The Hand of Confession – Chapter 16

Volume 1: Days Moving Bricks at the Construction Site

A Frightful Night in the Rain

Do you see if this jar is moving or not?!

At this moment, Xiaolou was very calm and composed. She sprinkled a layer of salt at the bottom of the clean jar, then placed the blanched pork inside, and sprinkled another layer of salt, methodically marinating it.

Because the room’s light was very bright, looking out from here, one could only see the reflection of two people on the glass window.

Shen Maomao was terrified, afraid that if she lifted her head, she would discover an extra Ding Hou in the window.

Outside, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and it looked like a heavy rain was about to fall. She forced herself to endure the fear and continued handling the pork, and soon half of the meat in the burlap bag was gone.

Xiaolou pointed toward the cafeteria, indicating for her to go out and check the time. Shen Maomao nodded, poured the blood water with floating oil from the pot into the dirty water bucket, and started boiling a new pot of clear water.

While boiling water, she gazed blankly at the two large water jars, her mood plummeting to a deep valley.

The game had only reached the third evening, yet she already felt she could hardly endure. In just three days, she had lost her hearing and acquired an intermittent debuff that left her unable to breathe. If this continued, by the time she returned to reality, she might go directly to a C-ranked funeral.

Could she really endure until the game’s end? Even if she endured this game, there would still be the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that…

When would this kind of game ever end? Or… would it never stop?

Falling into despair, Shen Maomao wiped away a bitter tear. Perhaps after today, she would meet the same fate as Ding Hou…

The water hadn’t boiled yet, and she couldn’t help but glance again at the large jar holding Ding Hou’s corpse, then rubbed her eyes with her hand.

Was she seeing things… was this jar shaking?

Shen Maomao’s hair stood on end, and she shouted Xiaolou’s name: “Oh my gosh! Sister Lou!! Look, is this jar moving?!”

Xiaolou quickly ran in from the cafeteria, her eyes wide open. She swiftly turned off the gas, grabbed Shen Maomao’s hand, and rushed outside.

Ice-cold raindrops fell on her hair and face, quickly soaking her clothes. The cold wind blew, chilling her to the bone. It turned out that it had started raining outside long ago, but Shen Maomao hadn’t heard it.

The kitchen’s light suddenly went out, and Xiaolou heard a loud noise, like something heavy falling to the ground, for example — the jar.

Not far behind them, the streetlights extinguished one by one, with darkness continuously approaching. Bean-sized raindrops hit the ground, and the accumulated water on the ground seemed to boil up like it was boiling.

The two of them ran forward with all their strength, passing one still-lit streetlight after another. But the dark area kept getting closer to them until it enveloped them.

Xiaolou staggered and fell directly to the ground, pulling Shen Maomao forward with her, but she managed to steady herself just a second before falling into a mud pit.

She wiped the rainwater from her face and turned to help Xiaolou.

Xiaolou held her head, her facial features twisted in agony, as if enduring immense pain.

Shen Maomao was completely panicked: “Sister Lou?!”

Suddenly, a pair of ice-cold hands grasped her left arm, and she screamed, slapping randomly at her arm with her right hand.

It was just a hand, with a bit of wrist attached, missing a finger — it was Ding Hou’s hand.

Shen Maomao jumped crazily in place, crying and shouting: “Let go of me, wuwuwu!!”

She fiercely twisted that hand, snapping one finger directly off, with pale bone protruding from the flesh and pressing against her skin.

“Wow QAQ sorry wuwuwu don’t come looking for me…”

One… two… three…

The remaining three fingers were all twisted off by her, and the palm fell directly to the ground, yet it was still slowly wriggling.

Due to excessive nervousness and the rain, Shen Maomao started being unable to breathe again. She struggled to drag Xiaolou up and fled with all her strength in the direction of the dormitory.

The streetlights at the construction site were all extinguished, and the moon hid behind dark clouds. The dormitory not far away was like a lighthouse, guiding those lost in the storm.

Shen Maomao couldn’t hear anything, and she didn’t dare to look back, only keeping her head down, gasping for air. Xiaolou wasn’t heavy, even considered petite, but in this situation, she didn’t know how long she could endure.

Now she could only be thankful that Yan Nan had cut Ding Hou into small enough pieces… otherwise, they might have been caught long ago.

As she walked, a pair of feet appeared in her vision. Shen Maomao screamed and almost fainted. She retreated two steps, her legs weakened, and she sat into the water, looking up at the owner of these feet.

A huge body came into view — it was unexpectedly the monster from the supermarket!

Each face on the monster’s stomach was ferociously smiling, extending a pitch-black hand toward her…

As if it couldn’t get any worse, Shen Maomao despairingly closed her eyes, giving up struggling and waiting for death.

Rainwater fell on her eyelids, and she quietly waited for a long time, yet never felt any pain.

What was happening?

She suddenly opened her eyes and saw it picking up a small piece of meat from her shoulder, raising its hand to stuff it into one of the mouths on its stomach. The other faces opened their bloody mouths in dissatisfaction, desperately pouting forward, with sharp red teeth biting, seemingly wanting to bite off a piece of meat from her body to satisfy their hunger.

!!!

When did these pieces of meat end up on her body?!

Shen Maomao raised her head and saw the face on the monster’s head — its original face. On its face were only two black hollow eye sockets, making it impossible to discern any expression at that moment, but she did not sense any malice from its body.

After eating that piece of meat, the monster didn’t even glance at them again, stepping away behind them. As it brushed past, the faces on its stomach collectively turned backward, opening wide mouths to say something…

Xiaolou had already fainted, and Shen Maomao dragged her backward, her eyes staring blankly at the two creatures entwining in the darkness.

Not until they returned to the lit dormitory did she finally breathe a sigh of relief, collapsing on the ground, and for a long time, she couldn’t get up.

Yan Nan climbed out of bed, quickly closed the door, and asked: “What did you all attract over?!”

Shen Maomao didn’t know what she was asking and said to herself: “Two monsters started fighting! Ding Hou is alive!”

Yan Nan’s face turned pale.

Ding Hou was dismembered by her own hands… if Ding Hou really resurrected, the first person to be sought would definitely be her.

She glanced at the unconscious Xiaolou and the exhausted Shen Maomao, her eyes flashing with a calculating light.

Shen Maomao took one look at her expression and knew what she was planning. She said coldly: “You must know, every night, there are noises outside that give people headaches. I can’t hear them now, so I won’t be affected, but if you do something, I guarantee I will exhaust all my effort to drag you out too. If we’re going to die, then we’ll all die together.”

Yan Nan’s expression stiffened, and she dryly smiled before lying back on the bed, no longer paying attention to them.

Shen Maomao lay on the ground to rest for a while, then laboriously took off Xiaolou’s wet clothes and put her into the blanket.

After finishing all this, she also took off her clothes and fell onto the bed, too tired to speak.

But she didn’t dare fall asleep, didn’t dare let herself lose consciousness. In case Yan Nan made any moves while she was asleep, it would be truly unjust for her and Xiaolou to die.

In the dead of night, Shen Maomao curled herself into a small ball, trying to control herself not to cry out loud.

But even if she cried out, she couldn’t hear it, at most it could disturb Yan Nan.

Wuwuwuwu… I really want to go home… why must she endure this kind of fear? Why is she so unlucky…

Tears flowed down as if they were free.

She didn’t know how long she cried, when a warm hand gently covered her eyes.

Shen Maomao froze for a moment.

——Xiaolou had woken up!

Xiaolou gently wiped away her tears, held her hand, and wrote two characters in her palm——

Sleep (睡吧).

Shen Maomao finally felt at ease, and almost in the next second, she fell deeply asleep.

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The next morning, Shen Maomao was gently pushed awake by Xiaolou.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up to put on her clothes, having long forgotten how she had been sobbing and crying in the middle of the night. Her mood was good, thinking that she hadn’t saved someone in vain, as Xiaolou’s attitude towards her was obviously much better than before!

However, in the next second, Xiaolou kicked her off the bed with one foot, then handed her a basin full of water.

Shen Maomao: “…” Well, helping fetch water is also for her good! The customer is finally becoming a god!

She looked at the face of her best friend Ren Yue on the water’s surface, feeling somewhat awkward, so she simply glanced twice and then looked away. After crying last night, her eyes were swollen like walnuts, with her face one part black and one part white, like a little flower cat.

Xiaolou said: “In a while… never mind… I…”

Shen Maomao suddenly looked up at her.

Xiaolou showed a puzzled expression and wanted to grab her hand to write words.

Shen Maomao avoided it: “Sister Lou! Speak louder!”

Xiaolou said: “Your——hearing——has recovered?!”

Shen Maomao was so overjoyed that she cried: “I can hear sounds now! But I can’t hear very clearly! It must be loud to hear!”

Xiaolou: “You f*cking well keep it down!”

Shen Maomao: “…” Life is really very difficult.

She used a wet towel to wipe her face, changing from Shen Catcat (沈貓貓) back to Shen Maomao (沈卯卯).

The rain had already stopped, and outside the window, the sun was bright, with a breeze bringing in moist and fresh air. Shen Maomao went out to pour water, taking a big breath of oxygen, and felt her stifled and aching lungs become much more comfortable.

Although she could now hear a little sound, Xiaolou still refused to communicate with her, because she didn’t want to always shout to speak, and felt that was very stupid.

What could Shen Maomao do? She could only choose to forgive her.

She and Xiaolou finished tidying up and set off together to the canteen. Halfway there, she suddenly remembered she hadn’t completed yesterday’s work and immediately panicked: “Sister Lou! What should we do? We didn’t finish handling the meat! Ding Hou also faked death!”

Xiaolou shouted: “It’s you!”

Though just two short words, Shen Maomao could hear the meaning: “Your task isn’t completed, what does it have to do with me, Lou whoever? If you want to die, die yourself, why ask me?” etc.

Although she said this, Shen Maomao believed that after last night’s adversity revealing true feelings, Xiaolou certainly wouldn’t ignore someone in danger without helping!

——After all, it’s only the fourth day, the second life can’t be lost so quickly.

By the time they arrived at the canteen, Yan Nan had already made the meal, and everyone was sitting at two tables eating. Brother Long and Leng Bingbing hadn’t returned yet, so their seats were still empty.

The others were accustomed to ignoring it, and Binzi also didn’t actively go to find them. Instead, he sat there eating his meal honestly, as if Brother Long’s life or death was unrelated to him.

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