The Hand of Confession – Chapter 218

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Hair

Do you have any regrets?

The few of them naturally wouldn’t let her demonstrate again.

After a short while, Hong-jie reluctantly came downstairs. As soon as she saw Shen Maomao and the others, she started complaining: “What’s wrong with you people? Why do you only cause trouble? No one told me before you came that someone wasn’t feeling well. If you’re not well, why are you running around? Who’s responsible if something happens?”

Shen Maomao quickly interrupted her: “We’ll take responsibility ourselves. Sister, hurry up and take the room card so we can go save someone!”

Only then did Hong-jie move. She took the room card from Xiao Fu’s hand and led the five of them into the elevator.

The third floor was extremely quiet. The doors to all the rooms were tightly shut, as if no one had ever lived there.

The six of them stood at the entrance of Room 304. Hong-jie held the room card and gently pressed it against the door—

Beep! The door lock emitted a blue light. Hong-jie gripped the doorknob and gently pressed down, but it didn’t budge. She froze for a moment, then turned to look at the people behind her: “This door seems to be broken…”

Shen Maomao said: “Should we contact the staff?”

“We’ll probably have to find someone to fix it.” Saying this, Hong-jie turned back and pressed the doorknob again with more force. A small tearing sound was heard, and the door, with the ‘304’ plaque on it, opened a crack. “Aiya—the door’s open! No need to call anyone!”

After speaking, she reached out and pushed the door. The door swung wide open, and the situation inside Room 304 was completely revealed to everyone, successfully stunning them all.

Inside the door were vast expanses of black. Densely packed strands were entangled together, covering every inch of the walls and floor, leaving no gaps. It looked both terrifying and disgusting, delivering a visual shock.

A human-shaped object, completely enveloped by these black strands, was suspended in mid-air. At this moment, a breeze blew in from the corridor, causing the body to sway continuously, back and forth, back and forth.

Hong-jie’s legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the ground. She pointed at the room, looked back at the others, her expression a mixture of shock and terror, and asked them for confirmation: “What… what is this?!”

Lou Jingmo crouched down, twirled a strand between her fingernails, glanced at it, and said: “It’s hair.”

All the blackness in the room was composed of individual strands of hair.

Shen Maomao looked at Lou Jingmo: “Should we go in?”

Lou Jingmo said: “Find something to test it with.”

Shen Maomao patted Golden Retriever’s shoulder: “Give me your phone.”

Golden Retriever reluctantly asked: “What if the phone turns out to be very useful?”

Shen Maomao: “Then you’re just unlucky.”

Golden Retriever: “…”

However, he still obediently handed over his phone. After all, the one thing this game lacked most was human rights.

Hong-jie seemed to understand their intentions and quickly blocked the door with her hand: “What are you trying to do? You can’t go in there, the things inside are too sinister! We should leave this for professionals to handle!”

Shen Maomao saw through her thoughts at a glance and said coldly: “We’ve only been here for three or four days. Friends have died, or gone missing. If we don’t investigate the cause clearly, the next ones to die will be us.”

Hong-jie stubbornly refused to move: “As long as you don’t run around recklessly, nothing will happen! I shouldn’t have taken your job in the first place. Now, my reputation is going to be ruined by you!”

Sanmu said: “Whether we live or die has nothing to do with you. Leave the room card, and just pretend you never saw us.”

Hong-jie’s eyes darted around. She probably thought this was a viable solution and immediately put on an expression as if she had been threatened, saying reluctantly: “You’re the ones insisting on doing this, it’s not that I’m not looking out for you, okay…”

Golden Retriever said impatiently: “Alright, Hong-jie, you should hurry up and leave. What if the hair in here suddenly goes berserk and drags us all in? Then you wouldn’t be able to leave even if you wanted to! Hong-jie, have you seen 《Ju-On 2》¹? It’s probably a scene like that…”

Hong-jie shivered. With lingering fear, she glanced at the situation inside the room again, quickly handed the room card to Lou Jingmo, who was closest to her, and hurried towards her own room.

Meanwhile, Shen Maomao played a song on a music player, then raised her arm and threw Golden Retriever’s phone straight out.

The phone flew in an arc and landed on the floor. The hair in the room showed no reaction.

Lou Jingmo said: “It should be fine.”

Shen Maomao lifted her foot to step inside, but Lou Jingmo suddenly pulled her out: “You guard the door.”

“???” Shen Maomao’s face was full of question marks.

Lou Jingmo: “To prevent something from suddenly closing the door.” Moreover, she wasn’t at ease letting others guard the door.

Shen Maomao: “Then you should be the one guarding the door…” She was just a little noob²; what could she possibly guard?

Lou Jingmo said bluntly: “I’m afraid you’ll miss information.”

Scatterbrain incarnate, Shen Maomao: “…Alright then.”

The other four people walked into Room 304. Shen Maomao followed at the very back, not going far inside, just standing by the door and gripping the doorknob tightly.

The hair underfoot felt soft and springy, giving the illusion of walking on clouds. Shen Maomao watched as the three men took down the body hanging from the ceiling beam. Sanmu used a knife to cut open the cocoon densely wrapped in hair. A face with its eyeballs gouged out appeared before them, scaring Golden Retriever so much that he fell and sat on the ground.

Shen Maomao suppressed her fear, tiptoed to get a better look at the corpse, and immediately spotted the two distinctive tufts of a small mustache.

It was Tang Song.

She suddenly remembered Tang Song telling them earlier about a lot of hair appearing in his room. Perhaps even Tang Song himself hadn’t expected to lose his life because of it.

Having confirmed the body’s identity, she didn’t dare to look anymore and just scanned her surroundings.

All the furniture in the room was entangled in hair. The hair meticulously outlined the exact shape of the objects beneath: this was a table, that was a TV…

But after looking around, she didn’t find a second body in the room.

So where was Van Gogh? Where did he run off to??

Lou Jingmo had obviously noticed this too. She scanned the room and suddenly said: “His body hasn’t disappeared.”

Shen Maomao’s heart skipped a beat, and she immediately looked up at Lou Jingmo’s eyes.

That’s right… As the game had progressed, whether it was the mountain climbing, the muddy water, the toilet stall, or even the chef whose body had appeared before them, all the bodies had eventually disappeared. But Tang Song’s body… who knew how long it had been in this room.

Lou Jingmo didn’t look at her. She just used a dagger to cut open a patch of hair, took out a mobile phone from behind it, and then unlocked it with her fingerprint.

She casually scrolled through it a few times but didn’t find any useful information. So, she nonchalantly stuffed the phone into her pocket, put her hands in her pockets, and walked out: “Everyone come out. Let’s close the door and see if the body disappears.”

The group left, and Shen Maomao closed the door.

A “Zila Zila³” sound came from inside the door. Lou Jingmo waved her hand: “I’ll do it.”

Shen Maomao stepped aside and watched as Lou Jingmo gripped the doorknob. Then, a white light flashed on her hand.

Another tearing sound, and the door opened. The body they had placed on the floor was once again hanging from the ceiling, swaying continuously in the breeze.

Lou Jingmo threw a throwing knife. The strands of hair snapped, and the body fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Sanmu cut through the hair with his knife, revealing Tang Song’s unchanged body inside.

Xia Tian, standing beside them, said: “It seems this one didn’t die due to an instance dungeon taboo⁴.”

Shen Maomao, guarding the door, fell silent for a moment.

So, was he killed by Van Gogh? Why would Van Gogh kill someone? And where is he now?

Lou Jingmo searched the room again and only found a pencil, broken in two, that didn’t belong there.

The four of them left the room. The door closed again, and the hair strands inside regrew, twining around the doorknob, isolating this room from the others…

The five of them went downstairs together, planning to get something to eat before investigating further.

The two girls went to the kitchen together, with Lou Jingmo assisting Shen Maomao.

Shen Maomao secretly glanced at the kitchen curtain. After confirming no one was nearby, she immediately sidled up to Lou Jingmo, took out the hot-potato card, and whispered: “Returning this to you.”

Lou Jingmo didn’t take it: “It’s yours.”

Shen Maomao was so anxious she wanted to stomp her foot: “Why are you giving it to me? Can’t you keep it yourself?!”

Lou Jingmo, washing vegetables with an indifferent expression, said: “I have more.”

Shen Maomao: “…I’m jealous⁵.”

The corners of Lou Jingmo’s mouth curled up slightly: “Jealous of what? Is there a difference between mine and yours? Even you yourself are mine.”

Shen Maomao’s old face turned red: “What do you mean, I’m yours? Can you finish your sentence properly?! My life is yours!”

Lou Jingmo gave her a half-smile.

Shen Maomao’s face was practically steaming: “Since you already have one, I’ll hold onto this for you… I’ll try to clear Tetris today too, maybe I’ll draw one…”

Lou Jingmo tried to hold back, but couldn’t resist. She reached out and gently pinched Shen Maomao’s cheek, then pulled her hand back before Shen Maomao could explode, saying perfunctorily: “Good luck.”

Shen Maomao gave her a reproachful look, an expression mixed with a hint of complaint and a touch of allure, making Lou Jingmo’s hand itch again.

—The kind of itch that made her want to pinch something.

The two of them carried the food out and found several more NPCs sitting outside, most of them looking gloomy and not in the mood to cook or eat.

The Old Chinese Traditional Doctor and the Tycoon were among them.

The Tycoon looked at the vast white expanse outside the floor-to-ceiling windows and sighed melancholically: “When on earth can we leave this godforsaken place? Once the snow stops, that damn mud should freeze over, right? My company can’t function without me…”

The Old Chinese Traditional Doctor sighed along with him: “My pharmacy can’t function without me either…”

Their sighs rose and fell, quickly spreading to the people around them. Everyone in the hall seemed somewhat desperate, each wearing a woeful expression.

Shen Maomao was annoyed by their sighing and felt that the food in her hand no longer tasted good.

She quickly finished the food in her bowl, then placed the bowl on the table and said: “I’m full. You guys take your time.”

Just as she finished speaking, the Tycoon beside her suddenly said: “Sigh, who knows when this snow will stop. It’s pretty boring for us to just wait around here. Why don’t we chat a bit?”

The Old Chinese Traditional Doctor asked him: “What do you want to chat about?”

“Let’s chat about—” The Tycoon smiled and said faintly, “Do you have any regrets?”

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