Little Pink Starfish

The results of the preliminary round were out. The characters advancing to the next round had already been determined.

What surprised Yuan Yuanyuan was that she thought the character she played while working at the tavern would also participate. But even by the end, she still didn’t see that character’s name. Monster Record only selected specific characters to compete—usually ones the audience was more familiar with. Although Red Sleeve had been a striking side character in the early parts of the comic, she had been absent for so long in the increasingly complex later chapters that she’d been forgotten.

As for the others… Yuan broke a record with his vote count, and the Woman in Red also passed the preliminaries smoothly thanks to the support of countless otaku fans. She even managed to outshine her main rival—the female lead from another pretty decent comic—reducing her to dust.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt oddly conflicted. Every character she had portrayed had advanced through the prelims, while she, her actual self, didn’t even qualify. It made her feel like a total failure for no reason.

As for the rest… Monster Record, being the most popular domestic comic at the moment, claimed over twenty spots among the top hundred characters. Yuan Yuanyuan checked on the characters she cared about. Fa Ning easily crushed his rival. Yuan Yingli obliterated his competitor so thoroughly that no one even knew where they ended up. Other standout characters—like Si Qun, and the Red-Clothed Man who once took in Fa Ning—also made it safely through.

The only one who didn’t make it through was someone Yuan Yuanyuan knew well. Her heart sank when she saw it.

It was that young monster who had joined the anti-war organization—strong-limbed, simple-minded. There was a time when he liked to chat privately with Yuan Yuanyuan. But after she snapped at him once and knocked him out in the middle of a plaza (which, incidentally, was hosting a mixer at the time), she hadn’t seen him since. And now he appeared again, unexpectedly.

This guy, to be honest, wasn’t very smart, but he had a good heart. Maybe too good—so much so that even the readers didn’t like him much. This time he tripped and fell in the gutter, losing to the male lead of some mildly popular series.

But based on Ji Qiu’s style… Yuan Yuanyuan started getting anxious. Was this guy still going to survive? He seemed important… could he really die just like that?

In the comic at the moment, nothing had happened to him yet. Most readers weren’t too concerned either, as it was never quite clear what his purpose was. That’s why the online discussions were so chaotic.

A lot of readers feared the ending wouldn’t clarify anything… Many comics end just like that, with vague unresolved storylines.

They were both worried and excited—so they took their frustration out on the official forum…

These past few days, the official page had nearly been bombarded into oblivion by fans. The outcry was pitiful to witness, and yet the official side seemed to be enjoying the chaos—since the rising popularity meant booming sales. As long as the money kept flowing, they were happy.

Yuan Yuanyuan scrolled through the comments. There were all kinds of wild guesses. Some people had even started speculating about the King of a Hundred Monsters. Back in the early chapters, Yuan had once gotten into a fierce argument with the head of the Li family. Readers now turned their attention to that scene, reexamining what had happened back then.

The head of the Li family had seemed to argue over the concept of “loyalty.” At the time, people assumed it was about Yuan’s loyalty to the Blood Jade Demon Army. But now, they suspected it wasn’t that simple.

This pushed them to speculate in other directions, and it wasn’t long before they started guessing more powerful figures—characters who had been repeatedly mentioned but never seen. One of them was always treated like background wallpaper: the King of a Hundred Monsters. Now, finally, readers were beginning to seriously consider him.

Yuan Yuanyuan had to admit: the readers’ instincts were sharp. It was only now that she realized Ji Qiu had already been subtly guiding the story in that direction. Without all the earlier buildup, readers wouldn’t have connected the dots.

Ji Qiu’s skill was still impressive—she had quietly laid out all the groundwork. Even though the story had mainly been following Fa Ning’s arc, little clues had been sprinkled throughout.

After the spy camp descendants revealed several secrets, the camp was hit hard in the following week. Someone clearly didn’t want them to keep talking, so targeted attacks began. Thankfully, the spy camp had been cautious and kept a low profile, so their losses weren’t severe. Still, two of the characters who had shown their faces in the comic were killed.

During this time, Yuan Yuanyuan was feeling a bit down. She had no motivation, dragging through her days entirely on Fat Cat’s constant cheerleading.

“Don’t give up!” the cat would yell. “We still have to fight!”

But even so, she didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to go out or see people.

Ever since readers began questioning the connection between Yuan and the King of a Hundred Monsters, the entire demon world had started to churn. Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t being paranoid—it was a very real shift. Even the number of unknown monsters dying on the streets had reached a peak. Yuan Yuanyuan heard from Tang Shi, who was now studying in another city, that things over there had become dangerous too. Tang Shi didn’t even dare go out anymore.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt terrible that so many monsters were dying over something like this. But nothing would change just because she felt bad. So every day, apart from feeling hopeless, she tried her best to stop the people she knew from dying.

It was the only thing she felt she could do.

Readers had begun their deep dives. Meanwhile, Ji Qiu started revealing her true intent—unveiling the past, and subtly weaving it together with Yuan Yuanyuan’s own backstory.

With the elimination round underway, readers once again began to pour money into the contest, and the official side launched another massive cash grab campaign. Even though it was technically voluntary, people would only vote for their favorite characters. Each vote was roughly 20 yuan, and with scalpers getting involved, the price was steadily rising. Wealthy fans were spending like mad.

On the comic side, Monster Record seemed to be echoing this frenzy, stirring up its own drama. That unclear conversation from before was still unresolved, leaving people guessing. Readers started to suspect that the spy camp came from some kind of secret organization.

That organization was never clearly identified—only vague hints were dropped. But when Fa Ning first heard its name, he froze slightly. Yuan Yingli asked what was wrong, and Fa Ning said he used to live there for a while. He never expected the spies to come from that same place. Hearing it again now, he was surprised.

Where was this place Fa Ning had once lived?

It was the place where the Red-Clothed Man had taken him in, long ago.

He had been happy there—a rare period of joy in his life. At his lowest point, someone gave him shelter. The Red-Clothed Man taught him many things. So when the name came up, Fa Ning instinctively recalled it. But that man hadn’t returned in a long time. The last time Fa Ning went to visit, the man had mysteriously vanished.

It seemed like just a coincidence, and Fa Ning hadn’t paid it much mind. Neither had anyone else. Readers had assumed it was just a throwaway reference.

Though people had wondered what happened to the man who once took Fa Ning in, that part of the story had always felt lighthearted—almost carefree. It felt like there was no danger, just Fa Ning quietly leveling up, and the Red-Clothed Man like some old wise master, helping the protagonist grow.

Yuan Yuanyuan hadn’t thought much of it either. She assumed Ji Qiu was just giving the character more screen time as promised—after he won in the voting round. In her eyes, the Red-Clothed Man was like the sage who taught the Monkey King—here for a few years, then gone, leaving only memories.

That was how she saw it… until Fa Ning, now investigating the spy camp, made a special trip back to that place.

He went to look at the old courtyard where his mentor had once lived.

It was now overrun with weeds.

Not just ordinary weeds, but wild, tangled vines wrapping around everything—like the enchanted castle from Sleeping Beauty. Fa Ning was stunned. He immediately grabbed a nearby monster and asked what had happened to the yard, but only got suspicious stares.

The passerby shook his head and walked away, refusing to say a word.

Fa Ning suddenly felt like he’d walked into a fog. Everything started to blur.

This time, he resorted to searching memories again. The place where he used to work—readers always assumed it was some kind of lab—was filled with corpses. He sneaked in and found a fresh one, then accessed its memory.

After that—

Fa Ning was shaken to the core.

He stumbled out of the building, as if something were chasing him.

Or maybe… there really was something chasing him—something suffocating, like a dense net closing in.

Memories flooded his mind—familiar and unfamiliar—like spider silk, winding tightly around him.

He felt like he couldn’t even bear to think about it.

Because if he let himself think too hard… he might just break down and cry.