Little Pink Starfish

“When did you get up here?”

Hua Rongyue, who had been hiding up in the beams for quite a while and jumped down the moment things started going wrong, hadn’t expected to land face-to-face with Jiang Lianhuan.

She had been focused entirely on the chaos caused by the madwomen and hadn’t noticed when Jiang Lianhuan arrived. But in any case, she had no intention of getting tangled up with him tonight.

She had only come down to see if she could lend a hand. Just earlier, she had even spotted a few familiar girls from the brothel below.

One of them, in particular, she recognized quite well—it was a dancing girl with a butterfly tattoo under her eye, someone she had saved casually when she first arrived on the boat.

Hua Rongyue wasn’t sure why the girl had ended up here, but she was a bit concerned. She worried that this dancer might get dragged into the conflict and hurt. After all, she had just saved her—if she got caught up and injured now, it would feel like Hua Rongyue’s effort was all in vain.

Hua Rongyue had no intention of getting involved in tonight’s incident, but Jiang Lianhuan didn’t know that. The moment he saw her, a million conspiracy theories surged through his mind.

That’s why they say what people assume in their hearts determines what they see—at this moment, Jiang Lianhuan’s brain was already running at full speed with all kinds of paranoid theories.

He was already struggling with the current mess—then, as if on cue, he ran into the masked person from a few days ago… Wasn’t today’s chaos probably their doing?

So when Hua Rongyue landed on the floor, Jiang Lianhuan didn’t turn to stop the crazed dancers and musicians. Instead, he did something completely unexpected—

He turned and directly confronted Hua Rongyue.

Everyone was stunned.

Hua Rongyue was startled by this move and utterly confused. Her mind was full of question marks—why was Jiang Lianhuan suddenly turning on her?

The lights were all out, but faint illumination began to return in some places. As people’s eyes adjusted, they could start to make out their surroundings.

The sound from above caught everyone’s attention. They looked up and saw Jiang Lianhuan facing off against someone dressed in a flowing purple robe. The robe seemed a bit too big, and as the person moved quickly, the fabric fluttered like a pair of wings.

That figure in purple instantly drew everyone’s gaze. If Jiang Lianhuan hadn’t made such a scene, the others might not have paid much attention. But now, he had forced everyone to look—and the person’s unusual nature became obvious.

“Who is that?” someone from Six Doors asked, puzzled. But the brothel’s residents immediately recognized him.

“It’s him!” someone whispered, shocked.

Hua Rongyue hadn’t expected this to happen. It was extremely awkward—she was someone who had been laying low on the boat, and now she’d suddenly “betrayed” the place in front of everyone. Wouldn’t she be beaten to death on the spot?

She had just planned to blend in and quietly help out a few people. But now, thrown into this chaos, she felt like a grilled fish—roasted and helpless. She thought Jiang Lianhuan must really have a screw loose to be going after her now instead of dealing with the obviously dangerous dancers.

To be fair, Jiang Lianhuan’s actions made things a lot harder for Hua Rongyue, but he wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

After all, if someone saw the person they believed to be the enemy leader suddenly appear—armed and dangerous—wouldn’t they also drop everything else to stop them?

Six Doors’ people were also starting to piece things together. Some began to wonder: Was this the same masked person Jiang Lianhuan had described earlier?

Despite the disguise and fake identity, certain traits gave Hua Rongyue away—the blend of femininity despite being a man, the cunning mind, the elite skill.

Now wearing a purple outfit stripped from another girl (which wasn’t all that out of place on a man here), and moving with an unusual grace… her actions mirrored a woman’s, unsurprising given she actually was one. Plus, Yi Linglong’s blade techniques had always leaned toward elegance and finesse.

Hua Rongyue knew she couldn’t afford to fight Jiang Lianhuan directly, so she distanced herself, performing a few flashy moves as she fled. If her thoughts had a voice, it would’ve screamed: “Ahhh, please don’t come near me!”

But oddly enough, her flashy retreat helped. Just moments ago, it looked like the brothel girls were about to massacre someone. Hua Rongyue’s sudden interruption diffused the moment.

Those who knew Yi Linglong were puzzled—no one had called him tonight. Why had he come?

The brothel people privately believed Yi Linglong was still a madman—after all, who else would enjoy killing? A normal person would be helping stop the fight, right?

But the problem was, Hua Rongyue wasn’t a madman. She’d come precisely to stop this tragedy.

Now everyone was staring at her, and she was momentarily speechless. Though mentally dazed, her body moved with professional precision, dodging each of Jiang Lianhuan’s attacks. Compared to last time, she had improved—not only could she dodge, she even knew how to “act” when necessary.

So now the situation was: Jiang Lianhuan couldn’t kill Hua Rongyue, and Hua Rongyue couldn’t kill him either. But if anyone slipped up even a little, she’d be the one to die.

Still, Hua Rongyue managed to make it look like Jiang Lianhuan was fighting desperately, while she dodged effortlessly. From the outside, it looked like she was winning. Uninformed bystanders even cheered her on, shouting “666!”

The only one frustrated was Jiang Lianhuan himself. That indescribable feeling of frustration was back—worse than before. He now desperately wanted either to kill her in one strike or get killed by her to end it all.

But neither seemed possible.

Jiang Lianhuan, fed up, began to fight with fury.

The moment he entered berserk mode, Hua Rongyue’s pressure skyrocketed. She felt she might not last much longer.

Although their duel captured attention for a while, it wasn’t the main focus anymore.

The Six Doors officers had split: half rushed off to subdue the crazed attackers, but the other half turned to fight Hua Rongyue alongside Jiang Lianhuan.

Given her reputation as a dangerous figure from the wanted list, it wasn’t surprising. But Hua Rongyue was stunned. Were they all trying to kill her now?!

The brothel people finally reacted and sent support to help Hua Rongyue. Though no one was sure why he’d shown up, it was clear Six Doors had infiltrated the place.

Some clever minds began to wonder—could Yi Linglong have known in advance about Six Doors’ arrival? Was that why he rushed here?

Otherwise, it was hard to explain why he had shown up so suddenly. In the past few days, they’d seen him quietly recovering from injuries on the boat.

It’s worth noting how the boat’s people viewed Yi Linglong.

—When they rescued him, they might have hoped to recruit him. But once they met him, they realized he was different from what they expected—mostly quiet.

As the so-called “Number One Killer in the World,” Yi Linglong carried a mystique. But because he didn’t express any intentions, they had never forced anything on him. He was probably a special case.

Now, in this unexpected moment, Yi Linglong suddenly appeared—and immediately drew most of the firepower toward himself, leaving the boat’s residents full of complicated emotions.

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Hua Rongyue didn’t know what others were thinking. She only knew that, just as she was about to collapse, the boat people unexpectedly backed off and sent help. The new fighters were skilled, and her pressure lessened significantly.

With breathing room, she pulled further away from Jiang Lianhuan and looked back at him—still standing on high ground.

She had to admit: from that angle, he really did look like a final boss.

The two locked eyes for a long time. And in Jiang Lianhuan’s gaze, Hua Rongyue saw familiar emotions—anger and disappointment.

It reminded her of all the times she had messed with him before, pretending to be serious. But this time… she hadn’t done anything!

Suddenly, Hua Rongyue felt a little sorry for him. She didn’t know why—but something about this timeline’s Jiang Lianhuan felt a bit off… maybe even a little pitiful.