The Hand of Confession – Chapter 155

Volume 6: Days of Being Zapped in the Lab

A Family of Three

Divorced young woman with two kids

Truly brought tears to my eyes, money makes ghosts turn millstones—Shen Maomao only hated that she didn’t have eight hundred thousand or a million¹ on hand, so she could ruthlessly stomp Lou Jingmo underfoot—Ahem, she was just thinking about it inwardly.

Golden Retriever asked, puzzled: “Xiaolou-jie, you’re not short on money, why do you still work so hard doing boosting²?”

This was also a question Shen Maomao wanted to know the answer to, so she stared at Lou Jingmo with wide eyes, wanting to hear what kind of answer she would give.

Lou Jingmo: “What I lack isn’t money, but the opportunity to enter the game.” For a big shot like her, money was actually the most useless thing.

While others were still struggling bitterly at the bottom layer of the game, they were already focusing on the entire game, seizing every opportunity to strive to break free from the game’s control and regain their freedom…

Shen Maomao felt she wasn’t up to it yet. Her primary goal was still to obediently follow Lou-jie and survive. Escaping the game was something she shouldn’t be thinking about right now.

But one must have dreams. What’s the difference between having no dreams and being a salted fish? One day, she would definitely be able to stand at the same height as Lou Jingmo, walking side-by-side with her through her own abilities.

The third instance belonging to the two of them was about to arrive. Golden Retriever naturally chose to stay in Nancheng and meet changes with constancy³. Anyway, he had reached the point where he could go out for advanced studies, so it didn’t matter at all if he skipped classes all day.

Lou Jingmo’s home wasn’t a luxurious mansion, so naturally, there was no place for Golden Retriever and Xixi to stay. But Big Boss Jin had more money than sense and directly booked the presidential suite at the hotel closest to their home for a month—you ask about a small motel? Tuhao Jin⁴ expressed that he’d never stayed in such a small room; even Lou Jingmo’s house wasn’t big enough for him to stretch his legs.

Shen Maomao felt like she could see several large words on his face—Laozi⁵ is here to scatter coins⁶!

However, he had money, he could spend it however he wanted. It wasn’t Shen Maomao’s problem to worry about.

Lou Jingmo asked someone to investigate the situation regarding the funeral home, but there were no results yet, so she focused intently on writing her new book, staying home every day without going out.

During this time, Shen Maomao took the two kids, Xixi and Golden Retriever, to have a blast playing around Nancheng—of course, all expenses were covered by Big Boss Jin.

Xixi was an adorable little tsundere⁷ boy who liked to put on a serious face and talk like an adult, making Shen Maomao find him incredibly cute⁸. During these few days in Nancheng, the revolutionary friendship between the three progressed by leaps and bounds, and they quickly hit it off⁹.

So that evening, when Lou Jingmo stood behind the railing on the second floor, looking at the “family of three”¹⁰ sitting on the carpet, wearing matching parent-child short-sleeved shirts, playing with building blocks together, she suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

She stood on the second floor watching for a long time, until Shen Maomao inadvertently looked up and met her dark eyes…

Shen Maomao waved at her: “Lou-jie! Quick, look at the little house Xixi and I built for you!”

Lou Jingmo lowered her gaze, seemingly having no intention of moving.

Shen Maomao held up a very exquisite small toy gun made of blocks: “Look! Our son¹¹ built it! I bet he could become a firearms designer when he grows up!”

Golden Retriever: “?? Who’s your son??”

So downstairs wasn’t some “family of three,” but a “divorced young woman with two kids”??

Lou Jingmo walked down from the second floor.

Last night, Shen Maomao had finally figured out the topic for the thesis that had been giving her a headache. To celebrate, she decided to take Xixi and Golden Retriever out for a good meal.

So they were preparing to go out soon.

She looked at Lou Jingmo, who had sat down on the sofa, and asked: “Lou-jie, are you coming with us?”

Lou Jingmo shook her head: “Not going.”

Shen Maomao pestered her: “Lou-jie~ Come on, come on? You have to participate in group activities!! We bought clothes for you too! Put on the matching outfit¹², we’ll wear the same thing out, we’ll definitely be the most stunning sight on the street!”

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For a moment, Lou Jingmo felt like she’d been hit with a Gu¹³, otherwise why would she put on this god-awful outfit¹⁴ that completely clashed with her style, walking down the street with Shen Maomao, each holding one of Xu Jianxi’s hands???

She glanced at Shen Maomao and Xu Jianxi, who were bouncing with joy, and sighed inwardly.

Forget it, just consider it coaxing a child.

As for which child she was coaxing… that wasn’t important.

Golden Retriever felt a bit superfluous. Xixi, that little bastard¹⁵, ditched his uncle the moment he saw someone pretty, refusing to let him hold his hand, making him feel really redundant now. He should be under the car, not in the car¹⁶, look how sweetly those three are smiling. It’s clearly a movie for four people, why does he never get his name mentioned?

The restaurant they decided on was a bit crowded. The group sat bored on the small stools provided by the manager, waiting for the people inside to finish eating and leave. While waiting, Shen Maomao’s head suddenly buzzed, and a time floated into her mind—0531, 08:30.

Exactly tomorrow.

It seemed her third instance was coming.

She didn’t tell anyone, followed the planned schedule to eat and play, only returning home after dark.

As soon as she entered the house, Lou Jingmo stopped her as she was about to get some water: “When?”

Shen Maomao paused for a moment: “How could you tell?”

Lou Jingmo: “You’ve been absent-minded all afternoon.”

“Is that so?” Shen Maomao scratched her head, chuckling sheepishly, “It’s tomorrow morning at 8:30.”

Lou Jingmo nodded, indicating she understood.

Shen Maomao lay on the sofa, like a salted fish, scrolling through her Moments, looking completely unconcerned about the instance.

It seemed that after passing a few instances without mishap, Miss Shen¹⁷ had gotten cocky¹⁸.

Lou Jingmo couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile, then, as if remembering something, quickly suppressed it: “Not taking the game seriously like this, I suppose you’re planning to stop at Lv3, are you?”

Shen Maomao was speechless: “I’ve never seen a pre-battle pep talk¹⁹ like yours, huh? Can’t you think on the bright side?”

Lou Jingmo snorted coldly: “I always prepare for the worst²⁰.” After saying that, she went upstairs.

Leaving Shen Maomao alone, curled up on the sofa hugging her phone, her thoughts drifting off somewhere unknown.

What was wrong with Lou Jingmo? One minute she’s all smiles with me, the next she’s all MMP²¹ at me.

Could it be her time of the month, making her emotions so volatile?

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No matter how unwilling she was, the sun still rose the next day.

At 7:30 AM, Shen Maomao woke up from bed and looked out the window at the sun already hanging high in the sky.

A new day had arrived, and her third instance was coming with it.

She got dressed, washed up, and first went next door to knock on Lou Jingmo’s bedroom door, unleashing a life-claiming chain of calls²²: “Lou-jie! Get up! Sun’s baking your butt²³! Tidy up and get up to work!”

A loud bang came from the door panel; Lou Jingmo must have thrown something handy at the door.

Shen Maomao smiled with satisfaction and shuffled downstairs in her slippers.

After going downstairs, she headed straight for the kitchen, setting the pot, boiling water, and washing the rice all in one go²⁴, then put the rice into the boiling water and started preparing other food.

Lou Jingmo came downstairs languidly, plopped onto the sofa, glanced at the clock, and called out loudly to Shen Maomao in the kitchen: “It’s 8:15, hope the congee won’t burn this time.”

Once before, she had gone upstairs to call her family while cooking congee, completely forgot about it after the call, and only remembered when the smell of burning reached the second floor. Lou Jingmo remembered this one incident damn clearly²⁵ and brought it up to tease her at every opportunity. Was she addicted to seeing her flustered and exasperated²⁶?

Shen Maomao’s face darkened: “Eat it or don’t!”

Lou Jingmo couldn’t help but want to laugh.

Fifteen minutes later, the aroma of rice wafted from the pot. Shen Maomao prepared to crack an egg into the congee, stir it in, then add diced ham sausage and preserved egg. This would make it look more colorful and taste better.

Just as she cracked the egg in, she suddenly felt her vision go white, and lost the feeling of the spoon in her hand.

Heaven and earth spun around. Shen Maomao closed her eyes, like a feather adrift in a gale.

Until her body suddenly lightened again, the feather landing smoothly. She immediately opened her eyes again, then couldn’t help but freeze.

Before her eyes was a row of iron bars she had only ever seen on TV. The bars were painted black all over, carrying a bone-chilling coldness, yet unable to block the emotionless gazes from the people on the other side.

This small room was less than 20 square meters, and crammed into it was a small bed of about two square meters. Looking around, the space was pitifully small.

The room was filled with a smell difficult to describe in words: damp, moldy, mixed with the stench of urine, exceptionally disgusting.

Shen Maomao sat up from the bed, burying the lower half of her face in her knees, revealing only a pair of clean eyes surveying the surroundings.

It was dilapidated here, and gloomy.

Above her head was a tungsten filament light tube, currently flickering, adding considerably to the terrifying atmosphere.

Opposite her were iron bars identical to those of her room. There was about a two-meter wide space between the two sets of bars. Because the light was dim, she could only make out these bars, unable to see clearly the structure inside or what kind of people lived there.

Could it be they entered a prison this time?

Then where was Lou-jie? Which cell would she be in?

This was the first time she had experienced such a situation. There were no other players nearby, not even an NPC to guide her, not even a mouse.

No one spoke, no one walked, only the sound of breathing merging into one, proving she wasn’t alone here, yet it was more terrifying than silence.

She couldn’t feel the passage of time, didn’t know what time it was, didn’t even know if it was day or night.

Shen Maomao climbed off the bed. Her yellowish-white clothes, devoid of any pattern except for some stains, rubbed against the damp quilt, making a series of sounds.

She felt uneasy. Lightening her steps, she walked to the door and gave it a gentle push.

“Creak—” The door was pushed open easily; it hadn’t been locked at all!

Shen Maomao tentatively reached out a hand. In that instant, an immense sense of crisis surged into her heart, making the hairs on her skin stand on end²⁷, causing her to shiver three times in quick succession.

Her instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm²⁸ made her withdraw her hand at light speed, pulling the door closed along the way.

Then she immediately rushed back to the not-so-clean bed and huddled under the quilt.

There’s a problem!! This instance has a huge problem!!

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