The Demon's Game

Wenjun Guli

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Word count: 52.4K words

Summary

A mysterious transfer student named "Xiaoyu" joins a freshman class. Free-spending, he soon posts strange game tasks with large cash prizes in the class group chat. Zhou Ying, the class beauty, volunteers to play to pay off a loan shark. The protagonist Chen Dong is exposed by his deskmate as holding the number nine card and is forced into the game; after drawing first prize, he triggers the first task: "Zhou Ying confesses to Chen Dong." Once the game starts it cannot be refused—refuser Liu Jie has already died suspiciously—and participating classmates begin to experience bizarre events one after another. Chen Dong must handle his classmates' scheming and threats while investigating Xiaoyu and the secret behind the game.

Editor's review

This book combines the high concept of "death-game tasks posted in a class group chat" with everyday university campus life. The opening is dense with suspense and briskly paced; the group-chat format and the students' jockeying for advantage create a strong sense of immersion and pressure. The protagonist Chen Dong is calm, pragmatic, and slightly scheming, subverting expectations in how he handles the prize money—a real highlight. The weaknesses are rough logic in places, flat characters, a mid-to-late rural manhunt section that departs from the earlier campus atmosphere, and a somewhat rushed conclusion. Suited to readers who like short-form thriller suspense and fast pacing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy campus suspense and death-game fiction
Readers who prefer fast-paced, high-suspense short web novels
Readers curious about the novelty of group-chat and class-group narration
Readers who accept rough logic and prioritize atmosphere over rigor

Not a good fit for

Readers with high demands for logical rigor and character development
Readers who dislike thriller, death, or horror elements

Reading tips

Read it as a short, punchy thriller; enjoy the early game setup and suspense.
Watch the new tasks and death clues at the end of each chapter; try guessing the game rules and Xiaoyu's identity ahead of time.
The plot shifts from campus to a rural manhunt mid-to-late; if the pacing feels disjointed, slow down and sort out the character relationships before continuing.

FAQ

Is this book complete? Roughly how many chapters?

It is complete, with 98 chapters including the finale.

Who exactly is Xiaoyu?

Xiaoyu is the mysterious transfer student who posts the game tasks; his identity and purpose run through the whole book and are revealed at the end.

Is it pure suspense or does it have romance?

It is mainly campus thriller suspense, with the male and female leads' romance as a subplot.

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About the author

Wenjun Guli Author

Wenjun Guli is a Chinese web-fiction author about whom limited public information is available. Eight works by this author can currently be found, mainly in the male-oriented fiction category and spanning supernatural powers, urban fiction, and suspense. Representative titles include I Am the King, Back to 1998: Overturning Everything, I Am a Medium, The Urban Supreme Mad God, The First Immortal Cultivator, The Fated God of War, Masters Descend the Mountain: Senior Sister, Here I Come, and The Demon's Game. Judging from these titles and their common classifications, the author combines urban life, superpowers, suspense, and cultivation elements, covers a wide range of subjects, and favors fast pacing, dramatic conflict, and highly readable plots aimed at readers who enjoy strong premises and steady momentum. The works are grouped under premium fiction and quality web fiction, indicating some attention among relevant platforms and readers. Overall, Wenjun Guli is a prolific genre web-fiction writer with clear directions and an accessible, direct style.