Little Pink Starfish

On her way to the tavern from home, Yuan Yuanyuan kept thinking about what had just happened. She walked with her head down, holding the little bone whistle in her hand, deep in thought.

When she arrived at the tavern, she pushed open the side door as usual, planning to see if anyone was around. But she suddenly spotted a familiar young girl standing at the entrance, looking anxious as she kept glancing outside.

Yuan Yuanyuan thought, What’s she so nervous about? Before she could figure it out, the girl noticed Yuan Yuanyuan behind her veil and immediately shouted excitedly, “She’s back! Big sister’s back!”

“She’s back?” A small head popped out from behind, and Yuan Yuanyuan’s heart skipped a beat. She thought something had happened and quickly rushed inside.

…Then, when she got in, she saw the two of them sitting there stiffly like statues.

“…Didn’t you just say nothing happened?” Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the girl behind her in confusion. The girl replied, “They’ve been sitting here for over ten hours.”

“…Oh, now that you mention it, I get it. Sorry for the delay.” Yuan Yuanyuan went behind the curtain, took off her veil, and handed it to the girl.

The girl: …No worries.

Yuan Yuanyuan stepped past the curtain. As soon as she sat down, she saw the tavern owner’s expression visibly relax. She immediately welcomed Yuan Yuanyuan to the main seat. Across the table, Fa Ning and Yuan Yingli also raised their heads and looked at her in unison.

“What happened?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked.

“This time… we’re here to ask for your help,” Fa Ning said.

Yuan Yuanyuan silently wondered how serious their problem must be… They’d been sitting here for ten hours!

That’s not a small favor.

She sat down, took a sip of tea, and prepared herself for the usual banter from Fa Ning and Yuan Yingli. But instead, the two of them were dead serious today… so serious it made Yuan Yuanyuan a little uneasy.

She was never a fan of overly formal atmospheres, but now that these two were suddenly all solemn, her imagination started running wild.

Did someone important die? Or are they in some kind of mortal danger?

Yuan Yuanyuan watched the two of them nervously, until Fa Ning finally spoke again once she had settled in. “We’re here to ask for your troops.”

…That’s it? Scared me for nothing. Yuan Yuanyuan immediately dropped into a blank deadpan.

Instead of panic, she actually relaxed at the mention of borrowing troops. She picked up her teacup and took another sip. The tavern owner beside her was shocked by how calm she was and nudged her to act a little more serious. Her movements were small enough not to be noticed.

Huh? Yuan Yuanyuan looked up in surprise, and just then she heard the tavern owner’s voice in her ear.

“Hey, snap out of it—they’re asking you for troops!”

“I know.” Yuan Yuanyuan replied through magical voice transmission. She wasn’t particularly surprised. After all, the plot had more or less reached that point. Both sides in the war were scrambling to recruit powerhouses—humans, monsters, and even ghosts. Everyone was pulling out all the stops.

From the manga, it was obvious that Fa Ning’s group was falling behind the Masked Organization. The territory map said it all—the Masked side controlled nearly double the land. Only after seeing that map did Yuan Yuanyuan realize the anti-war faction among monsters was actually in the minority. Most monsters supported the pureblood ideology.

This was clear from the recent argument over the actor issue. A member of the anti-war faction had been portrayed by a human actor, and despite his opposition to pureblood theory, it still sparked a huge flame war. It was ironic, but it also showed how deeply ingrained those old ideologies were. It wasn’t something that could be changed overnight.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s own territory was small, but the advantage was its strategic location and the high number of elites. So they could still put up a fight. But when faced with overwhelming numbers, having just elites wouldn’t cut it. They needed more soldiers.

Fa Ning had already burned through every available resource. Yuan Yuanyuan was kind of curious to see what other weird tricks he’d pull in the manga. With a powerhouse like Yuan Yingli in their camp, nothing would surprise her.

But she didn’t expect them to come for her personally.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt an odd thrill. She looked at the two people across from her and asked, “Why did you come to me?”

That was actually the question she cared most about. The tavern owner turned her gaze toward the pair too.

After she asked, Fa Ning turned and looked at Yuan Yingli. Yuan Yuanyuan and the tavern owner also turned to him. He bowed deeply and said, “Because we’ve always believed that Yuan wouldn’t just disappear like that. Before he left, he must have left behind something important—and the one who might know about those preparations… is likely you.”

The moment he finished, the room fell into complete silence.

All eyes were on her.

Yuan Yuanyuan muttered, “Damn, how’d you guess so accurately? It’s still warm in my hand.”

Fa Ning: “I’m not the one who thought of that, okay? Don’t drag me into it.”

Her hand was warm, because the whistle itself was cold—constantly emitting a faint chill. She handed it over.

At that moment, the tavern owner spoke in an unusually stern tone, “You know… if you say one wrong thing when borrowing troops, we’ll lend them to you for nothing.”

Yuan Yuanyuan was startled by her tone. In her mind, Fa Ning was the main character. Just hand everything to him, and the rest of the bystanders can cheer from the sidelines.

That was the biggest difference between Yuan Yuanyuan and the tavern owner. Troops were a serious matter—otherwise, why would Zhuge Liang have worked so hard back in the day?

That was the biggest contrast in mindset between the two of them. So while the tavern owner was nervous, Yuan Yuanyuan stayed perfectly calm.

She even thought Fa Ning’s timing was uncanny—just as she found the whistle, he showed up. She started to wonder if Qiu Qiu was behind this. After all, back in the day, Qiu Qiu had literally written her a note, step-by-step, to guide her to Fa Ning. Who’s to say he didn’t do the same thing to guide Yuan Yingli to her now?

That thought made her suspicious. She glanced at the two men across from her, but both of them were looking down, so she couldn’t read their expressions.

“Please, think carefully. This is a critical moment,” Yuan Yingli said in a final appeal.

Yuan Yuanyuan figured that was enough. She reached into her sleeve and slowly pulled out the bone whistle—clean and white.

Whether it was her imagination or not, the moment the whistle emerged, the room temperature seemed to drop sharply. The two men across from her even shivered involuntarily.

She looked at the whistle and thought, Is it really that dramatic? She could feel it was cold, but not that cold. She turned to check the tavern owner’s reaction—and froze.

The tavern owner was staring at her with an expression of shock. Or rather, she was staring at the whistle in Yuan Yuanyuan’s hand, as if she were holding something unimaginable.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt uneasy under that gaze. She still followed her plan and placed the whistle onto a black tray, passing it behind the curtain. Fa Ning and Yuan Yingli stared at it for a long time—neither dared to reach for it.

In the end, Fa Ning picked it up. Yuan Yuanyuan saw him shudder and his lips even turned a little pale. Then both men bowed to her and left.

Yuan Yuanyuan watched them leave, thinking she’d stick around a little longer before heading back. But the tavern owner suddenly said from behind her in a low voice, “I thought you didn’t have that thing on you.”

“Huh?” Yuan Yuanyuan turned in confusion. Didn’t the manga show this ages ago? It even depicted how I stole it—how could she not know?

“Because I thought, if you had that thing… you wouldn’t have let yourself get so beaten up,” the tavern owner said softly. “Why didn’t you use it yourself? Why give it to him instead?”

“Because I believe he can win,” Yuan Yuanyuan replied. And that really was what she felt. If the main character can’t win, then no one else has a shot either.

Yuan Yuanyuan knew they had to struggle, sure. But after so long, she had become more pragmatic. Rather than half-killing herself trying to fight, better to hand the tool over to the chosen one. At least Fa Ning had Qiu Qiu behind him—an unknown powerhouse in disguise.

“But I still didn’t expect you to give it away,” the tavern owner said, sipping her tea. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t let you down.”

Let me down… Yuan Yuanyuan also took a sip of tea, pondering a question:

What exactly… was that white whistle meant to do?

Outside the tavern, Fa Ning and Yuan Yingli were looking at the whistle too. They didn’t dare touch it directly and had wrapped it in a thick cloth.

“What’s it made of? Why is it so cold?” Yuan Yingli asked. “What is this?”

“Bone,” said Fa Ning, who’d had plenty of dealings with corpses. He recognized it at a glance. “But whose bone… that’s the question.”