through the woods.

A circle of people surrounded a massive bonfire.

One person stood at the center—black hair flowing, robes fluttering.

All three of them stared in shock, eyes wide.

None of them had expected… to find Hua Rongyue right there.