The Hand of Confession – Chapter 139

Volume 5: Days of Applying Makeup to Corpses

Diary Two

How can weak humans resist powerful ghosts?

This diary’s author seems to have been a former worker at the funeral parlor. The diary abruptly stops on the fifth day, with only blank pages remaining. It’s unknown whether the author lost the mood to write or lost the ability to do so.

“What happened on October 4th?” Shen Maomao couldn’t help but ask.

The second diary entry mentioned the origin of the 《Hundred Ghosts Picture》 — that death-loving “Li” brought it in from outside. Moreover, Li seemed to know that various ghosts from the 《Hundred Ghosts Picture》 would escape and even decided to seal them, but the diary’s owner didn’t take it seriously.

On the third day, some strange changes suddenly occurred in the room where the diary’s owner lived—Room 205.

These changes had some premonitions and happened quickly. Therefore, on the fourth day, the author didn’t describe daily life in detail, leaving only the sentence, “The rain is so heavy, I’m so scared.” Clearly, the funeral parlor had become haunted.

Lou Jingmo said: “I don’t know what happened on the 4th. But tomorrow is the 4th; we’ll find out then.”

Shen Maomao: “Is this for real?”

Guan Qiwen said: “Have our shoes ever moved in our room?”

“No,” Lou Jingmo stated firmly.

After speaking, she looked at Shen Maomao: “And you?”

Shen Maomao said uncertainly: “Um… probably not?”

Lou Jingmo: “…”

Shen Maomao was on the verge of tears: “I’m not that detail-oriented! But it’s true that I felt something was off from the beginning.”

Lou Jingmo sighed, not wanting to speak.

Shen Maomao felt she could still redeem herself: “I’ll definitely pay extra attention tonight. Trust me, I can do it.”

Lou Jingmo closed the book and handed the diary to Guan Qiwen, whose eyes had been constantly darting towards it: “Since you have the 《Hundred Ghosts Picture》, you might as well keep this diary too.”

The surprise was too sudden. Guan Qiwen was momentarily stunned, asking blankly: “This… you don’t want it?”

Simping Shen Maomao went online: “If Lou-jie says you can have it, then take it. You can study the information inside; maybe you’ll even get some hidden mission.”

His most secret thoughts exposed by someone he usually looked down upon, Guan Qiwen’s expression changed for a moment, but quickly returned to normal. Smiling, he tucked the book into his work uniform, holding it under his arm: “Alright, if I find anything, I’ll let you know.”

As for whether he would actually share any discoveries, that was another matter.

The three searched the room again. Guan Qiwen lifted the mattress and discovered densely packed yellow talismans underneath the foam, the kind that would make someone with trypophobia want to die.

Guan Qiwen asked: “Is this Li’s bed?”

Lou Jingmo: “Very likely.”

Shen Maomao: “Could this be some kind of seal? We definitely shouldn’t touch these talismans!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly blew in from the doorway, swirling up the talismans that had been pressed under the bed for a long time, sending them spinning down onto the ash-covered floor.

Shen Maomao: “F*ck!”

The three looked at each other, standing frozen for a few minutes, but nothing happened.

Guan Qiwen carefully lowered the mattress, not disturbing the other talismans.

Shen Maomao squatted in front of one of the talismans, lost in thought: “What do you think… this talisman represents? Is it some kind of unspeakable omen? Should we take it with us?”

Lou Jingmo looked at Guan Qiwen: “Do you want it?”

Guan Qiwen hesitated, then said after a moment of struggling with the decision: “I don’t want it. I already have two books; you can keep this.”

Lou Jingmo nodded, without saying anything else, and simply picked up the talisman, putting it in her pocket.

Her casual attitude made Guan Qiwen overthink again—What was her purpose in taking the talisman? Would he die if he didn’t take it? Was it too late to regret his decision?

However, Lou Jingmo was already pulling Shen Maomao away from Room 205, telling her to open the next door. Guan Qiwen could only suppress these thoughts and hurry after them.

Shen Maomao opened the door to Room 203 next door.

This room was also covered in dust, but it was different from Room 205. Deep red scratches marked the walls, floor, and ceiling of Room 203, like the claw marks of some enormous beast. Besides these scratches, there were many dark stains on the wooden floor, perhaps bloodstains that hadn’t been cleaned up in time…

“Holy sh*t…” Shen Maomao exclaimed, “The fight here must have been intense…”

Lou Jingmo looked down at the floor: “This was a one-sided massacre.”

How could weak humans resist powerful ghosts? They could only passively flee.

She took a step, her foot landing on the aged floorboards.

The floor emitted a weak groan. Shen Maomao perked up her ears, seemingly hearing the roar of some monster within that long “creak.”

“Wait, Lou-jie!” She reached out, grabbed Lou Jingmo’s arm, and yanked her out of the room.

In the next second, the door slammed shut with a “bang,” nearly catching Lou Jingmo’s hand. If Shen Maomao hadn’t acted suddenly, she would probably be trapped inside now.

The three stood in front of the door, still shaken. Guan Qiwen asked in astonishment: “How did you know the door would close?”

Shen Maomao answered truthfully: “Intuition. But it wasn’t that I thought the door would close, it was that I felt this room was very dangerous.”

Her intuition was always accurate.

Lou Jingmo grasped her hand: “I’m fine, don’t be afraid.”

Shen Maomao exclaimed again: “Lou-jie!”

Lou Jingmo’s hand stiffened. She realized she was about to interlace her fingers with Shen Maomao’s, their hands clasped together.

Lou-jie wanted to curse again.

She coughed, subtly withdrawing her hand from Shen Maomao’s, thinking that next time she encountered  Wutong, she would just kill it. Aloud, she said: “There is indeed something in that room, but its power doesn’t seem high. I can handle it.”

Guan Qiwen said regretfully: “It would have been better if Xiao Shen hadn’t pulled you out just now.”

Shen Maomao, feeling she had done something wrong, immediately apologized to Lou Jingmo: “I’m sorry, it was a reflex…”

Lou Jingmo gave Guan Qiwen a pointed look: “It’s alright. Although the thing inside is weak, fighting it would inevitably make noise, which could attract other things, and that wouldn’t be good.”

Guan Qiwen: “…” So f*cking protective.

Shen Maomao brightened again: “So, are we still checking Room 203?”

Lou Jingmo: “No, let’s switch rooms.”

The next lucky room was 204 across the hall. The situation inside was similar to 205, with a diary on the nightstand.

This diary was much thicker than the previous one, starting from a year ago. Each entry was lengthy, recording almost everything that happened each day. Judging by the delicate handwriting, the diary’s owner was likely a girl.

Lou Jingmo quickly flipped to the end of the diary, starting to read from the October 1st entry.

October 1st

Li Shibo [李世博 | Lǐ Shìbó] has been acting strange lately. He keeps staring at me. Could he be trying to hit on me? But he’s too gloomy and always muttering to himself, not my type.

This morning, he suddenly asked me if my neck hurt. He must have been paying attention to me for a while; otherwise, how would he know such a small thing?

But my neck has been really sore recently. I should make time to see a doctor. I’m still so young; I can’t have cervical spondylosis, can I? [頸椎病 | jǐngzhuībìng | a general term for age-related wear and tear affecting the spinal disks in your neck. Also known as neck arthritis.]

At lunch, the food had no taste at all. Who cooked today? How can humans make such awful food?

Nothing much happened in the evening, except the air conditioning on the first floor seemed broken. When I first entered the hall, I thought I had walked into an ice cellar. It was freezing! But for some reason, the second floor didn’t feel any temperature change at all. Thankfully, that’s the case; otherwise, we’d probably all be frozen stiff by tomorrow morning. I wonder when the AC will be fixed.

No work today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be the same!

October 2nd

The repairman came today, but he said there’s nothing wrong with the AC. Then he checked everything else and said there was nothing wrong with the freezer either. What’s going on? Did winter arrive early? But it’s still autumn, isn’t it? I don’t get it.

They brought in an incredibly handsome man from outside. He’s so good-looking, it’s such a shame. I snatched the job of applying his makeup, taking the opportunity to touch his face.

Sigh, how could such a handsome man die so young? Life is so unfair! But if he hadn’t died, I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to meet him, hehe :)

A vase in the hallway suddenly shattered. The boss flew into a rage, saying the vase was an antique and that he’d check the security footage to make whoever broke it pay for it. What a joke! How could our crappy little place have an antique? Is he trying to scam us? A few of us waited by the security room door for the boss to drag out the unlucky culprit, but when he came out, his face was completely pale. He didn’t say anything, just waved us away. What was that about? Could it be that one of the corpses took a dislike to the vase, came back to life to smash it, and then died again? Hahahaha, what kind of fantasy story am I imagining?

The cafeteria chef finally returned to normal today, and even seemed to have surpassed their usual performance. If I could eat such delicious food every day, this humble woman would be willing to offer up twenty jin [斤 | jīn | 10 kg or 22 lbs] of body fat!

October 3rd

I actually dreamt about that handsome man last night!

Eek, I’m not pure anymore, having such naughty dreams qwq But it was pretty great, to be honest.

Sigh, I’ll sneak a peek at him later. I haven’t seen him all day, and I strangely miss him a little.

Old Baldy didn’t show up today?! So even workaholics take days off. He was trying to scam us yesterday; could this be karma? Hahahaha, serves him right for being so arrogant with us all the time!

I keep feeling like something’s off today, but I can’t put my finger on it. Could it be because the work uniform is so ugly?

Hmmmmm, maybe I’m just sleep-deprived. I definitely need to go to bed early tonight. Romance novels are ruining my life.

October 4th

Holy sh*t, holy sh*t, holy sh*t!!! That incredibly handsome man wasn’t dead after all!!!

Oh my god!!

It’s a good thing I went to sneak a peek at him today! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been the first person he saw when he opened his eyes!

He’s so handsome, and so charming. We’re definitely going to be very happy together!

October 5th

Hahahahaha, I must be the happiest woman in the world.

The rest of the diary is blank.

---

---