The Hand of Confession – Chapter 197

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Green Aurora

The colored light on the left dot of the character “Xin” seems to be broken.

XLGW?

Soul Harbor¹??

What? Has the Soul Harbor brand contracted the moon as well??

Golden Retriever behind her urged, “Sister Rabbit, what did you see? Let me see too?”

Shen Maomao gave up the foremost position and stood aside, pondering.

The frequency with which these four characters, Soul Harbor, appeared was far too high. Perhaps she should pay attention to where else these four characters might show up.

There was definitely something wrong with the situation on the moon, but she just didn’t know if this problem was related to the hotel they were staying in or this astronomical research center they were currently in.

Although she had never seen what an astronomical research center looked like in reality, she figured it definitely wouldn’t be this shabby, nor would it allow people to casually touch such a precious telescope.

Golden Retriever only glanced for two moments before retreating from the platform, leaving the chance to look at the moon to Xiaobao, who was eagerly watching him from behind.

Lou Jingmo hadn’t queued up. Seeing that both of them had come down, she walked over and asked them what they had seen.

Golden Retriever said, “I saw the surface of the moon…”

Shen Maomao was stunned for a moment. “You didn’t see blood?”

Golden Retriever was puzzled. “What blood??”

“The crater on the moon’s surface just ejected a large amount of red liquid. The blank space formed the English initials of the four characters Soul Harbor.” Shen Maomao rubbed her chin. “So only I saw that scene? And it disappeared after I saw it?”

Golden Retriever wrung his hands and sighed², “Was it because I looked for too short a time?! I should have looked a bit longer just now!”

Lou Jingmo said, “Alright, I understand. Next, let’s split up and explore other places to see if we can find anything.”

“Ah?” Golden Retriever instantly chickened out³. “We have to split up?”

Shen Maomao raised her hand, intending to give him a slap on the back of his head as she usually did, but then, as if thinking of something else, she silently lowered her hand and said, “What are you afraid of? You have so many props in your hand, are you still afraid of problems? If a ghost comes for you, just run. Shout for help while running, you’ll definitely scare the ghost to death before Lou-jie finds you.”

Golden Retriever: “…Sister Rabbit, you’re truly my own sister.”

Shen Maomao gave him a thumbs-up. “Only a real sister would dare to roast you like this.”

Lou Jingmo also chuckled, and after laughing, she reminded them, “Don’t casually talk to other people. The less said, the fewer mistakes made.”

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Shen Maomao wandered aimlessly on the first floor.

Along the way, let alone ghosts, she barely saw any human figures.

The entire first floor of the astronomical research center was empty. Lou Jingmo and Golden Retriever had run off somewhere, and she had been wandering on the first floor for half a day, yet she hadn’t bumped into them even once.

The first floor was very spacious, with only some simple office furniture and nothing else. The entire astronomical research center was like an incompletely built scene model; the creator, lacking sufficient experience, could only build such a semi-finished product.

Hong-jie had gone somewhere, and there was still no definite news about the missing Ranran. The game had just begun, and they had already lost a teammate…

Shen Maomao sighed.

Just as she was feeling sentimental, a woman’s voice suddenly came from beside her: “What time is it now?”

Shen Maomao glanced at her watch, and a sentence blurted out: “Are you blind? Can’t you see for yourself?”

Only after answering did she realize something was wrong. She whipped her head around and found that there was no one behind her.

The starry sky projection rotated as usual, the floor reflecting the starry sky on the ceiling. At first glance, it seemed as if the entire world was spinning, making her feel dizzy and her vision blur. She couldn’t help but reach out and support herself against the nearby wall.

Shen Maomao’s heart pounded wildly. She didn’t dare to stay there any longer and ran upstairs, planning to go to a more crowded place to take refuge.

Many people had gathered at the platform; most of the players were here, along with some NPCs they hadn’t seen before. No one around was discussing the lunar crater spewing fire; it was estimated that no one after her had watched for that long. The telescope had been moved by someone, and it was no longer aimed at the moon, so it was even less likely that anyone would see such a scene again.

Seeing that it was already nine o’clock, a sliver of green light appeared in the night sky, which was like a large curtain. In the next second, all the lights in the entire building suddenly went out. A burst of exclamations erupted from the crowd, then abruptly stopped.

The sliver of green light on the horizon expanded wider and wider, leaping across the black night sky like an electrocardiogram. As it leaped, it gradually spread out, finally turning into a verdant, gradient curtain, exceptionally eye-catching.

Xiaobao exclaimed, “Wow!” and excitedly tugged at his mother’s sleeve. “The aurora is so beautiful!!”

Xiaobao’s mom also sighed with emotion, “It is indeed very beautiful. This trip wasn’t in vain.”

Everyone was looking up, admiring the rare and magnificent spectacle. Only Shen Maomao tilted her head, looking at the green aurora that, contrary to common sense, could actually project onto their faces. She couldn’t comprehend where the beauty lay in such a sinister and terrifying color.

Where is it beautiful? This fluorescent green looks like an emergency exit sign. Shining on people’s faces, it can make perfectly normal people look like ghosts. It’s simply creepy’s mom opening the door for creepy—creepy has come home⁴. She felt like a complete killjoy with no artistic sense⁵, a total mood-killer⁶, wishing she could shake these people by their shoulders and wake them up.

But no one paid her any attention; everyone’s focus was drawn to this so-called “aurora.”

The aurora lasted for a particularly long time; half an hour passed by in almost the blink of an eye. The aurora hadn’t ended, and the lights hadn’t come back on, but the agreed-upon time had arrived. No one wanted to spend the night in such a place.

The players descended to the first floor using flashlights. Seeing they had lights, the NPCs followed them downstairs as well.

The empty hall filled up in an instant. Hong-jie pushed the door open and entered, saying in surprise, “Ya? Why are there so many people?”

An NPC said, “You’re also staying at the Soul Harbor Inn, right? We’re staying there too. Why don’t we go together? It’ll be safer for everyone to return together.”

Hong-jie accepted everything unconditionally⁷, her eyes crinkling into a smile. “Alright then, let’s go down the mountain together. We can come back tomorrow if we have time.” After speaking, she turned on her megaphone and shouted, “Is there anyone else? We’re heading back! We’ll wait two more minutes for you. If you’re not here in two minutes, I’m not waiting anymore!”

Shen Maomao was a bit anxious because neither Golden Retriever nor Lou Jingmo were in the crowd.

The roommate of the missing Ranran approached Hong-jie and asked, “Have you found Ranran?”

The smile on Hong-jie’s face vanished instantly. “She called me. Said something urgent came up at home, so she packed her things and went home without even saying goodbye. This young girl, really so inconsiderate, making us worry for so long!”

Shen Maomao, who was eavesdropping with pricked ears: “…Go home my ass. What home do players have in a game world?”

With that statement, she had directly sentenced Ranran to death.

The roommate also gave up, dryly repeating Hong-jie’s excuse, “She really is something… leaving just like that…”

Hong-jie looked at her, and as if remembering something, suddenly said, “By the way, you’re her roommate, right?”

The roommate was taken aback and nodded.

Hong-jie said, “Let’s forget about tonight, the money’s already paid. Tomorrow, you can share a room with me. We can save the money for one room.”

The woman’s expression changed instantly. “I think I’d rather change to a 3-person room with the other two…”

Hong-jie, who was usually easygoing, directly refused her: “No. It’s not like we don’t have empty space. Why spend that extra money for nothing?”

The woman struggled, “But how come that blond-haired guy and his group can stay in a triple room?”

“He wants to sleep with his sister. You don’t know anyone else, so why go squeeze in with others?” Speaking of this, Hong-jie hmphed. “Or are you saying—you dislike me?”

Not only dislike, but also very scared.

But how could she dare to say such a thing? In the end, she could only grit her teeth and swallow her bitterness, putting on a smiling face and saying nice things to Hong-jie: “Of course not, Hong-jie, you’re overthinking it. I was just thinking that three people could get together to play poker or something!”

Hong-jie’s expression finally softened. “Play what cards? Can’t you play cards at home? You came all this way just to play cards in a different environment? With that kind of time, you might as well go play on the mountain. Maybe you’ll even discover some cute little animals!”

The roommate smiled and agreed a couple of times, then retreated into the crowd and said no more.

After waiting for less than a minute, Lou Jingmo and Golden Retriever emerged one after another from two separate emergency exits, one from the left and one from the right. Shen Maomao quickly went up to meet them and asked Lou Jingmo, “Lou-jie! Why are you back so late?”

Golden Retriever, coming from the other direction: “…”

Lou Jingmo said, “I found something interesting and went to take a look.”

Shen Maomao’s curiosity was completely piqued. She really wanted to ask what she had discovered, but being mindful of the other people around, she could only suppress her curiosity, planning to talk to her after returning to their room.

Hong-jie counted the people and said, “Alright, all our people are here, and there are several more. It’s time to head back now.”

They left as soon as she said so. Under her command, the group formed two lines as they had when they arrived and began to descend the mountain in an orderly fashion.

The night was already deep. The eerie green aurora illuminated the entire land, making the mountain look unspeakably bizarre. The group walked silently along the small path, their flashlights on.

Xiaobao was drowsily nestled in his mother’s arms. Qu Jing held onto her boyfriend’s arm. The further down they went, the fainter the aurora became, until it finally disappeared completely, and the world returned to its normal colors.

The wind had stopped at some unknown point, and the insects and birds had also fallen silent. Only the sound of their footsteps echoed between heaven and earth, along with the occasional rustling static from Hong-jie’s megaphone.

Shen Maomao’s nerves were taut, and she followed Lou Jingmo closely.

The process of waiting was always nerve-wracking. You knew something was bound to happen, but you couldn’t determine its exact time of arrival, just as you couldn’t judge whether those walking beside you at this moment were human or ghost…

As a result, she remained tense all the way, and a little after ten o’clock, they safely returned to the front of the Soul Harbor Inn. Surprisingly, no accidents had occurred.

The brightly lit hotel brought an indescribable sense of security. Shen Maomao looked up and saw the four large characters “Soul Harbour Inn” on the wall flashing with multicolored lights. The colored light on the left dot of the character “Xin” seemed to be broken and hadn’t lit up at all.

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The author has something to say:

Stop your plot-guessing behavior!!!

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LP: About the inn’s name ‘Soul Harbor’ or originally, ‘Xinling Gangwan’:

The character ‘心’ (xīn) primarily means heart.

It can also refer to:

• Mind (as the seat of thought and emotion)
• Feeling
• Intention
• Center or core

In the term ‘心靈港灣’ (Xīnlíng Gǎngwān):

• ‘心’ (xīn) means heart/mind.
• ‘靈’ (líng) means spirit/soul.
• Together, ‘心靈’ (xīnlíng) is a common compound word that means soul, spirit, or psyche.

So, while ‘心’ (xīn) itself is more directly ‘heart’ or ‘mind’, in the combination ‘心靈’ (xīnlíng), it forms part of the concept translated as ‘Soul’ in “Soul Harbor.” The ‘心’ contributes the “heart/mind” aspect to the overall “soul/spirit” meaning of ‘心靈’.

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