The Hand of Confession – Chapter 148

Volume 5: Days of Applying Makeup to Corpses

Nightmare

I vomited a piece of scalp from my mouth, with a strand of long hair attached…

This was indeed not Guan Qiwen’s fifth instance. To be precise, this was his seventh game.

It seemed like only two games less, but the difficulty of the games was vastly different.

The more games played, the greater the difficulty of the instance for the game participants. In most cases, the game difficulty manifested in “targeting” the players.

If clearing one’s “own” instance was considered leveling up, then a person’s initial level was Lv0, and they would level up once by passing an instance. The higher the level of a person, the easier it was for them to be targeted by ghosts and monsters, and the more likely they were to encounter danger. And if people at Lv5 or higher in an instance accounted for two-fifths of the total, the difficulty of this instance would increase.

In instances with increased difficulty, ghosts and monsters were not bound by the killing restrictions – as long as the death conditions were met, they could freely dispose of players who broke the rules, killing as many as they wanted. That was why they were in this state of having half their number wiped out on the first day.

There were a total of 13 people in this instance, and two-fifths meant five people. Excluding Lou Jingmo, Guan Qiwen and Shen Maomao, as long as three of the remaining ten people reached Lv5, the instance difficulty would increase.

Lou Jingmo suspected that two of the Lv5+ individuals would be San Huang and Xiao Qiao, but she had no clue about the other one.

It was likely that even San Huang himself hadn’t anticipated that – by leaving the secluded woods to the women and choosing to walk on the wide road, he had decided his future fate at the very moment he made that choice.

Guan Qiwen, feeling guilty, said, “Many power-levelers are unwilling to take risks. I was also trying to survive. I originally intended to tell you when I entered the game, but so many things happened that I forgot.”

Lou Jingmo curled her lips slightly, her eyes devoid of any real amusement.

Whether he forgot or not, wasn’t it just a matter of Guan Qiwen saying so?

Shen Maomao put her arm around his shoulder, smiling broadly, and said, “Boss Guan, between money and life, do you only focus on money?”

Guan Qiwen was an entrepreneur, a capitalist, a leader in a high position. Making him apologize was worse than making him die. So, he said, “How about doubling the originally agreed price?”

Shen Maomao looked at Lou Jingmo.

“Who would refuse money?” Lou Jingmo nodded. “Deal.”

Shen Maomao: “…” As expected of Lou-jie.

It was likely that Lou Jingmo hadn’t taken Guan Qiwen seriously from the beginning, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so indifferent after being deceived.

The atmosphere among the three was completely gone. Shen Maomao felt a little uncomfortable and quickly slapped her inner child twice, telling herself to wake up and stop making foolish mistakes.

Not all life-and-death friendships could be transformed into the trust of entrusting one’s back to the other. Some people were naturally not on the same path. She and Ren Yue were like that, and so were she and Guan Qiwen.

“Beep, beep, beep, beep beep beep—”

The melody of “Für Elise” suddenly rang out. Shen Maomao was startled and fumbled to pull her phone out of her pocket.

The eerie green screen displayed the three characters “Huang Hongxing”, but she had no idea who would be on the other end of the line when she answered.

As usual, she first looked at Lou Jingmo’s reaction. Shen Maomao held the phone as if it were a hot potato.

Lou Jingmo said, “Answer it.”

Shen Maomao answered the call, and a hoarse voice came from the phone: “The families of the deceased are very dissatisfied with this funeral and want to complain to the higher-ups about our funeral home…”

It was Huang Hongxing.

Compared to San Huang, Shen Maomao was more afraid of this NPC. She hesitated for a moment, but still decided to treat him the way she treated San Huang, firing off words like a machine gun: “What does a complaint about the funeral home have to do with us temporary workers? Are you going to put the blame on to to us? Are you capitalists human? What are you planning, dumping everything on the the temporary workers? Forget the rest, You tell me, does being being reported have anything to do with us? Look at the people you sent. That fat pig San Huang only knows how to show off. He can’t even give clear instructions. We have several bodies here, and he doesn’t say who died. How are we supposed to know who these family members are or whose memorial service it is? And those family members, they’re like they’re sick. What, are their eyes genetic identifiers and X-ray machines? Can they see through the cremation urn with one glance, scan the ashes inside, and then find out that this is not their relative?”

After racking her brains to say a long string of words, Shen Maomao had nothing more to say.

The screen remained lit, but there was no sound from the earpiece, making her suspect that she was talking to the air, or even that Huang Hongxing had already hung up without her knowing.

Just as she stopped talking, the person on the other end let out a couple of “hehe” laughs and said, “So that’s how it is. It looks like our funeral home still has a lot of shortcomings. How about this, I’ll directly promote you to a full-time employee and let you lead the other employees to reform the existing system. What do you think?”

Shen Maomao: “…” Damn!

Indeed, the older, the wiser. Huang Hongxing was much harder to fool than San Huang.

Shen Maomao was afraid that she would never be able to leave the instance after becoming a full-time employee, so she quickly refused: “I disagree. I won’t do it. I’m a girl. I can’t work in a funeral home forever!”

Huang Hongxing said, “Want to leave? It’s not that easy. Hahahaha…”

The eerie electronic sound mixed with laughter, “crackling” and polluting their ears.

Shen Maomao: “If you keep laughing, I’ll start singing.”

Huang Hongxing instantly shut his mouth.

Shen Maomao: “…?? What do you mean??” While saying this, she raised her eyebrows and winked at Lou Jingmo, indicating to her that Huang Hongxing could at least hear what they were saying.

Lou Jingmo nodded, took the phone from her hand, and said to the phone, “Huang Hongxing, don’t you want to escape this kind of life?”

Huang Hongxing didn’t speak.

Lou Jingmo continued, “Your head leaves your body every day. Aren’t you afraid?”

Huang Hongxing said, “What do you know? If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have this kind of ability. Those who look down on me will be easily killed by me. I can control anyone’s life. What do I have to be afraid of?”

Lou Jingmo sneered, “Does this include your wife and child?”

Huang Hongxing began to pant heavily, “wheezing” as if he was about to pass out at any moment.

Lou Jingmo: “I don’t know why you were able to survive after being possessed by the feitouman, but don’t you want to kill this monster and avenge your family? Your family was killed by the feitouman, but the person who did it was you. Don’t you feel guilty?”

At this moment, Lou Jingmo was more like a devil luring people to their doom than Huang Hongxing. She coaxed him, threw out her bait, and led Huang Hongxing step by step into the abyss: “We have a way to kill the feitouman, and we can also kill you. As long as you tell us the way to leave, we can help you.”

Huang Hongxing suddenly calmed down and said in a hoarse voice, “Your proposal is indeed very good, but the thing you are looking for is not on me. I don’t know where it is.”

Lou Jingmo raised an eyebrow: “What do you know? We can make an equal exchange. You should know our location. Why don’t we sit down and have a good talk?”

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a knock on the door of the monitoring room.

Shen Maomao was stunned and couldn’t help but give Lou Jingmo a thumbs up.

Lou Jingmo hung up the phone, tossed it in Shen Maomao’s direction, and ordered her, “Go open the door.”

Shen Maomao caught the phone steadily, put it back in her pocket, and trotted to the door, pulling it open: “F*ck!!”

Outside the door was a lone head, with a long neck attached to it, looking both terrifying and absurd.

Shen Maomao said frantically, “I mean, why are being so scary in broad daylight?”

Huang Hongxing’s face was expressionless, and he slipped past Shen Maomao into the room.

Shen Maomao closed the door behind her and walked to Lou Jingmo’s side, acting as a loyal protector.

Lou Jingmo didn’t speak. She sat calmly in the computer chair, crossing her legs and looking at Huang Hongxing. Her eyes were as calm and unwavering as an ancient well, and of course, there was not a trace of fear.

The person and the ghost stared at each other for a long time. It was Huang Hongxing who spoke first: “What’s the method you mentioned?”

Lou Jingmo: “What about your sincerity?”

Huang Hongxing became silent again.

Lou Jingmo wasn’t in a hurry. She casually beckoned to Shen Maomao beside her.

“Huh? What?” Shen Maomao took a step forward in confusion, but was pulled into Lou Jingmo’s arms, her butt sitting on her thigh.

Shen Maomao: “???”

Lou Jingmo wrapped her arm around her waist, buried her head in her neck, and took a deep breath: “So fragrant…”

A row of goosebumps rose on Shen Maomao’s neck. She pushed her head away with her hand: “I haven’t showered in days! My neck is covered in dirt!!”

Lou Jingmo: “…”

Feeling the arm that was restraining her loosen a little, Shen Maomao, like a nimble loach, twisted her waist and jumped out of her arms. She said seriously to Lou Jingmo, “Lou-jie, let’s make a deal. Next time you can’t control yourself, I’ll give you a big slap, okay?”

Lou Jingmo’s face darkened: “…Wutong is nearby.”

Hearing this, Guan Qiwen immediately opened the door of the monitoring room and rushed into the corridor. A corner of his clothes disappeared around the corner. He didn’t chase after it. Instead, he returned to the monitoring room and said, “It ran away. I don’t know if it was Wutong.”

Huang Hongxing suddenly said, “It’s him. I can smell his scent.”

Lou Jingmo rested her right hand on her chin, leaned her head forward, and looked at him with interest: “What else?”

Huang Hongxing gritted his teeth and finally began to reveal himself: “I’m actually already dead. The night I came back from the funeral home, that ghostly thing came out and strangled my wife and my fourteen-year-old son…”

He said this through gritted teeth, obviously hating the feitouman to the extreme: “I woke up and found the house full of blood. I vomited a piece of scalp from my mouth, with a strand of long hair attached…”

Listening to his description, Shen Maomao felt her throat start to itch, as if countless hairs were crawling inside, making her want to gag.

But that would be too rude, so she suppressed the urge.

Huang Hongxing’s narration continued. He seemed to be recalling the scene of that day again, and his voice was a little choked: “No one can know my pain… At that time, I didn’t even know why such a thing happened…”

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The author has something to say:

I’m sorry, I’ll never cliffhanger and play coy in a place like this again _(:з」∠)_ I didn’t expect you guys to think so far ahead

And about replying to comments, oh no, I might really not be able to keep up with replies qwq

Because I’m replying to so many at once, I have to enter a captcha every time, and my school’s internet is very slow. Every time a reply is loading, I just want smash my phone 1551

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