The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 29

When the sky began to bleed into a soft blue, it was time for the three of them to move.

After catching a brief, fitful nap against the tree trunk, Gu Jinli followed Shen Chigui back to the ground to meet Nangong Jinyao.

“W-w-we go… t-t-together.” Gu Jinli pointed toward the village and didn’t forget to remind Jinyao: “B-b-bring the sh-sh-shovel.”

“Okay.” Jinyao nodded, her eyes lingering briefly on Shen Chigui behind Gu Jinli. She said nothing.

Last night, she had watched Xiao Qi carry Xiao Wu up the tree. The intimacy between them suggested that something had happened in her absence. She guessed it dated back to when they first entered the courtyard together. It seemed Xiao Qi really disliked her, so much so that she had “stolen” Xiao Wu away to sleep on a cramped branch rather than rest on a spacious rock.

Nangong Jinyao felt a pang of exclusion, but she was wise enough not to pry. Their time was short, and they had more important things to do.

*****

To avoid the villagers, they had to move swiftly while it was still twilight. But perhaps because they had slept early, many residents of Pear Blossom Village were already awake. The sun wasn’t even fully up yet!

What now? Hiding behind the pear tree at the village entrance, Gu Jinli looked at the growing number of people and felt her heart sink. The memory of the villagers-turned-monsters was still fresh. She kept reminding herself: These are all monsters.

“I’ll draw them away.”

Nangong Jinyao reached the same conclusion. She looked at the shovel in her hand and made her decision. “You two have already been inside; the shovel isn’t strictly necessary for the entry itself.” She paused, turning to Gu Jinli with a smile. “Let me do my part! Go, quickly!”

With that, she bolted out into the open.

“Who’s there?!”

“Someone’s coming!”

“Get up, quickly!”

The village erupted into chaos.

*****

With Jinyao’s distraction, most of the villagers were lured away. Gu Jinli and Shen Chigui didn’t waste the opening. They rushed to the same wall as the night before, and in a practiced motion, the lead hoisted Gu Jinli over.

“This way.”

The moment Gu Jinli landed, the lead grabbed her wrist. They didn’t stop until they reached the main hall. The anomaly was beneath the Buddha. This time, they went straight for the source.

*****

Beneath the Golden Buddha lay a hidden entrance. Seeing the opening, the two shared a look and began to heave the statue aside.

The Buddha was heavy—not just because of its material, but because it was a dormant monster. Gu Jinli’s heart pounded in her throat. She watched the statue’s face with every inch they moved, terrified it would wake up and tear them apart.

Fortunately, it remained as still as a common ornament until it was fully moved.

“Go.”

Beneath the pedestal was an opening resembling a well, but wide enough for a person. Shen Chigui went first, with Gu Jinli right behind. They jumped down.

It wasn’t deep. Upon landing, they were greeted by a sea of ancestral tablets.

“Th-th-this is…”

A tiny, hidden room beneath the Buddha, filled with spirit tablets. Even with her broad knowledge of tropes, Gu Jinli was stunned. she leaned in to look, but the crooked script on the wood was indecipherable.

“Look at this.” Shen Chigui grabbed her arm, having found something else.

“!”

This is…!

Following the lead’s gesture, Gu Jinli brushed aside several tablets on the floor to find a small statue hidden beneath them. “Statue” was a generous word; it was a tattered, crumbling ceramic doll that had nearly lost its shape.

If it hadn’t been hidden so deliberately under the tablets, and if there wasn’t a single, piercing red dot on its forehead that gave it a flicker of divinity, Gu Jinli wouldn’t have recognized it as an idol.

“This must be the ‘true body’ of the Golden Buddha outside.” Shen Chigui scanned the room, her voice flat. “These tablets belong to the villagers. Just as you guessed, there are no living people in this village.”

She saw familiar names on the tablets—villagers she had ‘interacted’ with for years. People who were currently ‘alive’ outside.

“…”

Even though she had suspected it, seeing the physical proof made her blood run cold. Gu Jinli’s face went white, and her hand holding the doll began to shake.

“Don’t be afraid.” Shen Chigui reached out and steadied her trembling arm, taking the doll from her. “They’re just objects.”

“W-w-what now?” Gu Jinli’s lips quivered as she leaned closer to the lead. She had hoped this investigation would lead them to the Gate of Life, but there was nothing here but death and proof of a massacre. If the exit wasn’t here, where could it be?

“I’m curious about something,” Shen Chigui asked, her voice dangerously soft as she stared at the doll. “What do you think would happen… if I smashed it?”

What?! Smash it?!

“N-n-no way!” Gu Jinli was the first to protest such a suicidal idea. In a place full of monsters, the doll was clearly the anchor. The Golden Buddha outside was a killer; right now it was only dormant because of some unknown seal. If smashing the doll broke that seal, they were dead.

“What are you afraid of?” Shen Chigui turned the doll over in her hands. She felt a strange sense of deja vu. She felt she had seen this doll somewhere before. Where?

“I-I-it’s not about b-b-being afraid,” Gu Jinli explained, her voice shaking. “W-w-we can be m-m-more careful.”

They could find another way. There had to be a safer method than “smashing the boss’s heart” while trapped in a hole.

“Gu Jinli.” Shen Chigui looked up, calling her full name. “I just thought of something very interesting.”

“H-h-huh?” Gu Jinli was too focused on the doll to notice anything else.

“Why do you remember everything?” Shen Chigui asked. “You, me, and that woman… shouldn’t we be the same? Why are you the only one completely unaffected by this place?”

“?”

Why are you obsessing over this now?! Gu Jinli frowned and looked up at the lead. But at that exact moment, she saw the ceramic doll in Shen Chigui’s hand… blink.

“!!!”

The doll is alive too!!

“Q-q-quick! D-d-drop it!”

Her heart froze. Gu Jinli stared in horror at the doll and then at the lead, instinctively backing away. Those two steps back caused Shen Chigui’s face to darken instantly. The familiar, cold and hostility returned to her eyes.

“…”

Shen Chigui’s lips flattened into a thin line. She stared at Gu Jinli without blinking, as if locked in a silent contest with someone only she could see.

“If I don’t behave… will you betray me?” she asked.

What is wrong with you! Look at the time!

Gu Jinli was on the verge of a total breakdown. Her previous experience in this courtyard had left her with a psychological shadow so deep that she was now like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring. Seeing the female lead still clutching that creepy idol and babbling nonsense, Gu Jinli’s fear reached its limit. She lunged forward and slapped the statue out of Shen Chigui’s hands.

“You’ve truly… gone mad! I told you to… let go!”

Are you trying to kill us both?!

—CLANG!

The ceramic idol, no bigger than a joint of a finger, was sent flying. It hit the ground with a sharp, brittle sound. Gu Jinli didn’t even dare look back; she just grabbed Shen Chigui and pulled, her face ghostly pale. “Run! We have to leave… now!”

“…”

The tiny hidden room was already cramped with two people. Gu Jinli’s frantic shoving only made the space feel even smaller. Shen Chigui didn’t resist; she could feel the raw, vibrating terror radiating from Gu Jinli’s touch.

“Gu Jinli.”

Perhaps the display of pure panic somehow pleased Shen Chigui. Her previously cold, dark expression suddenly brightened with an eerie warmth. She seized Gu Jinli’s arms and yanked her close, forcing the girl to meet her gaze.

“I forgive you for what you just did.”

Shen Chigui leaned in, pressing her forehead against Gu Jinli’s. She stared into the other’s eyes, her voice sounding oddly lighthearted. “As long as you don’t betray me, I will do anything for you.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she brought her heel down hard on the ceramic idol lying on the floor.

—CRACK.

The idol shattered instantly. The crisp sound echoed like a gunshot in the confined space. Realizing what had just happened, Gu Jinli nearly fainted.

Dear God! I tried so hard to stop her, and she still did it!

Now, we’re both going to die here.

****

The moment the idol shattered, an indescribable aura surged from the earth. Faintly, Gu Jinli heard a scuttling, walking sound, followed immediately by a violent tremor.

RUMBLE—

The ceiling began to groan as the entire hidden chamber shook. Gu Jinli felt like she had been tossed into a running washing machine.

“G-g-get out!”

There was no time for anything but flight. Gu Jinli gripped Shen Chigui’s arm and stumbled toward the exit, dragging the girl along. If she was right, the Golden Buddha above was already “awake.” They had to get out.

“Gu Jinli.”

As she was being hauled toward the entrance, Shen Chigui’s eyes flickered with a strange light. “Do you trust me?”

“…”

Is now really the time for a heart-to-heart?! Gu Jinli was frantic. “J-j-just move!”

“I know you do.”

Shen Chigui didn’t wait for a verbal answer; she simply reached her own conclusion. She suddenly reversed their positions, pulling Gu Jinli forward. Before Gu Jinli could react, Shen Chigui grinned and shoved her upward and out of the hole.

Just like that, before she could even process the betrayal, Gu Jinli was ejected back into the main hall.

She: “!!!”

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