Little Pink Starfish

“……”

Si Qun stared at the comic for a long time.

Yuan Yuanyuan kept smiling brightly at him.

After a while, Si Qun silently turned his head and went back to watching the yellow sponge on TV.

“……”

Yuan Yuanyuan felt a bit conflicted inside—Does this count as recognizing him or not?

Si Qun’s reaction was murky. Yuan didn’t dare try a second time so soon. But there was something about the way he turned his head—it seemed to hint at something unsaid.

Everyone knew Si Qun might be slow, but he was a well-behaved kind of “slow”—easy to trick.

Whenever Yuan Yuanyuan asked him questions, he’d basically always answer, even if he stammered. If he felt shy, he’d blush.

But this time, he didn’t respond at all—and he didn’t blush either.

Maybe they hadn’t met often recently, but it seemed there was still a faint memory of someone. Si Qun had been hiding out in this little tavern for so many years—he might’ve been “slow,” but in some strange way, Yuan Yuanyuan felt… that was kind of a blessing.

Look at Seventeen and the Li Family Head—their fates weren’t great either. In fact, nobody’s ended up particularly well. For Si Qun to have lived so simply until now, not dead, not old, even with his once-white hair now black again—almost like aging in reverse—lounging around watching cartoons every day… kind of cute, honestly.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt that ever since the last bonus chapter, the Demon Chronicles storyline had jumped straight from modern times back into the past. Most of the current battles were rooted in old grudges—newbie little demons had no place in any of it.

Meanwhile, the tavern was buzzing with nervous preparation. Everyone was watching closely. The tavern owner had been grumbling constantly about the rise in shady strangers showing up. If this kept up, she said, they might have to shut down for a while.

Yuan Yuanyuan thought back to that mysterious stranger from last time. She still didn’t know who he was—but she suspected he’d figured out that the red-dressed woman… was Yuan.

But since he didn’t expose it, the pressure to hunt the red-dressed woman had mysteriously died down. Yuan figured he’d given up the chase and was now focusing entirely on protecting the tavern.

“This place is my life’s work,” the tavern lady said quietly. “If the tavern’s gone, I won’t be far behind.”

“So what should we do?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked, headache growing.

“It’s not like it was before,” the lady replied. “Back then, if anything happened, you could help cover for me. Now, even the slightest thing, and people start suspecting me.”

“……”

Yuan Yuanyuan quietly backed away, knowing she was in no position to argue.

After some discussion, the tavern lady decided they should scale back activities—reduce visibility, draw less attention to themselves.

Yuan Yuanyuan also needed to stay there a while longer, especially since the tavern lady suspected… that someone might still try to use Si Qun’s hair again. Just thinking about that incident made Yuan shudder—she didn’t want to go outside at all anymore. So she stayed curled up inside the attic, while the red curtain over the entrance was hung up once again.

Thus, “Yuan Yuanyuan” was reported to be in a state of chronic sleepiness—barely able to get up all day. One day, Yuan even overheard Li Zi Jie complaining that she thought Yuan had been taking more time off work because of family issues, but it turned out she’d just been… sleeping.

This kind of life—constantly sneaking between the attic and the tavern—was exhausting. The two places weren’t that far apart, but it still wore Yuan out, leaving her little energy for anything else.

One day, while dashing back from the tavern to the attic, she suddenly caught a strange scent in the air—collapsed on the spot—and scrambled back the way she came, half crawling.

She collapsed on the tavern floor like a panting dog, chest heaving, feeling like the air was too thin to breathe.

The tavern lady wasn’t even surprised. Calmly, she left and returned with a jar of medicinal wine and a cloth.

As Yuan lay there groaning, letting the tavern lady dab medicine on her, a thought suddenly floated up in her mind:
If that curse was from Si Qun… does that mean he knows how to undo it?

Yuan’s imagination instantly ran wild. Of course, she couldn’t actually go ask him now—even though they were only a few hundred meters apart.

With nothing else to do, she laid limp in the red veil, blowing idle bubbles like a dead fish. After a while, she remembered a new chapter of Demon Chronicles should be out, so she dragged herself up and went to read.

The latest chapters were full-on flashback mode—character histories exploding everywhere. And now that identities were exposed, everything Yuan had heard or seen matched up. It wasn’t just rumors. The young King of a Hundred Demons had seriously embarrassed himself this time.

Forget direct combat—the scheming among the older generation was vicious. Even just reading the comic, Yuan was stunned by revelation after revelation—feeling like a total rookie in comparison.

Among all those ancient plots, the Li Family Head stood dead center. He wasn’t the only major player onstage—but he was the one who brought the whole show to its climax.

In the comic, he was far more vivid than in real life. In reality, Yuan could never guess what he was thinking. But now, after so much flashback material… she finally started to see the shape of him.

How to describe this guy? He was extremely extreme. The kind who’d follow a single path to the end. Like… obsessive-compulsive to a dangerous degree.

But strangely, people like that could be kind of interesting. They brought a sort of naïve fervor with them. That was the Li Family Head—no talent? Fine. He made up for it with persistence. He’d thrown himself into the noble goal of taking down Yuan, and every plan he executed was more daring than the last.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the comic, drool almost trickling from the corner of her mouth. This was just a minor scene buried in a flashback—easy to miss if you weren’t paying close attention.

It was during some old battle. Seventeen was about to do something extremely dangerous—life-threatening, even. He’d gotten used to that by now. But this time, the Li Family Head, standing next to him, suddenly said something.

“Do you know… what Si Qun’s hair really is?” the Li Head asked with a smile.

“Yeah, he told me—it’s thread he spun out… why?” Seventeen asked.

“Oh, nothing,” the Li Head shook his head. After a moment, he suddenly said, “Maybe… I should tell you a secret.”

…And then the comic cut off.

Because at that exact moment, some other demon burst into the room and interrupted them. Seventeen didn’t even turn around—he ran straight out. Now only Si Qun and the Li Head were left behind.

……

You’ve got to be kidding me—say the damn secret!! What is it?! Yuan Yuanyuan fumed. Poison! You’re all poison!

Furious, she yanked open a corner of the red curtain—and immediately collapsed again.

Crawling back inside, she stared at the comic, thinking this was a real trap. As long as that incense kept burning, she’d never be able to leave. She could only hope the enemy didn’t have much of it left—and didn’t burn it for too long.

She’d finally gotten so close to learning the truth, only for it to be snatched away. The frustration nearly killed her.

Still… even this was enough to give her some clues. No matter how she looked at it, the Li Family Head was deeply involved. Most likely, he was the one who started all this. Seventeen and Si Qun? They got dragged in—and ruined.

Then the comic abruptly shifted—jumping from the flashbacks to the present.

The Li Family Head was sitting there, looking no different from his younger self.

In front of him was a small incense burner, pale smoke curling upward. It looked just like ordinary incense.

What Yuan didn’t know… was that this panel took place just hours before the comic update—and matched the exact moment she had suddenly collapsed.

The Li Family Head in the comic opened his mouth slowly, speaking a line:

“You’d better… go find the red-dressed woman. Right now.”

As he said this, his eyes suddenly turned, as if staring straight through the page—right at the reader.

In those deep, unfathomable eyes… there was something that made Yuan Yuanyuan feel a flash of fear.

“Because I believe… she’ll come to see me soon. After all… she knows. If she still doesn’t come now, then I’ll take it as her silent confession.”

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the last page for a long time.

She didn’t know if it was just her imagination… but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the Li Family Head in the comic was speaking directly through the screen—

—to the “red-dressed woman” reading the comic.