Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan was still blissfully unaware that her identity was hanging by a thread. She was chatting away with Tang Shi, the two of them thoroughly engrossed in conversation. On the other side, the more Gao Ling listened, the more her expression twisted, though she discreetly turned away so the other two wouldn’t notice.

By the time they finished cutting through all the brambles, night had fully fallen. Yuan Yuanyuan let out a breath of relief and glanced back at the house. Honestly, the thorns should’ve been cleared ages ago—there wasn’t anything valuable left inside anymore.

Gao Ling and the others emerged from the hole one by one. Yuan Yuanyuan turned to look at the withered tree, then quietly formed a demonic seal. Slowly, strands of golden color began to spread through its branches again.

Now that the barrier was open, a bunch of small demons would probably sneak in through this big hole…

Yuan Yuanyuan actually felt a bit pleased. There wasn’t anything of importance left in the shop, and aside from idiotic demons, regular folks wouldn’t venture here anyway.

Plus, if a flood of small demons showed up, maybe fewer humans would stick around for the fun.

As the group scattered, Yuan Yuanyuan returned to the tavern. When she arrived, Si Qun was squatting by the fire. She walked over and playfully teased him. Si Qun, as always, didn’t react at all—just sat there like a block of wood, letting her poke and prod.

Seriously, who would believe this little dummy was the Gu King? Yuan Yuanyuan pinched his cheek again, amused by how soft and squishy it was.

…So soft.

She got a little carried away enjoying the texture of his face before finally letting go and heading upstairs. It looked like no one else was up there. Yuan Yuanyuan picked up her phone and waited for midnight to arrive.

At the stroke of midnight, the bell outside chimed. There were a lot of customers in the tavern tonight, and the proprietress was busy entertaining them, so she probably wouldn’t be coming back upstairs any time soon. Yuan Yuanyuan glanced at her phone—it was glitching with static and artifacting, a sure sign that plenty of demons were nearby tonight.

She shook the phone until the screen calmed down and finally returned to normal. Then she opened the Meng Man app.

Time to see what “Demon Chronicle” had in store today… Over time, Yuan Yuanyuan had stopped caring about the updates as much. While Demon Chronicle did reveal a lot of useful information, Ji Qiu also had a bad habit of drawing misleading content. Yuan Yuanyuan was wary of getting tricked.

So she didn’t stay up late to catch it anymore—reading it the next morning worked just as well.

But she wasn’t sleepy tonight, so she opened the comic. In both her and Fat Cat’s eyes, Fa Ning definitely had some kind of mysterious backstory. He might not know it himself, and the comic hadn’t focused much on it, but Yuan Yuanyuan figured—if Ji Qiu picked him as the protagonist, he couldn’t have been just a random choice.

She remembered a scene from when Fa Ning was in the Sanqing Sect. He’d seen a painting of a Taoist who looked just like him. Yuan Yuanyuan suspected one of Fa Ning’s ancestors must’ve fought in that war years ago—just that not many people knew about it.

When Fa Ning had worked at her store as a server, he’d shown incredible talent. Yuan Yuanyuan had to explain things to Tang Shi three times, but Fa Ning only needed to hear it once.

Lately, the comic had started exploring more and more about that past war. It did feel a bit like rehashing old wounds, but it was inevitable. Yuan Yuanyuan’s biggest curiosity now was whether Fa Ning’s background would finally be revealed.

She still hadn’t forgotten the mysterious man surnamed Liu who used to chat so intimately with “Ran Niang.” If that Liu really was related to Fa Ning—whose real name might be Liu An—then things were getting interesting.

…Could this be a Jiraiya–Naruto kind of relationship?

That thought made Yuan Yuanyuan giggle to herself. What delicious drama. But she didn’t want to be the tragic mentor figure who dies to trigger a tearjerker arc, even if it was stylish and all…

She shook her head and continued reading.

Let’s see… has it been revealed yet?

The tone of this issue was immediately clear—digging up the past. Fa Ning and his group were currently in some unknown location, even Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t sure where exactly, facing off one-on-one against several ancient demons.

These old demons were pitiful, really. Already retirement age, and now being dragged back into action just to add spice to Ji Qiu’s manga.

Then again, in this series, even the dead could be brought back, so reviving old demons was nothing new.

The world was different back then. Almost every old demon was a warmonger, and anti-human sentiment ran deep. Yuan Yuanyuan hadn’t seen a single old demon lately who was even neutral toward humans. It was only from reading the recent chapters that she really saw the stark contrast between the older and younger generations of demons. The old ones had truly fought tooth and claw.

Still… Yuan Yuanyuan knew these old demons’ hostility toward humans might have been tempered only by their respect for Yuan—or rather, the past connection with Seventeen. Her boss monster and Yuan were basically indistinguishable in this respect.

In short, the old generation operated under chaotic neutrality. Yuan Yuanyuan remembered when the tavern used to sell human flesh… She shook her head.

People back then didn’t talk things out. They just fought. Recently, she’d encountered an old demon who—

—was completely insane. But nowadays, most demons lived with their tails between their legs. That kind of behavior was rare.

Among the few exceptions, there was this one.

“How could a demon this blatant still exist?” Fa Ning muttered, not realizing Yuan Yingli had heard him. Yuan Yingli looked thoughtful and said, “Actually, this guy… doesn’t usually act like this.”

“Huh?” Fa Ning blinked. “Are you two close or something?”

“…Not exactly close,” Yuan Yingli replied vaguely. “We’re kind of related… so I’ve heard some things. But honestly, I’m not close to any of my relatives.”

Fa Ning looked at him in surprise. So they had that kind of connection… That was unexpected. Then again, Yuan Yingli didn’t like talking about his family, so Fa Ning didn’t press.

“This behavior really is strange…” Yuan Yingli began to ponder, his hands slowing as he packed up. Based on what he knew, that person was as cunning as an old fox—he never would’ve acted so recklessly in the past. Back then, he was…

Forget it. As suspicious as it was, Yuan Yingli dropped the subject for now.

Reading this internal monologue, Yuan Yuanyuan thought: this demon isn’t ordinary. Just look at how conflicted he is. And was it her imagination, or was the comic deliberately avoiding revealing this old demon’s identity? From the beginning until now, they’d only ever called him “the old demon”—never by name, and never shown a full face.

Was she just overthinking it?

On the way there, Yuan Yingli seemed deep in thought the whole time. Fa Ning assumed it was because of the “relative” connection and didn’t dare upset him. But just as they were arriving, Yuan Yingli suddenly muttered,

“Fa Ning, once we get there… no matter what you see, don’t show any shock on your face.”

“Huh?” Fa Ning was baffled. What was up with Yuan Yingli today? He was acting especially weird… Still, if he was about to confront a relative, being a bit unsettled was understandable.

For all his usual cold and sadistic behavior, Yuan Yingli… really wasn’t heartless. Fa Ning genuinely felt that.

Wow, Yuan Yuanyuan thought, can you really just casually draw someone’s inner thoughts like that? And with these snarky little takes? She silently drew a little cross for Fa Ning, then became even more curious about the mysterious demon in question.

So cryptic… It was like reading about an underground spy. Yuan Yuanyuan racked her brain trying to match this guy’s identity.

She mentally reviewed all the major demons recently connected to the anti-war faction… but came up with nothing.

She scrolled down, eager to find out who it was that could make Yuan Yingli act like this. But when the demon finally appeared, she bit her tongue.

OW OW OW OW OW—

Tears welled in her eyes as she stuck out her tongue and stared at the page showing the head of the Li family. No way, it’s HIM?!

Wait a minute… someone related to the Yuan family, and Yuan Yingli—Seventeen’s number one fan—had this weirdly complex attitude toward him… Yeah, it had to be him.

Still sticking her tongue out, Yuan Yuanyuan mentally connected the dots. A person who used humans for secret purposes… Suddenly, she remembered the incident at last year’s anime convention—someone had been using smoke devices—and just recently, it was confirmed that the culprit was the Li family’s head.

Back then, he had indeed used humans for some shady activities, but Yuan Yuanyuan had interrupted him halfway through.

So Fa Ning and the others’ big boss-level demon was actually the Li family patriarch… No wonder they ran into him so quickly. Yuan Yuanyuan had thought he had some incredible speed technique—but it turned out he never even left the city.

Back in the comic, when Fa Ning finally came face to face with the Li family head, his expression inevitably shifted to one of shock.

Hmm? What’s he so shocked about?