Little Pink Starfish

Those white beams of light looked just like shooting stars slamming against the blue shield. When Yuan Yuanyuan went out to take a look, she saw that quite a few people were already outside, gazing up at the sky.

The blue shield kept rippling, though there didn’t seem to be any real damage yet. That barrier had been in place for quite a while—well-made, by the looks of it, and holding up just fine.

“Who’s outside?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked.

“No idea. They just showed up out of nowhere.”

On the street, it was mostly monsters watching, though there were a few ordinary humans looking up as well. Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know whether they were actually sensing something… or if they really saw it.

That blue shield… it should hold up for a while, right? she thought.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t stay out long. After a moment, she turned and went back in. Outside, the monsters continued staring up for a long, long time.

The next day, when Yuan Yuanyuan came out again, she heard people say that the attackers had been blasting at the barrier all day long, only to retreat at dawn.

“Are they insane?” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered, speechless.

She’d been a little scared last night, so she asked the boss lady whether there was any real danger. The boss lady gave a cold laugh and said, “Those guys… don’t even come close to a fraction of the monsters that once attacked City C.”

Okay, got it. City C is badass, Yuan Yuanyuan thought.

She sat in the city, hugging her knees and staring at the sky. The blue barrier shimmered above like some kind of filter, blocking everything from the outside.

Far off on the horizon, Fa Ning seemed to sense something too and turned his head slightly.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” someone beside him asked.

“No,” Fa Ning replied, turning back. “Just felt like something might’ve happened just now.”

They were walking across a desolate stretch of desert wasteland. Dust swirled everywhere in the dry wind.

This place had a harsh climate with extreme temperature shifts between day and night. Far removed from cities, Fa Ning and his group had already been traveling here for quite a while.

“When do we get to go back?” a beautiful young woman behind him complained.

“Soon, probably,” someone else answered.

“We’ll go back once everything here’s settled,” Fa Ning said.

This was the northwest front—the place where Yuan had once accidentally met her end.

Fa Ning had been living in a daze recently. The place was far from any oasis or civilization, not at all somewhere nice to be.

But it did let Fa Ning understand—up close—what kind of environment Yuan had been in during her time on the battlefield.

He’d heard that back then, every time Yuan went to war, she made sure to dress impeccably. Fa Ning had even seen a few old illustrations of her—one look and you’d think, stunning as a peach blossom.

Fa Ning considered himself a straightforward guy and just couldn’t understand how she managed to stay radiant in a place like this. Did she have 25 hours in a day? One whole hour just for hair and makeup?

In this place, Fa Ning had heard many more details about that war. Apparently, Yuan not only had time for grooming, but also for… flirting. Supposedly, the number of people she’d flirted with could wrap around the city walls.

This northwest region was dry and lacking water—definitely not a comfortable place to live. But because of its strategic importance, Fa Ning had no choice but to come.

This place marked a key dividing line between human and monster settlements.

It used to be a monster-only region. After the humans won the war, the monsters were forced into an even smaller space.

The more difficult life got, the tougher the people became. That was true here too. The native monsters had already been living hard lives, and now they’d been pushed into a tight space—like a volcano on the brink of eruption, forcibly capped.

With war looming, monsters in more peaceful areas might hesitate, but monsters here welcomed the news like it was a blessing from the heavens. Most of them were eager to fight.

They wanted to reshuffle the deck, rewrite the rules.

After all, weren’t the current rules written by humans?

That’s why Fa Ning had to trek all the way out here. The old northwest garrison had strong foundations—it wasn’t easy to deal with. Fa Ning found every battle exhausting.

What kind of cursed troops did they leave behind…?

These monsters all shared one specialty: poison. Each one more cunning than the last, their methods varied wildly. These days, Fa Ning couldn’t even drink water without being on guard.

How did Yuan even manage to take over this region back then?

…At that moment, in some room far away, someone munching on an apple suddenly sneezed.

Rubbing their nose, they went right back to munching.

Fa Ning exhaled and looked ahead at the blurry outline of a city. This was a former battlefield site, once bustling, but later abandoned as the monster population dwindled.

Now, their forces had split into two.

One half followed Fa Ning—his partial old guard and a monster unit borrowed from the anti-war faction.

The other half—what remained of his old troops, along with descendants of the spy corps and scattered rogue soldiers—had gone with Yuan Ying to another location.

No word had come back from Yuan Ying’s side lately. Honestly, their situation might be even more dangerous.

Fa Ning didn’t want to dwell on it. He didn’t have time to worry.

Rumor had it that a group of old soldiers had once lived in this area. No one knew for sure, but Fa Ning had heard it from Xiansheng.

And Xiansheng didn’t speak carelessly. If he said it, then he probably already had good reason to believe it was true.

Few people knew this, but Xiansheng’s ability to deduce things was even sharper than Fa Ning’s. His constitution gave him access to knowledge and perceptions others couldn’t reach.

“Everyone, stay alert!” Fa Ning shouted back. “This place might house veterans of the veterans. They may be old monsters now, but they’ve still got experience.”

“What if they had kids? Like the spy corps did? You take down the adults, then the next gen comes for revenge,” said the young woman from earlier.

“Exactly. Maybe one day, living in this dusty wasteland got so boring they just had kids for fun,” Fa Ning added.

They didn’t charge straight in. Even if wars in the spirit realm differed from human wars, sieging and defending were still universal concepts. First, Fa Ning sent scouts ahead to gather intel.

Ten minutes later, a scout returned looking confused. “No one there.”

“No one?” Fa Ning blinked.

“Yeah. It’s an empty city.”

Fa Ning looked up at the blurry outline again. That can’t be right. No way it’s deserted…

A bit later, more scouts returned, each carrying a few little monsters with them. Fa Ning took one look—great. All elderly, infirm, or pregnant.

“This… doesn’t really match what we were told,” he said, turning to ask, “Why are you all living here?”

A clean-cut young man stepped out from behind Fa Ning. He had a naturally gentle aura that made people feel safe around him.

“We, we…” the little monsters stammered.

“It’s okay, take your time,” the young man said with a warm smile.

“There’s only us left here.” An old woman hobbled out. She was so aged she couldn’t maintain her true form anymore—her face had turned an iron-blue shade, marked with tree-ring-like patterns.

“Granny, how come only you all are left? How have you been surviving here?”

“Xiansheng, your questions are too shallow,” Fa Ning sighed, walking up. “Hello, ma’am. Do you know this place was once a military base? Why is it empty now?”

“We’re the old soldiers left behind,” she replied. “Most of the others… have died.”

Fa Ning’s forces followed the old woman through the city. As she said, it really was deserted—just a few elders and some stray little monsters remained.

“All the young ones left,” she explained. “They moved to newer settlements. The ones who stayed didn’t want to leave. Some were born and raised here.”

So this is… a stay-behind monster village? Fa Ning thought, exasperated at his own imagination.

He couldn’t bring himself to blame these monsters. They obviously couldn’t fight anymore. After scouring the whole city and confirming there were no hidden forces, he left.

Rare for Xiansheng to be wrong, Fa Ning thought. He patted his mount—an animal with antlers like a stag—and hurried a few steps to catch up with Xiansheng, reassuring him not to overthink it.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan stared up at the sky, speechless.

So… it’s already the second day.

The monsters who had left in the morning… came back that night.

Can’t City C come up with some countermeasures already?

She watched the city’s “security team” charge into action, gave a satisfied nod, and turned to crunch on the apples the kitchen had bought that day.