Little Pink Starfish

…Where am I right now?

Hua Rongyue sat on a chair, outwardly calm, inwardly panicking like crazy.

After a while, someone suddenly appeared in the room. Their movements were so light and fast that people with poor eyesight wouldn’t have seen how they got in.

“Six Doors has indeed issued the order to surround the Qinhuai River. But right now, they’re still searching outside. They haven’t thought to come aboard the flower boats yet. Also, two nights ago, someone from Six Doors apparently snuck away. There’s now a warrant out for them. Other than that, nothing major to report.”

“…Alright, you may leave,” Hua Rongyue said weakly.

A bunch of strangers—though they seemed to know who she was—had given her humanitarian aid and saved her bloodied body.

But the real problem was… she didn’t recognize them. She had no clue what was going on. She wasn’t even sure whether Six Doors had figured out her true identity yet. And since Jin Butou had stabbed her, she had to start thinking about what to do if they ran into each other again.

Hua Rongyue, in truth, didn’t have the personality of a warlord like Yi Linglong. Just thinking about the bloodshed and chaos of Yi Linglong’s past life gave her a headache. Living like that would shave years off her life… Maybe she should find somewhere else to hide again?

As she was thinking, someone else came in and asked, “There’s a lot of talk outside. We wanted to get your opinion. What should we do next?”

“Huh? Next?” Hua Rongyue answered instinctively, “Since things are so chaotic, let’s just stay hidden for now… Ride out the storm.”

“But a lot of people don’t want to hide anymore,” the person said. “We’ve been hidden for too long.”

“So what do you want to do, if not hide?” Hua Rongyue asked.

“We’ve been forgotten here for a long time. The world doesn’t even know we exist. But why should it be that way?” the person said. “We’ve been forced to hide in a place like this, as if we don’t even deserve a path forward. If you hadn’t helped the other night, Silver Sister might have fallen into a scoundrel’s trap… Now that Six Doors is here, if you agree, we could let everyone on the Qinhuai River know we exist!”

“…Go ask what the others think first,” Hua Rongyue swallowed nervously. “But for now, stay put. The people Six Doors sent this time aren’t easy to deal with. One misstep and things could get very dangerous.”

After a pause, she added, “I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

The person froze for a second, then nodded and left. The moment they did, Hua Rongyue nearly collapsed.

…Seriously, where the hell am I?

—

Just as Hua Rongyue had no idea where she was, the agents from Six Doors were equally lost when it came to the situation in Jiangnan.

They had encountered an unusual resistance—something was interfering with their operations. But this force never revealed itself. They didn’t even show their faces. If it weren’t for their experience, the agents might not have noticed anything at all.

They combed through all known forces in Jiangnan—martial sects, court officials, even salt gangs—but none of them matched what they were up against.

In other words, at some unknown point, a vast and hidden organization had emerged in Jiangnan. The realization left every Six Doors operative in cold sweat.

Previously, they’d thought the Qinhuai River posed little danger—hence sending Hua Rongyue. But now, it was clear the place was full of undercurrents—and they only discovered this by sheer accident through Hua Rongyue.

Just as they were about to investigate further, the organization suddenly began withdrawing, fast.

Every operative they sent out returned empty-handed.

Just the day before, the group had seemed ambitious and threatening. Yet now, as if someone had flipped a switch, they retreated completely, leaving Six Doors with no leads. Headquarters had already issued a call for reinforcements, but by the time backup arrived, there would be nothing to fight.

This drastic shift made everyone uneasy. They began reevaluating the threat level of the organization.

Though they still knew little, one thing was clear—the leader of this group must be incredibly intelligent and cunning.

All this had happened in just two days. Now Six Doors convened to figure out what to do next.

Among them sat a particularly unusual figure.

“You shouldn’t be here,” said Jin Butou, who hadn’t slept in two days. Though this wasn’t entirely his fault, he felt deeply guilty. “Why didn’t you stay where you were told?”

“It was boring over there,” said Jiang Lianhuan. “This is way more fun. I heard the famous Hua Rongyue vanished, so I came to see for myself.”

“Hua Rongyue’s been missing for two days. With wounds like his… if he didn’t get medical attention…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but everyone knew what he meant.

“So what, you’re all giving up now?” Jiang Lianhuan snapped. He hadn’t slept in two days either, and his temper was frayed. “Don’t even know where Hua Rongyue is now, do you?”

“We asked the Qinglong Gang and the salt gangs. They claim they know nothing,” someone said carefully. “But they said there’s a group that might know something.”

“Who?”

“The prostitutes on the flower boats. Word is, they’re better informed than even Tianyi Tower. Some of them specialize in this kind of intelligence gathering.”

Legendary information networks still thrived in this world, whatever form they took.

So, Six Doors decided to seek out these well-informed courtesans. Everyone agreed—except Jiang Lianhuan. He stood up and announced he was going to track down the mysterious organization instead.

“Be careful,” Jin Butou warned. “Then again, you’ve never been afraid of death. I doubt you’d do anything too reckless.”

“You really know me,” Jiang Lianhuan replied, waving as he left.

—

Meanwhile, Hua Rongyue was still holed up in her room.

Honestly, the place wasn’t bad. They gave her food and water, there were always pretty ladies around to chat with… But she was scared out of her mind. She had a gut feeling—this was the same mysterious group that would one day bring the Qinhuai River to complete silence.

Not that she had any proof. Just a sixth sense.

Everything here seemed sunny and cheerful—beautiful women who could sing and dance, kind hospitality—but every so often, something in the conversation would make her hair stand on end.

Like yesterday, when one woman asked if they should “let the entire Qinhuai River know we exist.” Hua Rongyue’s mental alarms had blared full force. She immediately said no.

What happened after that… she didn’t know. That woman never came back. It felt like being on death row without knowing when the execution would come.

So far, the Qinhuai River was still calm. Hua Rongyue knew she was on a flower boat and had no plans to leave.

She used to think the organization was full of lunatics—based on Yi Linglong’s memories—but after spending a few days here, she realized that wasn’t entirely true.

Some were lunatics. But many were normal. And somehow, they coexisted peacefully.

Something impossible in the outside world had been achieved on this little boat. Sure, there were occasional conflicts—but they were always quickly suppressed. A strange kind of peace existed.

Clearly, some unique system was at work—something that let madmen and sane people live side by side. The “mad” ones here were more rational than most outside. And the sane ones seemed oddly accepting of the mad.

Whatever caused this weird balance, Hua Rongyue couldn’t figure it out just yet.

As she pondered, someone came over.

“Sister Xing isn’t here today. There’s a group of guests who want some information. Should we let them in?”

Sister Xing was the woman who’d left abruptly yesterday and hadn’t returned. No one knew what she was busy with.

Hua Rongyue blinked.

Right… there was something strange about this group. They all firmly believed she was a good person. They acted like she was reliable—this was the thing she’d found most unnerving over the past two days.

She must be cursed or something.

While she was still hesitating, someone barged in from outside. Leading the way was none other than the bloodshot-eyed Li Zixin.

Behind the curtain, Hua Rongyue froze. She hadn’t reacted yet when a nearby girl snapped,

“Barging in without saying a word? How rude can you be?”

“Sorry,” Li Zixin said, pausing only for a moment. “I just want to ask—do any of you know what happened to Yi Linglong, who disappeared from the Qinhuai River a few days ago?”

After asking, his gaze instinctively turned toward the person who looked like the most important figure behind the curtain.

And behind that curtain, Hua Rongyue met his gaze silently.

She stared at Li Zixin for a long moment and thought to herself:

Bro… what the hell are you doing here?!