The Hand of Confession – Chapter 101

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Eternal Night

They can’t go back anymore

At this moment, Shen Maomao didn’t know how to describe her feelings.

Her hand gently traced over the uneven scratches on the desk’s surface, sending chills down her spine.

Why did that string of characters only show three when it reached her? And why did it appear as if time was limited and the situation was urgent? Why did Lou Jingmo try to stop her from coming to school at night?

《Confession Game》 must be messing with her, right? It must be, right?

But now it was too late; she had already violated Lou Jingmo’s warning by appearing at the school at night. There was no point dwelling on it anymore; she might as well think about how to find Lou Jingmo and reunite with them.

Mother Shen said to her from the side: “Maomao, what are you doing? Something feels off here, let’s quickly go home?”

Shen Maomao refused: “Mama… I need to find someone.”

Mother Shen asked, puzzled: “Who are you looking for?”

Shen Maomao told a little white lie: “It’s Lou Jingmo, my desk mate. I just saw her.”

Mother Shen: “I bet you’re not really scared; you probably made plans to stay and play at school with her, right?”

Shen Maomao gave a hehe laugh without explaining, because the more she would explain, the more confusing it would become.

Mother Shen helplessly held her hand, leading her out of the classroom and into the eerie corridor, asking: “Which way did your desk mate run?”

“That way…” Shen Maomao pointed in the direction she had seen earlier.

The mother and daughter walked together down the corridor, passing one dilapidated classroom after another, and corridors covered in Boston ivy.

The chaotic timeline seemed to right itself, and Shen Maomao even suspected that this was the real school.

The two kept walking forward, passing several empty classrooms, but couldn’t find anyone.

When they reached the main entrance of the teaching building, Shen Maomao looked outside and saw a vast expanse of gray mist, very similar to the type used in previous dungeon instances to prevent them from exploring beyond the defined boundaries.

This further confirmed her suspicion that the world she was in now was the most real world, and the world she had been living in for the past few days was completely the surface world [fake world].

But if she thought about it that way—

Shen Maomao glanced at her oblivious Mother Shen and became confused again.

How could Mother Shen, a person from the surface world illusion, follow her into the inner world [hidden world]??

Shen Maomao gave up thinking, knowing that with her little head, she probably wouldn’t understand even if she racked her brains. She thought it would be better to find Lou Jingmo first, then make long-term plans.

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The cool night breeze blew in through the broken windows, as Golden Retriever hid in a shabby wardrobe.

Lou Jingmo complained that his golden hair was too eye-catching and would more easily attract the attention of ghosts, making it harder for her to find a way out, so she had him hide here while she led away the woman who had been chasing them all day.

Another man who was escaping with them didn’t want to sit and wait for death, so he chose to run away with Lou Jingmo.

He curled up his limbs, trying not to let any part of his body show outside, his heart pounding heavily.

Many things happened last night. After school, he was taken home, and as soon as he entered, he faced a murder scene.

His cheap father had gone mad, using an axe to kill more than ten people in his household, including the servants. The living room walls were covered in blood, with various body parts scattered on the floor. The man stood in front of the sofa covered in blood, finished off a struggling and crying servant with one axe blow, then turned his head with a blood-covered face to smile at them.

The next second, an axe came flying through the air, spinning toward the two people at the door.

Golden Retriever’s legs went weak, and he fell on his bottom, watching helplessly as the axe split the head of the woman who had picked him up from school. She fell to the ground spurting blood, her eyes still wide open when she died.

He screamed and turned to run, throwing various props behind him as he fled.

A series of explosions followed, and remembering Lou Jingmo’s words, he ran with all his might toward the school. After running for who knows how long, he finally saw the school gate and Lou Jingmo walking unhurriedly toward the entrance.

At that moment, she seemed like a savior to him, and he ran toward her crying and sobbing, telling her about his horrifying experience and saying something terrifying was chasing him.

Lou Jingmo asked him: “So where is it?”

He turned around, only to realize there was nothing behind him.

Maybe his father who wanted to follow and kill him was eliminated by his money-based ability [props]?

He wasn’t sure exactly what happened. Golden Retriever laughed awkwardly, then followed Lou Jingmo as they jumped over the fence and snuck into the school building.

Some dungeon instances are completely different during day and night, and some evidence that doesn’t show up during the day might only be discoverable at night.

When she said this, Lou Jingmo didn’t expect things would come true so quickly.

Golden Retriever followed her through various turns, and they encountered other players who had eavesdropped and wanted to try their luck following Lou Jingmo—including Ren Yue.

Everyone except Shen Maomao had arrived, along with some unfamiliar faces, possibly players from other classes. The group sat on the stairs waiting for darkness, as the sun slowly set in the west, and this dust-sealed school finally revealed its true form to all the players…

Before they could feel relieved, a female ghost holding a black umbrella, her face unclear, suddenly appeared above their heads and began chasing them like a madwoman.

Everyone scattered and ran, only to discover after fleeing for most of the night—what they thought was an exit was actually a dead end. The school at night was full of uncertain dangers, and the dilapidated building was filled with various types of ghosts…

Golden Retriever focused only on running, exhausted half to death, while Lou Jingmo still had the leisure to collect clues, and during this process, she actually managed to piece together the general plot of this dungeon instance.

Time passed slowly, and Golden Retriever looked at the digital watch on his wrist, only then realizing it was already six in the morning.

But the sky outside remained pitch black, and the entire school was as eerie as a palace buried in the abyss, forever without daylight.

They couldn’t go back anymore.

The group searched several more rounds, and Golden Retriever also gained a general understanding of the dungeon’s plot.

This dungeon instance had only one main ghost – the woman with the black umbrella. She seemed to be a school teacher who was killed at school for some reason, then became a vengeful ghost, turning the entire school into a dead city.

The rest were some mindless minor ghosts that could only harm people by instinct, unclear whether they were NPCs or players…

They also discovered writing on the corridor walls. Lou Jingmo looked at several walls in succession, suddenly showing an expression of enlightenment.

Golden Retriever trembled and asked what she had discovered.

“I’ve cleared a dungeon instance like this before,” Lou Jingmo said.

Usually, dungeon instances in the game are one-time events – once someone clears it, the dungeon gets sealed, and other players can never enter it again.

But there are exceptions to everything. The game also has many repeatable dungeons where the timeline continues to advance, and the dungeon’s bugs get patched as players progress through them. In other words, the longer a dungeon exists, the higher its difficulty becomes.

In the time that followed, the two of them checked the dates on the walls while avoiding the female ghost, not missing even the small characters carved on classroom desks.

When they found one of the classrooms, Golden Retriever stared at the character “Liao” [廖, surname] on a desk, deep in thought.

He walked out of the classroom and looked up at the rusted class sign.

Although the writing was very faded, he could still make out what was written on the class sign—Class 2-1, which was their class.

Golden Retriever felt he had discovered a big secret and immediately called out to Lou Jingmo: “Sister Lou! I found something! Guess what it is?”

Lou Jingmo remained unmoved, as if saying ‘go ahead and build suspense, I’ll lose if I even respond to you’ [expression indicating deliberate indifference].

Golden Retriever quickly backed down: “I found the characters I wrote on the desk!!”

“Oh?” Lou Jingmo came over to look, and sure enough, found a large white “Liao” character in the upper left corner of the desk, which was Golden Retriever’s surname.

“I wrote this with correction fluid on the first day of school, the original desk definitely didn’t have it!!”

Perhaps the inner world and surface world could influence each other?

Lou Jingmo thought for a moment and began searching among the scattered desks.

“What are you looking for, Sister Lou?” Golden Retriever asked.

“Looking for Shen Maomao’s desk. She drew a little rabbit on the desktop a few mornings ago.” She specifically searched the desks near Shen Maomao’s seat, and quickly found the rabbit head whose traces had almost faded away.

“You can stop searching.” She called out to Golden Retriever who was still checking desks behind her, placed her hand on the desktop, and stroked the little rabbit a couple of times, as if patting someone’s head, quickly smudging the rabbit away.

“What’s wrong, Sister Lou?”

“I suspect the exit is in the surface world.” She walked to the window, picked up a piece of broken glass, “Since we can’t leave right now, we might as well notify Rabbit not to come to school at night…”

Golden Retriever had no idea how she figured out the exit was in the surface world, but that didn’t stop him from flattering her: “Sister Lou is brilliant!”

Lou Jingmo rolled her eyes, walked to Shen Maomao’s desk, and began carving characters with the broken glass.

Golden Retriever kept watch at the door, staying alert for any sudden appearance of the female ghost.

Time passed second by second, and Golden Retriever nervously crouched at the door. His sharp eyes caught a glimpse of black appearing at the corridor corner, instantly frightening him so much his heart almost stopped.

“Sister Lou, hurry up! She’s coming!” he urged in a quiet, anxious voice.

Lou Jingmo finished carving the last stroke, rushed to the glass window and opened it, then turned to call Golden Retriever: “Run this way!”

Golden Retriever immediately abandoned his post at the door, turned and ran to Lou Jingmo’s side, quickly climbed onto the window, and jumped down with her.

The moment after they jumped, the door of Class 2-1 was thrown open with a bang, and the woman revealed a ferocious smile. She rushed to the window the next second, looking around, but couldn’t see anyone.

She showed a confused expression but didn’t dwell on it much, continuing her relentless search for the next unfortunate victim.

Only after she was completely gone did the two who were hiding below the window slightly shift their positions, beginning a new game of hide-and-seek with the ghost.

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The author has something to say:

Why do you all think Maomao is being reckless? She was tricked by the game _(:з」∠)_. Normally, seeing someone leave the characters “Mao,” “Night,” “School,” wouldn’t you think it meant to come to school at night? Plus, the characters were written hastily as if the person was about to be attacked, of course Maomao would be worried! Everyone’s in the inner world, only she’s in the surface world, who wouldn’t want to reunite with the main group!

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