Little Pink Starfish

After being holed up for so long, Yuan Yuanyuan felt dizzy when sunlight finally hit her.

She wasn’t sure how she had gotten back, or even where she’d been all that time. All she knew was that the man who brought her back had simply smiled faintly, and then… disappeared without a trace.

If it weren’t for the clothes and mask she still had with her, she would’ve thought the whole thing was just a dream.

The whole walk back, she was replaying what that man had said to her. She was still deep in thought when someone suddenly approached and said:

“Yuan, you’re back?”

She looked up—it was that woman in the black robes she hadn’t seen in ages. The woman stared at her in surprise, like she couldn’t believe Yuan was still alive.

Everyone… seemed to have that exact expression.

Yuan nodded at her, said nothing, and turned to push open the door and go inside.

She’d been gone for several days. Judging by everyone’s reactions, they had clearly assumed she was dead. The first thing she did after getting back was turn on her phone and catch up on the latest chapters of Demon Chronicle.

She had missed five entire issues. That’s when it hit her—she’d been gone for that long. Looking out the window, she noticed the trees had already begun to sprout new leaves.

As she read, she came across the part about the Taoist who had recently died. She frowned. She knew how that man had died—but she hadn’t realized he was from the Lingxi Sect.

In the comic, everyone thought the Taoist had simply died by chance after going down the mountain. But Yuan knew the truth—he’d clearly been sent by his own sect to kill her.

So much for the righteous sects…

Yuan found herself thinking that “righteous sects” sure had it rough too.

She read on, curious whether anyone in the comic had figured out who had actually killed that Taoist—but what caught her eye instead were a few other scenes.

“Things have been turbulent in the demon world lately, did you hear?”
The speaker was a well-known Taoist from the Sanqing Sect, who had played a prominent role earlier in the story and had looked after Fa Ning before he went down the mountain.

“I heard,” another famous Taoist replied. “You should be careful, especially if you see someone wearing a mask.”

“A mask? What kind of mask?”

The first man didn’t elaborate. “Just trust me,” he said before walking away.

Yuan immediately grabbed her own mask. No one had even bothered to cut eyeholes into it—they’d just handed it to her like that.

What does it feel like to wear that thing? Honestly… it felt like someone plastered a brick wall over her face. Hot, suffocating, exhausting. After a while, it really worked out your face muscles.

How were you even supposed to walk with that on…?

She didn’t have an answer, but what came to mind was how everyone else in the group wore a mask too—clearly, no one wanted their identity revealed.

…

“I still can’t figure out who Seventeen really is,” said Gao Ling. “But the more I learn, the more I think he’s seriously powerful. He basically created all of the illusion techniques you guys use, right?”

“Seems that way,” Tang Shi replied lazily. “I haven’t learned any others.”

Gao Ling stared at the book in her hands, wondering—was Seventeen really dead? Had the demons truly honored that old deal and turned him in?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was a loss. Sure, someone like Seventeen should be killed—he was too dangerous to humans—but that didn’t stop her from feeling regret.

He must have been a really powerful demon.

She opened her phone and scrolled through the comments on recent chapters.

This was exactly why a good face trumps all. Even though Yuan (Seventeen) was a relatively obscure character in the main story—rarely appearing, personality unpredictable—he had inexplicably exploded in popularity in the fan community.

Almost everyone loved assigning him endless fanon traits. Gao Ling didn’t want to admit it, but she too had contributed plenty of “headcanons.” A lot of the popular ones actually originated from her doujin (fan) manga.

At some point, the character in the official story and the fanon version became completely different people.

It was like… Dongfang Bubai, or Draco Malfoy.

If you showed their fan versions to their original authors, they’d probably go, Who the hell is this? Never wrote him. Don’t know him.

Still, even the official version of Yuan was already a bit of an oddball—he had a very unique path. Characters like that were rare, and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

One of the most popular fanon tropes was that Yuan was moody and sharp-tongued but secretly soft-hearted.

In a word—tsundere.

Was Yuan actually a tsundere? Gao Ling wasn’t sure. But after reading too many fan works, she started to feel like she’d been brainwashed.

Of course, these fan works often got flamed for being “OOC,” and the community was split between critics and supporters. The wild part was—it had all started with Gao Ling’s own fan comic. She couldn’t believe how unpredictable life was.

Another widely accepted trait? That Yuan had a really weak constitution.

But that wasn’t fanon! That was canon! Gao Ling still remembered bumping into him in the bathroom that one time… even though the original comic never depicted it, never even mentioned it.

To hardcore fans, Yuan had become this invincible, god-tier character. But Gao Ling sometimes wondered if he was actually just chronically ill…

Because he looked completely fine. From the outside, he was flamboyant and untouchable.

So how were fans supposed to reconcile that? Gao Ling worried about Yuan more than Yuan worried about himself.

“Hey, I heard that your latest doujin has Yuan as a sickly tsundere?”
Her best friend called her up with this exact question.
“I flipped through the whole comic and couldn’t find it. That ticked me off—hard.”

“It’s not there, don’t believe those rumors from people who read maybe one or two doujin…”
Gao Ling trailed off, then realized—Wait, even you’ve heard about it? This was getting serious.

“Exactly! You people are misleading the public. Yuan’s not tsundere—he’s clearly a ruthless, chaotic overlord. His screen time is minimal, and I had to flip page by page to find him. You hyped him up so much, I thought he was a main character!”
“And now people are accusing the official manga artist of baiting the audience? Seriously, next time someone says that, I’m filing a formal complaint.”

Gao Ling couldn’t help but laugh. She didn’t even know how to explain it anymore…

These things required timing, luck, and just the right conditions. Like, if Brigitte Lin hadn’t played Dongfang Bubai back in the day, that character probably wouldn’t have become so iconic—hell, we might not have gotten all those “Miss Dongfang” fantasies later.

Somehow, Yuan had hit the jackpot. And now he was the darling of the fan scene. Gao Ling picked up her tablet and got back to drawing. She was, after all, one of the ones fueling the fire… Well, what could she do? A girl’s gotta eat.

She skimmed through the latest chapter, deciding she’d tell her bestie not to overthink it. It was a normal manga—nothing crazy. If people wanted to see passion and ships, just read doujin. And don’t pretend fanfic is canon, please.

After sending that message, she reclined in her chair and opened the manga again.

As she flipped, she suddenly spotted Yuan.

He hadn’t shown up in ages. Gao Ling had been watching closely for any trace of him. She even asked around the demon world, but all she’d heard was that he was in hiding after being hunted—and that no one had seen him in a long time.

The only rumor was that he’d become very famous among illusion-type demons lately. But details? She didn’t know—she was just a regular human. She couldn’t dig too deep.

Now that he had appeared again, Gao Ling’s heart leapt. He was alive. At least he wasn’t dead. That alone was enough to make her happy.

She didn’t know why, but she cared deeply about him. Yuan felt like her link to the demon world. She had discovered it through him. She understood it through him.

Yuan… What are you doing now?

She stared at the panel—Yuan sat on a bed, bandages wrapped tightly around him. Blood still seeped through.

Her heart tightened.

His expression, however, was blank. From the bleeding, the wound had to be serious. But he still wore that cold, indifferent look.

That beautiful, fan-favorite face of his. The bandage wrapped from his neck down past his collarbone, soaked in blood. A dark, aesthetic sort of allure. The angle of his neck, his collarbone, downwards… Pure eye candy.

Gao Ling scolded herself for being shameless—Don’t go there, you beast—but her eyes kept drifting back. There was just something sinful about reading this chapter. Maybe because she was too righteous for her own good. But hey, it’s not like the character would ever find out…

Across from Yuan stood another figure—his face not shown, only his back. A man’s silhouette.

He leaned lazily against the doorframe, candlelight casting shadows on him, half his body glowing in the warm light.

“Old man, when’s that wound gonna heal?”

…Old man?!!! Why… why call Yuan that??

Gao Ling’s face turned red. For some reason, those three words made her feel all kinds of ways.

That nickname… used on anyone else would’ve been fine. But on Yuan?

The man at the door raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light.

Yuan looked up, his gaze sharp like a blade.

“Don’t look at me like that.”
The man didn’t turn around but still knew what Yuan was doing.
“I am just worried about you.”

…Where is this plot going?

Gao Ling stared for a while, finally concluding that this scene was Yuan recovering from his injuries. That unknown man might be a friend, maybe an old acquaintance.

Whatever the case, Yuan was clearly still healing—and the injury was serious.

That’s the actual plot… but the way it’s drawn…

Gao Ling read with a complicated expression, when suddenly her phone rang. It was her best friend again.

“I was wrong,” her friend said the moment Gao Ling picked up.

“Huh? Wrong about what?” Gao Ling blinked.

“Your Demon Chronicle… is actually really freaking good.”

“…Excuse me?”

Meanwhile, back in her own world…

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t read Demon Chronicle today. Why?

She’d just come back, her mind was a mess, and she’d mixed up the days—thought it was Thursday.

She was still in bed, snoring softly, completely knocked out.

呼噜——呼噜——呼噜——
(Snore——snore——snore——)

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Pinky says: Honk-shoo