The Hand of Confession – Chapter 73

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

Paint

What the ghost? It only sticks to clothes?

Bright red rashes quickly crawled up the face of the beautiful woman, while the smell of paint wafted through the air, mixed with the fragrance of roses.

Hearing Shen Maomao accurately call out the woman’s name, the female newbie who was standing back-to-back with her uncertainly said: “You know her? Can you ask her not to hurt us?”

“Like hell I know her!” Shen Maomao’s legs went weak, and she felt like cursing mother (a common Chinese expression for swearing or cursing in general), “I just glanced at her painting once and chatted with an older sister maid about her, and she happened to overhear it…”

The female newbie panicked: “You didn’t curse at her, did you?”

Shen Maomao said with a serious face: “She’s so pretty, why would I curse at her?!” While speaking, she kept glancing at Vivian.

The woman: “……”

Unfortunately, Vivian showed no mercy despite her compliments. In the brief ten-something seconds while the two were talking, her originally sweet and cute style quickly transitioned into something like a horror movie protagonist—the skin on her face peeled off piece by piece, revealing bloody flesh underneath; her lake-green pupils disappeared, leaving only bloodshot whites of her eyes.

Vivian let out a shriek, instantly appearing in front of Shen Maomao, her blood-reeking face less than a finger’s width away from Shen Maomao’s face.

“Awooo——!!!” Shen Maomao squeezed out a scream from her throat like a puppy whose tail had been stepped on.

Just then, there was a gap in the paint at the doorway because it had condensed into a human figure, and she ran towards that direction while shouting, “I’m just a servant who arrived two days ago! Please spare me, beautiful older sister!”

The female newbie shuddered at her shout, roaring angrily: “You f*cking wait for me!” Then she ran in the same direction.

Vivian watched their movements with cold eyes, her stark white teeth exposed to the air due to her peeled-off lips opened up and down, revealing what looked like a sneer.

Shen Maomao grabbed the copper handle of the banquet hall’s door, pulling outward using her strength as if drinking her mother’s milk (meaning using maximum effort). The female newbie ran to her side and joined in the effort.

Unfortunately, this door seemed like it was welded to the ground, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t move it even a bit.

The cold moonlight shone on the rolling paint, as Vivian opened her right hand toward them. Instantly, invisible hands grabbed Shen Maomao’s shoulders, and another pair pried at her fingers that were tightly gripping the door handle.

“Holy sh*t!” The female newbie also clung desperately to the door without letting go, “What’s grabbing me?! Why can’t I see it?!”

Shen Maomao couldn’t speak anymore.

Those transparent hands covered her mouth, preventing her from making any sound.

“The ball isn’t over yet, no leaving your seats! No leaving your seats!” The voice was identical to those she heard yesterday right before her death.

That night, these things, which might or might not have been figures from paintings, had muttered something about table manners like this, and then strangled her to death at the dining hall doorway…

Shen Maomao’s face turned deathly pale, the fear of death instantly overwhelmed her, making her struggle desperately without control.

But the more she struggled, the tighter and stronger those hands gripped. More arms wrapped around her, surrounding her in layers, until finally, the force squeezed so hard her flesh and bones ached, even making it difficult to breathe.

If she could have calmed down and thought carefully at this moment, she would have known that this situation absolutely wasn’t suitable for making a big fuss, that she should stay calm and look for a way to survive, rather than being completely restrained like she was now, to the point where she couldn’t even lift a leg.

Unfortunately, no one could remain unfazed when facing a group of monsters that had just killed them not long ago, especially since she was just a female college student who hadn’t fully stepped out of the ivory tower (meaning academic institutions, sheltered from the real world)…

The female newbie beside her let out two muffled moans. Both of them were lifted high horizontally, and Vivian waved her hand again, those transparent hands carried them forward, making a “bia” sound as they stuck the two against the paint-covered wall.

The paint seemed alive, immediately extending countless tentacles, fixing them to the wall, then bubbling “gulu gulu” as it slowly devoured them.

During this time, those people who had lost their shadows had all turned to ashes, and the ashes formed a gray tornado in the middle of the hall, while the candlewick beyond a chi (尺, traditional Chinese unit of measurement, approximately 33cm) from the tornado didn’t waver at all.

The people dancing stiffly voluntarily formed a circle, holding hands and singing as they circled the tornado, their flesh falling to the ground as they turned, gradually becoming skeletons one by one.

“Turned to ash! Turned to ash! All dead and gone!”

They borrowed the baron’s dance floor to perform a dance of death, like the last celebration before doomsday.

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Vivian glanced at them once, as if confirming these two little bugs couldn’t make any big waves anymore (meaning to cause significant trouble), then left the room like the wind, going who knows where.

The paint continued to spread, as if wanting to fill the entire room.

Shen Maomao weakly tilted her head, looking at the female newbie who had already given up struggling, a wave of sadness welling up in her heart.

Was she really going to die in this dungeon today? Was she this useless, only able to rely on Lou Jingmo to save her?

How could someone like her… get through other dungeons? How could she be worthy of being Lou Jingmo’s friend?

She didn’t want to die yet, she was only twenty-one, her life had only gone through a quarter…

She still needed to accompany Lou Jingmo through the upcoming worlds, to be her save point (a gaming reference to checkpoint where progress can be saved)…

A strong survival instinct occupied her brain, making her start to assess her current situation.

Currently, she was fixed to the high wall in a “十” shape, everything below her waist seemed to be completely wrapped in paint, without any feeling, but her upper body was just stuck to the wall, the paint hadn’t even stuck to her hair, there were still many things she could do…

She started struggling, clenching her jaw and gritting her teeth as she lifted her arm a few centimeters, the space between her arm and the wall was like melted cheese, pulling into several sticky strands. Because she was using too much force, her entire arm was shaking, her muscles aching terribly, making tears stream down her face huala huala (onomatopoeia for continuous flowing of tears).

The suffering wasn’t for nothing: her hand gradually separated from the wall, until finally those white strands became thin threads, then with a “rip” sound, the sleeve of her maid outfit tore, and her arm regained freedom…

Shen Maomao: “??” What the ghost? It only sticks to clothes?

That’s right… earlier her hand’s back wasn’t stuck to the wall, this paint’s stickiness seemed to only target clothing, and wouldn’t stick to human tissue…

Shen Maomao cursed “toxic” in her heart. (literally means “poisonous” but is used as slang to express something is ridiculous or absurd)

She tried touching the paint with her hand, and sure enough, it didn’t stick anymore, she could easily lift her hand.

What the f*ck kind of last hope is this, are they planning to make them streak (running naked in public) in front of everyone?!!

But being alive was better than anything else, streaking wasn’t such a big deal anymore.

Shen Maomao shouted at the motionless woman beside her: “This glue doesn’t stick to skin!”

The woman was stunned for a moment, then started trying everything to take off her clothes, creating a scene that was beyond words.

Shen Maomao followed the same method, tearing her other hand free from the clothes, then started figuring out how to take off her pants…

The excess paint fell to the ground with “guji guji” sounds, merging with the paint on the floor. The paint in the banquet hall enveloped the ashes and various dirty organs scattered on the ground.

Shen Maomao didn’t want to recall much about the struggle in between, she was just grateful that to take care of female players, the game had left them their underwear, and these two pieces of shame-covering cloth hadn’t been contaminated by the paint…

Finally, she fell from the wall, stepping onto the paint that had accumulated to a certain depth, but instead of sinking in as she imagined, she stood steadily on top of it.

The bottom of the paint was still moving, but the surface was smooth like a plane, reminding her of non-Newtonian fluid.

The skeletons couldn’t spin anymore, with only half their heads exposed outside, as Shen Maomao went over to help the woman remove her clothes.

Just as the two were struggling with the clothes, the large door was pulled open from the outside again! Shen Maomao thought Vivian had returned and immediately turned around to take a defensive stance, but the next second Lou Jingmo appeared in her vision…

“Sister Lou!!” Shen Maomao cried out, even wanting to fly over and give her a hug.

The paint didn’t flow out when the door opened, and she immediately remembered how dangerous this stuff was, hurriedly raising her hand to stop her: “Don’t come in! This thing sticks to clothes!”

“What’s wrong, what’s wrong, Sister Xiaolou, Sister Rabbit?” Golden Retriever’s voice came from outside, and Shen Maomao reflexively covered her chest.

Lou Jingmo grabbed Golden Retriever’s collar and forcefully threw him backward, then raised her hand and closed the door.

Golden Retriever, who fell sitting on the ground: “??”

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After a few more seconds, Lou Jingmo opened the door again, by this time Golden Retriever had run to stand far away from the banquet hall. She took off her shoes and socks, placing them at the doorway, carefully stepped on the paint, and slowly walked to Shen Maomao: “What happened?” While asking, she helped Shen Maomao rescue the woman hanging on the wall.

Shen Maomao told her everything that had just happened, and finally asked tearfully: “What should we do? Are there any clothes we can wear?”

After all, she was still a young girl, certainly unable to accept going out to meet people like this…

Lou Jingmo was about to take off her jacket to cover her, when she heard her say: “Streaking is whatever… but I feel a bit cold QAQ , will I catch a cold?”

She silently lowered her hand that was about to remove her clothes.

She forgot that Shen Maomao’s face skin (referring to someone’s sense of shame or embarrassment) didn’t need her sympathy.

“Golden Retriever and I got caught up with some things, that’s why we only made it here now.” She briefly explained her experience.

With Golden Retriever the mobile tool machine (gaming term for a character who carries/provides useful items) present, yet they were still held up for so long, something significant must have happened outside too.

Together they rescued the woman, who had tears in her red eyes from surviving death, and gratefully said thank you to both of them.

Shen Maomao remembered Shan Zhou and immediately said: “Sister Lou! Do you know that Shan Zhou? Is he the one who clears maps?”

Lou Jingmo looked around, the paint was still continuously dripping, and it was getting higher under their feet, presumably it wouldn’t be long before this place would be completely submerged.

So she said: “This isn’t a suitable place to talk, let’s leave first and then discuss.”

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