Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 18

Unless she had no other choice, Xie Nuange didn’t want to use her skill.

She wanted even less to use a ghost item.

The reason Cheng Luo currently protected her like a personal bodyguard was simple: Xie Nuange posed no threat whatsoever.

As far as Cheng Luo was concerned, killing her would take no more effort than lifting a hand.

What could Xie Nuange possibly use to kill her?

A shard of porcelain?

Her bare hands?

Xie Nuange glanced at the ranking timer. Three minutes and forty-two seconds remained.

The Cold Palace was right in front of them.

“Cheng Luo, if she kills me now and ends up back in Rank Nine later, won’t she turn on you too?”

Xie Nuange threw herself into a roll, evading Liu Feng’s attack.

“I’m different. I’m no threat to you at all. I can’t kill anyone.”

“There’s a clue inside the Cold Palace. The consort living there knows Jiang Fan.”

An arrow buried itself in Xie Nuange’s shoulder. Her face went white with pain.

“Cheng Luo, have you forgotten my skill? As long as I see Jiang Fan, I’ll know where her weakness lies.”

Cheng Luo listened to Xie Nuange’s reasoning.

On one side was Liu Feng, who had attacked before Jiang Fan even came for her.

On the other was Xie Nuange, who was clever and had no offensive power.

She had to admit, Xie Nuange’s argument convinced her.

Two minutes and twelve seconds remained before the ranking update.

Cheng Luo stepped forward and engaged Liu Feng.

Liu Feng dodged as she activated her skill: Precision Snipe.

The attack caught Xie Nuange completely off guard.

The arrows seemed to carry some kind of lock-on marker. No matter how Xie Nuange dodged or which direction she chose, they adjusted their course and followed.

As evasion became increasingly difficult, Cheng Luo gritted her teeth and prepared to kill Liu Feng outright.

“Cheng Luo! Don’t kill her!”

Xie Nuange noticed her intent and hurriedly stopped her.

If Liu Feng died, Meng Shi would become the next Rank Ten.

Meng Shi would certainly come to kill her then, and Cheng Luo would no longer interfere.

Xie Nuange had to keep a target behind her.

After firing three arrows in quick succession, Liu Feng’s face had gone deathly pale. The protection from her ghost items was also beginning to weaken.

Fifty-eight seconds remained.

At last, Liu Feng could hold out no longer.

She staggered. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.

The bow slipped from her hand and struck the stones, dissolving into motes of light.

She looked up at Xie Nuange, hollow-eyed and bewildered.

“Why…?” she rasped. “Why did it turn out like this…?”

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

She covered her face and sobbed like a child.

“Why…? I only wanted to live… I only wanted to live…”

No one answered her.

But the sounds of fighting had drawn a crowd.

Palace candidates approached in groups of two and three from every direction. They stopped at a distance and watched with expressionless faces.

Some stared at Liu Feng. Some watched Xie Nuange, and others Cheng Luo.

Most, however, turned their eyes toward the sky.

Xie Nuange followed their gazes and looked up.

The sky had changed.

The dull gray above them now looked drenched in blood. As the dark crimson pressed slowly downward, Liu Feng’s terror mounted toward madness.

No one looked well beneath that black-and-red sky. Xie Nuange’s expression also turned grave.

Was Jiang Fan here?

Whom had she come to kill?

Xie Nuange? Liu Feng? Or was Rank Twelve somewhere in the crowd?

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Flowerpot-soled shoes struck the stone path.

The footsteps came one after another, unhurried and measured, their uncanny rhythm carrying into every listener’s ears.

A figure walked slowly toward them.

It was a woman dressed as a palace candidate. The cloth had faded nearly white, and water dripped from her sleeves and hem, leaving a glistening trail across the ground.

Her body was swollen. Her skin had taken on a sickly blue-white hue, and her corpse showed the grotesque bloating of long immersion.

Yet the elegance of her bearing sent a chill down every spine.

Her back was straight, her chin slightly lowered. Her hands swung naturally as she walked, a waterlogged handkerchief swaying with them. Every step covered precisely the same distance.

Her flowerpot soles landed on the stones with crisp taps, each one seeming to tread directly upon their hearts.

The water had rotted away her face, leaving her features a blurred mass.

Yet everyone knew she was walking straight toward the crowd.

“Jiang Fan… It’s Jiang Fan…”

No one knew who uttered the trembling whisper.

“Mom!”

Cheng Luo activated her skill at once.

The other palace candidates finally came to their senses.

Some activated skills. Some pulled out ghost items. Others turned and fled.

Without exception, they all failed.

Every flare of power crumbled and vanished as the woman advanced.

Those who tried to run made it several steps before realizing they were only running in place.

Liu Feng knelt on the ground, trembling so violently that her teeth rattled.

She watched the woman approach, her face wet with tears. Her lips quivered as she tried to speak, but not a single word came out.

Xie Nuange had used her skill on Jiang Fan the instant she appeared.

Datafication.

Jiang Fan never broke stride. She merely swept her gaze across Xie Nuange.

That one look made Xie Nuange’s scalp prickle. Instinctively, she activated Medusa.

[Medusa activation failed.]

Before everyone’s eyes, Jiang Fan abruptly vanished.

Xie Nuange’s entire body tensed. A sudden cry rang out.

The candidates turned toward it and found Jiang Fan standing behind one of their number.

Xie Nuange recognized the woman. She was the attacker they had passed earlier, the one who had stolen another candidate’s belongings.

Jiang Fan extended one hand.

It was swollen and deathly pale, water dripping from the fingertips. She rested it gently on the candidate’s left shoulder.

The woman shuddered. In an instant, her mind filled with the scene of her robbing another person’s ghost items earlier that day.

“Blame yourself for not knowing your place. If I want something, you should offer it up with both hands.”

“Who do you think you are? The strong prey on the weak. A ghost item is wasted on you.”

Then the fear, struggle, and despair on her face were wiped away as if by an unseen hand.

Her eyes emptied. Her lips slowly curled into a stiff, old-fashioned smile that was strange beyond words.

“Come… It’s time for us to enter the palace.”

Someone seemed to whisper the words beside her ear.

Xie Nuange’s pupils contracted. Jiang Fan stood just behind the woman with one hand on her shoulder.

Then they stepped forward together.

Tap. Left foot.

Tap. Right foot.

Every motion matched. Every step covered the same distance. Even the angle of their swinging arms and the curve of the handkerchiefs hanging from their hands looked copied and pasted.

One behind the other, they walked back along the path Jiang Fan had come from, waving their handkerchiefs and smiling as they gradually disappeared.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The footsteps faded into the distance. The dark crimson slowly receded from the sky.

The heavens returned to normal.

At the same time, the system announcement rang out.

[Palace Candidate Rankings: Rank Twenty has died.]

[Palace Candidate Rankings: Rank Twenty has died.]

[Palace Candidate Rankings updated.]

[Current palace candidate rankings: 28 candidates remaining.]

[Rank One: Zhao Ning.

Rank Three: Ye Wan.

Rank Eight: Cheng Luo.

Rank Nine: Xie Nuange.

Rank Ten: Liu Feng.

Rank Eleven: Meng Shi…]

Xie Nuange pulled the arrow from her shoulder and tossed it aside. It instantly dissolved into starlight.

She took out the healing Glass Bead Cheng Luo had given her the night before and used it on her wounds.

As she watched the bead crack apart piece by piece, her heart sank further.

Once someone violated Jiang Fan’s rule, there was no escaping being taken away.

Was it simply that they were too weak to resist her—or could anomalies not be killed at all?