The Hand of Confession – Chapter 167

Volume 6: Days of Being Zapped in the Lab

IM Virus

Maomao scares people

The little assistant’s neck stiffened, his eyes pulling his entire head around as he strained to peek behind him out of the corner of his eye.

But naturally, he couldn’t see anything.

Shen Maomao squinted her eyes and grinned like a little mouse that had stolen some cream, raising a hand to wave at him. “Hi~”

Little Ancestor reached out too. “Ya ya~”

A large crack appeared on the tablet’s screen, a colorful halo blooming around the shattered area. The person split apart in the image turned their head accordingly, their distorted face showing an expression of utter terror.

The little assistant almost burst into tears, his body trembling like chaff¹. His voice shook as he asked Fang Ping, “Dr. Fang… what do we do…”

Fang Ping’s face was also pale, but she seemed much calmer than the little assistant. She looked all around and said loudly, “Number 289, you can still be saved. Please don’t harm us.”

What did “you can still be saved” mean? Did this bunch really think of themselves as doctors healing the sick and saving lives?

She bent down and picked up the tablet from the floor.

The two watched helplessly as the tablet vanished before their eyes. The assistant turned and ran, shoving Fang Ping aside. She fell to the ground with a thud, frowning and clutching her ankle, her expression quite pained. Her eyes fixed on a point in the empty air as she said, “Number 289, please calm down.”

Shen Maomao suddenly felt utterly vindicated.

Just yesterday you were stuffing my mouth with a silk scarf, and today you’re begging me to spare you.

Ever since entering the game, she had constantly been scared by ghosts; today, it was finally her turn to scare people!!

She closed her eyes and planted a kiss on the back of Little Ancestor’s head—mainly because she didn’t dare kiss his face, afraid she’d kiss his eyes—then crouched down in front of Fang Ping.

Fang Ping was still trying to bargain for herself. “Even if you kill me, you won’t return to normal. On the contrary, if we can research a solution, all of you can be saved…”

Shen Maomao frowned, exited the surveillance feed, and typed a line on the tablet: “What exactly is going on?” Then she pushed the tablet in front of Fang Ping, taking a few steps back herself to move the tablet out of Little Ancestor’s ability range.

Fang Ping wasn’t too flustered when the tablet suddenly appeared. She carefully read the contents on the screen and asked uncertainly, “You’ve lost your memory?”

That was a good excuse. Although a bit cliché², considering people had already mutated, having a side effect like amnesia wasn’t too far-fetched.

Shen Maomao typed “Yes” on the tablet.

Fang Ping said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve just undergone some mutation. This mutation won’t endanger your life; it will even make you stronger.”

Shen Maomao believed her like hell.

Fang Ping struggled to her feet, leaning against the metal wall, and continued, “The mutation has some side effects, possibly causing loss of reason. We’ve been researching how to minimize the side effects and have already made some progress… See? Aren’t you clear-headed again now?”

She was clear-headed because she had never lost her reason in the first place. And made progress… could zapping people a couple of times count as progress? How could someone with this level of hoodwinking³ manage to get a doctorate?

Shen Maomao snatched the tablet back from her hand and continued typing: “Why did the mutation happen?”.

Fang Ping held the tablet and answered, drawing out her words, “That’s because…”

The next second, she pressed something on the wall. The entire wall section suddenly rotated 180 degrees with her on it, then became smooth again.

“Damn!” Shen Maomao reached out to grab her, but it was too late. Fang Ping had vanished right before her eyes, taking the tablet she hadn’t even gotten used to⁴ yet.

Shen Maomao felt around the wall for a long time but couldn’t find the mechanism, finally kicking the wall in frustration.

She had wandered this corridor for so long, yet this was the first time she knew there was such a mechanism in the wall.

Little Ancestor climbed down from her head, crawled onto the wall like a spider, went up and down several times, then seemed to lose interest and held out his little arms to Shen Maomao, asking for a hug.

Shen Maomao hugged him with a grave expression and said, “Kiddo, we’re in danger.”

Fang Ping would definitely report her situation after returning. Coupled with the surveillance that had been following her, everyone could easily find her location, making it very convenient to arrest her.

And her only support was the little thing in her arms.

Life isn’t easy; Maomao sighs.

To capture her, they might control everyone she knew. Lou Jingmo would bear the brunt⁵, definitely the first to suffer. Then, to protect Lou Jingmo, she could only obediently walk out and sacrifice herself for the greater good…

The more Shen Maomao thought about it, the more heroic she felt. She couldn’t help but raise a hand to wipe away non-existent tears from the corner of her eye, preparing to find the elevator card before being discovered, to help Lou Jingmo as much as possible.

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Meanwhile, on the other side, Lou Jingmo was still unaware that Shen Maomao had been exposed. She sat in the glass room, carefully observing the other experiment subjects.

The outside of the glass room could block the man’s curses, but the inside didn’t have this function. She covered the ear facing the man, feeling it wasn’t too bad.

—After all, this was much more pleasant than Shen Maomao’s singing.

Thinking this, Lou Jingmo couldn’t help but let the corners of her lips curve up slightly.

If a certain someone knew she said this about her, she’d probably stamp her feet in anger again.

Stupid thing.

Though it was an insult, it inexplicably carried a strange intimacy and indulgence, yet Lou Jingmo herself didn’t realize this.

Besides the irritable man, there was another man and woman whispering pleas for help into a microphone.

The woman was very pessimistic, her face streaked with tears, eyes bloodshot and filled with red veins, with large dark circles underneath—clearly lacking rest. She cried, saying, “Please… let us out… I want to sleep… I want to go to another experiment… I don’t want this anymore…”

Compared to the woman’s bitter weeping, the man seemed much calmer, but a closer look revealed a madness hidden beneath the bloodshot eyes. He waited for the woman to finish before taking the microphone and speaking to the outside, “You bunch of liars, you’ll get what’s coming to you…”

The two continued like this, one after the other⁶, one pleading for help, the other cursing, combined with the extremely harsh verbal abuse, making the glass room seem like a chaotic vegetable market⁷.

That microphone was for them to communicate with the outside world, but except for Shen Maomao, none of them knew that the outside couldn’t hear anything at all.

Lou Jingmo picked up a newspaper lying on the coffee table and focused on reading it.

Opening the newspaper, the first thing she saw was the headline written in size one, bold black font: New IM Virus Sweeps In, World Enters Sleepless Night? The question mark at the end was even red, creating a sense of tension just by looking at it.

She continued reading.

It stated that a new type of virus had been discovered in the Americas, which scientists named “IM”. This virus was contagious and mutable, but the specific mutations it could cause were still unknown. The IM virus didn’t infect people directly but infected the air. It acted like a gas, spreading to other places with air currents. Any living creature in air covered by the IM virus could not fall asleep, so the IM virus was also called the “Insomnia Virus.”

However, this virus temporarily couldn’t cross the ocean to reach Hua Country⁸, so the newspaper described the effects of the IM virus and the consequences of long-term sleep deprivation in a relatively relaxed tone. That enlarged, bold black headline was merely alarmist talk⁹.

So what did the virus have to do with homosexuality? Could it be that the virus preferred infecting homosexuals? What kind of ridiculous prejudice was this?

A woman sat down beside Lou Jingmo and whispered to her, “You’re new, right?” Lou Jingmo nodded.

“Newcomer” had become synonymous with player.

The woman said, “I saw the newspaper too. That’s the purpose of this lab; the air we’re breathing now is air carrying the IM virus. I arrived yesterday. Last night, I was very tired but couldn’t feel sleepy at all. Those people over there have already gone mad. The one cursing has supposedly not slept for almost a month… You… be careful. I have self-preservation ability, but I can’t protect you.”

Lou Jingmo accepted her goodwill and said softly, “Thank you.”

The woman sighed in relief, perhaps realizing she wasn’t as cold as she appeared, and started talking to her: “I’m really so tired… I used to pull all-nighters often, but I never thought being unable to sleep for a whole night could be this painful. There’s food in the room, you can eat some if you’re hungry, but it’s all instant food. Anyway, I can’t stomach it anymore… Do you think the things happening in our sleeping quarters are related to the IM virus’s mutation properties? Will we mutate? Or have we already mutated without knowing? Do you have any clues? Can we ever leave this place?”

Though she was also babbling on and on, Lou Jingmo felt this girl was too downbeat, completely lacking Shen Maomao’s energy.

Good character, just too pessimistic. After listening to her complain for a while, Lou Jingmo grew impatient and interrupted her bluntly: “I want some quiet time alone.”

The girl wasn’t too embarrassed, just smiled sheepishly. “I’m a bit nervous. When I get nervous, I tend to talk a lot. Sorry for bothering you…”

Lou Jingmo went back to reading the newspaper, saying no more.

Not long after, Number One, the one who had been cursing, suddenly started banging his head against the glass, again and again, very forcefully. The glass thudded loudly—dong dong—making the people inside feel their teeth were set on edge¹⁰.

The man and woman beside him showed no reaction on their faces, still taking turns speaking into the microphone. Another man was gulping down water, obvious fear on his face.

Blood quickly splattered onto the glass, but the man kept banging his head as if oblivious to the pain, making the glass resound—dong dong.

The female player was terrified, running to another side to bang on the glass, “Hey!! Look at him! What’s wrong with him?! Hey!!”

The white coats wore indifferent expressions, coldly watching as the bloodstains on the glass wall grew denser, eventually blurring into a patch that obscured even Number One’s face.

The female player was distraught¹¹, turning to the seemingly most normal person, Lou Jingmo, “What do we do?! Will he die here?! Will we end up like this too…”

Lou Jingmo: “Deal with it.”¹²

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