The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 1

Here is how it happened.

It’s a bit of a hassle to explain, but essentially, Gu Jinli had transmigrated into her own novel. She was now an ordinary human who would struggle to survive for three days—no, three hours.

The good news was that she came equipped with the System that accompanied 90% of all transmigration setups. The bad news? This System only had one function: Instant Resurrection. That’s right. Instant.

Meaning, if she were unfortunate enough to be killed, she would simply pop back to life on the spot the very next second.

Gu Jinli: “…?”

Is this just so people can kill me for sport?

To be fair, instant resurrection was a decent cheat code—provided you weren’t in the world of The Venerable Woman.

Gu Jinli’s writing style had always been utterly devoid of logic, riddled with plot holes, and her early works were the worst of the bunch. They were self-indulgent to a degree that could only be described as atrocious.

The Venerable Woman was a product of her early “venting” phase, which meant the world-building was haphazard at best.

In short, it was an Oriental Fantasy world with a thin veneer of cultivation. The female lead was the offspring of a man-eating ogre and a human—a “Half-Demon” of tainted blood.

In this setting, Half-Demons were the lowest of the low. They were shunned by the powerful, ill-reputed Demon Race and rejected by the moralistic, weak-protecting Human Race. Consequently, the lead was tossed into a lawless wasteland the moment she was born: Gu City.

In this city, humans, demons, monsters, and ghosts converged. It was a haven where every marginalized soul, criminal, and exile could indulge their darkest desires without restraint.

The city was nourished by despair and flesh; allies and kin were nothing more than “EXP packs” to be betrayed at a moment’s notice. There was no morality, only the rule of the strong—a literal “Gu” jar where the inhabitants fought until only the strongest remained. Thus, the name: Gu City.

When Gu Jinli wrote this book, it was primarily for catharsis.

Back then, she was a fresh graduate being squeezed dry by a heartless boss and brainless colleagues. She had rapidly transformed from a model citizen into a ticking time bomb who wanted to blow up the planet. Since she couldn’t actually commit arson, she took her frustrations out on the page.

And since it was a power fantasy, ethics were non-existent, while “cheat” abilities and fortuitous encounters were everywhere.

She had molded the female lead into a heartless, overpowered, and irrational maniac. A miracle every three steps, a level-up every five. In just a few years, the lead went from an exiled Half-Demon to the undisputed tyrant of Gu City.

The story was relatively standard until that point. The turning point came after she became City Lord.

It was as if some dormant bloodline had awakened; she shifted into a full-blown “reign of terror” mode.

The rebels were guilty. The neutrals were guilty. The flatterers were guilty. Humans, beasts, men, women, even the flora… every conscious being in the city was crushed under her heel. Her rule was defined by slaughter and madness, spreading outward from that den of sin.

She killed gods, humans, and demons alike. She became the synonym for violence and terror, successfully offending every faction in existence.

Eventually, the other four realms—who usually spent their time stabbing each other in the back—were forced to band together just to take her down.

The result? None of them could touch her. Instead, she suppressed them so thoroughly that they were forced to kowtow to Gu City.

That was where the story ended.

To be honest, the book had been a minor hit, sitting on the site’s charts for over a month.

Unfortunately, due to a “Clean Internet” crackdown, her morally bankrupt and gore-filled novel was rightfully locked and censored. Since then, Gu Jinli had matured, written other books, and eventually forgotten about this one.

Who would have guessed she’d transmigrate into it? Into the one book she’d had banned, a place where a normal person wouldn’t survive past the third paragraph.

“No, wait! I’ve written so many books! You could have picked any of them! Why this one?!”

Gu Jinli was practically vibrating with anxiety.

Slaughter never ceased for a single moment in Gu City. If she were in any other world, she could at least try to lay low. If she got caught, she could claim a “medical miracle” or “fate.” But… Gu City?

The people here were veteran “artisans” of death. They knew exactly if they’d killed you and how many pieces they’d cut you into the second the blade left their hand. You couldn’t fake your way out of death here.

And since the people here were exceptionally twisted, if they saw a perfect punching bag that wouldn’t die, wouldn’t they kill her 10,086 times just to get their money’s worth out of her “cheat power”?

[Host, please accept the mission as soon as possible.]

The cold System was incapable of mourning her plight. It simply urged her to get to work.

But Gu Jinli didn’t dare accept. She knew that the moment she did, she would truly be part of this world.

“I’m begging you! Please! Talk to your superiors and swap the book! I’d rather go to a smut novel and be a ‘toy’ than be dismembered here!”

Gu Jinli was ready to drop to her knees. She was just a girl who liked to write spicy scenes but lacked the actual courage for it; she couldn’t handle this kind of “service.” Her whole life had been spent walking on thin ice, and the one time she wrote something violent…

[Initiating deployment countdown—]

[5… 4…]

“Wait!”

Seeing the System force the start, Gu Jinli panicked. she let out a frantic, high-pitched shriek: “At least give me one more cheat power! If I just can’t die, I’ll just end up getting sliced into more pieces!!”

[3… 2…]

“Don’t you want me to actually finish the mission?! Do you really think Shen Chigui is going to pass up a permanent food reserve?!”

The lead of this book actually ate people!

Gu Jinli was having a breakdown.

[Bzzzt—]

[Host feedback received. Adding Save Slot ① (Cooldown: 24 hours. Load Point 1).]

[Deploying now.]

Entering the world with the mindset of “at worst, I’ll just die,” Gu Jinli thought she was prepared.

But when she opened her eyes and found herself lying in a mass grave, surrounded by several mangled corpses…

Her eyes rolled back, her legs kicked once, and she promptly fainted again.

As a youth from a peaceful 21st-century country, she usually didn’t even dare to gut a fish, let alone watch a horror movie. Facing a “jump-scare” opening like this was too much for her psyche to handle.

She woke and fainted, fainted and woke. Every time she regained consciousness, she would scramble forward an inch, eventually crawling her way out of the burial pits.

Leaning against a tree trunk with trembling legs as she entered a nearby grove, her face was deathly pale. She pulled up her mission interface.

[Welcome to “The Venerable Woman 1.01.” Updating current timeline and mission status…]

[Target for Conquest: Shen Chigui (Lead)]

[Current Age: 9]

[Current Plot Point: “Entering the City Lord’s Manor”]

[Target Mission: Gain the Female Lead’s affection (Task complete at 100 points). Current affection: 0 (Warning: Dropping below 0 results in lethal danger).]

[Friendly Reminder: World difficulty level: 999. The mission has begun. The System will now switch to Idle Mode. Have fun, Host!]

Have fun?

Did this thing even hear itself?

Her mouth twitched. Gu Jinli leaned against the tree and sat on the ground for a long time, trying to steady her breathing. She was currently at the mass grave outside the walls of Gu City.

Glancing around, she saw nothing but mounds of dirt and cooling corpses. Fortunately, the temperature was low enough that there weren’t many flies buzzing around yet; otherwise, she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t see some truly revolting little “creatures” crawling about.

Withdrawing her gaze, Gu Jinli quickly mentally sorted through the main plot and let out a small sigh of relief.

One piece of good news, one piece of bad news.

The good news was that her arrival point was set before the female lead’s rise to power. At this stage, the lead wasn’t yet a walking disaster. Shen Chigui wouldn’t awaken her bloodline power until she was fourteen, five years from now. Only then would she possess the strength to fight back. Before that, she was just a pitiful “little wretch” being bullied and humiliated, struggling for every breath. Her strength wasn’t much greater than Gu Jinli’s own.

This made the timing ideal. At the very least, Gu Jinli didn’t have to worry about being decapitated the moment they met.

The bad news, however, was that the body she had transmigrated into seemed to have just undergone a severe beating. There wasn’t a single patch of unbruised skin on her, and she felt terrifyingly weak.

She was only a few years older than the lead—no power, no background. Survival in a city that literally ate people was going to be an uphill battle. Furthermore, at this age, the female lead was already old enough to remember things. She was highly suspicious and focused solely on clawing her way to the top. As someone from the same bottom rung of society, getting the lead’s attention—let alone her affection—would be a monumental task. She’d be lucky if the lead didn’t view her as a rival and just eat her for the extra nutrients.

Then there was the most pressing issue: How was she supposed to get into the City Lord’s Manor to “accidentally” meet the lead?

Becoming a servant was out of the question. In modern terms, the Manor was a top-tier conglomerate, like a Fortune 500 company for pigs, cattle, and geese. Even an Ivy League grad would struggle to get in, let alone a malnourished, sickly brat like her.

To top it off, she didn’t even know the way. When she was world-building, she had never actually bothered to draw a map!

Just as Gu Jinli was leaning against the tree, fretting over how to find the city and the Manor, the sound of a rattling cart echoed from the other side of the burial mounds.

She immediately flattened herself against the ground, hiding in the tall grass. Peeking out, she saw three servants pulling a cart piled high with mangled corpses.

“The City Lord… lately…”

“The Young Mistress…”

The distance was too great to hear clearly, but the words “City Lord” made it easy to guess whose servants they were.

What luck, they’re from the Manor… Gu Jinli’s mind began to race.

[Save Successful.]

She only had one save per 24 hours, but this was her final safety net. Having secured her progress, she began to stealthily tail them.

She had observed the trio; they looked like typical workplace loafers. Protected by the City Lord’s reputation, few people were foolish enough to look for trouble with them, so their guard was incredibly low. As long as she stayed careful and kept her distance, she was confident she could find the Manor.

It went exactly as she expected. The three loafers were so engrossed in their gossip that they didn’t notice they were being followed. After disposing of the bodies, they crossed a road caked in dried blood and headed straight for the city.

Following cautiously behind, Gu Jinli looked up at the massive city gates and the plaque hanging above: Gu City. Suddenly, she felt a powerful urge to turn and run.

This is Gu City…

As its creator, she knew better than anyone. This was a place that ground your bones to dust and spat out the remains. With her scrawny frame, a single slap would send her to the afterlife.

Even though the gates stood wide open with humans and demons milling about in a display of apparent “prosperity,” she knew the horror lurking beneath. Gu City’s four gates were never closed, and there were no identity checks. This wasn’t because the city was inclusive; it was because it welcomed every living thing—enter alive, leave dead.

Gu Jinli swallowed hard, her limbs trembling.

But… if she didn’t finish the mission, she’d be stuck in this terrifying place forever. She looked up at the plaque again: West Gate.

This was the “back door” she had specifically designed for the female lead before her rise. The security here was relatively better.

“Dammit!”

The mission was right there. She had to go for it. Thinking of her save point and her immortality, Gu Jinli gritted her teeth, squared her shoulders, and marched inside.

Then, in less than a minute…

Someone lunged out of the shadows and kidnapped her right off the street.

Gu Jinli: “???”

Excuse me? Where are your manners?!

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