The Hand of Confession – Chapter 276

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

Escape

Where do you want to go?

“Ahhhhh——!”

The entire book split in two, and bright red liquid slowly dripped down from the break. An extremely sharp scream emanated from the book, making Shen Maomao almost throw it out.

Cheng Rui and the surrounding ghosts and monsters all covered their ears in pain. Only she, holding the book with both hands, was almost deafened on the spot.

Su Han, Potato Chip, and Yun Shengjin, however, had no reaction at all. Lou Jingmo noticed something was wrong with her and hurriedly contributed her own hands to help block her ears.

“You will pay the price for this——!” the cowhide book roared angrily, struggling to fly out of her hands.

Shen Maomao gripped it tightly and turned her head to look at Lou Jingmo. “Lou-jie! Is the fire starter still here?!”

Lou Jingmo said, “It’s in my bosom. Get it yourself.”

Shen Maomao froze for a moment.

Lou Jingmo didn’t know that the thing’s screaming had stopped and was still helping her cover her ears.

She swallowed her saliva and didn’t explain, just asking, “…Is… is this convenient?”

Lou Jingmo gave her a look as if she were looking at a pervert. “What on earth is in your head??”

Shen Maomao looked innocent. “Is it my fault? Your own chest is so big, how can you not let people’s minds wander?”

A vein twitched on Lou Jingmo’s forehead. She urged speechlessly, “Hurry up!”

The cowhide book was still struggling with all its might. Shen Maomao narrowed her eyes and applied force with her hands, ignoring its screams and twisting it into a mahua¹. Then, she firmly pinched the thinnest part in the middle and reached her sinful hand toward a certain place it shouldn’t go.

“Needless to say, just one word—so soft!”

But she didn’t dare to grope any more, for fear of getting beaten.

The lid of the fire starter fell to the ground. Shen Maomao blew on it gently, and a red flame ignited, swaying left and right in the gentle breeze.

The book in her hand began to tremble like a mouse that had seen a cat. It cried out loudly, bitterly pleading with the human holding it, “Don’t do this… I can give you everything you want, whether it’s love, money, or power and status… I can also make the things and people you hate disappear, and I guarantee no one will discover any clue…”

Shen Maomao, pinching the book in one hand and holding the fire starter in the other, seemed somewhat moved by its words and asked in return, “Really?”

The cowhide book said eagerly, “Really, really! I will fulfill all your wishes!”

Shen Maomao’s lips curved into a smile. “That’s just great, because right now, the thing I hate the most is you, you ghost thing²!”

The paper came into contact with the flame and quickly caught fire.

The cowhide book let out a painful wail, cursing Shen Maomao as it struggled. To Shen Maomao, who had cultivated on Tieba³, those curses were not even worth mentioning.

The flame grew higher and higher. Shen Maomao extended her arm, holding the book out in front of her, and watched it intently, her eyes reflecting the dancing flames.

The burnt remains danced with the wind, blown away piece by piece into the distance, and quickly blended into the soil until they were no longer visible.

The cowhide began its death throes. A large gush of fresh blood burst from the tear, which had already stopped bleeding, trying to douse the flame.

With a TSSSLAAA——, a wisp of white smoke drifted into the sky. It had actually succeeded!

At the same time, seven beams of red light shot out again from the direction of the wells. The red light condensed in the sky above their heads, seemingly brewing some kind of killing move.

Lou Jingmo let go of her hands and looked up at the sky warily, asking Shen Maomao, “What’s the situation?!”

Shen Maomao replied, “I don’t know either. Maybe it’s a final counterattack before death!”

Yun Shengjin roared, “Don’t hesitate, burn it!”

Too much blood was flowing. Shen Maomao’s hands were already dyed red, so slippery that she could barely hold on to it. “How am I supposed to burn this?! It’s all wet!”

It would be one thing if she had a large fire, but she only had that one fire starter in her hand—no, wait, she did have fire!!

She returned the fire starter to Lou Jingmo and pulled a card out of her pocket. “Lou-jie! Can I use this?!”

Lou Jingmo said, “Use it!”

In the last instance, Lou Jingmo had given her a “Heavenly Fire Andre” card. She had intended to return it the next day, but there were too many things going on in the instance, and in her busyness, she had completely forgotten about it. She never thought it would come in handy here.

Andre might not have had paomian⁴, but he was really darn useful.

Shen Maomao silently recited use in her mind. Andre transformed into a streak of orange-red light and swiftly circled around her three times, the airflow from the movement lifting her hair.

A phantom image of a man in a formal suit appeared in mid-air. He placed his right hand before him and slowly bowed to everyone present, then transformed back into a red light and charged toward the book in Shen Maomao’s hands.

“Ah——!”

“Why——why——”

Heavenly Fire⁵ could incinerate anything, so naturally, a wet book like this was no exception.

The flames leaped high, but the book burned very slowly. At the same time, a series of crackling sounds came from within it.

Shen Maomao didn’t feel any heat, only a reassuring warmth that enveloped her, but Lou Jingmo, who was beside her, stepped back a few paces. All sorts of different timbres emanated from the book—from men to women, from children to the elderly. Countless voices combined, synchronously letting out painful howls and vicious curses.

“I’m dying——” The last remaining bit of paper turned to flying ash, and its final, ruthless words echoed in the air, “None of you will live either!!”

With a SHUA, the Heavenly Fire was extinguished. At the same time, the red light in the sky expanded again. Flashes of lightning could be faintly seen within the light, like a world-shaking catastrophe.

Lou Jingmo grabbed her hand. “Run!”

Except for a dazed Yun Shengjin, everyone else, whether human or ghost, acted at the same time, scattering like birds and beasts and fleeing in all directions.

The red light swelled dramatically and, with a SHUA, it exploded.

Shen Maomao’s ears were ringing. She could only see Lou Jingmo’s slightly parted lips, as if she had said something.

But before she could make it out, her vision was filled with a sheet of golden-red, just like that time in her childhood when her mischievous hands⁶ had lit a hydrogen balloon…

She stood there in a daze, thinking she had been blasted into the sky to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun, until Lou Jingmo gently patted her face. “Come back to your senses.”

Shen Maomao shuddered, and her vision gradually cleared. She saw Lou Jingmo looking at her with a concerned expression.

She glanced down, confirming that all four of her limbs were intact and she wasn’t missing any arms or legs, then asked, “It didn’t explode?”

Lou Jingmo pointed behind her. “Look behind you.”

That large mass of red light had disappeared. In its place were countless small red butterflies filling the sky, fluttering their wings and landing in the blood that had pooled into a small stream.

No, they weren’t butterflies.

Shen Maomao reached out and caught one, only then seeing clearly that it was actually made of two pieces of damp red paper joined together. “This is…”

Lou Jingmo said, “Perhaps it’s the red paper we pasted.”

The paper had once been red, then faded because of the rain, but in the end, it had turned red again because of the blood.

They had pasted paper on eight wells. She had thought it was useless work, but she hadn’t expected it to save their dog lives at the last moment.

The red lanterns of the Shao Manor had faded, revealing their true white color. The Double Happiness symbols, which had been formed from eyes, had turned into pure black “奠”⁷ characters, which, compared to Double Happiness, was more fitting for the Shao Manor’s actual situation.

The dust settled. To the south, a beam of white light broke through the clouds—it was the exit to the game.

Shen Maomao handed the used card to Lou Jingmo.

Lou Jingmo didn’t take it, grabbing her other hand instead. “That book you burned, was it an item?”

Shen Maomao nodded. “Yes, but I felt there was something wrong with it. It gave me a very dangerous feeling, so I didn’t want it.”

“You’re quite willful.”

“I just felt that using that ghost thing wouldn’t lead to a good end.”

“Your feeling wasn’t wrong,” Lou Jingmo said. “Let’s go. We need to leave quickly. The book that bound the ghosts and monsters is gone, so next will be their time to revel.”

The two of them ran toward the white light, passing a bright red pool of water in the very center of the Shao Manor. The pool was gurgling and bubbling, looking extremely dangerous.

The exit was none other than the main gate of the Shao Manor.

They had entered from here, and they had to exit from here as well.

Several disheveled figures, just like them, came running from different directions. Shen Maomao saw Su Han, as well as Potato Chip and Yun Shengjin.

Twelve people had entered, but only five were left on the way out.

Su Han waved to them from a distance. “Hey! Are you guys okay?!”

Shen Maomao roared back, “What kind of nonsense are you talking?!”

“If something was wrong, we obviously wouldn’t be able to be here.”

Su Han smiled until her eyes narrowed into slits. “Chong chong chong⁸!”

Shen Maomao couldn’t help but start laughing along with her.

She had been through quite a few instances, but this was the first time she had met someone with a personality so similar to her own. She didn’t know what Su Han was like in the real world, or if they would ever have a chance to meet again after they parted this time.

But she figured the chances were probably very slim.

Aside from those who teamed up, the players in the game were merely passersby to one another. They were originally strangers who had come to the game world because they shouldered sins. Some were lucky enough to survive until they cleared all the instances, but many more would, for various reasons, remain here forever.

They didn’t know each other’s real names and even wore fake faces, so it would be very difficult to meet again in the game in the future… Even so, Shen Maomao felt that she would be able to remember the person Su Han.

After running to the entrance, she pulled open the main gate, revealing a pure white void outside.

Not far behind, Yun Shengjin shouted, “Don’t forget our agreement!”

Shen Maomao glanced at Lou Jingmo. With an expressionless face, Lou Jingmo grabbed her and squeezed into the white light, giving him no reply.

Su Han followed closely behind them, then Yun Shengjin, and finally, Potato Chip.

Just a second before she could step out of the gate, an ice-cold hand gripped her ankle tightly, preventing her from moving another step.

Potato Chip’s pupils contracted suddenly. She lowered her head and saw the bruised, purple hand on her ankle.

Her whole body trembled, and she squeezed a scream of ultimate despair from her throat.

The vermilion main gate⁹ slammed shut with a PENG, sealing the sin and purgatory inside. All that was left were the bright red clouds on the horizon, and it was impossible to tell if they were the color of blood, or the setting sun.

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