The Hand of Confession – Chapter 408
by Little PandaVolume 12: Former Boss Reduced To A Garlic-Peeling Little Sister
Larva
Are you her friend? I’m her mother.
This damn umbrella actually has a CD1!
The room was small, and her opponents were numerous. Shen Maomao took off running, with Faye retracting the umbrella and following close behind.
Her destination was the school building. As the saying goes, like mother, like offspring. Their mother had lost Jingzhou due to carelessness2 over food; since they were the same species, her children couldn’t be much different. And if you were looking for the place with the most books, it was undoubtedly the school building.
As for whether this counted as an attempt to divert disaster eastward3—she figured that since she’d already dealt with the final boss, it wasn’t too much to ask the other players to handle these little ones.
Shen Maomao pulled out her phone as she ran, calling Dingdang. She gasped for breath as she told her to immediately organize the students and have them start throwing books out the back windows.
Dingdang didn’t get it, but she trusted Shen Maomao and did as she was told.
By the time Shen Maomao arrived downstairs with her army in tow, Dingdang was already leaning out of a second-floor window. Her head was followed by the rest of her upper body as she stared in disbelief at the swarm of insects behind Shen Maomao. “Holy shit4, what is that?!” she yelled. “Is the insectoid race5 invading Earth?!”
Shen Maomao waved at her and shouted, “Release—!”
She was just having them toss books, but she managed to yell it with the force of an order to fire arrows.
Dingdang waved to the students behind her, and little heads popped up in the windows along half the second-floor hallway.
For second-graders, throwing books was a thrilling prospect, especially when a teacher was leading the charge. They were ecstatic. Following Dingdang’s command, they climbed onto the windowsills in pairs—one passing books from below, the other tossing them out. Textbooks, exam papers, and homework notebooks rained down like snowflakes in a truly spectacular scene.
They cheered as they threw, quickly drawing the attention of other classes and offices. Students and teachers from other floors rushed into the hallways to see what was happening, and for a moment, the entire school building descended into chaos.
Director Liu came down from her office upstairs, and the sight nearly gave her a heart attack.
Her stiletto heels clattered furiously as she scurried to a window and started pulling students down. “What are you doing?!” she shrieked, on the verge of a breakdown. “What do you think you’re doing?! Get down from there, all of you! Who told you to do this?! Teacher Dingdang?! What is going on?! I demand an explanation!”
Dingdang couldn’t be bothered to humor her now. Using the children as cover, she slipped down a side staircase and sprinted straight for Shen Maomao.
By now, Shen Maomao had reached the base of the building. Just as she’d predicted, the insects behind her were distracted by the books and paper. They stopped their advance and lowered their heads to start chewing.
Shen Maomao stopped too and poked a nearby insect with her umbrella.
Squish.
The tip easily pierced straight through it.
Dingdang burst out of the school’s back door, panting as she came to a stop beside Shen Maomao. “Great god6, what have you been up to?! Why did you bring back so many disgusting things!”
Then her gaze fell on Faye. “And this is—?” she asked, curious.
Faye had changed her appearance while they were running to the school. She now looked exactly like Mother Shen, so Dingdang was only slightly intrigued.
Faye took the initiative. “Are you her friend? I’m her mother.”
Dingdang: “???”
Shen Maomao felt a headache coming on. She handed her umbrella to Dingdang. “Deal with the insects first.”
Dingdang took the umbrella and began poking the insects with a look of disgust, but her eyes kept darting back to Faye, clearly dying of curiosity about their relationship.
Faye could have helped, of course—summoning a hailstorm to wipe out a huge swath of them, for instance. But Shen Maomao felt the insects weren’t a major threat and didn’t want to reveal Faye’s abilities so soon. So Faye just joined them, poking with an umbrella, which wasn’t very efficient.
The creatures were gluttonous and had extremely limited brain capacity. They focused only on eating, completely indifferent even when their kin were stabbed to death right next to them. Their tails slapped the ground with sharp paps and they let out pitiful whimpers, but it did no good. A large patch of them was soon dead.
But against such massive numbers, the ones they killed were merely nine oxen and one hair7. And at the rate the creatures were devouring the paper, their time was running out.
As the three of them worked, three more people ran out of the main entrance—the other three conscious players.
The two female teachers had no idea what was going on, but the male player seemed quite experienced. He immediately broke a willow branch from a nearby tree and tried to join them in poking the insects.
He tried twice, but he couldn’t break through the insects’ tough skin. Finally, he tossed the branch aside. “Excuse me,” he asked Shen Maomao, “do you have any more weapons?”
Shen Maomao handed each of them a dagger. “Remember to give them back when you’re done,” she said. “Otherwise, the consequences will be something you definitely don’t want to see.”
The woman with the shoulder-length hair, Pijianfa8, muttered, “Who would want to steal your measly items…”
Shen Maomao shot her a sideways glance, her eyes devoid of warmth.
The woman flinched and obediently squatted down to start stabbing insects. With all six of them working together, the number of insects dropped dramatically, their corpses carpeting the ground.
Having just finished managing the students, Director Liu rushed downstairs, panting as she pointed a finger at the six players. “What are you doing? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Those children are so small! How dare you encourage them to climb on the windowsills? How are we supposed to explain this to their parents? If something had happened, could you have taken responsibility?!”
“We’ll be gone by morning,” Shen Maomao said.
“Morning?!” Director Liu raged. “Pack your things and get out right now!”
Dingdang quickly interjected, “Director Liu! That’s not very fair! You never told us there were insects in the school when we arrived! And right above our dorms, no less! We were just trying to protect ourselves. Otherwise, we would’ve been torn to shreds by now.”
Director Liu was furious. “You…! Why did you have to provoke them?! We’ve been living here peacefully for years. How is it that trouble starts the moment you arrive? And you’re blaming me?!”
“Who else is there to blame?” Pijianfa chimed in. “If you had just mentioned it, told us to be careful, none of this would have happened. Did you? Did you say anything? You come down here and blame us right away. Is this a case of a big shop bullies its customers9, making things difficult for a few powerless teachers like us?”
Her words dripped with that yin-yang strange air10, and her sarcasm nearly made Director Liu faint.
Finally, the male player stepped in to sing the white face11 and act as a peacemaker. “Alright, alright… let’s not argue. Let’s each take a step back. Director Liu, you let us stay one more night, and we’ll forgive you for hiding this from us. How does that sound?”
Director Liu had a lump of anger stuck in her throat, unable to go up or down. She was anxious to calm the students, notify the parents, and get someone to clean up the corpses and paper scraps. In the end, she stalked off, practically steaming at the ears, but she never told them they couldn’t stay.
The six players and Faye walked back together. On the way, everyone except Shen Maomao kept looking at Faye, wondering where she had suddenly appeared from and who she was.
The male player glanced from Shen Maomao to Faye. “What did you do? Who is this?”
Shen Maomao answered succinctly, “I killed the boss. The exit will appear tonight.” She didn’t explain Faye’s identity.
The man frowned. “You killed it yourself?”
Shen Maomao stared straight ahead. “Who else?”
He laughed. “Are all you pro gamers this high and cold12?”
Shen Maomao still didn’t look at him.
Having been snubbed, the man gave up and stopped talking to her. The other two female players huddled together, exchanging glances and whispering about something. Dingdang and Faye flanked Shen Maomao, one on each side, like her most loyal left and right protectors13.
Back in the dorm, Shen Maomao called a meeting with the other three players. She told them the exit was on the roof and only appeared at night, but she didn’t explain how she knew.
Wisely, the others didn’t ask. They all returned their daggers to her.
Seeing how sensible they were, Shen Maomao added that they needed permission from the lead children of at least two classes to leave, telling them to figure it out on their own.
The four of them took off for the school building without a moment’s delay, scrambling to find the right kids.
Dingdang wanted to go get permission slips too, but Shen Maomao stopped her. “You don’t have to go. We just need to wait for someone.”
They were waiting for a certain child with whom she had made a deal.
When school let out in the afternoon, the children all left. The three players returned to the dorm, whether they had succeeded or not.
Shen Maomao waited a little longer before Chen Meihan finally sauntered over.
She knocked on the door. When Dingdang opened it, Chen Meihan slipped inside and said fawningly, “Teacher Xiao Lou, you really did it! You’re amazing!”
Shen Maomao let out a cold laugh.
Chen Meihan looked at Faye in surprise. “Eh? Your mom is here too?”
Dingdang was even more shocked. ?!! It’s really her mom? I thought she was joking!
Faye remembered Chen Meihan as well. She walked over and patted the girl’s head. “I remember you. You’re my Maomao’s good friend.”
Chen Meihan glanced at her. “Auntie, you’ve gained self-awareness too?”
Faye nodded.
The two made small talk for a while. Chen Meihan’s eyes kept drifting to the black umbrella, and she finally cut the pointless conversation short. She rubbed her hands together. “So… can you give it to me now?”
Shen Maomao held out a hand. “The proof?”
Chen Meihan pulled two sheets of paper from her schoolbag. “Here, these are for you. Make sure you keep them safe. You can only enter the exit with these.”
The papers were folded in half. Shen Maomao opened one and saw two large circles drawn side-by-side. The left circle contained a stick-figure girl, the right one a stick-figure boy.
While she was examining the paper, Chen Meihan started muttering, “That big insect just appeared one day along with this building. We tried all sorts of things to get rid of it, but nothing worked. It even stole my umbrella. Then Director Liu discovered that it likes to eat paper with words on it, so she decided to raise it here. But every time it enters its egg-laying period14, it eats its mate, then steals and eats two kids or teachers. After that, it lays a bunch of eggs, eats them all, and leaves just one to be its new mate…”
Shen Maomao listened as she handed one of the papers to Dingdang and stuffed her own into her pocket.
“Later, Director Liu came up with the idea of hiring outside teachers to feed it. And that’s why you’re here!” Chen Meihan held out her hand. “Give it to me?”
Shen Maomao grabbed the umbrella from her windowsill and handed it over. “I can only give you one for now.”
Chen Meihan: “?? There are two more??”
Faye waved the umbrella in her own hand.
Chen Meihan immediately opened the one she was holding.
This was the umbrella that had been left outside their dorm room. Its chilling aura seemed to make the insects ignore them, which had been a great help.
But no matter how useful it had been, it was now just an ordinary, used-up umbrella.
Chen Meihan could feel it, too. She stomped her foot in fury and threw the umbrella down. “You broke your promise!”
“I gave you the umbrella,” Shen Maomao said innocently.
“This isn’t the one I wanted!”
“You never specified which one.”
Chen Meihan clenched her little fists, her eyes turning sinister. “You’re asking for…”
Before she could finish, Faye bent down from behind and took her hand. “Asking for what?” she whispered in her ear. “Are you going to bully my Maomao right in front of me…?”
She spoke with absolute certainty, as if it were a fact that this little girl was bullying an adult. A cold breeze brushed against Chen Meihan’s ear, making her shiver.
Faye let go and looked at Shen Maomao, who met her gaze. “Come up with us tonight,” Shen Maomao said. “I’ll give it to you before we leave.”
Chen Meihan plopped onto the floor and started wailing. “Waaah! You’re ganging up on me!”
“Yes,” Shen Maomao said.
Chen Meihan: “…Fuck.”
“Girls shouldn’t use bad words!” Faye said immediately, adding, “Don’t be a bad influence on my Maomao.”
Chen Meihan silently shuffled toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Dingdang called out.
“If I can’t afford to offend you, can’t I at least hide from you?! I’ll be back tonight.”
“Wait,” Shen Maomao stopped her. “I have a favor to ask you.”
Chen Meihan’s hand paused on the doorknob. She turned around, looking smug. “What is it? So you need my help after all?”
Shen Maomao crouched down and whispered something to her.
Chen Meihan puffed out her chest. “As long as you give me the umbrella, I guarantee I’ll get it done!”
“Wait until tonight.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you gave it to me now so I can do it now?!”
Shen Maomao’s gaze drifted as if lost in thought. “I prefer to let him despair after seeing a glimmer of hope,” she said softly.
Dingdang’s eyes widened. She didn’t know who Shen Maomao was talking about, but she could sense the danger.
Chen Meihan shrank back. “Fine, see you tonight,” she conceded, then opened the door and slipped away.
Once she was gone, Dingdang immediately switched to gossip mode. “How is it that I was away for just one morning and now I’m completely lost?”
She felt like she was in a history class. One moment it was the Bronze Age, the next she’d zoned out15 for a few minutes, and when she came to, the first a|tomic|bomb had already been launched.
“Chen Meihan was the boss the last time I was in this instance,” Shen Maomao explained. “We made a deal. She tells me how to leave, and I help her kill the current boss.”
Dingdang’s face lit up with understanding. She looked at Faye. “So she was an npc you met last time, with the persona of your mother? And now she’s awakened too.”
Shen Maomao nodded.
“So we can leave tonight?” Dingdang asked.
“Not sure.” Shen Maomao checked the time on her phone. “Something else might happen.”
“It’s okay,” Dingdang said optimistically. “We still have plenty of time. We’ll definitely get out of here!”
…
Gong Heng returned just as it was getting dark.
He looked at the extra person in the room. “Who’s this?” he asked, confused.
Faye gave him a gentle smile. Shen Maomao couldn’t even be bothered to explain.
Only Dingdang was willing to talk to him. “This is our new friend,” she said, then asked, “Where have you been all day?”
Gong Heng rubbed his temples. “I was looking for the exit. I saw what you guys did. Did you take care of that big insect?”
Dingdang shamelessly took the credit. “Yep, we took care of it.”
“Did you find the exit?” Gong Heng pressed.
“Not yet. I heard it only appears at night, so we’re going to look again later. Want to come with?”
Gong Heng naturally wouldn’t refuse. “Yes! Of course! I’m going crazy trying to get out of here.”
Dingdang smiled. “Then let’s go together.”
Before long, the sun had completely set. The lights in the dormitory building stayed on, holding the darkness at bay and providing a sense of security.
The players from the two neighboring rooms came and knocked. Shen Maomao opened the door, and the four people from her room filed out, stunning the group outside.
Pijianfa spoke up. “Where did two more kids come from?”
“I’m a player,” Gong Heng said. “I just don’t know why I look like this.”
Chen Meihan copied him. “Me too, me too.”
The male player raised an eyebrow, his expression unreadable.
Shen Maomao didn’t care what they thought. She took the lead and headed for the main staircase.
The door to the second floor was open, but there were no lights on, making it look eerie and terrifying.
However, no one present, big or small, was afraid of the dark. Shen Maomao turned on her phone’s flashlight and led the way up.
Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. It was the kind of sound that always happened in long-abandoned buildings; though there were only a few of them, they walked with the momentum of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses16.
She had actually searched all of these rooms before, except for 206, the boss’s room. If there was nothing in 206, they would have to find a way to climb up from a second-floor window.
Shen Maomao pushed the door open and sniffed the air.
For some reason, she felt the scent of ink was stronger now.
The dorm room was cramped, and it was a tight squeeze with so many people. Faye didn’t follow them in, choosing to wait outside.
She was still holding the black umbrella, so naturally, Chen Meihan didn’t want to go in either. The two of them blocked the doorway.
The players searched the room thoroughly but found no stairs leading up.
The male player suggested searching the other rooms. Shen Maomao didn’t stop him, only mentioning that she had glanced inside them but wasn’t sure if there was anything there.
He thought for a moment and decided to go, taking the two female players with him for company.
Shen Maomao paid them no mind. She walked straight to the window and leaned out to look. She had been hoping to find a ladder on the outer wall, but instead, she made an unexpected discovery—
Something long and slender was clinging motionlessly to a nearby wall. It looked a lot like the boss.
Shen Maomao pulled her head back in. “How long until the male insect appears?” she asked Chen Meihan.
Chen Meihan thought for a few seconds. “Probably after all the other eggs have been eaten… Why do you ask?”
“It’s here.”
“What the—?” Dingdang exclaimed. “What do we do? Is it here to avenge its wife?”
“You saw it?!” Chen Meihan demanded.
Shen Maomao nodded. “It’s right outside.”
Chen Meihan’s eyes darted around. “Give me the umbrella, and I’ll take care of it!”
Shen Maomao mercilessly crushed her dream. “Don’t even think about it until we see the exit.”
Chen Meihan pouted. “But I’m trying to help you!”
Shen Maomao didn’t believe her for a second. She left room 206 and walked to the window at the end of the hall, opening it to peer outside.
Sure enough, there was an external staircase, but it was some distance from the window and wouldn’t be easy to reach.
Shen Maomao had Dingdang come over for a look. “Can you make it?”
Dingdang sized it up. “Probably not.”
Shen Maomao took out a rope. “Want to try?”
Dingdang gritted her teeth. “Fine!”
Shen Maomao placed her hands on the windowsill and vaulted up cleanly, then crouched and walked out onto the narrow outer ledge. She pulled out her phone and shone it around. The insect hadn’t followed. She had no idea what it was planning, hiding out there.
Faye watched her without blinking. “Be careful!” she said, her voice filled with worry.
“Yeah,” Shen Maomao grunted. She put her phone back in her pocket, wrapped the rope around her waist, and tossed the other end to Faye.
Faye wrapped the rope around her own hands twice, then passed the long, slack section to Dingdang.
Dingdang copied her, wrapping it around her hand once before looking at Chen Meihan.
Chen Meihan was speechless. “You can’t be serious about exploiting child labor, can you? What good is my tiny bit of strength?”
“You still have your body weight, don’t you?” Dingdang said darkly.
Chen Meihan: “…”
Once they were ready inside, Shen Maomao gripped the window frame and began to sidle toward the staircase.
A few seconds later, she reached the edge, aimed for the stairs, and leaped. Her hands closed firmly around the railing.
Success.
She adjusted her position, untied the rope from her waist, and secured it to the staircase. “Send Chen Meihan over!” she yelled to Faye, who was leaning out to check on her.
Faye immediately turned, scooped up Chen Meihan—who was busy trying to steal the umbrella—and placed her on the windowsill.
“No, no, no!” Chen Meihan struggled and screamed. “I’m afraid of heights! I’m afraid of heights! 55555517!”
Faye gently froze her mouth shut with a thin layer of ice and tied the rope around her waist. “Don’t be afraid,” she said softly. “It’ll be quick.”
Then she shoved her forcefully off the ledge.
Chen Meihan: “!!!” You demon!!!
Footnotes
- Context: An abbreviation for “cooldown,” a common gaming term for the mandatory waiting period before a skill or item can be used again.
- Hanzi: 大意失荆州 | Pinyin: dàyì shī Jīngzhōu | Context: This is a famous historical idiom from the Three Kingdoms period, referring to a critical failure caused by negligence. It signifies suffering a major, avoidable setback.
- Hanzi: 祸水东引 | Pinyin: huòshuǐ dōng yǐn | Context: An idiom that means to shift one’s own troubles or misfortunes onto someone else.
- Hanzi: 卧槽 | Pinyin: wòcáo | Context: Literally: “Reclining trough.” A very common and versatile expletive, similar in usage to “holy shit,” “what the fuck,” or “damn it,” depending on the tone.
- Hanzi: 虫族 | Pinyin: chóngzú | Context: A term for a swarm or race of insect-like creatures, often used in sci-fi and fantasy contexts, similar to the Zerg from StarCraft.
- Hanzi: 大神 | Pinyin: dàshén | Context: A popular slang term, especially in gaming and online communities, for an expert, master, or highly skilled individual.
- Hanzi: 九牛一毛 | Pinyin: jiǔ niú yī máo | Context: An idiom meaning a drop in the ocean; a tiny, insignificant amount compared to the whole.
- Hanzi: 披肩发 | Pinyin: Pījiānfà | Context: Literally: “Shoulder-length hair.” This is used as a descriptor for one of the unnamed female players.
- Hanzi: 店大欺客 | Pinyin: diàn dà qī kè | Context: An idiom describing a situation where a powerful or established entity takes advantage of or mistreats those who are weaker or have less influence.
- Hanzi: 阴阳怪气 | Pinyin: yīnyáng guàiqì | Context: A phrase used to describe someone speaking in a sarcastic, passive-aggressive, or insincere manner.
- Hanzi: 唱白脸 | Pinyin: chàng bái liǎn | Context: This comes from Chinese opera, where characters with white-painted faces are often villains. The phrase means to play the “bad cop” or the stern role. Here, the author uses it to describe the male player acting as a peacemaker (和事佬), taking on a specific role to resolve the conflict.
- Hanzi: 高冷 | Pinyin: gāolěng | Context: A popular slang term for a personality that is aloof, distant, cool, and seemingly arrogant or unapproachable.
- Hanzi: 左右护法 | Pinyin: zuǒyòu hùfǎ | Context: A term from wuxia (martial arts fiction) referring to the two most powerful and trusted guardians or lieutenants of a sect leader or major figure.
- Hanzi: 产卵期 | Pinyin: chǎnluǎn qī | Context: The biological period when the boss monster lays its eggs. During this time, it becomes more aggressive and cannibalistic, eating its mate and other victims.
- Hanzi: 溜号 | Pinyin: liūhào | Context: Literally: “To slip away from the number/line.” A colloquial term for being distracted, letting one’s mind wander, or not paying attention.
- Hanzi: 千军万马 | Pinyin: qiānjūnwànmǎ | Context: An idiom used to describe a mighty, imposing army or a powerful, overwhelming force.
- Hanzi: 555555 | Pinyin: wǔwǔwǔwǔwǔwǔ | Context: An online emoticon representing the sound of crying. The number 5 in Mandarin is pronounced “wǔ,” which is onomatopoeia for the sound of weeping (“wuwuwu”).
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