Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 52

Xie Nuange turned toward Su Ye.

“Cooperate?”

Su Ye hesitated. If she truly could not make it through, cooperating would leave them unable to clear the stage by killing each other.

When Su Ye did not answer, Xie Nuange nodded again.

“Then I’ll go first?”

Su Ye looked at her. After a moment’s silence, she nodded. “All right.”

Xie Nuange took the token from her sleeve. She drew a deep breath and raised the wooden plaque before her.

The statue’s gaze descended upon her.

She felt something seize her body.

The statue’s gaze was like an invisible hand settling on top of her head.

Xie Nuange frowned. Before she could react, the hand seemed to plunge into the depths of her soul and wrench hard.

The instant her spirit was pulled free, her consciousness scattered like paper torn into pieces. Then the fragments slowly assembled themselves again.

When Jiang Yanzhou opened his eyes, he saw a woman’s face.

It was round and rosy, her eyes filled with red veins. Yet the corners of her lips curved upward, and she smiled as though she held the whole world in her arms.

“Yanzhou… my Yanzhou. Isn’t that right, little Yanzhou?”

Her voice was hoarse but deliberately hushed. He was wrapped so tightly that it was a little uncomfortable.

He stretched out one tiny hand. “Ah… ah…”

The woman smiled, took his hand, and gently kissed it.

“Our little Yanzhou won’t cry. Daddy, your brothers, and all your uncles are outside fighting off the enemy…”

He listened to her voice and felt her rough, lightly callused palm cover his forehead.

Warm.

His lips parted in a toothless smile.

Rongxi Town was not large. Gray-black mountains surrounded it on all sides, barren of every blade of grass and every tree.

The sky was forever gray. There was no sun, no moon, and no stars.

Jiang Yanzhou was three years old.

Every day, he watched his older brothers and sisters practice martial arts with their father and uncles.

He was too young to join them. All he had to do was squat nearby and watch the men and older boys of the town turn over the earth, day after day.

“Mother, why do they keep digging the soil?”

He tilted his head in confusion. “Are they looking for something?”

Madam Jiang, sitting beneath the covered walkway, smiled and stroked her youngest son’s head.

“Because the townspeople are always preparing.”

“Preparing for what?”

“For the first seed of grass or tree to arrive. They must make sure the soil is fertile and ready for planting. The moment a seed enters the ground, it has to survive.”

Madam Jiang watched the busy townspeople and sighed. “Every generation has lived this way.”

Jiang Yanzhou looked at the people at work. They lived with a tenacity that bordered on stubbornness.

“Then can’t we drive all the demons away?”

He knew his family was the only one in town capable of resisting them.

The Jiang ancestors had passed down a set of arts: drawing talismans, laying formations, and banishing evil.

People in town said that if it were not for the Jiang family, demons would have trampled this place flat long ago.

Jiang Yanzhou had known from childhood that his family was different from everyone else’s.

“Everything will be better once we have the seed of a tree.”

His mother withdrew her hand and resumed mending clothes. “Once there is color, everything will be different.”

There were other children in town.

Tiezhu—“Iron Pillar”—Erya—“Second Girl”—and Gousheng, a humble nickname meaning “Dog’s Leftovers.”

Tiezhu was the butcher’s son, as sturdy as a young bull. The ground seemed to shake when he ran.

Erya was the schoolteacher’s daughter and knew more characters than any of them. Whenever they played house, she was always the bride.

Gousheng was the youngest, thin as a monkey and timid too. The slightest thing made him cry.

Jiang Yanzhou was handsome, so whenever they played house, he was the groom and Erya his bride.

His favorite thing was climbing the dirt slope behind town with Tiezhu.

The slope was not high, but from the top they could see a long way: gray-black mountains, a gray sky, and gray earth.

“Yanzhou, what do you think is on the other side of the mountains?” Tiezhu asked.

“I don’t know,” Jiang Yanzhou said.

“My dad says there are monsters over there.”

“Who cares about monsters? My father can fight monsters.”

Jiang Yanzhou was already the undisputed leader of the local children. He puffed out his chest.

“I’m about to start learning our arts. I’ll protect all of you when I grow up.”

Tiezhu chuckled, pulled a rock-hard flatbread from his pocket, broke it in half, and handed one piece to Jiang Yanzhou.

“Big Brother Yanzhou.”

Erya smiled. “When you grow up, will you marry me?”

“You’re going to attend the school anyway. I’ll ask my father to waive your tuition, so you won’t have to turn the soil.”

Jiang Yanzhou looked at the pretty Erya, leaned over, and kissed her cheek. Then he drew a handkerchief from inside his clothes.

“All right! This is for you. When I grow up, I’ll definitely marry you!”

When he went home, his mother saw him covered in dirt. Both annoyed and amused, she scolded him as she dusted off his clothes.

“You climbed that dirt slope again? How many times have I told you not to go over there? What if there are demons—”

“Mother! Can I marry Erya when I grow up? Erya is pretty.”

His mother laughed and tapped him on the forehead. “Such a precocious little rascal!”

“I’m not little! I’m seven already!”

Other people’s children could run wild all over town. Jiang Yanzhou had begun training with his father at five.

At six, he started memorizing incantations. At seven, he began learning to draw the simplest talismans for driving away evil.

“You’re only seven, and already neglecting your studies to moon over some girl! What will ever become of you?”

His father’s stern voice came from behind him.

“Get outside and train for two hours!”

Jiang Yanzhou jumped. Crestfallen, he shuffled outside and took his place beneath the covered walkway.

“He’s only seven!” his mother protested.

“The demons won’t wait for him to grow up.”

His father’s voice remained stern. Jiang Yanzhou could only stand beneath the walkway and obediently practice.

His older brothers secretly laughed at him. His older sisters slipped past, and when no one was watching, one tucked a piece of cake into his mouth.

Jiang Yanzhou held the cake between his lips, sweetness spreading over his tongue.

This was nice.

The calamity came without warning.

That day, Jiang Yanzhou was drawing a talisman in the courtyard. His brush had just been sharpened, and his father had mixed the ink.

He drew with painstaking care, stroke by stroke, not daring to make the slightest mistake.

Then he heard screams.

So many screams, erupting from every direction in town at once.

He raised his head.

The sky had changed.

The gray heavens looked as though something had torn them apart.

A colossal rift stretched from east to west, pouring out dense black fog.

The fog reeked. It was thick and clinging, filled with a malice that chilled the marrow of his bones.

Demons.

So many demons.

These were not the scattered lesser demons his father could drive away with a single talisman.

They blotted out the sky and covered the earth, surging from the rift in a frantic horde. There were too many to count.

Jiang Yanzhou stood frozen. The brush fell from his hand.

There were so many. Could the Jiang family stop them?

“Yanzhou!”

His mother burst from the house, swept him into her arms, and ran toward the inner rooms.

Her face was white as paper. Her lips trembled, and her arms clamped around Jiang Yanzhou so tightly that he could not move.

“Mother…”

“Don’t speak!”

A thunderous crash shook the courtyard as something smashed through the wall.

Jiang Yanzhou looked over his mother’s shoulder. His father stood at the courtyard gate, sword in hand, his entire body covered in blood.

His back was as broad and steady as ever, like a mountain.

“Take him and run!” his father roared, his voice hoarse.