The Hand of Confession – Chapter 351

Volume 11: The Days of Traversing Through the Mirror

Jiangcheng University

New Instance

Although it was very happy at home, the restrictions were just as numerous. So after staying at her house for one more day, they packed up and returned to their own place.

The two of them stuffed their winter clothes into the bottom of the wardrobe, planning to wear them again when they returned to S City for the New Year.

In December, Nancheng also fully entered winter. But unlike S City, the cold air in Nancheng was purely a magic attack, so cold it made the seams of your bones itch. Simply wearing thick clothes was likely not enough to fight against it.

Shen Maomao chose to hole up at home completely, refusing to go out no matter what.

But some things couldn’t be avoided just by not going out——like instances, and for another example, death.

As New Year’s Day approached, she finally received another instance notification, about to embark on a new journey.

This time, Lou Jingmo said she still wouldn’t accompany her, and Golden Retriever was in the midst of reviewing in deep water and scorching fire¹, so she wouldn’t be joining her either.

So this time, she could truly only rely on herself.

The time to enter the instance was December 30th, two days before the new year.

Taking advantage of the time she still had, Shen Maomao organized the props she possessed in advance, only to discover that the Simon Peter card had become usable.

This realization made her heart ache a little.

She took the card out of her item inventory and placed it on the table for Lou Jingmo to see.

The gray card had regained its luster. A new face had appeared on the doll of Simon Peter; it was An Jing, her face full of reluctance as she gazed forward.

Shen Maomao sighed and flipped the card face down.

It seemed An Jing had entered another round of the game during this time and had failed to find a way to deal with Simon Peter.

Lou Jingmo wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “There’s nothing to be done about it.”

Shen Maomao nodded, indicating she understood.

…

Soon, it was December 30th. The time to enter the instance was two in the afternoon. After finishing lunch, Shen Maomao sat on the sofa, ready to go in.

Time passed, second by second. Shen Maomao couldn’t help but grip Lou Jingmo’s hand tighter.

A few seconds later, her vision began to spin. The last thing she heard was Lou Jingmo’s voice: “Don’t be afraid.”

She couldn’t help but reveal a smile in return, but unfortunately, her consciousness had completely faded by then. Lou Jingmo probably didn’t receive it.

A moist wind brushed across her face. The world inside the game seemed to have just finished raining. The wind carried the fragrance of gardenias, and judging by the temperature on her skin, it should be spring.

Shen Maomao opened her eyes and found herself standing on a sidewalk, wearing a very ordinary set of casual clothes. Directly in front of her stood a small cluster of buildings, though she didn’t know what they were for.

It was the season of fluttering willow catkins. The white, fluffy things filled the sky, making her involuntarily think of the heavy snow back home. She glanced behind her; the path she came from was covered by a vast, white sea of willow catkins. Just looking at it was enough to make one’s breath catch, a tickling sensation rising in her nasal cavity.

She retracted her gaze and continued walking along the small path. She finally got a clear view of the entire building and saw a sign next to the electric gate——Jiangcheng University.

A “The fuck²” almost escaped her lips. Shen Maomao’s heart raced, suspecting that the game was targeting her too.

Any university would have been fine, so why did it have to be called Jiangcheng University?

What the hell was the game maker trying to do?

Besides her, there were already three people at the entrance. Shen Maomao quickened her pace and came to a stop in front of them.

These three people were, surprisingly, all women, and none of them seemed to be over 25. Each one was more glamorous than the last.

Seeing Shen Maomao, one of the women came forward. “Are you a newcomer?”

Shen Maomao shook her head.

“You’re also a student at Jiang Da³?”

Shen Maomao hesitated, then nodded. I used to be, so that should count.

The woman’s use of “also” meant that among the three of them, there should be at least two Jiang Da students. It seemed this instance wasn’t targeting her specifically, but rather gathering Jiang Da people together, which made her feel considerably more at ease.

The four of them exchanged names. The tallest one was called Bai Lu⁴, the slightly chubby one was Wu Mei⁵, and the remaining one, who didn’t look very healthy and had a pale face, said her name was Gan Ze⁶.

None of them had cleared many instances. The highest level was Shen Maomao’s Lv6. Of the rest, Bai Lu and Wu Mei had both cleared four, and Gan Ze had cleared two.

Shen Maomao kept a trick up her sleeve, only saying she had cleared three instances.

The school gate was closed, and the campus was empty. Not a single person could be seen, likely because not everyone had arrived yet.

The group waited at the main gate, and before long, they saw several more people walking over from the distance.

And these people, without exception, were all women.

With the lesson from the overturned cart in front⁷ that was Golden Retriever, Shen Maomao couldn’t help but stealthily size them up, feeling that a cross-dressing big shot must be mixed in among them.

A total of ten women gathered at the gate. Through conversation, they confirmed that everyone was from Jiang Da. Some were current students, some had graduated many years ago, and only one was a third-year high school student who had just finished her art exam⁸. According to her, she was planning to apply to Jiang Da.

The young girl had a pretty good attitude, even smiling as she told them, “Looks like I should be a shoo-in this time.”

Shen Maomao glanced at her, then looked away.

After waiting for a long while, no one else appeared on the path. The school gate remained closed, and the sky didn’t change. The instance was clearly still inactive, which meant someone was still missing.

Waiting any longer was pointless. Bai Lu suggested, “Why don’t we split up and look? It’s best to go in pairs to avoid any problems.”

The other players had no objections. Those who knew each other immediately stood together, while the rest looked around, searching for teammates.

Bai Lu and Wu Mei formed a team. Shen Maomao had difficulty choosing; these people were all strangers to her, so picking anyone would be the same. She decided to wait for someone to pick her, or for someone else to be left over like her.

Objectively speaking, if she were to be left over, she felt she would probably end up on a team with Gan Ze. Because Gan Ze looked very weak, she was likely not within the players’ first-choice range.

As her mind was wandering, a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder with unearned familiarity⁹, and a voice asked her, “Want to team up?”

Shen Maomao frowned, brushing the claw off without leaving a trace. She turned to look——the woman behind her was very tall, a little shorter than Bai Lu, but still someone she had to look up to. Her features were bold and sharp; she didn’t look like a university student, but more like a powerful career woman from the corporate world.

The woman gave her a friendly smile. “My name is Hai Dongqing¹⁰.”

Shen Maomao: “…” My name is Rabbit—for some reason, the words just wouldn’t come out.

But the woman just had to ask her, “And you? What’s your name?”

“I…” Shen Maomao said, “Just call me Maomao¹¹.”

The three who had heard her name before couldn’t help but glance at her, but it was understandable. After all, it was a restraining relationship in the food chain; it sounded quite unlucky.

The small groups were quickly formed. Gan Ze was, as expected, left over. The other person left over was the little high school sister, and the two of them formed a team.

Everyone dispersed, searching the area around the school for people.

Shen Maomao had no clear direction. Hai Dongqing, on the other hand, was as swift and decisive as thunder and wind¹². She immediately picked a route to the side of the main gate and led her to scout outwards.

The area outside the school was very limited, with the walkable distance being no more than five hundred meters. The road was empty, with no pedestrians or vehicles. A row of gardenias was planted in the median strip, and both sides were lined with willow trees, their trunks packed together so densely that not a single gap was left.

The road by the main gate also had willow trees, but they were definitely not as dense as they were here. At a glance, she immediately felt the instance’s unfriendliness towards those with dense-phobia¹³.

Hai Dongqing spoke as they walked. “Are you nearsighted?”

Shen Maomao didn’t react in time. “Huh?”

“I’m a bit nearsighted. Could you please look ahead, is that a patch of white light?”

Shen Maomao only needed one look to know what she was talking about. “That should be the instance boundary. It’s all willow catkins.”

The woman frowned, covering her mouth and nose. “Do you have a mask on you?”

Shen Maomao felt her pockets. “No.”

“Alright then.”

It was obvious at a glance if there was anything here, and there was no sign of any living person. The two turned back. Before they even reached the school gate, they heard crying from up ahead. Hai Dongqing and she exchanged a look and simultaneously quickened their pace.

Two people were standing at the school gate: Bai Lu and Wu Mei. Sitting on the ground beside them was a girl who hadn’t been there before. She was currently crying with her head down, her whole body trembling, clearly frightened by something. Wu Mei was coaxing her with good words and a good tone, but the girl was still crying hard, not even lifting her head.

Shen Maomao asked, “A newcomer?”

Bai Lu nodded and pointed in a direction. “Should be. We found her over there. She ran over like her life depended on it. She wouldn’t say anything we asked, just kept crying.”

Shen Maomao saw her frown with considerable disgust, likely hating this kind of little newcomer who only knew how to weep and wail.

Hai Dongqing also said impatiently, “Forget it, just leave her outside to cry by herself.”

The girl immediately started crying even louder.

Wu Mei said helplessly, “If you keep crying like this, I really won’t bother with you anymore.”

The girl was frightened into silence, sniffling twice but not daring to cry again. She lifted her head from her knees, her voice trembling as she said, “There’s a monster here… Let’s run!”

Wu Mei squatted in front of her and asked patiently, “What kind of monster is it? Can you tell us about it in detail?”

The girl’s hands gripped her pants tightly. She said nervously, “I don’t know… I didn’t see it clearly… But my friend was taken by it… sob sob…” As she spoke, she seemed to recall the terrifying scene from before. Her body shuddered violently, and she almost couldn’t stop herself from crying again.

From her intermittent narrative, the group pieced together a complete story.

The two of them were newcomers, teleported into this instance together. Her friend didn’t believe in this evil, thinking it was some kind of prank, and charged straight into the sea of willow catkins.

Then, all she heard was a blood-curdling scream. That patch of willow catkins was instantly dyed red, scaring her so much that she didn’t even dare to check on her friend. She turned and ran towards where there was a path, bumping right into Bai Lu and Wu Mei.

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The author has something to say:

A ride? tan(90°), doesn’t exist.¹⁴

The comments on the last chapter don’t seem to have reached 100 yet, I’ll post again when they do~

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