Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 56

Xie Nuange did not know how long she had drifted through the sea.

At first, she had still been able to count the days.

The seawater was black, like an immense pool of ink that would never dissolve. She could not tell north from south or east from west. All she could do was keep her head down and swim.

The entire sea was not deep. In some places, the water grew shallow enough for her feet to touch sand, allowing her to stand and rest.

Every time she stopped, she took out the compass and checked her direction again.

The water was cold enough to pierce the bone. Xie Nuange endured it with gritted teeth.

Exhaustion. Hunger. Cold. Drowsiness. And the pain of the cuts on her feet soaking in salt water.

She possessed the abilities of two people and extraordinary mental power, yet even she sometimes felt too tired to continue.

Xie Nuange did not dare imagine how the original Jiang Yanzhou had endured.

What kind of will had kept him going?

Later, she learned to follow the tides and search for places to rest.

When the tide receded, it exposed slick reefs covered in unknown shellfish.

She sprawled across them like a turtle sunning its shell, lying completely still to gather strength.

When the tide rose, she slipped back into the water and continued drifting onward.

Before long, a burst of agony tore through her left foot. Then all sensation vanished.

There were demon beasts in the sea.

Xie Nuange guessed this must have been when Jiang Yanzhou lost his left foot.

The pain made her bare her teeth. She could only endure it through sheer force of will.

Even she had once had a chunk of flesh bitten away by a sea beast. The pain had nearly made her faint.

She did not know how much time passed, or whether years had gone by.

Thick calluses formed across the soles of Xie Nuange’s feet, hard as stone. Stepping on the reefs no longer hurt.

Whenever her nails grew long, she ground them away little by little against a rock, all the way down to the quick.

Sometimes she wondered whether the people outside who had cleared the stage had suffered just as badly.

Had Ye Wan and Zhang San endured the same ordeal? Or was it difficult only for the first person, while the second had it easier?

Then, at last, she saw land.

Against this gray world, its green was almost painful to look at.

Xie Nuange blinked, nearly convinced it was an illusion.

The patch of green grew larger and closer until it became an island.

Trees grew upon it.

Real trees.

There was grass as well, lush green grass carpeting the earth.

Xie Nuange lay on a reef and stared at it for a very long time. She had not seen anything green in years.

At last, she had found it. She had found the place where the seed was kept.

She took out the pointer inside her clothes and watched it point toward the island.

Strength returned to Xie Nuange. She soon reached shore, summoned Mom to kill the demon beasts, then began building a raft by hand.

Mom helped fell trees while Xie Nuange shaped them with stone tools.

If one demon beast came, she summoned Mom to kill one. If two came, she killed both.

The pointer always aimed toward the center of the island. The seed was there.

“Coo-coo.”

Xie Nuange looked up.

Owls.

Gray-brown feathers. Round eyes. Sharp beaks.

Her heart skipped a beat.

She remembered the mural, the dead man, and the two owls pecking out his eyes.

“I won’t die here. I will survive and take the seed home.”

Xie Nuange worked faster.

The raft was small, barely large enough for her to lie upon.

Three days later, it was finished.

Xie Nuange pushed it into the sea and tied it to a submerged reef. Then she made a small sail from hide and branches.

Standing on the island, she checked her equipment one last time. The short saber rested at her waist, and the pointer hung around her neck.

Mom stood behind her, her scalpel gleaming coldly in the gray light.

“Let’s go, Mom. We’re going to get the seed.”

She turned and walked into the island.

She passed through the forest, crossed grassland, and wound around one massive tree after another, each too thick for joined arms to encircle.

None of the trees bore seeds. Xie Nuange even wondered if she could simply pull up some grass and take it home.

But every blade withered the instant she uprooted it.

She could not remove any plant from this island.

Xie Nuange fought her way almost the entire distance, using glass beads to heal whenever she was injured.

When she finally found the seed, she knew there was no need to check the pointer again.

The Banyan Tree before her was identical to the one in Yinghua Hall.

The only difference was that this entire tree radiated a soft green light. Pouches hung from its drooping branches, each holding seeds that gave off a ghostly glow.

Xie Nuange leaped, tore down one pouch, stuffed it inside her clothes, and ran.

The Banyan Tree rustled behind her. Demon beasts blocked the way ahead.

The Banyan Tree’s branches came alive and crawled after her.

Roars surged from every direction, shaking the ground across the entire island.

“Mom!”

Xie Nuange rolled aside, dodging a branch that stabbed toward her from behind.

Mom alone was not enough. She pulled out the Scarecrow.

[Scarecrow: So long as you mourn with true and heartfelt grief, it will leap out in your place and control every enemy within range for five seconds. 3/3.]

Xie Nuange thought of Jiang Yanzhou’s parents, who had treated him with such love. She thought of his brothers and sisters.

She thought of crawling out of the passage and seeing Rongxi Town.

“Ahhh! Father! Mother! Brothers! Sisters!”

Grief welled up all at once, and her cries were utterly sincere.

The Scarecrow flashed into the horde of demon beasts. Yellow sand filled the sky amid the cries of crows.

The demon beasts lost all sense of direction and every target.

Inside the main hall of Yinghua Hall, Su Ye watched Xie Nuange lying unconscious on the floor.

She stood, preparing to add more incense.

“Su Ye.”

A gentle male voice sounded beside her ear.

“Most faithful believer of the deity, I can allow you to clear the stage at once. This is your reward for your devotion.”

“All you need do is sacrifice her. Then you may push open these doors and become one who has cleared the trial.”

Su Ye’s hand paused as she lit the incense. She turned toward the insensible Xie Nuange.

“Sacrifice?”

“Indeed. Offer her flesh and blood to the great deity, and you may open these doors.”

Xie Nuange did not slow. The seed pouch was tucked inside her clothes.

She sprinted toward the shore, covering three steps in one as talismans burst from her fingertips.

Mom blocked the way behind her. Her scalpel swept across a demon beast’s throat, cutting open a path.

Ghost item activated—Firework Bomb!

[Firework Bomb: Throw the Firework Bomb into the sky and select an area. A firework will bloom, damaging every target beneath it. You watch the fireworks; those below them bleed. 1/3.]

Xie Nuange pointed ahead. Fireworks exploded across the path.

Protecting the seed, she ran. The bursting fireworks brought color to the gray sky.

But she had no time to look. She only ran with her head down.

Wounds multiplied across her body. Her numb left foot dragged a trail of blood over the ground, but she ignored it.

The shore lay ahead.

She saw the raft.

It remained tied to the submerged reef, its little sail trembling in the wind.

Almost there.

Only a few more steps.

More roars sounded behind her. More bloodred eyes poured from the forest.

Just as her hand was about to touch the sail, a Banyan Tree branch pierced her chest.

Xie Nuange lowered her head and stared at the branch that had appeared from nowhere.

It protruded from her chest, solitary and still.