The Hand of Confession – Chapter 301

Volume 9: The Days Can’t Be Lived Anymore

The Sixth Day

As soon as the words fell, Lou Jingmo extended a hand to her.

Shen Maomao generously handed over her own paw, not the least bit scared.

Lou Jingmo grabbed her wrist with one hand, and with the other hand, brought the dagger straight to her fingertip.

For an instant, Shen Maomao suspected she was going to chop her finger off, but in the end, she just lightly poked the tip of her index finger.

A drop of dark red blood beaded up, proving her identity.

Shen Maomao looked at Shang Zhou and said, “It’s okay now, right?”

Shang Zhou nodded, “Apologies, this was also for the sake of safety.”

Boss Huo was still very confused, “So, can someone tell me what has happened now?”

…

Because it was impossible to determine if Boss Huo was a player or an NPC, Shen Maomao told him everything she could.

After she finished speaking, she let them slowly digest it, while she and Shang Zhou moved Da xiongdi’s corpse, planning to find a good place for his eternal rest and, in the process, also tell Shang Zhou about the game. Lou Jingmo, meanwhile, was responsible for staying in the house to protect the father and son, and to be on guard against the of-unknown-origin Heng Chuan.

Although they had once participated in the same instance, they didn’t have much interaction within the instance at that time. So much time had passed, and regarding this person Shang Zhou, she only remembered that he was very formidable, a big shot just like Lou-jie, and was also particularly skilled at exploring the main storyline of an instance in order to achieve the goal of speed-clearing¹.

Most of her understanding of Shang Zhou came from Lou Jingmo; the rest came from the newbies he had helped in that instance.

The two of them dug a large pit in the snow with their feet, then placed Da xiongdi inside.

The tools they had were limited, and the frozen earth under the snow was too hard, so they could only inconvenience him².

While kicking snow onto his corpse, Shen Maomao said to Shang Zhou, “You’ve discussed this question with Xiao Lou before; have you found the answer now? Is this world ultimately real, or is it fake?”

Shang Zhou, performing the same action as her, said, “I have never stopped thinking about this question. If you ask for my current answer, then I would say that, centering on my subjective feelings, this world genuinely exists. But if considered from an objective perspective, I feel it’s more like an AR game that makes people throw themselves into it wholeheartedly. The word ‘game’ has been mentioned before, and although I am also very unwilling to believe this speculation, it is often the case that the most undesirable option is, on the contrary, the most likely to be the true situation.”

Shen Maomao gave him a thumbs-up, “As expected of a big shot.” “How so?”

“You guessed correctly; this world is a game.”

She explained the general situation of the Confession Game, and at the end, she said, “I don’t know much about you, only that you have your own guild and are a rather formidable character. We lost our memories as soon as we entered this instance. I was only able to remember everything because of my previous death.”

Shang Zhou said, “Then Xiao Lou too?”

Shen Maomao nodded, “Yes, and maybe you two even know each other in reality.”

Shang Zhou quickly accepted this explanation and said, “So that’s why I felt she looked familiar the moment I saw her?”

“More or less, I guess…” While saying this, Shen Maomao was rapidly calculating in her mind—looking familiar meant the two had met before. In the game, Xiao Lou would use character customization³, but now she was using her real face, so it was very likely Shang Zhou had also met her in reality. Meeting just once might not achieve such an effect, so these two had probably met many times.

As she thought about it, her gaze became sharp.

When Lou Jingmo recovers her memory, she will definitely have a good, long talk with her.

…

The two of them worked together to bury Da xiongdi behind the building, then went back to pack their luggage and prepare to leave.

When they returned, Heng Chuan had just woken up. He was somewhat puzzled by the green, unknown liquid on his body but didn’t ask much about it, simply packing his things obediently, indifferent to Da xiongdi’s disappearance.

Being one person short didn’t seem to have too great of an impact on the team.

Only Boss Huo was a little sad, because he now had to carry the luggage and his son by himself.

This world is just like that; people die every day, and perhaps they would be next. Once dead, there is no meaning at all, so while they are alive, they can entrust their backs to one another, but after someone dies, there is no need to shed unnecessary tears.

Losing her memory once had, more or less, still had a certain impact on Shen Maomao. That past period of living according to Lou Jingmo’s personality was still preserved deep in her mind, constantly changing her behavior and thoughts.

The group divided the useful things from Da xiongdi’s backpack, sat around and made do with a breakfast, and then continued forward.

Today was a very sunny day. A few white clouds hung in the azure sky, and the air had a freshness that was completely different from that in Paradise Lost.

With Da xiongdi gone, Shen Maomao took his place, walking at the very front to lead the way.

Lou Jingmo walked shoulder to shoulder with her, followed by Boss Huo leading Huo Dongdong. Further behind were Shang Zhou and Heng Chuan, who were responsible for bringing up the rear.

Shen Maomao stealthily extended a wicked claw toward Lou Jingmo’s hand.

Lou Jingmo sensed it and immediately thrust her hand into her down jacket’s pocket, not letting her grab it.

Shen Maomao said, aggrieved, “What’s wrong with holding hands for a bit?”

“I find you annoying,” Lou Jingmo said coldly.

Shen Maomao was so angry she could change gender⁴, “Fine, you remember what you said. You’d better not touch me at all after we get back.”

Lou Jingmo narrowed her eyes, sensing a faint feeling of crisis for some unknown reason.

Her intuition had always been very effective, having saved her life in countless crises. Although she didn’t understand why she was having this sense of crisis now, she still chose to follow her heart. She took her hand out of her pocket, proactively grasped a certain someone Shen’s⁵ hand, and with difficulty, intertwined their ten fingers through their gloves.

Following her heart, following her heart⁶, she was a big, big coward.

Shen Maomao immediately forgot the anger from just now, happily swinging her arm, wishing she could take flight instead of walking.

Heng Chuan, who was behind them, looked at their retreating figures and couldn’t help but reveal the classic expression of a grandpa on the subway looking at his phone⁷. He asked Shang Zhou in a low voice, “What on earth happened last night? With those two?”

Shang Zhou said seriously, “Don’t ask. If you ask, the answer is that love came too quickly.”

Heng Chuan: “?? “

Boss Huo covered Huo Dongdong’s eyes, “Son, don’t look ahead, it’s searing the eyes⁸.”

Huo Dongdong asked, muddled, “What’s wrong, Papa?”

“It’s nothing. Papa is reminding you to always watch where you’re stepping so you don’t fall.”

“Okay, Papa, I know now.”

…

Walking on the snowfield for a long time makes it easy to lose one’s concept of time.

Because as long as the sun was still hanging in the sky, the salt-grain-like snow on the ground would not stop reflecting the sunlight, and after a long time, it could even easily cause people to develop symptoms of snow blindness.

It wasn’t until Huo Dongdong started clamoring that he was hungry that she remembered to look at her watch, discovering that the time had, without her realizing, reached eleven o’clock.

They had walked for another morning and had already reached the final part of the maze.

At this point, there were no more buildings around them; the ground was covered in snow mounds, and buried beneath the snow mounds were the ruins of collapsed buildings.

Not far away, the outermost surrounding wall beckoned to them silently. A person standing beneath the wall could easily feel the sky-covering, sun-blocking sense of oppression it brought.

Shen Maomao wiped away some sweat and said, “Should we persevere a little longer? Wait until we’ve entered the final maze to eat?”

In front of the surrounding wall was a true maze. The inside of the maze was full of traps, and ghosts and monsters were rampant; it was the section of the path most capable of reducing their numbers.

She knew the way to go, but she didn’t know if a batch of things she didn’t know or understand would respawn⁹ on the path. The specific situation would only be known after they entered.

“Okay…” Huo Dongdong replied, disappointed.

Shen Maomao glanced down at him, hesitated for a few seconds, but still said nothing.

Boss Huo had to carry the luggage, so Huo Dongdong had walked this entire way on his own while being led by his papa’s hand. Yet, aside from being a little hungry, he didn’t seem tired, nor did he seem to feel the cold. He was doing who-knows-how-much-better than Boss Huo, who could barely even speak.

However, Boss Huo himself looked as if he hadn’t noticed anything abnormal. Or perhaps… he didn’t think it was abnormal.

…

After walking for about another half an hour, they finally arrived at the final maze.

Standing at the entrance, one could easily see the intricate and complex paths inside, as well as a line of messy footprints in the snow.

Shen Maomao said, “To think someone else actually made it here.”

Boss Huo wasn’t too concerned about that, caring more about his son’s stomach instead. “Should we find a place to eat?”

Shen Maomao said, “What place is there to find? Let’s just eat in the cold wind. It’s not as comfortable inside as it is out here.”

Boss Huo furrowed his brow, took off his gloves, and found a pack of compressed biscuits from the bag on his back. He then unzipped his down jacket, pulled his son into the middle to shield him from the wind, and broke off a small piece for him to gnaw on while huddled in his embrace.

Shen Maomao learned her lesson and immediately unzipped her own jacket.

Lou Jingmo expressionlessly zipped it back up for her. “I’m afraid you’ll be cold.”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Afraid I’ll be cold, my foot! You just disdain me! Don’t think I can’t see it!

The group ate and chatted in the snow, filling their bellies with wind. As they chatted, Boss Huo sighed with emotion, “We’re about to get out, right? Will we be able to see the exit tomorrow morning?”

Shen Maomao said seriously, “We need to speed up in a bit. We must leave before it gets dark.”

Calculating the time, starting from the night she opened her eyes, this was already the sixth day. The seventh day was the carnival of ghosts and monsters; they had to leave the instance before twelve o’clock tonight, otherwise, they would absolutely be done for¹⁰.

But deep down in her heart, she felt a faint unease.

Right now, only she alone had recovered her memory. She wasn’t sure what the instance’s main plot was, nor could she be certain that the world outside Paradise Lost was the exit. What if the area outside the maze wasn’t actually the exit… then everyone could just get ready to wash up and go to sleep¹¹.

But everyone had come here aiming for this goal; even big shots like Shang Zhou and Lou Jingmo were desperately trying to leave, so there probably wouldn’t be too big of a deviation, right? Once they had rested enough, she was the first to stand up. Shielding her eyes from the dazzling sunlight with her hand, she said in a deep voice, “Get ready to start the final challenge. Let’s go, everyone¹².”

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