The Hand of Confession – Chapter 138

Volume 5: Days of Applying Makeup to Corpses

Diary

The rain is so heavy, I’m so scared.

Lou Jingmo explicitly forbade Shen Maomao from approaching within three meters of herself.

Suddenly like this, Shen Maomao was still a little unaccustomed. After all, girls even go to the restroom hand-in-hand together.

The two walked into the building maintaining a great distance. San Huang and his group were feverishly prying at the door. Guan Qiwen stood at the back of the crowd. After seeing them, he winked at them.

Shen Maomao was expressionless, thinking in her heart that Guan Qiwen didn’t understand sh*t. Lou-jie was bewitched. They still had a Socialist sisterhood relationship.

They hadn’t pried for long before the lock was directly removed by them. The crowd let out a cheer. San Huang immediately reached out to push the door, pushing once but it didn’t budge.

The corridor quieted down. Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. San Huang looked at his right-hand and left-hand men, and said uncertainly, “Inside… it seems like there’s something blocking the door…”

Before his right-hand and left-hand men could speak, Dao Ba said, “Those who sit in offices are just no good. Get out of my way at the doorway and let someone capable handle this.”

Everyone thought of Dao Ba’s feat of kicking down the door. Without a second thought, they yielded their positions. San Huang’s face looked a bit unsightly, but he suddenly seemed to think of something and his expression softened. Very politely, he said, “Please, go ahead.”

Dao Ba didn’t overthink it, standing at the doorway and extending a hand.

San Huang inconspicuously retreated two steps.

Shen Maomao wanted to whisper to Lou Jingmo again, but turning her head, she discovered that Guan Qiwen was somehow between her and Lou Jingmo at some point. She immediately gave her a resentful look.

Meanwhile, Dao Ba’s hand had already landed on the door panel.

He exerted force with his wrist, the veins in his arm throbbing. The large door followed suit and pushed inward, revealing a slight crack.

An icy breath gushed out. Dao Ba, closest to the door, bore the brunt of it, shivering from the cold. He hastily retreated a step away from the doorway.

San Huang hid at the back of the crowd and scoffed, “Didn’t you say you were capable? Now you’re scared?”

Dao Ba was unexpectedly swayed by such a simple provocation. Fuming, he returned to the doorway, his palm once again placed on the door panel, and he strained his wrist——

In the next second, the large door emitted a drawn-out “creak——” sound, simultaneously accompanied by a “scraping” noise of something behind the door rubbing against the floor. The door was pushed open to an acute angle, and then, even Dao Ba couldn’t push it another inch.

The interior of Room 102 finally came into everyone’s view. The corpse on the platform lay quietly in a body bag. The surface of the body bag was even covered with a layer of frost.

Shen Maomao’s first reaction was cold, her body cold, her heart cold.

She couldn’t control her desire to confide, pushing aside Guan Qiwen and whispering beside Lou Jingmo, “Lou-jie, we didn’t put a body bag on the corpse when we left…” Also, what was blocking the door? Could it be Gong Lian whom Lou Jingmo suspected?

Lou Jingmo said, “There are too many people. Let’s not squeeze in there.”

Guan Qiwen didn’t hear Shen Maomao whispering, but he clearly heard Lou Jingmo’s words, and so immediately stopped his forward steps, standing still in place.

After the door opened, San Huang didn’t rush into the room immediately. Instead, he addressed the three people behind him and said, “The door is open now. I expect you all to be present throughout the entire process of carrying the corpse to cremation tonight.”

The middle-aged woman said, “This matter has nothing to do with me. You all can handle it yourselves.”

Speaking of which, this auntie’s profession as a funeral director seemed completely useless. When others were facing all kinds of danger because of their jobs, she was practically coasting the entire time, appearing far too leisurely.

Shen Maomao could think of this point, and naturally, others could as well. San Huang gave her a meaningful look and said with a superficial smile, “How could it have nothing to do with you? I heard that a memorial service is held before cremation. At that time, we’ll still have to follow your directions.”

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A midday was spent prying open the door, yet after it opened, no one dared to enter. After the main group dispersed, Guan Qiwen didn’t act alone anymore. Instead, he unhurriedly followed alongside the two, his intentions unknown.

The three aimlessly wandered in the courtyard of the funeral parlor, going to see the crematorium and other buildings one after another, but they found nothing of value.

Most of the rooms were locked. Only a small portion could be entered, but obviously, these accessible rooms contained almost nothing useful.

Shen Maomao shoved both hands into her pockets, tightly gripping the key in her pocket.

If Guan Qiwen could really learn about their situation through a prop, then he must have known about this string of keys, which was why he was uncharacteristically lingering and refusing to leave.

However, the initiative of whether or not to mention the keys wasn’t in her hands, but in Lou Jingmo’s.

But Lou Jingmo wasn’t the least bit anxious. On the contrary, she looked at the ground absentmindedly, her thoughts unknown.

In the end, it was Guan Qiwen who couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke first, “The key in San Huang’s hand is now useless. He opened all the rooms it could open. The remaining three, who knows where they can open? They’re probably useless too.” He paused, then added another sentence, “I followed you around and didn’t find anything. What about you two? Any discoveries?”

Here it comes, here comes the main topic.

Shen Maomao composed herself and waited, expecting Lou Jingmo to use various excuses to evade the question, taking the opportunity to watch the two spar verbally.

Who knew that in the next second, Lou Jingmo would look at her and ask, “Oh right, don’t you have a string of keys in your hand?”

Shen Maomao: “…?” So, damn it, had Lou Jingmo forgotten?

She took the keys out of her pocket, held them in her hand and shook them a couple of times, then sneered and said, “Heh heh, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I almost forgot about them.”

Lou Jingmo: “Then your memory is quite poor.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Shen Maomao glared at her.

The three huddled together and began studying the keys. Although they still didn’t know why these keys were in Wang Liang’s possession, this point wasn’t important. What was important was which doors these keys could open.

There were a total of four keys, each labeled with a small piece of paper written with four room numbers from 202 to 205.

They immediately assumed these were the rooms on the other side of the dormitory corridor, so without further delay, they went directly upstairs.

The outermost room was 205. Shen Maomao took on the important task of opening the door. She inserted the key into the keyhole, twisted it gently, and the lock clicked open.

She tentatively pushed open the door of Room 205. A wave of decaying air rushed towards her face, as if no one had been there for a very long time.

This side of the corridor was the same as theirs. From the layout, they were all used as dormitories, but compared to the rooms they were staying in, it felt like two different worlds.

The first thing that caught their eyes was a thick layer of dust on the floor. The airflow from opening the door stirred up a large cloud of dust, swirling in the sunlight, unexpectedly possessing a certain beauty.

Shen Maomao waved her hand in front of her face and couldn’t help but sneeze loudly.

Guan Qiwen watched them, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot, standing motionless.

Lou Jingmo, without so many reservations, covered her nose and stepped directly inside, leaving clear footprints on the floor.

Shen Maomao quickly followed, one hand covering her nose and mouth, the other rummaging through the room.

She opened the wardrobe and discovered several work uniforms hanging inside, printed with the five characters “First Funeral Parlor” [第一殡仪馆 | Dì Yī Bìnyíguǎn].

To see if there were any clues inside the clothing, she reached out and grabbed the sleeve of a uniform, wanting to check the pockets. Who would have thought that the moment she touched the corner of the sleeve, the entire uniform, like a long-dried antique, instantly turned to ashes and fell to the bottom of the wardrobe.

Shen Maomao’s body immediately froze.

Lou Jingmo, who was looking through a notebook she had picked up from the bedside table, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, said lightly, “Pay up.”

Shen Maomao: “This is pengci! [碰瓷 | pèngcí | a type of scam where someone pretends to be injured by another person (often involving a vehicle) in order to extort money]” Lou Jingmo smiled, but then, as if suddenly realizing something, quickly suppressed the smile at the corner of her mouth and instead rubbed her temples with a headache.

This Wutong was having a greater impact on her than she had imagined. Just now, she actually found Shen Maomao’s startled jump cute. It was truly like seeing a ghost.

Seeing her like this, Guan Qiwen thought she had encountered some problem and hurriedly walked into the room, asking, “Is there something wrong?”

Lou Jingmo generously showed him the notebook and said, “This is a diary.”

Shen Maomao also closed the wardrobe door, squeezing in beside the bed to peek at someone else’s diary together with them.

October 1st, Tuesday, Weather: Sunny

National Day [国庆 | Guóqìng | National Day of the People’s Republic of China] is such a big holiday, and yet temporary workers actually have to be on duty. This rule is completely inhumane! But with triple pay, I guess it’s still acceptable.

I keep feeling like something’s off with the funeral parlor lately, but I can’t put my finger on it. I need to tell Li not to watch any more ghost movies tonight. It’s making me so nervous.

Sigh, if he wants to watch them, he can watch them by himself. Why does he have to drag me along? So annoying. Li absolutely cannot see this diary entry.

October 2nd, Wednesday, Weather: Cloudy

I had a nightmare last night. Zombies besieged the city. It couldn’t have been more thrilling.

The most terrifying thing was that the zombies actually forced me to sort trash. What kind of demons and monsters are they? Why are they so enthusiastic about environmental protection?

More terrifying than zombies is Li. He’s actually no longer satisfied with just watching ghost movies! Something called “Hundred Ghosts Picture”, doesn’t that sound ominous? And I have no idea which used bookstore he dug it up from.

Li must be the legendary chuunibyou youth [中二青年 | zhōng èr qīngnián | someone who acts like they are still in their edgy, self-important middle school phase], right? He actually told me that evil ghosts are sealed within that book, and that the ghosts in the book have already escaped. He said he’s going to be a hero who saves the world, sealing all the ghosts and monsters…Is he toxic?

Today, a corpse was sent over from the police station. Li and I were the ones who carried it to the mortuary. Police officers watched us the entire time, and after the body was delivered, they immediately chased us away. Could it be they’re afraid we’ll steal the corpse’s kidneys?

October 3rd, Thursday, Weather: Cloudy

The weather is so cloudy today, even cloudier than yesterday.

I’ve been feeling uneasy lately. Should I take some vitamins?

Before going to bed last night, I remember my shoes were neatly placed at the foot of the bed, toes pointing outwards, but when I woke up this morning, they were messily pointing towards me. Could it be that Li wore my shoes? Or did I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without realizing it?

October 4th, Friday, Weather: Rainy

The rain is so heavy, I’m so scared.

October 5th, , Weather:

What should I do? We can’t get out…Ding is dead, Gao is dead too…Could I be next?

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