The Hand of Confession – Chapter 26

Volume 2: The Days of Playing with Monkeys in the Village

Monkey God

This is our village’s Monkey God

Seven people stood at the village entrance waiting. The girl named Wu Menghan had been looking very scared all along, retreating again and again towards the back of the crowd.

Lou Jingmo sized her up with a couple of glances, and asked curiously: “What are you afraid of?”

Just one sentence made her tremble with fright. Wu Menghan looked at that big locust tree, her fear rising to the extreme: “This tree… is so scary…”

Shen Maomao raised her head and looked at the branches of the locust tree that stretched out several meters, and didn’t have any particular feeling: “Where is it scary?” While she said aloud that locust wood has no spirit and is for ghosts, in her heart she still believed in science.

Shao Mei also said: “Wu Menghan, can you stop being so superstitious all day long?”

Wu Menghan was so scared she was about to cry: “I’m not… This tree is really strange…”

Shao Mei said disdainfully: “So where do you think it’s strange? It’s not like it can eat you, can it?”

“I…” Wu Menghan couldn’t articulate 1, 2, 3, she could only mutter, “I don’t know… It gives me a very bad feeling…”

“If you don’t do anything to trouble your conscience during the day, you won’t fear ghosts knocking at your door at midnight.” Shao Mei glanced at her sideways, “We’re not afraid, you’re so pure, what are you afraid of?” The emphasis of the entire sentence was on the two words “pure,” it didn’t sound like comfort, but rather like mockery.

Wu Menghan’s face changed again, and she was about to cry right then and there.

The boy called Shan Xiao stood in front of her in a protective stance, and said to Shao Mei: “You should say less.”

Shao Mei let out a cold snort.

Shan Xiao turned around to comfort Wu Menghan, persuading her not to scare herself, coaxing her with kind words, and finally managed to soothe her fragile nerves.

Lou Jingmo whispered to Shen Maomao: “This is really interesting.” As she said this, there wasn’t any amused expression on her face, as if she was just stating a fact.

“Sister Lou, is there really something wrong with that tree?” Seeing that girl speak so seriously, Shen Maomao couldn’t help but feel a bit panicked. The laws of all things can be explained by science, but in the game world, it seems that big brother science doesn’t have much authority…

Lou Jingmo asked her: “Do I look like the game developer?”

Shen Maomao widened her eyes, as if saying “What! So you’re the culprit behind everything!”

Lou Jingmo directly gave her head a slap: “I mean how would I know what they’re thinking!”

After a short while, several more people appeared at the end of the small path, walking towards them unhurriedly.

Shen Maomao counted, there were six people who came later, and one of them was their old acquaintance — Yun Shengjin.

It’s truly a case of no coincidence is too unlikely to happen in a story — although this kind of coincidence is not necessarily a good thing.

She didn’t see Yan Nan and Beidou beside Yun Shengjin, but instead saw two new faces with expressions of fear closely following behind him, one male and one female, probably new people he had tricked along the way.

Yun Shengjin also saw them, but showed no intention of coming over to greet them.

After the six people had all walked to the village entrance and joined them, an old person leaning on a cane suddenly walked out from a house in the distance at the head of the village.

It seemed everyone had arrived.

Lou Jingmo tilted her head and said to Shen Maomao: “There are quite a few newcomers this time.”

Counting the group of five at the village entrance and the two following Yun Shengjin, there were already seven newcomers. If there were no newcomers among the last two men and one woman, then it would be seven newcomers and six old players, with one extra even if each old player brought one.

More newcomers means the difficulty of the instance is not high, but it also means it’s easier for mistakes to occur, because most newcomers have a hobby of courting death.

The old person looked to be about seventy or eighty years old, thin and haggard, walking slowly from afar. His face was covered with wrinkles and brown spots, skin sagging, with some deep wrinkles even on his neck; he wore a long-sleeved mandarin jacket of a single color; in his hand he leaned on a cane carved with patterns, which had a kind of luxury that didn’t match his appearance.

The newcomers looked puzzled, and Yun Shengjin stepped out again, saying: “My name is Yun Shengjin, I’ve cleared many games, you can consider whether to team up with me or not. I will try my best to protect those who team up with me, and teach them common knowledge about the game; for those who don’t choose me, I will also share clues with them, so you don’t need to have any reservations, you can do whatever you want.”

Shen Maomao whispered to Xiaolou: “He doesn’t even change his lines.” It was identical to the last game.

Xiaolou said: “He could change it, but there’s no need to.” Because new players who survive under Yun Shengjin’s leadership almost never cooperate with him a second time.

Yun Shengjin didn’t hear clearly their little scheme, maintaining the image of a gentle leader in front of the newcomers: “The NPC has already come over, if you have any questions, you can come find me after understanding the plot.”

While they were talking, the old man had already walked up to them, standing still with both hands resting on the cane placed in front of him, waiting for them to come forward and start a conversation.

Yun Shengjin stepped forward: “Hello.”

“You’re the ones who’ve come to take photos, right? Are you the person in charge?” The old man looked somewhat troubled, “When you called earlier, you didn’t tell me there would be so many people.”

Yun Shengjin improvised: “There are a few juniors who wanted to come along. Our Lingyuan Village has beautiful mountains and rivers, and is a place where both the land and the people are excellent, so I thought I’d bring them to broaden their horizons.”

Hearing the village being praised, the old man’s expression visibly softened. He glanced at the group behind Yun Shengjin and said: “Thirteen people, it’ll be a bit cramped but we can manage. However, the village is holding a sacrificial ceremony recently, and outsiders are not allowed to participate in the ceremony. When the time comes, just don’t go there to join in the excitement.”

Not joining in the excitement is impossible. The game world won’t arrange useless plot points, this sacrificial ceremony might just be the key to clearing the game.

Yun Shengjin agreed very readily: “No problem.”

The old man nodded with satisfaction, leading them into the village.

The small paths in the village were also paved with stone slabs, and there were many children running back and forth on the road. Upon suddenly seeing so many outsiders, the children collectively followed behind them, asking the old man in a clamor: “Village Chief Grandpa, who are they?”

So it turns out the old man was the village chief.

The village chief kindly patted the head of one of the little girls with pigtails, walking and answering: “These big brothers and sisters have come to the village to photograph the scenery, you little mischief-makers don’t cause any trouble, okay?”

The children answered in clear, crisp voices: “We won’t cause any trouble!”

“Alright, alright, go off and play now,” the village chief smiled and shooed the children away.

Shen Maomao observed the surrounding environment without pause.

This village was deep in the mountains, with inconvenient transportation, logically the villagers should be living in poverty, hardship… but walking all the way here, she found that every household in the village had two-story houses, with courtyards and gardens, very impressive. Moreover, the clothes worn by the village chief and the village children looked better than what the players were wearing, it seems this Lingyuan Village must have some means of becoming wealthy?

The village chief led them past several small buildings, finally stopping in front of one house, and called out loudly towards the open black door: “Liu Zhuangshi?!”

“Eh! Coming!” A man responded and quickly walked out of the house. He wiped his wet hands on his apron and said to the village chief, “Hello, Village Chief, are these the guests?”

The village chief nodded slightly, turned his head and spoke to Yun Shengjin: “This is Liu Zhuangshi, his house can accommodate four people, you divide yourselves up. Zhuangshi’s wife is pregnant, so those staying here shouldn’t be too rowdy.”

The Liu family’s house is located in the center of the village, the location is neither good nor bad.

To say it’s not good is because if the entire village undergoes a strange change, it would be troublesome to run out; to say it’s not bad is because if the strange change starts from the outermost parts, those living in the center might still be able to survive until the end.

Lou Jingmo didn’t move, so Shen Maomao also stayed put. She curiously surveyed the courtyard of this house, seeing something covered with red cloth, seemingly some kind of statue.

Yun Shengjin looked a bit troubled, and spoke up: “It’s all the same wherever we stay. Let’s do this, I’ll stay here, those who want to stay with me can come stand over here.”

Two of the newcomers who had been fooled by him immediately walked over. Among the three old players who came later, one also chose to stay.

Yun Shengjin said: “After the accommodations are assigned, please everyone gather at the village entrance, we need to discuss matters regarding the mission.”

The others didn’t raise any objections.

Seeing that he had finished arranging, the village chief said: “Then Zhuangshi, you take care of the guests first.”

The man responded with a sound, leading the four people into the courtyard.

Nine people were left, and the village chief continued walking forward.

Shao Mei cheerfully chatted with the village chief: “Village Chief Grandpa, we five get along well, can we stay together?”

Wu Menghan said nervously: “It’s our first time here, we should…”

Shao Mei said: “Offering unsolicited help, must be either a villain or a thief. I don’t trust those experienced people. If you want to trust them, go be their lackey yourself!”

Wu Menghan’s face looked somewhat unpleasant. She opened and closed her mouth, clenched her fists, but in the end said nothing.

The village chief seemed not to have heard their little argument, and obligingly said: “Alright, then I’ll take you five to Old Zhao’s house first, his place is spacious.”

Thus, Lou Jingmo and Shen Maomao were left till the last, forced to stay in the same house with the remaining two old players, one male and one female.

After allocating all the rooms, the village chief waved goodbye to them and walked away with faltering steps.

They followed the footsteps of the house owner, entering through the vermilion-colored main gate.

The house owner’s surname was Zhang, he introduced himself as Zhang Jianshe, looking to be in his sixties, very talkative, and had been speaking non-stop since taking charge of them.

Among the four of them, except for Shen Maomao, all were experienced old players, naturally understanding that now was a good opportunity to extract information from the NPC.

The only man among the four asked: “Uncle Zhang, what’s under the red cloth in your courtyard?”

All along the way, it seemed every household in the village had something covered with red cloth displayed in their courtyard, very eye-catching.

That thing seemed to be placed on a square table, including the height of the table it was about as tall as a person, and it was impossible to see clearly what was underneath through the red cloth.

Hearing this question, Zhang Jianshe didn’t seem to feel offended, but instead explained with a smile: “This is our village’s Monkey God. I was afraid you might not understand the rules and offend the deity, so I covered it with red cloth first.” As he spoke, he walked to the red cloth and bowed reverently.

So it was a deity statue.

Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo exchanged a glance, seeing in each other’s eyes the same thought as their own.

The sacrifice the village chief mentioned should be related to this “Monkey God”.

The author has something to say:

Don’t panic if you see edits! That’s just me correcting typos! Thanks to the cuties who help catch bugs!

——Actually, I’m quite afraid that the second world won’t meet your expectations qwq I’m a noob, I’m so vegetable