Little Pink Starfish

Why did Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly realize that the ghost might be the one surnamed Liu?

It wasn’t because readers outside had already figured out that Yuan and the red-dressed woman were the same person, but because in the manga, among the older generation of humans who had been introduced in detail… there really only seemed to be this one person.

Even though back in the war days it was both Taoists and demons fighting together, to be honest, the demons left a deeper impression—because they were… flamboyant.

Most of the older Taoists depicted weren’t the ancient and rigid type—they were either those with little mustaches or looked like Fan Ning. Fan Ning was already considered the peak of Taoist good looks. But in truth, there was one Taoist with a very strong presence.

That Taoist was the legendary figure surnamed Liu.

Readers have simple logic: if you go through all the trouble of drawing a Taoist, surely he’s not just there to be background, right? He has to do something significant.

And since the red-dressed woman was so close to Yuan, and Yuan was also close to the Taoist surnamed Liu… it made sense.

Yuan Yuanyuan thought their theory had merit. Plus, she had even more reason to believe it—after all, the red-dressed woman was Yuan… why bother inventing a second-in-command all over again?

Once this possibility occurred to her, Yuan Yuanyuan spent her days watching over the yellow talisman. After the ghost got injured, he had slipped into the talisman. Yuan Yuanyuan was still a bit unsure when it came to talismans, but the boss lady helped her out.

She took the talisman, severed the spiritual link between the ghost and the Taoist, and turned the talisman into a temporary home for the ghost.

It was then that Yuan Yuanyuan realized the boss lady was actually a highly skilled talisman practitioner. Even though she’d never shown it before, when she treated the ghost that day… she was awesome.

And so, the talisman ended up in Yuan Yuanyuan’s hands. At first, she thought about carrying it on her, but since she was living with Si Qun, and didn’t know when the ghost might reappear, she gave up on that idea.

To be honest, Yuan Yuanyuan could barely remember what the ghost looked like. He’d been all covered in blood that day, and she hadn’t really dared to look him in the eyes. The comic’s depiction of him made her a little skeptical.

Thinking about it now, Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t even sure if he resembled Fan Ning. In the comic, the two did share some similar features, but even that might’ve been due to Qiu’s artistic style blurring things a bit.

Right now, Yuan Yuanyuan was lying on the table, lightly poking the talisman. One poke—no reaction. Another poke—still no reaction.

“How about it? Ready to tell me that guy’s name yet?” The boss lady walked over with a teasing look, leaning down to peer at Yuan Yuanyuan, eyes glistening.

Yuan Yuanyuan glanced at her, lowered her head, and said nothing… Truthfully, the boss lady had asked this on the first day. But how could Yuan Yuanyuan know who that ghost was?

Fortunately, Yuan Yuanyuan was experienced with this sort of thing. She just made a thoughtful expression, pretending to search her memory.

After “thinking” for about a minute, she suddenly dropped her head, gave a vague smile, and shook her head.

She’d been fooling the boss lady like this ever since that day.

Looking around, Yuan Yuanyuan realized that since that incident, there hadn’t been any more troublemakers at the tavern. Though she kind of hoped they would show up—at least it would be entertaining. But it seemed those people had been thoroughly scared off.

What came next was Fan Ning’s business, and Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t going to interfere. She thought he was pretty promising. Since Qiu had hand-picked him from a thousand, he had to be the chosen one. There was no way he’d be beaten by a few old men.

Sure enough, a few days later, Yuan Yuanyuan saw updates in the comic: Fan Ning had seized power. A big reason for it was what had happened that day when they came looking for Yuan Yuanyuan.

Even though the old men had their own reputations, they’d gotten thoroughly thrashed in front of a crowd. No matter how prestigious someone is, once they’re seen getting their butt kicked, their image takes a hit.

Yuan Yuanyuan understood all this. Did that mean she unintentionally helped Fan Ning?

How many times had she done that now?

She shook her head, not bothering to count. Right now, her biggest concern was that sealed ghost.

That ghost had been asleep for over a week. One day, the boss lady said, “He’s awake—just pretending he’s not.”

Yuan Yuanyuan heard that and went to poke him. “Hey, are you awake?”

The talisman didn’t move. She poked it again—finally, it gave a faint little shake.

Yuan Yuanyuan grinned. What’s this supposed to mean? Not showing up, not talking?

Although she found it odd, the ghost seemed determined to stay hidden inside the talisman. No matter how much Yuan Yuanyuan tried, he gave no response.

There was nothing she could do, so she gave up trying to draw him out.

So things went back to square one: the ghost stayed inside the talisman, and Yuan Yuanyuan still couldn’t get any information out of him. She was stumped.

That day, Yuan Yuanyuan sat in the tavern, face full of frustration, not knowing what to do about the ghost. The little demons pouring her wine were all nervous, their admiration for her greater than ever.

After all, strength ruled in the demon world. Since her outburst the other day, everyone had been in awe. Some little demons who hadn’t seen the red-dressed woman in action weren’t so reverent before, but now they were all full-on fangirls.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at all the incense burners filling the tavern and sniffed the air. She’d secretly investigated why there were so many. Back in the day, the tavern had been a battle point, named after Yuan’s older sister. A lot had gone down here, including fights—some even inside the tavern. Eventually, the boss lady had done a remodel.

What kind of remodel? She installed incense burners everywhere and burned this strange blue smoke incense. Most people wouldn’t guess the reason, but Yuan Yuanyuan figured it out right away.

It had to be because of the Blood Jade Demon Army… this place must’ve seen a lot of action back then.

Now, when Yuan Yuanyuan looked at those little incense burners again, they felt completely different. She even asked Li Zi Jie for incense-related tasks and scoured every corner of the tavern.

Time passed. The tavern’s camouflage was now perfect. Yuan Yuanyuan had never seen a more convincing anti-war resistance base than this one. Who would’ve guessed that behind the flashy nightlife façade lay something so dangerous?

Thinking about it, what her mom said years ago was spot-on… “Don’t go to bars or nightclubs for no reason—the water runs deep.” Now Yuan Yuanyuan really understood. And she understood it from the perspective of a proprietor.

In the manga, they’d even drawn the recent activities of the red-dressed woman—that is, Yuan Yuanyuan sitting at a table poking the talisman. The pervy fans lovingly called it the “lying-down hand,” and even said they wanted to burn the talisman just to lie down in its place. Yuan Yuanyuan thought: You guys really have too much free time.

Even though this weird request showed up a lot in the comments, Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t focused on that. She mainly wanted to see if anyone was getting suspicious.

After scanning through carefully, she found that very few were. Most of the attention was on how cute everything was. Judging by their bizarre comments, these people were already beyond saving.

Still, there were some readers seriously analyzing the plot. Some speculated: Looks like this person had something going on back in the day. Just don’t know whether it was Yuan’s past or the red-dressed woman’s. Every time Yuan Yuanyuan saw this, she broke out in a cold sweat.

She skimmed through and figured it was still okay for now. After all, netizens were the real crowdsource data pool. A quick check online showed that, for the moment, no one had linked Yuan and the red-dressed woman. Even if they had, it was just a joke—nobody thought the creators would actually pull something that insane.

Yuan Yuanyuan let out a long sigh—only to realize there was no time to relax.

Right after the latest manga chapter dropped, a certain force began frantically searching for the red-dressed woman’s whereabouts.

They came in full force, with a do-or-die energy that caught everyone off guard.

Everyone in the tavern was stunned. No one had any idea where these people came from. They moved covertly, and if discovered, would often resort to extreme methods like suicide to avoid capture.

“I think… one of your old friends has found you,” said the boss lady.

“I think so too,” Yuan Yuanyuan replied, her expression grave.