The Hand of Confession – Chapter 212

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Red Dots

Who took that severed arm?

A group of men, ropes in hand, were eager to bring this murderer to justice. The few players looked at each other, then, as if by unspoken agreement, began to retreat, inching their way to the very back of the crowd. Clearly, they wanted these NPCs to act as cannon fodder.

Shen Maomao felt she was in no position to criticize them. She stood beside the sink, watching everything with a cool gaze, neither exposing their intentions nor retreating herself. Golden Retriever tugged her arm, trying to pull her to the back, but she didn’t budge. She merely placed a hand on the nape of her neck, stroking the skin there intermittently.

When she first entered the game, she was innocent. But having traversed so many worlds, she was perhaps no longer innocent. That sentence she’d uttered when she first met Lou Jingmo was probably right: in this game, good people generally don’t live very long.

And she had already lived for a very long time.

Seeing her like this, Golden Retriever sighed and then stayed by her side, clenching his fists.

Shen Maomao glanced at him in surprise. Golden Retriever winked at her and whispered, “You didn’t even run. Wouldn’t I lose a lot of face if I ran?”

Shen Maomao had a moment of realization.

Both she and Golden Retriever had grown. They were no longer the useless crybabies who could only cling to Lou Jingmo’s leg and weep. Looking back on those past days now felt like a bizarre dream. Perhaps one day, she would open her eyes to find that everything in the game was just her imagination, and then all memories of the dream would recede like a tide…

Shen Maomao shook her head hard, banishing those random thoughts from her mind.

It was just opening a door. Why did it feel like she wouldn’t live for many more episodes?¹

Even if there was something abnormal inside, with so many people here, it wouldn’t lead to a team wipe²… right?

She was overthinking it, but in reality, only a moment had passed. The NPCs were on high alert, and the players were also tense, prepared for a fight or flight.

No one dared to breathe too loudly. The man in the lead scanned the surroundings, and after receiving a series of supportive glances, he yanked the door open—then froze on the spot.

The scene the players had imagined—a head rushing out on a killing spree—didn’t happen. The NPCs’ plan to subdue the murderer also didn’t materialize. The scene was suffocatingly silent.

The small bathroom was covered in dense red dots. On the walls, the ceiling, the door—every visible surface was splattered with blood-red circles of varying sizes. It was as if a painter had dipped a brush full of pigment and casually flicked it in the air, causing drops of thick, rich ink to splash onto paper. The stench of blood assailed their nostrils.

Just by looking at these dots, Shen Maomao could imagine that head bouncing around inside the bathroom.

Thump—one blood spot. Thump, thump—a second blood spot…

The NPCs blocked the doorway; no one dared to enter. Shen Maomao craned her neck, peering inside from the outside.

All six stall doors in the women’s restroom were shut tight, neither collapsed nor damaged. The exterior of this narrow space was completely visible.

The old traditional Chinese doctor’s legs felt a bit weak. He asked tremblingly, “Is this… is this blood?”

The man who had run off to get help also asked strangely, “How come there’s no one?”

“Don’t tell me they’re hiding in the stalls?”

Someone even shouted into the room, “Listen up, whoever’s inside! You’re surrounded! Why don’t you hurry up, drop your weapons, and surrender without a fight?!”

Shen Maomao: “…” Did these guys think they were filming a cop movie?!

“Excuse me, please let me through…” She pushed aside two men and squeezed through the crowd into the restroom. She carefully looked up at the ceiling and the light fixtures but found nothing overhead.

A man said, “You’re just a young girl, what are you doing getting involved here?”

Shen Maomao said calmly, “The person might be hiding in the stalls. I’ll open the doors.”

“Sister Rabbit!” Golden Retriever also squeezed in, tugging her hand disapprovingly.

The others wouldn’t care if a girl like her was in danger. Since someone was volunteering to do the most dangerous task, they were, of course, more than happy to agree.

A few people separated Golden Retriever from her. The man in the lead, gripping his rope tightly, smiled and reassured her, “Don’t be afraid. If anything happens, we’ll tie the person up immediately.”

Shen Maomao nodded and, half-coerced by the surrounding crowd, opened the stall doors one by one.

Soon, all six were open. Each one was spotlessly clean, and each one was empty.

So where on earth did Lou Jingmo go? And where did that head go?

Shen Maomao pondered deeply, unable to stop a sigh.

The group holding ropes, ready to bring the murderer to justice, were also completely bewildered, looking at each other in dismay.

Behind them, San Mu, Tang Song, and the other two, seeing that nothing had happened, also squeezed in. San Mu, at the front, said, “Did they run away?”

The one holding the rope said, “Run away from where? Through the toilet??”

The old traditional Chinese doctor hadn’t squeezed in with the crowd. He just said from outside, “If the person ran off, so be it. I’ll go report the situation to the hotel staff. Today, everyone should go out and look for a signal, or find a way out. It’s best not to go alone. A couple of young lads, come with me to check the main road. Maybe the muddy water has receded…”

Naturally, no one had any objections. The few men with the ropes tossed them aside and left, grumbling. Shen Maomao looked at the ropes discarded on the floor, frowning slightly.

Leaving them here, aren’t they afraid a bad guy might pick them up? Hong-jie also seemed to have this habit of borrowing things and not returning them to their original place…

As she was thinking, San Mu quickly bundled up the ropes, tucked them under his arm, and said, “Let’s go quickly. We shouldn’t stay here long.”

The group of four left the restroom one after another. The once crowded place instantly emptied.

Beside her, Golden Retriever waved a hand in front of her face. “Sister Rabbit? Snapped out of it? Where are you planning to look for Xiao Lou-jie?”

Shen Maomao was silent for two seconds, completely clueless. “I don’t know either… Let’s just take it one step at a time. Lou-jie will definitely be fine.” As for whether she would be fine… that was unknown.

Golden Retriever had always abided by the principle of “at home, obey your father”… no, that wasn’t it. It was: “if something happens, listen to Xiao Lou-jie; if Xiao Lou-jie isn’t around, listen to Sister Rabbit.” Anyway, it was never his turn to make decisions. So, hearing Shen Maomao say this, he immediately relaxed and said, “Then let’s get out of here quickly too. This place is too scary…”

The two walked out one after the other, Shen Maomao in front, Golden Retriever behind.

Just as they reached the doorway, a sudden “Bang!” came from one of the stalls behind them, making both of them shudder violently.

“Holy sh#t, run!!” Shen Maomao’s heart pounded wildly, and she bolted out the door.

“F#ck, wait for me!!” Golden Retriever also let out a wail and dashed out the door with her.

The moment their front feet crossed the threshold, another loud bang echoed from behind. The entire building seemed to tremble three times, directly causing a series of vein-like cracks to appear on the mirror by the entrance.

Shen Maomao backhanded Golden Retriever towards the doorway, swayed twice herself, and hastily grabbed the sink to steady herself.

Leaving her back to ghosts and monsters was definitely a foolish act. She immediately turned around and moved diagonally towards the doorway.

Golden Retriever pushed the door open and rushed out, then held the door from the outside, waving at Shen Maomao. “Sister Rabbit, run quickly!”

“Run? What’s there to run from?” A familiar voice came from inside, accompanied by a loud crash as a door panel hit the floor. A figure stepped onto the fallen door panel and strode out with long legs.

“Lou-jie?!” Shen Maomao was so overjoyed she almost wept. The words tumbled out, “Why are you back so soon?!”

Lou Jingmo twirled a small knife in her hand and elegantly rolled her eyes at her. “Don’t tell me I was supposed to spend the night in there?”

Shen Maomao: “…” That’s right, this was the Lou Jingmo she knew and… had temporarily misplaced!

Golden Retriever waved from the doorway. “Let’s go quickly! We can catch up later… We can’t afford to pay for this door!”

Lou Jingmo looked at the door she had violently dismantled and said nothing.

Shen Maomao grabbed her hand, and the three of them, faces impassive, walked out of the restroom with their toiletries, heading straight for the elevator to the third floor.

The residents on the second floor were either going downstairs or going out, so the commotion Lou Jingmo caused didn’t attract too much attention. The three of them returned to their room, closed the door, and began to talk.

Shen Maomao was like a beeper³, rattling off everything that had happened after Lou Jingmo left. After she finished, Lou Jingmo’s expression remained largely unchanged. She simply asked, “Who took that severed arm?”

Shen Maomao: “The arm… the arm… Holy sh#t?!”

The seven of them were the first to arrive and the first to see the severed arm. But when they left, they hadn’t seen any long, strip-like object on the floor…

First, Lou Jingmo disappeared. Then she saw the head. They all blocked the door to prevent the head from coming out. Then that male NPC helped them call others. After that, a crowd of people chaotically squeezed together, and no one paid any attention to the small severed arm on the floor.

So, was it taken by someone, or did it walk away on its own?

Shen Maomao felt like cursing, but also felt a chill run down her spine.

If it ran off on its own, who would it go looking for? Its owner? Or… just any random living person?

At this thought, she desperately wanted to search every corner of the room to prevent that thing from coming for them.

“What’s there to panic about?” Lou Jingmo said, her domineering aura practically leaking out. “We’ll look for it right now. If we actually find it, then it’s just its bad luck.”

The three of them sprang into action, earnestly beginning to ransack the place, especially in those dead corners⁴ they wouldn’t normally notice, like the crack by the headboard, behind the radiator, and on top of the light fixtures. They shone a flashlight around but found nothing unusual.

“Since it’s not here with us, it’s highly likely to show up at Handlebar Mustache’s⁵ place,” Lou Jingmo stated with certainty.

Shen Maomao: “?? How are you so sure?”

Lou Jingmo said calmly, “Intuition.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Lou Jingmo couldn’t help but smile, then asked, “How long was I in there?”

Shen Maomao glanced at her phone. “Less than half an hour…”

Lou Jingmo handed her own phone over for them to see. The time on it was already two in the afternoon!

“Xiao Lou-jie, what on earth did you go through?” Golden Retriever couldn’t help but ask.

Shen Maomao’s eyes also widened as she looked at her curiously.

Lou Jingmo thought for a moment and said, “To sum it up, I probably went to beat up a ghost?”

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