The Hand of Confession – Chapter 229

Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn

Two Jinxes

Yet they failed to escape Africa and enter Europe¹

The kissing was done, the touching was done, but Shen Maomao still had one question she hadn’t figured out, so she asked directly, “So why did you confess so suddenly?”

Lou Jingmo just looked at her quietly, not saying a word.

Shen Maomao paused, then tentatively rephrased her question, “So how did you figure out so quickly that I wanted to confess to you?”

Only then did Lou Jingmo speak. “Because I don’t want to have any regrets.” She looked into Shen Maomao’s eyes and said earnestly, “I don’t want to be filled with regret whenever I think of you in the future.”

Regret for not telling you I liked you sooner, afraid that when I wanted to say it later, the chance might already be gone…

Shen Maomao said, “The way you put it makes it sound like I’m about to die.”

Lou Jingmo laughed out loud. “My mistake.”

After being lovey-dovey for a while, Shen Maomao remembered the Tetris prop and hurriedly searched her game inventory.

She rummaged through it for a long time but couldn’t find anything new. Her mood shifted from confusion to shock—Is it possible to not get anything from this thing??

She shot an accusatory glare at Lou Jingmo. “You jinx!!² Did you get a ‘Thanks for Playing’ prize? How are you even more unlucky than me?”

Lou Jingmo pulled her into an embrace. “Your own account has bad luck, what does that have to do with me?” As she spoke, she reached out and tickled her.

Shen Maomao forgot all about the prize draw, cackling like an old hen that had just laid an egg. In the end, she and Lou Jingmo collapsed onto the sofa together, exhausted.

It was a wonderful time, yet neither of them had any intention of moving. Lou Jingmo sat on the sofa with Shen Maomao sprawled in her lap, like two mollusks, jointly enjoying this rare, peaceful afternoon, free of ghosts and mortal danger.

Shen Maomao toyed with Lou Jingmo’s fingers, feigning nonchalance as she asked the question that mattered most to her. “So, Lou-jie, what about your other contract partners? Are they all dead?”

Lou Jingmo replied, “Are you asking to play a round of truth-telling?”

Shen Maomao scratched her palm. “You know everything about me, but I know nothing about you. How is that what a relationship is supposed to look like?”

Lou Jingmo thought about it and agreed. So, without hesitation, she said directly, “If that’s what you want to ask, my answer is no.”

Shen Maomao sat bolt upright. “Huh??”

“I mean, I have no other contract partners,” Lou Jingmo said. After speaking, she pulled out a rectangular card and stuffed it into Shen Maomao’s hand. “See for yourself.”

It was a card. Shen Maomao had a feeling it would be the moment she saw its shape.

She flipped the card over. Pictured on it was an old man with a long robe and a beard, holding an open book. On the book’s pages was a formation that looked very familiar.

“This is…” Shen Maomao raised a hand to touch the back of her neck. “That formation??!”

Lou Jingmo nodded. “Put it in your prop bar and take a look.”

When a card was in the prop bar, its name and function would be displayed automatically.

The card was called Jacob. Shen Maomao skimmed the description and finally understood why Lou Jingmo had bound her.

From what she understood now, Jacob’s ability was very powerful. It could help the card’s owner contract a save point. If the owner died, the card would automatically consume the save point to resurrect the owner. For most players, Jacob was indeed equivalent to a second life.

For fairness’s sake, the contracted person would also receive a second life, but this second life was useless when the contract took effect. No matter how many Jacob cards a person had, they couldn’t contract a new person until the previous one died, and the contract would only take effect once per instance.

A card with such a powerful ability had a fatal weakness—it could only be used within an instance and could only contract someone judged by the instance to be “innocent.”

The Confession Game began in order to wash away sins, so where would one find an innocent person in the game?

“When I first got this card, I thought it was useless,” Lou Jingmo said. “Until I saw you lying on the main road, and the card prompted me that you met the contract conditions.”

Shen Maomao said, “…So you just came up to me so awkwardly and asked if I’d sell my life?”

Lou Jingmo gave a dry cough. “I just wanted to see if the card’s effect was as great as it claimed. Besides, in the context of this game, you’re an ‘anomaly,’ like a bug in the program. Naturally, I was curious about you. Speaking of which, you should be glad I had that card in my pocket at the time.”

Shen Maomao put her palms together. “With a grateful heart, I thank the card³.”

If it weren’t for the card, Lou Jingmo probably would have never noticed her in the vast sea of people, and she would have likely died in the first instance. Could this be what they call fate?

She recalled the events of the first instance and suddenly seemed to have found the crucial point. “Wait, in the first instance, when the monster grabbed my ankle at the dorm entrance, you actually had all sorts of ways to save me, didn’t you?”

Lou Jingmo: “…”

Shen Maomao turned around, straddling her legs to sit on her lap. “Don’t you think you need to explain this a little?”

Lou Jingmo wrapped her arms around her waist and yawned. “I’m getting a little sleepy.”

Shen Maomao yelled, “Bullsh#t! Don’t even think about avoiding the question!”

Lou Jingmo’s hands gradually moved down, shifting to support her butt. “How about we get off first and then talk? Don’t you have any idea how heavy you are?”

Shen Maomao shrieked, “I’m going to get angry!!”

Lou Jingmo raised her hands in surrender. “I admit it, I tricked you. You looked so gullible back then, I wanted to make you think I’d paid a huge price to save you so you’d willingly be my save point…”

At this point, her tone shifted. “Actually, when I think back on it now, I feel both relieved and terrified.”

Relieved that she was strong enough to ensure she never had to use that save point, and terrified that one day she might mess up and cause Shen Maomao to lose her life.

Shen Maomao leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “What’s done is done. Look on the bright side. You’re so amazing, and I got a free life and a girlfriend out of it. No matter how I look at it, I’m the one who profited.”

Lou Jingmo held her tighter, silently pressing her face against her chest, feeling her strong heartbeat.

Shen Maomao said, “A couple of hugs is enough, alright.”

Lou Jingmo let go, gave her a meaningful look, and said, “You’re done asking. Isn’t it my turn now?”

Shen Maomao was dumbfounded. “What are you going to ask? Is there anything I’m still hiding from you?”

Lou Jingmo opened her mouth. “What are your true feelings for Ren Yue?”

Shen Maomao froze.

In truth, she hadn’t thought about Ren Yue for a very long time.

Ever since leaving school, she had thrown her entire heart and soul into her new life with Lou Jingmo. Ren Yue’s betrayal had made her cry her eyes out a few times, but it hadn’t left too deep a mark on her heart.

If she hadn’t met Lou Jingmo, she would probably still be crying in some unseen corner. But now, her heart and eyes were completely filled with Lou Jingmo; even Ren Yue’s appearance had become a little blurry.

So, upon hearing Lou Jingmo’s question, her first reaction was puzzlement. “On such a joyous day, why are you suddenly bringing her up?”

Lou Jingmo said, “Because you’re about to graduate. I need to give you a heads-up.”

Shen Maomao took out her phone to check the time, only then remembering that her real identity was still a fourth-year university student about to graduate and enter the workforce…

Her school’s graduation certificates were to be collected on June 28th, which was about half a month away. The class would be taking a graduation photo then, and Ren Yue would definitely be there, so a meeting was inevitable. If Lou Jingmo hadn’t suddenly brought it up, she would have almost forgotten about it herself.

Thinking of this, she replied, “How should I put it? In the past, I genuinely treated her well. Now, I genuinely want to kill her. Is my lady satisfied with this answer?”

Lou Jingmo rewarded her with a kiss on the corner of her eye. “Moderately satisfied, I suppose.”

Shen Maomao rolled her eyes.

Lou Jingmo added, “Excluding Simon Peter, I think I have a guess as to what card Ren Yue has.”

Shen Maomao showed her no mercy. “You have another new guess, again and again?⁴“

Annoyed, Lou Jingmo bit her ear. “There won’t be a mistake this time. The card she has must be the one with the lowest drop rate—Judas!”

Most of the cards in the game were more or less related to the deeds of the apostles behind them. Judas betrayed Jesus, and Ren Yue betrayed Shen Maomao.

For a card that could directly rescue someone from infinite terror, the conditions for its use must be even stricter than Jacob’s. Otherwise, why wouldn’t Ren Yue just grab a random person to pull into the game? Why did she have to find Shen Maomao, who had treated her with genuine kindness?

This was also the reason why Lou Jingmo felt jealous of a “has-been” like Ren Yue.

She suspected that Shen Maomao had liked Ren Yue without realizing it, but she couldn’t say it out loud, which was incredibly frustrating.

Shen Maomao was oblivious to all the random thoughts in Lou Jingmo’s head. The moment she heard her mention Judas, she perked up. “Then what are we waiting for? Team up and steal the card?”

Lou Jingmo was silent for two seconds before saying seriously, “Compared to taking her card, I’d rather you just never see this person again.”

Shen Maomao gave a big “OK” sign. “On such a joyous day, let’s not mention her. With this time, why don’t we kiss a couple more times??”

Lou Jingmo, naturally, did not hold back, pressing Shen Maomao onto the sofa and kissing her to her heart’s content.

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Golden Retriever didn’t come back after dark, and Lou Jingmo was more than happy to have a world of their own with Shen Maomao.

The newly official couple had endless secrets to whisper and countless little gestures to make. After a clingy afternoon on the sofa, dusk finally fell, and darkness enveloped the land. It was time to rest.

A warm yellow lamp was lit in the living room. Outside the window, the lights were brilliant, a river of ten thousand stars. It seemed to be the right time, the right place, and they were tightly embracing the right person, as if they were embracing the entire world.

Seeing that the hour hand was already pointing to eight, Lou Jingmo proposed, “Do you want to…”

Shen Maomao’s eyes lit up. “Yes, yes!”

Lou Jingmo: “…Do you even know what I was going to say?”

Shen Maomao said shyly, “Weren’t you inviting me to sleep with you?”

Lou Jingmo said, “Can you be a little more reserved? I was asking if you wanted to make some food. It’s already eight o’clock. Even if you’re not hungry, I am.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

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The author has something to say:

The line “I want to grab something whenever I get nervous” is a reference to a movie called 《Timeless Romance》⁵ hahahaha

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