Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan sat in a small restaurant, watching Nan Xing across the table devour his food.

“And the others?” she asked.

“They’ve already gone back,” Nan Xing mumbled through a mouthful of rice. “We agreed that whoever found you would send out a signal, and the rest would retreat.”

Yuan Yuanyuan asked where they were currently living. The little demon said they were staying in a mountain cave—far enough from here that it likely wouldn’t be discovered.

From his description, the cave sounded very rough and barebones, but he didn’t seem to care. Understandable—after living in the northwest for so long, even a simple shelter probably felt like home.

Yuan Yuanyuan had come out of City C. At this point, she couldn’t leave Nan Xing alone. He insisted on coming, so she brought him along. They had returned to Lin City, the place where she had once obtained the bone whistle.

After watching him polish off his food, Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t mention the earlier events. Nan Xing, on the other hand, clearly hadn’t forgotten. In fact, he seemed in great spirits.

“I just feel like, with you back, there’s nothing we can’t fix. I grew up hearing stories about you.” Nan Xing spoke so enthusiastically, he nearly choked. Yuan Yuanyuan silently passed him a glass of water and patted his back. “Slow down. No one’s stealing your food.”

“Don’t think it’s just the few of us here,” Nan Xing added. “There are actually a lot of us—we just didn’t all come at once.”

He winked at Yuan Yuanyuan. “When you see all of us together, you might be seriously shocked.”

“I’m already plenty shocked,” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered as she poured him more water. “Finish eating. I’m going out for a bit.”

She turned toward the restroom, washed her face, and tried to calm herself.

Stay calm, stay calm. Don’t panic.

Who am I kidding?! Of course I’m panicking!

Yuan Yuanyuan furiously scrubbed her face.

Didn’t Fan Ning say in the comic that the birth rate in the northwest was super low and that they couldn’t even raise children properly?

Lies, all lies. These kids were clearly thriving!

She sighed and wiped her face dry. Suddenly, she remembered what Si Qun had said before she left. He had pointed at the comic characters and said: “He’s lying.”

Sigh… I really shouldn’t have ignored the silly kid. He’s always the one who tells the truth.

Now the problem was that members of Seventeen’s old faction had come seeking her. They clearly had deep loyalty to Seventeen. If the real Seventeen were standing here, he might have agreed to help them.

Yuan Yuanyuan was panicking, yes, but her mind was still clear. Seventeen had been a famous military commander. He had likely killed many humans. Although he didn’t support bloodline supremacy among demons, that didn’t mean he was kind to humans.

After all, if Seventeen had been kind, humans wouldn’t have hated him so much.

These demons had never left their village. They’d never read the comic. Their understanding of Seventeen was probably closer to his real personality—not like the online fans, who based their views on the version portrayed in the manga. And the manga… was written based on Yuan Yuanyuan’s own projection.

In her mind, Seventeen was always a lone-wolf warlord. He thought very strategically. And people aren’t just good or bad. Even if Seventeen opposed bloodline supremacy, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill a few humans for the sake of the demons in the northwest.

He was fundamentally a different kind of person from Yuan Yuanyuan.

The biggest difference: Yuan Yuanyuan had a bias toward humans. Seventeen had a bias toward demons.

This was something Yuan Yuanyuan understood all too well.

She let out a deep sigh. Things had reached a turning point. The hardest part was here.

Seventeen probably believed that death in war was normal. Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t see it quite that way. Even though she’d killed demons before, she had never killed a human.

Some people might think that distinction was pointless, but everyone needs a reason to justify their actions to themselves. Yuan Yuanyuan’s reason was simple: she hadn’t crossed that line.

…Of course, it’s not like she was about to kill a human now either. She was just thinking about how to balance this situation.

In fact, when she first heard Nan Xing’s shocking declaration earlier, she had seriously considered killing him. The thought had been strong—so strong it scared her.

But one second later, she held back and smacked herself mentally.

No no no… Just a few seconds ago I was thinking of helping him find a better place to live. How could I flip so fast and suddenly get so vicious? I can’t do that.

There were two kinds of despair: one came from a terrible situation, the other came from realizing your own limits.

This behavior was, in a sense, kind. Kindness was valuable. But after struggling through so many years, Yuan Yuanyuan knew: kindness doesn’t feed you.

And that was depressing.

Then she realized: Wait… kindness like this might be rare.

She suddenly got a bit excited.

But then remembered: Yeah… no one praises this kind of kindness. In fact, it’s usually what gets people yelled at the most.

…And that made her even more depressed.

—Just another gloomy day for Yuan Yuanyuan.

…

But she couldn’t stay depressed forever!

Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly looked up, a strange smile on her face.

She forced herself to appear cheerful. With that weird grin still plastered on, she returned to the table and ordered two more dishes for Nan Xing.

“Did something happen while you were out?” Nan Xing asked carefully.

“Nope,” Yuan Yuanyuan said brightly. “Eat up. Don’t worry about me.”

“…” Nan Xing lowered his head and shoveled rice into his mouth, occasionally glancing at her.

Yuan Yuanyuan waited until he finished eating, then asked where the other demons were staying. After confirming their location, she contacted a demon she knew in the area. When he saw Yuan Yuanyuan, he was visibly shocked.

“Do you… need something?” he asked, nervously eyeing her without daring to stare too directly.

“I’ve got some people. Help me settle them. Then report back,” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

This demon was part of the anti-war organization, hidden in Lin City. It was only after Yuan Yuanyuan had become the Red-Clothed Woman that the landlady had shared this contact with her.

Yuan Yuanyuan watched as he carefully took note of everything she said. Then she pulled out a bank card. Now that she had some funds, she could afford a little operational budget. She handed it to Nan Xing, telling him to settle his group properly first, then wait for further contact.

Nan Xing’s eyes welled with tears as he accepted the card, calling her “Lord Seventeen” over and over. The nearby demon gave them a weird look—nowadays, everyone called her Yuan. Few still called her Seventeen.

Yuan Yuanyuan watched the two walk off. Nan Xing kept turning around to look at her. She waved them goodbye, then returned to City C, slipping quietly back through the barrier via a hidden passage.

She had to tell the landlady about this.

Not just her—the whole organization needed to know.

She couldn’t hide it. Demon Chronicles was basically a transparent surveillance system—it recorded everything truthfully, even if events weren’t always in chronological order. She couldn’t just rely on that loophole.

She needed to find the best way to resolve this. And maybe… maybe she had already thought of it.

When she returned to her hidden base through a special passage, she saw Si Qun squatting near the entrance, fiddling with something.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked down—just as Si Qun looked up. Their eyes met, and she abruptly turned her gaze away.

Si Qun shifted to the side, changed directions, and kept squatting. Yuan Yuanyuan wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not.

She glanced at him again. He was still watching her with those same serious eyes. Combined with his delicate face, he looked like a porcelain doll.

So cute…

Before she realized it, her hand had reached out and pinched his cheek.

“Ow.”

She rubbed her own hand—it had hurt. Then she turned and walked toward the landlady’s room.

There was silence inside for a long time.

Then, suddenly—

“You’re serious?! You really mean it?!” the landlady’s excited voice rang out.

All the demons outside turned toward the room, glancing at each other.

Well… Yuan Yuanyuan thought, that was expected. After all, the landlady was no ordinary demon.

“I’ve got them all settled. We can bring them in anytime. But for now, City C can’t handle them. They’ll need to wait outside,” Yuan Yuanyuan said.

“That’s fine. Let them stay put for now. I’ll figure out how to arrange them…” The landlady was already pacing. “I wonder how these kids compare to their parents…”

Yuan Yuanyuan watched her from the shadows, standing quietly.

She didn’t say a word. It was as if she didn’t exist.

“There’ll be a lot of them… Good thing we still have that mountain. We’ll move them all up there. I’ll open another tavern on the mountain…”

Yuan Yuanyuan turned and pushed the door shut behind her. Softly, it clicked closed.