The Hand of Confession – Chapter 83

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

The Cleaner

The cleaners take the path of killing all players

Shen Maomao still didn’t know the name of the small NPC beside her. She was pulled into Class 2-1’s classroom. Inside sat more than thirty underage “little radish heads” [young children], with the children chattering away, making the classroom as chaotic as a pot of porridge.

She stood on the teaching platform, looked around, then her eyes lit up, focusing on a delicate-looking girl with an ice-cold demeanor in the second-to-last row.

Awoooo!!

In her heart, groundhog screams were spamming wildly [her inner thoughts were going crazy with excitement].

Sister Lou was so cute when she was little! So cute!! So cute!!!

Ah! She died!!

“Huh?” the small NPC beside her asked puzzled, “Why did Lou Jingmo come so early? Sigh… looks like I can’t play with you, you should go over there quickly.”

Could it be that she and Sister Lou would be desk mates?!

Upon seeing her, her old friend, Shen Maomao immediately walked over with sparkling eyes, calling out in a sweet, childish voice: “Sister Lou!”

Lou Jingmo frowned slightly, gave her a faint glance, and didn’t speak.

Shen Maomao casually pulled out a chair and sat down, rummaging through her small backpack, finding a pink pencil case, two small notebooks, two books with protective covers, plus a bright red apple, a golden orange, and a White Rabbit milk candy [famous Chinese candy brand].

It seemed this identity’s family quite spoiled their child.

Shen Maomao took out the milk candy and placed it in front of Lou Jingmo: “Momo, have some candy!”

Lou Jingmo gave her a sidelong glance.

Shen Maomao hugged her backpack and started giggling foolishly.

A note was pushed in front of her, she looked at Lou Jingmo, who gestured for her to read the note.

The note was written in pencil, with Lou Jingmo’s characteristic iron-brush-silver-hook style [refers to a precise, clean writing style] characters—this game level’s difficulty is very high.

Shen Maomao also took out a small pencil and wrote: 【What do you mean?】

【Can you tell who the players are?】

【Not at all】

Besides the people she already knew, how could she recognize anyone else?

【Anyway, be careful with everything, don’t reveal your identity】

Shen Maomao’s heart sank, and she looked uneasily at Lou Jingmo.

From Sister Lou’s words… could revealing one’s identity be dangerous?

Lou Jingmo took back the note they had passed, carefully erased the marks bit by bit with an eraser, then crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the desk hole [storage space in traditional Chinese school desks].

Watching her actions, Shen Maomao became even more uneasy.

The little radish heads were increasing in number, and soon the classroom was almost full.

Following the sound of the class bell, a young man wearing glasses and a shirt walked into the classroom and stood at the teaching platform.

The little radish heads exploded——

“Wow! Is this our new homeroom teacher?”

“The teacher is so handsome!”

“I like this teacher!!”

The man smiled gently and lightly tapped the desk: “Students, please be quiet.”

His words seemed to have magic power, and the originally noisy classroom suddenly became quiet, with the children sitting up straight, waiting for the new teacher’s speech.

The man said: “My surname is Yue, you can call me Teacher Yue, I’ll teach you mathematics. Teacher Wang has family matters and won’t be coming to teach anymore, from now on I’ll be your homeroom teacher.”

The classroom immediately erupted in cheers.

Shen Maomao followed their example and cheered along, while scanning around with her eyes, observing if anyone in the classroom was behaving unusually.

Unfortunately, after looking around, she found nothing unusual.

Teacher Yue pressed his hand downward, signaling the children to lower their voices, then beckoned toward the door: “Come in.”

Everyone looked toward the classroom door, and a small shota [Japanese term for cute young boy] with golden hair walked onto the platform with small steps, looking coolly at the students below with an expressionless face.

“Wow! His hair is golden yellow!”

“Did he dye his hair? My mom’s hair is this color too.”

“The teacher said we’re not allowed to dye our hair!”

Shen Maomao covered her face.

Being too focused on looking at Sister Lou, she had forgotten about Golden Retriever.

Teacher Yue said with a smile: “This is student Liao Shi who has transferred back from abroad. His father is a foreigner, his hair is naturally like this, everyone shouldn’t bully him because of this, understand?”

“We—under—stand—Teacher—Yue——”

Teacher Yue pointed to a seat in the front row: “Then Student Liao Shi, you can sit there.”

Golden Retriever walked over coolly and sat down without making a sound.

“Alright, today is the first day of school, I hope everyone stays energetic…”

After giving his speech, Teacher Yue left the classroom, and a middle-aged woman came in, starting to teach them pinyin [Chinese phonetic system] and simple characters.

After one class ended, most of the classmates gathered around Golden Retriever, some curiously talking to him and asking various questions, while some mischievous ones pulled his hair and pinched his chubby cheeks.

Golden Retriever, unable to bear the annoyance, angrily shouted: “Go away!”

The little radish heads who hadn’t learned English yet: “What are you saying?”

Golden Retriever’s mouth twitched, and he said: “Stay away from me, or I’ll tell Teacher Yue!”

“Hmph! Tattletale!”

“Tattletales are the most annoying!”

“Who wants to play with you anyway!”

Shen Maomao silently congratulated Golden Retriever in her heart for successfully gaining the whole class’s dislike.

Golden Retriever seemed not to have recognized the two of them, and Lou Jingmo didn’t appear to plan on revealing their connection yet. Shen Maomao also suppressed her restless heart, pretending to be just a seven-year-old baby.

After the morning classes ended, Shen Maomao held Lou Jingmo’s small hand and went with her to the cafeteria to eat.

Golden Retriever sat in his seat, his small chubby hand propping up his baby-fat chin, showing a melancholic expression.

The two walked past him without taking their eyes off him, not drawing anyone’s attention.

After quickly finishing their meal, the two returned to the classroom.

The classroom was empty, everyone except Golden Retriever had gone to eat.

Shen Maomao walked up to Golden Retriever, beckoning to him with her finger: “Golden Retriever classmate, do you want to go play outside with us?”

Golden Retriever raised his head, his eyes blazing with two flames: “Children who casually give nicknames to others are the least cute!!”

Shen Maomao raised her eyebrows at him.

Golden Retriever froze: “You…”

Shen Maomao immediately interrupted him: “Let’s go play together, Student Liao Shi!”

Golden Retriever rolled his eyes around, putting on a reluctant appearance as he stood up: “Well, okay then.”

The three went downstairs together, sitting on the flower bed behind the building, swinging their short legs.

Golden Retriever said tearfully: “Why could they pull me in even when I was abroad?”

After crying, he started complaining to the two: “You’re so mean! Not talking to me all morning, making me worry!”

Shen Maomao helplessly spread her hands: “Who told you not to recognize us? I recognized you at first glance!”

Golden Retriever: “…Obviously, my hair is so distinctive!”

That was true. They had suddenly shrunk by more than ten years, and Golden Retriever, being a grown man, definitely wasn’t as observant as them girls.

Lou Jingmo had gotten addicted to swinging her little feet, and while swinging said: “Don’t reveal your player identity, I suspect there are cleaners in this game level.”

“Cleaners?” Shen Maomao asked.

Golden Retriever also said: “Isn’t that the dung beetle of the ocean world?”

Lou Jingmo pursed her lips: “Yeah, they’re dung beetles, so what does that make the players who get cleaned up?”

Golden Retriever: “…”

“Cleaners is a general term for a type of player, considered a hidden profession in the game,” Lou Jingmo explained, “Normal players follow the steps of exploring secrets, solving puzzles, and escaping the game, but cleaners take the path of killing all players.”

“After killing all players, they get an invincible buff, allowing them to freely explore exits and find items in the game.”

Shen Maomao hesitated: “…Killing people?”

Lou Jingmo curled her lips: “I’ve told you many times, there are no good people in this game, including some fugitives who live life on a knife’s edge [dangerous/risky life].”

For them, killing was just an everyday matter.

Shen Maomao lowered her head.

Things like killing seemed so far from her life, yet so close…

“The cleaners I’m talking about aren’t these kinds of people, but rather players who have successfully changed professions. Cleaner is a profession, and you can only change to it after successfully killing all players in a game level and clearing three levels using this method. After changing profession, they receive preferential treatment from the game levels.”

“Game levels with cleaners present might be like this current situation…” Lou Jingmo paused for a moment, then continued, “Players don’t know each other’s identities, and if a cleaner discovers your identity, it’s basically a dead end.”

Golden Retriever scratched his hair: “So it’s about who’s the better actor, right?”

“Not necessarily…” Shen Maomao said mysteriously, “Have you forgotten we still need to find clues to leave the game level? Plus there will be ghosts in the game level.”

“Damn!” Golden Retriever cursed.

Lou Jingmo said: “The dangerous events haven’t started yet, being careful is most important. When necessary, don’t worry about hiding your identity – don’t end up dying from ghosts when you’ve managed to avoid the cleaners.”

Both of them nodded.

“Alright.” Lou Jingmo stood up, “Let’s be careful, we should go back.”

---

The first afternoon class was art class. The art teacher walked into the classroom and said: “Hello students~ I’m your new art teacher, my surname is Wu. This is my first time teaching your class, and I don’t know your names yet, so next I’ll take attendance. When I call your name, raise your hand and answer ‘here,’ okay?”

The children answered “okay” in unison.

The art teacher started taking attendance, and Shen Maomao listened attentively – maybe she could discover familiar people—Yun Shengjin used his real name in the game, showing no fear of being investigated.

“Chen Meihan.” The first name was called out, and the little girl who had led her into the classroom this morning raised her hand, answering “Here!” in a clear, crisp voice.

So her name was Chen Meihan, what a cute name!

The roll call continued, with the teacher calling out Liao Shi and Lou Jingmo’s names, and several others in between, then suddenly said: “Ren Yue.”

“Here!” a little girl in the front row raised her hand.

Shen Maomao’s eyes suddenly widened, staring fixedly at the little girl with braided pigtails in front.

Lou Jingmo grabbed her hand and shook her head at her.

Shen Maomao couldn’t quite calm down.

Why was Ren Yue appearing in the game level?! Hadn’t she already come in to replace her?! Could it be that the person who wanted to harm her still hadn’t given up, and took advantage of her absence to bring Ren Yue in too?!

The art teacher on the platform called out the next name: “Shen Maomao.”

“Here!” Shen Maomao answered.

In the front row, Ren Yue immediately turned her head around, and their gazes met in the air, instantly confirming each other’s identities.

---

LP: (°ロ°) What?!

---

---