The Hand of Confession – Chapter 140

Volume 5: Days of Applying Makeup to Corpses

Gong Lian and Xiao Qiao

This is not Huang Hongxing at all, it’s clearly Xiao Qiao who went missing not long ago!!!

Shen Maomao always knew she was a scatterbrained woman, but who knew the owner of this diary was even more so!

That’s a funeral home! And with so many strange things happening, she didn’t even have a shred of suspicion. This is truly a case of dying without knowing how!

But thinking about it from another perspective, if she herself encountered such things in a funeral home—she would still be scared to death…

The most terrifying thing is, this scatterbrained girl seemed to have fallen in love with a suddenly revived corpse? What kind of courage is this? Shen Maomao felt she was far from reaching such a level.

Guan Qiwen tried to think about the problem rationally: “According to her diary writing habits, she hasn’t written anything after October 6th, does that mean she died on the sixth day?”

“Not necessarily,” Lou Jingmo said, “Maybe she’s immersed in the land of tenderness [温柔乡 | wēnróuxiāng | a figurative expression for romantic bliss] and isn’t planning on coming out.”

Shen Maomao felt a chill down her spine.

Lou Jingmo added: “The funeral home does have surveillance cameras. The diary owner’s supervisor seemed to have seen something on the surveillance footage, so he took leave the next day.” It’s just unknown whether he escaped this disaster.

She had also seen surveillance cameras in the corridor before, but hadn’t paid much attention to them. This diary reminded her that there might be some discoveries from the surveillance recordings.

So where is the surveillance room?

They had watched San Huang and his group search the rooms on the first floor. All the rooms on the left were makeup rooms, and the right side were all corpse display halls. In the middle, there was a small security room.

The right side of the second floor were their rooms, and the left side seemed to be the rooms of former funeral home employees. Could it be that the surveillance room isn’t in this building?

Shen Maomao opened all the remaining doors, but didn’t find any other diaries.

And at this moment, it was almost dinner time.

Shen Maomao cautiously locked the door of the last room, 201, and the three of them went downstairs together.

As soon as they exited the main door, a gust of cold wind blew towards their faces. The sky was covered by a thick layer of dark clouds. They then realized that the sky had darkened unknowingly, but they had simply assumed it was the normal onset of night, so they hadn’t noticed.

If it were a normal day, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but today was precisely the fourth day, the beginning of everything in this story, so it was inevitable that the three of them would overthink it.

Since the dining hall had filled up, their numbers didn’t seem to increase anymore. Shen Maomao stood at the entrance and counted. She found that this small dining hall had forty seats, and almost all of them were occupied—leaving only three separate seats. One was near San Huang, one near Dao Ba, and the other near the middle-aged woman.

These thirty-seven people were divided into two main camps. One group was led by San Huang, and the other by Dao Ba, plus the middle-aged woman who disliked San Huang.

One group was the hypocritical faction, and the other was the truly evil faction. Neither were good people.

Guan Qiwen consciously walked towards the seat near San Huang, pretending to be with the “protect the emperor” faction. Shen Maomao thought for a moment and sat near Dao Ba, leaving the seemingly less threatening middle-aged auntie to Lou Jingmo.

This meal was destined to be a tasteless dinner, not only because the food itself was bland, but also because most people were not in the mood.

Shen Maomao ate dirt with a blank expression, listening to San Huang summarize the day’s discoveries, a summary that ultimately proved useless.

Their next task was to follow a few people to room 102, carry out the corpse of the NPC Huang Hongxing, and send him for cremation.

After finishing their meal, the group returned to the building. The pried-open door of 102 was still open at that acute angle, without a single change, which reassured everyone present.

San Huang, as the self-proclaimed leader and one of the cremationists, naturally needed to take the lead and be the first to enter the room. He wasn’t very willing, but under the watchful eyes of so many people, he had to go whether he wanted to or not.

He pushed the door again, but it still wouldn’t budge. So, holding his protruding belly, he said, “My belly is too big, I can’t get in at all.”

Dao Ba sneered, “Four days into the game, and you’re the only one who has eaten himself into a fatso. I really don’t know if you’re here to escape death or to raise pigs.”

Speaking of which, San Huang really did seem to have gained a lot of weight…

At the start of the game, he was just slightly chubby, a typical feizhai [肥宅 | féizhāi | slang for overweight homebody/nerd], but now his weight is estimated to be heading straight towards three hundred jin [150 kg ≈ 330 lbs]. Moreover, he only gained weight in his belly; the flesh on his face, on the contrary, hadn’t grown much. Now, with a slightly chubby face and such a large belly, he looked quite bizarre.

San Huang didn’t mind Dao Ba’s insults about his physique at all. Instead, he rubbed his round belly and said nonchalantly, “I think you’re quite thin, you should be able to get in, right?”

The two argued briefly, and then the middle-aged auntie stepped in to mediate: “Stop arguing! It’s already 8:30 PM. You guys may not want to sleep, but this old auntie still needs her sleep! I say, everyone should just disperse. Whoever’s job it is should be responsible for it. I don’t want to waste any more time.”

If San Huang had the guts to act alone, he wouldn’t have called everyone here. Seeing this, he immediately said, “Where are the people who carry corpses?” Four people responded and stepped forward.

Shen Maomao frowned, standing at the back of the crowd and whispering, “Were there four people? How come I remember there being three? It seems like San Huang was also there?”

Lou Jingmo tilted her ear, keeping her distance from her, and said indifferently, “Just watch the show.”

Seeing that these four people all came from his side, San Huang immediately ordered them: “Alright, you guys go in and carry the corpse out, then we’ll go to the crematorium together…”

One of them hesitated, but San Huang pushed him from behind: “What are you afraid of? So many of us are here with you. Finish it quickly so we can all leave early.”

So, he no longer hesitated and squeezed into room 102 through the crack in the door.

The cold air had already been released through the crack, so it wasn’t that cold once he was inside. The remaining three people also squeezed in one after another and slowly walked towards the body bag in the middle.

The person who entered first went around to the other side of the bed. As soon as he turned around, he let out a cry of surprise.

“What’s wrong?!” Dao Ba took a step forward and asked urgently.

San Huang, however, took half a step back and chose to remain silent.

The other three people in the room swiftly turned around, their faces all showing varying degrees of shock.

Shen Maomao had a bad premonition, about the direction the man was looking, about the person behind the door…

In the next second, Dao Ba rushed into the room and dragged out a stiff corpse from behind the door. It was Gong Lian.

Perhaps because she had been frozen for a long time, the body was fixed in a kneeling position at the doorway. One of her hands pointed downwards, the other stretched forward. The first joint of her index finger was nothing but bone, while the remaining two joints were covered in frozen minced flesh and congealed blood.

The shadow she and Lou Jingmo had seen that day was indeed Gong Lian. Gong Lian, who appeared before everyone later, was indeed already a ghost.

San Huang patted his belly happily: “I knew it! The key breaking wasn’t my fault at all! It was clearly her blocking the keyhole with her finger!”

Dao Ba looked behind the door and, sure enough, found some minced flesh and bloodstains near the keyhole.

No one cared how long Gong Lian had been dead. San Huang was even a little happy, possibly because Gong Lian’s appearance was enough to prove his innocence.

Gong Lian’s eyes were tightly closed, and a strip of ice stretched from the corner of her eye to her chin. Her face was bluish, clearly from severe frostbite, but a smile hung on the corner of her mouth. She looked like clothes left outside to dry in winter, exuding an indescribable eerieness.

In Dao Ba’s hands, this frozen stiff woman seemed to have no weight at all. He flung her lightly, tossing her outside the door. She hit the ground with a crisp sound.

The people at the door dispersed, leaving the center space clear.

Shen Maomao retreated again and again, until Lou Jingmo stopped her by pressing against her back.

Lou Jingmo said faintly, “What are you running from?”

Shen Maomao replied seriously, “Gong Lian said I shouldn’t enter 102. I have to stay away, wouldn’t it be bad if her elderly self misunderstood?”

Lou Jingmo: “…”

Without Gong Lian blocking the way, the door was easily pushed open completely. Shen Maomao looked inside, and the four men had already started working.

One of them went to the stretcher and gripped the front corner. The other three also took their positions, and together they lifted Huang Hongxing.

Looking at the eerie corpse on the ground, Shen Maomao asked, “What about Gong Lian?!”

San Huang said, “This is the embalmer’s job, it has nothing to do with us.”

Dao Ba also said, “The phone call only told us to cremate Huang Hongxing. It didn’t say anything about how to deal with her.” The implication being they would leave her there.

Guan Qiwen, lost in thought, suddenly stopped and said, “I’m the embalmer. Leave this to me.”

So the group walked out of the building. After only a couple of steps, the person who had entered the room first said in surprise, “Why is it so light?”

Everyone else dismissed it, but Lou Jingmo stared intently for a long while, then suddenly said, “Wait!”

Everyone stopped and looked at Lou Jingmo.

San Huang asked, “What are you doing?”

Lou Jingmo ignored him and instead walked quickly to the corpse, reaching out and unzipping the body bag.

One of the men in front grabbed her hand: “What do you think you’re doing?”

Lou Jingmo forcefully pulled her hand free and said, “This isn’t Huang Hongxing.”

Shen Maomao’s eyes widened abruptly.

Guan Qiwen murmured, “Not Huang Hongxing… then who could it be?”

Who else could it be? Who else among the dead?!

San Huang said, “How do you know the person inside isn’t Huang Hongxing?”

Lou Jingmo replied, “I’m guessing.”

San Huang: “…”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Seeing that Lou-jie was about to offend someone again, she quickly stepped forward and said, “Didn’t those guys also say it felt a bit light? The body bag is already unzipped anyway. Taking a look won’t hurt, so let’s see what’s going on.”

The person carrying the top right corner of the stretcher said, “Maybe we should listen to her, because this weight really doesn’t seem right…”

As he spoke, Dao Ba, who was next to him, yanked open the body bag, revealing the corpse inside.

The scene was silent for a full three seconds.

This wasn’t Huang Hongxing at all, it was clearly Xiao Qiao, who had gone missing not long ago!!!

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