Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 7

By the time Xie Nuange and her roommates finished getting ready and stepped outside, a crowd of palace candidates had already gathered.

The others had come out early to find Rank Fifteen’s roommates.

No one cared that Fifteen was dead. They only cared whether she had left behind any clues, and what she had done before she died.

If someone had to die, they might as well make their death useful.

“If you want to know, trade us a clue for it.”

Rank Fifteen’s roommates had no intention of giving their information away for free. She had died in their room, so naturally, the clue belonged to them.

Xie Nuange did not join the crowd. Using Fifteen’s name, she found the dead woman’s room instead.

She memorized the names of the other occupants on the wooden plaques outside, then matched those names to the faces negotiating in the crowd.

Amid the noisy exchange of clues, yesterday’s training matron arrived.

Every palace candidate fell silent at once.

The training matron swept her gaze slowly over them, as though taking inventory.

“Good morning, Your Ladyships,” she rasped. “Please form two lines. This servant will escort you to breakfast.”

After taking a few steps, the matron glanced back in warning.

“Your Ladyships, do not forget to obey the rules.”

Then she led them out of the Palace of Gathered Elegance.

Xie Nuange stayed with her roommates. Every one of them measured her steps with care.

Once they left the Palace of Gathered Elegance, she surveyed her surroundings without drawing attention.

They encountered no emperor or imperial consorts along the way, only palace attendants moving about their duties.

Xie Nuange watched them closely. Every one of them had gray-white pupils.

Not participants. NPCs, all of them.

After roughly fifteen minutes, they finally reached the dining hall.

Its vermilion doors stood open. A plaque above them bore two large characters: Dining Hall.

Xie Nuange entered with the others. Inside was a vast chamber.

The first thing anyone noticed was the absurdly large round table at its center.

The tabletop was polished rosewood. A circular lazy Susan had been set into the middle and currently sat motionless.

The moment Xie Nuange saw the table, the dining rules appeared before her eyes.

[Dining Hall Rules]

[One: Leave at least half of your stool unoccupied. Sit on too much, and the stool will bite off the part of your bottom that took up the extra space.]

[Two: Do not speak while eating. If there is food in your mouth, do not open it. When you have finished, say, “Please continue your meal.”]

[Three: No more than three. You may take from each dish at most three times.]

[Four: Eat without making noise. Chewing, smacking your lips, or biting noisily shows disrespect to your betters.]

[Five: Serving food is a basic skill for an imperial consort. When serving, be quick, accurate, and steady. Do not drop the food, dawdle, or drip sauce.]

[Six: Do not allow bowls, plates, chopsticks, or spoons to knock together while taking food.]

[Seven: Balance meat and vegetables. Do not be picky. You must eat both meat and vegetable dishes, and sample at least half of the dishes on the table. Otherwise, the cook will come ask whether the food was not to your liking.]

[Eight: Dining time is two ke.]

The words remained for thirty seconds before slowly fading.

“Your Ladyships, please take your seats.”

The matron moved to one side. The candidates circled the round table and found their stools.

Xie Nuange selected a place near the middle. Her three roommates sat in different directions around the table.

She adjusted her posture, resting only the edge of her bottom on the stool while keeping her back straight.

No one dared sit fully. No one wanted to discover what the rules meant by a stool biting off their bottom.

Balancing on one-third of a round seat strained everyone, Xie Nuange included. She wanted the food served immediately so they could finish as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, the matron did not make them wait long.

“Serve the meal.”

At her command, palace attendants filed in and placed dish after dish on the lazy Susan.

Xie Nuange scanned the table: red-braised pork, stuffed tofu parcels, quail eggs, cabbage rolls, fried balls, steamed egg custard, glass noodles, sweet taro-ball soup, salted soybeans, shrimp with tofu…

Twelve dishes in total. Many of them looked vegetarian at first glance.

Her eyes passed over the shrimp and tofu, the taro-ball soup, the noodles, the quail eggs, and the soybeans.

Every one of them would be difficult to pick up.

Slippery food could easily fall. Some dishes sat all the way across the enormous table. How were they supposed to reach those?

As the thought crossed her mind, the lazy Susan began to turn.

Xie Nuange counted silently. Each dish remained in front of a person for no more than five seconds.

Forty-seven candidates were present. According to the rules, each person had to eat at least six dishes—three meat and three vegetable.

“Your Ladyships may begin.”

As soon as the matron finished speaking, Xie Nuange picked up her chopsticks. She held her small bowl in her left hand, using her thumb to pin down the spoon inside so it would not rattle.

Her chopsticks darted toward a cabbage roll, closed around it securely, and deposited it in her bowl.

Once the first person moved, the rest quickly followed.

Many grabbed several dishes in rapid succession. Xie Nuange did not rush. She put the cabbage roll in her mouth first.

The tender leaf concealed… minced meat and shrimp.

As expected. A meat dish.

There were only so many easy dishes. Every pair of chopsticks in the same section of the table reached for the same ones.

When the lazy Susan brought the food around again, two other pairs of chopsticks shot out alongside Xie Nuange’s.

Her eyes sharpened. She withdrew in time.

By the end of that rotation, only one piece of red-braised pork remained.

It was another meat dish, but compared to everything else, it was far easier to pick up.

Two women reached for it at the same time. One pair of chopsticks closed over the other’s.

Tap.

The tiny sound carried to every ear. All eyes turned toward them.

The woman who had secured the pork gave her rival a challenging look, then placed the meat in her bowl without the slightest attempt to hide it.

“A rule has been violated…”

The matron’s voice drifted eerily from the doorway.

A scream erupted to Xie Nuange’s left.

“Ah!”

The surface of the stool beneath one candidate split into a gaping, blood-red mouth.

Before the woman could react, it swallowed her whole.

Then, with almost human satisfaction, it released a long belch.

The candidate on her right clearly possessed a lifesaving ghost item. Light flashed, and the stool beneath her remained obediently solid.

After witnessing that, every candidate sat even more uneasily.

So without a lifesaving item, one broken rule meant death.

“The tofu parcels are vegetarian,” the woman to Xie Nuange’s right offered when she noticed Xie Nuange watching the taro-ball soup.

Xie Nuange glanced at the tofu parcels. Two had already been taken, and the dish was about to reach her.

Then she looked at the taro-ball soup now in front of her. The round taro balls rolled loosely across a shallow layer of broth.

Picking them up with chopsticks would require exceptional control. A spoon could easily strike the bottom of the plate and make a sound.

Yet it was one of the few vegetable dishes she could identify with certainty.

As she hesitated, someone directly across the table made her move.

A round-faced candidate lifted a clump of glass noodles with her chopsticks. Just as she was about to place them in her bowl, Cheng Luo—reaching for another dish beside her—bumped her arm.

The noodles fell from the woman’s chopsticks.

“You did that on purpose!”

Her eyes reddened. She lunged at Cheng Luo, who leaned back and evaded the attack.

Time was running out. The round-faced woman had no lifesaving measure. In desperation, she seized the dish in front of her and smashed it on the floor.

Before she could try the same trick again, the stool beneath her opened its enormous mouth and swallowed her in one bite.

“Buuurp.”

Another belch echoed through the hall.

One of the vegetable dishes was gone.