The Hand of Confession – Chapter 106
by Little PandaVolume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School
Teacher Zhao
It’s September First
“Wasn’t Chen Meihan already dead?!”
Shen Maomao turned her head discreetly and saw Chen Meihan standing there, completely intact and unharmed. Yet she could still remember the sight of Chen Meihan’s corpse, that rain-bloated face…
Chen Meihan startled at the blood on her face and asked concernedly, “Maomao? What happened? Why is your face covered in blood?”
Shen Maomao swallowed hard and said dryly, “Um… it’s not blood, it’s just some paint I accidentally got on myself that won’t come off…”
Chen Meihan believed her and stopped focusing on the blood on her face, taking her hand and leading her toward the school. As for Ren Yue and Golden Retriever – these two had already run off when Chen Meihan called out to her.
Shen Maomao internally criticized them furiously, but her face remained expressionless as Chen Meihan pulled her toward the teaching building.
Chen Meihan’s hand was warm, completely different from the icy touch of Mother Shen. She smiled sweetly and said to Shen Maomao, “Did you finish your homework? Teacher Zhao said she’ll be checking it soon, and it’ll be terrible for anyone who hasn’t completed it.”
Shen Maomao froze for a moment.
Teacher Zhao?
Wasn’t it supposed to be Teacher Yue?
She wracked her limited brainpower, finally retrieving a dusty memory from the corners of her mind – on the first day of entering this instance, when she met Chen Meihan at the entrance, Chen Meihan had mentioned that their class was happy about getting a new teacher, and they had been very dissatisfied with the original Teacher Zhao…
“What? We had homework?” Shen Maomao put on a frustrated expression, perfectly fitting her role as a playful elementary student. “I forgot to do it!”
Chen Meihan said, “Then you’re done for, Teacher Zhao will definitely hit your palms with the ruler!”
Shen Maomao instantly felt a phantom pain in her palms.
The two children walked along the school’s stone path, as many energetic children ran past them, each more lively than the last.
Ren Yue and Golden Retriever entered the classroom ahead of them. Shen Maomao looked up at the class sign with doubt – it still read “Class 2-1”, showing no changes.
After entering the classroom, she stood at the podium and surveyed the room, taking in the terrified or strange expressions of the little radish heads, discovering many unfamiliar faces – then she saw the figure she’d been yearning for.
“Eh? How is Lou Jingmo…”
Before Chen Meihan could finish speaking, she had already rushed eagerly to her seat, eyes sparkling as she looked at Lou Jingmo beside her, and called out sweetly: “Sister Lou!”
Shen Maomao’s legs trembled with excitement; she had missed Lou Jingmo so much. Though it had only been two days, it felt like two centuries.
Just look at what kind of days she’d had without Lou Jingmo!
Lou Jingmo raised an eyebrow and suddenly asked, “Beautiful lady, who are you?”
Shen Maomao: “??”
Fortunately, Lou Jingmo continued, “What’s with your face? Post-modern abstract art??”
After that exchange of glances, this was definitely the real Sister Lou!
Shen Maomao’s eyes welled up with tears: “It happened earlier in the rain, I got soaked and ended up like this…”
Lou Jingmo said: “Stay away from me when we’re running for our lives, you’re too conspicuous as a target.”
Shen Maomao: “…”
Golden Retriever, eavesdropping from the front, suddenly felt relieved – it seemed Sister Xiaolou treated him and Sister Rabbit the same way.
The two chatted about various things, but due to the crowd around them, they didn’t discuss the instance or the game.
Not long after, the class bell suddenly rang, and a female teacher walked into the classroom, taking her place at the podium.
The teacher was beautiful, wearing a floral dress, looking young – appearing to be less than thirty years old.
She smiled gently at all the students seated below and said, “Hello everyone, we haven’t seen each other since the holiday. I wonder if you’ve completed your homework?”
Shen Maomao’s eyes widened as she belatedly realized something was off. She quietly poked Lou Jingmo’s arm and asked, “What’s today’s date, Sister Lou?”
Lou Jingmo replied softly, “September first.”
So time had returned to the day they entered the game!
“Does that mean we’ve got six more days?” Shen Maomao exclaimed excitedly.
Lou Jingmo gave her a look reserved for idiots: “What kind of dream are you having?”
Shen Maomao: “…” Alright, she was overthinking it.
She was about to say something else when Teacher Zhao suddenly called her name – “Shen Maomao? Who are you whispering with?”
Shen Maomao quickly stood up: “Teacher, I was talking to myself.”
Teacher Zhao descended from the podium carrying an iron ruler, her high heels clicking sharply. She maintained her gentle smile, but her words weren’t gentle at all: “Talking to yourself, are you? Well, since you’re having a conversation with yourself, hold out your hands – teacher will give you a double portion.”
A chill ran through Shen Maomao’s heart as she hid her hands behind her back, standing frozen in place.
Teacher Zhao’s face darkened as she asked again: “Who were you secretly talking to just now?” Shen Maomao kept her head down in silence.
Teacher Zhao raised the iron ruler: “Trying to be loyal?”
Shen Maomao hadn’t experienced being beaten by a teacher in a long time. Suddenly facing Teacher Zhao, she wasn’t sure how to react.
In Teacher Zhao’s eyes, this translated to stubborn defiance and unrepentance.
As the iron ruler in her hand rose high and came swooping down, about to strike Shen Maomao’s back, Lou Jingmo suddenly reached out, pulling her to her side, causing Shen Maomao to fall against her.
Teacher Zhao struck empty air and raised her head in fury, her eyes fixed intently on the two of them, seething with rage as she panted “he-chi he-chi” [嗬嗤嗬嗤 | hē chī | onomatopoeia for angry breathing].
Shen Maomao lay against Lou Jingmo, whose small hand pressed her head so she could only see the ceiling, preventing her from witnessing the transformation happening to the beautiful, gentle woman before them.
Her facial features began to swell, with something strange moving beneath her skin layer, creating bulge after bulge, finally gathering at her brow into a large protrusion.
If Shen Maomao could see it, she would have noticed that Teacher Zhao’s transformation resembled her bargain grandmother, looking as if something could emerge from its shell at any moment.
The woman’s delicate features became horrifically distorted. Nearby children were thoroughly frightened – some screamed and ran out, while others wet themselves in fear, spreading a urine stench through the air.
Shen Maomao dared not rise.
But Lou Jingmo fearlessly met her gaze and said: “Don’t you still want revenge?”
The pulsing bulges on Teacher Zhao’s face froze, then the transformation receded like a tide, her skin returning to normal.
The now-normal Teacher Zhao smiled sweetly, automatically turning the page on what had just happened, and showed concern for Shen Maomao: “Shen Maomao, what happened to the blood on your face? Is it serious? Should teacher take you to the infirmary?”
Pushed up by Lou Jingmo, Shen Maomao stood and flashed her white teeth through her bright red face at Teacher Zhao, creating a scene both eerie and amusing: “It’s nothing, Teacher Zhao. My head’s just having some problems, so I might not be able to submit the homework.”
From her angle, she could see Chen Meihan. The little girl was making faces at her, seemingly impressed that she would use such an excuse to avoid homework.
Teacher Zhao glanced at Lou Jingmo and compromised: “Alright, teacher understands.”
After speaking, she took her iron ruler and left the classroom, retrieving each escaped child one by one, then walked back to the podium and said: “I won’t repeat the new semester’s rules. Let’s begin class. After class, subject representatives, remember to collect the homework. For those who haven’t completed it, I’ll be notifying your parents…”
A chorus of complaints immediately arose from below.
After class, while everyone was bustling about turning in homework, Shen Maomao, exempted by Teacher Zhao, and Lou Jingmo, wearing an indifferent expression, headed out. Lou Jingmo grabbed her arm and dragged her along, also snagging Golden Retriever as they passed by him.
The three children arrived at their usual spot behind the teaching building and began exchanging information.
Lou Jingmo asked first: “Did you find my hint?”
Shen Maomao nodded: “Received it, received it, but I was misled by the game and only got half of it, still ended up coming to school at night…”
“I wasn’t asking you,” Lou Jingmo looked at Golden Retriever, “I was asking you.”
Golden Retriever looked completely bewildered: “Huh? What hint?”
Shen Maomao also looked confused: “What’s going on?”
Lou Jingmo explained: “I guessed we needed to return here to exit this instance, so I left instructions in the classroom about how to leave the inner world.”
Finally, she asked: “If you didn’t see the hint, how did you get out?”
Shen Maomao coughed dryly twice, too embarrassed to speak.
Golden Retriever weakly said: “Well… I, um, blew up the teaching building…”
“…Blew it up?” Lou Jingmo’s expression became incredibly colorful. It was the first time Shen Maomao had seen such a dumbfounded look on her face.
Golden Retriever nodded gravely: “To save Sister Rabbit’s friend, I had to blow it up.”
“How eye-opening after just three days.” These two former burdens, who once trembled at the sight of ghosts, now dared to blow up the ghosts’ lair…
Speaking of which, Lou Jingmo shot Shen Maomao a sidelong glance, making her straighten her back uncomfortably and mumble: “It wasn’t specifically to save her. Mainly, those black mists looked like they were merging into a final boss. I was worried something would happen if we left it alone, so… so I blew it up…”
Lou Jingmo gave them both a thumbs up: “The fact that you’re still alive and made it back makes you pretty badass.”
Golden Retriever continued: “Then the entire teaching building collapsed…”
Lou Jingmo: “…” Fortunately she’d left early, otherwise she might have died at the hands of these two little brats.
“We were trapped under the building, but thankfully Sister Rabbit’s mother dug us out and led us through the instance boundary mists back to the current world.”
Lou Jingmo frowned, looking at Shen Maomao: “Your mother?”
Shen Maomao nodded: “As I mentioned before, this bargain mother of mine… she seems very… off…”
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