Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 57

Xie Nuange looked down and saw the branch jutting from the left side of her chest.

Her first instinct was to use a Healing glass bead. But after she activated it, it only eased the pain. It could not heal the wound.

Pfft.

Xie Nuange saw another branch flying toward her and raised a hand to block it, but she could not stop it at all.

She collapsed to her knees, striking the gravel.

The demon beasts’ roars drew closer behind her. Packs of bloodred eyes approached like a sea of fire about to engulf her.

Owls called overhead, circling again and again as though waiting for her to fall so they could feast.

“I won’t die.”

Gritting her teeth, Xie Nuange took a glass bead from inside her clothes and crushed it.

Warmth flowed through her body, but blood continued pouring from the wound. Her face grew whiter. Her hands shook harder.

Kneeling on the ground, she stared at the distant raft and gasped for breath.

She could feel her life draining away, drop by drop, through the hole in her chest.

“Are you willing to sacrifice everything, take the seed home, and complete your mission?”

The man’s voice sounded again.

It was the deity from the main hall, the voice that had attacked her at night.

Gentle and distant, it carried a power that bewitched the heart.

Xie Nuange sneered. Bloody foam spilled from the corner of her mouth.

“Sacrifice everything? Wouldn’t that mean certain death?”

The deity chuckled as though a child had said something naïve.

“Why would it?”

Its voice dropped, growing even more enticing. “You may sacrifice the other person instead.”

The main hall rules flashed through Xie Nuange’s mind.

[Rule One: Any offering promised to the deity must be presented before you leave. If you go back on your word, the deity will take it for itself.]

“You want me to sacrifice Su Ye.”

Xie Nuange’s voice was soft, edged with an indescribable mockery.

The deity did not answer. It only laughed again.

“Isn’t she your most faithful believer?” Xie Nuange asked.

It remained silent, waiting for Xie Nuange to offer up the other person herself.

Xie Nuange tried to brace a hand against the ground and rise. All around her, the demon beasts watched hungrily.

They still held the postures of beasts charging toward her.

She understood. The so-called deity was holding them back as it waited for her to speak the sacrifice aloud.

“Mom.”

Xie Nuange called once.

Nothing happened.

“Mom!”

A wisp of black fog emerged, only to disperse almost immediately.

The skill had failed.

Xie Nuange sat on her knees, blood pulsing from the wound in her chest with every breath.

She could not stand.

“So… this is where Jiang Yanzhou died?”

Xie Nuange murmured to herself, looking at the gray sky, the circling owls overhead, and the black sea in the distance.

The raft was still at the shore, its little sail shifting in the wind. She was only a few steps away.

She tried again. She crawled one step forward, but before she could take a second, another branch lashed out and sent her flying.

She rolled several times across the gravel and landed facedown, her mouth filled with dirt and blood.

She was back at the starting point—the place where Jiang Yanzhou was destined to die.

“This is the power of the story?”

Xie Nuange lay on the ground, fingers digging into the gravel. Her nails split, and blood seeped into the earth.

“Why put yourself through this?”

The deity’s voice sounded again, compassionate and persuasive. “You and she were strangers before this. The moment you leave, you will clear the stage. Only one of you can live.”

“Why can’t it be you?”

Xie Nuange did not answer.

Her hand found the short saber at her waist.

The blade remained intact. Though several chips marred its edge, it could still cut.

She rolled onto her back and looked at the owls overhead.

They were waiting. Waiting for her to die so they could descend and tear at her flesh.

The seed was inside her clothes.

She remembered Mother Jiang’s final words.

“Only the living have a future. You must find the seeds of plants and trees, bring them back, and plant them in this land.”

“You must protect the people and free them from living beneath the shadow of demons.”

She remembered the clues in the mural.

The dead man had his eyes pecked out by owls, and the seed had not been brought home.

Then how had it returned afterward?

Ye Wan had said bird droppings.

The owls ate his eyes, crossed the sea, and landed in his homeland.

No person brought the seed back. Birds did.

Xie Nuange tightened her grip on the short saber.

Jiang Yanzhou. Did you already know you could never go home?

[Rule Four: Do not trust anyone while on the Divine Path.]

The owls continued circling overhead.

One descended and landed beside her, tilting its head as it studied her.

Xie Nuange looked at the owl and smiled.

She raised the short saber, aimed it at her abdomen, and drew a deep breath.

“Ahhh!”

The scream tore from her throat. Agony swept through her body, making her shake violently.

Her body’s instinct for self-preservation made her want to drop the saber.

Take the seed home. Clear the stage.

Xie Nuange gripped the hilt in both hands. Screaming hysterically, she slashed hard across her abdomen from left to right.

Flesh peeled open. Blood gushed out.

Her blood-soaked hands trembled. She pushed one into her abdominal cavity and felt warm, slick organs.

She vomited blood. The strength to scream left her. Pain blackened her vision and racked her entire body with tremors.

Reaching inside, she tore out her organs and threw them aside with the seeds.

The owls grew restless, wings beating noisily. One had already crept forward and pecked at something on the ground.

Xie Nuange grabbed another handful of seeds glowing green and stuffed them into her abdominal cavity.

Once it was done, all her strength deserted her. She collapsed with her limbs spread, waiting for the owls to feed.

They swarmed over her.

The first landed on her abdomen. Its sharp beak tore away a piece of flesh.

Then the second. The third…

She no longer felt pain. Xie Nuange’s consciousness had begun to blur.

There were so many. Surely one of them would reach his homeland.

Xie Nuange closed her eyes.

Her consciousness drifted from the body like a wisp of smoke, light and weightless.

She looked down and saw her own…

No. She saw Jiang Yanzhou’s corpse lying on the ground, drenched in blood.

A vast cavity gaped in his abdomen. Owls crowded around him, heads lowered as they pecked and tore.

He was dead.

His hand still gripped the short saber. Blood covered it, and its edge was curled beyond recognition.

Xie Nuange floated in midair and watched, unable to name what she felt.

She thought it was over.

But the scene did not end.

“Did I fail?”

Xie Nuange frowned. “Or do I have to wait until the seed takes root and sprouts?”

Jiang Yanzhou’s body lay there for a long time.

The owls returned again and again to feed. Some ate and flew away. Some circled in the sky. Others perched on nearby reefs, heads tilted as they studied what scarcely resembled a human body anymore.

After an unknown length of time, Xie Nuange saw Jiang Yanzhou’s corpse sit up.

“How is that possible?”

Xie Nuange stared from midair. “Wasn’t he dead?”

“I was.”

Another voice came from behind her.

She spun around. Jiang Yanzhou stood there in plain robes.