The Hand of Confession – Chapter 90

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Certain Death

You Won’t Die Anyway

After last night’s strange events, Mother Shen returned to normal and, after dinner, gave each of the two little ones a big apple, then held their hands to take them to school.

Ren Yue appeared listless, but having survived yesterday, she wasn’t too downcast.

As for Shen Maomao – her family probably inherited having neither heart nor lungs [a Chinese idiom meaning extremely carefree or inconsiderate].

After such a major incident yesterday, the school should have given students a holiday, but No. 1 Primary School insisted on doing the opposite, continuing classes as usual, completely disregarding how yesterday’s events might affect the children.

As usual, Mother Shen dropped the children at the school gate, letting them walk in by themselves, then turned and went home.

Last night’s heavy rain had turned into a drizzle this morning, making the entire city misty with visibility less than a hundred meters.

The thin layer of rain made every movement carry moisture, making limbs feel especially heavy.

Shen Maomao and Ren Yue walked side by side toward the school gate, not holding hands.

After a night of heavy rain, the playground showed no trace of yesterday’s events, though police tape still cordoned off the center, with several police uncles guarding it, preventing anyone from approaching.

The two barely talked as they walked one after another into Class 2-1.

The classroom was filled with listless classmates, with large sections of seats empty – apparently many parents had chosen to keep their children home.

Lou Jingmo and Golden Retriever were both there, sitting in their respective seats, neither missing arms nor legs, which almost moved Shen Maomao to tears.

She carried her small backpack and pitter-pattered over to Lou Jingmo, immediately giving her a big hug.

Lou Jingmo: “??”

Before she could react, Shen Maomao proactively let go, avoiding the awkward situation of being pushed away.

Shen opened her backpack zipper, took out fruit, and pushed it all in front of Lou Jingmo, saying in a milky voice: “All for Momo to eat!”

Lou Jingmo rolled her eyes at her.

Shen Maomao giggled and started flipping through her homework notebook, appearing like someone with severe ADHD.

Lou Jingmo thought for a moment, then grabbed her hand and pulled her up to leave.

Golden Retriever hurriedly asked: “Where are you going?”

Lou Jingmo said: “Stay by yourself.”

Golden Retriever: “QAQ okay.” He was just a little brother, the type nobody wanted to play with.

Ren Yue glanced up at them once, then said nothing more.

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After leaving the classroom, Lou Jingmo pulled her through the back door to the school’s courtyard. It was during school hours, and compared to the front of the building where students walked back and forth, the back was remarkably quiet.

Shen Maomao asked, confused: “What’s up, Sister Lou?”

Lou Jingmo got straight to the point: “What happened last night?”

The smile faded from Shen Maomao’s face as she silently met her gaze.

Lou Jingmo remained quiet, just looking at her calmly, as if she wouldn’t give up until she got an answer.

“I…” As soon as she opened her mouth, Shen Maomao realized her voice was already trembling. She sniffled, composing her bitter emotions, and said: “I might have really misjudged someone.”

She rarely misjudged people.

During these years with Ren Yue, she had been sincere in their friendship. She was in her twenties now, and the time spent with Ren Yue accounted for about one-sixth of her life. After four years of living together in the dormitory, how could she not have noticed if Ren Yue wasn’t a good person?

Shen Maomao had always trusted her first impressions of people, just like how she felt Lou Jingmo was a good person at first sight, and when she first saw Ren Yue, she immediately knew they would become good friends.

When strange things happened at midnight yesterday, she was actually awake but didn’t move, wanting to test Ren Yue to see if she would show any unusual behavior.

At that time, something seemed to appear on their room’s ceiling, gradually approaching the bed. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the growing sense of pressure.

Ren Yue was too nervous and didn’t notice she was awake, so she quietly used some kind of prop to temporarily repel the ghost…

Lou Jingmo pondered: “Props that can directly repel ghosts are very difficult to obtain, and your friend doesn’t seem experienced enough.”

Shen Maomao felt even more like sighing: “Yes… she… ah.”

Now she dared not think further. A crisis of trust either exists or it doesn’t, and having confirmed that Ren Yue wasn’t a newcomer, she naturally wondered if the previous soul-calling substitution might have also been a deception, a conspiracy?

Lou Jingmo patted her head: “Alright, Shen Guagua [nickname meaning ‘froggy’], don’t be so downcast…”

She paused, then said awkwardly: “You still have me… and Golden Retriever.”

Shen Maomao: “Sister Lou, do you know that your expression while saying that looks like you want to kill me right away.”

Lou Jingmo gave her a kick in the bottom.

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Shen Maomao drew a small rabbit on her desk out of boredom. Even as class was about to begin, half the students still hadn’t arrived. After taking attendance, Teacher Yue kept making phone calls in the hallway to contact parents, asking why their children hadn’t come to school.

The parents made various excuses, all refusing to send their children to school.

After the first period, Teacher Yue entered the classroom, stopped several students who were heading to the bathroom, saying he wanted to hold a brief meeting.

The classroom door was closed, and Teacher Yue stood at the podium saying: “Everyone knows that some incidents have occurred at school recently, and many students, whether voluntarily or at their parents’ request, want to transfer to other schools. Although I’m new and not very familiar with the class, I sincerely want to consider what’s best for you. Our school is dangerous now, so I recommend you process transfer procedures to attend other schools.”

Shen Maomao: “??”

What the hell? Why would a teacher try to drive students away? Could Teacher Yue be an undercover agent from another school?

However, regardless of Teacher Yue’s intentions, she couldn’t leave. The main plot was at school, and if she left, this game probably couldn’t continue.

All the children present had been sent by their parents, and they were all afraid of getting beaten if they voluntarily stopped attending school, so no one made a move.

The second period happened to be math class, so no one would disturb their meeting.

Teacher Yue also guessed what the children feared, so he added another bargaining chip: “Students who want to go home can register with me, and I’ll try my best to convince your parents.”

“I’ll count to ten, and during these ten seconds, please come to the podium to register. I’ll contact your parents and persuade them to take you home. Even if you can’t transfer schools, at least take a few days off first.”

As soon as he said this, seven or eight children rushed up without waiting for him to count.

Teacher Yue watched his watch, directed them to line up, then smiled slightly at the dozen or so remaining students before leading the children out of the classroom.

The remaining children exchanged glances, seemingly seeing something different in each other’s eyes…

A small boy suddenly stood up and said: “Oh no! This bastard must be a Cleaner!”

Shen Maomao’s eyes widened abruptly, and the others in the class also showed strange expressions.

—The thirteen people remaining in Class 2-1 were all players!

Of course, what child could resist the temptation of no classes and a teacher’s guarantee of safety? Only players needed to stay in school to search for clues, unable to leave voluntarily.

This made it convenient for the Cleaner to confirm the players’ identities.

The thirteen players finally met face to face on the third day of joining the game, though none of them looked pleased.

Though there’s strength in numbers, everyone present was just a three-head-tall child. How could they possibly deal with Teacher Yue, an adult man?

Another little girl said: “The game wants us dead.”

“What are you thinking? Which game doesn’t want us dead?”

The boy who spoke first stood up and addressed everyone present: “Everyone, seek your own fortune, I don’t want to stay in this awful place.” After saying this, he pushed his chair back and walked out.

Shen Maomao watched him rush out of the teaching building, running past their window.

A small black umbrella floated above his head, spinning round and round, splashing raindrops all around, though he hadn’t noticed it himself.

Lou Jingmo said: “No need to watch, he’s certainly dead.”

Shen Maomao’s heart skipped a beat, and she immediately withdrew her gaze.

With their identities exposed, everyone no longer needed to maintain their elementary school student personas. Golden Retriever bounced over to the desk in front of Lou Jingmo and Shen Maomao, sitting backwards to stare at Lou Jingmo, while other familiar people gathered in their own groups.

Ren Yue had no teammates and could only pretend nothing had happened as she sat next to Golden Retriever.

Golden Retriever wasn’t familiar with her, only knowing she was Shen Maomao’s friend, but had a decent impression of her, so gave her a smile.

Ren Yue returned a very forced smile.

This instance currently had fourteen people, with twelve remaining after excluding the Cleaner surnamed Yue and the person who just left.

These twelve people were perfectly divided into three teams, which made one think.

Each group began discussions, researching how to counter the Cleaner and sharing clues found over the past few days; as for Lou Jingmo’s group…

Lou Jingmo herself was too embarrassed to bring it up.

Golden Retriever asked her: “Sister Xiaolou, what should we do?”

Shen Maomao also asked: “Sister Lou, say something! Why aren’t you talking! You’re capable of being a guide, so you’re capable of speaking!”

Lou Jingmo: “…” Fortunately, her voice wasn’t loud, otherwise she would have had to discipline the child.

Lou Jingmo didn’t want to explain much, as it would make her suspect she was a kindergarten teacher needing to care for two children who acted like they had intellectual disabilities.

She fully embraced her Buddhist-like attitude [carefree mindset] and said nonchalantly: “Let things take their natural course, you won’t die anyway.”

Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever instantly felt reassured – Lou Jingmo possessed this charm that made people trust her blindly.

Only Ren Yue turned pale.

She could sense that Lou Jingmo strongly disliked her, so the “you” in that sentence definitely didn’t include her.

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