Little Pink Starfish

Although after finishing the latest issue, the only thing Yuan Yuanyuan could think to say was “Goddamn idiots,” just as she had expected, everyone was full of praise. Not a single person seemed to realize how she might be feeling.

Yuan Yuanyuan glanced sideways at that reaction. She thought, You guys are seriously bold… Have none of you even considered what might happen if the red-dressed woman herself doesn’t feel confident?

Strangely enough… it really seemed like no one had thought about that. Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly felt an invisible weight settle heavily on her shoulders.

At the same time, Gao Ling exhaled deeply as she read the comic, then bounced in place a few times.

Great! She knew Yuan wouldn’t get into trouble!

So reassuring!

…But it was also kind of infuriating. Gao Ling suddenly remembered—while everyone outside was in chaos, Yuan was just sitting indoors drinking with a lady… That didn’t feel quite right, did it?

But the more she looked, the more she couldn’t help but smile again.

Hehehehe…

The red-dressed woman’s behavior was like a morale booster for the anti-war faction. Though they weren’t exactly safe and sound, things were surprisingly stable. Almost no mishaps had occurred.

Actually, by now, everyone had started to get the hang of Jiuqiu’s style. He liked to pull surprise twists. Sometimes, even when people didn’t want him to draw something, he’d do it anyway. And no one really knew what he’d decide to draw.

Trying to mislead Jiuqiu through everyday roleplay? Yeah… that was tough.

It wasn’t like no one had tried to misdirect him before, but eventually they realized it didn’t work. Jiuqiu was sharp—he could tell when someone was trying to deceive him. And for those who tried, he’d sometimes intentionally draw them looking ridiculous.

So the red-dressed woman leisurely drinking wine… was probably really just drinking. After this issue came out, people started admiring her composure—her emotional control was truly next level.

Of course, no one had yet realized the connection between Yuan and the red-dressed woman, so for now, they were just praising her for being amazing. Online, the prevailing theory was that she was Yuan’s widow. So some even speculated: maybe Yuan had left behind some sort of backup plan, and that’s why she wasn’t afraid at all.

Widow… Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the comic and thought, Oh, for fck’s sake, will you people just shut up already? One more word and I’m out.*

The King of All Demons’ first probing attack had failed, and in the following days—due to various complications—it seemed he hadn’t returned. Yuan Yuanyuan vaguely heard that the exposure of his involvement had caused him quite a bit of trouble.

The current King of All Demons was a rookie—he’d just taken the position. The previous one had passed away some time ago. Over the past few days, while serving drinks at the tavern, Yuan Yuanyuan overheard people quietly cursing the new King, calling him useless… which surprised her.

Apparently, the previous King wasn’t very well-liked either…

Though the old King was cruel and ruthless, according to the older demons, at least he was reliable—strong, powerful, and capable. But the new one? A brat, completely propped up by his old subordinates.

Yuan Yuanyuan thought, *So much for Inherited Will like in *Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. All that “grandson inheriting the family legacy” stuff is totally fake—look at this guy, he’s barely holding it together.

Even so… Yuan Yuanyuan knew full well that just because the new King was unpopular didn’t mean he could be taken down easily. With no guarantee of victory, she wasn’t about to challenge him head-on. Since the enemy had retreated, she wasn’t interested in pushing further either. Maintaining the current balance was just fine.

She glanced down at her phone, planning to go help in the kitchen. The tavern had been unusually busy lately—maybe because of the anti-war organization gatherings?

Just then, she noticed a girl working nearby also looking at her phone. It was rare for demons to use phones, but apparently a few student workers—like Tang Shi—were exceptions.

Yuan Yuanyuan casually peeked. Looked like the girl was reading a Demon Chronicles fanfic, though she couldn’t make out the title.

She was about to walk away when the girl suddenly tapped her excitedly and said, “Sis! Wanna check this out? I’ll send you the link—it’s really good!”

Before Yuan Yuanyuan could react, the girl had already sent her the link. She glanced at it—it seemed like a typical isekai fanfic where a random nobody gets transported into the world of Demon Chronicles… The summary even mentioned “otherworld elements.”

Yuan Yuanyuan thought, Come on, bro, do we really need the isekai trope here? We’re from the same world already, what’s the twist—surprised?

…Still, Yuan Yuanyuan found herself reading it more closely. The story was about a human who ends up in the demon world.

Before she could fully process it, she saw the girl run off—she had gone to squat next to Si Qun and started reading the fanfic to him.

“Ah…” The more Yuan Yuanyuan read, the more she wanted to laugh. The main character’s first goal after becoming a human? Find Yuan and cling to his leg—classic bootlicking strategy.

She looked at Si Qun and said, thoughtfully, “Looks like this person doesn’t like trickery. Prefers to go head-to-head. Your combat style seems way cooler in his eyes… But honestly, your fighting skills aren’t something most people can copy. Following me would be more practical, don’t you think, Si Qun?”

Si Qun was squatting beside her and didn’t really respond, so she kept reading aloud, “Let’s see what this guy does next…”

At first, Yuan Yuanyuan had thought this “cling to Yuan’s thigh” thing was just a joke, but after a few chapters, she realized the protagonist was seriously into it.

“Yuan had just emerged from the well, completely alone. Even though he was a steadfast and true man, a man alone for too long will still get lonely. If you take this opportunity to act—use the ‘Little Ray of Sunshine’ strategy in his life…”

Yuan Yuanyuan read the fanfic in a flat, monotone voice.

Eventually, she stopped reading aloud and just silently skimmed the pages. While she was engrossed, someone tugged on her sleeve. She looked up—Si Qun was pulling on her clothes, seemingly wanting her to keep reading.

“…You shouldn’t read the rest. It gets a bit NSFW,” she said.

The story eventually spiraled into full-on harem territory. Yuan Yuanyuan had been pretty calm at first, but once even the red-dressed woman got “collected” by the protagonist, she couldn’t stay chill.

“Aiya aiya…” By the end, Yuan Yuanyuan could only sigh. “Not everyone’s cut out to be a Little Ray of Sunshine, huh… You be my little sunshine? I haven’t even managed to be someone else’s yet. Feels like I’m just a little solar eclipse.”

For a moment, Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know what to say. She was filled with a strange sense of melancholy. Of course, Yuan wasn’t the only one getting dragged into it—there were plenty of others. Si Qun, for example, always portrayed as cold and aloof, was getting butchered even worse in fanfics, twisted into some gentle and affectionate type—completely unlike the real him.

Others too—fan-favorite male and female characters, like Yuan Yingli and the red-dressed woman… Yuan Yingli and Yuan had similar arcs—both underwent dark transformations later on. But Yuan Yingli had the added bonus of the “loyal dog” persona, so plenty of people liked writing stories where someone gave him love and light in his childhood.

But overall, Yuan remained the ultimate “big thigh” character everyone wanted to cling to. Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know why, but people just found it strangely easy to fantasize about “winning him over.” After reading so many of these stories, even she was almost brainwashed—started feeling like it was easy to win him over…

That’s… probably not a good thing.

Yuan Yuanyuan shook her head. Over all this time, she’d come to realize that while the comic portrayed a lot of things very vividly, that level of detail had both pros and cons.

The downside was that it exposed everything from her past to the public—laid bare for others to comment on. Whether or not it was respectful wasn’t even the issue—just the sheer vulnerability of having your flaws dissected…

Now, everyone seemed to take it for granted that Yuan had a soft heart. That meant he could be manipulated from that angle. They also assumed Yuan Yingli’s weakness was Yuan—someone that could be used to shake him. If regular humans could see that, then of course demons could too.

There was nothing she could do… Yuan Yuanyuan could only take things one step at a time. But with the way things were going… she had a strong feeling someone was planning to exploit that softness—to trap her.

She closed the fanfic and went to check the official comic site. She wanted to read the comments—but what she saw was a long banner stretched across the top of the homepage. Looked like some kind of official ad?

Comics taking on ads wasn’t a bad thing. Even though Demon Chronicles was full of chaos in the story, the popularity of Meng Man was exploding. It used to be hard for them to land big sponsors, but in the past six months, even premium brands had started appearing on the site. Maybe while demons and humans were out there tearing each other apart, Meng Man would end up the biggest winner.

Yuan Yuanyuan leaned in to take a closer look—it was the Meng Man popularity tournament. The bracket stage had already begun. But below that was a new message.

She froze. Then leaned in closer… closer… closer…

Until finally—

“WHAT THE—?!” Yuan Yuanyuan shrieked. The sound cut through the kitchen and startled Li Zi Jie, who had just walked in.

“What the hell is this?!” Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the giant letters on the screen:

“Officially Authorized by Jiuqiu! Live-Action Drama of Demon Chronicles Coming Soon!”

Her heart suddenly trembled.

Her first thought was—Authorized by Jiuqiu himself?! Oh crap. If they cast some dumbass actor to play a big boss and the real boss gets pissed and shows up to kill him—what then?!

…Wait, that might not be the main issue.

Her second thought was—

So… who’s going to play Yuan?