The Hand of Confession – Chapter 94

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Winning While Lying Down

You’ve got quite the luck

When Shen Maomao woke up the next day, something felt off.

No, everything felt off.

She was lying in her small bed in her room, still able to smell the aroma of food wafting from the kitchen, no different from the mornings of the past few days.

If it weren’t for the wound on her shoulder still throbbing with pain, she would have thought yesterday’s soul-shaking scenes were just hallucinations born from excessive fear.

She got dressed, put on her socks, slipped into her slippers, and opened her bedroom door to walk out.

Upon entering the living room, she was startled to see someone sitting properly on the sofa. The person had a wound on his left eye that she had inflicted with an umbrella, with blood dried on his face—it was Father Shen.

Except now he wasn’t breathing.

Mother Shen, wearing an apron and with a smile on her face, carried a plate of food complete in color, fragrance, and taste [a traditional phrase describing perfect cooking] into the living room and placed it on the tea table: “Maomao, you’re awake? Does your head hurt? Should Mom call in sick for you so you don’t have to go to school?”

Instead of answering her question, Shen Maomao looked fearfully at the lifeless Father Shen on the sofa and asked: “Mom… Dad, he…”

Mother Shen said cheerfully: “See, I told you Dad would change back, didn’t I? Right now, Dad is slowly transforming, he won’t attack us. Once he’s completely transformed, he’ll be back to the Dad who used to play with Maomao. Don’t be scared, Maomao. You poked Dad’s eye out, shouldn’t you apologize to him?”

It’s over! Mother Shen has lost it!!

Shen Maomao, able to bend and stretch [meaning: to be flexible according to circumstances], immediately apologized to the corpse: “Sorry, Dad, but if you bully Mom again in the future, I’ll still hit you.”

Mother Shen kissed her forehead happily: “My daughter truly is Mom’s little cotton jacket!” [traditional metaphor for a child who brings warmth and comfort to parents]. “Hmm, Maomao doesn’t seem to have a fever anymore, you can go to school.”

Shen Maomao asked again: “Mom, how did we get back yesterday?”

Mother Shen avoided answering directly, awkwardly changing the subject: “Of course Dad carried you back home. Ah! I see our food is ready, I’ll go get it. Today we have your favorite shredded pork in garlic sauce!”

After speaking, she walked briskly into the kitchen, humming while serving food, leaving Shen Maomao, a little radish head, alone with the corpse in the living room.

Shen Maomao was genuinely scared and nervous.

But she didn’t know whether to be more afraid of the corpse or of Mother Shen who had created the corpse.

While she was debating whether to stay or go to the kitchen, Father Shen’s undamaged eyeball suddenly moved in her direction!

Shen Maomao shuddered from head to toe, turned around and rushed into the kitchen, almost colliding with Mother Shen who was carrying dishes.

Mother Shen said: “Child, why are you so careless?”

Shen Maomao nervously made up an excuse: “I… I don’t like Dad, he bullies Mom and me.”

Mother Shen said with a smile: “Then Maomao just needs to love Mom forever.” Then with one hand holding the plate and the other holding her hand, she led her into the living room.

The family of three ate breakfast at the tea table, though Shen Maomao could barely swallow.

After eating, Mother Shen locked the door from the inside, picked up a black umbrella that had appeared at the doorway at some point, and took Shen Maomao out.

The tip of the umbrella was still stained with some unidentifiable liquid, resembling fresh blood and what appeared to be some kind of eye tissue…

It wasn’t raining today.

Yet Mother Shen opened the black umbrella, held Shen Maomao’s small hand, and walked her step by step to school.

As usual, they parted at the school gate. The stiff-bodied Shen Maomao moved her shoulder a bit, looking at the blue-purple scratch marks on her hand, and sighed.

She didn’t know what was going on with Mother Shen.

Was she trying to kill her? Or was she trying to kill her? [Repetition in original text is intentional, showing circular thinking]

Thinking too much was useless. Shen Maomao walked into class with a nervous heart and heavy steps.

It was still early, and only one person was in the classroom – Lou Jingmo.

Shen Maomao ran back to her seat, stuffed her schoolbag into her desk, and said mysteriously: “Sister Lou! I almost died yesterday!”

“Oh,” Lou Jingmo responded calmly.

Shen Maomao suddenly felt that her experiences weren’t worth mentioning, completely failing to impress Sister Lou.

Coincidentally, other players arrived in class, and the two girls held hands and went out for a one-sided information exchange.

They slipped out through the back door, stood by the doorway talking, and Shen Maomao briefly recounted everything from last night.

After hearing her narrative, Lou Jingmo couldn’t help but laugh: “Shen Maomao, you’ve got quite the luck.”

Shen Maomao nodded frantically: “I think so too! With so many monsters, I somehow didn’t die. My shoulder still hurts a bit, but it’s not a big deal.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Lou Jingmo said. “I mean—if you had abandoned your cheap mother and run away, you’d probably be facing two killers now.”

Shen Maomao had a sudden realization: “!!”

Right! She hadn’t thought of this at all yesterday!

Mother Shen could eliminate the monster formed by the strange man and grandmother in one move, and could handle the transformed Father Shen until he was completely docile. Her power level must be higher than both of them.

Such a powerful weapon, did she really need Shen Maomao’s help last night?

Thinking about it this way, Shen Maomao suddenly felt very fortunate.

If she had chosen to run away and abandon Mother Shen then, would she be the one sitting on the sofa this morning?

Lou Jingmo continued: “Don’t overthink it. Since you’ve made a choice that benefits you, just hold onto the thigh. This instance doesn’t have much logic, finding the exit might depend on the NPCs.”

Shen Maomao suddenly felt a heavy burden on her shoulders and became nervous: “I-I-I-I-I-I will try my best!!”

Lou Jingmo’s mouth twitched: “Did you get injected with chicken blood?” [meaning: to be overly excited, referring to a historical practice of injecting chicken blood for energy]

Shen Maomao clenched her fists: “I’ll work hard to find the exit and help you all win easily!”

Lou Jingmo’s lips curled into a smile: “With me here, do you think I need you to help me win easily?”

Damn, that’s badass.

Shen Maomao was speechless for a moment, and only after a while did she counter: “I can’t rely on others forever… Don’t I want to become a boss myself one day, making others look up to me?”

Lou Jingmo smiled and said arrogantly: “Even if I just hold you up while standing, most people would still have to look up to you.”

Shen Maomao was almost moved to tears.

The next second, a thunderclap suddenly rang out, heavy rain arrived abruptly, pouring down and instantly soaking her like a chicken fallen in soup [meaning: completely drenched].

As for Lou Jingmo…

She had already darted under the school building’s eaves when the thunder first sounded, then walked unhurriedly into the building.

Shen Maomao wiped her face and quickly rushed into the school building too. After running to Lou Jingmo’s side, she asked exasperatedly: “Didn’t you say you’d help me gain others’ respect? Why did you abandon me to dodge the rain yourself?!”

“Oh,” Lou Jingmo said flatly, “I was just bragging earlier.”

Shen Maomao: “???”

Trash Lou Jingmo, wasting her emotions!

Lou Jingmo narrowed her eyes dangerously: “Are you cursing me in your head?”

Shen Maomao cowardly backed down: “No, I was just thinking about how to escape this game!”

Lou Jingmo glanced at the first-year group’s office, quickly withdrew her gaze, and said softly: “Class is about to start, let’s head back.”

The two walked back to the classroom and saw the remaining players, including Golden Retriever and Ren Yue.

There were still ten minutes until class, with only ten people sitting in the classroom. Those who hadn’t come probably would never come again.

Since everyone was a player, there was naturally no need for pretense, and they sat together directly.

Golden Retriever slapped a broken black umbrella onto their desk, looking exhausted and yawning continuously: “I thought I wouldn’t make it this morning.”

After returning home last night, his house had turned into an ocean of black umbrellas. From his stepparents to the servants, everyone had a black umbrella, holding them open whether inside or outside the house. Unknown rainwater kept dripping from the umbrellas, making the smooth floor wet and slippery.

Seeing this situation upon returning home, how could he dare put down his umbrella? He followed suit to avoid becoming an oddity, also moving around the house with an open umbrella, and indeed nothing happened.

Until night, when he locked his door to sleep, but woke up at midnight to find a circle of people standing by his bed, each holding black umbrellas, staring at him with bloodshot eyes. He was scared completely awake and, rolling in excrement and urine [not literally; meaning: extremely frightened], grabbed and opened the black umbrella he’d left by his bed.

The black umbrella covered his small body, and those monsters seemed to suddenly lose sight of him, slowly dispersing.

But he didn’t dare sleep for the rest of the night, just sat at his headboard holding the umbrella, covered by his small blanket.

Only when daylight came did he doze off for half an hour, before being woken up by the now-normal servants for school.

During mealtime, he left the umbrella on the table in his room. When he returned after eating, he found the umbrella completely destroyed—the canopy was covered in scratches, the ribs broken in half, unclear whether by human action or natural causes…

Lou Jingmo looked at the umbrella and said: “It’s not human-caused.”

Sometimes instances refresh one-time items that can only be used within the current instance. This umbrella was such an item, automatically destroying itself after one use.

Shen Maomao asked in confusion: “But why doesn’t the umbrella break in the Cleaner’s hands?”

Lou Jingmo speculated: “It’s very likely not the same umbrella.”

The instance gives preferential treatment to Cleaners, but it doesn’t treat them like favorite children. At most, it gives them some hints to ensure their safety, but survival still depends on the Cleaner’s own intelligence.

Yue Changping probably learned part of the game’s plot through his role as a Cleaner.

“The black umbrella definitely has some special effect. From what we know so far, people holding black umbrellas are mistaken as fellow monsters by the ghosts and won’t be attacked,” she concluded. “However, we’re still not sure whether any black-colored umbrella will work, or if it needs to be a specific style; whether all black umbrellas are single-use, or if there are different types of umbrellas…”

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