Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan sat on the sofa, repeatedly finding herself in a completely bewildered state.

How to put it… it was like someone told her, “Yuan Yuanyuan went to a restaurant today,” or “Yuan Yuanyuan went out to have fun with someone today,” but she herself had absolutely no recollection of these events—yet the other party spoke with such certainty.

Yuan Yuanyuan really wanted to say with a confused face, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” If things could be solved that easily, she would be thrilled.

But the nature of this matter wasn’t quite the same—Yuan Yuanyuan still understood that. At the very least, she knew whether she had eaten or gone out. But as for whether the King of All Demons had shown up last night, she couldn’t say with 100% certainty.

Still, if the King of All Demons really had come over last night… Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly found herself strangely impressed by the boss lady—she actually drank with her the whole night. Was she really that unbothered by his presence? Or what?

Yuan Yuanyuan, of course, had no way of knowing the answer to that. But since things had already happened, there was no point in thinking further. She turned around and hugged the fat cat, petting it a few times, wondering what exactly was going on outside.

Gao Ling had come around earlier during the day, sticking strictly to the main roads and refusing to take any side paths.

She mainly wanted to assess the extent of the damage—and was instantly shocked.

Some buildings had literally lost half their structure. Gao Ling broke into a cold sweat as she pointed to a building and asked a passerby, but it was obvious they couldn’t see what she was seeing. She was the only one who could.

Of course, demons could definitely see it too. Gao Ling figured it must be some kind of illusion spell. She took a few photos and shared them in the group chat—sure enough, others saw something different from her.

Why had this happened? Gao Ling started thinking it through. These things don’t just happen out of nowhere—there must be a cause and an effect.

After pondering for a long time, Gao Ling finally found something close to a clue—the demon comic from the last issue.

What exactly had that issue depicted? Gao Ling thought carefully, then broke into a cold sweat.

She wandered in a daze into the café under her apartment. It wasn’t until the waiter came to take her order that she snapped out of it. Looking around at the calm, harmonious café, she finally let out a small sigh of relief.

No matter how chaotic things were outside, at least this place was peaceful… But if the demon world really fell into chaos, the human world wouldn’t stay peaceful for long. After all, the two were intertwined.

Gao Ling had some understanding of this, but it wasn’t until she saw that collapsed building that she truly grasped it. That scene had shaken her deeply.

Lowering her head, she quietly sipped the coffee the waiter brought over, silently thinking about everything she had just seen. The café was still enveloped in tranquility, but not far away stood a half-collapsed building. Everyone was living in a peaceful world, yet that peace felt like it could be shattered at any moment.

So… who was maintaining this fragile peace?

Gao Ling suddenly found herself admiring Yuan. At the very least, just thinking about all this was exhausting—yet there was actually a group of people out there actively doing it.

As she sat in the café, Gao Ling’s anxious heart gradually settled down.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan was calming down too. Well, at least nothing’s happening for now… no point worrying. Just take things one step at a time.

But then Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly remembered something else… what exactly had she talked about with the boss lady while drinking last night? She had a vague impression but couldn’t remember anything clearly.

She kept racking her brain but just couldn’t recall, worried that she might have said something inappropriate. The more she tried to remember, the more nervous she got. She hadn’t thought much of it while drunk, but now her imagination was running wild.

She suddenly wished she could rush over and ask the boss lady what she’d said, but unfortunately, it wasn’t work hours yet—so she had to hold back.

After sitting around for a long while with nothing to do, Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly remembered the student forum she hadn’t visited in ages. The students there should have the most direct impressions of last night—were they talking about it now?

She logged on and was shocked—everyone seemed to be talking about it. And the discussions were way more in-depth than she had expected. Most were speculating whether this incident was related to the previous issue of the demon comic.

Yuan Yuanyuan had also vaguely suspected the same, but hadn’t dared to be too sure of her own theory. Now, seeing everyone else talking about it, she felt an odd sense of reassurance—it validated her thoughts.

Last night… was it really that big of a deal? Big enough to drive the King of All Demons insane?

【“I wasn’t scared at all, but now I’m totally freaked out.”】

【“Something happened later… you might not know, but if a real fight breaks out, C City isn’t afraid of anyone.”】

【“C City seems kinda weak though, honestly.”】

【“Don’t worry! Yuan definitely has a backup plan! Nothing bad will happen!”】

Yuan Yuanyuan vaguely remembered that Yuan had grown up in C City. Back then, C City really wasn’t like this. Maybe the Blood Jade Demon Army had risen from C City too… So who knew what the future would hold.

【“But a bunch of unfamiliar people showed up last night… they looked like anti-war activists or something?”】

【“Really?”】

【“Do you think someone like Fa Ning could really exist in real life…? If he did, he probably didn’t sleep a wink last night. What about Yuan Yingli?”】

【“No idea about Fa Ning, but Yuan Yingli definitely existed—I even heard stories about him when I was a kid.”】

【“Ooh, what did he look like? Handsome?”】

【“That red-dressed woman probably didn’t sleep either… they were probably all up all night.”】

【“Don’t worry! Yuan definitely left a backup plan!”】

Everyone gradually started shifting focus to gossip. And since Yuan Yuanyuan was the main subject of the gossip, she felt strangely disoriented—everything felt surreal…

And the blind trust everyone had in Yuan made her nervous. She didn’t even trust herself, and yet so many people trusted her? What kind of twisted logic was this? She thought to herself that she really couldn’t trust people so easily anymore.

Last night… Yuan Yuanyuan winced. She quietly turned off her phone. She really didn’t do much—she just got drunk.

Anyway, amidst all the public attention, Monday’s issue of the comic was released. Yuan Yuanyuan glanced at it—it was extremely up-to-date. Just the day before, the demon world had been in chaos, and now it had already been drawn.

Through the comic, Yuan Yuanyuan saw the various reactions from the demon world.

First off, the King of All Demons had been betrayed by Jiuqiu… who straight-up depicted him as the mastermind behind the whole thing. When Yuan Yuanyuan saw it, she spit out her drink.

What now… the King of All Demons definitely hadn’t wanted Jiuqiu to be that honest. Even if everyone already suspected the truth, there’s still a huge difference between keeping it under wraps and exposing it for all to see.

Yuan Yuanyuan also saw how most ordinary demons reacted. They avoided the topic like the plague, afraid of getting caught up in it. Anyone remotely curious clearly wasn’t a normal demon.

Everyone knew this was a battle between immortals—and not just any immortals, but ancient ones. Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly felt like she had been yanked from the 21st century into the world of Naruto or Meteor City…

So it was clear: humans and demons reacted completely differently. Demons kept silent, but humans were all over the internet, bragging and speculating with gleeful abandon.

Some people, dissatisfied with scenes in the comic, endlessly complained—so-and-so was too dumb, someone should’ve done something differently, etc. It all felt a bit dimensionally confused. Luckily, since Yuan’s “redemption,” not many dared to call him dumb—because mocking Yuan usually backfired. No one knew what kind of hidden cards he still had.

At this moment, demons and humans had reached a rare consensus: Yuan definitely had a backup plan. If anything happened, that backup would emerge—just like when Yuan Yingli and the spy camp suddenly showed up before.

This made Yuan Yuanyuan even more anxious. But she couldn’t say a word—she had to hold it in. The atmosphere outside felt really ominous, but she couldn’t afford to break the illusion. If she did, something terrible might happen. As long as she didn’t break it, she could still bluff her way through for a bit.

As she mulled it over, Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly saw the red-dressed woman and the boss lady appear in the comic.

Oh? Now she could finally see what the two of them had talked about last night? Yuan Yuanyuan got excited.

…

“Do you want to warm the wine a little?” said the woman opposite the red-dressed one, her face obscured.

“No need, I’ll drink it like this,” said the red-dressed woman.

“Drink slower—if you go too fast, you’ll get drunk.”

“Okay,” said the red-dressed woman. “You drink too.”

…

Wait… so what did we do last night? Yuan Yuanyuan stared blankly.

Apparently it was just drinking, drinking, and more drinking… So that’s really all they talked about while drinking?

Yuan Yuanyuan flipped through the comic with a dead-fish expression. While outside was a battlefield of fire and blood, the red-dressed woman was drinking.
While buildings were crumbling, the red-dressed woman was drinking.
While the King of All Demons’ minions were being defeated, the red-dressed woman was still drinking…

Jiuqiu’s artwork was meticulous—interweaving scenes that gave a powerful sense of contrast. It felt just like in Death Note, when Light Yagami killed people while attending class—switching between the criminal’s demise and Light’s mundane school life. It was oddly compelling.

…No no no, that’s not the point! Yuan Yuanyuan stared blankly at the comment section.

The comments were all things like: “So cool!” “So badass!” She thought to herself—Seriously? This is what you guys like? This kind of stuff reassures you?

Like Yuan’s so-called “backup plan” makes you feel safe?

…God, you people are idiots.