The Hand of Confession – Chapter 47

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

Monkey Cave

Singing at the Top of One’s Lungs

A cool raindrop fell on Shen Maomao’s arm. She wiped it off with her hand, feeling a sticky sensation but no smell of blood. Sparse raindrops penetrated the lush leaves and fell to the ground, failing to extinguish any of the torches.

Everything seemed to align with last night’s dream.

Remembering her role, Shen Maomao raised her camera and took a photo of the jungle.

With a “click,” the camera faithfully captured the most authentic appearance of this place—the trees were full of black shadows with red eyes, their mouths wide open, revealing crimson teeth…

This wasn’t rainwater, but the saliva of these creatures!

Feeling a bit nauseous, Shen Maomao switched her DSLR to video mode and tried to avoid the areas where these things were concentrated as she walked.

The remaining three people perceptively followed behind her.

The team kept moving forward. Shen Maomao tried to remember the route but completely lost her sense of direction after the priest led them through various twists and turns.

After walking for an unknown distance, they finally saw the legendary Monkey Cave—an entrance identical to the one in her dream, with a faint white light emanating from inside, attracting everyone’s attention.

The priest bowed respectfully at the entrance and said something like, “Monkey God, these are all your followers. Please bless them with the fulfillment of their wishes and bless their families with wealth and peace.” Then he said to all those wearing flowery clothes, “You need to stay in the Monkey Cave for one night. I’ll come to pick you up early tomorrow morning. The mountain is foggy, and without me, you’ll easily get lost. So, don’t leave early under any circumstances; it will only harm yourselves.”

Shen Maomao, who was still expecting him to display some magical powers, said, “Wait… is the ceremony over already??”

As soon as she finished speaking, the priest glanced at her but averted his gaze when Shen Maomao looked back. If it weren’t for his exaggerated head-turning movement, she would have thought it was her imagination.

The people in front gratefully entered the cave, with Yun Shengjin following the crowd without looking back.

Shen Maomao hesitated, unsure whether to go in or not.

Lou Jingmo pushed her from behind, saying, “Let’s go, be careful.”

The entrance to the Monkey Cave was large enough for two people to walk in side by side.

Shen Maomao held Lou Jingmo’s hand, refusing to let go: “Goddess! Let’s go together! Friends walk together for life~”

Lou Jingmo and Ye Tingnan covered their ears, while Shao Mei said impatiently, “We’re on the same side! Don’t start singing!!!”

Shen Maomao puffed up her cheeks like an angry little frog, glaring at her fiercely.

Wolves ahead, and the priest watching like a tiger behind. They had to enter this cave whether they wanted to or not.

Shao Mei imitated Shen Maomao’s action and grabbed Ye Tingnan tightly. The four of them entered the cave in two pairs.

The torches cast their shadows on the stone walls. A few indistinct small insects flashed by, and beyond the reach of the firelight was complete darkness.

A cobweb burned by the flame came straight at her face. Shen Maomao raised her other arm to shield her face and suddenly noticed something amiss.

—Since entering this deep and long cave, she hadn’t heard the footsteps of those who had gone in ahead of them.

At first, she thought they had fallen behind, and the people in front had gone far ahead… but if someone had passed by earlier, how could the cobweb be intact here?

She turned her head, wanting to share her discovery with Lou Jingmo, but at that instant, the torch in her hand went out, reducing visibility to zero.

“Holy crap!” (“握草!” – a homophone for a common Chinese expletive)

Although the moment was brief, she had already clearly seen what was behind her.

Behind her was a monkey…

A monkey with red eyes, about her height, baring its teeth and grinning at her!

Shen Maomao was nearly scared to death. She cursed loudly and started running deeper into the cave.

—She wanted to run out, but the exit was completely blocked.

Her footsteps echoed in the empty cave, along with the eerie giggling and chattering sounds of that thing behind her.

“Oh my god! (“敲裏嗎啊!” – a playful rendition of “Oh my God” in Chinese) Stop chasing me, wuwuwuwu! Why do I always end up in chase scenes? Wuwuwuwu, go away!!” she cried out while running.

Humans can run faster than monkeys, but Shen Maomao was in a half-blind state, and the monkey behind her was so large… She could feel it getting closer and closer…

Suddenly, she felt a chill on the back of her neck. Almost reflexively, she dove forward. The cold fingertips grazed her neck, causing a sharp pain.

Having dodged this attack, she also fell to the ground, making intimate contact with the soil.

Ignoring the pain, she quickly turned around and found herself staring into its glowing red eyes in the darkness.

Those eyes were full of violence and anger, rapidly approaching her.

She gripped one end of the wooden stick and thrust it forward, jabbing it into something soft.

The monkey let out a sharp cry, its long arm grabbing her arm, its nails digging deep into her flesh.

“Holy crap, it hurts!!!” She let go of the stick in pain, and it fell to the ground with a clang.

What’s the difference between losing a weapon and being a salted fish? (Chinese idiom meaning “useless”) Shen Maomao turned and ran without a second thought.

As they went deeper into the cave, she clearly noticed that the temperature inside was much lower than outside. And this cave… or rather, tunnel, was frighteningly long. She began to doubt whether she could ever run out of it.

The creature behind her followed like a shadow. The girl’s stamina was ultimately limited, and she was almost out of breath.

She leaned against the cave wall and looked back to check the monkey’s position. In the darkness, a pair of crimson eyes approached rapidly, reaching her in the blink of an eye.

Shen Maomao kicked out: “I’ll fight you to the death!!”

Human and monkey grappled together. Shen Maomao used all her strength to dislocate its joints, while the monkey clawed at her, leaving gashes all over her body.

The scent of blood spread through the cave…

In the end, humans proved superior to monkeys.

Covered in wounds, Shen Maomao pinned the hairy monkey to the ground. She had dislocated every joint she could reach. Now, this monkey that had nearly scared her witless was as limp as a rag, unable to move anything except its eyes—even if it could move, she wouldn’t be able to see it.

She kicked the monkey: “Trying to scare me? Come on, keep scaring me!”

The monkey didn’t make a sound, its eyes fixed on her, unblinking.

Shen Maomao felt creeped out by its stare and timidly took two steps back: “Why are you looking at me like that? You’ve scratched me all over, I just dislocated your joints, it’s not like they can’t be put back…”

As she was backing up, her steps faltered.

—Her back had bumped into something soft!!

She nearly choked on her breath, her arm trembling as she slowly turned her head, successfully making eye contact with another pair of bright red eyes.

So the first one wasn’t looking at her, but at this newcomer behind her…

Shen Maomao really wanted to roll her eyes and faint on the spot, but her survival instinct suppressed this urge. She tentatively took a small step back. The new big brother didn’t make a move towards her, which made her feel a bit more at ease, emboldening her to take another step back.

Another soft sensation. She turned her head and saw another pair of eyes.

Equally red, equally motionless.

After the third pair appeared, a fourth, fifth, and sixth pair quickly followed…

Blood-red eyes densely covered the entire cave wall, like lamps lighting up in sequence, exposing themselves to her one by one. All the eyes stared at her unblinkingly, from the cave walls, from above, from beneath her feet…

Shen Maomao let out a scream and crouched on the ground, hugging her head.

This was too mentally polluting…

Both terrifying and nauseating, it had exceeded her tolerance threshold. Even with her eyes closed, those images still lingered in her mind, refusing to dissipate.

Single-layer pollution is simple to deal with—just close your eyes and try not to think about it. So the monkeys quickly initiated the second layer of pollution—they started screaming. The sounds they made weren’t the usual “chi-chi” monkey noises, but more like the crackling of electricity or TV static…

Compared to visual pollution, Shen Maomao feared auditory pollution the least.

Because—when it comes to pollution, who could match her beautiful singing voice?

She didn’t open her eyes but carefully stood up and started singing at the top of her lungs, praising the goodness of socialism, the beauty of the motherland, and the happiness of life… She sang 《Good Luck is Coming》, 《Happy Days》…

This tactic of killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred allies was very effective. The monkeys realized that when it came to sound, a whole group of them couldn’t match Shen Maomao, so they stopped their chaotic screaming.

Apart from the mental pollution, these later monkeys didn’t attack her, so she grew a bit bolder. She walked forward with her eyes closed, singing, her voice echoing far… far away…

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Shen Maomao felt like a lonely blind traveler.

She couldn’t see the road ahead or the direction, only able to move forward aimlessly, humming unrecognizable (completely off-key) songs, walking in the endless darkness.

A series of hurried footsteps sounded from afar, getting closer and closer… Along with these footsteps, the back of her neck felt slightly hot, causing her some discomfort.

Not knowing what was coming, Shen Maomao could only muster up the courage to open her eyes and look ahead.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she found that her surroundings had changed.

No red eyes, no tall monkeys.

Just an ordinary cave, about ten meters from the exit, with a round hole at the top leading outside. Moonlight slanted down, allowing her to see her surroundings clearly.

A group of people were sitting or lying in the cave, each with their eyes tightly shut and expressions of pain on their faces. Among them, she saw Yun Shengjin, Ye Tingnan, and Shao Mei.

Lou Jingmo, not wearing flowery clothes, stood beside her: “Awake?”

Shen Maomao got up, looking confused: “What’s going on?”

Lou Jingmo said, “It was an illusion. You had to wake up on your own.”

Shen Maomao: “How can I believe what you’re saying?”

Lou Jingmo glanced at her: “Why should I care?”

It’s true!

Shen Maomao’s eyes welled up with tears: “The illusion was so scary! I was wondering why my voice hadn’t gone hoarse after singing for so long!”

Lou Jingmo’s expression soured for a moment: “No, that’s just your natural talent.”

She had been exploring deep in the cave when she suddenly heard an incredibly awful singing voice. Thinking Shen Maomao might be in danger, she had rushed back…

Fortunately, Shen Maomao was already awake. Otherwise, she would have had to endure a close-range sonic attack. The mere thought of it made her want to silence Shen Maomao permanently.

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The author has something to say:

In the previous chapter, I only wanted to subtly express that Sister Lou isn’t straight. How did you all interpret it as her developing feelings for Shen Maomao that transcend revolutionary friendship? Is it because I wrote too little about their relationship? Slowly raising a question mark??

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