The Hand of Confession – Chapter 296

Volume 9: The Days Can’t Be Lived Anymore

Coma

They have nothing on their bodies

The man called himself Hengchuan¹, but as for his specific identity and background, they knew nothing at all. However, since Boss Huo was willing to bring him, the few of them who were hired hands had nothing to say, so five people became six, enough to make up two tables for Dou Dizhu² as they continued to walk forward.

Regarding this behavior of Boss Huo’s of picking people up, Ren Yue couldn’t help but complain³: “Add oil⁴, let’s strive to form a basketball team by the time we get out.”

Boss Huo put on a straight face and looked back at her: “Do you still want your wages or not?”

All your money is in my hands, Ren Yue thought. Don’t you have any count in your heart?⁵

But with so many people around, it was better to leave this pitiful man a little bit of face.

On the road, Shang Zhou tried to pull close⁶ to Hengchuan. The first sentence he spoke was: “This brother, I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

Hengchuan said: “Has anyone ever told you that your method for striking up a conversation is very old-fashioned?”

Shang Zhou: “Whether it’s old-fashioned or not is secondary; being useful is what’s most important.”

Hengchuan looked at the snowy ground without shifting his gaze: “Speak. What do you want to find out from me?”

“Dealing with smart people is just easy.” Shang Zhou smiled, “You can rest assured, the things I want to know won’t make it difficult for you. I just want to know what you experienced in the maze, that’s all.”

This was indeed not a difficult question to answer. The man relaxed and said: “My experience was of course not as easy as yours. You must have only entered the maze a few days ago, right? I have already been circling this ghost place for four days. On the first day we came in, our guide died. Then we wanted to walk back to find a new guide, but as a result, we muddle-headedly walked deeper and deeper into the maze, and our numbers grew smaller and smaller. Until yesterday morning, we ran into this area’s boss.”

As he spoke, he looked at Shang Zhou, who was walking shoulder to shoulder with him: “I guess you haven’t seen the boss here yet.”

Shang Zhou nodded: “Indeed, we haven’t.”

“Look over there.” Hengchuan raised his hand, pointing to the tallest building far behind them. “That female ghost loves to place her head on the rooftop, look down over the entire street, and find her prey.”

Without him needing to explain in detail, everyone knew—its hunting game was to pluck off the skulls of the living people in the maze and kick them like balls.

“It happened very suddenly. We discovered some round snowballs of equal size on the ground. One of the people wanted to see what was in the snowballs, but as soon as he squatted down, the snow on the snowballs scattered by itself, and then a head jumped onto his head and bit his neck off in one bite.”

The facts proved that their guess was correct. A skull bitten off by a skull would become a new skull.

Ren Yue muttered this sentence once, then commented: “Really wraps the mouth⁷.”

Hengchuan said: “But it’s fine. We have already left that area.”

But that also meant there would be new challenges.

Afterward, everyone stopped talking to preserve their stamina, advancing on the road against the wind and snow. They walked for about five hours, and nothing strange happened.

At noon, the group picked a house and lit a fire, making do with a little something to eat. Then they continued onward, again walking a very long distance until they were panting for breath, and still nothing happened.

Huo Dongdong had a nap on his dad’s back. When he woke up, they were still on the road. The surroundings were a vast expanse of white, and the high walls in the distance were blocked by mist, hazy and not clearly visible.

“Dad…” he said, “when will we finally get there? I’m hungry again…”

Boss Huo jostled him upwards, huffing and puffing out a cloud of white air: “You little brat, you haven’t walked two steps all day and you still have the face to say you’re hungry? Your dad, I, am about to die from exhaustion!”

Huo Dongdong laughed crisply, patting Boss Huo’s shoulder to let him know to put him down: “Dad, I’ll walk by myself.”

Boss Huo: “Aren’t you hungry?”

Huo Dongdong said sensibly: “Actually, I’m not that hungry. I can still hold on until it gets dark.”

Boss Huo laughed loudly: “I see you’re just greedy!”

The conversation between the father and son continued. Ren Yue stealthily glanced at Huo Dongdong and suggested: “We’ve already walked quite fast today. Should we find a place to rest and leave tomorrow morning?”

Moreover, today was □□ quiet, so quiet it made her a bit uneasy. She always felt like the ghosts and monsters were planning on brewing up something big.

Boss Huo shook his head and didn’t put Dongdong down: “Let’s walk a bit more. I can still hold on.”

Huo Dongdong struggled, saying: “I want to walk by myself for a bit. My legs are numb, Dad.”

Only then did Boss Huo put him down, but he still held his little hand tightly, terrified that he would get lost.

“Let’s continue forward,” he said.

If one were to speak of who had the worst stamina among the six people, it wasn’t the two women, Ren Yue and Xiao Lou but their gold master⁸, Boss Huo.

Since even he had no problem, the others naturally wouldn’t have a problem either. Everyone walked in the snow for another two hours, only stopping when the sky grew dark.

The buildings in this area were not particularly dense. The exposed exterior walls were a dark, gloomy color and looked quite old.

Ren Yue looked around and found that among the buildings along the road, not a single one had intact glass.

Sleeping without glass was very dangerous, not only because of the cold, but also because ghosts and monsters could come and go as they pleased. You wouldn’t know when they arrived, and you wouldn’t know when they left, so she did not recommend staying in such a house.

That meant they had to leave the main road and head further in to find a place to stay.

After walking for about five minutes, Xiao Lou discovered an intact window on the second floor and immediately pointed it out to the others.

Fortunately, the building’s entrance door was open, and the apartment was also unlocked.

Da xiongdi pushed open the door, and a smell of moldy wood wafted out from inside. He shone his flashlight inside, sweeping it around, and after confirming there was nothing strange, he turned slightly to the side to clear the doorway: “Come in.”

The six people, each with a flashlight in hand, entered the room in order.

This room’s floor was wooden, and stepping on it produced a sound that made one’s teeth sour⁹. Ren Yue lightened her steps as much as possible, but with so many people stepping on it at once, it wasn’t something she could control just because she wanted to.

With a crack, the people in the room instantly went on alert, scanning all around to find the source of the sound.

The Da xiongdi at the front awkwardly raised his hand: “Sorry… I broke the floorboard by stepping on it…”

The group: “……”

Small bugs crawled quickly across the floor, then disappeared into the cracks at the corner of the wall. They had survived until now because of the indoor temperature and had probably not seen a living person for a very long time.

Hengchuan took off the hat that was full of a maiden’s heart¹⁰, revealing a head of black hair that was sticking up. The ice on the ends melted bit by bit, trickling down his cheeks.

He was actually very average-looking, with a common public face¹¹, but his eyes were exceptionally bright, looking somewhat mismatched with his face.

Everyone took off their own gear. As usual, one group tidied up the living room while the other investigated the house.

This time, it was Ren Yue and Xiao Lou’s turn to clean.

Given that there was an extra person on the team, Ren Yue removed Xiao Lou from the cleaning duty, planning to do it herself with Hengchuan.

Hengchuan was so sleepy his upper and lower eyelids were fighting each other¹². Hearing her words, he said: “I can’t do it. Can it be next time? I haven’t slept well for two days straight.”

“Fine.” Ren Yue looked at the heavy dark circles under his eyes and agreed.

“Thanks.” Hengchuan took out his sleeping bag, and without caring if the spot was clean, threw himself onto the floor. In front of everyone, he took off his jacket and bulky outer pants, drilled into the bag, and then said, “I’ll have to trouble you all to bear with me. I’ll rest for one night. Tomorrow, I’ll do whatever needs to be done, at your disposal.”

After speaking, he closed his eyes and, lying on the floor, began to snore softly.

Boss Huo sighed emotionally: “Look how exhausted he is…”

Ren Yue said: “Have you realized my importance now?”

“Important, important. Spending money to hire you is not a loss.” Boss Huo was slumped in a rocking chair, holding Huo Dongdong and making a creaking noise. “I’m about to die of exhaustion too. Dongdong, are you tired?”

Huo Dongdong shook his head: “I’m not tired. Dad, can you take out my pen and notebook? I want to draw.”

Boss Huo got moving.

Ren Yue looked at Xiao Lou: “You’ve been tired all day, too. Get some good rest. I’ll do the work today, and we can switch tomorrow, alright?”

Xiao Lou stood up, took a flashlight, and went to the bathroom. She came out with a mop head that was hardened into a single block, explaining her attitude with her actions.

Ren Yue tried to persuade her with a few words, but was cut off by Xiao Lou with a single sentence: “You talk too much nonsense.”

The two of them worked together to clean the living room, except for the spot on the floor beneath Hengchuan’s feet. After they finished, the sky outside the window had already turned completely dark. In the distant night sky, stars gave off a dim light, unchanged from before or after the apocalypse.

Xiao Lou remembered something and suddenly asked: “Have you noticed that something is missing?”

Ren Yue: “……Lying trough¹³?!”

How have Da xiongdi and Shang Zhou not come out yet?!

The two of them threw down the things in their hands and flashed past Boss Huo like a gust of wind.

Boss Huo sat up straight in surprise and asked: “What are you going to do?”

Ren Yue said: “People are missing, didn’t you notice?!” As she spoke, she pushed open the door to the room the two of them had entered.

Inside the room was a large, dust-covered double bed. Lying on the bed were the very ones who were missing, Shang Zhou and Da xiongdi.

These two people were lying with proper posture in the pile of dust, their eyes tightly closed and their hands folded over their abdomens. Their expressions were very serene, and they looked as if they were asleep.

Ren Yue reached out to check their breathing. Fortunately—they were still breathing.

Boss Huo walked in from the doorway and asked: “What happened?”

Ren Yue moved away from the bedside: “It seems they’ve fallen into a coma. The reason is unclear.”

Boss Huo came closer to look at them, his brow deeply furrowed: “What should we do? How about we have Dongdong take a look?”

Huo Dongdong poked his head out from behind his dad: “Look at what?”

Boss Huo squatted down, and holding Huo Dongdong’s shoulders, he said: “Dongdong, take a look at the two big brothers. Is there anything on their bodies?”

After speaking, he picked him up so he could see the situation on the bed.

Huo Dongdong looked seriously for a moment and answered: “There are sweaters, and also cotton pants…”

“Not those things.” Boss Huo stopped him from continuing to count and prompted, “Are there any other people on their bodies?”

Huo Dongdong looked again and shook his head: “No.”

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