The Hand of Confession – Chapter 422
by Little PandaEpilogue: The Final Instance
Shattered
What are you running from? Have you gone mad?
A pair of legs was visible in front of Xiao Qi. It was most likely his father—Police Officer Bai’s husband. Hearing the noise, he turned, his face covered in blood, and roared at Shen Maomao, “Get out!”
A cold light glinted in Shen Maomao’s eyes. “You’re the one who should get out!”
Enraged, Xiao Qi threw the wailing Puck aside and lunged at her on all fours.
He was fast. Shen Maomao didn’t meet him head-on, instead sidestepping him and circling around the table to pick up the little bear on the floor.
The little bear seemed to sense her intention. It propped itself up on its arms, ran out from under the table, and then scrambled up Xiao Qi’s body onto his head. Like a great general commanding his troops from a warhorse,1 it raised its right hand toward Shen Maomao. “Kill her! Then no one will ever try to take your mama away from you again!”
His warhorse, Xiao Qi, moved on command, knocking the table aside as he pounced.
With nowhere to retreat, Shen Maomao could only pull out a dagger to defend herself, becoming entangled in a fight with the much shorter Xiao Qi.
As she passed Police Officer Bai’s husband, she glanced over. The man’s chest was completely still, and there was a large gash on his neck. No blood flowed from the wound; perhaps it had already been drained dry.
The two sides were locked in a struggle. Shen Maomao understood the principle of “to catch bandits, first catch the king,”2 so she kept trying to get past Xiao Qi to attack the bear on his head.
The bear had also figured out her goal. It stopped sitting still on Xiao Qi’s head and started climbing all over his body, as slippery as a loach.
They fought like this for a while. Shen Maomao’s arm was bitten by Xiao Qi, and she managed to slice off half of the teddy bear’s leg. Neither side had gained an advantage.
Shen Maomao’s eyes darted. She suddenly changed direction and rushed toward Police Officer Bai, shouting, “Lou Jingmo! It’s the obsession of the woman on the floor! If we kill her, it’ll dissipate immediately!”
Lou Jingmo hadn’t expected to be part of the plan. She froze for a moment, looked down at Police Officer Bai on the floor, then looked up to see Shen Maomao frantically giving her a look.
She understood. Immediately, she looked around, rushed to the coffee table, grabbed the fruit knife on it, and made a few gestures over Police Officer Bai’s body.
Xiao Qi fell for it. He instantly abandoned Shen Maomao and charged toward Lou Jingmo. The little bear on his head shrieked, “She won’t dare!! She’s lying to you! Don’t go!!”
But Xiao Qi paid it no mind, his eyes fixed on Lou Jingmo as he pounced.
Shen Maomao yelled for Puck, “Puck! Follow your mom!”
Lou Jingmo immediately began to back away, retreating right out of the room and slamming the door shut. Just before the door closed completely, Puck squeezed through the gap. With a bang, Puck’s voice came from outside, “Roger that!!”
Seizing the opportunity, Shen Maomao yanked the bear off Xiao Qi’s head.
The little bear shrieked and struggled wildly. Shen Maomao plunged her dagger straight into it, pinning it to the wall.
An identical spray of blood appeared on Xiao Qi’s chest. He knelt and collapsed beside Police Officer Bai, stretching his arm out to reach for his mother’s hand.
The scene was quite tragic, but Shen Maomao’s heart didn’t soften. She just asked with a cold expression, “Leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist.3 Now talk. What are you?”
The other little bear, which had been hiding under the coffee table since the fight started, came pattering over. It climbed onto Shen Maomao’s shoulder and said in a shrill, tiny voice, “I advise you to be sensible. You might get to keep your corpse in one piece!”
It was the ultimate expression of a fox borrowing the tiger’s might.4
The little bear on the wall cursed, “Bah! You idiot!”
The two bears started hurling insults at each other, making Shen Maomao’s head buzz. Unable to stand it any longer, she roared, “Both of you, shut your mouths!”
The whole world fell silent.
Lou Jingmo knocked on the door from outside.
Shen Maomao took out four more daggers and nailed the little bear’s four limbs down before going to open the door for Lou Jingmo.
Before opening it, she used her other, clean sleeve to wipe the blood from her face, afraid her appearance might scare Lou Jingmo.
Fortunately, Lou Jingmo’s psyche wasn’t that fragile. She looked past Shen Maomao at the little bear and the two unconscious adults on the floor. “How are things now?” she asked.
Shen Maomao replied, “Under interrogation, under interrogation.”
Shen Xiongxiong was still hopping around at her side. “Whip it! Whip it! Beat the hell out of it! Kill it!”
Shen Maomao kicked it aside and turned to the pinned bear. “Be honest and confess. What do you know?”
The little bear turned its head, saying nothing.
Shen Maomao used her old method. After a round of threats using the “big stick and candied date” approach,5 it finally spoke, albeit reluctantly. “What do you want to ask?”
Shen Maomao: “What do you know? Tell me everything you know.”
The little bear: “I was born from obsession. I have the power to resurrect the dead, but the resurrected are no longer their original selves. They are monsters formed from obsession, of the same body and origin as me. But the influence between us is one-way. If I’m hurt, it gets hurt too, but if it dies, nothing will happen to me. It will develop an extreme possessiveness over the owner of the obsession, rejecting her other family and friends. It survives on flesh and blood, and in the end, it will even devour the owner of the obsession directly…”
Shen Maomao knocked on the wall, her expression flat. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
The little bear let out an angry roar. “How should I know what you don’t know?!”
Shen Maomao leaned against the wall, digging a finger in her ear. “Why are you shouting so loud? For example, tell me about the source of your power.”
The little bear looked past her, its gaze falling on either Xiao Qi or Police Officer Bai. After a second of silence, it suddenly said, “You should be asking yourself that question.”
Shen Maomao’s head snapped up to look at it.
The little bear’s mouth moved, as if forming a smile. Then, it spoke with pure malice, “Don’t you know why this place exists?”
Shen Maomao was stunned for a second.
But she quickly recovered. “Trying to sow discord6 with me?”
The little bear: “Am I really the one sowing discord? Why don’t you dare to turn around and look?”
Why don’t you dare to turn around and look?
The words echoed in her ears like 3D stereo surround sound.7
Even with Shen Maomao’s current mental fortitude, she couldn’t help but feel dazed for an instant.
Behind her, besides Xiao Qi and Police Officer Bai, there was… Lou Jingmo.
Had she ever suspected Lou Jingmo?
Actually, she had.
From the very first moment she saw Lou Jingmo, she hadn’t trusted her. But she missed Lou Jingmo too much and couldn’t stop herself from getting closer. When she learned that this instance was related to obsession, she had also wondered if Lou Jingmo could be the same kind of existence. But she had never dared to admit it, nor did she want to confirm it.
She was just like Police Officer Bai. Both of them knew full well that the person they cared about was gone, yet they refused to admit it, relying on an empty illusion to numb themselves…
As she was thinking this, the surrounding environment suddenly fluctuated for a moment. Then, starting with the little bear, the existing environment shattered like a mirror, turning into countless green 0s and 1s that scrolled past rapidly. The bear, the walls, the floor—everything in the environment turned into a shower of fragments, which continued to spread toward her.
Puck screamed, “Maomao, run!”
Shen Maomao reflexively grabbed Lou Jingmo’s hand and pulled her out the door.
The two of them stumbled forward, rushing down the stairs. The fragmentation followed close behind, spreading down from the tenth floor, devouring the stairs and walls, leaving only a black void that radiated a dangerous aura.
Shen Xiongxiong clung to the corner of her shirt, screaming, “Help! Aaaah!! I’m gonna die!!”
Shen Maomao ignored it and kept running until she burst out of the building’s main entrance. She slammed the heavy door shut behind her, which only slowed the spread. It wasn’t stopping. It corroded the thick iron door bit by bit, constantly crawling forward.
They retreated a few more steps. After confirming they were safe, Shen Maomao let go of Lou Jingmo’s hand.
Lou Jingmo asked her, “What’s happening now?”
Shen Maomao stared at the collapsing game world and murmured in a low voice, “Why were you able to see Xiao Qi?”
She could see Xiao Qi and Mother Shen because she was a player, which made her special. Why could this Lou Jingmo see Xiao Qi too?
Was there something special about her?
Shen Maomao asked herself this.
Lou Jingmo watched her quietly, her eyes filled with the unique innocence of a teenage girl, along with a touch of concern for her.
Shen Maomao finally understood completely. For this instance, the important thing wasn’t whether she harmed the innocent, nor was it whether she could snatch her own life back from the hands of the Death God… What mattered was whether she could bring herself to strike down this person who looked exactly like Lou Jingmo.
Could she do it?
No… she couldn’t.
If this was the way to leave the instance… then this game was far too good at exploiting people’s weaknesses. It was far too cruel…
“Why are you crying again?” Lou Jingmo touched her face, then brought her finger to her lips and licked it. “Why do you love to cry so much? Did you think of something sad again?”
Shen Maomao said, “No, I just got sand in my eyes. I’m an adult. Adults don’t cry.”
As she said this, her tears flowed even faster.
This was no time for crying. She grabbed Lou Jingmo’s hand again and walked forward, away from this collapsing place.
She pinched the ear of the little bear that had narrowly escaped death and held it up. “Do you think what it said was right?”
The little bear shook its head. “I don’t know… but I think I sensed an aura of the same origin from that little girl.”
In other words, even if Lou Jingmo wasn’t the final boss, she wasn’t a normal human being, and she wasn’t her Lou-jie.
Shen Maomao’s gaze fixed on a point in the void. “I don’t believe you… You were sent by the instance to confuse me…”
The little bear’s face actually showed a human-like pity. “What are you running from? Have you gone mad?”
Shen Maomao threw it behind her. She decided not to trust these monsters in the instance anymore. She would rely on herself to make the final judgment, to find a way out on her own.
The little bear chased after them on its short legs, shrieking as it ran, “You can’t just use me and throw me away! That’s immoral!!”
Puck, sitting on Shen Maomao’s shoulder, stuck his tongue out and made a face at it. The two of them nearly started a long-distance shouting match.
Shen Maomao squeezed Lou Jingmo’s hand, as if by doing so, she could hold onto their future.
The author has something to say:
Sorry, I ran into some fucking stupid business yesterday. I accidentally took someone else’s broken umbrella, and when I tried to return it, the other party wouldn’t agree. She said I broke her umbrella by using it once, and claimed that while it was broken before, it wasn’t this bad. I said I could compensate her 10 yuan for an umbrella that had been used for years and was yellowed and rusted, but she opened her mouth and said the original price was 28 and she wanted 20, or she wanted my new umbrella. I was so mad I didn’t even type. I spent all last night wrangling over it, which wasted time. Thinking about it now, it was so not worth it. All the words I typed arguing with her could have gone into today’s update. Today, I just gave her both umbrellas. My umbrella is tainted now.
Footnotes
- A reference to the literary phrase ‘挥斥苍遒’ (huīchì cāngqiú), a variant of ‘挥斥方遒’ (huīchì fāngqiú), which describes someone directing matters with great confidence and vigor.
- A Chinese idiom (擒贼先擒王, qín zéi xiān qín wáng) meaning that to defeat an enemy force, you should target its leader first.
- A common slogan (坦白从宽，抗拒从严, tǎnbái cóng kuān, kàngjù cóng yán) used in Chinese law enforcement and interrogations.
- A Chinese idiom (狐假虎威, hújiǎhǔwēi) describing someone who bullies others by flaunting their association with a powerful figure.
- A metaphor (大棒加蜜枣, dà bàng jiā mìzǎo) for the carrot-and-stick method, using a combination of threats and rewards.
- A reference to the idiom ‘挑拨离间’ (tiǎobō líjiàn), which means to drive a wedge between people.
- A humorous modern metaphor comparing the psychological echo of haunting words to surround-sound audio technology.
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