The Hand of Confession – Chapter 331

Volume 10: Days of Cultivating in the Republic of China

An Jing

After your day of investigating, you should know who killed Mingyue, right?

“For revenge, right?” Sisi said. “Because of this sister, his family was broken and its people perished¹, and he had to flee abroad for refuge. Now that he’s grown up, it’s only natural that he’d want to find a way to get revenge…”

Shen Maomao countered, “Then how can an ordinary human get revenge on ghosts?”

“Well…” Sisi pondered for a few seconds before saying, “Could it be that there’s some power behind him, secretly helping him do all this? Didn’t we find a telegraph machine in his room earlier? Could that be what he’s using to send messages?”

“It’s not impossible,” Shen Maomao said. “But thinking about it from another angle, could it be that he isn’t really human anymore? And that’s why he has these kinds of abilities?”

Sisi said, “That’s also possible. He went into the He Bo Temple before and stayed inside for several minutes, but when he came out, he said no one was there. What was he doing for those few minutes? I’ve never been able to figure that out. And why did I automatically go to worship He Bo before?”

Shen Maomao reminded her, “In any case, be careful. If you have any life-saving items, don’t be reluctant to use them.”

Sisi replied, “Mm, I’m not stupid.”

The three of them wandered around the town until dark, only managing to find out that the family that had been massacred was indeed named Hu. They learned nothing else.

Today was already the fourth day of the game, and Shen Maomao was feeling a bit anxious, worried she wouldn’t be able to find the exit and would be trapped in this godforsaken place forever.

But there was no use in being anxious. The sun gradually sank in the west, its orange-yellow light filtering through the thick cloud cover and scattering across the land. The three of them walked back along the shimmering riverbank.

There were still many dark clouds in the sky. The plum rain season² was like that; once the rain started, it wouldn’t stop. Even if it paused occasionally, the sky would remain overcast. The clear weather from a few days ago was a rare occurrence.

When they returned, the living room of the small western-style house was dark, but there were lights on in the rooms to the left and right. The three men were all there.

The swing in the courtyard swayed tirelessly. Combined with what the noodle stall owner had said that morning, it sent an inexplicable chill down their spines.

The three of them walked into the house, and Shen Maomao fumbled around, looking for a light.

The person who usually lit the lamps was Kang Yuanhuai. She only remembered that there were matches on the shelf to the left of the dining room, but she couldn’t quite recall where, so she could only grope her way in that direction by the moonlight.

As she was feeling around, her hand seemed to touch something wet, soft, and icy cold. It sent a shiver through her, making her hair stand on end. “What the fuck is that?!”

Sisi, seeing her blurry figure, asked urgently, “What’s wrong, what’s wrong?! Is something there?!”

Shen Maomao tried to calm her. “Don’t be afraid, calm down. There seems to be something here…”

Before her voice could fall, a “slurp” sound suddenly came from the shelf, and then something wet and slippery slid past the palm of her hand. Goosebumps instantly covered her entire body. Unable to bear it any longer, she cursed, grabbed the thing’s tongue, and slammed it onto the floor.

There was a dull “thud,” followed by the “clatter” of the shelf being pulled down with it.

Shen Maomao pinpointed where it landed and stomped on it with her foot. “Fuck you! Ahhhhhh!!”

Sisi hurriedly grabbed her. “Calm down! Calm down!”

The silent night was broken. With a “hiss—” the room instantly lit up. Kang Yuanhuai stood at the hallway entrance holding an oil lamp, a look of utter bewilderment on his face as he stared at the scene in the dining room—Shen Maomao was furiously kicking a floor mat, a toppled shelf lay at her feet surrounded by a chaotic mess of scattered odds and ends, while Sisi and Golden Retriever held her by each arm. The scene was quite spectacular.

With the light on, the three of them could see what was on the ground.

Shen Maomao stopped kicking and glanced at the back of her hand in the light. There was a wet, glistening trail on it.

The thing she had touched was definitely not this mat, but it had run off after the light came on.

Kang Yuanhuai asked, “What happened?”

Shen Maomao shook her hand with a deadpan expression. “Nothing. There was a rat.”

Kang Yuanhuai fell into a strange silence for a second, probably finding it hard to believe she would be afraid of a rat.

Shen Maomao said, “Just leave this stuff for me to clean up. I’m going to the back to wash my hands first.”

Kang Yuanhuai said, “It’s fine, you go ahead. Take this lamp.”

Sisi said, “I’ll go with you!”

Golden Retriever didn’t say anything, but he followed closely behind the two of them, expressing his intention to go with them.

The three of them went to the backyard together. Golden Retriever carried the kerosene lamp courteously provided by Kang Yuanhuai, while Shen Maomao, stone-faced, drew half a bucket of water from the well. She asked Sisi to help pour it over her hands, and then expressionlessly washed the back of her hands under the stream of water.

Sisi asked, “What did you actually touch just now?”

Shen Maomao said coldly, “I don’t know, but it was disgusting. It licked my hand.”

Sisi immediately showed an expression of extreme disgust.

After washing her hands, Shen Maomao finally felt a bit better. She thanked Golden Retriever and Sisi, then went back to deal with the mess.

All the lights in the living room were now on. Kang Yuanhuai had just set the shelf upright and was sweeping up the debris on the floor.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Shen Maomao went over to take the broom, saying, “Let me do it…”

Kang Yuanhuai, as usual, refused to let the women do manual labor, eventually putting on a stern face and saying he was about to get angry.

Shen Maomao had no choice but to give up. She brought up the matter of compensation, “If there’s any of the team activity fee I paid left over, just take the money for damages from that…” If there was none left, she couldn’t do anything about it; she didn’t have any currency that could be used in this world.

Kang Yuanhuai readily agreed. “Alright. You all go back and rest. I got busy and forgot earlier. I just ordered food from the restaurant. I’ll call you down to eat in a bit, and we can also discuss checking out the other He Bo temples tomorrow.”

The three of them went upstairs and returned to their respective rooms.

Shen Maomao sat on the edge of her bed, thinking about the plot: Two people were dead now. Gauss looked like he had been soaked and bloated by water. Mingyue had fallen on the stairs and broken the lower half of her body, which roughly matched what the noodle stall owner had said. Therefore, the next people would likely die by starving, drowning, drinking water until their stomachs burst, or jumping into a well.

The people in the most danger right now were Dahai, An Jing, Sisi, and herself. Golden Retriever and A Nan hadn’t encountered any dangerous omens yet, so they could be considered temporarily safe. Dahai had fallen into the lake, and the fishing net marks on his face still hadn’t faded. There seemed to be some hidden connection between Sisi and the Southeast He Bo, but there had been no movement on that front yet. An Jing and Mingyue had heard the little girl’s laughter together, but the little girl had come looking for her in the middle of the night. Yet, Mingyue still died the next day. So, the one who came for her was possibly the sister that Kang Yuanhuai had driven away, or the one who rang the doorbell holding the red umbrella…

As for herself, the younger sister among the female ghosts had come yesterday, but she had made the sister cry. Although, judging from the story, the two sisters’ relationship probably wasn’t that good, you couldn’t discount the fact that they were both ghosts now and had lived together for over twenty years. So, she felt that the older sister would probably come for her tonight.

A short while later, Kang Yuanhuai’s voice came from downstairs, calling everyone to eat. Shen Maomao opened her door and happened to see An Jing opening her door as well.

Her face was deathly pale, her eyes were full of red bloodshot veins, and her entire being exuded an aura of death.

Only then did Shen Maomao realize with a jolt that the relationship between those two might not be as simple as she had thought.

An Jing didn’t greet her. She walked right past her, her eyes staring straight ahead as she descended the stairs without the slightest pause.

The seven of them sat in the dining room and ate a silent dinner. Afterward, Kang Yuanhuai said, “The day after tomorrow is the day the He Bo takes a bride. Let’s head out early tomorrow. We’ll split into two teams and visit the remaining two He Bo temples.”

Coincidentally, the three temples Kang Yuanhuai had assigned them yesterday were all male He Bos. The two they were to visit tomorrow were the West He Bo, who were twin sisters, and the Southeast He Bo, whose gender was unknown.

Shen Maomao, who had difficulty making choices and had E-rank luck³, never took the initiative to choose, waiting only to be given whatever was left over.

Golden Retriever and Sisi still wanted to follow her. An Jing said nothing, sitting silently in her seat. Dahai and A Nan both didn’t want to be in Kang Yuanhuai’s group, so the two played a round of rock, paper, scissors to decide it. In the end, Dahai won and excitedly moved his stool next to Sisi.

Kang Yuanhuai wore a smile the entire time, completely unconcerned by their aversion to him. Once the players had formed their groups, he stood up and said, “Since you’ve all decided, shall I assign the directions?”

No one objected.

Kang Yuanhuai said, “Then I’ll have to trouble student Sisi and student Dahai to go west, while I, student A Nan, and student An Jing will go southeast. If there are no objections, everyone get some rest. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”

Everyone headed to their own rooms. As they reached the second floor, An Jing suddenly grabbed Sisi’s arm, making her jump. When she turned her head and saw An Jing, who looked more like a ghost than an actual ghost, she shivered again and then complained coquettishly, “You’ll be the death of me! You scared me to death, why did you suddenly grab me? What’s the matter?”

An Jing opened her mouth, her voice somewhat hoarse. “After your day of investigating, you should know who killed Mingyue, right?”

Sisi frowned. “We express our deepest sympathies for your friend’s passing, but you’ve been cooped up in your room all day. Now you want to get clues for free? There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

An Jing was silent for a few seconds, then she suddenly smiled, but her eyes burned with something that made Sisi’s heart jump and her flesh tremble⁴. “It won’t be for free… don’t you worry.”

Sisi was a little frightened by her smile and quickly said, “We did find some things out. This mansion was once a haunted house where a family of six died. The eldest daughter of that family died by breaking her leg falling down the stairs.”

It was unknown whether it was “breaking her leg” or “on the stairs” that stung her heart, but An Jing’s eyes turned red, and the bloodshot veins in them multiplied at a visible rate. She gripped Sisi’s wrist and asked in a raspy voice, “Do you know where she is now?”

Of course, Sisi didn’t know, but An Jing was gripping her so tightly it hurt, and a strange light flickered in her eyes, as if she would push her down the stairs if she couldn’t answer. So, she blurted out, “It’s… it’s the female ghost with the red umbrella who comes and rings the doorbell every night!”

An Jing released her. Her face was expressionless as she twitched the corner of her mouth, as if she had said “thank you,” then turned and walked into her room without looking back.

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