The Hand of Confession – Chapter 356

Volume 11: The Days of Traversing Through the Mirror

Head Turn¹

Sila sila——²

The wind was strong today, carrying willow catkins everywhere. The snack carts outside the school were all covered with plastic sheets to prevent the catkins from flying into the food.

Shen Maomao and Hai Dongqing stood in front of the oden³ shop, waiting for their oden. The wind made their windbreakers whip and flutter. Her hair flew about wildly like the Golden Mane Lion King⁴, and the moment she opened her mouth to speak, it was filled with strands of hair, so she quickly gave up on that idea.

Soon, the oden was packed up. Shen Maomao turned around, carrying the plastic bag, when a few reddish willow catkins blew into her face, making her heart skip a beat. She dodged to the side out of reflex, successfully avoiding them.

Where did these red willow catkins come from?

She looked around and walked forward in the direction of the wind. Soon, she arrived at the school gate and saw two people standing there talking.

It was Wu Mei and the little newcomer.

Those reddish willow catkins were coming from the newcomer’s back. At this moment, she was like a willow tree that had just entered its seeding period, carefully bursting open a few seeds from time to time, releasing a few catkins to scout the surroundings.

Shen Maomao swallowed. A little uncertain, she asked, “I… I’m not seeing things, am I?”

Hai Dongqing said, “If you’re referring to the red willow catkins on her back, then no, you’re not.”

“Has she been targeted?”

“Perhaps.”

Shen Maomao clicked her tongue. After some thought, she decided not to go up and disturb them. After all, Wu Mei was currently in charge of the newcomer, and it wouldn’t be right for her to bypass Wu Mei and speak to her directly.

Maybe tonight, when she comes over, I can probe a little, Shen Maomao thought.

The two of them had dinner at the cafeteria and then began to wander around the school. Shen Maomao went to a nearby general store and bought a few disposable masks. This time, she finally didn’t have to cover her mouth while walking.

In the blink of an eye, more than an hour passed. It was now the hottest time of the day, yet Shen Maomao felt even colder than before and couldn’t help but hug her shoulders.

Beside her, Hai Dongqing asked, “Are you cold?”

Shen Maomao nodded. “A little. Something feels wrong.”

Hai Dongqing: “Good thing I dressed warmly. I’m not cold at all.”

Shen Maomao stopped in her tracks and looked at her, her face a mask of question marks. “??”

Hai Dongqing looked innocent. “Why’d you stop walking?”

Shen Maomao narrowed her eyes.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that Hai Dongqing’s smug look just now was damnably similar to Lou Jingmo’s. But Lou Jingmo had explicitly stated she wouldn’t be coming in, and Hai Dongqing’s voice wasn’t much like Lou Jingmo’s, so she immediately ruled out that possibility.

Did she have reason to believe that this Hai Dongqing knew her and Lou Jingmo, knew them well, and was planning to pretend to be Lou Jingmo to gain her trust?

But logically, that didn’t quite add up. She had used a sculpted face to enter this instance—however, it was a face she had used before. So, had this person run a instance with her in the past?

Shen Maomao’s brain capacity was limited; she forgot many people after meeting them just once and couldn’t for the life of her figure out who this woman could be… Right, it might not even be a woman. This golden-haired girl couldn’t do voice impersonations, but that didn’t mean Hai Dongqing couldn’t.

These thoughts ran through her mind. Hai Dongqing stood before her, still looking at her with a puzzled expression. That damnably familiar innocent look made her teeth itch with annoyance, yet she was helpless.

“It’s nothing,” she answered the earlier question through gritted teeth. “I have a toothache.”

Hai Dongqing looked at her and could indeed see the meaning of “toothache” in her expression. She asked, “Do you want to find a dentist nearby?”

Shen Maomao gave a fake smile. “No need. I’ll just bear with it.”

The corner of Hai Dongqing’s mouth curved up for a moment before she quickly returned to her expressionless look. She asked, “Shall we go?”

Shen Maomao: “Let’s go.”

The two walked forward side by side until they reached the base of a statue over two meters tall. Suddenly, Shen Maomao’s ears caught some strange sounds, like the squeaking of a mouse, followed by a kachi kachi gnawing, as if on a table leg. It made her shiver for no reason, and she felt even colder.

She looked up at the statue. The name on the pedestal was unfamiliar to her, but from the introduction behind it, she learned that this was an old professor from the College of Humanities. Her gaze traveled up the statue. The old professor was painted gold, dressed in a suit of clothes, and looked down with a kind and benevolent expression at the numerous students passing beneath him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

She looked at Hai Dongqing again and found her staring back with a confused expression.

“Did you hear anything?” she asked.

Hai Dongqing replied, “Yeah. Are there mice here?”

Shen Maomao: “…” So unperceptive. Absolutely fucking not Lou-jie!!

Hai Dongqing seemed to notice the disdain in her eyes and quickly added, “Something feels off here. Should we get going?”

Shen Maomao nodded. Just as she was about to lift her leg, she heard her say, “Wait a second, I need to tie my shoelace.” With that, she squatted down.

Shen Maomao looked down at her, her pupils constricting violently. She looked back up at the statue, then grabbed Hai Dongqing’s arm, yanked her to her feet, and roared, “RUN!”

Hai Dongqing, not understanding the situation, was pulled along, stumbling forward. But she quickly regained her footing and started running alongside her.

They had only run a few meters when a strong gust of wind hit them from behind, accompanied by the screams of nearby NPCs. Then, with a loud DONG, something crashed down at their feet, making the ground tremble slightly. Small stone fragments shot out, hitting their legs and hurting like hell.

Dust filled the air. A sharp pain shot through Shen Maomao’s leg, and she nearly fell to her knees. Fortunately, Hai Dongqing caught her, and they stumbled forward two more steps together before turning to look back.

Behind them, a large, round, golden stone was embedded in the ground. In the distance, the professor’s statue was now empty from the neck up, with only a stump remaining.

A group of NPCs surrounded them, all talking at once to comfort them——

“Are you okay, students?”

“Were you scared? That was so dangerous…”

“Are you hurt? Do you want to go to the infirmary? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Shen Maomao’s head was covered in a cold sweat. When the wind blew, her forehead was plastered with willow catkins.

If they had been a step slower just now, the two of them would have been crushed to death on the spot by that stone.

She sucked in a cold breath, her heart still pounding with fear. She took a closer look at the statue’s head on the ground. The part exposed was the neck area, but aside from a ring of irregular cracks, she didn’t see anything else.

Shen Maomao withdrew her gaze and said to the surrounding NPCs, “We’re fine… Thank you for your concern… We’re not hurt, we just want to get back quickly…”

Only then did the enthusiastic students let them go. Shen Maomao’s leg was injured and it hurt a little when she walked, but it wasn’t a major issue. Supported by Hai Dongqing, she left the crowd of onlookers.

“Does it hurt a lot?” Hai Dongqing asked her.

Shen Maomao: “It’s alright. I’ve been through worse pain.”

Hai Dongqing’s grip on her arm tightened.

Shen Maomao glanced at her.

Hai Dongqing asked again, “How did you know the statue’s head was going to fall off?”

Shen Maomao said thankfully, “I have you to thank for that. If you hadn’t squatted down, I wouldn’t have seen the shadow on the ground.”

“There was something wrong with the statue’s shadow?”

Shen Maomao hummed in agreement. “I saw that the head part of the statue’s shadow was tilted outward and was already largely separated from the neck.”

But at the time, the statue itself was perfectly intact. Moreover, she had run in the opposite direction of the shadow-head’s tilt, yet the statue’s head still landed at their feet.

But in the world of a game, if you get serious, you lose. The things here can’t be explained by science.

The two supported each other on the way back. Hai Dongqing walked her back to the dormitory and then left without a word.

Shen Maomao was left alone in the dormitory. She lifted her pant leg. The wound, which had stuck to the fabric, was torn open and began to drip blood incessantly. There was a large scrape on her calf. It looked quite terrifying, but she hadn’t injured any muscles or bones. Besides hurting a bit, there were no other effects.

The pant leg was stained with blood and clearly couldn’t be worn anymore. Fortunately, she still had a pair of autumn pants⁵.

She took off the pair she was wearing, changed into her pajamas, and stumbled over to get some water to soak them in a basin. Then, she reached under the bed to feel for her suitcase, planning to take out the other pair of autumn pants.

As she was feeling around, her hand suddenly felt a chill, as if she had touched something soft and cool, like a piece of jelly.

She yanked her hand back violently. Touching her thumb and middle finger together and then pulling them apart, she watched as a translucent, sticky, and disgusting thread was drawn between them.

There was something underneath.

Shen Maomao realized this with stark clarity.

Her surroundings were exceptionally quiet. The sounds of cars and people downstairs seemed to recede in an instant. Warm sunlight shone through the glass window, but she felt no warmth at all, only a chill that spread through her entire body.

She used a hemostatic and pain-relieving item almost immediately, then sat on her bed clutching a dagger and began to think of a countermeasure.

She was the only one in the dorm right now. She didn’t know how big the thing under the bed was, nor was she sure if she could beat it. Therefore, the best method was to use the “delay” tactic: don’t disturb it, stall for as long as possible, and try to wait until someone returned so she could call for help.

“Sila sila——”

It sounded like something was crawling under the rough bed boards. Shen Maomao simply climbed onto her desk and sat there, staring intently under the bed.

“Sila sila——”

The sound continued, only this time it wasn’t coming from the bed boards, but from the desk.

But she hadn’t seen anything move under the desk…

The next second, that sound erupted from under all three beds and the desk in the dormitory, assaulting Shen Maomao’s eardrums with every scrape, making her heart race. She raised her hands to cover her ears.

“Hohh—hohh—”

Something was gasping for air, but it wasn’t a normal sound. It was like Kayako⁶ with her throat slit, able to only produce a harsh, bubbling sound from the wound.

“In broad daylight…” She swallowed and said with difficulty, “Does it have to be this intense?”

“Dong—dong dong—”

The metal desk began to clang rapidly. A pale, ghastly hand slapped onto the tabletop and reached for Shen Maomao’s leg.

With a BANG—, the dormitory door was suddenly kicked open. Hai Dongqing burst in like a whirlwind, carrying a heavy bag. Without even looking, she slammed the bag down on the desk, right on top of the hand, creating an earth-shattering noise.

Shen Maomao turned her face away, unable to watch. She felt a phantom pain in her own hand.

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