Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 24

Xie Nuange lowered her gaze to the tea in the kettle before her.

The liquid was clear. Several leaves rested at the bottom, and steam curled gently upward.

“Pour the tea.”

The matron’s voice came from ahead.

Xie Nuange lifted the kettle and slowly poured tea into her bowl.

The rule required it to be eight-tenths full.

When the tea reached roughly that level, she stopped pouring without ever taking her eyes off it.

“Replace the lid.”

The matron’s voice sounded again.

Xie Nuange gently pinched the lid and lowered it along the rim without making a sound.

She left only a narrow crack through which she could see the tea.

It remained clear, several leaves resting quietly at the bottom.

Was the final rules lesson truly this simple?

Was serving tea really all they had to do?

“Raise the bowl to your chest.”

At the matron’s next command, Xie Nuange lifted the tea bowl with both hands. Her left hand supported the base, her right steadied the rim, and she held it before her chest.

Her gaze remained lowered, fixed through the narrow gap on the tea within.

Soft rustling came from around her as the other palace candidates raised their bowls as well.

The matron gave no further command.

Xie Nuange stood motionless.

Her wrists began to ache, but she did not dare tremble, change hands, or raise her eyes.

One minute.

Three minutes.

Ten minutes…

It was as though the matron had disappeared.

Then, beneath Xie Nuange’s unwavering gaze, the color of the tea changed.

The clear liquid abruptly turned cloudy, as if something were rising from the bottom of the bowl.

Xie Nuange’s pupils contracted.

She saw a face.

Zhu Miao—the former Rank Fifteen whose throat she had cut with a shard of porcelain.

Zhu Miao’s body slowly surfaced from the tea. Her eyes bulged wide, and blood still poured from the hideous wound across her throat, staining the entire bowl red.

Before Xie Nuange could react, a tremendous suction force surged from the bowl and dragged her inside.

When her senses returned, she found herself standing in a gray, hazy space.

It was as though all five senses had vanished. There was no sound and no wind.

The place felt like a vacuum.

Only one thing remained unchanged.

Her hands still held the tea bowl perfectly steady.

The tea remained inside, steam curling from its surface.

“Xie Nuange… Why didn’t you die? If you had died, I wouldn’t have had to die…”

A voice came from ahead. She lifted her eyes for a swift glance.

Zhu Miao approached one step at a time, the wound across her throat still bleeding.

The instant Xie Nuange looked up, another figure appeared beside her.

“Xie Nuange, I lent you a ghost item in good faith so we could buy a clue. Why did you kill me?”

It was Leng Jing, the former Rank Six whom she and Cheng Luo had killed together.

Half her head had been flattened by Mom’s spatula. Something thick dripped steadily from the crushed side, striking the ground with wet, sticky slaps.

Xie Nuange immediately activated the ghost-item ability she had yet to withdraw: Thorn Entanglement.

When her gaze returned to the tea, her eyes narrowed slightly.

The color looked… different.

Was it only her imagination?

Or had the light changed because she was somewhere else?

Keeping hold of the bowl, Xie Nuange sent the vines at the ghosts slowly closing in around her.

“Xie Nuange… You lied to me.”

That was Meng Shi’s voice.

Her face was expressionless. Water dripped from her body, leaving a small wet print beneath each step.

“Xie Nuange, I spared you. Is this how you repay me?”

One. Two. Three…

Every dead palace candidate connected to her appeared within the gray fog.

“Give me back my life, Xie Nuange!”

Thorned vines burst from the ground. Two wrapped tightly around Xie Nuange, shielding her, while the others attacked Zhu Miao, Meng Shi, and the rest.

The vines skimmed rapidly over the ground, coiled around Zhu Miao, and tore her apart.

Moments later, the shredded remains dissolved into vapor and reappeared elsewhere.

Xie Nuange frowned. Meng Shi was already charging from the other side.

She had no choice but to look away from the tea and meet Meng Shi’s eyes.

Xie Nuange activated Medusa.

Once Meng Shi froze in place, Xie Nuange used Datafication.

But in the single instant her gaze left the tea, Fang Yule—the roommate who had died on their first night—appeared from nowhere with her own severed head in her arms.

Xie Nuange’s lashes twitched at the sight of yet another anomaly.

Every time she looked away from the tea, another ghost appeared.

She immediately lowered her gaze to the bowl again.

At the same time, Meng Shi’s information surfaced before her in line after line.

[Illusory Ghost Item (Meng Shi): Every illusion is born from the fear in your heart.]

A faint smile touched Xie Nuange’s lips.

“So it’s only an illusion.”

Of course. The tea bowl could not have followed her into this place for no reason.

After looking up twice, she saw that the tea was no longer as clear as it had been at the beginning.

So she could not raise her eyes.

The longer her gaze left the bowl, the cloudier the tea became—and more ghosts appeared.

Xie Nuange kept her eyes on the tea, maintaining a meek and respectful posture.

Through the thorns, she observed the immobilized Meng Shi and the gruesome figures of Zhu Miao, Leng Jing, and Fang Yule rushing toward her.

Her soft voice drifted through the fog.

“But… who told you I was afraid?”

Medusa’s effect ended. Meng Shi charged close, one wet, blue-white hand reaching for Xie Nuange’s throat.

Xie Nuange did not move.

She neither dodged nor retreated. Both hands held the tea bowl steady, and her eyes remained fixed on the liquid.

The icy hand passed straight through her body.

Meng Shi’s figure faltered, then slowly dispersed like smoke.

Zhu Miao vanished as well.

Then Leng Jing.

The head in Fang Yule’s arms rolled to the ground. Both head and body dissolved into mist.

One after another, the snarling ghosts passed through Xie Nuange and the tea bowl in her hands.

Then they disappeared completely.

The gray fog receded.

A faint rustling reached her ears. Xie Nuange discovered that she was still standing exactly where she had been.

Sunlight fell across the stone courtyard of the Palace of Gathered Elegance. The long tables remained. The tea bowls remained. The bowl in her hands remained.

She had never moved at all.

Crack!

The sharp sound came from behind her.

Then a second. A third.

Tea bowls fell and shattered. Lids struck porcelain. The sounds rose one after another behind her.

Xie Nuange did not turn.

She merely lowered her lashes and directed the thorn vines underground, silently guiding them toward a higher vantage point.

Through the thorns, she observed what was happening behind her.

One palace candidate stood rigid as the bowl suddenly slipped from her hands and shattered into several pieces.

Tea splashed across the ground. Then the liquid came alive, crawling up the woman’s ankles and dragging her entire body into the shallow puddle.

“No… Don’t…”

Another candidate held her bowl as its lid suddenly made a sharp sound. The tea inside began to boil. A hand reached out, seized her wrist, and dragged her entire body into the tiny bowl.