The Hand of Confession – Chapter 424
by Little PandaEpilogue: The Final Instance
Administrator
Do you wish to rewrite the game rules?
In the white light, Lou Jingmo dissolved into data, merging into the endless river of data.
Shen Maomao wiped away her tears. Without Lou Jingmo, she was still the “Xiao Lou” who was the center of attention on the forums.
“Xiao Lou” was invincible, someone who would never cry.
The light flared. She tried to widen her eyes to see clearly what was in this white light, but unfortunately, she failed. Even as the light stung her eyes and drew involuntary tears, she could only see a void of white.
“I underestimated you.” A faint sigh echoed from the darkness.
Shen Maomao’s vision returned to normal. She found herself standing in a patch of darkness, facing rows of screens that glowed with fluorescent light. The screens seemed to be displaying one ongoing game after another.
Standing before the screens was a person wearing a black robe and a cloak. He stood with his hands behind his back, a ring on the little finger of his left hand, almost melting into the darkness.
Shen Maomao couldn’t tell if the person was male or female, but judging from the voice just now, it was likely a man.
The man stood with his back to her, looking up at the large screens. He said in a low voice, “Child… congratulations on arriving at God’s side. As a reward, I can grant you one wish. This wish can be for endless wealth, or it can give you supreme power, or even bring the dead back to life—you can… Fuck, when did you get over here?!”
“Let’s just see—” Shen Maomao revealed a savage smile and smashed a fist into his face, “if you, this ‘god,’ are really so omnipotent!”
The man took the punch, and a bruise immediately circled his eye. But he reacted quickly. With a wave of his right hand, Shen Maomao was sent flying backward, seized by an invisible force, and fixed in mid-air.
He sneered, and his sleeve brushed past his face, restoring the bruised, blackened eye socket to its original color. “In this world, I am an invincible existence. I advise you not to do any more ignorant and fearless things. Angering me will do you no good.”
This man was very ordinary, very plain, the kind of person you wouldn’t be able to pick out of a crowd. He looked nothing like the creator she had imagined—no, she should call him by his proper title now: Game Administrator.
Shen Maomao didn’t struggle. Instead, she looked at him with an impassive gaze, devoid of sorrow or joy. “Do gods also get angry?”
The man didn’t answer her question. He simply raised his hand again, combining all the screens into one giant screen. In the center, it replayed the scene of her stabbing Lou Jingmo to death. He said, “You poor child. Although I hate to do this, I must tell you—in this world, the person you killed was your lover. I was kind enough to let you two reunite, who would have thought you would commit such a mistake… But it’s alright. As long as you make a wish, I can help you resurrect her.”
Shen Maomao stared at him fixedly.
It seemed that for some reason, this administrator hadn’t monitored her final conversation with Lou Jingmo.
She tilted her head and asked in a low voice, “What if I wish to become a god, and then resurrect her myself?”
The man let out a string of laughs, as if he had heard a hilarious joke. “Silly child, God can never be replaced.”
Shen Maomao laughed along with him. The two of them laughed at each other for a while until the man found it strange and stopped first. “What are you laughing at?” he asked.
Shen Maomao said, “I was thinking of something happy.”1
The man’s expression stiffened for a moment.
Shen Maomao started laughing again, like a neurotic madwoman. “What? Do gods watch movies too?”
The man said coldly, “Some questions are not for you to know.”
Shen Maomao shot back, “Then what should I know? What standards do you use when selecting players? Was Lou Jingmo guilty? Was Gong Lian guilty? Why were they dragged into a game like this?”
“All people are born with sin.” The man had returned to his initial impassive state. He spoke faintly, with an air of pretentiousness, “Of the two people you mentioned, one seduced her own stepfather, and the other abused her own child and was even about to murder her husband—are these not sins?”
Shen Maomao nearly threw up. “Who was really in the wrong, them, or the people who made them that way? You only talk about what they did, why don’t you look at why they did it? Is your head filled with a brain or dogshit? Mmph mmph mmph…”
The man sealed her mouth. “It seems you’re still not clear on the current situation—right now, you are begging me, not the other way around. So you’d better say something nice, something I want to hear. Otherwise, the consequences will absolutely not be what you want to see.”
So this was the so-called god.
A piece of scum who toyed with everyone in the palm of his hand2 using a game, and an obstinate and self-opinionated3 one at that.
Lou Jingmo was molested by her stepfather before she was even fourteen. How could she have resisted? If she’d had the means, who would use their own safety as bait to lure that scum into a trap? Gong Lian was sold into the mountains in her twenties. How could she have escaped? And the coldness and violence she inflicted on Yaya—was it not connected to the man who saw her as nothing more than a breeding machine?
In this “god’s” eyes, she could only see his contempt for women. He was like a lofty almsgiver, or perhaps he would be the type to say things like, “It’s all because she dressed too revealingly,” or “Dressing up so prettily, she’s obviously not a good girl.”
If she tried to fight back, he would restrain her movements. If she could still curse at him, he would gag her.
It was no wonder the game itself would become dissatisfied with such a person. Because scum like him shouldn’t, and wasn’t worthy of, being the master who controlled the life and death of others.
Shen Maomao suddenly calmed down.
Because you don’t need to reason with a retard.4 They will only use their years of experience being a retard to defeat your rational mind, and feel smug about it.
So, after the man finished speaking, Shen Maomao just blinked at him, indicating that she would be obedient.
Only then did the man satisfactorily release her, removing the restriction on her mouth. “Wouldn’t it have been better to be like this from the start? But it’s not too late now. Go on, what is your wish? I’m very busy, I have other matters to attend to.”
Shen Maomao lowered her gaze, not letting him see the cold glint in her eyes. “Can it be any wish?”
“Of course, but one can’t be too greedy, you know.”
Shen Maomao’s lips curled up. “Then I’ve decided.”
“So what do you wish for?” the man urged impatiently.
“I wish—” Shen Maomao looked up, her gaze like two swords stabbing straight at him, “to replace you as the new administrator of the Confession Game!”5
The man’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How could you know—?!”
The entire space began to shake violently. The image on the giant screen dissolved into static, emitting a harsh “zzzzzz” sound. The next second, three lines appeared on the screen, combined to look like a face with no expression.
A mechanical voice sounded: “Wish granted. Please verify administrator identity.”
The man lost his footing and fell to the ground with a thump. He looked at Shen Maomao, who had her arms spread for balance, and suddenly he wasn’t in a hurry anymore. He even said smugly, “So what if you know all this? You don’t have the key! You’re doomed to fail!”
The key?
Shen Maomao looked at him, her mind racing.
The voice repeated, “Wish granted. Please verify administrator identity.”
What was the key?
“Wish granted. Please verify administrator identity.”
Was it the coin in her hand? The twelve cards? Or the ring on the man’s hand?
“No response for an extended period. Initiating countdown mode. If verification is not completed when time is up, it will be considered a failure. 30… 29… 28…”
The shaking of the space seemed to grow more intense.
Shen Maomao struggled to maintain her balance. The man sat on the floor and let out a wild laugh, laughing at her helplessness, laughing at her overconfidence.
What was it?
What in the world was it?!
Fifteen seconds left on the countdown.
A stream of light shot out from her body, coalescing into a familiar figure in front of her. “Shen Maomao! Give me the coin!”
It was Puck.
Shen Maomao looked at him.
Puck flapped his wings anxiously. “Hurry!!”
The man realized something was wrong and habitually waved his sleeve—but he quickly discovered that the power in this space no longer obeyed his commands.
He felt a surge of panic. He scrambled to get up, only to fall down again due to the shaking, like a turtle flipped onto its shell,6 flailing back and forth on the ground.
“10…”
“9…”
Shen Maomao no longer hesitated. She held her clenched fist out to Puck and opened her palm, revealing the coin she had been gripping tightly ever since she entered this place.
Puck took the coin with both hands, opened his mouth wide, and bit down on it. Without even chewing, he charged toward the screen.
“5…”
“4…”
“3…”
“2…”
“No—!!” Accompanied by the man’s terrified scream, Puck rushed into the screen in the final second, merging with it.
“Beep—Authentication successful.”
In an instant, a brilliant white light, just like the one at the exit, burst forth from the screen, enveloping Shen Maomao completely.
This white light wasn’t scorching or blinding. It circled around Shen Maomao joyfully.
But for the man, this light was like boiling water of the highest temperature, scalding him until he let out a series of wails. The wails grew quieter and quieter, and soon disappeared completely. The man dissolved into a stream of green data, swallowed by the void, leaving no trace behind.
The white light dissipated.
Shen Maomao was now wearing the same clothes, the same cloak.
Except her cloak was black, while the robe underneath was pure white.
She opened her eyes and looked at the screen. The “-_-” on it had changed to a smiley face. “Welcome~ New Administrator!”
The voice was a little familiar. Shen Maomao said uncertainly, “Puck…?”
The voice paused for a second, then pretended to be an emotionless AI and continued, “Do you wish to rewrite the game rules?”
The author has something to say:
The finale is expected tomorrow or the day after!!!
Footnotes
- A popular meme from the 2016 Stephen Chow film “The Mermaid.” It is used as a humorous, non-sequitur explanation for laughing at an inappropriate moment.
- A Chinese idiom (玩弄于股掌之间, wánnòng yú gǔzhǎng zhījiān) that means to have someone under one’s complete control or to manipulate them effortlessly.
- A Chinese idiom (刚愎自用, gāngbìzìyòng) meaning stubborn and conceited.
- The original text uses 脑瘫 (nǎotān), which literally means “cerebral palsy,” but is used here as a harsh insult equivalent to “retard” or “moron.”
- The name of the game, 告解游戏 (Gàojiě yóuxì), uses characters that mean “confession,” as in the Catholic sacrament.
- A vivid Chinese metaphor (翻了壳的王八, fānle ké de wángba) for someone who is helpless and flailing around.
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