Little Pink Starfish

Back when she first started drawing fancomics, Gao Ling did it purely out of interest. But later on, it gradually became a habit.

Her early works had a lot of plot holes—nothing particularly refined. Looking back now with more mature eyes, they seemed sloppy. But Gao Ling actually liked those early comics. They carried a kind of raw energy and reckless drive.

If she had to explain it… she’d started drawing them because she felt the original story wasn’t satisfying enough. Most fanworks in this world are born from a desire for more—either to continue an unfinished thread or to fill in something missing.

For a while, Gao Ling hadn’t paid much attention to the stats on her fanworks. But recently, she noticed her numbers had suddenly started climbing—and not by a small margin. It was significant enough to grab her attention.

She opened one of her more recent fancomics and started skimming through the comments.

【…Legend!】
【This is the first time I’ve seen a fanfic completely destroy the original. Ma’am, do you have prophecy powers or something? How is this so accurate? Or do you and Ji Qiu have some dirty backroom deal going on??】

Gao Ling stared at the comment, a dark cloud forming over her head. What the hell is a “dirty backroom deal”…

In her comics, she didn’t dare draw things too explicitly. Most elements had to be implied. For example, when Yuan was shown as having been wronged, she used a vague, blurry conversation to hint at it—the focus was on Yuan’s triumphant return and vengeance arc.

Why did she decide to draw a fancomic where Yuan comes back to life? Gao Ling thought about it… Ultimately, it was because she wanted to rewrite the original. She had a deep dissatisfaction with how things had turned out.

So in her comics, Yuan was always strong—undeniably powerful, and never really wronged.

Gao Ling sighed. She couldn’t draw in more detail now, and she didn’t have the motivation either. Yuan hadn’t shown up in the official story for a long time—no one even knew if he was alive or dead. That had completely killed her interest in Yao Ji.

But what could she do? Regardless of whether Yuan was dead or alive, she could only wait—quietly—for any kind of news.

One of the comments on her comic read:

【So, author, I feel like your storyline is really similar to Ji Qiu’s. But there are a lot of things he never mentioned—what if, later on, it actually ends up just like what you drew?】

Gao Ling quietly deleted that comment, shut her laptop, grabbed her keys, and left the house. She needed to take a walk—at the very least, stop using up all her creative energy on this one obsession.

Though her own mood wasn’t great, the Yao Ji fan community had unexpectedly exploded. Especially the Yuan-focused fanworks—they were getting popular fast, and many people were jumping into the fandom while the trend was hot.

These fanworks often took existing story scenes and added headcanons—usually from Yuan’s first-person perspective—to explore his inner thoughts.

One example was the scene where Faning meets Yuan at the Northwest Front. That brief moment had inspired countless interpretations.

One fan even published an entirely original storyline online, with a full backstory and plot. The characters stayed true to form—no out-of-character moments—which made it blow up instantly.

And yet, even as fanworks reached this fever pitch, when the real official plot dropped…

Everyone was still stunned.

What does it mean when the official plot twist is bigger than fanfic?

Everything people had speculated about crumbled in an instant. The official story obliterated all the fan theories—sending them flying into oblivion.

Last time, Faning had read a powerful memory and uncovered some shocking things. That left him hungrier than ever for more. This time, he secretly captured another demon and dug into his memories again.

Using the soul-searching spell this often had begun to gnaw at his conscience. But his desire to know the truth overwhelmed everything.

As he apologized in his mind, he continued gently probing the demon’s memories. This time, the images were even more vivid.

Coincidentally, this demon had once participated in a major assembly at the Northwest Front. In his memories, there were vague impressions of Yuan—reflected clearly in the manga panels.

【During those days on the Northwest Front, Yuan had been extremely quiet—barely seen outside.
Once, the memory-holder had run into Yuan in the hall. Yuan was dressed in his usual black robe, walked in silently without saying a word, circled the hall once, then left.】

Yuan’s black robe, pulled low over his head, was unusually striking. It wasn’t even a rare outfit, but somehow, it looked incredibly handsome this time.

In the memory, Yuan glanced in this direction. His expression was cool and indifferent. Then he quickly turned away.

The memory cut out briefly after that.

But just before the memory ended, something else appeared in the manga.

That day, the demon had been suddenly summoned by name. He was told to keep it confidential—not to say a word to anyone.

He arrived to find a high-ranking officer waiting. This both surprised and frightened him.

This demon wasn’t weak, but he was rarely in the spotlight. Getting summoned like this out of nowhere left him confused—what on earth was going on?

As he waited, more and more powerful demons showed up. Not a huge crowd, but all of them were strong.

At this point in the manga, readers still hadn’t realized the significance of what was happening. Only a few sharp-eyed fans began to suspect that something massive had happened on the Northwest Front back then—something that should’ve caused an uproar but had been completely covered up.

This kind of plot—the uncovering of hidden backstory—was popular with readers. Just like when Naruto started revealing the dark secrets of Konoha, fans would piece together past clues and build theories about what really happened.

But this incident had never been leaked before—not even the reporters staked out nearby had any clue.

So even the journalists were now getting hyped. Normally they might feel annoyed at being kept in the dark, but with such a massive scoop, no one cared anymore. They were chasing headlines.

The fact that so many reporters had been tricked only emphasized how huge this event had been. And now they discovered—at the center of it all—was Yuan.

The memory-holder arrived at a large hall and stood toward the back. He couldn’t see much, but he heard shouting.

【“You think this thing can defeat me? This piece of crap?”
The speaker was furious. The memory-holder could hear the rage barely being held back.
“This? You think this will be enough to defeat Yuan?”】

The memory-holder flinched. In his memory, Yuan was always composed—rarely emotional. But now, his voice wasn’t just angry. There was something in it that made people afraid.

He felt like Yuan might lash out at any second.

Sure enough—

With a loud BOOM, the door ahead exploded, shards flying everywhere. One piece nearly cut the memory-holder’s face.

Through the hole in the door, he caught a glimpse of Yuan inside.

Yuan’s eyes were blood-red, glowing with the deep crimson light that only top-level demons possessed.

The memory-holder peered inside, trying to figure out what was happening—and was shocked.

Inside the room—was a gathering of elites.

A human faction leader, along with several top-tier experts that the memory-holder recognized, all crammed into that one room.

To think something like this had happened at the Northwest Front back then—readers were stunned. The earlier parts of the manga hadn’t hinted at any of this.

【It’s all Faning’s fault—back then he was still just a no-name lackey!】
【Exactly. Faning was too low-ranking at the time to get involved, which is why he didn’t know a thing.】
【But now we know! Damn—it turns out Yuan was actually ambushed?!】

Fans started speculating. The scene seemed to depict the humans making a move against Yuan. The reason was unclear, but it definitely wasn’t through official channels. In the end, only Yuan’s own skill had allowed him to escape.

At the time, Yuan was being publicly crucified—called a traitor by everyone. Now, looking back at this plot, the contrast was shocking.

Readers were re-reading their own hate comments from back then, then looking at what Yuan had actually gone through.

This is the appeal of a villain reversal arc—digging up everything buried in the past and showing it in a brand-new light.

When the whole internet was mocking him, Yuan had been surrounded by elite human fighters. Though the memory was blurry, Faning wasn’t satisfied. He poured more spiritual energy into the spell—desperate to see what had happened.

The image grew clearer. Faning pushed through the dizziness and focused on the scene inside the room.

He vaguely saw a shattered jade pendant on the ground.

It wasn’t completely broken—and carved into it were the numbers:

“17.”

Faning froze where he stood.