Little Pink Starfish

The scent of blood grew heavier and heavier, the cloying sweetness filling everyone’s nostrils. Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the person across from her. The blood on his body was so thick it was almost more potent than real blood—it really got her imagination running wild.

Maybe this was a kind of symbolic manifestation, like in The Shining… oceans of blood surging—real blood could never recreate that kind of effect. Ghost Bro definitely had some innate talent when it came to scaring people.

Yuan Yuanyuan glanced at the ghost again. Honestly speaking, she didn’t want him to die. If he died, where would she go to watch the fun—no, where would she find such a cute and pitiful ghost again?

So Yuan Yuanyuan finally stopped holding back and charged straight forward. She moved so fast that everyone except the boss lady failed to catch what was happening.

Even though comic panels would break down Yuan’s movements step by step, if she really did it in real life, she was confident no one would be able to follow her actions.

A rare and subtle ghostly footwork—she executed everything in almost an instant, not a single error.

Then came a faint snapping sound. The old man who had been hiding there suddenly clutched his arm and began howling in pain.

Yuan Yuanyuan landed and stared at the old man coldly. Where did you get the guts to just sit there and enjoy the show…

Fan Ning was taught by her and still couldn’t beat her. If this guy couldn’t even beat Fan Ning, where did he get the confidence to think he could beat Yuan Yuanyuan?

The old man clutched his arm and wailed. Exorcising ghosts usually required forming hand seals and chanting spells, but now he couldn’t even manage a hand seal. Yuan Yuanyuan figured he wouldn’t be pulling any more tricks.

However, she didn’t destroy the talisman he held—the one used to exorcise small ghosts. Instead, she picked it up and carefully preserved it.

She was worried the talisman might change if its user died. If the old man died and all his little ghosts followed him to the grave, that’d be a huge waste.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s sudden move stunned everyone behind her. Just as she expected, none of them had seen clearly what she did. They only saw a flash of white light—and then the enemy was on their knees.

Damn! That’s insane! The peanut gallery behind her was shocked again. Only the boss lady’s expression turned subtly thoughtful.

So this was what people meant by “ghostlike and unpredictable.”

Yuan Yuanyuan now only hoped Qiu wouldn’t break down her earlier “throwaway” movements into segments in the comic. Right now, none of the little demons on the scene could figure out what she did. But if it was broken into step-by-step panels… she’d definitely get exposed.

Still, she didn’t really care anymore… Why? Because for her, gossip now outweighed everything. Everything else just wasn’t that important anymore.

More or less something like that…

Yuan Yuanyuan took a deep breath and turned to look at the ghost. Quietly, she began thinking about what she could do for him.

If a ghost gets hurt… what do you use to help them recover?

… Incense burner? Joss paper? Candles?

Uh…

Whatever. Yuan Yuanyuan reached out to touch the ghost—and was shocked to feel something solid.

Definitely not an ordinary ghost.

The old man behind her didn’t even get a chance to protest before she grabbed him and threw him out over and over again. Each time he hit the ground, his face got a little more bruised.

The ghost she saved was quickly scooped up by Yuan Yuanyuan, and then she leapt down from above, landing directly in the main hall downstairs, drawing gasps from everyone around.

“Alright,” said Yuan Yuanyuan, her face now inexplicably adorned with a red cloth, “Throw those people out. If I see them again, I’ll hit them again.”

The little demons in the tavern responded immediately. A few stronger ones picked up the groaning old men on the floor and threw them all out.

…

The rescued ghost still hadn’t recovered.

Time passed slowly, and soon a week had gone by. Yuan Yuanyuan lay sprawled out in the tiny attic, flipping through the latest manga release. The wifi signal here wasn’t great—they’d only just had it installed. After a touch of “violent renovation” in the old-fashioned attic, they’d managed to install a tiny router.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked over at Si Qun, the little brat currently curled up and sleeping like a log. It was the first time she’d seen Si Qun sleep so peacefully. Honestly, he looked a lot more handsome asleep than awake.

At first, she worried she wouldn’t be comfortable living in this attic, but after two or three days, she was already lying around contentedly like a salted fish… It made her ridiculously happy. This attic was just like the ones you’d read about in romance novels back in the day—filled with all kinds of neat stuff. She even found a loom that looked like it came from some ancient embroidery workshop.

It was practically Mary S—
Well, not that she’d learn to make anything with it.

She looked at Si Qun again, snoring away, and wondered idly… Would he go through some magical transformation if she stared long enough?

Back on topic. Right now, Yuan Yuanyuan was holding her phone, looking at the manga adaptation of the events from the tavern a few days ago. As expected, it had been successfully turned into a storyline. Just looking at it gave off strong “BL vibes.” Yuan Yuanyuan read it while moaning internally, So gay, so gay, but to other readers, it probably just came across as So melodramatic, so melodramatic.

The red-dressed woman had struck a chord with readers, who started speculating whether it was Yuan who was being cheated on or Fan Ning.

If you asked Yuan Yuanyuan, there was no “cheating” going on. Nothing like that. Everyone was getting along just fine, okay?

[Silken red blood, the veil torn away—in almost an instant, she turned her head, and the eye that was revealed had already turned blood-red, glowing eerily. Just one glance made your heart skip a beat.]

Looking at how the red-dressed woman was drawn in the manga, Yuan Yuanyuan thought it actually looked pretty good. From this angle, you couldn’t tell it was Yuan at all. After all… how to put it? A lot of male characters in shonen manga basically look the same except for a few distinguishing features. That’s just the artist’s style.

Even though Qiu was drawing from reality, he still made some tweaks. The red-dressed woman in the manga emphasized more feminine traits, so it didn’t look too much like Yuan. Even if a few parts were a bit similar, most readers wouldn’t connect the dots.

That’s what Yuan Yuanyuan thought… But she couldn’t stop the internet’s imagination. Looking at the latest Yao Ji comment section, practically everyone was talking about how the red-dressed woman’s appearance reminded them of someone.

“Xiao Ran? So good… sobbing uncontrollably, it’s been forever since my wife got even a single line of dialogue!”

“The red-dressed woman doesn’t quite match the style I imagined… I thought she’d be more of a mature queen, but this is just too queenly.”

“What do you mean too queenly? I thought she had a heroic aura. Didn’t expect this kind of design… but she’s pretty cute.”

“Yeah, feels different from the other female characters.”

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the comments, thinking: Guys… do you even know what you’re saying without meaning to? This is terrifying. Why are you doing this to Yuan? Why are you doing this to yourselves?

And judging from the usernames… half of them were dudes.

Ugh… Yuan Yuanyuan shuddered. She had a strange feeling that all these guys were silently building up rage toward Yuan… If the truth ever came out, would Yuan end up getting hunted down by all of them?

She even discussed this question on Bihu (the in-universe version of Zhihu): If a popular manga “waifu” turned out to be a dude, what would all the guys who’d been calling her “wife” think?

The answers were all over the place. Though not many people responded, Yuan Yuanyuan was still shocked.

Some said they’d be angry—that was fine. Some said they’d burn down the studio—also within expectations.

But that one guy who said “As long as they’re cute, who cares”—what the hell kind of mentality is that? And the number of upvotes was actually pretty high?

Yuan Yuanyuan started reflecting on society… Though it was half-joking, the answer still shook her. She started to suspect that today’s young men were actually quite open-minded.

…Hopefully, for the sake of the red-dressed woman’s cuteness, all the readers would spare Yuan Yuanyuan’s dog life.

She began wondering if she should act a bit cuter in the future, to avoid people secretly calling her things like “dominatrix.” It just felt weird. But aside from the looks-focused fans, there were some plot-focused ones as well, who paid even closer attention than Yuan herself.

In the manga comments, many readers raised the same theory—Could this character be the mysterious person surnamed Liu from an earlier chapter?

When she saw that comment, it hit Yuan Yuanyuan like a bolt out of the blue.

A few minutes later, she frantically reopened the earlier manga chapters and reread the scenes where someone surnamed Liu appeared…