The Hand of Confession – Chapter 43

Volume 2: The Days of Playing with Monkeys in the Village

Monkey Brain

Is dislocation quite dangerous?

Her questions were numerous and varied, and she spoke at lightning speed. Auntie Zhang and Zhang Jianshe didn’t know which one to answer first.

While she was pestering the Zhang couple, Lou Jingmo had already circled around the deity statue and then stood behind the two, shaking her head at Shen Maomao.

She hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

Shen Maomao immediately stopped talking and said, “Forget it, we’ll know the answers to these questions tomorrow. Auntie, what are we eating tonight?”

This question was easy to answer, and Auntie Zhang relaxed considerably: “Tonight, auntie will cook something delicious for you!”

“What delicious dish?”

Auntie Zhang smiled: “It’s our village’s specialty, guaranteed to be tasty!”

The two were sent upstairs. In their room, two large wooden tubs were placed side by side, filled with steaming hot water.

The Zhang family left and closed the door, leaving the two facing each other in the room.

Shen Maomao: “Together?”

Lou Jingmo: “You go first, I’ll check if anything’s missing.”

There were no locks inside or outside the door. Usually, she would just close the door and leave, and the other Zhang family members wouldn’t enter their room. Today was an exception.

But Shen Maomao felt there was absolutely no need to check their luggage. The props distributed by this game system didn’t have much to do with the main storyline. Even if they were taken, it wouldn’t affect completing the game… However, being cautious wasn’t wrong.

Unable to guess Lou Jingmo’s intentions, Shen Maomao examined the wooden tub.

The tub was brand new, with a layer of transparent varnish. There were no splinters, and the wooden planks were a bright yellow, looking very clean.

The water inside was colorless and odorless. She reached in and stirred it around; it felt no different from plain water.

After investigating for a while and finding nothing unusual, she undressed by the tub and sat in, scooping up a handful of water and splashing it on herself.

The sound of flowing water echoed “hua hua”, as droplets slid down her pristine shoulders. Lou Jingmo awkwardly averted her gaze.

Shen Maomao happily played in the water, urging Lou Jingmo to join: “Sister Lou, come quickly~! The water will get cold soon!”

Lou Jingmo walked to the door, keeping her eyes straight ahead, and said: “Just wash up, I’ll guard the door.”

That made sense; it would be troublesome if someone barged in while they were bathing.

Realizing this, she sped up her bathing: “Then I’ll hurry up and finish so I can help you watch the door.”

“Mm.” Lou Jingmo nodded, quickly opened the door, and went out.

Shen Maomao: “?” Couldn’t she watch the door from inside the room?

Never mind, perhaps the goddess had made some new discovery. She should just mind her own business.

After finishing her bath, she called Lou Jingmo back in, telling her to go wash while she guarded the door. Lou Jingmo darted into the room like an arrow and shut Shen Maomao outside.

Shen Maomao’s face was full of confusion.

What was Lou Jingmo up to? Was there something she was hiding? It was just taking a bath, right?

She crouched by the door, pondering for a while, and finally came up with a reason – could it be that she was afraid Shen Maomao would feel inferior if she saw her chest?

The goddess was truly so considerate!

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After bathing, the two carried the wooden tubs to the drain and poured out the dirty water. Then they stacked the tubs in a corner before heading downstairs.

Dinner was already prepared, with eight dishes steaming hot on the table. The Zhang family sat around the table, but no one had touched their chopsticks.

Seeing the two come downstairs, Auntie Zhang waved them over: “Come quickly, girls, we’ve been waiting for you.”

The two sat down, and Shen Maomao noticed the dish in the center of the table.

It was a bowl of bright red raw brain flower, drizzled with oil and seasonings, garnished with green scallions and red chili strips. Surprisingly, it looked quite appetizing.

Shen Maomao felt nauseated by her own thoughts.

Cooked brain flower was indeed tasty, but this was clearly raw! Why did she feel this dish would be delicious?

Auntie Zhang said with a smile: “This is our village’s specialty, ‘oil-splashed brain flower’. Would you like to try some?”

Shen Maomao couldn’t control her hand, wanting to scoop out a spoonful to see if it tasted as good as she imagined.

Lou Jingmo swiftly struck the back of her hand with chopsticks. The sudden pain jolted her awake, and she realized her hand was already halfway extended, the spoon just a hair’s breadth away from the brain flower.

Shen Maomao quickly turned her wrist, scooped up some eggs, put them in her bowl, and started eating with her head down, not daring to look at the brain flower in the center again.

Zhang Jianshe laughed and said, “Are you afraid to eat it? Here, let me have a spoonful first to show you!” With that, he scooped up some brain flower, shoved the spoon into his mouth, and his face showed an expression of ecstasy. After swallowing the brain flower, he picked up a glass of baijiu and drank it in one gulp, exclaiming, “Medicinal wine with brain flower~ better than being an immortal!”

Lou Jingmo said, “We don’t like eating brain flower. You all go ahead.”

The other Zhang family members stopped being polite and reached for the brain flower with their spoons. The brain flower wasn’t very large, and with everyone taking a spoonful here and there, it was quickly devoured, leaving not even a drop of soup.

After finishing the brain flower, they started eating the other dishes. Shen Maomao also breathed a sigh of relief and secretly glanced at the expressions of the people at the table.

As she looked, she was stunned for a moment.

The Zhang family’s little grandson had both arms on the table, one hand holding a rice spoon, the other propping up his chin. He looked around at the people sitting at the table with cold, emotionless eyes, finally making deep eye contact with her.

Shen Maomao almost choked to death on a mouthful of rice.

Lou Jingmo patted her on the back to help her catch her breath: “You’re not even as composed as a child.”

“Cough cough…” Shen Maomao had complaints but dared not voice them.

It was only then that she noticed the little boy hadn’t touched the brain flower at all from start to finish.

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The sacrificial ceremony was scheduled for the next afternoon. Auntie Zhang said she’d bring them the ceremonial clothes to wear later, and advised them to rest early and get enough sleep.

Back in their room, Shen Maomao, still shaken, immediately told Lou Jingmo about the little boy’s strange behavior at the dinner table.

Lou Jingmo had also noticed his unusual demeanor and asked her, “Do you remember what the little girl said?”

The brother is a monkey, the monkey is the brother.

The relationship between the monkey and the mischievous child might be one of swapped souls… When they said the brother was eaten, it might actually mean the little monkey was eaten.

Monkey meat isn’t considered a delicacy, and it contains many parasites and viruses, making it unsuitable for human consumption. The more widely known way of eating monkey is — eating the brain raw.

The brain flower served by the Zhang family had already started to discolor before the oil was poured, and wisps of cold air were rising from it, suggesting it had been frozen for who knows how long.

Lou Jingmo continued calmly: “Monkey meat can be used in medicine; monkey bones can be used to make medicinal wine; monkey brain can be eaten raw… Do the people of Lingyuan Village know that the souls inside the monkeys they’ve sold and eaten might actually be their own relatives?”

Shen Maomao felt chills run down her spine.

With the sacrificial ceremony approaching, the village’s unsavory truth was being exposed before their eyes.

The villagers worship the Monkey God, yet make a living by hunting and killing monkeys for exorbitant profits. They place stone monkey statues carved with their relatives’ features in their homes, believing they can rest easy, unaware that this might all be the monkeys’ long-awaited revenge…

Lou Jingmo stroked her head: “Do you know what eating monkey brain alive means? They trap the neck in a hole in the table, open a hole there, and pour hot oil in…”

Shen Maomao shuddered and swatted her hand away: “Stop! That’s illegal!”

“In these poor mountains and treacherous waters, what law is there?” Lou Jingmo sneered.

“Should we tell them about this, ask the villagers to stop doing this…”

Lou Jingmo just gave her a look, without answering the question.

Shen Maomao realized her idea was impossible upon reflection.

These were all their temporary speculations. The true situation wouldn’t be clear until after tomorrow’s ceremony.

Even if all this were true, they had no evidence, and the thoroughly brainwashed villagers might not believe them. Moreover… who would want to work after getting used to making money without labor?

What role do players assume in the game? If humans and monkeys end up at war, which side should the players take?

Shen Maomao decided it was better not to think about it. It felt wrong to help either side.

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At night, as she lay in bed, the whole world once again plunged into darkness. She lay wide-eyed in the dark, tossing and turning.

She wasn’t a bleeding heart; she ate meat regularly too. But monkeys were nationally protected animals. Buying, selling, or eating them was illegal… Moreover, monkeys were primates, sharing origins with humans. Adult monkeys’ intelligence could even rival that of young children. How could they bring themselves to do this?

Lou Jingmo comforted her: “Don’t think too much, it’s not your concern.”

That’s easy to say, but she couldn’t help but feel conflicted. On one side were her own kind, who loved ease and hated work, and on the other were the monkeys, neither good nor bad… At this point, neither side was innocent.

With these thoughts, she drifted off into a muddled sleep. In her dream, her head was trapped in a table hole, forcibly opened from the top, and a pot of hot oil was poured in. Two monkeys scooped out her brain flower with spoons while she was still conscious…

She woke up in pain, drenched in cold sweat.

It was still pitch black, but suddenly a gust of wind blew in her face, carrying a bone-chilling cold.

She was shocked and was about to turn away when a hand reached out from beside her, pulling her into an embrace and rolling her over, falling to the ground.

“What’s happening?!” she asked in panic.

Lou Jingmo: “Don’t know, fend for yourself.”

Two sets of footsteps echoed in the room, one dragging and one light. They could only discern their rough positions, hastily dodging.

“F*ck! Why are there two?!”

She had always thought only the mischievous child in Zhang Jianshe’s family was abnormal. Why were there two now?!

The cold knife tip grazed her arm, adding a whiff of blood to the air. Her dodge caused her to crash into the wardrobe, creating a loud bang.

Shen Maomao cursed under her breath and quickly rolled over again.

With a “ka-cha” sound, something stabbed into the wardrobe, followed by continuous “ka-cha ka-cha” sounds of shaking.

It seemed the weapon was stuck.

“It should be Zhang Jianshe’s father,” Lou Jingmo’s voice came from nearby.

Taking advantage of the unusable weapon, Shen Maomao cautiously reached out, indeed feeling a wrinkled face, and nearly getting bitten.

The old Zhang didn’t have enough strength to pull out the weapon, so he simply started scratching with his hands. Shen Maomao grabbed his wrist and with a “ka-cha,” dislocated his arm. One arm done, then the other. She swiftly dislocated all four of the old man’s limbs, only to realize afterward: “Shoot, he’s so old, isn’t dislocation quite dangerous at his age?”

Lou Jingmo: “…I feel we’re in more danger right now.”

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