The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 19

Wait for me? In your dreams!

Gu Jinli watched coldly as the lead’s silhouette vanished behind the closing stone gate. Finally, the weight on her chest lifted. The most dangerous person was gone; now she just had to pick any floor other than 33.

“Time for a break.”

The guardian of the sixth floor had already been slain by the lead. Until a new challenger entered the tower, the floor wouldn’t reset. She was safe, but the window for respite was short.

How should I choose?

She sat down on the floor in front of the shut gate, lost in thought. Separating from the lead was a win, but she couldn’t stay on floor six forever. There was no way out of the tower except to clear it. To leave, she had to go up.

The more she thought about it, the more she regretted her rash decision to enter. If she were outside, she’d have options, but here she was trapped. In her novel, she had only detailed the final three floors; the rest were mentioned in passing. Now that she was inside the world, those “filler” floors were being automatically filled in by reality. Even as the creator, she had no idea what trials awaited her on 31 of the 36 floors.

The lead followed the original plot to a floor Gu Jinli actually understood. To avoid her, Gu Jinli had to venture into the unknown.

Okay, combat ability: zero. Cheat code: immortality.

In an unknown floor, she’d definitely die in a dozen different ways. But the whole reason she left the lead was to stop dying so much. If leaving resulted in more deaths, what was the point?

“Forget it.”

Without that brat around, she could probably avoid most deaths through common sense. She didn’t believe she was so incompetent that she’d die the moment she stepped inside. After a bit of mental back-and-forth, she reached out and pressed Floor 12.

Her plan: jump to the next “skip point” and lay low. Once enough time had passed and the lead had cleared floor 33, she’d jump ahead. It was all about the timing.

She stepped into the gate. As the familiar light faded, the scene of Floor 12 came into focus.

Arrays.

Arrays, one after another, covering the entire floor. The sight was so familiar it felt like she had accidentally walked into floor 33. In the novel, floor 33 was the “Array Floor,” where every array was a different Realm. Challengers had to live through a ‘life’ in an illusion and break the cycle to pass.

Honestly, it was usually the most peaceful type of trial in the tower. But since Gu Jinli had specifically written it for the late game, it was also exceptionally cruel in its mental toll.

“Wait, I chose floor 12, didn’t I?”

The more she looked at the arrays, the more they looked like her floor 33 designs. But 12 and 33 were worlds apart; she couldn’t have misclicked.

“Did the world turn floor 12 into an illusion floor too?”

Attributing it to the world’s auto-completion, she bit her lip and cautiously took a step forward. Since she was already here, she had to see it through. The moment her foot touched the floor, the array activated.

Azure light flooded the room, pressing down on her from above. A burst of blinding radiance swallowed her before she could react.

When the light cleared, the room was empty.

******

“Quick! Catch the stutterer!”

“Get her! Get her!”

“Beat her to death!”

Clamor erupted from all sides, rushing toward her like a tide. Before Gu Jinli could react, something grabbed her arm and yanked hard. She stumbled and crashed heavily onto the ground.

“Ouch…”

Her knees stung against the dirt. Opening her eyes, she realized her body had shrunk.

What the…? She stared at her small hands in shock. Had she entered an illusion?

Shadows loomed over her.

“Stupid stutterer!”

“Beat her! Kick her!”

“Pah!”

A rain of punches and kicks fell upon her. Gu Jinli hissed in pain, her face twisting in anger as she glared at her attackers.

Oh, great. It’s a bunch of brats. She frowned, intending to scold them. “You! What do you…!” What do you think you’re doing?!

But the moment she spoke, her heart sank. An ominous realization washed over her.

“I… I…?”

What is happening? She opened her mouth and tried again: “I… I… I…!!!”

“W-w-what…?!”

Why was it so hard to speak?!

After several attempts, she had to face the facts: she was now a stutterer. And a young one at that. She quickly scanned her surroundings, avoiding the hostile glares of the children. She was in a run-down little place called Pear Blossom Village.

Judging by the mud-brick houses and the gaunt, malnourished faces of the children, it was easy to conclude that this was a desperately poor village.

Although she didn’t know why her memories remained intact, her current identity as a young child in this place was far from ideal.

“Look! Here it is!”

The boy pinning Gu Jinli to the ground took advantage of her momentary distraction to swiftly fish something out of her tunic. He held his trophy high, shouting to the surrounding group, “The stutterer stole a wild-herb cake!”

A wild-herb cake?

Her hollow gaze followed the boy’s hand. Pinned to the dirt, Gu Jinli finally realized she had been robbed. That was her food.

Grumble… growl…

Her stomach protested, feeling so empty it was practically collapsing inward. This body hadn’t eaten in heaven knows how long; even the mere sight of food caused a physical ache.

“G-g-give… it b-back!”

That dry cake was likely the original owner’s only meal. Realizing this, a famished Gu Jinli finally began to fight back. She struggled to shove the boy off her, lunging forward to reclaim her prize.

She was fast, but the surrounding children were faster. Almost the second she pushed the boy off, a massive shove from the side sent her crashing back into the dirt before she could even find her footing.

“The stutterer’s trying to steal it back!”

“Beat her! Kick her!”

“How many times has it been? All she knows how to do is steal!”

Familiar insults flew as a rain of small fists fell upon her. Individually, the children weren’t that strong, but their numbers were overwhelming. Even though Gu Jinli fought with everything she had, the herb cake was eventually carried away.

Once the children dispersed, she lay on the ground, panting, staring at the sky for a long time without moving.

This world was far too real. The gnawing pain in her stomach, the weakness in her limbs, the raw powerlessness of being bullied—even the light breeze on her skin and the scorching heat of the sun above. Everything told her with absolute clarity: this was real.

Is this truly just the illusion of the twelfth floor? Gu Jinli couldn’t help but doubt. Had she entered an illusion, or had she transmigrated all over again?

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