The Hand of Confession – Chapter 105

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

The Dead

The person calling her seemed to be Chen Meihan, who had long since died…

“Maomao… where are you all going?”

A voice reached her ears, making Shen Maomao feel extremely uncomfortable—it was Lou Jingmo’s voice!

She tightly gripped Mother Shen’s hand, her mind in complete chaos, yet she didn’t dare respond.

That voice anxiously called from behind her again: “Come back quickly! It’s dangerous ahead! Shen Maomao!”

Shen Maomao felt dazed.

Dangerous ahead? Was it safe behind then?

As if seeing through her thoughts, that voice said: “When I wasn’t around, how did you let yourself get deceived? Come quickly, take my hand, I’ll lead you away!”

Shen Maomao walked forward while thinking chaotically: What about Golden Retriever? What about Golden Retriever?

That person spoke again: “Golden Retriever has already been rescued. Feel carefully, is the hand you’re holding still his?”

Shen Maomao froze, feeling a prickly sensation from the hand holding Golden Retriever’s. Golden Retriever’s hand had become strange, covered in stiff hair, and his originally normal five fingers had transformed into a thin, long stick that she was grasping, the coarse hair painfully pricking her palm…

Not like a human hand, but like…

Like what?

Shen Maomao couldn’t quite remember.

This sensation… like a giant spider extending its front leg into her hand, both nauseating and terrifying…

She feared nothing in heaven or earth, except spiders.

Shen Maomao was nearly frightened senseless, standing frozen in place, wanting to throw away what was in her hand, but her remaining rationality prevented this action.

Her limbs went numb, especially the hand holding the spider leg, which she could barely feel anymore.

A cold aura swept over, as that voice continued to lure her to turn back: “Maomao… don’t walk any further, come back quickly!”

Shen Maomao felt tempted, hazily wanting to turn around, when a pair of hands held her head, and Mother Shen’s voice whispered into her ear: “Why isn’t Maomao being obedient? Disobedient children must be punished…”

The mentioned “punishment” overcame her fear of spiders, and the spider leg in her hand changed back to Golden Retriever’s warm fingers.

Shen Maomao jolted awake, only to see Mother Shen’s head turned completely around to face her while her body still faced forward, nearly causing her to faint on the spot.

She swallowed hard, trembling as she said: “Mama… I’m sorry… someone keeps calling me from behind.”

Mother Shen’s eyes flashed with an icy light: “He won’t call you anymore. This time Maomao must be obedient and walk forward nicely.”

Shen Maomao nodded repeatedly, saying weakly: “Yes, Mama, I understand.”

Mother Shen turned her head back to its proper position with a “crack-crack” sound and continued leading her forward.

Although Shen Maomao was startled, she wasn’t particularly afraid in her heart. Because Mother Shen was doing this to protect her, even rescuing her from that voice that was like a siren’s song.

After her head had been turned back for a while, Shen Maomao again couldn’t hear her footsteps. However, this time she wasn’t scared or panicked, and that voice of Lou Jingmo behind her, just as Mother Shen had said, never appeared again.

She closely followed Mother Shen’s pace, walking a short stretch of relatively peaceful road, then suddenly the cold sensation around her vanished, and the bright sunlight nearly blinded her dog eyes [gǒu yǎn – colloquial expression meaning ‘one’s eyes’].

They seemed to have escaped from that ghostly place!!!

However, Mother Shen still didn’t stop walking, continuing to lead her forward. Shen Maomao opened her eyes and looked around, seeing empty roads and desolate streets, without any pedestrians or vehicles in sight.

Golden Retriever’s hand, which had been tightly holding hers, suddenly loosened. Shen Maomao’s heart jumped, and she quickly clenched her fist, not letting him leave.

Golden Retriever’s hand paused for a moment, hesitantly gripping back, and continued walking with them.

After walking for a short while, Shen Maomao saw her familiar building structure, and also saw the bloodstains at her building unit’s entrance.

This should be the real surface world, Mother Shen had truly led them home…

They climbed up through the dim corridor, Mother Shen used her key to open the door, and the four of them filed in one after another. Shen Maomao looked at Father Shen’s decomposed, unrecognizable face; smelled the faint but putrid odor in the air; heard Mother Shen’s loud slam of the door behind them, yet still didn’t dare to look back.

Mother Shen walked up to the young ones and said: “Alright, we’ve safely arrived home!”

Shen Maomao let out a sigh of relief, turning her head and body around to look at Golden Retriever and Ren Yue, finding that apart from their poor complexions, they were still intact, with no missing arms or legs.

Ren Yue covered her nose and silently moved a few steps away from Father Shen, not saying a word.

Golden Retriever plopped down on the floor with lingering fear, voice trembling as they sighed: “This is too much for me…”

Mother Shen enthusiastically invited her daughter’s friends to sit on the sofa, next to Father Shen: “Come over here, don’t sit on the floor, it’s too cold. Come sit here.”

Ren Yue’s face turned pale, and Golden Retriever also said: “Auntie, I’m too tired, I can’t get up anymore.”

Shen Maomao quickly pushed her into the kitchen: “Mama! We’re hungry! Could you please make us something to eat?”

Upon hearing this, Mother Shen stopped trying to attend to her daughter’s friends and hurried to the kitchen to wash vegetables, instructing Shen Maomao while washing: “Then take good care of your friends, there’s fruit over there on the floor, wash some for them to eat.”

“Okay, Mama, don’t worry about us, we’ll go play in my room.”

After saying this, Shen Maomao closed the kitchen door and walked out.

In the living room, Ren Yue and Golden Retriever huddled together trembling at the doorway, and as soon as they saw her come out, Ren Yue immediately shrieked: “Maomao! Your father!”

Shen Maomao tilted her head to look, and saw that Father Shen was causing trouble again, trying to scare the young ones.

However, she felt nothing in her heart, and even wanted to laugh a little.

After experiencing so many instances of “thunder being loud but rain being small” [léi shēng dà yǔ diǎn xiǎo – Chinese idiom meaning “more bark than bite”], she had discovered that Father Shen was just a paper tiger [zhǐ lǎo hǔ – Chinese idiom meaning someone who appears fierce but is actually harmless], and hadn’t been scared by him since.

She opened her eyes fiercely, like an angry frog [qīng wā – comparison to a puffed-up frog]: “What are you looking at? Be careful, or I’ll tell Mama!”

Father Shen gave her a deep look, then slowly closed his eyes.

Just as Ren Yue and Golden Retriever were starting to relax, three knocks suddenly came from the door—”dong dong dong”.

The sound scared Ren Yue into letting out a shriek.

The kitchen door was yanked open, and Mother Shen stood in the doorway backlit, holding a cleaver, asking coldly: “What’s wrong, Maomao?”

Ren Yue’s eyes rolled back and she nearly fainted, but Golden Retriever quickly steadied her.

Shen Maomao answered truthfully: “Mama, could it be Auntie Liu from the third floor at the door?”

Mother Shen frowned and shooed them away: “Maomao, take your friends to play in your room, Mama will have a chat with your Auntie Liu.”

As she said this, she didn’t put down the cleaver, making it unclear whether she was preparing for a conversation or a confrontation.

Shen Maomao felt a bit worried about her: “Mama, be careful, if there’s danger, just shout my name.”

Mother Shen nodded, the gleaming cleaver reflecting cold metallic light in the sunlight: “Don’t worry, Maomao, Mama will be fine.”

With the principal party having spoken thus, Shen Maomao hurriedly pushed Ren Yue and Golden Retriever back to her room.

Once the small door closed, it blocked out all sounds from outside.

Golden Retriever quickly sat on the small bed, completely lacking composure: “Sister Rabbit, I almost couldn’t make it back QWQ.”

Ren Yue sat down beside him with dignity. Unable to see Father Shen, her expression softened considerably as she said unhurriedly: “Me too…”

It turned out both of them had experienced the same hallucinations as Shen Maomao, hearing familiar voices asking them to turn back, and the hands they were holding had transformed into various strange creature limbs.

Speaking of this, Golden Retriever felt most like crying: “You only had one hand affected, I had things in both hands!!”

That was truly miserable.

So what was Golden Retriever afraid of? Why hadn’t he let go and run away in such a fearful situation?

Then Golden Retriever resolved her confusion—

“Fortunately, I’m only afraid of dogs!” Golden Retriever said gratefully, “Thanks to that dog that bit me when I was little, I’m very grateful, I’ll definitely buy it ten jin [approximately 0.5kg] of imported dog food when I get back!!”

Damn, Golden Retriever being afraid of dogs [shén tè me – colloquial expression of exasperation].

So he had been holding two dog paws the whole way, no wonder he hadn’t been scared enough to let go and run!

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Having finally escaped from the inner world back to the surface world, the three of them still didn’t feel much relief in their hearts.

If time hadn’t gone wrong, today should be the sixth day of the game, and if they couldn’t find an exit, they would have to face the demons’ revelry [guǐ guài de kuáng huān – supernatural creatures’ celebration].

Soon after, Mother Shen came out carrying two plates, placing food on the table for the first time since Father Shen’s death—perhaps she also found Father Shen’s current odor a bit unpleasant?

The four of them sat around the dining table, with Mother Shen letting the three young ones choose their seats. Golden Retriever and Ren Yue chose the left and right positions at lightning speed.

Because sitting in front meant facing Father Shen while eating, and sitting with their back to Father Shen felt very insecure.

Shen Maomao struggled with the decision for a moment before choosing to sit with her back to Father Shen, letting Mother Shen sit across from her.

After all, Mother Shen wouldn’t let Father Shen attack her beloved daughter!

—Probably.

Mother Shen turned on the television and placed steaming rice in front of the children, urging them to eat quickly.

It was seven o’clock, and the local morning news was playing on TV, reporting on the unusual red rain, explaining it as acid rain, but saying nothing about whether school was canceled.

The three young ones were yawning constantly, with dark circles under their eyes, looking like they might fall asleep just walking.

But even in this condition, they didn’t dare to sleep, nor did they dare skip even one day of school. After all, if they skipped school today, they’d probably be done for tomorrow.

At the strong insistence of the three children, Mother Shen reluctantly led them to school.

Nothing unusual happened on the way, Auntie Liu from the third floor didn’t appear, and no umbrellas appeared at the entrance.

Shen Maomao felt something was strange, thinking this was the calm before the storm.

When they reached the school gate, things felt even stranger, as she saw people coming and going at the school entrance, students chatting in small groups, parents reminding their children to study hard…

This wasn’t right.

It was too wrong…

After that series of incidents, how could the school have returned to its original bustling state?

Just as she was puzzling over this, someone suddenly called her name from behind.

Shen Maomao’s body stiffened, her entire back going numb.

The person calling her seemed to be Chen Meihan, who had long since died…

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