The Hand of Confession – Chapter 228

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Starting the Kiss

If we’re going to talk, let’s talk. Just like that, quick and to the point.

“Alright.” Lou Jingmo grabbed Golden Retriever by the sleeve and, with a lift of her hand, tossed him into the exit. “Off you go!”

“Wait, I…!” Golden Retriever’s last words were cut short as he vanished before their eyes with a shua.

Lou Jingmo turned to Shen Maomao. “Don’t be nervous. Take your time and play.”

“Mhm!” Shen Maomao nodded, her eyes focused intently on the screen. Her hands moved nimbly. Anyone who didn’t know better would think she was engaged in some thrilling and intense solo match. Who would have guessed that this person, radiating the aura of a professional gamer, was actually playing Tetris?

As the points continued to accumulate, Lou Jingmo suddenly said, “If you hear any commotion in a bit, don’t let your hands tremble.”

Shen Maomao: “?”

Lou Jingmo: “Just be mentally prepared.”

Shen Maomao nodded, only half-understanding.

Not long after she said this, a loud bang suddenly came from their room door, startling Shen Maomao so much that her hand jerked. She quickly slammed the pause button.

She looked up to find that Lou Jingmo had, at some point, moved to the window and was now slowly pushing a table toward the door.

Seeing that she intended to come over and help, Lou Jingmo quickly reminded her, “Don’t just stand there, hurry up and play!”

Shen Maomao felt there were so many things to roast, she didn’t know where to begin. She had never in her life experienced something like playing a game against the clock.

Dong—

Dong—

A series of impacts sounded from the door. In addition, the walls were also being slammed with loud thuds, making it clear there was more than one person outside. The already flimsy door panel was beginning to show cracks, and the part connecting it to the wall was breaking away inch by inch. If not for Lou Jingmo and the cabinet blocking it from behind, it would have likely fallen down long ago.

The exit had appeared, and the ghosts in the instance had all descended into a frenzy.

Cold sweat trickled down Shen Maomao’s forehead. Her fingers moved like a blur, dropping the last I-block into the gap she had prepared. With a shua, four lines cleared, and the score was finally high enough!

The words “Thanks for your playing” appeared on the screen, with rows of fireworks exploding next to the white text. She held her breath, praying frantically for the prize wheel to appear…

The next second, the closing message vanished, and a line of large text abruptly appeared—Why is it you again? Still say you’re not ambitious? Congratulations on clearing Tetris and unlocking the achievement: You’re Truly So Idle Your Balls Ache¹. You have received one lottery spin!

A large prize wheel appeared. Shen Maomao’s eyes swept over it. The two examples on it seemed to have been replaced, but she had no time to look closely. She could only rush over and shove the phone at Lou Jingmo. “Quick, spin it!!” She then threw her entire body against the table, using her weight to stop the door from being opened.

Lou Jingmo tapped the screen with her hand, then tossed the phone onto the table and joined her in pushing.

Even so, the two of them were still shaken by the impacts. The gap in the door grew larger and larger, and the periods it was forced open grew longer and longer…

A fingertip squeezed through the constantly opening and closing crack in the door, landing right next to Shen Maomao.

Shen Maomao barely suppressed a scream and quickly lifted her foot to stomp on the finger. She stomped again and again, the floorboards clanging so loudly that it sounded even more terrifying than the commotion outside.

The finger was stomped into a pulp and went still after a while, but a pool of fresh blood slowly seeped into the room from under the door, mixed with strands of pitch-black hair…

At the same time, the wheel on the screen finally slowed down, gradually coming to a stop on one of the squares.

“Lou-jie!” Shen Maomao shouted.

Lou Jingmo nodded. “I’ll count to three. We let go and run together.”

Shen Maomao nodded frantically.

Lou Jingmo began to count—

“1—”

“2—”

“3!”

As her voice fell, neither of them moved.

Shen Maomao: “…”

Lou Jingmo: “…”

Despite the incredible tension of the moment, Shen Maomao felt a little urge to laugh. “Why didn’t you run?”

Lou Jingmo raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t run either.”

“Are you messing with me?”

“I think you’re the one messing with me.”

Huala— With a crash, a purplish-green hand that could no longer stand to watch pierced through the door panel, then continued to extend, reaching for the two of them.

Lou Jingmo wrapped an arm around Shen Maomao’s waist, lifted her onto her shoulder with one hand, and charged violently toward the exit.

Hong— With a loud crash, the main door fell down completely. All sorts of ghosts stormed into the room over the fallen door panel, rushing straight for the only two living people.

But they were a step too slow. Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo both tumbled into the exit, disappearing from the hotel.

A figure wearing a thick cotton coat leaped down from the third floor of the hotel, braving the wind and snow to advance with difficulty toward the mountain peak. The last snowflake fell silently, burying the entire hotel under the heavy snow until it became a flat, snowy plain.

In front of a hospital bed in a sanatorium, an EEG machine suddenly flatlined, then returned to normal the next second, attracting no one’s attention.

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Suddenly returning to the sweltering summer, Shen Maomao felt a bit disoriented. She had survived another instance and was so excited she wanted to give Lou Jingmo a high-five. On the sofa beside her, Golden Retriever shot up with a shua. “My handsome hairstyle is back!”

Lou Jingmo, however, shifted her position, slumping lazily onto the sofa. “Go check if the instance has a real-world counterpart.”

Golden Retriever, full of energy, gave her a salute. “Yes, Xiao Lou-jie! I’ll go check right away!” With that, he rushed out the door in a great hurry, never once asking why they had risked danger to finish the game, which truly saved Shen Maomao a lot of mental effort.

After the door was closed, Lou Jingmo shed her lazy demeanor. She sat up straight and scooted closer to Shen Maomao. Her left hand rested casually on Shen Maomao’s thigh as she whispered close to her ear, “Why didn’t you run just now?”

The warm breath on her sensitive earlobe made Shen Maomao shiver uncontrollably. She seemed to catch the fragrant scent from Lou Jingmo’s mouth as she spoke. Her heart suddenly accelerated, and she turned her head away, not daring to look at her. Even her speech became stuttered. “Wh-what do you mean, not run? I was just… just a bit slow to react… By the way, what prop did we get? I didn’t get a chance to look.”

Lou Jingmo pinched her chin, forcing her to turn her face back, and narrowed her eyes dangerously. “How long are you going to play dumb with me?”

Shen Maomao clenched her fists, her whole body trembling.

Did… did she really have the courage to take that step? Could she really handle someone like Lou Jingmo, who, aside from being venomous-tongued, having meddlesome hands, being narcissistic, loving to mock her, loving to be mysterious, being infuriating enough to kill someone without consequence, and being so impulsive she’d act on any whim that came to mind, was practically perfect?

…Thinking about it that way, the pressure didn’t seem so great anymore.

Outside of the game, they were just two ordinary people.

Lou Jingmo was still pinching her cheeks, squishing her face into a goldfish pout. “Are you spacing out?”

Shen Maomao shook her head repeatedly, mumbling indistinctly, “Nuh-uh! Let go of me!”

Lou Jingmo released her as requested.

Shen Maomao looked seriously into her eyes. “Lou-jie, do people like us, who live such a precarious existence², really deserve to be in a relationship?”

Lou Jingmo looked back at her. “I thought about this question a long time ago…”

Shen Maomao interrupted her, “So you’ve liked me for a long time?”

Lou Jingmo: “…”

Shen Maomao gave a dry cough. “Ahem… I didn’t hear that. Please, continue.”

Lou Jingmo shot her a glare and continued, “Shen Maomao, life itself is full of accidents. Do you want to cower until you die a virgin, or have a passionate, earth-shattering romance with me?”

Shen Maomao: “…” The logic is sound, but could you not be so blunt?

Lou Jingmo said, “I will protect you well, and I will protect myself well… Besides, I have a lot of cards here that could save you twenty years of effort. Aren’t you tempted?”

Shen Maomao: “!!”

“Speaking of which, I’m the one getting the short end of the stick. A perfectly good save point has now become an NPC that needs protecting. What else are you dissatisfied with?”

Shen Maomao shook her head. “I’m satisfied! Lou-jie, are you confessing to me?!”

Lou Jingmo: “No, I’m waiting for you to confess.”

Shen Maomao swallowed hard, her face bright red. “Lou Jingmo, um…”

A pure smile graced Lou Jingmo’s features as she responded softly, “Hm?”

Shen Maomao felt like her face and ears were on fire. She reached up and touched her ear awkwardly, stammering, “Um… I have… have a romance I’d like to discuss with you, what do you… think?”

The next second, Lou Jingmo tackled her onto the sofa, planting her hands on either side of her shoulders and looking down at her. “Do you know what you’re saying?”

Shen Maomao started trembling again, as nervous as someone who had matched the first few numbers of a lottery ticket and was just waiting for the final number to be drawn. “I know… I’m very clear… Lou Jingmo, I like you… Mmph…”

Lou Jingmo lowered her head directly.

It was a very gentle kiss.

For someone like Lou Jingmo, who was all sharp edges, her lips were surprisingly soft.

Lou Jingmo carefully slid her tongue into her mouth, coaxing Shen Maomao’s to dance with hers. She closed her eyes, her long lashes trembling lightly like the fluttering wings of a butterfly. Her hair fell beside Shen Maomao’s ear, making her feel an itch that traveled all the way from her ear to her heart.

Her hands, which had nowhere to go, paused for a moment before slowly wrapping around Lou Jingmo’s waist, responding clumsily.

The temperature in the room began to rise, and the air itself seemed to carry a trace of sweetness. By the time the kiss ended, the top two buttons of Shen Maomao’s collar had been undone.

Shen Maomao: “…Where are you putting your hands?”

Lou Jingmo: “When I get nervous, I just want to grab something.”

Shen Maomao’s face was so red it looked like water could be squeezed from it. Hearing this, she shot her a resentful glare. “Go grab your own!”

Lou Jingmo stated truthfully, “Too big, can’t grab them.”

“Get off!!” Shen Maomao, fuming, pushed Lou Jingmo away and sat up. But as soon as she was upright, Lou Jingmo pushed her back down into her original position. “Give me another kiss? Hm?”

Without waiting for Shen Maomao’s consent, she kissed her again.

Compared to the first kiss, which was as tender and gentle as a silent, nourishing rain in a time of hardship³, the second was a raging tempest. It quickly caused Shen Maomao to sink into the monstrous waves, unable to think of anything else.

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