The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 25.1

Gu Jinli had known the village’s architecture was strange, but after being brought back as a captive, she understood it even more deeply.

She and Shen Chigui were led through the village, passing the dilapidated mud houses and heading toward the very center—a position of absolute worship. Standing there was a house that looked completely out of place.

Built with blue bricks and green tiles, it featured a peculiar layout. Though small, it was meticulously designed. Even the pear tree at the entrance was significantly sturdier than those elsewhere. This was the secret the people of Pear Blossom Village guarded… the core of this illusion.

At a glance, Gu Jinli knew this was the place of sacrifice.

“Lock them in!”

The Village Chief took a key from his pocket and opened the iron lock on the gate. The group dragged the two children into the courtyard. Inside, a room housing an ancestral statue came into view—the main hall. A golden Buddha statue, clearly the most luxurious item in the village, stood inside. Gu Jinli studied it for a long time but couldn’t identify which Buddha it was supposed to be.

“Tie them here for now.”

The Chief pointed to the pillars in the main hall. Once the children were secured, he dismissed the crowd. “It’s late. Everyone go back and rest! Two people stay behind to watch; the rest of you go to the mountains for food tomorrow!”

In a village like this, survival meant never stopping. Now that the sacrifice was secured, everyone had work to do.

“And you two…” The Chief snorted, glancing at the bound pair. “Behave yourselves for these next two days!” With that, he turned and led the men out of the courtyard.

Silence returned. Aside from the two children tied together, everything remained as it was.

******

The moon slowly descended, and the ink-black sky began to turn a soft blue. A new day had arrived.

“Xiao Wu.”

“Xiao Wu, wake up.”

Having been through so much the night before, Gu Jinli’s frail body hadn’t lasted long before she fell asleep. Jolted awake, she rubbed her eyes blearily. Before she could even see clearly, she asked, “W-w-who is it?”

“Xiao Wu, it’s me.”

Nangong Jinyao let out a sigh of relief. She lowered her voice and said, “I brought you some food… the Chief was very angry about your escape attempt. I doubt anyone will bring you food before the sacrifice.”

Even if the sacrifice was only two days away, a child’s body burned through energy quickly. Starving would be agonizing.

“F-f-food?”

The last bits of sleep vanished at the sound of Nangong Jinyao’s voice. Gu Jinli rubbed her eyes and immediately looked sideways. Good, Shen Chigui is still here.

“I have some for Xiao Qi, too.”

Noticing her gaze, Nangong Jinyao glanced at the other girl, only to meet Shen Chigui’s cold, unblinking eyes. Nangong Jinyao was the first to look away.

“Here, eat quickly!”

She pulled several fruits from her basket. She pressed some into Gu Jinli’s arms, but her movements were much more hesitant when it came to Shen Chigui.

“Xiao Qi, you should eat something too.”

She placed a few shriveled fruits at Shen Chigui’s feet. Looking at the ropes around the girls’ wrists, she bit her lip. “I can’t untie you, but the rope is long enough that it won’t stop you from eating.”

As long as the food was nearby, they could find a way to reach it. Though they couldn’t escape, their hands and feet had a fair range of motion.

“Th-th-thanks!”

Gu Jinli’s stomach had been growling for a long time. She didn’t hesitate for a second before stuffing a fruit into her mouth. Nangong Jinyao had helped her before; she had no reason to doubt her now.

“Take it away.”

Compared to Gu Jinli’s trust, Shen Chigui was far more cold. She cast a brief, indifferent glance at the fruit. She made no move to take them, flatly refusing the gesture. “I don’t need it,” she said.

Heh.

“Sh-sh-she doesn’t w-w-want it. G-g-give it to me!”

Chewing on a sour fruit, Gu Jinli’s first thought was that the lead was having another “episode.” She wasn’t worried about the other girl being hungry; she immediately leaned over to scavenge the extra fruit. “F-f-fruit… I’ll eat it.” She scooped them up without the slightest hint of politeness.

On the other side, Nangong Jinyao bit her lip, looking worried at Shen Chigui’s refusal. “Xiao Qi…” She started to speak but stopped. Though she had been in the village for a long time, she wasn’t close to Xiao Qi at all.

Actually, no one in the village was. Xiao Qi was always a loner, never listening to anyone and never getting close to anyone. No one knew what kind of person she was, and she didn’t seem to care about them either.

“D-d-don’t b-b-bother with her!” Sensing Jinyao’s hesitation, Gu Jinli swallowed a mouthful of fruit and waved her off. “Sh-sh-she’s just l-l-like that.”

As the “Mother” of these characters, who understood Shen Chigui better than her? The lead was never one to accept charity from others. Jinyao’s kindness was destined to fall on deaf ears. Besides, the girl could probably go twenty days without food and still be fine. There was no need to worry.

Gu Jinli, however, was a “glass cannon”—she really could starve to death.

“Alright, Xiao Wu.” Jinyao sighed softly and stood up to leave. “I’ll go now. I’ll try to come back tomorrow.”

“O-o-okay.” Gu Jinli smiled. Before Jinyao could leave, however, Shen Chigui finally spoke.

“Do the villagers know you’re sneaking over here?” She paused, her eyes cold as she looked at Gu Jinli, then sneered at Jinyao. “Hypocrite.”

*****

Nangong Jinyao left.

Watching her figure disappear from the courtyard, Gu Jinli sat in silence, eating the sour fruits one by one without saying a word.

“You’re not so stupid that you’re beyond hope.”

Shen Chigui raised an eyebrow at Gu Jinli’s unexpected silence. She shifted into a more comfortable position against the pillar and smirked. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

She had expected the stutterer to truly view Nangong Jinyao as a savior. It seemed that wasn’t entirely the case.

“M-m-m-mind your b-b-business.”

Gu Jinli tossed away a core and reached for another fruit. When it came to Nangong Jinyao, she had her own judgment.

Last night’s escape attempt and subsequent capture had happened far too quickly.

Gu Jinli didn’t want to be suspicious, but the truth was glaring. However, the help she had received from the girl was also very real—the half-month of care, the wheat cake during the escape, and these current provisions. Gu Jinli wasn’t the type to dismiss someone’s entire contribution just because of a doubt.

She had, in a way, been looked after.

“Tch.”

Unable to comprehend such inexplicable sentimentality, Shen Chigui let out a cold snort, then brought up something else entirely.

“Speaking of which, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while.” Her eyes fell on the clean fruit cores on the ground, her tone certain. “Did you know me before this?”

“And not just me. You know her, too.”

What? What is she talking about?

The rhythm of Gu Jinli’s chewing slowed to a crawl. She was so blindsided by the question that her brain momentarily stalled.

“N-n-no.” A few heartbeats later, she managed a strained denial. “I d-d-don’t know w-w-what you’re s-s-talking about.”

She had no idea how the lead had figured it out, but she was never going to admit her identity, especially not now.

“Is that so?” Shen Chigui’s expression didn’t change, her tone as light as if she were commenting on the weather. “Then why are you so nervous?”

She tilted her head to look at Gu Jinli, noting the fruit frozen halfway to the girl’s mouth. Shen Chigui smiled thinly. “Does your stutter only act up depending on the situation?”

This time, she had managed five words without a single trip-up. Was she really that terrified?

“N-n-n-no!”

Gu Jinli’s face paled. It was hard to explain why she hadn’t stuttered just then. She felt flustered and agitated, and the fruit in her hand suddenly lost its appeal.

“I-I-I’m n-n-not… not t-t-talking to you!”

She had improved her stuttering through half a month of secret practice. Last night, in her desperation, she had managed a whole string of words. Why was it a problem now? She hated the lead’s inexplicable, razor-sharp intuition.

“Stop denying it. Instinct doesn’t lie.”

Ignoring the little stutterer’s resistance, Shen Chigui narrowed her eyes and continued to herself. “You have many subconscious reactions that betray your familiarity with me.”

The shock during their first meeting, the audacity she showed last night, even the things she said to Nangong Jinyao just now… Shen Chigui deduced that she and this stutterer must have spent time together before. She didn’t know when or where, but compared to Nangong Jinyao, this girl seemed to understand her much more deeply.

If this stutterer is like me, then who is Nangong Jinyao? An enemy?

“You and she share many similarities, yet you are clearly more familiar with me.” The smile on Shen Chigui’s lips deepened as she reached a startling conclusion. “So, the three of us are the same. No, I should say…”

Her smile turned eerie, and her gaze toward Gu Jinli shone with a strange light. In that instant, she looked like a black-and-white drawing suddenly infused with color and a soul, becoming terrifyingly vivid.

“Only the three of us are truly real,” she said.

******

As the last word fell, the shock in Gu Jinli’s heart was beyond words. She stared at the lead, her mouth agape, unsure of what expression to even wear.

Where did she get such a conclusion? Everything here was so real—the pain, the hunger, the temperature… and the human nature. When she first entered, even she had trouble distinguishing the illusion from reality. How could Shen Chigui, a “local” with no memories, think it was fake?

“W-w-what are you b-b-babbling about?” Even with her restraint, she couldn’t hide her surprise. Her tongue felt like it was tying itself in knots.

In this moment, she was actually glad she was a stutterer; it allowed her to play dumb.

“Whether I’m ‘babbling’ is something you know best.” Shen Chigui withdrew her gaze, feeling she had already obtained the answer she sought.

Gu Jinli: “…”

*****

Following that conversation, Shen Chigui didn’t speak another word. Gu Jinli, feeling guilty, naturally didn’t initiate any talk either. Thus, they remained silent until the day of the sacrifice arrived.

Nangong Jinyao, who snuck in every morning with food, noticed the tension but couldn’t fathom the cause.

“Xiao Wu, Xiao Qi… this is the last time I can help you.”

The sky was barely grey with the coming dawn. Jinyao had brought wild vegetable dumplings. Gu Jinli ate half of one, head down; Shen Chigui didn’t touch a morsel.

“The sacrifice is at the stroke of noon… be prepared.” Jinyao looked from one to the other with worry, bit her lip, and eventually left. Since catching them the other night, the guards had been reinforced; getting in was hard enough, let alone doing anything else.

“I-I-It’s okay.” Gu Jinli waved her off. She actually felt okay about today. While she was the sacrifice, she was also the person closest to the truth. She knew this was an illusion—a fake world drawn by an array. To break out, she simply had to find the “Gate of Life.” Even if she had escaped that night, she would have had to come back today; the key to the exit was likely right here.

At the stroke of noon. In modern time, that was 12:30 PM. Gu Jinli remembered reading somewhere that the peak of Yin energy wasn’t at midnight, but at high noon. Perhaps that was why the sacrifice was scheduled for then.

“A-A-Are you r-r-really not e-e-eating?”

Gu Jinli habitually reached over to take the food Jinyao had left for the lead. It had been two days since this girl had touched a drop of water or a crumb of food. Even if she was going to die, it was better to be a full ghost than a hungry one. She didn’t understand.

“I am not like you.” Shen Chigui’s lips were cracked and dry, and her face was pale. In this scorching summer heat, going without food was one thing, but no water was agonizing. She was merely enduring the weakness in her limbs.

“…”

Whatever. Gu Jinli rolled her eyes where the girl couldn’t see and stopped caring.

******

As it turned out, Shen Chigui was different—she had the right to remain calm. After all, she wasn’t the sacrifice.

Although she had been tied up for two days because of Gu Jinli’s framing, only one sacrifice was needed. When the critical moment came, Gu Jinli could only watch as the lead was untied and led out.

Okay, that’s just unfair. They suffered together, but the lead got an early exit while she was left to die. Gu Jinli wanted to cry.

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