The Hand of Confession – Chapter 341

Volume 10: Days of Cultivating in the Republic of China

The Action Begins

Cooperation

The person blocking the way was, unexpectedly, A’nan.

Shen Maomao dodged to the side, evading his attack, and retreated rapidly, shouting in confusion, “What are you doing? Why are you attacking me?”

A’nan didn’t answer her. His assault was relentless, his expression savage. He swung the long knife again with a speed that suggested he wanted her dead, each strike fatal, showing no mercy whatsoever.

Fine, it wasn’t like there was ever any mercy to speak of between them.

Although Shen Maomao had judo to fall back on, she didn’t have a suitable weapon, nor could she guarantee her strength was a match for A’nan, a tall man of over 1.8 meters. So, she could only retreat again and again, until she saw she was already backed against a wall with nowhere left to go.

Fortunately, she wasn’t the only other person in the house right now. While A’nan was focused on dealing with Shen Maomao, Golden Retriever had already climbed up from the floor without a sound. He picked up a huge rock from the floorboards nearby and crept toward A’nan, bit by bit.

To keep A’nan from hearing, Shen Maomao swallowed hard, forced herself to calm down, and spoke to him. “What in the world are you trying to do? We’re all players, why are we killing each other…”

But A’nan clearly understood the principle that villains die from talking too much. Without a second word, he raised his hand to chop her down.

“Ah—!” Shen Maomao could only let out a scream while frantically signaling Golden Retriever with her eyes.

Golden Retriever raised the rock high and smashed it down hard on the back of A’nan’s head.

With a loud thud——, blood spurted from A’nan’s head, and his body went limp, collapsing to the floor.

Shen Maomao slid down the wall to sit on the ground, panting heavily. “What do you think Kang Yuanhuai said to him?”

Mingyue arrived late, asking anxiously from behind them, “How is it? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Shen Maomao got up, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. “Could I trouble you to watch him here for a moment? I and G… Shishi are going to the back to get some water and grab a rope.”

Mingyue agreed.

Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever fetched a bucket of water. After returning, they dragged a wooden chair out from the room, tied the unconscious A’nan to it, and then splashed the bucket of water in his face.

A’nan slowly came to. He tried to struggle, but Mingyue and Golden Retriever were holding the chair down from behind him, so his efforts were useless. He then lowered his head and, smashing the already cracked pot¹, said, “Since I’ve landed in your hands, then whether you kill me or carve me up is your decision.”

Shen Maomao toyed with a dagger in front of him, yet her face was a picture of ‘harmony generates wealth’². “Can’t we talk things out properly? Did we have to resort to fighting and killing? How boring is that? Now I’m going to ask you some questions, and you’d better answer obediently. Otherwise, I don’t know where this dagger might land.”

As she spoke, she held the dagger vertically, pointing down, just above his body, and gave him a small smile. “First question: where did Kang Yuanhuai go?”

A’nan glanced at the dagger’s position, and a pang of pain instantly shot up from a certain unspeakable area. He practically gritted his teeth as he said, “Are you even a woman?!”

Shen Maomao wiggled the dagger. “I don’t know if I’m a woman, but if you still want to be a man, you’ll answer the question. Where did Kang Yuanhuai go?”

“He’s hiding…” A’nan revealed a humiliated expression and turned his head to the side. “I don’t know the specifics of where he’s hiding.”

“What’s he hiding for?” Shen Maomao continued to ask.

“Because he guessed you all would be swayed by the ghosts, so of course he had to hide…”

“Then how did he guess the ghosts would target him?”

A’nan lifted his eyelids to look at her. “Haven’t you already investigated it? These five Hebo are actually all his family relatives. Now he’s the only one left.”

This was different from what she had seen.

In her memory, among the five Hebo, only the twin sisters were related to the Hu family. The others were all living sacrifices who had been offered up from various places and had no connection to one another. And the members of the Hu family who died tragically merely became ghosts within the residence, using the methods of their own deaths to torment the people who moved into the house later.

So, were the twin sisters lying to her, or was Kang Yuanhuai lying to A’nan?

She felt the latter was more likely.

Shen Maomao came back to her senses and asked another question. “What about Dahai? Where did he go?”

A’nan answered truthfully. “I don’t know. We went to the Hebo temple first. On the way back, he said he had to relieve himself and told me to wait for him, but after waiting for over half an hour, I never saw him come back. I searched the vicinity for a while after that, but I really couldn’t find him, so I had no choice but to leave him.”

Shen Maomao noticed he had said, “told me to wait for him” and “I never saw him come back.” The subject was always “I,” not “we.” Evidently, Kang Yuanhuai must have already separated from them by that point.

“Even so, that’s no reason for you to just attack me on sight, right?” she asked again.

A’nan replied, “There are five Hebo temples in the instance, and there happen to be five of you girls. You think that’s a coincidence? Huai Town actually has a long-standing tradition of living sacrifices. A few years ago, the town flooded, and it only stopped after they sacrificed a bride to the Hebo. The living sacrifice just needs to be a beautiful woman under twenty-five, and they’re also required to eat fish from Ye Lake for at least three consecutive days.” At this point, he looked up at Shen Maomao before continuing. “You all should have been able to sense Kang Yuanhuai’s differential treatment of you, right? The living sacrifice is to be married to the Hebo, to become the wife of a ‘god,’ so during the preparatory days before the wedding, she cannot interfere in mortal affairs. That’s why he barely made you guys do any work… What the fuck, hold that knife steady!”

“Sorry, getting old, my hand’s a bit shaky.” Shen Maomao gave an apologetic smile. “You’ve said so much, but it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with why you attacked me, does it?”

A’nan said irritably, “Kang Yuanhuai wants to sacrifice you all to his relatives to stop them from pestering him so he can have some peace. Since the Hebo can grant people’s wishes, I figured I might as well make the first move. Wish to leave the instance, or just wish to be free of the game entirely. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Golden Retriever spat at him. “Pah! You wish! Serves you right for capsizing your boat in a gutter³!”

A’nan frowned, trying to look behind him. “Where did this man come from? You’re working with the natives⁴?”

Golden Retriever gave a cold snort and shut his mouth.

“That’s not important.” Shen Maomao put the dagger away and looked at him. “You were probably tricked by Kang Yuanhuai.”

A’nan didn’t even raise his eyelids, clearly just like her, only believing what he saw with his own eyes.

Shen Maomao didn’t mind, just smiling. “We’re all veteran players. You must have some kind of life-saving measure on you. I’m not going to kill you, so don’t be thinking about any crooked doors and heretical paths⁵. Wouldn’t it be better to save your life-saving items for the ghosts?”

A’nan was still looking down, appearing as if he hadn’t heard a word she said, but Shen Maomao noticed that his tense legs had relaxed slightly.

She added, “Our side has roughly deduced that we can only leave by killing Kang Yuanhuai—whether he lives or dies doesn’t have much of an impact on you, right?”

A’nan grunted an “en.”

Shen Maomao: “Since that’s the case, you might as well help us.”

A’nan went silent again, clearly not wanting to get involved in their affairs.

Shen Maomao chuckled. “What are you thinking? I’m not discussing this with you, I’m informing you.”

A’nan pondered for several seconds, likely calculating his odds against these three people, and finally chose to compromise. “Fine. I’ll go with you to find Kang Yuanhuai. Can you untie me first?”

Shen Maomao flexed her wrists, tossed something into the wooden bucket that still had some water in it, and then said, “To prevent you from going back on your word, I need to make some preparations. So please cooperate and drink the water here.”

A’nan furrowed his brow and retorted, “How do I know what you put in the water?”

Shen Maomao: “Something to make you listen. Don’t worry, it’s not harmful to you in any way, it’s just to ensure our safety.”

After explaining, she switched back to threat mode. “You’d better consider it quickly, we don’t have much time. Either we tie you up here and leave, and you figure out how to escape on your own—but whether you can or not is not my problem—or you drink the water and we figure a way out together. I’ll give you ten seconds, how about it?”

“No need,” A’nan said. “I’ll drink.”

…

Dark clouds covered the moon. Sparse raindrops leaked through the gaps in the clouds, landing gently on everyone’s faces.

An Jing slowly awoke from the chaos. She seemed to have had a very long dream, but now that she was awake, she couldn’t quite remember its contents.

She sat up from the swing and found the person she was looking for in the center of the courtyard.

Mingyue was untying A’nan with Golden Retriever. Halfway through, she suddenly heard footsteps from behind her. She gripped the rope and spun around, only to see An Jing leaning on the barrier, watching them quietly.

She immediately dropped what was in her hands, ran over excitedly, and stood before the barrier to ask, “Who are you? An Jing or that ghost?”

An Jing spoke in a hoarse voice, “It’s me.”

Mingyue nearly burst into tears. “You’re finally back!”

A’nan looked back curiously and asked, “Just how many people do you have?”

Shen Maomao grinned, baring her teeth. “Don’t worry about it. In any case, you can’t beat us.” With that, she tossed the dismantled rope to the side.

It was already late, and the most urgent task now was to find Kang Yuanhuai’s hiding place.

A’nan said, “I’m not sure where he’s hiding either, but I can take you to the place where I got separated from him to have a look.”

There were no better options at the moment, so they could only do as he said.

Shen Maomao called out to Mingyue, asking if she still wanted to go with them.

Mingyue glanced at her lover, placed a feather-light kiss on her face, and said earnestly, “Wait for me to come back.”

An Jing nodded.

The group left the small Western-style house and headed toward the empty streets.

This was the first time they had left the building at night.

The small town, so bustling during the day, seemed abnormally quiet late at night. The doors of every household were shut tight, and it was pitch-black everywhere, without a single sliver of light.

Rain fell on their faces. No one spoke; they just followed silently behind A’nan. The sound of rain hitting leaves mixed with their slightly heavy breathing, becoming the only sound in this world for now.

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