The Hand of Confession – Chapter 177

Volume 6: Days of Being Zapped in the Lab

Water Gun

The scene suddenly became surreal.

290 remembered this person; he was indeed a Player, number 282.

282 only opened the door a crack, poking his head through the gap to look at them. After confirming they were all Players, he breathed a sigh of relief, pulled the door open wide, and whispered, “Quick, come in.”

The group filed in one after another¹; Shen Maomao, who entered last, shut the door behind her.

Several crooked² long tables and chairs were placed by the door, with a few white fiberglass strips still on the tables – evidently, these had just been used to secure the door.

Besides 282, several other people were sitting in the canteen, both Players and NPCs, all with red eyes. Looking around, it was actually easy to tell who was a Player and who was an NPC – fear was etched on every NPC’s face, while the Players were relatively calmer.

282 explained, “We were followed by a bunch of Faces while looking for the Elevator Card. We had no choice but to hide here and lock the door from the inside.”

290 nodded, indicating he understood, then asked directly, “Is there water here?”

282 remembered what he had said before entering and quickly nodded, pointing towards the back kitchen, “There’s water, over there. How are you planning to carry it?”

Lou Jingmo took out a small vial that looked like a medicine bottle and said, “There are many small bottles like this here. If you want some, go find them outside yourselves.”

290 didn’t reach for the bottle, just asked in surprise, “Where did you find this?”

“Lab B,” Lou Jingmo said flatly.

The Players weren’t the type to just sit and await their doom. Hearing what 290 and Lou Jingmo said, they ignored the danger outside and directly opened the door and left.

The NPCs, however, hesitated, looking extremely passive.

One woman said, “It’s so dangerous outside. We have food and drink here, why should we go out?”

290 had no intention of reasoning with the NPCs, simply saying, “Suit yourselves.”

Then he also walked out of the canteen.

Shen Maomao was about to follow when Lou Jingmo grabbed her collar from behind.

Lou Jingmo: “Where are you going?”

Shen Maomao turned back and said, puzzled, “To find bottles too?”

Lou Jingmo: “Do we need you to find them?” After speaking, she pulled her towards the back kitchen.

Shen Maomao followed her into the back kitchen, head full of question marks, watching as Lou Jingmo magically produced two… water guns from her hands.

Shen Maomao: “???” The scene suddenly became surreal.

Lou Jingmo shoved one water gun into her arms and said, “Fill it with water. Keep it for self-defense. Don’t let anyone else see.”

Shen Maomao, feeling like she was in a dream, used a water ladle to fill the water tank, asking, “Where did you get this? Did you buy it for your golden-haired nephew?” Could it be that Lou Jingmo, usually aloof towards Xixi [Golden Retriever’s nephew], actually liked him a lot and secretly bought him toys?

Lou Jingmo: “…What are you thinking?”

How could things from outside be brought into the game? And even if they could, was she nuts, bringing two water guns in?

“These were used by the researchers here to deal with the Monsters,” she explained. “I found a lot of these when I was wandering around earlier. It was a bit strange why there’d be things like this here, so I swiped two.”

Shen Maomao had a sudden realization.

That Grotesque Smiling Face was most afraid of water, to the point of dissolving on contact. Using water guns against it was far more effective than real firearms. The researchers probably discovered this too, which explained such “childish” weapons.

She deftly filled both water tanks, tightened the connections to the guns, held one herself, and tossed the other to Lou Jingmo. Full of confidence and fired up³, she said, “Let’s go, Lou-jie! We’ll go dominate everywhere⁴!”

Lou Jingmo: “…The Octopus isn’t afraid of water.”

Shen Maomao silently lowered the water gun and turned to ask, “Then what do we do next?”

“Don’t engage excessively with the Monsters. When there are ten minutes left, we head for the elevator and try to get back to the surface as quickly as possible. Reaching the surface doesn’t mean finding the exit; there might be even tougher challenges up there. Or maybe I’m wrong, and the exit is below the fifth floor, who knows. Every extra day we spend in this Instance, we become one degree more endangered.” Lou Jingmo glanced at the time. “So we need to speed up. It’s now 9:45 PM on the fifth day. There are still eight minutes until the agreed time.”

She had a premonition: if they hadn’t escaped the game by the seventh day, they wouldn’t even need the Monsters to act; they would directly transform into new Monsters, forever trapped here, becoming the first batch of stranded Players.

The Item Backpack⁵ could only hold items, not other things. Shen Maomao didn’t have Lou Jingmo’s Spatial Backpack, so she could only hand the water gun over to her. Then, trying to hide something that was already obvious⁶, she filled a small bottle with some water before walking out with her.

The Players hadn’t returned yet. The NPCs in the canteen sat where they were, not having moved an inch, clearly not planning to leave with them.

The woman who had spoken earlier even tried to persuade them, “Stop putting up this pointless resistance. What’s the use of going out? Better to stay here and die with a full stomach⁷.”

For the Players, they could strive to find an exit; after leaving the Instance, these mutations would naturally disappear. But the NPCs were different. Mutated was mutated. With one or two pairs of such red eyes, they simply couldn’t blend in with humans. Even if they escaped, the final outcome probably wouldn’t be much better.

Shen Maomao couldn’t bear it, but she was currently like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river—hardly able to save herself⁸. Better not to worry about others’ affairs.

She said to the woman, “Thank you. Be careful here.”

Seeing her determination to leave, the woman stopped trying to persuade her. She lay back down in her original spot, probably preparing to carry the spirit of muddling through to the very end.

Shortly after, 290 returned, his forehead covered in sweat beads, panting heavily. He almost collapsed on the floor upon entering: “That was too thrilling.”

Shen Maomao asked him, “What happened?”

290 replied, “Not long after I went out, I saw that Monster we encountered before. It sensed my presence and chased me for a long time. Then I ran into a bunch of Face skins. I thought I was dead for sure this time, but who knew, the two sides ignored me and started fighting each other directly. I took the chance to slip away.”

Shen Maomao gave him a thumbs-up: “Brother⁹, your mentality is pretty good.”

Someone with a weaker mentality would probably have fainted from fear long ago.

“I’ll go get water first.” 290, having narrowly escaped death, smiled, his legs weak as he walked into the back kitchen.

Next, 282 returned with two other Players. He had been lucky, finding a discarded mineral water bottle in a trash can—someone must have left it after drinking. This could hold much more than a medicine vial.

They filled their containers one by one. A young girl with the number 295 on her back had a sudden idea and asked, “Can we wet our bodies? That way, the kind of Monster you mentioned won’t dare approach us.”

290 said, “It’s probably best not to. The main Monsters on this level are those Octopuses. I’m afraid they might have a special sensitivity to moisture.”

Lou Jingmo thought for a moment and reminded them, “Tighten the bottle caps. Wipe off any excess water with the curtains outside.”

By the time everything was ready, there were less than two minutes left before departure time. The six Players walked out of the canteen. Several NPCs followed behind them, preparing to pull the same old trick and lock the door.

Shen Maomao felt inexplicably uneasy and glanced back at the door.

That woman…

The woman with 253 written on her back had been huddled in the corner facing away from them the whole time, trembling as if scared stiff. At a time like this, no one was in the mood to comfort her, so they just let her tremble until now.

She thought for a moment, stopped walking, and leaned on the door to remind the two NPCs pushing the tables, “Keep an eye on that 253. I think there’s something wrong with her.”

One of the NPCs nodded, saying verbally, “Okay, we’ll watch her,” but his face showed indifference.

Having said all she could, Shen Maomao turned and caught up with the main group. The canteen door was completely shut, followed by the sound of tables and chairs scraping.

The group had just reached the corner when suddenly, piercing screams erupted from behind them, accompanied by frantic pounding on the door. Shen Maomao whipped her head around and saw the canteen door trembling, looking like it was about to fall—just like the image of the constantly trembling woman.

“Run!” 290 shouted softly and immediately started running forward. The other Players quickly followed.

Lou Jingmo grabbed Shen Maomao’s wrist, murmured “Don’t space out,” and pulled her along to keep up with the others ahead.

Boom—a loud crash echoed; it was the sound of the canteen door flying off.

The NPCs’ screams completely vanished, replaced only by a sticky, nauseating, squishing sound, “Guji-guji”¹⁰. A damp aura rushed towards them, inevitably reminding one of the vast, boundless ocean.

Several pitch-black tentacles, still dripping blood, surged forward, carrying the body of a woman soaked in blood. Tentacles were still continuously growing from the woman’s neck, strip by strip¹¹, one by one—clearly, she hadn’t fully mutated yet.

The current body seemed more like a burden to it. Its tentacles stretched out far, but its forward speed was slow. With the limited reach of its tentacles, Shen Maomao and the others actually managed to run past this corridor and shut a heavy door behind them.

295’s legs gave out, and she collapsed into 282’s arms, her hands shaking uncontrollably.

Shen Maomao was trembling too. She felt like she was having trouble breathing, unable to stop herself from gasping heavily.

Lou Jingmo frowned, pinched her chin, looked at her reddened eyes, and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Shen Maomao took a deep breath and said, choking back tears, “Its speed was so slow… They could have run…”

The corridor fell silent as the group sank into silence.

If the NPCs hadn’t locked the door, at least a few might have survived.

But there were no ifs. Everything happened so suddenly. After they had barricaded the door, one NPC mutated. They were trapped and killed in the safe haven they had created themselves, with no survivors.

Lou Jingmo pulled her into a hug, cradling her head against her chest, stroking her soft hair, and whispered gently, “It’s not your fault, hmm?”

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The author has something to say:

The Garlic-Peeling Girl refers to how in the Northeast, when guys eat BBQ, there’s often a young woman with them peeling garlic. My meaning is that the former boss of a previous Instance, Chen Meihan, has become a minion for the new boss. Both her Instance and Little Ancestor’s Instance are repeatable ones that will evolve, but I’ll only write about one in detail. If I write about Chen Meihan, it will follow the plot above, with Little Ancestor briefly mentioned or not at all. If it’s Little Ancestor, I’ll write about Little Ancestor becoming the ultimate big boss, being saved by Shen Maomao and the others, completely sealing this repeatable Instance. Chen Meihan would roughly just make an appearance and won’t be detailed as a new Instance.

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