The Hand of Confession – Chapter 68

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

God

Does your God make mistakes?

“Execute them!”

“I second that!”

“Execute them!”

“I second that!”

The ignorant masses have always been the easiest group to incite. Under the leadership of the men, these people waved their weapons while shouting these two phrases. The flames reflected in their eyes, red and yellow intertwining, made them look even more like demons than those who had already been burned beyond recognition on the pyre.

The Cardinal (literally ‘red-robed bishop’) furrowed his brows and said disapprovingly: “They don’t have the appearance of demons, they are not demons—ah!”

Demons ran rampant, yet the Church could not produce any substantial countermeasures. More and more people were turning into demons, and no matter how much people prayed to God, the situation remained unchanged. People’s faith grew increasingly thin, and the once-respected Cardinal was pushed aside, unable to get up for a long while. The commoners inched closer, with bloodlust gleaming in the eyes of their leader.

Lou Jingmo  also smiled softly, and she nudged Shen Maomao: “Go help that Cardinal up.”

Shen Maomao had never been afraid of people—even though there seemed to be quite a crowd opposite them. Hearing Lou Jingmo’s words, she didn’t ask why, but directly jumped down to help the Cardinal to his feet.

His Eminence (respectful title for the Cardinal) panted heavily, his snow-white beard trembling continuously: “You’ve all gone mad! Already mad! Great God, please save these foolish souls!”

As he spoke, he insisted on praying right there, stubbornly refusing to move from his spot.

Shen Maomao: “Enough, stop praying here! Quickly get in the carriage, this is a plague, the God of Light and his elderly self can’t handle this.”

His Eminence was dumbfounded, as she half-pushed half-nudged him into the carriage, his finger pointing at Shen Maomao trembled non-stop.

Shen Maomao swiftly climbed up (a Chinese idiom meaning to do something quickly and efficiently), and delivered the supplementary knife stroke (meaning to add a finishing statement): “Stop trembling, there’s no such thing as gods, the plague is a disease, caused by your lack of hygiene.”

The Cardinal’s worldview was shaken, and his mouth gaped open for a long while without making a sound.

While Shen Maomao was rescuing people, Lou Jingmo grabbed the reins of Horse Golden Retriever, parted her vermillion lips, and began to sing—

“Ring around the roses,

A pocket full of posies,

Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down.”

The song was identical to what those five shadows had sung, and even more melodious than their version.

Horse Golden Retriever turned its head to look at her, anxiously pawing at the ground with its hooves, not understanding why she suddenly sang this song; but Shen Maomao’s sharp eyes caught sight of the shadows on the ground gradually solidifying with her song.

The commoners also witnessed this highly unscientific scene, and the man at the front retreated two steps, fear slowly crawling up his face: “This… this is…” The Cardinal was frightened out of his wits, and lowered his head to recite the Bible.

The man seemed to have some thoughts, a calculating light flashing in his eyes: “Look! They truly are demons! Everyone, quickly catch them! We can’t let them summon devils from hell!”

A huge crowd roared and charged forward, but he himself quietly retreated into the crowd, not daring to advance.

The five summoned shadows had solidified halfway when Lou Jingmo’s song stopped, and they began singing on their own.

“Go!” Lou Jingmo whipped the reins, and Horse Golden Retriever lifted its legs and charged towards a gap where there were fewer people.

The Cardinal almost fell off from the momentum, but Shen Maomao grabbed his arm firmly and shouted: “Hold tight!”

Horse Golden Retriever knocked down a weapon-wielding human, creating a gap in the human wall. As others nearby tried to grab the carriage, Lou Jingmo and Shen Maomao targeted each reaching hand with precision, smacking them down like whack-a-mole, knocking down everyone who dared to pop up.

Several screams of agony rang out, accompanied by the increasingly clear song.

The horse hooves went “da da”, carrying them through the crowd and onto a wider street.

Houses gradually increased on both sides, yet everything remained pitch black. No one turned on their lights, but many pairs of eyes lurked behind windows, silently observing everything on the street from behind curtains.

The plague had begun to spread, and everyone feared for their lives. The streets were empty except for those who used the name of demons to eliminate others for their own desires. The once-prosperous city had become desolate, even emanating an aura of death.

After traveling a short distance, several muffled screams could faintly be heard from behind.

Shen Maomao couldn’t help but look back, when she heard Lou Jingmo speak beside her in a cool tone: “Feeling sympathetic?”

“No, no.” Shen someone shook her head frantically: “I’m not, I didn’t, I’m just wondering what this instance is trying to express.”

The Cardinal automatically ignored all talk related to the instance, continuing to chant the Scripture of Light on his own, pleading for divine mercy.

After escaping danger, Horse Golden Retriever gradually slowed its pace, moving forward steadily.

Lou Jingmo pondered for a moment and said: “I guess this game has one main storyline and several side quests.” The main storyline is about the plague, and one of the side quests probably involves the Baron and his daughters.

Shen Maomao began to recall the plot developments. Though only one day had passed in the game, they had triggered countless story events—nobody would believe it if someone said this instance wasn’t difficult.

After a while, when the Cardinal finished reciting his scripture, he opened his clouded eyes and said: “The God of Light will bless all living beings, all sins can be cleansed in the raging fire, including yours and mine.”

Lou Jingmo furrowed her brows: “What do you mean?”

The Cardinal’s face still bore dirt marks from his earlier fall, making his current serious expression somewhat comical. Neither happy nor sad, he lifted his head toward the sky, showing none of his previous world-shattering despair: “This is God’s punishment upon us, which is why we cannot resist, but it is all for our benefit.”

He babbled on and on, spouting nothing but chicken soup for the soul (Chinese term for motivational platitudes) like “Heaven bestows great responsibility upon a person by first testing their resolve and starving their body” (a famous quote from Mencius, similar to ‘God tests those he loves’). Shen Maomao couldn’t help but clean her ear with her pinky finger, wanting to throw him off the carriage.

Fortunately, he seemed to realize he had irritated the two girls, sighed, and closed his mouth, stopping his preaching. It wasn’t until they passed a brightly lit church that he spoke again: “Thank you for your help, you can leave me here, God will bless you…”

Horse Golden Retriever stopped automatically, and the old Cardinal shakily got down from the carriage, walking unsteadily toward the church.

Lou Jingmo watched his retreating figure and suddenly called out loudly: “Does your God make mistakes?”

The Cardinal’s body stiffened for a moment, but he didn’t answer her question, stumbling away.

The carriage continued moving forward.

Shen Maomao asked her: “Sister Lou, what did you notice? Why did you suddenly ask that?”

Lou Jingmo said: “I feel that what he just said wasn’t describing the plague.”

Shen Maomao wasn’t a fool, quite the contrary, her intelligence was fully online (modern Chinese internet slang meaning mentally sharp). With Lou Jingmo’s hint, she almost immediately realized—rather than talking about the plague, the Cardinal seemed to be talking about the game itself.

The game’s creator self-proclaimed to be God, believing they could judge others’ sins and grant subjective forgiveness…

Setting aside the legitimacy of such behavior, just by looking at their method of selecting players based on personal preference, it was clear that this “God” wasn’t completely fair and just.

Does someone who cannot maintain fairness and mixes in their personal agenda deserve to be called God?

Lou Jingmo had always sneered at the game creator, and correspondingly, she sneered at what the Cardinal said.

If this game was truly so omnipotent, how did she end up being forced to play it? As she had asked, does God make mistakes? The old Cardinal hadn’t given her a precise answer, presumably because he himself couldn’t be certain of this point.

Shen Maomao muttered: “In that case… is that old Cardinal a brain-dead fan of the game creator?”

Lou Jingmo nodded: “And there must be a hidden quest here, and the reward for the hidden quest is very likely to be a card.”

Shen Maomao’s eyes lit up, almost immediately thinking of the “heavenly fire” the old priest mentioned, and excitedly said: “Could it be Yun Shengjin’s card?!”

“I’m not certain.” But the probability was high.

The game creator had placed twelve cards in everyone’s item pool (gaming term for inventory of available items), numbered from 1 to 12. The first card, Simon Peter, was the easiest to obtain, followed by Andrew who controlled the heavenly fire…

The difficulty of obtaining cards increased progressively, from easiest to hardest. The twelfth card, Judas, had never been seen by anyone. No one knew its effects, but Judas, who betrayed God, was undoubtedly the most unique existence among the twelve cards…

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The night was like flowing water (a Chinese poetic expression describing the fluid darkness of night).

Two guards stood ramrod straight at the manor’s main gate, checking the invitation cards of coming and going guests.

Outside, the world was pitch black, with flames flickering in the streets, every household’s doors tightly shut, no candles lit; but inside the manor, lights blazed brilliantly, with cups and drinks crossing freely, extraordinarily bustling, creating a stark contrast.

Carriages lined up at the manor’s entrance, noble masters stepped down from their carriages by treading on their servants’ backs, their pure leather boots making “da da” sounds against the ground.

Elegant music flowed out from the manor’s center, while Butler Laisen stood at the manor entrance distributing masks to the guests.

This was a masquerade ball, where all attendees must wear masks.

While commoners couldn’t afford food or warmth, living in fear of the plague; the nobles, well-fed and satisfied, still had the mood and spare money to host balls, spending money like flowing water.

At vermillion gates meat and wine rot while frozen bodies lie on the roads (a famous Tang Dynasty poem describing the stark contrast between rich and poor).

To prevent wandering commoners from disturbing the nobles around the manor, Butler Laisen had ordered people to remove all vagrants from the vicinity and recruited all guards to patrol inside and outside the manor. Thus, when Horse Golden Retriever drove near the manor, two unfamiliar guards forcefully stopped them.

One guard drew the long sword from his waist, while the other directly pulled out a handgun, aiming it at the two girls in the carriage.

Shen Maomao employed her seduction technique, tugging her collar down slightly, and affectedly stood up in the carriage, speaking in a soft, delicate voice: “Dear guard brothers…”

The guard with the sword: “Don’t move! Sit back down!”

Shen Maomao rolled her eyes and fixed her collar back: “We are servants of the manor! We were out on an errand and returned late. Both the horse and carriage belong to the manor. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.”

One of them stepped forward to inspect the carriage and indeed found the Baron’s family crest, but also discovered the unconscious Golden Retriever.

“Who is he?” the guard asked vigilantly.

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LP: … I can’t picture Maomao being seductive in my mind

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