Little Pink Starfish

The guy who’d just had an emotional breakdown started explaining frantically to his friend. His friend stared at him in a daze, listened to the whole spiel, and then sincerely shook his head. “Didn’t understand a word.”

“…” The guy opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to repeat everything, but then suddenly slumped in defeat. He waved his hand. “Forget it. If you didn’t get it, you didn’t get it. I’ll just keep it bottled up.”

“Wait. So what you’re saying is… you went to the convention, ran into a really good-looking cosplayer, started talking to him, and then found out he was actually Yuan?” his friend asked. “Is that what you meant?”

“YOU JUST SAID YOU DIDN’T GET IT!” the guy shouted. “Why pretend you didn’t understand?!”

“…” His friend fell into an awkward silence, clearly at a loss for words. He opened his mouth a few times but hesitated. Then, after thinking for a moment, he finally said, “Alright, let’s not talk about that right now. I just want to ask… did you take the wrong meds today? I know that sounds cliché, but it’s all I can think of right now.”

“I DIDN’T!” the guy yelled, on the verge of a mental breakdown. “That person in the bonus chapter—THAT WAS ME! Every single panel in that comic—it’s all exactly what happened! If it had been just one or two lines matching, maybe I could brush it off, but it’s everything! Even what I was thinking at the time—it’s all the same! How am I supposed to stay calm?!”

His friend studied him for a long time before finally realizing this wasn’t a prank. He sat down and listened to the full story.

—
Yuan Yuanyuan brought food to the tavern—a big cake and a pile of fruits.

She went into the kitchen first, found a small box, and hid the cake inside. She planned to bring it out later in the evening.

Today was Si Qun’s lunar birthday. According to Li Zi Jie, he only celebrated according to the lunar calendar. Last year, Yuan Yuanyuan had given him a discounted cake. But this year she had money, so she bought a proper chocolate one.

She wasn’t sure what Si Qun liked to eat, but from what she could tell, he had never been picky.

After that, Yuan Yuanyuan crouched down and started quietly washing cups and wine pots. Midway through, someone called her out, saying someone was making trouble up front.

Yuan Yuanyuan replied weakly, “I just wash dishes. I can’t help with that.” The little demon who called her begged, “Please, Sister Hongxiu, most of the high-level demons aren’t here today, and you’re the only one who’s even remotely reliable!”

So Yuan Yuanyuan reluctantly agreed. She silently grabbed a wine bottle, smashed it in one go, and walked out calmly…

Ten minutes later, Yuan Yuanyuan came back looking fresh and unbothered. As she entered the kitchen, she saw a fluffy-haired head crouched down, munching away at the cake.

Wait a minute, she thought. I didn’t even bring it out yet—how’s Si Qun eating it already? Does he have some kind of bloodhound sense or something? I hid it so well!

She crouched down to look at him. Her hand itched to ruffle his fluffy hair, but the memory of getting stabbed that one time flashed through her mind, so she retracted it.

“Is the cake good?” she asked.

Si Qun replied, “Yeah. Delicious.”

“Do you know who bought it for you?” Yuan Yuanyuan smiled like sunshine, fully expecting Si Qun to offer up a few strands of hair in gratitude. Instead, he turned away and replied with two words: “I know.”

Then… silence.

The smile on Yuan Yuanyuan’s face slowly faded… faded… vanished…

Hold on—this isn’t the reaction I expected.

Shouldn’t he be saying thank you when the gift-giver is literally right in front of him? Just as she was about to say something else, someone called for her again—another person causing trouble. Yuan Yuanyuan picked up her wine bottle and stomped out with murderous intent.

What the hell? Are they taking turns to cause problems today?

When she came back again, Si Qun was gone. Only the empty cake box remained in the trash. Wow, she thought. He really lives by “eat and run.” Only shows any demon-like behavior when he’s eating.

But what was Si Qun’s real form anyway? Yuan Yuanyuan had still never seen it.

After finishing the delivery, she told everyone she was off-duty and then transformed, sneaking into the tavern’s “secret base.” She sprawled out behind the curtain with zero poise, lazily scrolling through her phone.

She was reading all the birthday posts for Si Qun on the forums. After all, the official character books listed everyone’s birthday.

Today was indeed Si Qun’s birthday. A bunch of people were spamming “happy birthday” online. WeChat, Weibo—it was everywhere. Si Qun had a decent fan base. He was that kind of character who, despite limited screen time, had inexplicably strong charisma.

He was the kind who showed up with a bang, exuded coolness, and then vanished, leaving everyone craving more. In the manga, he was the aloof, icy “salt-type” guy, best friends with Yuan. So it wasn’t surprising that he was popular.

【Handsome Si Qun! Powerful Si Qun! Wishing you happiness year after year~】
【Stay best bros with Yuan forever! Don’t give up on our Yuan! He might have a bad temper and a sharp tongue, but he’s got a good heart!】

Yuan Yuanyuan read that last line and thought, Yep, that’s a flag if I’ve ever seen one… Where even is that idiot now?

Seeing all the birthday wishes lined up felt oddly comforting. She wondered if that silly guy would feel happy too.

Sending birthday wishes to 2D characters was pretty normal, but something about Monster Chronicles made it feel completely different.

She stayed in that laid-back mood for a while, until someone knocked on the curtain. Yuan Yuanyuan got up, cracked her neck, and said, “Come in.”

The first words out of the tavern owner’s mouth as she entered were about that.

The moment she stepped in, she brought with her a wave of cold wind and rain. The icy air made her expression look even worse.

The whistle? They used it already?

Yuan Yuanyuan immediately stood up. Noticing the tavern owner’s pale face, she asked, “What happened?”

“N-nothing…” the owner said, shaking her head. But Yuan Yuanyuan instinctively knew she must’ve seen something terrifying to look like that.

She lifted the curtain and peeked outside. Her brows furrowed.

The sky was an eerie mix of red and black that made her feel dizzy just looking at it.

She couldn’t quite tell what was happening in the sky, but the colors brought back some unsettling memories.

She squinted and noticed a lot of monsters flying around in the air, moving back and forth.

She didn’t recognize who they were. Just as she was puzzling over it, something suddenly fell from the sky and crashed down in front of her, startling her.

She rushed forward and caught it just in time. It felt soft in her arms. She set it down and, under the light, realized—

It was a corpse.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s heart skipped a beat—not because of the body itself, but because of the clothes it wore. She had seen that outfit a long time ago.

It was dressed in brown, with a small headpiece featuring three large flowers. Each flower looked like it had been carved with a knife.

Clothes from the Hundred Demon King’s faction? What’s that doing here?

Yuan Yuanyuan stood there in turmoil. Given Seventeen’s ties to the Hundred Demon King, if one of his men appeared here now, that meant the tavern needed to go into full lockdown.

She glanced at the tavern owner, hesitated, and didn’t know what to say.

The tavern owner came over and said quietly, “So… you really didn’t know that one of your old troops had been taken in by the Hundred Demon King?”

…Huh? Yuan Yuanyuan looked utterly confused. Sis, what are you talking about? I don’t follow.

She didn’t show any emotion on her face, but the act had to go on. She couldn’t decide whether to say she knew or not, so she gave a vague response, “I didn’t know, but… I’d kind of guessed it.”

The tavern owner looked down at the corpse and took off its headpiece.

Meanwhile, outside the tavern, a figure sat at the entrance, slowly eating a giant apple.

The sky was dark, his face obscured. But his head was tilted upward, staring at the swirling red and black above.

Si Qun kept staring quietly at the sky, biting his apple. A moment later, footsteps approached. Someone walked up behind him.

“Si Qun?” Yuan Yuanyuan called. “Why are you hiding out here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Come inside—things are dangerous right now. Don’t get caught in the crossfire.”

Si Qun turned to look at her, tossed his apple core into the trash, and followed her inside.

The tavern closed early that day and would likely stay closed tomorrow too. When the fighting outside would end, no one knew. Most shops in the area were handling it the same way—no one wanted to get dragged into the chaos.

The staff boarded up the windows, cleared the guests, and cleaned the place up. Li Zi Jie was nowhere to be seen. Yuan Yuanyuan and Si Qun put away the cups and stored them in the cabinets.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt like Si Qun was unusually moody today… so while they cleaned, she kept trying to cheer him up. He didn’t seem interested in talking. Halfway through, someone came in and said, “Sis, I’m so sorry, but we need your help.”

“What kind of help?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked.

“A few of the girls who work part-time here…” The person hesitated. “They live a bit far away. With things so chaotic outside, they’re afraid to go home alone. Can you escort them?”