The Hand of Confession – Chapter 198
by Little PandaVolume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn
The Ball
Isn’t this Xiaobao’s ball?
“We actually came back so easily?” Shen Maomao muttered to herself.
Lou Jingmo heard her and immediately mocked, “Were you perhaps hoping for something to happen?”
“Do I have a masochistic streak?” Shen Maomao shot her a look1, feeling a little uneasy in her heart. I just feel like this silence… means the instance is brewing up something big…
Lou Jingmo reached out and ruffled the hair on her head.
The group walked into the inn lobby. As soon as they entered, they were collectively struck by a cold wind, causing them to shiver—the temperature inside was actually lower than outside!
Xiaobao’s mom hugged her already sleeping child tightly and complained to the front desk in a low voice, “What’s wrong with your inn? Isn’t the air conditioning fixed yet?”
The woman at the front desk was applying a different color of nail polish, brushing it on row by row as if with OCD, and replied perfunctorily without looking up, “It’s being repaired.”
Xiaobao’s mom was furious: “Are your repairmen good-for-nothings2? How can the temperature get lower the more you repair it?”
The woman switched to another finger, not angry at all. “I’m not an air conditioner repairman. You’ll have to find one for that. If you’re cold, go upstairs and stay there. I’m not cold…” As she spoke, she lifted her left hand with the freshly painted nails, turning it over and over to admire it for a while, completely disregarding Xiaobao’s mom.
“What kind of attitude is this? Don’t you know you should look people in the eye when you talk to them? How can you not even understand basic manners?”
“Stay if you want, don’t if you don’t. If you don’t want to stay, please leave.”
In this desolate place3 in the dead of night4, this was the only inn available. The front desk attendant, relying on this, was brazen and fearless5, making Xiaobao’s mom so angry she wanted to go up and slap her twice.
Xiaobao’s dad quickly came out to play the peacemaker6: “Aiya, that’s enough. Why argue with her? It’s freezing cold here, our son will catch a cold. Let’s go up first.”
Just then, Xiaobao in her arms rubbed his eyes and, drowsy, sneezed. This scared her into quickly hugging the child tighter, glaring at the woman, and going up the elevator with her husband.
The players, having seen enough of the commotion, didn’t want to freeze there either and swarmed7 into the elevator. The elevator could take at most twelve people. Counting Hong-jie and the six NPCs who were already on it, only Shen Maomao’s group of three and two other players couldn’t squeeze in and were left on the first floor.
The remaining two were men: one in his thirties with a small mustache, looking very shrewd; the other in his twenties, very tall, with a square face8, wearing glasses, his eyes dull. He hadn’t said much since entering the game.
The man with the mustache, let’s call him Xiao Huzi9, glanced around and struck up a conversation with Shen Maomao’s group of three: “Have you noticed? There don’t seem to be any emergency stairs here.”
Shen Maomao hadn’t really paid much attention to this detail. Their previous instance also had no stairs, so she hadn’t considered them since entering this one. Hearing Xiao Huzi say this, she realized it and finally understood the source of her persistent, inexplicable feeling of awkwardness.
An inn is considered a public place. Such a relatively densely populated area had neither emergency stairs nor emergency exit signs. If a natural disaster occurred that caused a power outage, the people staying here would basically be like headless flies10—not knowing which way to run.
Shen Maomao smiled and chatted with him: “If you hadn’t said so, I really wouldn’t have noticed. It seems we need to figure out a backup plan.”
Xiao Huzi looked at her expectantly, not speaking.
Shen Maomao was puzzled: “…?”
Lou Jingmo, beside her, suddenly said, “If you want to exchange information, bring something useful.”
Xiao Huzi glanced back at the woman behind the counter and whispered, “That woman…”
The woman suddenly raised her head, her gaze like an arrow11 fixed on him.
Xiao Huzi shivered and quickly shut his mouth. Just then, the elevator arrived. He dashed into it in one stride, guarding the close-door button and calling out to the few people outside, “Hurry up and get in! It’s too cold here.” As soon as they were in, he immediately closed the door.
The elevator doors closed and began to ascend. Only then did Xiao Huzi breathe a sigh of relief. He raised a hand to wipe his forehead, only to realize that in those few short seconds, a layer of cold sweat had broken out on it.
“Good heavens…” he said, his heart still fluttering with fear. “That was truly terrifying…”
Lou Jingmo said, “You were trying to say she’s not normal, right?”
Xiao Huzi rolled his eyes and muttered, “You’ve said it all, what’s left for me to say? That woman was cooped up behind the counter all day. During dinner, I watched her for a long time and only then did I realize she has no shadow. No shadow, isn’t that just a ghost!”
As soon as his voice fell, the elevator stopped. Xiao Huzi instinctively wanted to step forward but was pulled back by the man with the square face, Guozilian12, next to him: “Where are you going?”
He looked up and only then noticed a large blue Arabic numeral “2” written on the wall in front of him, with a red circle around the “2”.
The elevator had once again inexplicably stopped on the second floor.
Although the corridor was brightly lit13, Xiao Huzi was trembling with fear. He slammed the close-door button twice, and only then did the elevator doors close and ascend at a slow speed.
“Oh mother14… A few more times like this and I might have a heart attack…”
Shen Maomao shifted her gaze from the mirror, glanced back, and said nothing. Golden Retriever also remained silent, not participating in any topic.
The upward arrow scrolling on the screen gradually stopped. Before the elevator came to a complete halt, Lou Jingmo suddenly said, “If someone asks you the time, remember not to answer it.”
Shen Maomao looked at her with a shua sound.
Xiao Huzi’s face also showed excitement: “Okay! Thank you!”
The elevator stopped, and everyone returned to their rooms.
Golden Retriever, the last one to enter a room, closed the door and asked curiously, “What happens if you answer?”
Shen Maomao said slowly, “You’ll die, ah…”
Golden Retriever: “?”
Shen Maomao: “I just remembered. I think I’ve heard a folk saying that if someone asks you the time at night, as long as you answer, the time you say will be your time of death.”
Hearing this, Lou Jingmo asked, “You’ve been asked too?”
Too, that meant Lou Jingmo had also been asked the time.
Shen Maomao nodded: “It was when we split up to look for clues. I didn’t react at the time and just snarkily15 said, ‘Can’t you look yourself, ah?’ When I turned around, there was no one behind me. Only then did I feel scared and went upstairs to find the main group.”
Golden Retriever looked speechless: “Being snarky can actually save your life?”
Shen Maomao patted his shoulder: “Can’t be helped. Who made me Heaven’s16 favorite daughter? You shouldn’t learn this method of mine. After all, innate good luck and acuity can’t be learned.”
Golden Retriever: “…” Shameless.
Beside them, Lou Jingmo said faintly, “Favorite daughter, and He sent you into this crappy game?”
Lou Jingmo took out toiletries from her bag: “Stop fooling around. We’ll go wash up and use the toilet as a group in a bit. If anyone needs to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, they’ll have to manage on their own.”
Who the f*ck would dare to go out in the middle of the night!
The three of them squeezed into the bathroom. Although Shen Maomao really wanted to take a shower, she was a bit cowardly and didn’t dare to court death by going to the public bathroom opposite, so she didn’t mention it.
There was no strange smell in the bathroom, but she always felt it was chilly, so she quickly sped up and waited at the bathroom door for the other two.
After standing in the corridor for a while, she suddenly heard a “gulugulu” sound from ahead. She couldn’t help but look up and saw Xiaobao kicking his little ball, running over from the other end of the corridor. That sound was precisely the ball rolling on the ground.
Even though the child wasn’t even as tall as her thigh, Shen Maomao felt an oppressive feeling wash over her18, scaring her so much that she immediately shrank back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut with a “bangdang” sound.
Golden Retriever, who was washing his face, jumped in fright and quickly opened his eyes to look: “What’s wrong, what’s wrong—Sss… Face wash got into my eyes!!”
Lou Jingmo leisurely wiped her face with a towel before turning her head: “Who’s outside?”
Shen Maomao answered truthfully: “It’s Xiaobao, he’s kicking a ball in the corridor…”
Why is Xiaobao alone? His mom actually lets him play in the corridor by himself?
Lou Jingmo walked to her side, her icy hand resting on Shen Maomao’s shoulder: “What are you afraid of? Don’t you know Judo? If he dares to provoke you, just kick him flying.”
Shen Maomao stamped her foot: “Am I that violent?!”
Golden Retriever was still rubbing his eyes: “Sss—Sister Rabbit, is there an earthquake…”
Shen Maomao smiled: “Be careful when you sleep tonight, don’t get stabbed to death by me without even knowing.”
Golden Retriever: “…This is differential treatment! Didn’t Lou-jie diss you too!”
Shen Maomao suddenly remembered—she and Lou Jingmo were still pretending to be a couple in front of Golden Retriever. She immediately linked her arm with Lou Jingmo’s and said triumphantly, “This is my wife. Can a wife and a son be the same?”
Golden Retriever: “…Get lost, ah.”
The three of them joked around for a few sentences, finally dispelling all the fear in Shen Maomao’s heart.
The other two also finished washing up. Feeling more confident, she took the lead19 and pulled open the door. Looking down, she saw a small blue and yellow ball lying on the floor at the entrance, while the corridor was empty, with no sign of Xiaobao at all.
Shen Maomao: “! Should we go around this?!”
Lou Jingmo nodded.
The three of them carefully stepped over the ball, none of them daring to touch it.
With a “zhiga” creak, the door of the innermost room was pulled open. Hong-jie walked out wearing a set of blue and white striped pajamas, which at first glance looked like a hospital gown.
The light shone down from above her head, casting a small shadow on the ground, which looked very reassuring.
Seeing them, Hong-jie smiled and greeted them: “You’re washing up too, ah?”
Shen Maomao also smiled: “We’re done, preparing to go back to sleep.”
Hong-jie’s gaze fixed on the ball on the floor: “Aiya? Isn’t this Xiaobao’s ball? Why is it here?”
Shen Maomao: “No idea, ah, let’s not touch it…”
Hong-jie walked over, an indifferent expression on her face, bent down, and picked up the ball: “I’ll go ask in a bit. You guys go back first.”
Saying this, she was about to take the ball into the bathroom.
Lou Jingmo grabbed her wrist: “Wait a moment.”
The author has something to say:
An amazing comment——
The character ‘心’ (heart) is missing a ‘点’ (dot/stroke), this must be foreshadowing, a symbol! It implies that Shen Maomao is a thoughtless person20 in the game and in her relationships.
Hahahahahahahaha
Footnotes
- 白了她一眼 | báile tā yī yǎn | Lit. “gave her one white eye” | Fig. to give someone a disdainful look, to roll one’s eyes at someone.
- 吃幹飯的 | chī gānfàn de | Lit. “eats plain rice” | Fig. useless, incompetent, good-for-nothing.
- 荒郊野嶺 | huāngjiāoyělǐng | Lit. “barren suburbs and wild mountains” | Fig. a remote and desolate place, the middle of nowhere.
- 三更半夜 | sāngēngbànyè | Lit. “third watch, midnight” (San Geng is 11 PM – 1 AM) | Fig. in the dead of night, very late at night.
- 有恃無恐 | yǒushìwúkǒng | Lit. “to have backing and therefore be without fear” | Fig. to be secure in the knowledge that one has support and act fearlessly or unscrupulously.
- 老好人 | lǎohǎorén | Lit. “old good person” | Fig. an overly accommodating person, a yes-man, someone who tries to please everyone and avoid conflict.
- 一窩蜂 | yīwōfēng | Lit. “one hive of bees” | Fig. like a swarm of bees, all at once, in a disorderly rush.
- 國字臉 | guózìliǎn | Lit. “character ‘guo’ (country) face” (國 is a square-ish character) | Fig. a square face.
- 小胡子 | Xiǎo Húzi | Lit. “little mustache”.
- 無頭蒼蠅 | wútóucāngying | Lit. “headless fly” | Fig. to run around in confusion, like a headless chicken.
- 目光如箭 | mùguāngrújiàn | Lit. “gaze like an arrow” | Fig. a sharp, piercing gaze.
- 國字臉 | Guózìliǎn | Lit. “character ‘guo’ (country) face.” A descriptive nickname for someone with a square face.
- 燈火通明 | dēnghuǒtōngmíng | Lit. “lamps and fires brightly lit” | Fig. brightly lit, illuminated.
- 娘嘞 | Niáng lei | Exclamation of surprise or distress, similar to “Oh mother!” or “Good heavens!”
- 嘴賤 | zuǐjiàn | Lit. “mouth cheap/贱 (jian)” | Fig. to have a sharp/sarcastic tongue, to make biting remarks, to be unnecessarily critical or mean with words.
- 老天爺 | Lǎotiānyé | Lit. “Old Master Heaven” | Fig. God, Heavens; a common way to refer to a supreme deity or fate.
- 王八蛋 | wángbādàn | Lit. “turtle’s egg” | Fig. bastard, son of a bitch.
- 撲面而來 | pūmiàn’érlái | Lit. “assaults face and comes” | Fig. to blow into one’s face; (of a smell, feeling, atmosphere) to hit one full-on, to assail one.
- 首當其沖 | shǒudāngqíchōng | Lit. “first bear its brunt” | Fig. to be the first to be affected or to take action; to bear the brunt. Here, more like taking the initiative.
- 缺心眼 | quēxīnyǎn | Lit. “lacking heart-eye” or “missing a piece of the heart” | Fig. scatterbrained, thoughtless, simple-minded, lacking common sense, dumb.
0 Comments