The Hand of Confession – Chapter 60

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

Communication

Contract takes effect

Shen Maomao had a “holy sh*t” stuck in her throat, unsure whether to say it or not.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on dewy grass, with someone crouching beside her.

She sat up abruptly, breathing heavily in large gulps until her whole body was shaking. The rush of fresh air into her lungs triggered a heart-wrenching cough.

“It’s alright now.” Lou Jingmo’s hand gently patted her back, helping her calm down.

For the first time, Shen Maomao felt that the air’s taste was damn sweet!

She turned and threw herself at Lou Jingmo’s shoulder, wailing loudly: “Wuu wuu wuu I was so scared… Sister Lou I died wuu wuu wuu…”

Lou Jingmo covered her mouth with one hand: “Save the crying for when we get back.”

Shen Maomao blinked, hiccupped from crying, and only then realized she was sitting on the lawn in front of the manor, with that life-threatening haunted place right behind her.

She quickly covered her mouth, not daring to cry anymore.

Lou Jingmo stood up, helping her up as well, and whispered: “Let’s go, the courtyard isn’t safe either.”

A lonely full moon hung in the night sky, with gray haze above them, and a fish-belly white (“魚白” – refers to the pale white color of dawn) appeared behind the distant mountains, heralding the approaching morning.

Large patches of roses peeked out from the garden fence, swaying without wind in the gauze-like moonlight, as if observing these two uninvited guests.

Shen Maomao was “hearing the wind and crane’s call, seeing soldiers in every bush” (“風聲鶴唳，草木皆兵” – an idiom meaning extremely nervous and seeing threats everywhere), scared to the point her legs went weak. She timidly tugged at Lou Jingmo’s hand and asked softly: “My… my legs are weak, could you help support me?”

Without a word, Lou Jingmo came over, draped Shen Maomao’s arm over her shoulder, and dragged her forward. They supported each other back to their room.

Golden Retriever and He Yongchang were still awake, and upon seeing them return, Golden Retriever quickly came to greet them: “Sister Rabbit, are you okay?!” He Yongchang’s face was also full of concern.

Shen Maomao lowered her head and wiped her face, not wanting Golden Retriever to see that she had been crying, then answered with a smile: “What could happen to me? Can’t you see I came out without a scratch?”

Lou Jingmo didn’t expose her lie, and naturally removed her arm to let her sit on the bed.

Golden Retriever said: “Sister Rabbit, you don’t know how worried Sister Lou was about you! After dark when you hadn’t returned, she went straight out to look for you! Searched for half the night!”

Shen Maomao proudly raised her chin: “Of course, just look at what kind of relationship we have!” So trying to shake my position as her number one loyal follower is absolutely impossible!

Lou Jingmo poured her a glass of cold water and asked: “Where did you go?”

Shen Maomao took the tin teacup and said puzzledly: “I was in the manor the whole time, couldn’t get out. With me were the man with freckles on his face and another slightly chubby man. I don’t know where the others were.” Because Golden Retriever and He Yongchang were in the room, she omitted the part about the contract taking effect and told everything else that happened in the manor.

After hearing this, He Yongchang’s face turned one shade whiter: “This… this is too terrifying…” He was relatively lucky, as the manor’s chef only kept him until dinner was over, then let him leave.

Thinking of this, he said somewhat guiltily: “It’s all my…”

Shen Maomao said nonchalantly: “It’s fine, maybe the chef has some other pit waiting for you.” (“坑” – meaning trap or difficult situation) After all, dying sooner or later, death is death.

He Yongchang’s expression slightly stiffened.

“You must have entered the inner world,” Lou Jingmo said with certainty, “When I went there, the manor was brightly lit with many guards, looking completely normal.”

But perhaps that was the biggest abnormality.

She had carefully searched the manor but didn’t find any players, including Shen Maomao, so she went to search outside. She searched everywhere, inside and out, until midnight, when she suddenly felt a burning sensation on her nape, and then Shen Maomao appeared out of thin air at her feet, eyes tightly closed, seemingly between life and death.

Shen Maomao was deeply moved: “Sister Lou, you’re the best!”

“Don’t get sentimental.” The cold-hearted Lou Jingmo replied, “Go to sleep when you should, we don’t have much rest time left. We’ll check on others tomorrow morning. This instance seems particularly dangerous.”

Shen Maomao deeply resonated with this.

The three lay down on their beds, Lou Jingmo blew out the candle on the table, and the room fell into darkness. Shen Maomao changed clothes under her blanket, then kicked it off, closed her eyes, and fell into deep sleep.

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After being frightened for half the night, Shen Maomao slept exceptionally well in the latter half.

The next morning, she was awakened by Golden Retriever’s loud voice and frustratedly messed up her hair.

Life in the game wasn’t meant for humans. That bastard who wanted to harm Ren Yue and her should drop dead as soon as he steps out.

No, instant death would be too easy for him. They should find a way to get him into the game and let the ghosts torture him to death!!

The two men changed into their work clothes and left the room, giving the women space.

Shen Maomao’s stomach growled continuously. She quickly changed her clothes and asked Lou Jingmo: “Sister Lou, where did you eat yesterday?”

Lou Jingmo said: “The servants have their own dining hall, not in the manor. Everyone except the chef eats there.”

He Yongchang chose to help with cooking, so he could stay in the manor and eat the food that the masters didn’t want or left over.

After getting dressed and going out, sure enough, only Golden Retriever was left outside. Seeing the two come out, he urged: “Sisters, please hurry, I need to go pick roses and cut grass soon.”

Shen Maomao said: “If you’re in a hurry, you can go first, no need to wait for us.”

Golden Retriever replied righteously: “I don’t dare!”

Shen Maomao: “…” Well, that’s very realistic.

Under his urging, the three quickly reached the dining hall. It was still early, so the hall was nearly empty, but breakfast was ready.

Four people were lined up at the front for breakfast, and upon closer look, they realized they were all players.

The three lined up behind them, and Shen Maomao looked around, counting heads.

Worth mentioning—Freckles had actually survived. He was sitting at a table nearby, and the people who got their food ahead also gradually sat at that table.

Except for their three, the two tutors, He Yongchang who went to prepare the masters’ breakfast, and the two servants who died last night, all the players were present.

Several NPCs stood behind them to get food, the line moved slowly forward, and finally, it was Shen Maomao’s turn.

The servants’ breakfast was a large piece of black, hard bread and a small bowl of clear, watery hot sweet soup.

This was Shen Maomao’s first time seeing such bread. She held the sweet soup in one hand and the bread in the other, feeling like she was holding a brick.

Lou Jingmo also carried her hot sweet soup, leading her to the players’ table, with Golden Retriever hurrying after them.

No player refused to share their table, though Freckles widened his eyes slightly in surprise when he saw Shen Maomao: “You’re not dead?”

Shen Maomao plopped down on the wooden stool: “Why would I be dead?”

Freckles smiled: “Seems you have quite a few trump cards.”

Shen Maomao thought “you’re talking nonsense” (“放屁” – literally “farting”), her only trump card was already used up, but she showed no weakness and instead gave him a smile: “Same goes for you.”

After this brief exchange, everyone ate in silence.

Shen Maomao tapped the black bread on the table – the rock-hard bread remained undamaged, not even showing a dent. She used all her strength but couldn’t break the bread apart, which worried her somewhat.

Would her teeth survive if she tried to bite this thing?

She looked up to see how others were eating and discovered they were all dipping one end of the bread directly into the hot soup, waiting for it to soften before swallowing it whole. She had a sudden revelation and followed suit.

After experiencing one world, Golden Retriever had evolved from “how can this even be edible?” to “just shove it in with eyes closed.” He couldn’t taste anything as he quickly wolfed down the softened bread, finally letting out a long sigh and remarked: “I’ve never eaten anything this bad in my life, these survival conditions are even worse than the last instance.”

Shen Maomao also tried a bite of the wet bread, her expression immediately becoming rather indescribable.

However, not eating meant going hungry, and being hungry meant not being able to run when encountering ghosts, so even though everyone was very dissatisfied, no one threw down their bowls in protest.

Freckles arrived earliest and finished eating first. He downed his sweet soup in one gulp, casually wiped his mouth, and said: “Let me first share my experience from last night, we can exchange information to avoid meaningless casualties. Yesterday, this girl and I…”

Shen Maomao said: “I’m called Rabbit.”

“Fine, Rabbit and I were taken to the third floor of the manor, to the Fourth Miss Chris’s room, then we…”

He described everything in great detail, and as Shen Maomao ate and listened, she didn’t detect any exaggerations or concealed information.

“After we separated, I followed my instincts to the kitchen. There was an invisible person chopping something there, and he attacked me with a cleaver.” He glossed over the middle details, “There was a door to the outside in the kitchen, and after I left the manor, that transparent person didn’t chase after me… That’s about it. As for how I escaped, everyone has their secrets, and you wouldn’t want to expose your trump cards either, right?”

Since he put it that way, nobody pressed further, though everyone’s expressions varied, all looking serious.

Sitting next to him was the maid with the tear mole, who put down her bowl after he finished and said: “I’m called Dewdrop, and I was paired with Dongfang.”

A guard continued: “I’m Dongfang.”

Dewdrop said: “We followed Third Miss Anna. She was very nice and lively, didn’t force us to stay overnight in the manor. We played hide-and-seek with her in the garden all afternoon, and met the stableman and gardener. At dinner time, she worried we wouldn’t find the dining hall, so she specially sent someone to guide us here. At night, I was alone in the room, the other two girls didn’t come back.”

Guard Dongfang nodded: “I was also alone when I returned, only saw him come back in the late night.” He was referring to Freckles.

“Compared to you all, our experience was very ordinary.”

Shen Maomao shed “lemon essence tears” (“檸檬精的淚水” – a modern internet slang meaning tears of jealousy, referring to being sour/jealous like a lemon).

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The author has something to say:

Like thunder from clear skies, Shen Maomao makes her dazzling appearance!

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