Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 36

Xie Nuange did not know how long they needed to remain outside. They had far too few clues.

She continued studying the courtyard while trying to place the jade-pendant design she had glimpsed inside the hall.

It was deeply familiar, yet she could not remember where she had seen it.

After an unknown amount of time, footsteps approached from behind.

“Your Ladyship, it is time to return to the room.”

Su Ye came outside, her expression grave.

“Why did you leave?” Xie Nuange asked in surprise.

Hadn’t they agreed that only one person would go out?

Su Ye did not answer.

She approached, almost forcibly took Xie Nuange’s hand, and placed it on the back of her own.

After giving Ye Wan a guarded look, she turned to Xie Nuange. “We’ll talk inside.”

Xie Nuange hesitated, then glanced at Ye Wan and nodded to her.

Ye Wan watched them leave with an easy smile.

As her gaze followed Su Ye, her fox-like eyes narrowed, darkening for a moment.

The instant Xie Nuange entered the room, Su Ye shut the door behind them.

The window remained open, giving them a clear view of the courtyard.

“What happened outside just now?” Su Ye asked directly, turning to stare at her.

“What do you mean?”

Xie Nuange did not understand at first.

Then she recalled the brief vision and excitedly shared it.

“It was a deity. I think it was a real deity.”

Her voice dropped, but excitement still colored it. “Not an anomaly, not a ghost item. It was real. You couldn’t feel it from inside…”

“Just standing there, you could feel its gaze…”

Su Ye frowned. “Did you check the rankings?”

Xie Nuange’s excitement froze. Her expression went briefly distant before she shook her head.

She opened the list. When she saw the ranks, her face stiffened.

Xie Nuange looked up at Su Ye in disbelief. “You… dragged me down?”

They had been Rank Ten before. Now they were dead last!

“Didn’t you notice how many people outside jumped to one hundred Faith Points?” Su Ye asked with a frown.

She was beginning to wonder whether Xie Nuange was genuinely lucky or merely pretending to be foolish.

How could she fail to notice something so abnormal?

“Su Ye.”

Xie Nuange raised her head. “We’re teammates for now, correct?”

“What are you getting at?”

“I want your copy of the rules.”

Xie Nuange asked directly and saw Su Ye’s expression shift.

“Xie Nuange!”

Su Ye looked displeased, but still took out the palace-maid rules.

Xie Nuange ignored her protest and placed both sheets on the table.

“Why are you shouting? We’ll read them together. Look, here’s mine. Let’s work this out.”

[Palace Maid Rules:]

[Rule One: You are a palace servant and must obey Your Ladyship’s commands. If you disobey, you have the right to choose how you die.]

[Rule Two: You are a palace servant. You may choose loyalty. The deity sees those who are loyal.]

[Rule Three: You are a palace servant. You may choose betrayal. The deity also sees those who betray.]

[Rule Four: You may help Your Ladyship overcome her troubles and survive the trials together.]

[Rule Five: You may betray Your Ladyship and survive alone.]

“These aren’t rules,” Xie Nuange said, looking at the two sheets. “They’re choices. How will you clear this stage? How will I?”

She glanced at Su Ye, who had fallen into thought.

“Once you make a choice, the opposing rule becomes false,” Xie Nuange continued slowly. “If you choose to survive the trials with me, then betraying me afterward will violate the rules.”

Su Ye remained silent. Xie Nuange did not force her to decide immediately.

She needed time to think as well.

“Su Ye, why did you come outside to find me?” Xie Nuange asked. “Didn’t the room rule require only one person to go?”

“After you left, I discovered that the door wouldn’t open,” Su Ye said, staring at the rules on the table. “As soon as it opened again, I went to get you.”

Xie Nuange nodded.

Perhaps while one person experienced the light on the deity’s behalf, the other had to remain inside. They could not switch midway or leave without permission.

“You go out for the moonlight tonight,” Xie Nuange said with a yawn. “I’ll use the time to work out what Faith Points do.”

“When you go out, look at whatever is inside the hall, but don’t stare for too long. Try to raise your Faith Points a little.”

She paused, then added an explanation in case Su Ye misunderstood.

“We stay somewhere in the middle. Don’t be first, and don’t be last.”

Su Ye studied the woman before her and found her impossible to read.

At times Xie Nuange looked foolish. At others, frighteningly shrewd.

It was as though she understood every situation perfectly well.

“I’m going out to search for clues. Coming?”

Xie Nuange stood and walked to the window to inspect the courtyard.

The first pair had still not emerged. Many others were already searching the grounds.

Su Ye rose too. “Let’s go.”

As they walked, Xie Nuange examined the token at her waist.

It was wooden, about the size of her palm. Only two characters were carved on the front: Xie.

The back bore an openwork semicircular design.

“What does yours look like?”

Su Ye lowered her head, removed her token, and handed it over. Its front read Su.

The same semicircular openwork pattern marked the back.

Xie Nuange fitted the two tokens together.

The halves formed a perfect circle.

“What does the design mean?” Su Ye asked. “Surely it isn’t just there to show we’re a pair.”

Xie Nuange stared at the pattern.

It closely resembled the design on the jade pendant worn by the deity’s statue.

She would need another look to confirm whether they were identical.

After putting away the tokens, the two followed the corridor outward. Xie Nuange slowed her steps.

“By the way, did you see any male participants in the Yeting Bureau?”

Su Ye shook her head.

She recalled the first stage. “We palace maids started in Yeting. Every day, we opened our eyes and worked.”

“What kind of work?”

“Whatever work palace maids do. We had rules lessons too. There was almost no scheming because no one had the time.”

Su Ye’s voice remained flat. “Anyone who failed a task or didn’t finish was thrown into the Office of Punishment.”

She glanced at Xie Nuange. “Then they died.”

“Your skills and ghost items couldn’t help?”

“We spent all our ghost items.”

For once, pain entered Su Ye’s voice. “We used them to bribe eunuchs and servants for easier assignments.”

Xie Nuange was silent for two seconds. “No minor boss?”

Su Ye turned the question around. “Your first stage had one?”

Xie Nuange nodded.

“How unfortunate.”

Su Ye sounded genuinely sympathetic. “It must have killed a great many people.”

Xie Nuange smiled.

Jiang Fan had not actually killed that many.

Her main role had been to ignite their fear and watch them make fatal mistakes.