The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 3

What would the female lead look like?

That was the question Gu Jinli had been obsessing over before meeting Shen Chigui in person. But once she actually laid eyes on her, she felt a wave of disappointment.

“Waaaah… Big sister, I’m so scared.”

Clutching tightly to Gu Jinli’s clothes, the nine-year-old lead was currently hiding timidly behind her, using Gu Jinli as a human shield to push her toward the front.

By now, the City Lord’s “Hunting Match” had officially begun. All thirteen captives from their cage—humans and monsters alike—had been released. Only now did Gu Jinli realize that nearly a hundred people had been gathered here in total.

They were confined in an exceptionally vast courtyard with four gates. Except for the gate they had just entered through, the others remained closed for the time being.

Adjacent to the courtyard stood two exquisite pavilions, facing each other and rising three or four stories high. A powerful defensive array shimmered around the perimeter, strictly separating the pavilions from the “arena.”

As the creator of this world, Gu Jinli understood the setup perfectly.

To put it simply, this was a gladiator pit. Those two pavilions were actually VIP boxes where the City Lord invited guests to spectate and place bets. Inside, they could sit on plush chairs, enjoy the service of attendants, and look down on the slaughter in the courtyard as if they were watching a play.

From that height, every movement in the courtyard was laid bare. In other words, their lives were nothing more than a casual afternoon’s entertainment for the elites.

“Seven days from now, the last five survivors will receive a contract from the City Lord’s Manor.”

Leaving behind those words, the guards who had escorted them to the courtyard dragged the empty cages away, not forgetting to bolt the gates from the outside.

Suddenly, nearly a hundred of them were left alone in the courtyard. Humans, demons, monsters… and even some cultivators snatched from heaven knows where. A motley crew gathered in one place, and from that moment, the silent slaughter began.

Everyone stood warily, watching each other. No one dared to make the first move just yet.

They had been kidnapped, yes, but entering the City Lord’s Hunting Circle wasn’t necessarily a death sentence—it was also an opportunity. Those easily abducted were usually commoners with no background; if they could survive and secure a contract, it meant a massive leap in social status. Even if they only ended up as a servant hauling corpses, they could walk the streets without fear and earn a monthly wage.

However, “old, weak, and sickly” types like Gu Jinli and the lead were purely there to fill the numbers—festive sacrifices to liven up the mood.

Whether they had accepted their fate or harbored secret ambitions, the brief silence eventually broke as the crowd began to move. The timid ones crept toward the edges, searching for a place to hide. The bold ones began to brazenly size up the people around them, picking their first targets.

Gu Jinli was firmly in the former camp. Coming from a peaceful era, she had zero interest in a “kill or be killed” game.

But just as she was shuffling backward, trying to escape the center of the crowd, a clear, childish voice suddenly rang out behind her.

“Big sister.”

The nine-year-old lead, Shen Chigui, tugged at the corner of her shirt, tilting her head with an expression of pure innocence. “Where are you going? You’re almost stepping on me~”

In an atmosphere thick with murderous tension, such a crisp, loud voice was no different from a spotlight. Instantly, Gu Jinli felt the gazes of the surrounding crowd sweep over her, some subtle, some hungry.

Gu Jinli: “…”

Dammit! Is this brat trying to get me killed?!

While she was screaming internally, a series of blood-curdling shrieks erupted from the other side of the crowd.

“AAAGH!”

“Help! Save me!”

“No—!”

Someone had finally attacked, flipping the switch on the massacre. The metallic stench of blood flooded the courtyard in an instant. Before Gu Jinli could even process the scene, a dark shadow lunged out from the nearest group, heading straight for her.

“Shit!”

She knew this would happen! She tried to dodge the attack, but for some reason, the lead standing behind her seemed to be in the exact wrong spot. Shen Chigui’s position cleverly blocked her retreat, forcing Gu Jinli to halt her dodge mid-step. She couldn’t get out of the way in time.

Squelch!

The human male who had lunged at her wore a predatory sneer. A short blade, hidden up his sleeve, hissed through the air and buried itself deep into Gu Jinli’s chest.

The people here weren’t like those in the real world; when they struck, they played for keeps. The man aimed for the heart with practiced precision.

Gu Jinli was skewered through the chest. A one-hit kill.

[You have died.]

Bold, red text flashed across her vision. Massive blooms of crimson spread across her chest like ink dropped into clear water.

But almost immediately, the subtitles dissolved, and the world regained its clarity.

[You have been resurrected.]

Following the System’s prompt, Gu Jinli felt a sharp, piercing agony in her chest. The man, assuming his work was done, was already moving to bypass her. He was light on his feet, intending to harvest the life of the child behind her in the same breath.

Yet, the girl who should have been a corpse remained standing. In fact… she reached out and grabbed him!

“Hiss…”

Blood welled from the wound, and the pain turned Gu Jinli’s face ghostly pale. She hadn’t expected to lose a life so early into the game.

But she didn’t have time to inspect the wound. Taking advantage of the man’s shock, she reacted with surprising speed, driving her fist directly into his eye.

THUD!

While the man recoiled in pain, Gu Jinli unceremoniously reached out and snatched the dagger from his hand.

“I’ll be taking that!”

Perhaps because he hadn’t expected someone with a punctured heart to stay alive—let alone fight back—the man’s reaction time slowed significantly. It wasn’t until his weapon was gone that he snapped back to reality, lunging to choke her. “You actually—”

In a panic, Gu Jinli swung her arm wildly. The dagger sliced across the man’s palm, and before he could even register the pain, she turned on her heel, grabbed the female lead, and bolted.

“From this second on—shut up!”

Using their small stature to their advantage, Gu Jinli kept her head down and weaved through the gaps in the crowd toward the outskirts of the courtyard.

She clutched her chest with one hand while scolding the lead with the other: “Don’t think I don’t know you did that on purpose! I’ll settle the score with you later.”

Others might be fooled, but she was the “Mother”! How could she not know Shen Chigui’s true nature? Even if this brat was only nine, her heart was already full of black ink.

To think she had felt a flicker of pity for this “frail and helpless” girl earlier—it was all an act! The lead had been waiting to set her up from the very start. Gu Jinli had just lost a life because of this little monster’s positioning!

The two scrawny children were like pebbles in a rushing river, barely noticeable in the dense, chaotic crowd.

Though a few people spotted them and tried to attack, the ongoing free-for-all worked in their favor. The attackers were quickly intercepted by other combatants, allowing the pair to escape the center of the fray relatively unscathed.

The courtyard was massive. Beyond the open central area used for the melee, there were scattered trees, small outbuildings, and covered corridors tucked away in the four corners.

As the author, Gu Jinli knew exactly what those four corner rooms were: Supply Depots.

However, these “supplies” weren’t food or water; they were stockpiles of weapons. Weapons meant the power to kill and the power to survive. In a place like this, arms were the very root of violence.

Furthermore, on the second day, the City Lord would release magical beasts into the mix. Day one was merely a preliminary “elimination round” between the contestants themselves. From day two onward, the difficulty would spike exponentially. Only five people would walk out of this courtyard alive at the end of the week—assuming there were even five left by then.

This style of “Gu cultivation” was as common as eating or drinking in Gu City. Any power with a bit of influence would host such events. Here, life was the cheapest currency. The City Lord’s Manor was the most extreme; they held a hunt every three months, and every time, the grounds were literally soaked in blood.

“We hide here first.”

She pulled the lead toward a corner room. Instead of entering, Gu Jinli circled around the back and pointed to a tree squeezed between the building and the high wall. “Climb.”

“Big sister, aren’t we going to join the others?”

A flash of realization flickered through Shen Chigui’s dark eyes. She knew this tree. She also knew that by hiding up there, one could safely bypass several days of the slaughter.

This had been her own “safe zone” when she survived the hunt in her past lives. It seemed the girl before her was indeed a Task-taker—someone who knew the “plot” inside out and relied on opportunistic tricks.

Did she think she could just replicate the story and survive until the end?

Shen Chigui had no intention of letting her have it so easy. But just as she opened her mouth to scream and alert the others, Gu Jinli—who was already on high alert for the lead’s mischief—slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Shut it! Stop making trouble!”

Gu Jinli’s feelings toward the lead had shifted three times in just half a day. From curiosity and anticipation to pity, and now to a frustration so intense she wanted to smack her. Even if she was the one who wrote the character this way… living with her was an entirely different story. This brat was asking for a beating!

Tugging the nine-year-old closer, Gu Jinli threatened her in a low, unfriendly tone: “If you try to ruin things one more time, I’ll spank you! Shen Chigui, you can’t beat me right now.”

At this stage, the lead hadn’t awakened her bloodline. No matter how many schemes she had, she was still just a child. Against an adult soul, she shouldn’t be much of a threat.

Gu Jinli, however, seemed to have forgotten that her current body wasn’t much older than the lead’s. She was a bag of bones who had just crawled out of a mass grave, and aside from being half a palm taller than the girl, she wasn’t exactly a powerhouse.

“…”

With her mouth clamped shut and held firmly in the other’s arms, Shen Chigui couldn’t see Gu Jinli’s face. However, she could easily gauge her personality through her tone and choice of words.

As expected—a fool from the “Upper World.” Her method of exposing her identity was incredibly stupid. They had only just met, yet this person had already barked out her full name. Then there was that bizarre protection and that nonsensical attempt at discipline…

Laughable.

If the “cowards behind the curtain” could only find people of this caliber to charm her… then there was no point in dragging this game out any longer.

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