Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 43

[Congratulations to Chosen Player Liu Feng for successfully passing the second stage, Divine Worship.]

[The deity shall protect the faithful.]

[Faith Points Rankings (Thirteen Groups Total)]

[Group One: Liu Feng, 100. Chenchen, 0. Combined Faith Points: 50.]

[Rankings updated.]

[Faith Points Rankings (Twelve Groups Total)]

[Group Six: Xie Nuange, 70. Su Ye, 100. Combined Faith Points: 85.]

The eunuch quickly had Liu Feng escorted away.

Yet her laughter continued to echo through the courtyard—shrill, grating, like the cry of a night owl.

The first pair had entered together. Only one had come out.

That result had shattered the trust between every palace candidate and palace maid.

Then the second pair, Liu Feng’s group, had gone in.

Two entered. One emerged.

And somehow, that acted like glue.

Partners who had only just begun guarding against each other were forced back together.

They could remain wary. They could refuse to cooperate.

But they still had to enter the main chamber together.

Doing so raised each person’s chance of survival by fifty percent.

Now every group was caught in the same dilemma: stay guarded, but keep communicating.

At all times, they had to make sure both partners remained alive long enough to enter the main chamber together.

Su Ye watched Liu Feng disappear, then turned to Xie Nuange.

“Didn’t you say she called you kind?”

Xie Nuange blinked innocently. “She did. That was exactly how she praised me.”

“Just today, she said, ‘You’re such a kind person. Could you give me your clue?'”

Su Ye’s dark eyes rested on Xie Nuange’s guileless face for a moment.

“Then why did she say I was pitiful?”

Xie Nuange thought about it. “Probably because I may not have much combat ability, but I’m very smart.”

“A lot of people want to freeload off my clues, then kill me right before we clear the stage.”

The corner of Su Ye’s mouth twitched. She looked ready to say something, but Xie Nuange had already turned back toward the eunuch.

“Sir, I would like to know—”

Before she could finish, the eunuch looked at Xie Nuange and Su Ye.

“You have not yet gone to the side hall to offer incense, have you?”

The instant his coarse voice sounded, Xie Nuange’s heart clenched. She caught Su Ye by the arm and turned away.

“Let’s go back and sleep. I’m suddenly exhausted.”

She pulled Su Ye toward their room.

[Rule One: You may speak to the eunuchs in the hall, but only about the deity’s past. If one suddenly tells you to offer incense in the side hall, end the conversation immediately. Turn around and leave. Do not look back.]

“What’s wrong?”

Su Ye did not understand why Xie Nuange had suddenly become tired. She started to turn her head, but Xie Nuange stopped her.

“Don’t look back.”

Xie Nuange did not know whether the rules on the leaf applied to Su Ye as well.

But caution was safer.

“Let’s sleep. I’m tired, and I still have to go stand outside in the dawn light tomorrow morning.”

People throughout the courtyard were already returning to their rooms.

No one knew how the deity chose the next day’s worshipers.

What if someone ran straight into the deity? What if their group happened to be chosen tomorrow?

They needed whatever rest they could get.

“Let’s check the room first and see how the deity marks its choices.”

Back inside, they searched everything by candlelight.

The four-poster bed. The daybed. The table and chairs. The cabinets, walls, and floor.

They carefully inspected every place they could think of.

Nothing had appeared. Nothing had vanished.

There was no new mural on the wall.

No new rules lay on the table.

“You take the bed. I’ll sleep on the daybed.”

Without waiting for an answer, Su Ye walked over and lay down.

Xie Nuange glanced at her, went to the four-poster bed, and blew out the candle. She did not even remove her shoes before slipping beneath the covers.

Darkness filled the room.

Only a hazy veil of moonlight seeped through the paper window and fell across the wall.

The two of them watched long enough to make certain no mural had appeared. Only then did they close their eyes.

Outside, everything was quiet.

Once or twice, the soft hoot of a bird drifted through the room.

Eyes closed, Xie Nuange sorted through the day’s clues.

According to the eunuch’s story, the deity had found the seed.

The deity had brought the tree back…

No.

Her fingers twitched.

The eunuch had only said the deity found the seed.

The part about bringing the tree back came from the murals.

That was what the pictures had led them to believe.

A man held a sapling while the people celebrated.

A man dragged his broken body home with seeds clutched in his arms.

If that man was the deity, then perhaps he really had brought the seeds back. That was why the people worshiped him and why Great Qian gained its first tree.

But why was her mural different?

She had seen the man dead, his eyes being pecked out by owls.

If all three murals were true, then the deity had crossed countless hardships to bring back the seeds.

He planted the sapling. The people celebrated him.

Then he died, and owls tore out his eyes.

There was a crucial link she still could not grasp.

A chill passed through Xie Nuange’s thoughts.

The eunuch had only said that the deity found the seed. He had never said the deity brought it home.

They had inferred that part from the murals.

If the one who brought back the seeds was not the deity, then what had the deity done?

It found the seed—and then what?

Did it ever return?

Or had this tree gained sentience and somehow come back on its own?

What else could explain why the deity hated it?

Her thoughts began to drift. Drowsiness crept over her.

Then a sudden chill made her curl deeper beneath the covers.

She pulled the blanket up to her chin. Every muscle beneath it went taut.

It was too cold.

So cold that her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

The instant the temperature changed, Xie Nuange noticed.

She wanted to move, to curl into herself for warmth. She suppressed both impulses and kept her eyes closed.

What if this was like the first stage? What if something was leaning over her, staring directly into her face?

She held her breath, forced her body to relax, and pretended to be asleep.

The cold only intensified. Something seemed to press down on her, devouring the warmth in her body from the outside in.

“You have forsaken the deity.”

The voice was neither loud nor soft. Disappointment colored every word, like a teacher reprimanding a disobedient student.

Xie Nuange’s heart raced as she reviewed everything she had done that day.

Had she broken a rule?

After experiencing the light on the deity’s behalf, had she violated some condition by siding with the banyan?

Offering incense had amounted to choosing the banyan’s faction.

But she had not done so recklessly. She had extracted information first.

Rules could lie. They could mislead participants.

Her skill did not.

Datafication had told her that the Banyan Tree could protect every subject.

Only after confirming that it posed no danger had she offered incense to lower her Faith Points.

“You know nothing of what the deity has done for Great Qian.”

The man’s voice carried a sigh.

“The deity has no fondness for disloyal believers.”

“You may not be one of its believers, but neither does the deity tolerate fools led astray by a false god.”

Xie Nuange seized on those last two words.

A false god.

Who was the false god?

The Banyan Tree?