The Hand of Confession – Chapter 224

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Gold Bars

These four gold bars are all mine…

There was a problem with the flow of time in the instance, so they couldn’t determine when Xi Tian had died. However, judging by the degree of decomposition of the corpse and the dried, purple bloodstains on the bedsheets, he definitely hadn’t just died today.

Shen Maomao wasn’t afraid of much, but she was terrified of all kinds of insects. The moment the bugs flew out, she rushed out of the room and stood guard at the door, not daring to go back inside.

The small flying insects swarmed chaotically above the corpse. Golden Retriever really wanted to rush out just like Shen Maomao, but his gender didn’t quite allow for it. He could only brace himself and investigate the situation with Lou Jingmo.

He mustered his courage and prodded the corpse. The body, like a piece of rotten wood, unexpectedly disintegrated into a fine powder, covering the bed in a thick layer.

Shen Maomao: “Is this an insurance scam¹???”

Lou Jingmo: “There seems to be something inside.”

Golden Retriever trembled. “Is this… considered bone ash?”

Lou Jingmo: “In a sense, yes.”

Golden Retriever: “That thing… should we take it out?”

Lou Jingmo nodded.

Golden Retriever asked again, “Then which of us is going to get it?”

Lou Jingmo looked at him, and he looked back at Lou Jingmo. The air grew somewhat tense.

A single tear fell from the corner of Golden Retriever’s eye. “I get it.” After speaking, he silently knelt by the bed, turning his head to face away. He didn’t even dare to breathe too heavily, afraid that a cloud of ash would be inhaled into his nose the next second.

He stretched out a trembling hand and began to feel around in the ashes. It didn’t take long for him to pull out a room card.

He handed the card to Lou Jingmo. Lou Jingmo took out a facial tissue from her bag, placed the tissue between her thumb and forefinger, and carefully pinched the room card, her disdain plain to see.

Golden Retriever was both scared and disgusted. He said weakly, “Xiao Lou-jie… spare a piece of tissue?”

Lou Jingmo pulled two tissues from her pocket and gave them to him. “We have what we came for. Let’s go.”

The three of them walked out of the room. Lou Jingmo toyed with the room card she had just obtained.

The back of the room card was the same as all of theirs, with the four words “Soul Harbor” written on it. The front, however, was pitch black, with no pattern whatsoever.

“What door does this card open?” Shen Maomao asked.

Lou Jingmo guessed, “In any case, it won’t be the door to leave.”

Golden Retriever was still scrubbing his hands with the tissue. If not for the limited water supply on the third floor, he would have really wanted to go wash his hands.

With Xi Tian’s room checked, only three rooms on the entire third floor were left unsearched—Hong-jie’s 301, the old traditional doctor’s 303, and Xiaobao and his mother’s 318.

Based on proximity, they should have chosen 318, but the ferocious display from Xiaobao and his mom was still echoing in their minds. They had no desire to poke that hornet’s nest for the time being.

Right now, the safest person on the surface was probably Hong-jie. The trio turned around, walked back, and knocked on the door of 301.

The door opened and a head poked out. Hong-jie appeared before them with a haggard face and said wearily, “Can I help you?”

Shen Maomao said, “Hong-jie, you’ve seen the situation in the inn. If we don’t start trying, we’re all going to be buried here. So, could we trouble you to work with us and first look for any useful tools in your room?”

Hearing this, Hong-jie immediately used her body to block the door gap completely, her voice fierce but her heart timid. “There’s nothing here, don’t talk nonsense!”

The guilt in her voice was practically overflowing. It was obvious there was something in her room.

Shen Maomao frowned. “It’s already come to this, and I don’t know what you’re still hiding. Hong-jie, if you continue with this attitude, then we can all just die here together.”

Hong-jie’s expression wavered. “What do you mean? What’s this about dying here together?”

Shen Maomao deliberately exaggerated the situation. “You don’t know yet? More and more people are dying, and the snow is getting heavier. If we let this continue, all of us, including you, will be buried in this inn. We’ll either run out of air, run out of food, or be killed by someone before any of that happens…”

Hong-jie became a little flustered, but she still said calmly, “The people who died must have had some conflict with the killer. Otherwise, why would someone kill you for no reason? If you ask me, the people who got killed probably weren’t good people anyway.”

Shen Maomao was so shocked by the worldview² behind that statement that she was momentarily speechless.

Just then, Golden Retriever leaned in, feigning mystery as he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Sister Rabbit, just tell Hong-jie the truth. If we delay any longer, it’ll really be too late!”

Hong-jie frowned, pretending to casually turn her head as she perked up her ears to listen to their conversation.

Shen Maomao didn’t know what he was up to, so she passed the conversational baton to him. “Then you tell her…” With that, she retreated to Lou Jingmo’s side, letting Golden Retriever put on his performance.

Golden Retriever coughed into his fist twice, then walked up to Hong-jie and said, “Hong-jie, we didn’t tell you before because we were afraid of scaring you, but now that you’re being so uncooperative, we have no choice…”

Hong-jie took a step back, shielding herself with the door. “What? Are you planning to hit me?” she asked warily.

Golden Retriever was exasperated. “Why would we hit you? We wanted to tell you that this inn isn’t clean…” As he spoke, he lowered his voice again, deliberately creating a sinister atmosphere. “Do you remember room 304?”

Hong-jie’s pupils contracted sharply. She clearly remembered the bizarre scene in 304.

Golden Retriever seized the opportunity to add fuel to the fire. “We were afraid there might be some kind of filthy thing in your room and wanted to help you check… We didn’t want to tell you, but you just had to get to the bottom of it.”

Shen Maomao had a sudden realization: for someone like Hong-jie, as long as something didn’t personally affect her, she would never change her mind. Things like the collective good and everyone’s safety were completely useless concepts to her. Only when her own interests and safety were threatened would she truly step up.

After hearing Golden Retriever’s speech, Hong-jie finally began to truly panic. She thought for a moment and said, “Then you guys wait a minute, I need to tidy up the clothes on my bed.”

With that, she shut the door and frantically went to sort out her clothes.

A short while later, she reopened the door, her forehead covered in sweat. “Okay, you can come in,” she said, making way for them at the entrance.

They filed in one after another. As soon as they entered, Golden Retriever, who was walking at the very front, couldn’t help but sniff the air.

His sense of smell had always been sharp. Seeing his action, Shen Maomao couldn’t help but ask, “What is it? Did you smell something?”

Golden Retriever hesitated. “There seems to be a strange smell in the room.”

Hong-jie slammed the door shut, annoyed. “What do you mean by that? I just cleaned this room. What do you mean there’s a strange smell? Who are you trying to insult?”

Golden Retriever sniffed again and explained, “It’s not a bad smell, it’s a… a smell of decay, exactly the same as the one in Xi Tian’s room.”

Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo immediately scanned their surroundings, beginning to investigate Hong-jie’s room.

This room was slightly smaller than theirs, with only one double bed. The room’s furnishings were mostly the same as theirs. Next to Hong-jie’s bed stood a suitcase from who-knows-where, and on the bed was a mountain-like pile of clothes.

Hong-jie, not understanding, asked, “What rotting smell? What happened to Xi Tian?”

“He’s dead,” Lou Jingmo said succinctly.

Hong-jie was stunned for a moment, then asked, “How did he die?”

“He died in his room. Qu Jing is missing too. And judging from the condition of the body, it looks like Xi Tian has been dead for a long time,” Golden Retriever said. “The smell in his room was exactly the same as the one in your room.”

Hong-jie’s face turned deathly pale with fright. “Did someone hide a body in here?”

Golden Retriever sniffed left and right, finally locking onto Hong-jie’s suitcase as the target. “The smell of decay is coming from here!”

Hong-jie’s expression changed. She immediately hugged the suitcase and said, “Impossible! I know exactly what’s in here. You’d have a better chance telling me the body is under the bed or in the walls. I think you guys are just trying to trick me!” She was afraid they would come and snatch it from her.

The clothes were all piled on the bed, yet she claimed to know exactly what was inside the suitcase. Furthermore, though she said she was going to tidy the clothes on the bed, they were clearly a mess. It didn’t look like she had finished tidying up; rather, it looked like they had been hastily pulled out of the suitcase—clearly, Hong-jie was hiding something in there.

Shen Maomao: “Are you really not afraid of dying? There’s obviously a problem with what’s inside, what’s the use of keeping it? Or are you raising a corpse in there?”

Hong-jie stammered, trying to find an excuse for herself. “This is my underwear. There’s no way I can open it in front of so many people, right?”

“I can turn my back,” Golden Retriever said, and promptly turned around.

Lou Jingmo said, “Your money or your life?”

Hong-jie froze again, an expression of disbelief on her face as she stared blankly at Lou Jingmo. “You… how did you know?”

Shen Maomao also looked at her in surprise.

That’s right, how did Lou Jingmo know there was money inside?

Lou Jingmo said, “You don’t need to worry about how I know. What’s inside isn’t necessarily a good thing. You might have the fortune to get it, but you might not have the fortune to spend it.”

Hong-jie was trembling all over. She looked at Lou Jingmo and remained silent for a long time, engaged in a fierce internal struggle.

Finally, she slowly loosened her hands from the suitcase. “Then you all step back… I’ll open it and let you take a look…”

The three of them had no choice but to retreat to the doorway.

Hong-jie laid the suitcase down, first unlocking it with a key, then furtively entering the combination. With a click, the suitcase opened and fell heavily to the floor, revealing its contents—four bloated, rotting arms.

The putrid stench grew stronger, so strong that even Shen Maomao could clearly smell the disgusting odor, yet Hong-jie seemed completely unaware of it. A look of obsession appeared on her face. She slowly knelt before the suitcase and gently stroked each arm, one by one, her expression tender and content, as if performing some sacred ritual. She murmured, “These four gold bars are all mine… No one can take them away…”

---

---