The Hand of Confession – Chapter 275

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

Evil Book

I, Yuanshi Tianzun¹, send money

Shen Maomao asked her: “Yatou? After so many years, Ying Meng didn’t give you a name?”

The little girl shook her head: “No.”

Shen Maomao gave her a look with an unclear meaning, then turned to ask Lou Jingmo: “What do we do now? Should we go find Cui Luoyu?”

Lou Jingmo looked at her and asked in return: “Do you want to save those NPCs?”

Shen Maomao answered truthfully: “When successful, benefit the whole world; when poor, attend to one’s own virtue in solitude². If conditions permit, I’ll save them; if not, I’ll run away on my own.”

Lou Jingmo smiled. “As expected of you. Then let’s go.” After speaking, she pushed the child into her arms and said, “You lead her. Be extra careful.”

Shen Maomao lowered her head to look at the little girl’s fluffy head and reached out to grab her small hand.

The moment their two hands touched, Shen Maomao was so cold she shivered.

She had just come up from the well, so her body temperature was already a bit low, but the girl’s body temperature was even lower than hers. Upon first contact, she thought she had touched a piece of ice.

The girl tilted her head to look at her and asked innocently, “Are you very cold?”

Shen Maomao’s expression did not change³. “Not cold.”

The two adults and one child wandered in the courtyard. Lou Jingmo said unhurriedly, “I also considered the question you asked me, but after seeing her, I knew this question isn’t really a question anymore.”

What she said was a bit of a mouthful, but Shen Maomao unexpectedly understood. “Is it as I thought?”

Lou Jingmo: “If you and I are thinking the same thing.”

The two of them spoke in riddles for a while. The little girl listened quietly, not interrupting or asking questions, her eyes always looking at the ground beneath her feet, being extremely well-behaved.

Not long after walking outwards, as they were almost at the entrance, they all heard the sound of ghosts crying and wolves howling⁴ coming from a distance.

It must be that Cui Luoyu had lost her sanity and started a great killing spree⁵.

Shen Maomao said: “I didn’t expect the boss of this instance dungeon to be Madam Shao.”

Lou Jingmo shook her head: “Only on the surface.”

That was right. In the dark, there were still eight wells waiting for them.

As she was thinking this, eight pillars of white light suddenly lit up from all directions, rushing diagonally up to the clouds and converging into a single beam in the middle of the courtyard.

“What the hell?? The exit has been triggered by someone? Why is it in the sky?!” Shen Maomao exclaimed.

Lou Jingmo raised her head to look at the sky, her brows deeply furrowed. Not two seconds after the pillars of light appeared, the one directly to the north, as if it had been dyed, instantly turned red. “That’s not right, it’s not the exit. Let’s go quickly, let’s go take a look!”

Shen Maomao quickly scooped up the little girl and, holding her, ran towards the place where the light was converging.

……”In the end, are you the Cleaner, or is he the Cleaner??!” Su Han leaned against a wall, looking up at the light in the sky and the person directly under the pillar of light. She couldn’t help but turn her head to ask Potato Chip, “How come in the end the ghosts and monsters don’t play with you but play with him instead?”

Potato Chip’s face was full of confusion. “Can there be two Cleaners in one instance? I don’t know…”

Not far in front of them was a scene like a purgatory on earth.

Everywhere were severed limbs and broken arms. Blood converged into a small river, dyeing that beam of light red. A bizarrely shaped monster followed behind Cheng Rui with lowered brows and pleasing eyes, like a domesticated pet waiting for its master’s command. Besides that, another one was blocking the players’ path, preventing them from escaping.

Floating above Cheng Rui’s head was a brownish-yellow cowhide book. The book was not thick, and it flipped its own pages, the paper making “shua la shua la” sounds as it turned. The white paper and black characters blurred into one, making it impossible for people to see clearly what was written inside.

His eyes were red, and he held a long saber in his hand, its tip still dripping blood. Like a god of slaughter, he approached step by step.

Behind him were two monsters gnawing on corpses; in front of him was the maddened Cheng Rui. All routes were sealed off, and Jiang You had no way to retreat. A rock rolled under his foot and tripped him. He fell on his butt on the ground and said in a panic, “You, wake up a little!”

The corner of Cheng Rui’s mouth twitched upward, as if forming a smile. “I am very clear-headed.” Saying this, he lifted his chin towards him, and the monster behind him moved in response, rushing straight forward.

Jiang You only had time to let out a miserable scream before he was directly torn in half. Blood spurted out, and the book above Cheng Rui’s head flapped its cover like a happy little butterfly, rushing in to bathe in the fresh blood.

Another pillar of light turned red. Cheng Rui turned his head, fixing his gaze on the two women huddled in the corner, trembling with fear. “Now… it’s your turn.”

Potato Chip looked anxiously at Su Han. “How long can this thing of yours last?”

“A few minutes,” Su Han said. “Don’t just count on me. Do you have any items that can hold them off for a while?”

Potato Chip almost cried. “I already used them all just now!”

Three monsters gathered neatly in front of them, outflanking all the directions they could use to escape.

Su Han pulled out a pile of useful and useless items. “Since things have come to this⁶, let’s all pray for our own good fortune⁷, shall we?”

Potato Chip had a breakdown. “Didn’t we agree that ghosts and monsters wouldn’t attack me? How can this damn game still deceive people!!”

“I wanted to ask you that!” She scratched her hair, then her sharp eyes suddenly saw something, and she abruptly lost her voice. “That is—!”

Shen Maomao had silently circled behind Cheng Rui. Aiming at the book on his head, with quick eyes and fast hands, she reached out.

With a “shua” sound, the cowhide book was grabbed by her hand, its pages closing shut.

All the light disappeared in an instant. Cheng Rui spun around abruptly, crazily reaching for the book. “Give it back to me!”

Shen Maomao raised her leg and kicked, directly sending him flying. “You still want to get back something that has fallen into my hands?”

The three originally obedient monsters suddenly erupted violently. Giving up on the entangled Potato Chip and Su Han, they instead rushed towards Cheng Rui with crimson eyes.

Potato Chip’s pupils shrank. She shouted, “Don’t let him die!!”

Hearing this, Lou Jingmo immediately threw three flying daggers. Shen Maomao also stepped on the hem of Cheng Rui’s clothes with one foot, bent down, and dragged him back to her side.

“What happened?” Shen Maomao asked.

Su Han shouted to them from a distance: “Cheng Rui has gone mad! He got these three monsters from somewhere and wants to kill us all to blood sacrifice that book!”

Potato Chip added: “He needs to kill eight people, and he’s already at seven!”

“What happens when he gets eight?” Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo stood shoulder to shoulder, dragging the red-eyed, constantly struggling Cheng Rui as they retreated step by step.

Among the three monsters was Cui Luoyu, who had completely lost her self-awareness. It was likely the other two were also beings from the wells. They stood far in front of the three people, seemingly holding back from approaching due to some apprehension.

“Gather eight and you can become the supreme ruler of this world~”

A light and cheerful voice suddenly sounded from the book, startling Shen Maomao so much her hand trembled and she almost couldn’t hold on. “What thing?”

Lou Jingmo looked at her. “What what thing?”

The cowhide book emitted a dim red light, and that voice once again entered Shen Maomao’s ears: “My new master, only you can hear my voice~ I am the great disciple under Yuanshi Tianzun. As long as you offer me one more sacrifice, I can make you the emperor here!”

“Don’t listen to its ghost talk!” Yun Shengjin, his face covered in blood, crawled out from a pile of corpses and roared.

The cowhide book flashed with red light, and the three monsters, led by Cui Luoyu, turned to attack Yun Shengjin.

Yun Shengjin ran off like a wisp of smoke. The three chased relentlessly. The cowhide book, as if nothing had happened, asked Shen Maomao again: “Are you willing to accept this life above ten thousand people?”

Shen Maomao: “Are you farting? This Laozi⁸ is Yuanshi Tianzun himself. As long as you give me eight hundred million, I’ll lead you to unify the divine realm and make you the Celestial Emperor⁹, how about that?”

Book: “???”

Shen Maomao kicked Cheng Rui to vent her anger. “A scam that not even elementary school students would believe, and you actually fell for it. I thought you were some kind of big shot!”

Cheng Rui clutched his stomach in pain, his red eyes staring fixedly at the book, letting out a wailing sound. “Give it back to me… Give it back to me…”

Lou Jingmo: “What’s the situation?”

“This thing.” Shen Maomao shook the book. “It said it would make me the emperor, as long as I give it one sacrifice.”

Lou Jingmo also immediately gave Cheng Rui a look as if looking at an idiot and found an excuse for him: “He was probably bewitched.”

“Zhi ga zhi ga…” A sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind. Potato Chip shouted, “Behind you!”

Shen Maomao whipped her head around and discovered that the yatou they had arranged to hide had, at some unknown time, walked up behind them. Besides her, there were also Feicui, Baozhu, Milk Tea, and a woman she didn’t recognize.

Indeed, just as they had guessed—Ying Meng had possessed the Second Miss’s body.

The five women were of different ages, but without exception, all had their heads bowed low, walking over step by step like string puppets.

The cowhide book said smugly: “See that? As long as you give me a sacrifice, they will all become your most loyal servants!”

Shen Maomao raised an eyebrow, lifted her hand, and opened the book’s pages, glancing through it roughly.

The cowhide book let out a series of strange cries, crying so much that Shen Maomao couldn’t help but suspect what she had done to it.

This book had no name. There was very little text inside, mostly patterns, teaching a person how to use “exchange” to realize their wishes. The sacrifices ranged from the smallest stones to plants and animals, and finally demanded human lives.

It was a very simple method of seduction: starting from the smallest thing, leading you into the trap step by step, and finally causing you to fall into a state beyond redemption¹⁰.

Shen Maomao quickly read on, all the way to the last page.

On the last page was written a line of small text; the general meaning was that this book could be brought to other instance dungeons and was a very useful item.

Shen Maomao’s heart was like still water¹¹.

Old Master Shao had relied on this method to enjoy several decades of happy days, only to end up with his family broken and its members dead. She didn’t find it strange at all.

Making a deal with the devil, in the end, the one who suffers a loss will definitely not be the devil.

The cowhide book was still tempting her; “How about it? As long as you make a contract with me, you can obtain endless wealth and supreme power. Those who looked down on you, who belittled you, will all regret having treated you like that…”

Shen Maomao curled the corner of her mouth. “What the hell does it have to do with me whether others look up to me or not? Besides myself, no one can look down on me. The things I want, I will obtain through my own efforts, not by relying on this damn broken book!”

“Moreover—” she flipped the book to the very middle page, firmly tore it down the middle with one hand on each side, the words from her mouth landing with a thud, “This Laozi has no! In! Ter! Est! In being a magical girl!!”

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