Little Pink Starfish

That night, Gao Ling didn’t sleep at all. She didn’t know if the girl on the other end of the phone had managed to, either.

In fact, it wasn’t just the two of them who heard the contents of that phone call. Since the line had never been disconnected, anyone still in the call could listen in. Another group had apparently also forgotten to hang up, and they too happened to catch it.

Of course, Yuan had only said a couple of sentences. But even so, those soft words lingered in everyone’s minds as if echoing forever.

The next morning, Gao Ling asked the other girl if she wanted to go pick up her phone. But the girl refused. She said the phone wasn’t worth the risk—after all, it wouldn’t be hard for a demon to stay hidden nearby, watching what they were doing from the shadows.

Still, they had to go to the plaza once more.

This time, the two of them went together. At five in the morning, the plaza was still and empty, with a chill lingering in the air. The bench where Yuan had sat the night before was now covered in dew.

The girl circled the bench once, as if searching for something. The white marble tiles were clean. She kept her eyes on the ground, as if she could see even the tiniest traces left behind.

Gao Ling also looked carefully, hoping to find some remnant—footprints, a hair, anything—but there was nothing. It was as if everything from the night before had been just a dream.

And if it had been a dream… then it was a dream shared by three people. Gao Ling sat down beside her friend. The discarded phone still sat inside the trash bin. But the girl didn’t take it back.

After a while, the girl sat there in silence, staring at the bright morning sun. The sunlight hit her face, stinging her eyes, and then—she started crying.

“I really didn’t think I’d cry when I came,” she told Gao Ling after a bit, wiping her eyes and turning away.

Gao Ling offered her a tissue.

“I wasn’t going to cry,” the girl said between hiccups. “It’s just… the sun, it was so bright, and suddenly I just… I don’t know. It all came out.”

Gao Ling understood. Sometimes emotions needed no reason—just a hormonal push, a bit of environmental trigger—and then the tears fell.

She herself had felt that once, after surviving a fire. At home, seeing an old childhood drawing on the wall, she had suddenly burst into tears, feeling ridiculous and ashamed even as she cried her heart out.

She thought again of last night’s clever boy and realized: if someone came asking, she could say they were just two girls out for a walk. One had just gone through a breakup. That’s why she was crying.

Perfect cover.

After half an hour, Gao Ling sighed and went to retrieve the phone from the trash can before the garbage truck came.

---

Yuan Yuanyuan flopped on her bed, rolled over like a fat pig, and yanked Fat Cat off her belly when he started kneading her stomach.

“I’m doomed,” she mumbled. “I’ve gained weight. You can do milk-kneading on my belly now.”

Fat Cat licked his paw, wisely choosing not to comment.

Yuan got up, cleaned the house, made herself some food, made a separate batch for the cat, and ate in front of the TV.

This was her daily routine.

Because Fat Cat was here, Yuan couldn’t just stay home at night. She had to keep up appearances—otherwise, she’d have no way to explain where her living expenses came from. So at night, she went out. By day, she was Yuan Yuanyuan. By night, she was Yuan.

She liked this dual life, never letting one side interfere with the other. “Yuan Yuanyuan” was her sanctuary. Honestly, she didn’t know what kind of twisted person she would’ve become without it.

Only as Yuan Yuanyuan could she breathe easy, grow a little belly, live like a human being, and even do things she couldn’t do before.

But her entire peaceful life was built on how well she played the role of “Yuan.” If she couldn’t play it right, someone would make sure she couldn’t keep living as Yuan Yuanyuan.

She sighed. A vague unease loomed in her heart, like the way goldfish jumped before an earthquake. Something was coming. A new wave of trouble.

“What did you do last night?” Fat Cat asked. “You came back so late.”

“I went for a walk,” Yuan said lazily. “And maybe… I punched some people. I was in a bad mood. That included the clingy guy.”

She had used a rather terrifying technique on him. It was hard to even categorize—it had been created by a demon long gone, and as far as she could tell, this clingy guy had been the first to actually endure it.

Even though he was annoying, she felt a little guilty.

Still, she didn’t plan to let this guy die. In the days to come, conflict between humans and demons would be inevitable. Since he stood on the humans’ side, he’d eventually stand against her.

After all, she was a hidden final boss of a traitor.

She remembered seeing him collapse the night before. She had whispered a few words then, hoping that her redemption arc would come soon. She had started laying groundwork—just in case. Ji Qiu always seemed to draw her in ways she didn’t want to see herself.

But she hoped that, when the day came, people would see a good Yuan.

That way, when it was all over, she could quietly find a little house, adopt a real cat, do odd jobs, read manga, and see only praise and love for Yuan in the comment sections.

She didn’t want “Yuan” to be remembered as a monster. He should be like Itachi or Snape—the very definition of a tragic double agent. When people list famous anime spies, Yuan should be on the list, no questions asked.

That would be the one thing she could do for Seventeen.

“In the latest chapter, there’s a hint Yuan might be the head of that mysterious organization,” Fat Cat said as he licked his fur. “I really wanna know how he’s pulling off this double act between C City and the organization. I wanna learn.”

Yuan raised an eyebrow. There wasn’t much to learn. The organization had wanted her to stay hidden all along. As for C City… Well, her current strategy was “buy time, then buy more time.”

Eventually, someone from C City would ask her about her connection to the masked group. When that day came, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. She had even considered burning all bridges with C City.

So now she was just… waiting for them to come.

But weirdly enough, C City had been awfully quiet. Only small fry had come after her recently—and they were easily dealt with.

“Do you think… Yuan might have tried to play the pity card with C City before?” she asked, feigning casual conversation while fishing for intel from Fat Cat—who was far more cunning than he looked.

“I think some people in the C City government might actually support the pureblood ideology,” Fat Cat said. “You know the Li family, right?”

“The Lis?” Yuan’s eyes lit up. “I’ve heard a little. Tell me more.”

“The head of the Li family was the one who killed Yuan back then,” Fat Cat said. “But they used to be good friends. One followed the Hundred-Demon King, the other joined the military. Eventually, the Li patriarch became a radical, and his greatest accomplishment was wiping out Seventeen. But after Seventeen died, he vanished too.”

“What was so great about this Hundred-Demon King?” Yuan asked.

“He brainwashed a ton of demons back then. It was that kind of era,” Fat Cat said. “War makes people crazy. But honestly? I think those two had a thing. Childhood friends, comrades in arms, then bitter enemies. One kills the other, only to have the dead one crawl back from hell… I wanna write a fanfic.”

“Gross,” Yuan rolled her eyes. “That kind of guy? Seventeen would never go for him. He was so full of himself when I saw him. Seventeen’s long gone. Don’t make things worse.”

“How is that worse?” Fat Cat was confused. “It’s canon. It’s in the official guidebook.”

“…What?” Yuan blinked.

“See for yourself.” Fat Cat dragged over the official data book and flipped to a page. “Right here.”

Yuan hadn’t paid much attention to this brick of a book before. She knew it had important info but always got sleepy after a few pages. Now, she looked.

It was a four-panel comic. A chibi version of the Li family patriarch. A chibi Yuan.

The two were playing together. Yuan said, “Let’s be best friends forever!”
Li replied, “Yeah!”

Then, an elderly Li and an adult Yuan stared at each other across a distance.

The title? [Friends]

Yuan’s vision went black.

“Hey! You okay?” Fat Cat panicked.

“Smelling salts…” Yuan whimpered like an aristocratic lady in a drama, stretching out her hand.

Her mind spun. Damn that guidebook… What the hell.

When she recovered, she stared at the page in silence. She hadn’t expected such a hidden piece of lore.

“Any other bombshells in here?” she asked.

“Oh, plenty,” Fat Cat began listing them.

Yuan spent the entire afternoon having her worldview shattered.

---

Meanwhile, back at home, Gao Ling sat at her computer, typing out what had happened in the group chat. People asked if she’d recorded it—she hadn’t. It never even occurred to her.

So in the end, it really did feel like a dream.

She looked again at the latest Yaoji manga. The protagonist had just fought one of the masked organization’s underlings. That guy, before dying, had grinned and muttered: “We will succeed… We will definitely succeed…”

Classic villain lines. Many readers found him unbearable.

Add to that all the speculation in the comments about Yuan being the final boss…

Gao Ling picked up her stylus. She didn’t know what she wanted to do—maybe she just hated feeling this helpless.

If she wanted to protect something… then what?

She didn’t know. She opened Photoshop and drew a small webcomic strip.

A chibi Yuan, walking alone through a small plaza—quiet and lost.

As she drew, her chest ached. But she kept going.

When it was done, she uploaded it online.

She didn’t think Ji Qiu would ever draw the words Yuan had said that night.

But that didn’t mean they didn’t exist.

So she would draw them.

Comments quickly came in.

【So cute! So soft! This Yuan is adorable!】
【Would Yuan really say that? But… he’s so cute here.】

If the real Yuan could only exist in fan works… then so be it.

Gao Ling sighed, looked at the little chibi Yuan in her comic, and then turned to the official Yaoji manga.

On the cover, Yuan stood covered in demonic markings, eyes blood red, with a cruel, twisted grin.

It was the kind of face that made people uncomfortable just by looking at it.

She compared the real version to her little doodle and pouted.

Still… this version looked good too. Handsome in a dark way. Hehe…

My taste is getting weird, she thought, sipping her tea as she turned the page.

Yuan was on the panel again.

Smirking maliciously at someone.

Here we go again, Gao Ling thought.

Looks like Yuan’s about to stir up trouble again.