The Hand of Confession – Chapter 59

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

Death

The Clock Strikes Twelve

“What the f*ck kind of horror story is this?”

Shen Maomao couldn’t help taking a small step back, quickly looking down to check if her shadow was still there.

Fortunately, her old friend was still there, and so was Freckles’ shadow next to her.

She suppressed the urge to turn and run, watching wide-eyed as the guard walked step by step to her front, saying to her, “In such a big manor, there might be a back door. Should we split up to look?”

It seemed he hadn’t realized his shadow was gone, or… hadn’t realized that Shen Maomao had already noticed his shadow was gone?

Damn tongue twister (expression indicating something is complicated to say or explain).

Freckles, who was still focused on the main door, disagreed: “Don’t you know that in horror movies, the ones who split up are always the first to get killed?”

Shen Maomao was extremely tense.

“I’m just a weak woman, you make the decision, I’ll follow your lead,” she said while looking towards Freckles on her left, silently praying he’d be smart enough not to directly point out the guard’s shadow problem to prevent any incidents; or better yet, be dense enough not to notice it at all.

They say some ghosts don’t realize they’re ghosts until someone points it out, and only then do they start their killing spree.

“Bullsh*t! You, a weak woman?” Freckles turned around, facing the guard, and said, “Want to try forcing the door open together?… If that doesn’t work, we can think of something else.”

Shen Maomao had been observing him and naturally noticed his momentary stiffness when he turned around. She breathed a sigh of relief as they exchanged a knowing glance, reaching an unspoken understanding.

The guard accepted Freckles’ suggestion, and the three of them pressed against the main door, using their shoulders to ram it.

Three consecutive attempts, three loud crashes, but they couldn’t break it open.

Shen Maomao rubbed her aching shoulder and said, “It’s no use, let’s look around the first floor for an exit.”

Freckles added, “Try to stay away from the paintings, there’s something very wrong with them.”

Both nodded in agreement.

The manor was cone-shaped, with the bottom floor having the largest area. After making their decision, they needed to choose which area to explore first. The guard and Freckles had different opinions: Freckles thought they should go to the kitchen on the left, believing the kitchen must have a direct exit to the outside for servants to buy supplies and dispose of garbage; the guard thought the back of the manor might have a small door, and the possibility was higher than the kitchen.

Shen Maomao propped her chin up, her eyes fixed on a spot on the stairs, her mind wandering involuntarily.

The first night without Sister Lou, missing her, missing her, missing her…

How were the people outside the manor doing? Were they in danger? Would she ever live to see Lou Jingmo again?

The argument between the two beside her reached a fever pitch. Shen Maomao irritably rolled her eyes, not understanding what there was to argue about. Her gaze passed over the maid’s corpse, then she froze as if discovering something, quickly bringing her gaze back, forcing herself to stare at the corpse despite her fear.

The corpse… had it… moved forward… a bit compared to before???

A cold breeze seemed to pass by, making Shen Maomao shudder involuntarily.

Where she had jumped down was right at the edge of the carpet, with Freckles slightly behind her, almost crashing into her, while the guard and the maid were even further back.

But now the corpse was lying prone at the edge of the carpet!

“You two…” Shen Maomao was nearly scared enough to wet herself, she tremblingly stepped back twice and interrupted their argument, “Want to hear a ghost story?”

The guard paused, then lowered his head, his entire face covered in shadow, like a main villain waiting to be exposed before starting a killing spree; Freckles thought she was going to mention the shadow issue and frantically made eye signals at her, wishing he could just knock her out directly.

Shen Maomao pointed at the maid: “This sister… seems to have crawled forward several steps while we weren’t paying attention…”

The guard paused, raising his head again, his face full of confusion.

Freckles looked at the maid’s corpse, his face deathly pale: “Don’t f*cking worry about which way to go, it really moved!!!”

As they looked over, the corpse’s twisted limbs began to writhe, its head nuzzling the carpet twice, and the whole body inched forward several centimeters, getting closer to them.

Along with the movement, its already broken neck made two crisp “crack crack” sounds, then slowly raised up, the skin on its neck pushed into a bizarre shape by the bones.

“Run!” Shen Maomao shouted, turning to flee in panic without direction.

The other two suddenly snapped awake, quickly scattering in different directions, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Shen Maomao’s heart was racing, but she still remembered the issue with the paintings, trying her best to avoid running near places with hanging frames. The manor’s first floor was like a huge maze, and after running for a while, she lost her bearings and horrifyingly discovered—she was now alone.

But being alone had its advantages; having someone like the guard, whose situation was unclear, following her would be worse than moving alone.

In the flickering candlelight, Shen Maomao advanced cautiously, looking around for a way out. These empty picture frames were like time bombs, everyone could hear their countdown, but they just wouldn’t explode, keeping you on tenterhooks waiting, driving you crazy.

Shen Maomao was really afraid that the beautiful sisters would suddenly appear to “play” with her, as some people who “played” ended up disappearing, so she walked wherever there were fewer picture frames.

Finally, she reached a point where there were no more picture frames. At the end of the corridor was a wooden door, and with nowhere else to go, she could only push it open.

This should be the manor’s dining room.

A long table was placed in the center of the room, with at least twenty chairs around it. The table was covered with a pristine white tablecloth, and crystal candlesticks were placed at regular intervals. The cold moonlight shone in, making the candlelight appear particularly ethereal.

Besides the tablecloth and candlesticks, many exquisite dining utensils were laid out on the table. Each chair had ceramic plates and pure silver cutlery in front of it, with larger plates placed in the middle of the table, though there was no food on them.

At this moment, all these chopsticks, knives, forks, and spoons were floating in mid-air without exception, automatically and elegantly cutting through the air above the plates, as if invisible people were enjoying an invisible dinner.

Shen Maomao suddenly realized she might have come to the wrong place.

But it was too late.

Upon seeing her enter, those small knives that seemed to be cutting something began slicing the plates more forcefully, producing a piercing noise that made one’s head split. Besides the noise, some extremely small and muffled sounds came from somewhere unknown – sounds that were like crying and laughing, also like the most vicious curses, buzzing around her like flies.

“Left hand holds the knife, right hand holds the fork…”

“Cut the food, slice by slice…”

“Quick, hold it down! Don’t let it escape!”

“No leaving the table! No leaving the table!”

Shen Maomao covered her ears forcefully, but still couldn’t prevent the noise from entering her brain.

Why did all the monsters in these instances like to use sound to mentally contaminate players? Couldn’t they come up with something more original?

But old tricks work well – at least until they met her, Shen Maomao!

Shen Maomao took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and started howling at the top of her lungs, letting the ghost sisters experience what’s called “heavenly voice”.

The extremely unpleasant singing covered the noise, even slightly overwhelming it.

The piercing noise was forced to stop – an even greater noise forever existed in Shen Maomao’s throat!

Taking advantage of the ghost sisters being startled (perhaps?), Shen Maomao closed the door and ran. She ran like the wind, passing over the shadows of windows on the floor, and just as she was about to run out of this corridor, she suddenly found an extra face in her field of vision.

“Wō cào!!!” The breath caught in her throat, and only after a long moment did she scream and continuously back away.

That face belonged to the already mutated maid!

The maid’s head was facing upward, her body lying limply on the ground as if boneless, her limbs twisted and rotating at unnatural angles like four wheels, carrying her rapidly backward toward Shen Maomao.

“Waa QAQ!!!” Shen Maomao didn’t dare turn around, fearing she might jump on her back like a zombie and bite her neck, so she could only desperately back away, “Why are you all coming after me QAQ!!!”

How could she be so unlucky?! Out of three people, why did they target her?!

Behind her wasn’t necessarily any safer. As she backed away, the dining room door creaked open, and a cold breeze blew against her neck, like a gentle hand caressing her nape.

But this hand’s force grew stronger and stronger, choking her throat tightly, preventing her from breathing in even a wisp of fresh air.

“The food is escaping! The food is escaping!”

“Catch her! Catch her!”

“I caught her! I caught her first!”

Shen Maomao clawed at her neck, but sadly discovered she couldn’t touch those hands at all!

Another cold air covered her hands, preventing her from pulling them away, making it appear to others as if she was strangling herself.

“Help… me…” Shen Maomao’s face turned bright red, forced to kneel on the soft carpet, then falling helplessly, her legs kicking wildly in the air.

The maid naturally wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity. She pounced forward, right fist clenched, the bone protruding from her index finger randomly scratching at Shen Maomao’s stomach.

A metallic smell filled the air as the maid lowered her head to enjoy her dinner.

Shen Maomao could no longer feel the pain of her stomach being cut open; the suffocation left only a buzzing sound in her head, with all other senses failing. A tear rolled down from the corner of her eye, her eyes bulged, her face turned purple, her kicking legs lost strength, stopped struggling, and slowly ceased breathing.

In her final vision, she saw a pair of hurriedly fleeing feet, not knowing whose they were.

The dining room door made another long creaking sound, slowly closing before her corpse; the maid stretched her joints, stood up with blood covering her mouth, her entire skeleton reconstructing itself with crackling sounds.

The smell of blood spread from the dining room entrance, blood gathering into streams.

A moonbeam broke through the bay window, casting light on her face, illuminating her final expression of extreme terror.

The great clock above the castle struck twelve times, as it was now midnight.

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LP: Lmao, Maomao actually died again?!

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