Little Pink Starfish

Something strange was happening inside the comic, while outside it, Yuan Yuanyuan finally received news from the boss lady.

She said she had a rough idea of what was going on now, but she probably wouldn’t be able to return for the time being. This whole ordeal had been a trap set by the head of the Li family from beginning to end.

The message brought back by the boss lady wasn’t much—summed up, that was pretty much it. While feeling concerned for the boss lady, Yuan Yuanyuan also began purging the anti-war organization. She still didn’t know who the spy that had slipped in was, but based on the comings and goings during this period, she managed to catch a few obviously dim-witted spies.

“There’s actually quite a few of them…” Yuan Yuanyuan casually counted. “Let’s stop here for now. Keep watching the rest, and if any of them slip up, deal with it immediately.”

“Got it,” said a monster beside her. After speaking, he suddenly looked up and added, “The boss lady passed along another message for you.”

“What is it?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked.

“She said you shouldn’t overwork yourself lately, focus on healing,” the monster said.

“Ah…” Yuan Yuanyuan felt inexplicably guilty. She had been faking her illness for so long that the boss lady had been thoroughly deceived. She didn’t know how to tell her that she had been staying up past midnight every night… cough cough, too many things going on lately, kind of insomniac—she just couldn’t sleep even if she wanted to.

Maybe I should go buy some sleeping pills tomorrow… Yuan Yuanyuan thought silently. She’d been having frequent insomnia lately, likely due to overuse of her brain. She was like this during her senior year of high school too.

Demon Chronicles was still updating fairly quickly, two updates per week. This week there was only one; the next would have to wait until Saturday.

Still, the past few days were enough for Yuan Yuanyuan to get everything here in order. She figured that most people in the anti-war organization must have realized by now that she was actually Yuan.

Although they couldn’t come and go freely at the moment, news from the outside still got in, so everyone more or less had an idea. So far, no one had shown any obvious reactions, probably because they were too scared to let Yuan Yuanyuan find out.

Their worldviews must be shattering. After all, they had the most contact with the red-robed woman. After all this time, not a single one of them had realized the red-robed woman was a man.

Yuan Yuanyuan figured this had to be thanks to her usual girlish mannerisms… she was a girl after all! Normally, when a man pretends to be a woman, there are bound to be slip-ups—word choice, posture, gait—any of these could give it away. But since she was originally a girl, she didn’t have to worry about any of that.

She just acted the same way she always did at home. She didn’t swagger or slouch when walking, didn’t eat noisily or ravenously, and her occasional revealed hobbies were things like embroidery or reading gossip… um, practically flawless.

Yuan Yuanyuan felt like she was kind of sick in the head. Now that she thought about it, what kind of image must Yuan have in the eyes of the onlookers? A gossip-loving, embroidery-hobbyist pretty boy?

As Yuan Yuanyuan spiraled in her messy thoughts, the new issue of Demon Chronicles came out. It continued from where the last one left off. Of course, she knew—it depicted the intense battle between the head of the Li family and Brother A-Piao, with her on the side pretending to be weak and acting as the third wheel.

…Maybe I just shouldn’t read it.

Only now did Yuan Yuanyuan finally understand how Yuan Yingli and that other monster from the tavern must have felt. Watching her most embarrassing moments drawn out in a comic, and knowing full well that so many people would see it…

After much internal conflict, she uncharacteristically didn’t read the comic immediately. Instead, she went to have a late-night snack and even cheerfully asked a nearby monster if he wanted her to bring anything back…

Whatever, everything else could wait until after she ate.

Yuan Yuanyuan was definitely a bit like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Still, even if she didn’t look, others would. For instance, Gao Ling. She opened the latest issue and continued reading from where it left off. The events in today’s content were already over a week old in real life.

Gao Ling glanced at the number of pages in this issue and realized that the last one hadn’t finished depicting everything that had happened. There was clearly more to come.

Crap… this isn’t good, is it? Gao Ling thought. She had assumed there wasn’t much left after the last issue, but now realized she had been wrong.

Alright, time to place bets on whether Yuan’s going down. I’m betting on “halfway done.”

Gao Ling, dead-eyed, thought. She really wanted to complain about this—if something had happened, by now it’d be too late to do anything!

She opened the comic and scrolled through. At this point, Li had stealthily crept up to the red-robed woman’s bedside. The woman suddenly opened her eyes, completely alert.

The room was filled with the scent of demon incense.

The last issue had ended with Li shining a flashlight onto the red-robed woman’s face.

In just over a week, with only a glimpse of that face, it was like a landmine had been detonated—chaos, blood, devastation everywhere. Who knew how much fun the author was having.

Gao Ling flipped a few more pages and suddenly froze. This wasn’t quite what she had imagined.

The previous issue had ended with the red-robed woman getting up swiftly to stop the Li family head, and she had thought Yuan’s body, while not great, could still put up some resistance. But now, it looked like he was completely being overpowered.

—Yuan’s body really hadn’t recovered well. Gao Ling instantly drew that conclusion. Her earlier sense of calm was immediately replaced by anxiety. She kept flipping through, growing more and more tense, until Brother A-Piao appeared to help out. Only then did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

By then, the Li family head had thrown a small bit of demon fire at Yuan, setting his clothes alight. Yuan had no choice but to strip to avoid being burned.

Yuan looked fine enough with clothes on, but once shirtless, the sight was horrifying.

Gao Ling stared, wide-eyed. She suddenly recalled that moment in the bathroom. The lighting had been dim, so she’d only caught a glimpse, but thinking back now… there had seemed to be something there on his chest.

The bruises on his body were relatively minor. What was worse was that huge, gaping hole. She could even see something white inside—Gao Ling had a terrifying thought: was that bone?

She rubbed her eyes, looked again, then again… finally, she reluctantly turned to the next page.

Yes, she was examining the wounds. She definitely wasn’t peeking. Her eyes going wide was definitely not because she was peeking.

Gao Ling continued flipping, faster this time, skipping over most of the pages. The later scenes focused on the fight between the Li family head and Brother A-Piao. Yuan had disappeared for a while—probably went to get that elaborate red robe. It had countless embroidered patterns and was beautifully ornate.

Gao Ling suddenly remembered that at the beginning of the fight, she had seen that robe hanging on a rack. So Yuan must have gone to get it and then rushed back.

Although this new outfit covered up that thing and made her feel a bit disappointed, it still looked really good.

Gao Ling realized a great truth: it’s not that she hated guys who dressed effeminately… she hated guys who weren’t good-looking dressing effeminately.

For men, crossdressing was a massive test of looks. Honestly, for women, dressing up was also a huge test of appearance…

After Yuan’s identity was revealed, aside from shocking the nerds and exciting the fangirls, there hadn’t been a single complaint online about Yuan’s appearance. That alone showed just how devastatingly attractive he was.

The fight between the Li family head and Brother A-Piao dragged on for a long time and was definitely one of the comic’s classics.

Gao Ling predicted that this battle would soon appear in various ranking lists. It also showed off some of Fu Ling’s powers. She guessed it wouldn’t be long before comics and novels featuring Fu Ling would also pop up online.

The final outcome was a draw. Once again, the Li family head failed to kill the red-robed woman. After this, he’d probably earn the nickname “Fifty-Fifty” — first a draw with Fa Ning, and now another with Brother A-Piao.

Though it was a joke, Gao Ling thought: So Brother A-Piao is that strong? When he fought the red-robed woman before, he didn’t seem that powerful. Was he holding back?

In any case, the outcome was still good for now. The red-robed woman and Brother A-Piao successfully escaped. They also evacuated the tavern. Gao Ling couldn’t help recalling her own glimpse of the tavern a while back. Remembering the grand scene made her feel a bit spooked, but in hindsight, it had been worth it.

In the final scene, Yuan made a move. He pulled out a small bottle from his pocket, filled with red liquid. After drinking it all in one gulp, he stepped forward and delivered a heavy blow to the Li family head with his smoking pipe.

The pipe broke. Yuan, supported by Brother A-Piao, quickly left the tavern.

How’s he doing now, I wonder? Gao Ling thought. But… maybe it’s time to break out those banners I’d prepared?