The Hand of Confession – Chapter 325

Volume 10: Days of Cultivating in the Republic of China

The Girl

Got you.

Originally, Shen Maomao thought that Kang Yuanhuai was a subordinate of He Bo, responsible for selecting a bride. But after hearing him speak, she felt that wasn’t the case anymore.

If he were truly connected to He Bo, he should have supported their belief in him, not used such a tone and attitude to say He Bo was merely a remnant of feudal superstition.

Moreover, as a local of Huai Town, the fact that he had to ask around to learn of news that even women and children all know was practically laying his strangeness bare for the players to see.

Which side was he really on?

Shen Maomao propped her chin on her hand and fell into deep thought.

After Kang Yuanhuai finished, Mingyue spoke on behalf of her group about the information they had gathered. “What we found out is similar to what Kang Yuanhuai said, but there’s one point worth noting: He Bo Taking a Bride ceremony only began recently. It seems to have some connection to the war. It’s a sacrificial rite that the residents of Huai Town started on their own to pray for He Bo’s blessing, that the flames of war would not spread here. It isn’t a local tradition.”

A Nan added, “Two months ago, an artillery shell from the fighting landed in Ye Lake¹, which caused a panic among the townspeople. That’s why the people here decided to use this method to worship He Bo.”

Mingyue asked deliberately, “They aren’t actually planning to throw the girls into the river, are they?”

Kang Yuanhuai reassured her, “How could that be? That would be murder, and murder will land you in the slammer!”

An Jing smiled. “That’s good then.”

Next, it was the turn of Shen Maomao’s group of three to report. As usual, Sisi spoke for them. “The three of us didn’t encounter anything. We just walked a lap around He Bo Temple, saw He Bo’s statue, and met a strange person who told us to leave quickly and never come back.”

Kang Yuanhuai seemed a little curious. “Oh? What did that person look like?”

Sisi said, “He was wearing a bamboo hat, so we didn’t get a clear look. A boatman we met on the road said he might be a beggar who snuck into the temple to steal offerings, but he was exceptionally tall and sturdy. He didn’t look like a beggar to me…”

Kang Yuanhuai said, “Hearing you say that, I’m quite curious. Why don’t we go together tomorrow and see who that person is?”

Since the team leader had spoken, the others naturally had no objections and all nodded in agreement.

By the time they finished exchanging information, the sky had turned completely dark. Kang Yuanhuai generously dismissed them to go back to their rooms to sleep. Before they dispersed, he added a special reminder, “There might be a thunderstorm tonight. It’s best not to keep the lights on for too long. Good night, everyone.”

Everyone wished him good night in unison.

The wooden staircase still creaked with “thump, thump” sounds. Sisi was fraught with worry, feeling as if a giant character for ‘Danger’ was hanging over her head. But she didn’t pester anyone to sleep with her again, only silently walking into her room and closing the door behind her.

Shen Maomao gave Golden Retriever a look, signaling him to absolutely not come looking for her tonight, and then also walked into her own room.

In an instant, the hallway was empty.

A full day and night had passed, yet not a single player had been eliminated.

Shen Maomao had a feeling that something would happen tonight, and she felt quite uneasy.

At least one person would die tonight. Judging from the current situation, there were four people with a relatively high degree of danger: Dahai, Gauss, Sisi, and herself.

She first went to draw the curtains. This time, she didn’t find the figure of that ghost brother behind them. She didn’t know if it was because the time wasn’t right, or because he wasn’t coming today.

Next, as she had done before, she moved both the dressing table and the desk to the doorway, blocking the door firmly. Then she returned to the bed, took off her school uniform, changed into her pajamas, and prepared to sleep.

The lamp went out with a ‘pop’. The room fell into darkness and silence. The sound of the ‘woo-woo’-ing wind outside gradually became clear, roaring as it swept up fine sand and gravel, ‘pitter-patter’-ing against the glass window.

Shen Maomao continued to use yesterday’s method, turning her entire body into a stiff piece of wood, lying motionless in the cold, damp bedding.

Because she had things on her mind, she didn’t fall asleep even though she was very tired.

She would glance towards the door and the window from time to time, silently chanting Lou Jingmo’s name in her heart, as if doing so could dispel all fear.

“Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock—”

In a daze, the sound of a second hand ticking came from somewhere, cutting through the wind and reaching her ears, as if counting down someone’s life.

Shen Maomao woke with a start. She whipped her head around to look at the window but didn’t see the black shadow from last night.

She breathed a sigh of relief, retracted her gaze, and turned to look at the door.

And then she realized she had sighed in relief too soon.

The dressing table by the door, which she had deliberately angled away so it wouldn’t face her, had somehow turned around. The mirror on it was aimed directly at her head, reflecting a blurry black shadow standing right beside her.

So it was waiting for her here!

Shen Maomao’s scalp went numb. With a start, she rolled off the bed and onto the floor, continued rolling towards the dressing table, and then performed a carp kip-up to get to her feet, using the mirror to observe the black shadow’s movements.

She gripped the dagger Lou Jingmo had given her, her eyes glued to the mirror. However, the black shadow just stood by her bed, not moving an inch for a long while, showing no intention of attacking her.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Shen Maomao faced the mirror and asked, “Do you… have some kind of unfinished business?”

The black shadow still didn’t react.

Shen Maomao tried to reason with it. “It’s very impolite to stand by a girl’s bed like this. Could you please go back behind the curtain? I’m a little cold and want to get back in bed.”

The black shadow remained motionless.

Shen Maomao opened her mouth again, but before she could speak, a rapid ringing suddenly sounded from downstairs. The thing that rang the doorbell yesterday was back!

“Ding-dong—ding-dong—ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong—” After five rings, the sound vanished as abruptly as it had come.

The black shadow in the mirror dissipated at the same moment. Judging by the speed at which it vanished, it must have been very afraid of the thing downstairs. Shen Maomao carefully scanned the room through the mirror, and after confirming she wasn’t mistaken, she rushed to the window.

Hiding behind the curtain, she looked down and discovered one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was that the person who rang the doorbell was gone.

The bad news was—the door was open.

Shen Maomao felt like her scalp was about to explode. A chill ran down the back of her neck, as if she could already see the Grim Reaper holding his scythe.

“Creeeak—”

“Creeeak—”

The swing set in the small garden patch downstairs began to sway on its own. It swung twice, then seemed to grow bored, and the sound stopped abruptly as the swing came to a steady halt.

And with that, Shen Maomao lost sight of the ghost.

She backed away from the window, thought for a moment, and then dove back into her bedding. With Feili in her left hand and Simon Peter in her right, she found a very serene posture, considering herself fully prepared.

This boss had better not come for her, or she would slap Feili right on it and send it to meet the game developers.

But if that happened, what fun would be left in the game? Big Brother, be sensible, please don’t come for me…

…

Gauss was having trouble sleeping.

His room was dark and cold, much like the bottom of Ye Lake during the day, and it filled him with a fear that was hard to put into words.

The events of the past few days had far exceeded his expectations, dealing an indelible blow to his worldview.

If someone had told him before that “you’ll see ghosts if you do too many bad things,” he would have slapped them and called them a psycho. But now, it was actually happening.

If he had known that doing bad things would lead to this, he would have been a good person. Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets.

When he fell into the lake during the day, he kept feeling like something was grabbing his foot, preventing him from surfacing. But when he looked back in the water, there was nothing there, making him wonder if he had been hallucinating out of extreme fear.

The night was deep, and darkness swept in. He shivered under his blanket, wanting to cry but not daring to make a sound. He could only clamp his hand tightly over his mouth, as vulnerable as a child.

“Ding-dong—”

The doorbell rang again. He flinched, quickly pulling his head under the blanket and curling his body up like a dried shrimp, as if that could keep him safe.

The ringing stopped after five chimes. Gauss found it strange. He poked his head out from under the blanket, his eyes darting around as he cautiously surveyed his surroundings.

The bell had rung for a long time yesterday, so why did it only ring five times today?

Before he could dwell on it for long, he suddenly heard footsteps in the hallway.

“Tap…”

“Tap…”

The person was walking abnormally slowly. Each step was like a drumbeat on his heart. He shrank back under the blanket, trembling in fear, clenching his jaw so as not to make a sound.

The footsteps grew closer and closer, until they sounded as if they were right next to his ear.

“Hee hee hee~”

The ethereal laughter of a girl echoed in his ear. He shuddered, wishing he could roll his body into a ball and place his head at its very center, as if that would protect him from danger.

“Hee hee hee~ Come and play~”

Gauss immediately began to tremble even more violently.

Seeing that he wasn’t reacting, the girl seemed a little disappointed and began to hum a song softly.

Gauss was drenched in a cold sweat. He perked up his ears under the blanket, listening to the sounds outside.

“La la la—la la la—”
“It’s so cold in the water…”
“You must be cold too…”
“Come and give me a hug…”
“We won’t be cold if we hug each other”
“Hee hee hee~”

The voice was now on the left, now on the right, circling around him. Under the blanket, Gauss was shaking like a leaf but still didn’t dare to make any response.

“Wuwuwu… why does no one want to play with me?” The girl sighed sadly, and the sound of her humming grew more distant. It seemed she had left.

Gauss still didn’t dare to move. He remained in that position for over an hour, until his calf began to cramp from being held stiff for so long. Only then did he carefully shift his body under the blanket and, with his head covered in cold sweat, lift the blanket just a little.

The door to the room was wide open; the ghost hadn’t closed it when it left.

He let out a breath and flopped over in bed like a pancake², only to come face-to-face with a pair of scarlet eyes.

“Got you~”

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The author has something to say:

Without any saved drafts, I’m like a tube of toothpaste, just squeezing and squeezing and squeezing and squeezing and squeezing and squeezing.

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