Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 44

Xie Nuange felt as though she were lying in an ice cellar.

Every breath was frigid. Her eyelids felt frozen shut, frost seemed to coat her lashes, and even the inside of her nose felt lined with ice.

Her entire body was freezing solid. Sensation vanished inch by inch, starting at her toes and creeping upward.

Just as she prepared to stake everything on a skill or ghost item, the sensation changed.

Heat suddenly flooded her body. It was as if she had been lowered into a hot spring, every fine hair relaxing in comfort.

She felt wrapped in the afternoon sunlight of a winter day—warm, languid, unwilling to move or wake.

Xie Nuange’s first thought was that severe hypothermia had produced a physiological illusion.

People freezing to death often felt hot just before the end.

As she struggled to decide whether she was dying or truly growing warmer, her fingertip brushed something warm.

The banyan leaf.

Heat radiated through her clothes from the leaf, gentle and soothing.

It was warming her.

Protecting her.

The cold receded.

The voice did not speak again.

The tension slowly left Xie Nuange’s brow. Her breathing steadied, and her awareness sank little by little.

Wrapped in the warmth of the leaf’s protection, she slept deeply.

Silence returned to the room.

Moonlight still lay in a hazy wash across the paper window.

On the daybed, Su Ye’s breathing remained long and even, as though she truly were asleep.

After an unknown length of time, nothing remained in the room but the sound of their breathing.

Then the deep voice spoke again.

This time, anger and resentment roughened its tone before dissolving into a contemptuous scoff.

“Hah.”

“An impostor who deceived the world and stole another’s glory dares to usurp the rightful one’s place.”

“As if this god would ever permit it.”

“The Hour of the Rabbit has arrived. Your Ladyships, please rise for worship.”

The eunuch called from outside several times, waking the participants in their rooms.

Xie Nuange’s eyes flew open. She sat bolt upright.

Dawn had come.

Gray morning light filtered through the paper window, carrying the cold white cast unique to early morning.

In every scenario, she slept lightly and never allowed herself to relax at night.

Yet here, she might never have awakened if the eunuch had not called.

More surprisingly, her entire body felt light and refreshed, as though she had slept for three days and three nights.

She touched her chest. The leaf was still tucked inside her clothes, but its temperature had returned to normal. It felt no different from an ordinary leaf.

Last night had not been a hallucination.

“How did you sleep?”

Su Ye’s voice came from the daybed, rough with sleep.

She sat up and rolled one shoulder. Her expression was faintly puzzled.

“I think I slept exceptionally well. It was incredibly comfortable.”

Xie Nuange looked at her.

Su Ye’s complexion really was better. Most of the shadows beneath her eyes had faded, and some color had returned to her lips.

“So did I,” Xie Nuange said.

Their eyes met. Neither said anything more.

“You’re going out this morning?”

Su Ye rose, stretched, and opened the window to look outside.

“Yes. I’ll go out. You stay here and watch for the mural.”

Xie Nuange lifted the wooden token at her waist and fitted it against Su Ye’s, joining the two pieces.

“Remember this pattern. See whether the man’s jade pendant looks the same.”

Su Ye nodded. “All right.”

They quickly searched the room once more, but found nothing new.

They looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Were we not chosen?”

Xie Nuange did not know what was happening. When she saw people filing out of other rooms, she followed them.

Quite a few participants had already gathered in the courtyard.

The eunuch stood before the main chamber and surveyed the crowd.

“The palace candidate selected for worship at the Hour of the Rabbit, please enter the chamber.”

Xie Nuange was surprised. She had expected him to announce the chosen person’s name directly.

She waited, but no one stepped forward. Puzzled, she looked around.

Had the deity not made its choice?

Or would the selection happen here?

The eunuch looked over the group and repeated, “Your Ladyship, please enter the chamber for worship. The deity’s will must not be defied.”

At that, the palace candidate who had been paired with Wang Yun edged forward, face deathly pale.

Her teammate had died. She was the only one left in her group.

Xie Nuange had not expected the deity to choose her.

She opened the rankings and checked the woman’s Faith Points.

[Group Twelve: Yao Lin, 0. Wang Yun, grayed out. Combined Faith Points: 0.]

Xie Nuange worried her lower lip between her teeth.

The leaf’s rules clearly said higher Faith Points meant greater danger.

Then why had this palace candidate been chosen when she had zero?

Yao Lin approached the eunuch, forced a smile, and curtsied.

“Sir, I will be entering alone. I am worried that I may mishandle some part of the ritual.”

She hesitated. “Should I ask the Imperial Household Department to assign a palace maid to accompany me?”

Xie Nuange paid no attention to the exchange on the steps. She moved to a spot between the main chamber and the banyan where the dawn light could reach.

Carefully, she extended her fingertips into the light.

It was warm. Nothing felt wrong.

The sensation was identical to yesterday’s blazing sunlight.

The eunuch glanced at Yao Lin. “Your Ladyship, the deity will not hold a believer’s breach of etiquette against her. Please enter.”

“So long as your faith is sincere, the deity will protect you.”

With no partner beside her, Yao Lin’s nails dug into her palms. Her eyes reddened.

She had no teammate now.

If she refused to enter, she would die. If she went in… there was at least a chance she might live.

She took a deep breath and forced an ugly smile, desperately hoping that gods truly existed in this world.

Then she strode into the main chamber.

The doors creaked shut behind her.

Yao Lin raised her head and looked up at the towering statue.

“Present your identity token to me…”

Once the worship began, Xie Nuange and the others chose where to stand in the courtyard.

She looked around. Some stood beneath the tree; others entered the dawn light.

For those in the dawn—including Xie Nuange—Faith Points climbed without pause, finally stopping at one hundred.

[Faith Points Rankings]

[Faith Points Rankings (Twelve Groups Total)]

[Group One: Yao Lin, 100… Combined Faith Points: 100.]

[Group Two: Zhao Ning, 100. Li Li, 100. Combined Faith Points: 100.]

[Group Three: Xie Nuange, 100. Su Ye, 100. Combined Faith Points: 100.]

Xie Nuange pressed her lips together.

This time, the selected participant had started with zero Faith Points.

But the banyan had warned her that higher Faith Points meant greater danger.

Yao Lin had possessed none, and she had still been chosen…

“Do you feel unwell anywhere?”

Ye Wan turned toward her. “You offered incense to the Banyan Tree yesterday…”

Xie Nuange shook her head. “No.”

She felt no discomfort at all.

But she had confirmed one thing: once someone chose to experience the dawn, blazing sun, or moonlight on the deity’s behalf, they could not switch midway.

She did not belong to the deity’s faction.

That meant she could not allow her Faith Points to remain too high.

Yet she could not move into the tree’s shade, either. Wang Yun’s death the previous night had proven that.

Once she had chosen to experience the light for the deity, she had to continue to the end.

She had to stand here.

And she had to find another way to lower her Faith Points.

“Xie Nuange.”

Ye Wan lowered her voice. “Do you think this stage chooses its victims the same way as the previous one?”

“The lower the rank, the greater the danger?”