The Hand of Confession – Chapter 54

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

Drawing Lots

Are you the new servants?

Shen Maomao: “If you say you won’t tremble, then wouldn’t I lose face?”

Golden Retriever raised both hands in agreement.

Lou Jingmo rolled her eyes, leaned against the stone pillar of the main gate, and stopped bothering with these two joyful idiots.

Golden Retriever winked at Shen Maomao and said excitedly, “Sister Rabbit, I bought a lot of props. You can come to me if you need any~”

Shen Maomao exclaimed in shock: “Holy crap, props can be traded too?!”

Golden Retriever nodded matter-of-factly.

Of course, if cards could be snatched, props could certainly be traded. But for these life-saving items, ordinary prices probably wouldn’t be enough to acquire them.

So—

“May I ask, how much do they cost?” Shen Maomao asked timidly.

Golden Retriever mentioned a number she couldn’t even imagine.

Shen Maomao knelt before the rich guy: “Golden bro, you’re awesome!” Being wealthy truly meant you could do whatever you wanted.

“No—I’m really not called Golden Retriever…” But before he could finish his sentence, another carriage stopped in front of the manor.

The man in the carriage tumbled out, and as soon as he looked up, he found all twelve people at the manor staring at him, as if looking at some rare species.

Faced with such an eerie scene, he’d rather go back to the carriage. He couldn’t help but take a small step back, then mustered up the courage to ask: “Who exactly are you people?”

The coachman didn’t give him a chance to rely on him. Like the coachmen before, after delivering the person to the destination, he lightly cracked his whip and left, quickly disappearing from sight.

No one took the initiative to chat with the newcomer, nor did anyone step out to take charge. It was at this moment that Shen Maomao suddenly realized something—Yun Shengjin seemed to be quite useful after all.

Shen Maomao used her eyes to inquire Lou Jingmo.

Without even thinking, Lou Jingmo knew what she was up to. She said indifferently: “You don’t need to notify me about what you want to do.”

“Hey, you two newcomers over there!” So Shen Maomao waved her hand to call the first woman and the last man who arrived to come forward. She said to them, “You’re now in a horror game world. There are ghosts and monsters in the game. If you’re killed by ghosts or monsters, you’ll be finished in the real world too. Don’t ask unnecessary questions, just follow the plot and that’s it. If you don’t believe me, suit yourself.”

As soon as she finished speaking, without giving the two newcomers time to process, a man wearing a tailcoat and a white bow tie appeared out of thin air behind the iron gate of the manor.

“What the hell?!”

“Shit?!”

The two newcomers were startled. The man trembled, while the woman cursed and then frowned, clearly realizing that things weren’t as simple as she had imagined.

Shen Maomao made a “Shh—” gesture to them.

The man in the tailcoat opened the manor’s gate and said to everyone in a haughty manner: “Which two of you are the new tutors?”

The players fell silent, everyone looking at each other, with no one voluntarily stepping forward.

The tailcoat man impatiently repeated: “Who exactly are the new tutors?”

At the same time, an enormous pressure pressed down on all the players, as if the tutors would be bloodily slaughtered if they didn’t step forward voluntarily. A drop of cold sweat slid down Shen Maomao’s forehead. She turned her head with difficulty to look at Lou Jingmo, who slightly shook her head at her.

She immediately put her heart at ease and stood firmly in place, rooted to the spot.

A man among the players whose clothes were slightly more luxurious stepped forward: “I think it should be me.”

The tailcoat man looked around: “And the other one?”

Shen Maomao suspected that the other tutor was the new female player, because only her clothes were as exquisite as the man’s. But she wasn’t quite sure, afraid that her hint might actually harm the person, so she didn’t dare to act rashly.

The woman helplessly looked around at the surrounding people, only to find that no one could tell her what she should do. The male newcomer trembled, hugging his shoulders, eyes tightly closed, not daring to make a sound.

Seeing that the tailcoat man was becoming increasingly impatient, and the pressure on the players was getting heavier, the woman stepped forward trembling: “Is… is it me?”

The pressure that had almost flattened everyone disappeared in an instant.

It seems she said the right thing.

Shen Maomao breathed a sigh of relief, weakly hanging onto Lou Jingmo, whimpering softly, not daring to speak.

The tailcoat man’s expression softened slightly, and he said to the two tutors: “Esteemed guests, someone will lead you to your accommodations. Please follow them.”

As soon as he finished speaking, two young women wearing maid outfits appeared out of thin air. The maids bowed to the two people and extended their hands to guide them: “This way, please, honored guests.”

The man followed one of the maids, not caring about the other players behind him; the woman, having experienced one futile attempt at seeking help, no longer expected other players to assist her, and walked directly behind the man. Soon, the figures of the four disappeared behind the small garden.

After the two esteemed guests were sent away, the tailcoat man resumed his nose-in-the-air mode, raising his chin to say to the remaining players: “The manor has limited job openings. We still need four maids, four guards, one cook, one gardener, and one coachman. I’m very busy and don’t have time to investigate what each of you can do. You sort out among yourselves who does what job. Someone else will come to take you to your accommodations later. Wait here for a while.” With that, he turned and left.

That attitude, what a world of difference.

Shen Maomao pouted in the direction he left, imitating him with flair: “I’m very busy~ Extremely busy~”

Lou Jingmo curled the corner of her mouth, briefly commenting on her behavior: “Courting death.”

Golden Retriever also chimed in: “Sister Rabbit, you’re truly the number one on the path of courting death. I must learn more from you.”

She might not dare to provoke Lou Jingmo, but this little brat Golden Retriever? Shen Maomao gave Golden Retriever’s shoulder a shove: “If you can’t talk properly, then just shut up!”

This successfully reminded Golden Retriever of the fear of being repeatedly mocked by Shen Maomao in the first world. He quickly lowered his head and apologized, and only then did Shen Maomao spare his poor shoulder.

Compared to the others, the atmosphere within the small group of three was much lighter, and this difference also caught the attention of others. The group of players, mismatched in appearance and even more so in spirit, were all watching them. Some looked thoughtful, some had their eyes darting around, everyone had their own plans, and when their gazes met, there seemed to be a tacit understanding.

The players this time seemed to remember the rule of “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” and no one was willing to be the one to stick out. No one wanted to take the initiative to break the barriers. During the time waiting for the person the tailcoat man mentioned, the players were in a state of zero communication.

After an unknown amount of time in this silent and awkward atmosphere, a young man wearing overalls walked up to them and asked: “Are you the new servants? Follow me, I’m under orders from Butler Leisen to take you to your lodgings. The reason for the delay was to prepare the clothes you’ll need next.”

Hearing him say this, everyone understood: what kind of clothes you wear determines what kind of work you do. Although they weren’t sure which job would be the safest, maids and guards needed the most people, so the chance of being sacrificed was reduced to just a quarter, much safer than other jobs.

So everyone wanted to get such jobs, and they all quickened their pace without hesitation.

—But no one dared to urge the NPC to walk faster.

Lou Jingmo looked unhurried, leading Shen Maomao and little Golden Retriever, also steady as a rock.

Looking at their figures walking in front, Shen Maomao wanted to ask Lou Jingmo if she wasn’t in a hurry, but Golden Retriever beat her to it—

“Sister Xiaolou, aren’t we going to compete for jobs?”

Lou Jingmo replied: “What’s the rush? We’ll definitely have to draw lots in the end.” In a situation where everyone wants a good job and no one submits to anyone else, drawing lots is the fairest way.

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The players’ lodgings were very simple, not in the grand and luxurious manor castle, but rather in a secluded corner by the garden. The NPC led them to one of the rooms, telling them that each room could accommodate a maximum of four people, then left the clothes representing the jobs and subsequently departed.

The players looked at each other, all wanting to grab the blue coats of the guards and the black and white dresses of the maids. Besides Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo, there were three other women, each taking a maid outfit, with the remaining set left unclaimed for now.

The trio of Shen Maomao didn’t step forward, standing quietly outside the crowd, watching them compete.

Golden Retriever weakly asked: “Should I go and try to grab one too?”

Lou Jingmo nodded: “Go ahead.”

Golden Retriever directly joined the fray.

As luck would have it, just as he joined, the new male player was about to be overwhelmed by the other four men ganging up on him. With his arrival, the plastic alliance immediately shattered, and six men tore and pulled at each other for four sets of clothes, the scene becoming quite chaotic for a while.

Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control, Lou Jingmo suddenly said: “The clothes are about to be damaged.”

Though her voice wasn’t loud, it was like a thunderbolt, shocking the six men to immediately stop fighting and stand still in unison.

One of the men voluntarily let go of a corner of the guard uniform and said: “There’s no point in fighting like this, let’s draw lots.”

The three women who didn’t need to compete were unwilling. One of them objected: “But we don’t need to compete…”

Shen Maomao rolled up her sleeves, interrupting her: “What? Aren’t the two of us women too?”

The woman’s eyes darted, and she said again: “But what if a man draws a maid outfit, or a woman draws a guard uniform?”

The man who spoke first added: “Then we can exchange if both parties agree. Is that okay now?”

There didn’t seem to be any problem with that, but there were three jobs that didn’t have a clear gender preference. If both a man and a woman drew clothes that didn’t match their gender, it would be easy to exchange, because no one wanted to be the special target. But if only one person drew something that didn’t match their gender… that would be quite amusing.

There was a small table in the room, and in the drawer of the table were a bottle of ink, a quill pen, and a notebook with rough paper, as if prepared in advance for them to draw lots.

The man asked those who had gotten clothes to arrange them in order on the bed, while he tried his best to tear a sheet of paper into twelve equal parts.

By the time Golden Retriever finished arranging the clothes with them, the man had dipped the quill in ink and scrawled eleven Arabic numerals on the papers. Then he crumpled each piece of paper into a ball of roughly the same size and shook them in his palm.

For the sake of fairness, he let the other players come up one by one to draw lots, leaving the last one for himself. No one argued about the order, conscientiously lining up and taking the slips of paper from the man’s hand in turn, holding their breath as they opened them…

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The author has something to say:

As these double updates are coming to an end, I hope the not-so-vast readership can cherish and be kind to the author. Put down your knives.

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