Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 90

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Ever since entering this scenario, Xie Nuange had felt uncomfortable all over.

Once the women reached the side hall, Zhao Ning looked at Ye Wan and Xie Nuange.

“We need to cooperate in this scenario.”

She looked at them, Attendant Zhang, and Attendant Li.

“Our objective is the same. We only need to keep those two alive.”

Attendant Li nodded. “Agreed. My skill creates defensive barriers.”

“My role is Damage Transfer,” Attendant Zhang said. “I can transfer fatal damage from a target to myself.”

All of their skills had been replaced with damage-dealing or Healing skills.

Xie Nuange looked around. “There’s something else you may have overlooked.”

“The rules say we must keep them alive. But if they never clear the scenario, how can we continue protecting them?”

“If all of us die while they remain trapped here, does that count as failure?”

Zhao Ning looked at Xie Nuange. “But when we first arrived, she was already the Empress Dowager. That means that in the end, they…”

“Still failed to clear the scenario?”

Ye Wan raised an eyebrow.

“From our time all the way back to theirs… they never left.”

“Suppose…”

Zhao Ning swallowed. “Suppose the Empress Dowager holds a birthday banquet every year… and every year someone comes in on behalf of the Four Consorts to search for an item.”

Silence fell again.

Xie Nuange and Ye Wan exchanged a look. Both recalled their conversation before entering this scenario.

If the Four Consorts and the Empress brought people here to search every year, what happened to all the previous ones?

Where had they gone?

Was it really a coincidence that exactly five people had entered this time?

And that Qin Su’s skill happened to summon five future teammates?

Over the intervening ten years, how many people had entered to help the pair clear the scenario, only to fail in the end?

“Then… do we need to find a prince for her first?” Attendant Li asked softly. “And help that prince ascend the throne?”

“How long would it take to win over ministers and persuade a prince?”

Zhao Ning frowned. “We don’t know what might happen. What if something happens to those two before we succeed?”

“Most importantly, we don’t know whether our Assimilation Levels will rise here too,” Ye Wan reminded them. “We can’t live here forever.”

Not like those previous consorts who might have appeared here, only to vanish in the end.

“Right.”

Attendant Zhang nodded. “Besides, the old Emperor isn’t dead yet. What if he refuses to accept the heir we choose?”

“Kill him.”

Zhao Ning looked at the others. “We’ll speedrun this scenario. We rebel!”

“Find the current Emperor, kill everyone else, put him on the throne, and have him recognize Qin Su as the Empress Dowager.”

She proposed the fastest way to flatten the scenario. “Then Qin Su can hold a birthday banquet immediately and invite White Dragon to perform. He leaves the palace before midnight, she stays until midnight, and both objectives are completed.”

After settling on the plan, they returned to the main hall to find Qin Su.

She sat blankly on the low couch, absently fingering the strand of prayer beads.

Her gaze rested on empty space, lost in thought.

“We’ve reached a decision.”

Xie Nuange sat opposite her. “But first, we need to ask you a few things.”

Qin Su raised her head. “What?”

“How many princes are currently in the Princes’ Quarters?”

“Seven.”

Qin Su answered without hesitation. “The oldest is fourteen, and the youngest is still an infant. All of them are raised there.”

Leaning against the doorframe, Ye Wan looked at Qin Su. “Which consort has the earliest upcoming birthday?”

Qin Su froze, then seemed to understand.

“I’m not sure… I can ask tomorrow.”

“You want to create a new Empress Dowager?”

Though Qin Su phrased it as a question, certainty filled her eyes.

“We’ll choose the consort whose birthday comes first and have a prince recognize her as his foster mother. Then we hold a birthday banquet for her, White Dragon performs an opera, and you attend as an imperial consort until midnight. White Dragon leaves the palace before midnight, and you clear the scenario.”

The women explained their plan. “You only need to protect yourself. We’ll help you clear it.”

“All right.” Qin Su nodded.

By the time they finished discussing the general timeline, night had fully fallen.

Qin Su arranged lodgings for them.

Lying on an unfamiliar bed, Xie Nuange stared blankly at the canopy overhead.

“Two Bamboo, are you asleep?”

“…Could you not call me that?”

Xie Nuange rolled her eyes. “What is it?”

“If we complete the mission… why is Qin Su still the Empress Dowager in our time?” Ye Wan whispered from beside her. “Or did we fail?”

“Isn’t this a closed loop?”

Zhao Ning had awakened at some point—or perhaps had never fallen asleep. “I refuse to believe we can slaughter our way through everything and still fail.”

None of the five women was asleep. Their hearts were heavy.

“I’m not afraid of dying here. If I die, I hope you’ll protect them and help them clear the scenario,” Attendant Li said.

What lay before them resembled a timeline.

Qin Su and White Dragon had never cleared the scenario, which was why the Empress Dowager still wore Qin Su’s face.

But that implied the women would fail, and failure meant death.

They did not want to die.

Early the next morning, they split up.

Zhao Ning and Attendant Li went to investigate the guard rotations around the Princes’ Quarters.

Ye Wan and Attendant Zhang accompanied Qin Su there with food, using the opportunity to look for a prince.

Xie Nuange was brought to the imperial harem’s archives to determine which consort’s birthday was approaching.

The Princes’ Quarters occupied a separate compound in the northeastern corner of the Six Eastern Palaces, with eunuchs permanently stationed at its entrance.

“At this hour, the princes should have finished breakfast and be studying,” Qin Su explained as Ye Wan and Attendant Zhang entered with her.

Only after Zhao Ning and Attendant Li lured away all the guards did Qin Su lead Ye Wan and Attendant Zhang quickly through the gate.

“Split up and search.”

Ye Wan frowned the moment she entered. It was too quiet.

If seven princes were all raised in the Princes’ Quarters, why could she not hear a single child in the courtyard?

The three exchanged looks and quickly sensed that something was wrong.

Where were the children?

Where were the princes?

Ye Wan surveyed the empty courtyard, dread rising in her heart.

She immediately grabbed Qin Su and retreated. Attendant Zhang had also realized the danger and followed at once.

Before Ye Wan’s hand could touch the door ring, the two vermilion wooden doors slammed shut before her eyes.

Bang!

The gates to the Princes’ Quarters sealed tightly. The three women turned warily toward the courtyard.

At some point, blood had appeared everywhere.

When they entered, clean flagstones had covered the courtyard. Two pomegranate trees stood in the corners, with several unpicked fruits nestled among their branches.

Now blood covered the flagstones, seeping from every crack.

Plaster peeled from the walls, exposing mottled bricks beneath.

The glossy vermilion lacquer flaked away in chunks, revealing densely packed handprints underneath.

“Hee-hee-hee…”

Shrill, childish laughter sounded from every direction.