Little Pink Starfish

Each of those bright red blood pearls reflected the light, looking more and more like stars in the sky. This was Fan Ning’s first time seeing such a scene, and he looked around in surprise. The young female spy next to him explained, “This used to be the main assembly hall. These pearls form a formation that was personally set down by Lord Seventeen.”

“What kind of pearls are these?” Fan Ning asked.

“Blood pearls,” the spy said. “Formed from demon blood. I heard they were made from Lord Seventeen’s own blood.”

Fan Ning stared at the red pearls covering the floor and thought to himself, This must’ve taken ages to collect. How many months would it take to gather this much?

“This formation is extremely powerful,” the young demoness said, walking a circle around the room. “Back then, when they left, they took everything they could—but no matter what they did, they couldn’t destroy this formation, so they left it behind.”

Fan Ning looked down at the floor and could faintly make out some cracks, but not a single pearl was missing. They all remained peacefully in place.

Seventeen really was incredible… Fan Ning thought. He’s never shown anything like this before. Who knows how many things he’s hidden away—but even so, everything he reveals is still amazing.

…

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the comic panel showing Fan Ning touring the old northwest, and she scratched her head.

So Seventeen used to be such a carefree person? Am I… messing up the character design?

Yuan Yuanyuan silently shifted her gaze to Little Twenty-Nine, who was gnawing on an apple with great focus. She snatched the apple from his hand and asked, “Hey, I’m talking to you. Don’t leak the news that I’m back, understand?”

“I-I got it,” Little Twenty-Nine nodded quickly.

“Good boy.” Yuan Yuanyuan instantly switched to a smile, patted his bald head, and walked off.

The comic had basically given Seventeen a redemption arc—again. Though among comic readers, Seventeen’s image was already pure enough, adding some extra whiteness never hurt.

Looking at it now, Seventeen’s death back then must’ve been really unjust, and it likely dealt a huge blow to the local demons. Otherwise, why would so many of them still be unable to accept it?

Yuan Yuanyuan could understand that feeling—of living your quiet little life and then suddenly being crushed by a piece of terrible news. She felt a pang of sympathy. As for the local demons… she wasn’t sure how to bring them out.

Just then, Little Twenty-Nine suddenly blurted out three words, “He’s lying.”

“Mm…” Yuan Yuanyuan was still enjoying the feel of his forehead. Now that he was bald, she no longer had to worry about getting poked by his hair and could freely pat his… forehead.

She hadn’t quite caught what he said, so she replied lazily. A few seconds later, she sensed something was off and turned to ask, “Huh?”

Crunch crunch crunch… Little Twenty-Nine, a butterfly spirit, was gnawing on the apple like a hamster.

“Hold up…” Yuan Yuanyuan grabbed the apple out of his hands again. Honestly, every time she did that, she felt like she was bullying a kid—but it was also the most effective tactic.

She asked, “What did you say?”

Little Twenty-Nine stared at her silently, his black eyes gleaming.

For some reason, Yuan Yuanyuan felt a little guilty under his gaze.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked. He continued to stare for a while, then sneakily took the apple back from her hands and resumed munching.

Wow… smooth move.

Brat… Yuan Yuanyuan flicked his forehead and walked away, not caring that she was probably a few decades older than him.

Back in her room, she checked her phone and saw that readers were reacting excitedly to the latest comic update. Even though it was mostly presented in flashback, it still gave Yuan-fans plenty to chew on.

[Finally got to see my boy again… I’m so touched.]
[Yeah, it took forever to go from missing person to returning character, but we still don’t get to see him fully. What are we supposed to do with that? Might as well have stayed missing.]
[So looking at this, was Yuan taken out because of differing opinions?]
[@Little King of All Demons, come out already. Time to clean up the mess from back then.]
[No need to tag him—didn’t Yuan Yingli already go? There’s no way that hardcore fanboy would let his idol get bullied.]
[Welp… I’ve fallen into the Yuan ship and I never want to get out… don’t stop me, I want to keep shipping forever.]
[Is this stuff really that addictive?]

Yuan Yuanyuan felt like 2D and 3D were two completely different worlds. The 2D fans were far too optimistic—it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but real life always brought that sharp dose of reality. The moment something from the 2D world crossed into 3D, it became painful.

Take Yuan Yingli, for example. He hadn’t sent any news for a long time. The readers assumed he was setting up for some dramatic twist, or that Ji Qiu would choose the perfect moment to reveal it all. But Yuan Yuanyuan couldn’t help wondering—had something gone wrong?

She glanced again at that panel from the comic—the floor made from those blood pearls. Her first thought was: Damn, Seventeen must’ve been loaded back in the day.

Why did she think that? Well, she paid rent using blood pearls. To have collected this many must’ve meant… a lot of real estate. Yeah, that was her logic.

Probably had to use a lot of blood to make that many pearls, huh?

Yuan Yuanyuan tried to decipher the formation on the floor. Some of the books Seventeen had left behind vaguely mentioned it, but…

No matter how she looked at it, the pattern didn’t seem random. It just didn’t quite match what the books described either.

[Can’t we just tell them that Lord Seventeen is still alive?]
[Seriously.]

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the comments under the comic and felt a sudden pang in her heart.

She wondered—now that she had a place of her own, could she maybe bring those people over here?

It was just a thought… but maybe it was worth trying. An idea sparked in her mind.

…And then a loud boom shattered it.

“Holy crap—are these guys insane?!”

Yuan Yuanyuan looked up at the sky barrier and felt like her ears were about to go deaf.

How did they make such a loud explosion?

She looked around. Even the demons who had grown used to the commotion overhead were startled, all looking up at the sky. A group of illusion demons were scattering in a panic.

No one knew what they had used to create such a loud sound, but the security team was chasing right after them, relentless as ever.

“What happened?”
“What’s going on?”
“Did someone just strike thunder in broad daylight?”

Even the ordinary folks on the street who couldn’t see the barrier looked up in alarm—they could still hear the blast.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked up and saw that the demons had struck the barrier again.

But this time, something strange had happened. The spot they struck lit up with a clean white glow—a shimmering mark that pulsed outward like a tiny star, glowing steadily and clearly imprinted on the shield.

A few illusion demons moved to another spot and struck again. Another glowing mark appeared. The young demons below squealed and scattered in terror, running as fast as they could.

“The barrier’s breaking!” someone yelled.

Yuan Yuanyuan stood in the street in her disguise, suddenly at a loss for what to do.

Moments later, a group of security team demons arrived and shouted down the street, “Everyone stay calm! The barrier isn’t breaking—they just used a type of image-marking demon powder. There’s no danger to the shield.”

The panic on the streets gradually subsided.

Yuan Yuanyuan slipped to the side, trying to minimize her presence—but the security team demons still spotted her. They patted her shoulder and said, “Look at this young man—stayed calm under pressure. Why can’t the rest of you learn from him?”

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t even know what expression to make. Thankfully, she had disguised herself to look like a total nobody this time. Word had gotten around that Yuan had been showing up mysteriously, so if her face resembled his too much, she might get detained for questioning. To be safe, she’d gone full background character.

The street soon returned to normal. The demons realized it had just been a false alarm and went back to their routines. But Yuan Yuanyuan still felt puzzled. These people had been acting strangely for days, and now they were using some sort of image-marking demon powder?

What were they doing—pretending to be stars in the middle of the day?

She kept watching their movements on the shield. The way they drew made her heart stir, and unconsciously, she started tracing their motions in her mind.

She didn’t know why, but she was completely absorbed. It felt like she was drawing along with the demons in the sky.

When she finally snapped out of it, she realized half an hour had passed.

Huh? What just happened to me?

Yuan Yuanyuan frowned, thinking. Suddenly, she realized something strange about the “stars” they were forming in the sky—they looked… familiar.

She thought a bit more, then looked down at her phone.

The screen displayed the cover of the latest comic issue—not of a character, but of a setting.

A field of blood pearls, like scattered red beans across the floor—just like stardust in the sky.