Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 85

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Xie Nuange looked at Liu Feng, and Ye Wan did the same.

Neither spoke.

Liu Feng waited. When neither woman answered, she scoffed.

She walked past Xie Nuange, deliberately brushing shoulder against shoulder.

The impact forced Xie Nuange half a step backward. Su Ye’s eyes sharpened, and she started forward, only for Xie Nuange to hold her back.

Xie Nuange watched Liu Feng and her palace maid disappear at the far end of the passage before turning to reassure Su Ye.

“Why argue with someone who’s about to die?”

Ye Wan stared after Liu Feng in silence for a moment, then looked at Xie Nuange.

“Did you notice?”

Xie Nuange murmured an assent. When Liu Feng spoke to them, she unconsciously raised her chin.

She had used the words “compete for favor”—not clear the scenario, survive and escape, or search for clues.

Compete for favor.

Liu Feng seemed to have forgotten that they had come to clear a scenario, not compete for the Emperor’s favor in an imperial harem.

“Did you see the Emperor yesterday?”

Xie Nuange changed the subject and turned to Ye Wan.

Ye Wan looked away from Liu Feng’s direction. “I saw him. We drank some tea and made small talk.”

“Then mentioning you wasn’t a waste of effort.”

Xie Nuange glanced at her. “Sister Ye, don’t forget my contribution.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll get what you’re owed.”

Ye Wan sounded annoyed. After a moment, she added, “If there’s anything I can help with, remember to tell me.”

Xie Nuange was about to answer when an unhurried voice came from around the corner of the passage.

“Noble Lady Zhao certainly has impressive manners.”

It was Consort Qi.

The two stopped where they were.

Consort Qi wore a lake-blue banner gown and held a round fan.

Two palace maids stood behind her. From the far end of the passage, she looked down at Zhao Ning, who knelt on the ground.

Zhao Ning’s back was ramrod straight, her usual cold pride still written across her face.

Consort Qi pointed the fan at her. “You see me and don’t even know to salute? Is that what the palace matrons taught you during the selection?”

Zhao Ning raised her head. “Your Ladyship, this concubine only attended the Emperor last night and is terribly fatigued. Please overlook any shortcomings in her manners.”

Consort Qi’s fan stopped in midair. She stared at Zhao Ning, then suddenly laughed as though she had heard something hilarious.

“Slap her.”

Zhao Ning tried to stand, but the instant her knees left the ground, an invisible force pushed her back down.

Xie Nuange saw a faint light flash at Zhao Ning’s fingertips, only to be effortlessly extinguished by the power of the rules.

The absolute suppression of a lower-ranking consort by one of higher rank.

The rules had stated it from the day they entered the palace.

[Rule Four: Distinctions of status and rank are inviolable. Before receiving an imperial title, act with caution. Higher ranks exercise absolute suppression over lower ranks.]

Xie Nuange tugged Ye Wan’s sleeve. Silently, the two circled around the far side of the passage.

They left the faint sound of slaps behind them.

Only after avoiding Consort Qi and Zhao Ning did Ye Wan speak quietly.

“High-ranking consorts can absolutely suppress us. Once you secure a place at the birthday banquet, stay inside your palace. Who knows what methods the women who still haven’t seen the Emperor will use?”

After parting from Ye Wan, Xie Nuange and Su Ye returned to the Palace of Eternal Spring.

Su Ye shut the door and turned to Xie Nuange. “Why did you say Liu Feng is about to die?”

Xie Nuange sat at the table, poured two cups of tea, and pushed one toward Su Ye. “Do you remember why we came here?”

Su Ye accepted the cup. “Obviously. We came to clear it.”

She swallowed the forbidden word “scenario.”

“Then why did I do all those things earlier?” Xie Nuange asked.

“Don’t try to trick me into saying forbidden words.” Su Ye eyed her warily.

Xie Nuange nodded. “Life in the imperial harem consists of paying respects every morning, then returning to your palace and sitting idle.”

“For other people, that would be dull.”

Xie Nuange lowered her gaze and gently turned her teacup between her fingers. “But for us, it’s a sudden release after the intensity was cranked all the way up.”

“The first time I bathed at the Palace of Receiving Grace, the first time I ate a hot meal, the first time I realized I could sleep soundly…”

“Sometimes I found myself thinking how wonderful it would be if life always stayed this way.”

Only after speaking softly did she raise her head toward Su Ye. “But every time that thought crossed my mind…”

“Or whenever I did something that fit what a woman of this era should think…”

Xie Nuange pointed at her chest. “My Assimilation Level silently rose.”

Su Ye’s expression became grave. Every time she went to collect their meals and encountered a high-ranking consort, she instinctively stepped aside, lowered her head, and saluted.

Her Assimilation Level had slowly risen too.

“But we have no choice. From the moment we entered the palace, the rules made everything explicit.”

Su Ye looked troubled. “We must salute those of higher rank and step aside for them. With time, those actions will become habits.”

Xie Nuange set down her cup and traced a circle around its rim.

“Once they become habits, our Assimilation Levels begin creeping upward.”

She sighed. “We can’t let them get too high. If they do, we’ll forget why we came.”

“Just like Liu Feng.”

Su Ye’s throat felt dry. “Over the past few days… just collecting your meals has pushed mine above twenty.”

When Xie Nuange looked at her, she raised her cup and drank.

“I have to salute and yield whenever I encounter someone. Those rules were established the moment we entered the palace. I can’t violate them.”

Su Ye gave a bitter smile.

Xie Nuange checked her own panel. Her Assimilation Level was also on the verge of passing twenty.

“We’re still fortunate. At least we can remind each other.”

Out of sight, out of mind. She closed the panel. “Liu Feng spends every day thinking about how to see the Emperor and make him remember her.”

“The rules forbid the key terms, but they keep pushing her forward. None of us says those words. Given enough time, she’ll forget all about them.”

Su Ye remembered the ambiguous things Liu Feng had said to her in the second stage.

“Liu Feng doesn’t have one of you Chosen Players serving as her palace maid. Her personal maid is an NPC, and she talks to NPCs every day.”

Xie Nuange thought of Xiao Yunzi and Chuntao standing outside.

The information they gave her every day was always about whose plaque the Emperor had selected.

Which consort had suffered what incident, who was scheming against whom…

Whose night with the Emperor had been stolen by another.

No one reminded Liu Feng about clearing the scenario.

Slowly, she would become the identity itself.

“Will Assimilation Level follow us forever?” Su Ye raised a new question. “What if it doesn’t reset automatically?”

Xie Nuange did not know either. “Sometimes, the absence of danger is the greatest danger.”

If Assimilation Level remained with them, would they eventually come to believe they truly belonged to this era?

If they genuinely believed that, could they still clear the scenario?

Previous Chosen Players had entered scenarios with such high mortality rates. Had they all become trapped at this point?

Then what about her brother? If he had never left his scenario…

Would he still remember her?