The Hand of Confession – Chapter 46

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

The Ritual Begins

This is a collective frenzy, and also the final ultimatum from the dungeon to them.

This is a collective frenzy, and also the final ultimatum from the dungeon to them.

The participants in the ritual finally arrived at the old locust tree at the village entrance, where a group of people had been waiting for a long time. The village gate had changed its appearance, and the locust tree was adorned with red banners. There was no wind in the air, and all the banners hung perpendicular to the ground, looking somewhat eerie.

A large altar had been set up at the village entrance, with a row of fruits like bananas and peaches placed on it. In the center was a large incense burner. Behind the altar stood a man dressed in a long robe, his face painted with oil colors, wearing a feathered hat, dressed like a Native American.

The ritual didn’t start immediately as not everyone had arrived. The villagers instinctively fell silent, with the village chief standing at the front of the crowd, leaning on his cane, saying nothing and expressionless.

Shen Maomao pretended to take photos with her camera, the shutter sound going “ka-cha ka-cha” non-stop.

That big locust tree reminded her of Wu Menghan again. On the night of her dream, Wu Menghan stood under this locust tree, luring her closer… And the one called Shan Xiao in Ye Tingnan’s team died because he chose to stay behind with her.

As the death countdown drew nearer, she anxiously asked Lou Jingmo beside her, “Sister Lou, do you think the exit might be in the monkey cave on the back mountain?”

Counting the dream, they had been to the back mountain twice. The first time they almost got trapped in the mist, and the second time, in the dream, they saw a white light in the monkey cave that was very similar to the light of the exit. So she had reason to suspect that the exit might be on the back mountain. The previous mist could also be explained as a plot point that they couldn’t enter until the right time. As for why Yun Shengjin and the others didn’t encounter the mist, she guessed it might be related to the plot of that one guy coming back to life.

While she was thinking about all this, Lou Jingmo’s answer was very curt: “Don’t know.” Not even a word of comfort!

Shen Maomao didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

Time slowly passed, and the fiery clouds dyed the earth a deep red. When the last household joined the queue, the Native American-like man began to hum a song, the lyrics very vague, sounding like chanting.

All the villagers around lowered their heads, making the five players who didn’t bow their heads stand out even more.

They were all wearing ritual clothing with cameras hanging around their necks, out of place with the entire village. They were outsiders, anomalies in the ritual.

Let’s call the person behind the altar the priest for now. The priest sang for a long time, only stopping when the sun had completely set and the moon had climbed up the branches. His voice didn’t even get hoarse. He lit three incense sticks as thick as a person’s arm and, with the help of several people around him, inserted them into the incense burner.

The remaining villagers lit torches, and the dancing flames made their shadows move along with them, like demons in a frenzy (群魔乱舞, qunmo luanwu; idiom meaning ‘devils and demons dancing wildly’). The priest suddenly knelt in front of the altar, muttering something, and all the villagers around followed his action, “peng-tong peng-tong” (撲通撲通, putong putong; onomatopoeia for the sound of falling) as a large group knelt down.

Shen Maomao couldn’t help but take half a step back, only to be stopped by Lou Jingmo behind her.

“Don’t panic, just take your photos,” Lou Jingmo whispered in her ear, making her feel as if she had taken a reassuring pill (定心丸, dingxin wan; idiom meaning ‘something that sets one’s mind at ease’).

With this kneeling, she could see at a glance the panicked Ye Tingnan and Shao Mei, as well as Yun Shengjin at some distance from them.

All five of them didn’t kneel. Yun Shengjin raised his camera and took a photo of the priest, and the remaining three followed suit, also taking photos.

Three shutter sound effects rang out, covered by the “pili pala” (劈裏啪啦, pili pala; onomatopoeia for crackling) sound of the burning torches. Shen Maomao pulled up the photo she had just taken, almost dropping the camera.

The camera, which had been of little use until now, finally revealed its true purpose at this moment. In the photo, behind the priest, a pair of blood-red eyes appeared on the big locust tree. These eyes were densely arranged, crowded together, each eye wide open, with malicious gazes emanating from the pupils, locking onto the crowd below the tree. It would drive someone with trypophobia crazy.

She immediately handed the camera to Lou Jingmo, who only looked at the photo once before taking three more shots of other areas with the camera. After checking, they found that not only were there red eyes in the tree, but also in the bushes. They were surrounded by red eyes!

The priest shouted out a long string of words, which basically boiled down to praising the virtues of the Monkey God, asking for blessings of happiness and wealth for those participating in the ritual, and finally expressing the gratitude of the believers.

After that, everyone stood up, and the priest nodded to the village chief, who began to order the villagers wearing colorful clothes to come forward and receive incense—the five players were wearing such clothes.

Everyone received three thin incense sticks. Just as Shen Maomao had received her incense and wanted to return to the queue, she was pushed by the Zhang family into another group of people, forcibly separated from Lou Jingmo.

“Eh—?!” She tried to walk back but was grabbed by the wrist by a man. The man’s strength was great, and when she tried to use techniques to break free, she found that in the face of absolute strength, technique was of no use.

Lou Jingmo was also blocked by Zhang Jianshe and Zhang Aiguo. She didn’t struggle, just looked at the two with a cold gaze and said in a deep voice, “What are you trying to do?”

Aunt Zhang explained from the side, “We don’t mean anything by it! The two incense sticks can’t be lit in the same household, you can come back after lighting them, it’s all the same!”

Shen Maomao glared at the man behind her, “I got it! Let go of me! Otherwise, I’ll report you for harassment!”

The man didn’t argue with her and directly let go, revealing four bruised fingerprints on her wrist.

The people in front didn’t notice the small commotion behind, and the priest raised both hands high, like a bird about to take flight: “Begin lighting the incense!” At his command, the participants in the ritual responded, all lighting their incense with the torches.

Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo followed suit.

Those who had lit their incense automatically stood in a line in the middle, and Aunt Zhang led them to stand at the very back, where the five players gathered.

Dozens of white smoke trails rose straight up, and the children walking at the front stood on tiptoes to insert their three incense sticks into the incense burner, their little faces full of curiosity and anticipation for the ritual.

Shao Mei and Ye Tingnan seemed to have forgotten their small quarrel from the morning and followed behind them, holding their incense sticks expectantly.

Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn’t yet their turn to insert the incense, Ye Tingnan naturally started to chat with them: “Seniors, do you have any thoughts about the exit?”

Lou Jingmo ignored them completely.

It was Shen Maomao who couldn’t bear it and answered, “We have some ideas, but we’re not sure. I personally think, note, it’s just my personal opinion, that the exit is very likely in the monkey cave on the back mountain. After we’re sent there, there will definitely be danger, so you’d better prepare yourselves mentally in advance.”

Although that’s what she said, when facing unknown ghosts and monsters, what use is any advance preparation? They didn’t even know in what form the ghosts would appear.

After everyone had inserted their incense, the entire queue changed direction, heading towards the back mountain.

They passed house after house, all with their doors wide open, allowing easy view of the statues covered with red cloth in the courtyards from outside, making one wonder whose face among these sacrifices would be under the red cloth.

Under the illumination of the big red lanterns, the expressionless faces of the villagers looked eerie and frightening, like executioners sending them on their way.

Shao Mei gripped Ye Tingnan’s arm tightly, covering her mouth and sobbing softly.

Shen Maomao cried along, but it’s thunder without rain (干打雷不下雨, gan dalei bu xiayü; idiom meaning “all talk and no action”). While wailing, she complained to Lou Jingmo, pushing her wrist in front of her: “Goddess, look at how that bastard pinched my wrist! It’s all purple!”

“I can’t beat him,” Lou Jingmo said coldly.

Shen Maomao: “You’re fooling the ghosts.” (騙鬼, pian gui; expression meaning ‘to lie or deceive’)

Actually, it wasn’t that she couldn’t beat him, but rather that she could but there was no need to.

The main group advanced slowly, and soon arrived at the entrance of the back mountain. All those in white clothes stood in a line at the spot, all handing their torches to the family members wearing colorful clothes who were to be sacrificed.

The priest began to mutter and chant on the small path of the back mountain. Shen Maomao, holding the torch passed to her by the tall guy, waved it around in a practiced manner and quietly asked Lou Jingmo, “Sister Lou, can we get out if we set fire to the mountain?”

Lou Jingmo: “That’s illegal.”

Shen Maomao: “??”

Just as they were chatting, the priest finished his prayer and called for the sacrifices to follow him up the mountain.

He walked at the front with his torch, and the others followed closely behind.

There was still mist in the forest, but the mist couldn’t approach the areas with firelight and could only roll around a few zhang (丈, zhang; traditional Chinese unit of length, approximately 3.3 meters) away from the group.

Shen Maomao looked back, and the villagers separated by the thin mist stood in the distance, their faces unclear due to the dim light. After walking a few more steps, she could only see many dark shadows standing in the mist, with the red light of lanterns behind the shadows, a vast expanse of crimson, like a sea of blood.

It seemed… to overlap with the scene in the dream.

There was no red moon to begin with, and that red light might have been from the lanterns in the village…

Lou Jingmo used one hand to turn her little head back: “Missing them?”

Shen Maomao shook her head like a rattle drum (撥浪鼓, bolanggu; a type of rattle drum): “I’m not, I didn’t, don’t make things up!”

Shao Mei came over holding her torch, crying and snotting: “I’m sorry, Sister Lou, Sister Rabbit! I apologize for my ignorance wuwuwuwuwu, can you please take us with you? I’m so scared…”

Shen Maomao found her both pitiful and amusing: “Didn’t you say ‘a clear conscience fears no ghosts at midnight’ (平生不做虧心事，夜半不怕鬼敲門, pingsheng bu zuo kuixin shi, yeban bu pa gui qiao men; proverb meaning ‘those who have done no wrong have nothing to fear’)? You even told me to believe in science earlier…”

Shao Mei bit her lip: “I’ve done things I regret wuwuwu I’m scared!”

Shen Maomao looked at Lou Jingmo, who said indifferently: “They can follow, but I won’t save them, and I won’t save you either, understand?”

The two girls nodded together: “Understood, understood, understood!”

Shen Maomao thought Lou Jingmo was being tsundere again, while Shao Mei felt that following them was much better than blindly stumbling around on her own.

The four gathered together, with Yun Shengjin left out.

He glanced lightly at the group, slightly curling his lips, revealing a clearly mocking smile, and quickened his pace to walk to the front, following closely behind the priest.

To survive, relying on huddling together for warmth (抱團取暖, baotuan qunuan; idiom meaning ‘to stick together in times of adversity’) was of no use.

Kind people, for the most part, don’t live long.

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LP: Btw, do you like this [Chinese words, pinyin, and their meaning] thing I’ve been doing? Or should I remove that?

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