The Hand of Confession – Chapter 421
by Little PandaEpilogue: The Final Instance
A Favor
She is a bird that has flown out of its cage.
The bear wasn’t large, but it ran surprisingly fast. However, it was unfamiliar with its surroundings, bumping into things everywhere like a headless fly.1
The sky was getting dark, and a moment’s carelessness could cause them to lose it. Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo, one in front of the other, quickly cut through patches of grass. Far behind them, Mother Lou followed, her arms and legs twisted at an unnatural angle.
Fortunately, there was no one else around, so no innocent bystanders were harmed. Only a field of flowers and grass was trampled.
If they relied on their own two legs, they probably couldn’t even outrun Mother Lou, let alone the teddy bear. With that thought, Shen Maomao stuffed an acceleration item into Lou Jingmo’s hand while using one herself, shouting, “Crush it!”
Lou Jingmo did as she was told.
With the help of the item, Shen Maomao had wind at her heels.2 In a flash,3 she caught up to the teddy bear weaving through the grass and snatched it up.
The little teddy bear struggled frantically, which caused the other bear to struggle along with it. Shen Maomao, holding one in each hand, nearly lost her grip.
Lou Jingmo reached out a hand from her side. “Give me one!”
Shen Maomao immediately tossed the bear she had just caught over to her.
Lou Jingmo caught the little bear and held it tightly in her arms.
Shen Maomao glanced back.
Mother Lou was in hot pursuit. The item’s effect was limited, and there was a CD time4 after use, making it impossible to use again right away.
She had to think of a way…
Thinking this, she held the little bear in front of her and examined its current state—the dagger was still stuck in its eye, and the gushing blood had stained half its body black, covering Shen Maomao’s hands as well.
Lou Jingmo’s teddy bear and Mother Lou were a single entity. She didn’t want to face Mother Lou directly, but perhaps she could use this little bear.
With that in mind, she reached out, pulled out the dagger, and plunged it directly into the little bear’s brain.
A sharp scream came from behind them. Lou Jingmo shuddered but didn’t look back, only running forward faster.
Mother Lou didn’t die. Instead, her ferocity was provoked, and she chased after them with even greater urgency.
The two of them ran through alley after alley, turning left and right, but couldn’t shake her. They were finally forced onto the main road.
All sorts of cars whizzed by in the middle of the road, but none of them seemed to notice the abnormality on the roadside.
Shen Maomao, deciding to go for broke,5 simply stabbed its other eye out.
The blood-soaked bear had become exceptionally heavy, as well as wet, slippery, and sticky, making it almost impossible for her to hold on to. Because of this, Shen Maomao couldn’t free a hand to inflict a second injury.
Fortunately, Mother Lou couldn’t see the road now. Her pursuit speed dropped drastically, giving the two a moment to catch their breath.
But she seemed to have other ways of tracking their direction. Even without sight, she didn’t lose them and continued her relentless pursuit.
Shen Maomao figured she was most likely relying on the teddy bear.
But she didn’t know if this thing would be useful later, so she didn’t dare to just throw it away.
As they ran, she saw someone walking toward them from a distance.
It was actually The Scum.
He also saw Lou Jingmo and Shen Maomao and couldn’t help but show a surprised expression. When they got closer, he asked, “You two—”
Before he could finish, Shen Maomao shoved the bear into his arms. “Excuse me, please hold this for us!”
The man: “…?”
The two girls ran past him and took off.
A few seconds later, a miserable, shrill scream came from behind them.
“Is this okay?” Lou Jingmo asked, glancing back.
Shen Maomao said, “Fuck, who gives a damn? Let’s get that scum killed first!”
Lou Jingmo looked back again.
Mother Lou had pounced on the man. She was on top of him, leaning down to bite into his face. Then she raised her head, tearing off a large piece of flesh and revealing the snow-white bone beneath.
She averted her gaze and ran forward with Shen Maomao, running faster and faster, her steps growing lighter and lighter, as if her entire body was floating. The familiar scenes were left behind her, as if she were casting off the gray past along with them.
She was a bird that had flown out of its cage, and a wider life would greet her.
After running for an unknown amount of time, the sky had turned completely dark.
Mother Lou hadn’t caught up. The two stopped by the side of the road, panting heavily.
Shen Maomao started laughing. “That stupid cunt is finally gone!”
Lou Jingmo cursed along with her, “Stinking stupid cunt!”
Shen Maomao said, “You can’t talk like that! That’s a bad word! Good children can’t say bad words!”
Lou Jingmo’s eyes were full of laughter, revealing a childishness she had never shown before. “Okay!”
Shen Maomao took the bear that had given up struggling and gave it a couple of twists. “Stop playing dead. I know you’re alive.”
The little bear didn’t move.
Shen Maomao took out the blood-stained dagger.
The little bear trembled uncontrollably, still thinking its disguise was perfect.
Shen Maomao spoke again, “Can you talk? If you’re completely useless, then I’ll cut you into eight pieces.6 First the legs, then the arms, so you can’t even run. Then I’ll gouge out your eyes and slice you bit by bit into bear fillets…”
Before she could finish, a weak, shrill voice entered her ear. “Heroine Maomao,7 spare me!”
Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo sat by the roadside. She took out a rope, tied up the bear, and placed it on the ground.
The little bear put its paws together and knocked its head on the ground twice with a thump, thump. “Please spare me, Heroine! I didn’t want this either!”
Shen Maomao interrogated it with a small tree branch. “What are you?”
The little bear said, “Spare me, Heroine! I don’t know what I am either.”
Lou Jingmo curiously poked the little bear’s waist.
The little bear burst out laughing. “Hahahahaha, don’t poke me! I’m so ticklish!”
Lou Jingmo couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
Shen Maomao put on a stern face and said coldly, “Be serious! Honestly confess everything you’ve done, or I’ll kill you!”
The little bear didn’t dare to laugh anymore and said weakly, “Reporting to the Heroine, I only gained consciousness a short while ago, so I’m not too clear on what happened.”
Shen Maomao tapped the ground beside it with the branch, making the little bear jump. Then she said, “I told you to tell me what you’ve done.”
The little bear cried, “I’ve been wronged, Clear Sky Great Master!8 It wasn’t me, it was your grandmother! The reason I gained consciousness was because I sensed your longing for your grandmother, and that’s how I resurrected her! I had good intentions!”
Shen Maomao said, “I see you’ve been watching a lot of TV dramas!”
The little bear said, “Not that much! Only when no one’s around!”
Shen Maomao asked, “Where does your power come from?”
The little bear said, “I don’t know either. It just happened out of nowhere. I just felt like I could resurrect people, and then when I thought about it, your grandmother appeared.”
“How many bears like you do you know of?”
“I don’t know… but there probably aren’t many… It seems I only gain this ability when someone is missing another person very, very, very much.”
“Are all bears like you?”
The little bear glanced at her. “Probably not… Actually, I didn’t like the bear from next door just now. It seemed especially vicious. I’m not like it. Maybe an object resembles its owner…”9
Shen Maomao slammed the branch on the ground. “What do you mean? Are you insulting me?!”
Lou Jingmo let out a “pfft” of laughter.
The little bear trembled again. “No, no! I didn’t mean that! I don’t know anything! I’m just a bear!”
Shen Maomao asked again, “Fine. Last question. Do you know how to end all of this?”
The little bear hesitated for a moment, then said, “As long as you kill us, the resurrected people will disappear.”
Shen Maomao said, “Alright, I understand.”
She picked up the little bear and fell into deep thought.
These bears were probably just minions. They didn’t possess this ability on their own but were granted it by something unknown. All she could do now was find the bears, interrogate them, and then find the real boss behind them, kill it, and end this instance.10
As she thought, the sun had completely set.
The streets were dangerous. Situations like cars with failing brakes, getting caught in a “ghost building a wall,”11 and Silent Hill12 could appear at any moment. She definitely couldn’t go back to her own home, and she didn’t know what the situation was at Lou Jingmo’s. It seemed the two girls could only sleep on the streets and wait for dawn.
However, the heavens were not on their side. Before they could find a place to make do for the night, they saw a patch of dark clouds drift over from the distance, covering the moon and stars, and stopping right above their heads.
Shen Maomao counted the money she had on her, considering the possibility of staying in a hotel.
But hotels were also dangerous; all sorts of unexpected situations could occur.
In the end, she went to a phone booth and tried calling Police Officer Bai.
The phone rang and rang, but the person on the other end never picked up. Shen Maomao hung up, a bad premonition growing in her heart.
She led Lou Jingmo in the direction she remembered, dodging various dangers along the way. It was past midnight by the time they arduously reached the building downstairs from Police Officer Bai’s home.
She tilted her head up and looked at the building, counting the floors one by one.
She didn’t quite remember which side Police Officer Bai’s apartment was on, but she remembered the floor—the tenth floor.
It was already late. The entire building was dark except for a single window on the tenth floor, and that lit window seemed to belong to Police Officer Bai’s home.
Originally, she hadn’t planned to disturb Police Officer Bai, but because she was afraid something might have happened to her, Shen Maomao led Lou Jingmo into the residential complex, pried open the unit door, and took the elevator up to the tenth floor.
There were only two homes on the tenth floor. The door on the right was tightly locked. The one on the left was not only unlocked but also left ajar.
Shen Maomao’s bad premonition grew stronger.
She told Lou Jingmo to wait outside and sent Puck in to investigate the situation.
The little bear in her arms trembled. “There’s a bear inside, it’s so scary!”
The words had barely left its mouth when Puck’s scream came from inside.
Shen Maomao shoved the door open and rushed in.
The scene inside was a miserable sight, a true hell on earth.13
Police Officer Bai was lying in front of the sofa, covered in blood, her state of life unknown. Not far from her, in the kitchen, a small figure was squatting on the floor. In one hand, it held a desperately struggling Puck; in the other, it clutched a handful of bright red flesh, which it was continuously stuffing into its mouth.
Footnotes
- From the Chinese idiom 无头苍蝇 (wútóu cāngying), meaning to run around aimlessly and frantically.
- From the Chinese idiom 足下生风 (zúxià shēng fēng), literally “wind generating underfoot,” describing someone moving very quickly.
- From the Chinese idiom 三下五除二 (sān xià wǔ chú èr), which refers to the rapid movements on an abacus, meaning to do something quickly and efficiently.
- CD is short for “cooldown,” a term from video games for the period after using an ability or item during which it cannot be used again.
- From the Chinese idiom 一不做二不休 (yī bù zuò, èr bù xiū), meaning that once you start something, you should see it through to the end, regardless of the consequences.
- From the Chinese idiom 大卸八块 (dà xiè bā kuài), a gruesome threat that literally means to dismember someone into eight large pieces.
- 女侠 (nǚxiá) is a term for a female martial arts hero, often from wuxia stories. The bear is using it as a respectful and dramatic form of address.
- 青天大老爷 (qīngtiān dà lǎoye) was a term of address for an incorruptible and just official in ancient China. The bear is using it dramatically to plead its case.
- From the Chinese saying 物随其主 (wù suí qí zhǔ), meaning that possessions or pets reflect their owner’s characteristics—essentially “like owner, like pet”.
- 副本 (fùběn) is a term borrowed from video games, particularly MMORPGs, referring to a special, separate area for a player or group to complete a mission. It’s a core concept in the Unlimited Flow genre.
- 鬼打墙 (guǐ dǎ qiáng) is a phenomenon from Chinese folklore where a person becomes supernaturally lost, walking in circles as if trapped by invisible walls built by a ghost.
- A reference to the well-known survival horror video game and movie franchise of the same name, famous for its psychological horror and eerie atmosphere.
- From the Chinese idiom 人间炼狱 (rénjiān liànyù), literally “purgatory in the human world,” describing a scene of extreme horror and suffering.
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