Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the few monsters over there, who were still wondering about the item hanging at her waist, and she couldn’t help but feel speechless.

Bro, if you guys don’t know anything, then don’t come over here. At the very least, before preaching, maybe familiarize yourselves with our sect’s insignia first?

Those few people were still staring at it, saying things like, “What is that?” “Feels cold to the touch.” “Looks familiar… but where have I seen it before?”

Yuan Yuanyuan watched them coldly, until a monster who hadn’t approached earlier heard the voices and came over. His face changed the moment he saw it. He stretched out his hand and smacked several of the monsters on the head, smack smack, “You guys seriously don’t recognize it? Are your eyes…”

“What is it?” the monsters asked each other. Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the frustrated monster and said, “It’s a mask… Don’t you recognize it? It’s a mask from the organization!”

“No way… a mask?” Gao Ling’s face suddenly turned pale in the back. She looked at her phone again — the signal was suddenly gone. It all happened in just about a minute.

Just a minute ago, she was still in high spirits, but in the blink of an eye, everything had changed… Gao Ling suddenly had a strange feeling — maybe her memory was going to be wiped again.

She didn’t know whether getting your memory erased twice in such a short time would cause any side effects…

But this was really getting a bit too mysterious. Gao Ling stared at the woman in red up front, her face pale. She couldn’t believe that someone from the masked organization had actually slipped into this farming village. What was the monster’s purpose? Why show up here all of a sudden?

Did I get it wrong last time? Maybe this place wasn’t the anti-war organization’s headquarters after all?

While Gao Ling was still lost in thought, Yuan Yuanyuan had slowly stood up.

She casually pulled a red veil from her pocket and put it on to cover her face. In truth, regulars could already recognize her from behind — that’s why she dared to come out openly. But she still didn’t want to show her face to everyone.

As for the mask… actually, the tavern had a few. During a gathering some time ago, a few monsters had dragged in a member of the masked organization. That monster later died, and his mask was kept — it’s still upstairs in one of the rooms. The tavern lady likes to play with it occasionally.

So when she suddenly took out a mask from her side, none of the regulars thought it was strange. They just assumed it was a “trophy” from before.

They’d already gone on alert when they saw Yuan Yuanyuan pull out the mask.

Even though everyone had a mask of their own, Yuan Yuanyuan figured those monsters didn’t recognize a “Yuan-style” mask.

But since they’d seen it now, she had no intention of letting them leave alive.

“Didn’t expect you to be a senior…” The monsters began bowing to Yuan Yuanyuan repeatedly. What were they making such a fuss for? Wasn’t it all to join the masked organization? And now, they’d actually run into a real member — this was beyond what they’d hoped for.

Yuan Yuanyuan slowly stood up and quietly walked toward a side path. The monsters followed right behind her without needing to be told.

That path led directly to a hidden passage behind the tavern. What happened inside the passage… no one ever knew. And once you went in, it was nearly impossible to come back out.

At first, Gao Ling had no idea what was going on. Only when Yuan Yuanyuan pulled out the red veil did she realize something was wrong.

That person… that person had a mask, was dressed like that, and even wore a veil — clearly didn’t want anyone to see her face…

Gao Ling’s brows were furrowed at first, but then they gradually relaxed, and eventually, a strange smile crept up on her lips. Tang Shi, glancing over, was startled by the sight.

“Whoa, what’s up with you?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Gao Ling waved her hands. She thought, This might be my only chance… Her last memory had already been wiped completely — this time, she had to make it count.

Yuan, now taking tiny steps like the woman beside him, made Gao Ling want to get up and walk too. The way he mimicked a woman’s movements was so accurate that Gao Ling couldn’t tell anything was off — it was incredible.

The veil could hide a face, but not the eyes. Gao Ling took a glance — those eyebrows were long, and the eyelashes too. But Yuan didn’t leave his eyes exposed for long. With a turn of his head, he walked away.

She kept glancing at her phone. About ten minutes later, the signal suddenly returned.

The people around her seemed completely unaware. The tavern servers began handing out little calming gifts to every customer, as if nothing had happened. The woman in red and the masked people had all vanished without a trace.

The person in charge of the tavern just smiled, said nothing more, and the customers didn’t ask further. Tang Shi and the others clearly wanted to leave, but looking at the calm expressions of the other monsters, they hesitated.

Gao Ling let out a long sigh of relief. She figured she’d gotten lucky this time. Probably because she’d come in alone, there shouldn’t be any problem. Who would expect trouble here?

Yuan Yuanyuan sat nearby, someone silently cleaning up the corpses beside her. She stared blankly at a candle.

“What are you thinking about?” the tavern owner asked.

“I’m thinking…” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered, “Peace probably won’t last much longer. Last time I went over there, they asked me something… asked if I’d be willing to step forward when the time came.”

“They want you to step forward?” The tavern owner immediately understood. Yuan Yuanyuan nodded.

She hadn’t understood what they meant at first, but after chatting with Fat Cat, it suddenly became clear — the masked organization needed a spokesperson, maybe even a mascot. They’d set their sights on Yuan. This kind of person didn’t have much actual authority, but drew a lot of attention and hatred.

From a “waste not” perspective, Yuan really was the best choice for a scapegoat. First, he was famous. Second, he had experience. Third, he was sick — so his real combat power wasn’t that strong. At least in their eyes, that’s what they thought. Yuan Yuanyuan had been troubled about this for a while.

“If I really end up as the target, would you ask them to go easy on me?” she asked the tavern owner. In her mind, the tavern owner was the true behind-the-scenes boss. She herself had always been just the mascot.

“Why should I ask them to go easy?” The tavern owner looked puzzled. “Isn’t this your own business? Besides… if they go too easy, no one’s going to believe it. I don’t think you’d want that either.”

Yuan Yuanyuan thought for a moment, then buried her face in her hands. “Fine, fine, I was wrong. Just tell them not to hold back…”

She turned and handed the tavern owner a list. “These are the traitors I found out about… Split them into batches and send them to die. I didn’t get too many names, but a few are confirmed.”

The tavern owner took the list and glanced over it with a bit of surprise. “So fast?”

Then she suddenly seemed to understand. “Well, makes sense. It’s you after all. Don’t worry — I’ll take care of it.”

Yuan Yuanyuan looked around the tavern. She’d only been here about a year, but she already knew it like the back of her hand.

The customers were in the main hall, the narrow corridor, the small and dark kitchen… Li Zi Jie and Si Qun…

Oh, right, Si Qun. Yuan Yuanyuan turned her head and asked the tavern owner, “Si Qun… what’s going on with him? Is he really going to stay like that forever? Isn’t there some kind of cure?”

“Si Qun…” the tavern owner replied, “He probably won’t stay like that forever. Since you don’t have a solution, how could I possibly have one?”

The two stared at each other in silence.

Gao Ling stayed in the tavern for about two hours, then left with the others. Before leaving, she took a deep breath. This tavern visit had actually been pretty fun — good food, good times, and everything felt nice and relaxing.

She walked out into the night streets with the others. Tang Shi was especially cheerful — she was leaving the city in a few months and didn’t know when she’d be back.

Gao Ling laughed along with Tang Shi, looking up at the streetlights. Suddenly, she wondered — did I… forget something?

She had a vague discomfort in her heart, like she’d forgotten something. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall what it was. Her mind felt oddly blank.

What did I forget?

“Hey, do you guys feel like we forgot something?” Gao Ling asked the friends who came with her. They all shook their heads. But Gao Ling scratched her head in frustration — she was sure she had forgotten something.

No, this isn’t right… She remembered checking repeatedly before she left to make sure her memory hadn’t been wiped. But now she suddenly realized — part of her memory was becoming blurry, even fading away…

What… is going on?

The only thing left in Gao Ling’s memory was a woman in red, kneeling there, her long hair hanging down.

Was she… a tavern server?

Gao Ling hurriedly pulled out a pen and wrote the words “Red clothes, server” on her arm. She didn’t know what it would do, but something deep inside told her — she’d unknowingly been hit while in the tavern.

“What are you writing?” Tang Shi leaned over. “Red clothes, server? You mean the one who poured our drinks?”

Gao Ling shook her head, looked at the words she’d written, and in the end gave up on trying to remember. She went back feeling oddly uneasy.