The Hand of Confession – Chapter 372

Volume 11: The Days of Traversing Through the Mirror

Egg-Spirits¹

Their faces were as smooth as peeled eggs.

The group scrambled up from the ground, planning to head to Building 18 first to scout it out and see how it differed from its nighttime counterpart.

Building 17 was still completely empty, but as they stepped outside, they could see the blurry figures of a few students passing by the front of the building, hurrying toward the academic building.

They were heading in the complete opposite direction of these students. The moment Shen Maomao looked up, she saw several students approaching from a distance and rubbed her eyes, uncertain. “Why do I feel like… something’s off about them?”

Lou Jingmo said, “You’re not seeing things. They don’t have faces.”

No faces?!!

Peng Xiaorui squinted, craning her neck to get a better look. She saw that their faces were as smooth as peeled eggs, completely lacking the natural contours of facial features. They looked like a bunch of walking egg-spirits.

“Fuck,” Shen Maomao said, “are these even normal people anymore?”

“Perhaps,” Lou Jingmo replied.

The three of them arrived at the base of Building 16.

It was time for morning classes, and students were trickling out of the building. Without exception, none of them had faces. Despite having no mouths or ears, they could somehow converse with each other. They showed no reaction to seeing the three normally-featured girls, and as they passed, the girls could hear the clear sounds of their laughter and chatter. It was utterly bizarre.

Shen Maomao controlled her expression and stared straight ahead as she walked. The moment the two groups passed each other, she immediately twisted her head to watch their backs as she kept walking, her whole shoulder nearly turning with her.

Lou Jingmo tapped her. “Watch where you’re going.”

Shen Maomao quickly snapped back to attention. “What do you guys think this means? What is the mirror world trying to tell us?”

Peng Xiaorui said, “I don’t know what it’s trying to tell us, but I want to know how they recognize each other. These eggs all look the same. How the hell can anyone tell who’s who?”

Shen Maomao froze, stopping at the dormitory entrance as if she had grasped a key point. “You’re saying… you can’t tell them apart?”

Peng Xiaorui asked, “Is there a problem? Can you?”

Shen Maomao clapped her hands. “Right, no problem, you can’t tell them apart. Don’t you think they’re like anonymous users on an online forum?”

“Now that you mention it, it does have that kind of vibe,” Peng Xiaorui said. “So, you think the theme of this instance is related to cyberbullying?”

Shen Maomao nodded. “It could be campus bullying triggered by cyberbullying.”

Lou Jingmo gave her a look of approval.

“So, should we go up and take a look?” Shen Maomao asked.

Lou Jingmo looked past her. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Shen Maomao whipped her head around and saw a thin, haggard-looking girl walking out of the building.

The girl carried an ordinary backpack, wore jeans and sneakers, a white baseball cap, and a pink face mask—she was almost completely covered up, revealing only a pair of lifeless eyes.

At first glance, she was unremarkable, but that in itself was the most remarkable thing in this world—this girl had facial features!

And for someone this thin and this unique, there was an eighty percent chance it was Zhan Xin.

With that thought, Shen Maomao immediately called out from a distance, “Zhan Xin!”

The girl, who had already walked past them, stiffened. Her steps faltered for a second, but she didn’t turn around. Instead, she quickened her pace.

Shen Maomao and the other two exchanged glances and immediately ran to block her path. “Why are you running? Didn’t we just meet?”

Zhan Xin stared at the ground and said in a low voice, “I don’t remember you.”

Shen Maomao said, “Just a while ago, in the bathroom, you were having an episode. I was the one who found your medicine for you, don’t you remember?”

“Was… that you?” Zhan Xin said uncertainly. “Sorry, I don’t really remember.”

Did this Zhan Xin truly not remember them, or was she pretending?

Regardless, Shen Maomao went along with it. “It’s fine, maybe it’s been too long. It’s okay if you don’t remember. Where are you headed now? To eat? Want to join us?”

Zhan Xin said quietly, “I suggest you don’t get too close to me… or you’ll be ostracized too.”

Shen Maomao said dismissively, “Don’t worry about it. We’re exchange students, we’ll be leaving in a few days.”

Zhan Xin paused, then looked up at them. “Do you need something from me? I’m going to be late for class.”

Shen Maomao said, “Can’t we just hang out with you for fun? We just want to be your friend.”

Zhan Xin was silent for a second, clearly not buying it.

Not wanting to push her, Shen Maomao simply asked for her contact information so they could hang out later. Zhan Xin agreed, gave them a Penguin number,² and then hurried off toward the academic building.

Peng Xiaorui said, “So it really is Zhan Xin, but she doesn’t seem to remember what happened at night. What now? Do we wait for nightfall and go back, or stay here and see how the story develops?”

“Go back?” Lou Jingmo suddenly interjected. “We shouldn’t be in such a hurry to go back. An opportunity like this is rare. We might be able to find a way to leave for good from here.”

Peng Xiaorui started frantically signaling Shen Maomao with her eyes.

Shen Maomao, strangely enough, understood perfectly—

See!! She doesn’t want to go back to reality! She’s the fake!!

Shen Maomao felt a headache coming on. “Let’s just observe during the day for now. See where Bai Lu went, and while we’re at it, look for anyone else who might have entered the mirror.”

…

After a walk around, they discovered that the school in the mirror world consisted of only one academic building—the humanities building. The dorm residents also seemed to be limited to humanities students from Zhan Xin’s year—and only the girls.

In the entire school, aside from Zhan Xin and the three of them, every other person they encountered was a faceless egg-spirit. When the egg-spirits gathered together—even a second glance was a form of mental pollution.

Seeing that class was about to end, Shen Maomao decided to stake out Zhan Xin first. As one of the story’s main characters, even in her amnesiac state, she might be a source of key information.

The security booth was empty. The group didn’t linger and, using their course schedule, found the lecture hall where Zhan Xin had her class.

It was worth noting that the old professor lecturing on the podium actually had a face!

The professor was lecturing with great animation and relish to a classroom full of egg-spirits, and even went two minutes over time. Shen Maomao stood on her tiptoes, peering inside, but couldn’t spot Zhan Xin in the vast sea of egg-spirits. However, she did see another person who stood out—Wu Huiling, sitting by the window, surrounded by an empty space.

The egg-spirits had consciously separated themselves, leaving a large buffer zone around her, as if speaking a single word to Wu Huiling would give them AIDS.

Wu Huiling, meanwhile, was nonchalantly doodling in a notebook, seemingly unfazed by the stares of those around her.

A moment later, the bell rang, and the old professor left with his water bottle. A stir went through the students in the room, but it died down as soon as Wu Huiling stood up.

Wu Huiling scanned the room, a cold smirk playing on her lips, and strode out of the classroom.

“What’s she so smug about? Isn’t she just a slut³ who’s slept with a thousand men?”

“Don’t say that. You forgot she has AIDS? What if she hears you and spits on you?”

“Ugh! What was the counselor thinking? Why didn’t they make her take a leave of absence?”

“And her, too. How can she have the nerve to walk around after catching a disease like that? If it were me, I’d have found a crack in the ground to bury myself in instead of coming out and being an eyesore.”

As soon as she was out of earshot, the classroom filled with whispers.

Shen Maomao scanned the doorway but couldn’t tell who was speaking. Or maybe—everyone was speaking.

Peng Xiaorui volunteered. “I’ll follow her.”

“Can you handle it?” Shen Maomao asked.

Peng Xiaorui puffed out her chest. “Trust me. I’ll see if I can get any information out of her. Let’s meet back at the academic building when I’m done.”

“Then be careful.”

Peng Xiaorui gave her an “OK” sign and bounded down the stairs.

Shen Maomao watched her go, an indescribable feeling welling up inside her. She glanced at Lou Jingmo beside her and figured it was probably anxiety from not knowing whether this Lou Jingmo was real or fake.

After Wu Huiling left, more egg-spirits began to file out of the classroom. The crowd was too thick, and Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo were pushed away from the door, craning their necks to see inside.

Lou Jingmo patted her. “Look—the back door.”

Shen Maomao turned her head in the direction she indicated and saw several egg-spirits coming out, surrounding a girl. One of them reached out and shoved the girl a couple of times as a string of curses came from someone’s direction.

It was Zhan Xin.

Zhan Xin remained silent, but her breathing was ragged, as if she couldn’t catch her breath.

“Still playing the damsel in distress in front of us?”

“Aren’t you tired of putting on this act every single day?”

“Did you steal my makeup? You have the guts to steal but not to admit it?”

As they spoke, they started getting physical with Zhan Xin.

Shen Maomao thought, This is my time to shine. She was ready to step on a seven-colored auspicious cloud and descend from the heavens⁴ to save Zhan Xin from her plight. But just as she took a step forward, Lou Jingmo grabbed her arm. “Don’t get involved.”

Shen Maomao looked back at her. “What do you mean?”

“How do you know Zhan Xin is innocent?”

“I don’t know if she’s innocent or not,” Shen Maomao said, “but she’s being bullied right now, so I’m going to save her. We can figure out her innocence later.”

Lou Jingmo suddenly smiled. “Then go. I’ll be right here with you.”

! Shen Maomao thought. She’s definitely trying to mislead me! There’s no way Lou Jingmo would smile like that! That old dog⁵ is cunning as hell; if she smiles, it’s a cold smile, a mocking smile, or a malicious smile, right?! This imposter’s act is sloppy!

She quickly averted her gaze, lest she be mesmerized by the smile, and shouted at the group, “HEY, HEY, HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” With that, she strode over.

Several egg-spirits turned to look at her. Their blank faces betrayed no expression, making it impossible to read their emotions. One of them stepped forward and spoke, “Who are you? Mind your own damn business.”

Shen Maomao declared, “Me? I’m an online sprayer⁶, a specialist in carrying out justice on the web. They call me the Keyboard Warrior⁷. Got it?”

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