The Hand of Confession – Chapter 104

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Going Home

Don’t Look Back

The boy’s agonized crying continued for a long time, as if he was enduring some unbearable torture.

Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever huddled together for warmth, neither daring to make a sound.

Who knows how long it lasted, perhaps as long as a century, when the screaming suddenly stopped.

The two buried underground barely dared to breathe, only daring to move their eyeballs from side to side, trying to communicate but failing to convey anything.

After a short while, they heard footsteps, followed by Mother Shen’s voice coming from above ground: “Maomao? Mama’s back…”

Golden Retriever gently pushed her hand, signaling her to quickly respond.

Shen Maomao weakly said: “Mama… what happened just now?”

Mother Shen said with a smile: “Mama just taught a bad child a lesson. Maomao shouldn’t be a bad child, okay…”

That gentle voice was like a lover’s whisper, making Shen Maomao’s whole body shiver three times.

Mother Shen began using props to dig, and after a while, Shen Maomao suddenly remembered the ghost sister and hurriedly asked: “Mama! Did you see an auntie wearing red shoes?”

Mother Shen replied: “No, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around.”

So where was Sister Lou? Where was the female ghost? Where were the other players?

After Mother Shen dug for a while, finally a sliver of moonlight shone through from above. Even though it was so dim, it still made both of them close their eyes from the glare.

Golden Retriever quickly put away his props, and a heap of sand came crashing down. Shen Maomao carelessly got a mouthful of dust and quickly covered her nose and mouth with her hands.

Then she felt a pair of gentle hands lift her out of the soil, holding her tight like a precious treasure, reluctant to let go.

Shen Maomao’s eyes inexplicably became moist.

She thought of her own mother. Lou Jingmo had told her before to visit family whenever possible, as there might not be chances later, but she had never found the time…

If she could get out this time, she wanted to temporarily withdraw from school, focus on spending time with family, then cling tightly to Lou Jingmo’s support, hoping to make it out of the game alive.

Mother Shen gently wiped away her tears: “Don’t be afraid, Maomao, Mama has rescued you.”

“Mama, I’m not afraid.” Shen Maomao wrapped her small arms around Mother Shen’s neck, closed her eyes and nuzzled against her face, smearing sand all over Mother Shen’s face.

She had called out “Mama” many times before, mostly just casual utterances to fit her role, but this time, it was absolutely heartfelt.

Mother Shen was truly a wonderful mother, but unfortunately, she wasn’t her real daughter.

——She hoped her birth mother wouldn’t beat her to death when she found out she had gained another mother in the game.

While the mother and daughter were having their tender moment, Golden Retriever, covered in dirt and dust, was dragging Ren Yue out from underground, deeply feeling how children with mothers were treasured, and the comparison only made their situation seem more miserable.

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The school had turned into ruins, with table and chair legs sticking out chaotically from the soil. Shen Maomao hadn’t expected Golden Retriever’ prop to be so powerful, and now she was completely dumbfounded.

Ren Yue had regained consciousness, but she was injured and looked quite pale. Upon seeing Shen Maomao’s face, she turned even paler.

Shen Maomao, lying in Mother Shen’s arms, looked down at her and said: “This blood belongs to others.”

Ren Yue’s face grew even paler, probably mistakenly assuming these “others” had died by Shen Maomao’s hand.

She weakly said “thank you,” then hid her entire body behind Golden Retriever, not daring to look at her directly.

Seeing her once inseparable friend reduced to such a state, Shen Maomao felt an indescribable sadness in her heart.

The four of them sat among the ruins, staring at each other, completely unsure of what to do next.

After a short while, several more children struggled to drag themselves out of the ruins, gathering in their direction. They sat among the ruins looking just as confused. Lou Jingmo still hadn’t appeared. Shen Maomao asked Mother Shen to search around, but they couldn’t find any trace of her. She guessed that Lou Jingmo might have already returned to the surface world —— after all, in her eyes, Lou Jingmo was synonymous with omnipotence.

The moon still hung properly in the sky, while various trees within the school grounds swayed in the wind. The trees’ shadows on the ground twisted their forms as well, like little monsters lying in ambush.

Because of the previous instance, Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever were both sensitive to shadows. Shen Maomao had intended to hide in a shadowless place like in the previous world, but Mother Shen stopped her.

“You’re too old to be playing with shadows,” Mother Shen said, “Maomao, are you tired? We should go home.”

She spoke with subtle meaning, but Shen Maomao immediately understood that she was trying to stop her from courting death!

She replied: “I feel like I can’t go back, there’s such thick fog outside, I’m so scared, Mama.”

“Then I’ll hold Maomao, and Maomao won’t be scared anymore…”

Shen Maomao looked at Golden Retriever and Ren Yue who were staring at her expectantly, and said: “What about my classmates?”

Mother Shen didn’t hesitate: “Then let them come with us.”

“But they won’t be able to see the path clearly and might get lost.”

“Then Mama will hold your hand, and you hold your classmates’ hands, shall we all walk hand in hand?”

Shen Maomao thought this plan was very sound, but normally, stepping into the fog at the map’s edge was equivalent to being added to Death’s kill list, so she didn’t dare make decisions for others.

She trusted that Mother Shen wouldn’t harm her, but that didn’t mean others would trust her too.

Although she didn’t know the other players, if they wanted to follow, she wouldn’t drive them away.

Thinking this, she turned her head to look at the other players behind them, and her body suddenly froze.

——Besides the players she had personally watched crawl out at the beginning, the ruins behind them were now inexplicably filled with countless children sitting closely together.

These children looked equally disheveled, each appearing as if they had just crawled out from underground. Looking around at them all, Shen Maomao began to doubt whether even the people in the very front row were real players…

Seeing her expression, Golden Retriever and Ren Yue also turned to look behind them, both exclaiming “holy shit” in unison.

Ren Yue muttered: “Does this game have so many players?”

How could that be possible?! Where did all these players come from! Probably over 95 percent of these children were ghosts!!

Golden Retriever turned deathly pale, though it was completely hidden by the mud covering his face. Looking at these expressionless figures, he said uncertainly: “Could it be that none of them are…?”

“I don’t think they are either…”

“Should we still go?” Golden Retriever asked.

“Let’s go? You hold onto me, let Ren Yue hold onto you, then I’ll hold onto my mama, that way we won’t get lost.” After saying this, she became uncertain and added a word, “Probably… if you don’t want to go, you can stay here, just be careful.”

“I’m going!” Golden Retriever gritted his teeth, “Worst case, we’ll all… you know…”

Ren Yue glanced back at the large contingent of ghosts, immediately turned her head back, and said trembling: “I… I’ll go too…”

Compared to the unknown fog, she was more afraid of these human-like ghosts, even though she had been through many instances, she still couldn’t get used to them.

She looked at Shen Maomao, envying her courage just as she had countless times before.

One adult and three children came down from the ruins, joining hands as Shen Maomao had arranged.

One of the children from the group behind them stood up and asked: “Where are you going?” At the same time, all the other children stood up with a rustle, their gazes fixed upon them.

Ren Yue’s entire body stiffened, her face wearing an expression on the verge of tears, not daring to look back.

Shen Maomao wiped the dirt from her face and turned back with her blood-covered face, snarling: “None of your damn business?!”

Unfortunately, this didn’t scare anyone. The boy who spoke first said: “Are you trying to get yourselves killed in the fog? There are all kinds of monsters in there, and you’ll be killed and devoured as soon as you enter.”

It sounded like well-intentioned advice, but his eyes kept watching Mother Shen, seemingly anticipating some kind of reaction from her, clearly harboring ill intentions.

Mother Shen acted as if she hadn’t noticed, lowering her head to focus intently on Shen Maomao: “Maomao, shall we go home?”

Shen Maomao smiled at the boy: “Thanks for your ‘kind reminder,’ but instead of worrying about us, why don’t you think about how to escape from here yourself?”

Then she turned to Mother Shen: “Mama, let’s go.” She had also abandoned the thought of inviting other players along.

The four of them walked to the edge of the fog, with a group of little tails behind them. Shen Maomao hardened her heart and ignored those people behind them.

Just before stepping into the unknown, Mother Shen softly said to them: “Children, no matter what you hear, don’t look back, and don’t let go of each other’s hands, understand?”

The three children nodded repeatedly, as if receiving an imperial edict [shèng zhǐ – an emperor’s official orders].

Then, under Mother Shen’s guidance, they walked into the fog, entering the border zone of the rules.

Shen Maomao found it difficult to describe the feeling, only that this fog was similar to the fog behind Lingyuan Village’s mountain, yet somehow different.

They were both thick and viscous; once inside, you couldn’t see anything, not even hear the voices of people right beside you, but there were significant differences.

The fog in Lingyuan Village was like water, walking through it would dampen one’s sleeves, giving a sense of heaviness; the fog outside the school was like ice, so cold it seemed capable of giving frostbite to those within. Shen Maomao felt her limbs growing stiff, only able to move mechanically, stumbling along after Mother Shen, not daring to let go of her hand.

She couldn’t hear anyone else’s footsteps, only her own. If it weren’t for constantly feeling Mother Shen holding her hand, she might have already died from fright.

As they walked, she suddenly heard a piercing scream from behind, accompanied by chewing sounds that seemed to come from nowhere.

Shen Maomao reflexively wanted to look back, but remembering Mother Shen’s words, her neck stiffened slightly, and she didn’t dare turn around.

She recalled a Greek myth: Orpheus begged the King of the Underworld to return his wife, and the King made an exception, letting his wife follow him forward, instructing that no matter what happened, he must not look back. The king followed these instructions, though the entire way he anxiously felt his wife wasn’t keeping up. Finally reaching the gates of the underworld, he couldn’t resist anymore, and when he turned back, he saw his wife fade and disappear behind him, never able to leave the underworld again…

She feared that if she looked back, she would meet the same fate, though she didn’t have a wife, so the one disappearing would probably be herself.

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The author has something to say:

Exhausted _(:з」∠)_

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