Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 41

Xie Nuange watched the body being carried away.

Wang Yun’s palace-candidate partner approached the leading eunuch.

“I no longer have a personal maid. How am I supposed to enter the hall?”

Anxiety filled her voice. Everyone else had a partner—and that partner might become their most loyal ally.

The eunuch smiled at her. “Your Ladyship may enter alone.”

Then he offered another option. “Or this servant can assign you an attendant from the Imperial Household Department.”

“I… need to think.”

The candidate hesitated. Anyone provided by the Imperial Household Department would obviously be an NPC.

She stood with a gray face, lips trembling.

Never mind whether the attendant could help. What if the NPC made things worse?

Everyone watched her, then exchanged glances with their own partners.

Whether or not only one person could emerge from the hall, both needed to enter together.

That gave them the best chance of survival.

Xie Nuange and Su Ye stood together while Su Ye explained what had happened outside.

Ye Wan approached with her palace maid and looked at Xie Nuange.

“Trade clues?”

Xie Nuange glanced at her, then at the maid beside her.

“Fine. All four of us share?”

Ye Wan looked at Su Ye and understood that she and Xie Nuange had not fully committed to working together.

She gave a soft laugh. “The two of us have no objection.”

Xie Nuange sought Su Ye’s opinion.

Su Ye shrugged. “Fine by me.”

The four walked beneath the banyan.

Ye Wan spoke first. “At noon and in the evening, the person left inside the room can see a picture on the wall.”

Neither Xie Nuange nor Su Ye looked surprised, so Ye Wan knew they had discovered the same thing.

She continued. “The picture I just saw showed a man holding a sapling while the people of the realm celebrated.”

Ye Wan raised her head and narrowed her fox-like eyes at the banyan’s enormous crown.

If her guess was right, the sapling had been this very tree.

It was Xie Nuange’s pair’s turn.

Su Ye spoke slowly. “Mine was different.”

“I saw a man dragging his ruined body back to his homeland with a sack of seeds in his arms.”

Xie Nuange fell into thought.

Combined with her own picture, the man had later died, and owls had pecked out his eyes.

Three people. Three pictures.

The man found the seeds, carried them home, and planted the sapling to the celebration of the people.

Then he died and lost his eyes to the owls?

“What about you?” Xie Nuange asked the palace-maid participant beside Ye Wan.

“I stood under the tree just now. My Faith Points didn’t increase.”

She shared a clue unrelated to the wall pictures.

Xie Nuange pressed her lips together.

The maid had probably seen a picture too, but chose not to reveal it.

Whatever fragment she saw must have been important.

After speaking, both Ye Wan and her maid looked at Xie Nuange.

Su Ye watched her too, waiting to see whether she would share her picture or offer something else.

Xie Nuange stepped beneath the banyan and gently touched the trunk again.

Warmth met her fingertips.

[Faith Points: Xie Nuange, 90.]

She turned toward the other three. “The banyan and the deity are opposed.”

“That’s all?” Ye Wan arched a teasing brow. “That hardly counts as a clue.”

She pointed at the stone tablet. “It’s written right there. The deity dislikes this tree.”

“No.”

Xie Nuange’s expression became meaningful. “They are two separate factions.”

Ye Wan looked thoughtful. Su Ye studied the tablet. The other maid frowned.

“Wang Yun stood in the sunlight with us at noon,” Xie Nuange said quietly, analyzing aloud.

“If she died because she violated a rule, it could only have been a faction rule.”

“The deity dislikes the tree, but loves dawn, blazing sunlight, and moonlight.”

Su Ye followed the logic. “She didn’t stand with us just now. She went beneath the banyan.”

They looked down at the blood trail leading from the tree toward the moonlight before the main hall.

Something had driven Wang Yun to crawl forward at any cost. She must have believed the area ahead offered her only chance to survive.

What waited there?

Moonlight.

“The deity loves faithful believers!” Su Ye and the other maid exclaimed together.

“So the banyan is an anomaly?” Ye Wan asked, looking at the tablet.

[…If you hear someone speak, spit at the tree.]

[…If the leaves rustle, leave immediately.]

[The deity dislikes this tree. Do not pick up anything belonging to the banyan.]

Xie Nuange did not answer. She only stared at the blood on the stones.

The sound of bones breaking seemed to echo in her ears.

Crack. Crack.

One after another, slowly torturing Wang Yun to death.

Could a true deity have done such a thing?

If the deity loved all people, would it kill one of its subjects so cruelly?

Could the same being that possessed that compassionate gaze truly commit such brutality?

Xie Nuange looked toward the main chamber.

Moonlight shone across its vermilion doors.

She remembered the gaze that had touched her at noon—holy and merciful.

Xie Nuange walked to the incense table beside the banyan.

Incense and a fire striker lay on top, along with another set of rules carved into the wood.

[Rules for Requesting Incense:]

[Rule One: Offering incense is sacred. You may request only one bundle per day. Do not take more.]

[Rule Two: If you choose to offer incense to the banyan, perform four kowtows. If you hear someone speak, break the incense immediately.]

[Rule Three: If you choose to offer incense to the deity, perform three kowtows. If you hear someone speak, it is the deity offering guidance.]

[Rule Four: Incense may be offered to the deity between the Hour of the Dragon and the Hour of the Snake. Incense may be offered to the banyan at night.]

[Rule Five: Please do not choose to offer incense. It represents your allegiance, and wavering allegiance will bring misfortune.]

Four kowtows?

Was the tree a ghost?

Three kowtows for gods. Four for ghosts.

Xie Nuange studied the banyan—the first tree of the Great Qian Dynasty.

“What are you thinking?” Su Ye asked as she approached the incense table.

“Su Ye, did the man in your picture have a jade pendant at his waist?” Xie Nuange did not know whether they had seen the same man.

“Yes,” Su Ye said. “But I couldn’t see it clearly.”

“Suppose the man brought this tree back and received the worship of the entire realm. Why would the deity dislike it?” Xie Nuange frowned.

“The eunuch called it the first tree of Great Qian. If the deity hates it, why did the imperial family preserve it?”

Su Ye pointed to the rules on the incense table.

“Could it have turned into a tree demon? Perhaps that’s why the deity dislikes it.”

The second day was about to begin.

Xie Nuange activated Datafication on the banyan again.

[Target: The first tree of the Great Qian Dynasty—Banyan Tree. Struck out…]

[Regenerating target data… &*%#*??]

[Nature: Harmless. Ghost.]

[Belongs to a faction opposed to the deity. Approaching the banyan lowers Faith Points.]

[You may trust it completely. You may seek it anywhere and at any time. It protects every one of its subjects and will never harm them.]

[Other data could not be read. No critical clues found.]