Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 26

Xie Nuange surveyed their surroundings.

Beyond the gate lay a small garden paved with gravel that crunched beneath their feet.

The palace hall had long since faded. Its once-vermilion wood had darkened toward black.

Rustling came from within.

Cheng Luo instinctively activated a ghost item and watched the hall doors with wary eyes.

Then a crowd of women slowly emerged.

They looked no different from abandoned consorts in a historical drama.

Their hair was tangled, their expressions deranged, their eyes hollow and glowing gray-white.

They were probably anomalies or NPCs belonging to the scenario.

Xie Nuange’s gaze moved over their heads.

Every consort wore a hairpin.

Gold, silver, jade, wood…

Some sat squarely in the center of a bun. Some hung at crooked angles. Others were about to fall, caught only by a few strands of matted hair.

Even a rough count put their number above a dozen.

Which one belonged to Jiang Fan?

The moment the anomalies noticed intruders in the Cold Palace, they surged forward like a tide.

“Your Majesty… Have you come to see this consort?”

“Your Majesty… This consort has waited so long for you…”

“Your Majesty…”

Cheng Luo activated a ghost item at once, refusing to let them draw near.

She raised one hand. Light burst from her palm and split into countless tiny blades that shot toward the ghosts.

The female ghosts shrieked as the blades carved them apart, their bodies gradually dissipating.

But the scattered pieces quickly turned to smoke and re-formed elsewhere.

“What are you standing there watching for? Find the clue!”

Cheng Luo sent out another sweep of light, scattering several ghosts that had just reassembled.

“I can’t hold them off for long!”

Xie Nuange hurried forward and discreetly activated Medusa.

During that single second, she pulled the nearest hairpin from a ghost’s head.

Medusa’s effect ended the moment the pin came free.

The ghost whipped her head around. Empty black-gray sockets fixed on Xie Nuange as a low growl rose from her throat.

“Give it back! Give me my hairpin!”

She lunged. One gray-white hand clawed toward Xie Nuange as red-purple veins surfaced across her face and the back of her hand.

Xie Nuange dodged while using Datafication on the pin.

[Item: Silver Hairpin. Made in Year Six of the Great Qian Dynasty. Entirely ordinary. Nothing unusual.]

Not this one.

Xie Nuange meant to keep it in hand while checking another.

But the ghost seemed to have broken free of a seal. Ignoring Cheng Luo completely, she threw herself at Xie Nuange.

Left with no choice, Xie Nuange pushed the hairpin back into place.

The instant it returned to the ghost’s head, the woman froze. Her agitation gradually subsided, and the red-purple veins across her face and hands rapidly faded.

“Your Majesty… Your Majesty…”

Xie Nuange watched the change.

Removing a hairpin drove its owner into a frenzy. Replacing it pacified her.

She took a deep breath and began testing them one at a time.

A gold hairpin. Datafication…

Wrong. Put it back.

A jade hairpin…

Wrong. Put it back.

A wooden hairpin…

The instant it came free, the ghost’s hand clamped around Xie Nuange’s arm.

The icy fingers held her like an iron shackle.

Only after Xie Nuange replaced the hairpin did the hand slowly release her.

Another silver hairpin. Wrong…

“Xie—Rank Seven!”

Cheng Luo caught herself just before shouting Xie Nuange’s name. Urgency sharpened her voice. “Can you actually do this or not?”

She had already used two ghost items. Even with plenty to spare, the waste still hurt!

Forced into a corner, she had begun using her skill as well.

Mom stood in front of her while Cheng Luo copied Xie Nuange and pulled out hairpins.

But she didn’t even know what Xie Nuange was searching for!

Xie Nuange ignored her. Every pin she removed meant enduring another ghost’s frenzy, replacing it, then moving to the next.

At last, she stopped and drew a deep breath as the ghosts gathered once more.

The repeated skill activations had badly depleted her mental power.

The thorn vines’ expenditure and replenishment could barely maintain equilibrium, but the mental power consumed by Datafication could not be restored by the vines.

Pain began throbbing in Xie Nuange’s temples.

“Have you found it yet?” Cheng Luo’s voice cracked. “Are you doing this just to mess with me?”

“I’m still looking!” Xie Nuange gritted her teeth. “Give me a little longer!”

She reached for the jade pin on the nearest ghost’s head. This time she did not remove it, activating Datafication directly instead.

[Item: Jade Hairpin. Made in Year Six of the Great Qian Dynasty. Ordinary. No special properties.]

Wrong again.

Where was it?

Which one could it be?

“Forget it! I’ll pull them out. You catch!”

Cheng Luo forced down her irritation.

She chose several pins Xie Nuange had not inspected, yanked them free, and tossed them over.

The moment she removed them, the ghosts went berserk.

Cheng Luo shrieked, “Hurry up!”

Xie Nuange forced herself to use her skill.

“Not this one!”

She threw the pin back to Cheng Luo.

Where was it?

What had she missed?

Xie Nuange stopped and surveyed the restless ghosts again.

The consorts were all here. Their hairpins were all here. Yet she still could not find Jiang Fan’s.

What if it wasn’t in anyone’s hair?

“Rank Six!” Xie Nuange turned toward Cheng Luo. “Search their clothes! Check their sleeves and robes for more hairpins!”

Cheng Luo paused, then obeyed.

“Why does it have to be a hairpin? What clue did you get?” she asked while searching.

Xie Nuange did not answer. She was hardly stupid enough to reveal everything and let Cheng Luo abandon her to search alone.

The two wove among the ghosts, one checking their hair and the other their clothes.

The women growled when touched, but did not enter the same frenzy as when their pins were removed. They merely stood in a stupor and allowed themselves to be searched.

Even so, Xie Nuange and Cheng Luo found nothing.

Xie Nuange’s thoughts raced.

The rules said not to give her name and not to reveal her identity.

Why did names matter?

A name…

The matron’s name was Jiang Fan.

She had been a palace candidate in Year Three of Great Qian.

The hairpin was in the Cold Palace. Year Three…

The palace candidate convicted of deceiving the sovereign.

Zhang Lanyi.

Xie Nuange took a deep breath, straightened, and addressed the dazed ghosts in the courtyard.

“Zhang Lanyi.”

None of them reacted.

“Noble Lady Zhang?”

Still nothing.

Xie Nuange frowned. Had she guessed wrong?

“Zhang Lanyi, palace candidate from the Year Three selection of the Great Qian Dynasty?”

No response.

Xie Nuange was about to use her skill on the ghosts.

Then every woman froze at once.

Their empty black-gray sockets turned in unison toward a single figure.

She wore tattered palace robes, with a gold hairpin set in the center of her bun.

Xie Nuange narrowed her eyes.

She had already inspected that pin.

It was ordinary.

Cheng Luo saw it too.

Without waiting for Xie Nuange, she lunged forward and tore the gold hairpin free.

The woman released a piercing shriek.

Every ghost in the courtyard erupted into a frenzy.

Hands reached for Cheng Luo, but she twisted aside.

“Got it! Let’s go!” she shouted.

“Check whether it’s the right one first.”

Xie Nuange did not move. She had to be certain this was the hairpin they needed.

She held out a hand.

Cheng Luo hid the pin behind her back.