The Hand of Confession – Chapter 95

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Big-Breasted Girls

Sorry, I like big-breasted girls.

Teacher Yue hadn’t come to school all morning.

Shen Maomao couldn’t guess what schemes he was plotting or how he planned to deal with the players. She could only remain tense, constantly guarding against the Cleaner’s tricks.

The rainy season in this instance was exceptionally long. Apart from the players’ first day in the game, it hadn’t cleared up once during the past few days.

Thanks to the heavy rain, people with umbrellas had left them open in the corridors, arranged in neat rows and columns—making it convenient for their search.

That morning, the three of them searched every floor of the teaching building, observing level by level, wanting to see what colors of umbrellas the students and teachers were using.

To prevent oversights, they walked around before each class period. After spending the whole morning, they hadn’t seen a single black umbrella.

Shen Maomao finally realized: whether students, teachers, or regular parents, not one person carried a black umbrella.

After another fruitless walk, Lou Jingmo said, “This situation is slightly better than I imagined.”

Because this likely meant that black umbrellas were special in this instance, but that was all. Only those who had transformed would carry black umbrellas—they brought death, but also hope.

After pondering for an entire class period, Shen Maomao came up with a simple idea: “Should we consider dyeing an umbrella black?”

Lou Jingmo shook her head: “Better not act rashly. The black umbrella is a specific condition, and there might be other requirements too.”

Only an umbrella meeting all conditions would be protective—blindly making one could backfire.

Regarding the origin of the black umbrellas, Yue Changping definitely knew everything.

However, they wouldn’t get answers to such life-or-death questions from him; they might even receive misleading information.

Lou Jingmo had been through an instance with him before and couldn’t compliment his character.

Back then, Yue Changping was already a Cleaner in that instance, and judging by his meticulous planning in killing players, he must have had considerable experience.

By the end of that game, only Yue Changping himself, Lou Jingmo, and another lone wolf player survived. Everyone else died at the hands of monsters under Yue Changping’s manipulation.

Lou Jingmo only discovered the Cleaner’s identity at the very end. At the instance exit, the lone wolf player stopped Yue Changping, wanting to team up with Lou Jingmo to kill him, but she refused, saying she “couldn’t be bothered to dirty her hands.”

The lone wolf player didn’t dare act alone and left in frustration, sparing Yue Changping’s life. That’s why in this instance he said, “I owe you a life debt.”

Yue Changping was a strange person—he wasn’t a good person, yet surprisingly kept his word and showed gratitude?

Lou Jingmo couldn’t understand his thinking; she had never taken the incident seriously.

Still, why waste an advantage? Since he considered it a debt of gratitude, Lou Jingmo naturally wouldn’t rush to explain that she truly just couldn’t be bothered at the time.

After hearing her story, Shen Maomao felt slightly disappointed: “I thought it would be a passionate love story, with you two caught between opposing sides, fighting yet unable to resist caring for each other mmph mmph…”

Lou Jingmo expressionlessly stuffed homework paper in her mouth: “My taste isn’t that bad.”

“Pfft pfft!” Shen Maomao spat out the paper and sighed sadly: “Ah—I wonder what kind of man a goddess like you will marry, Sister Lou, what’s your type?”

Lou Jingmo looked at her with an ambiguous smile: “I remember telling you before—I like girls. Did you think I was joking?”

“What?” Shen Maomao felt thunderstruck. “You weren’t joking?!!”

“Why would I joke about something like that?”

Shen Maomao was utterly shocked. After taking a while to process this, she covered her chest jokingly: “So when you helped me in the first world, was it because you were after my beauty?”

Lou Jingmo said expressionlessly: “We lesbians aren’t that desperate.”

“Hey—” Shen Maomao grew angry again, “Am I that bad?! What do you mean desperate?! Are my qualities that poor?!”

Lou Jingmo actually thought seriously for several seconds before responding earnestly: “Sorry, I like big-breasted girls.”

A fatal blow, clean and swift.

Shen Maomao’s heart felt pierced by an arrow, chilled to the core.

Clutching her chest, she acted mortally wounded: “You… are… so… cruel…”

As the saying goes, don’t hit faces or expose shortcomings—yet Lou Jingmo had done both. She decided to revoke her fan status for three minutes; during these three minutes, she would be Lou Jingmo’s number one anti-fan!!

---

Every player had their own group, except for Ren Yue.

Ren Yue was ostracized by their team and couldn’t join other groups either. She could only sit alone at her desk watching others discuss, looking somewhat pitiful. Shen Maomao couldn’t help feeling sympathetic, but that was all.

Her softness came from not having concrete evidence that her entry into the game was connected to Ren Yue. After all, they’d been friends for years, and she still held onto a glimmer of hope that Ren Yue’s secrecy had other reasons.

If only she would come explain and convince her, she would forgive her and treat her like before.

Unfortunately, she waited a long time but never received the explanation she wanted.

If she really entered this game because of Ren Yue, forced to start this life of constant struggle…

She didn’t know how to face Ren Yue.

---

Today was the fourth day of the game, and Lou Jingmo said things would likely get intense.

Shen Maomao wondered if anything could be more intense than what she experienced last night. But by dismissal time, she realized she’d been too optimistic.

The rain was still falling, so parents came with umbrellas. Standing at the entrance, she looked out to see an ocean of black umbrellas.

The scene was quite spectacular—not just their class, but parents from other classes too. Every parent held a black umbrella, and under each umbrella was an equally pale face.

Lou Jingmo had anticipated this and wasn’t too shocked. She reminded the two youngsters: “I’ll come to school tonight. If you encounter danger you can’t handle, try to run to the school.”

Shen Maomao was stunned: “You’re coming to school late at night?”

Lou Jingmo: “Would you rather find the exit yourself?”

Shen Maomao: “No, no, I’m scared enough already.”

This time, Golden Retriever didn’t have a life-saving black umbrella, but he clutched his package of props, feeling slightly more secure.

Lou Jingmo, remembering her role as a power leveler, casually added: “Better not sleep tonight, or you might die without knowing how.”

Golden Retriever: “QAQ okay.”

The two left with their respective parents, but Mother Shen was nowhere to be seen.

After Lou Jingmo and Golden Retriever had gone, Ren Yue, whose parent also hadn’t arrived, stood beside Shen Maomao and said softly: “Maomao, do you want to come to my house… I’ll protect you.”

Shen Maomao looked at Ren Yue, who gazed back anxiously.

Instead of accepting or refusing, she counter-questioned: “We’ve been friends for so many years. Can you give me a straight answer—did you join the game long ago?”

Ren Yue was silent for a moment before nodding heavily: “Yes.”

She quickly added: “But I never expected you to be in the game too… I know only bad people get pulled into the game, and I was afraid you’d think I wasn’t a good person…”

Shen Maomao didn’t know what to say: “And you think I’d consider you a good person now?”

Ren Yue lowered her head, wiping away tears: “I’m sorry, Maomao…”

Shen Maomao stared ahead, suddenly spotting a sky-blue umbrella among the many black ones. This conspicuous umbrella was making its way toward her through all obstacles, like her mother’s love—fearless despite any distance.

With little time left to talk, Shen Maomao asked the question she most wanted answered: “Is my entry into the game related to you?”

After learning part of the truth, the fact that “she had used Ren Yue’s face several times to enter the game” had become a thorn in her heart.

Ren Yue shook her head repeatedly: “I really didn’t know you were in the game… Maomao, please believe me…”

Shen Maomao lowered her eyes, watching raindrops create rippling circles on the ground, reflecting different pedestrians and their identical black umbrellas.

“I should go,” she said quietly.

She then rushed under her mother’s umbrella, forcing a smile: “Mom, you came to pick me up?!”

Mother Shen took her small backpack, speaking with a smile: “How was school today? Do you have a fever?”

Shen Maomao answered: “School was fun, no fever.”

Mother and daughter walked hand in hand along the brick path. The wind was strong today, and her little duck umbrella suddenly flipped inside out, instantly splashing rain all over her face.

Shen Maomao’s features scrunched together as she spat out water.

Mother Shen laughed gleefully, not acting motherly at all: “Hahaha, Maomao, you look just like a little duck!”

Shen Maomao gave her a resentful side-glance while fixing her umbrella against the wind.

As the wind whistled, she used the umbrella adjustment as an excuse to look back, seeing Ren Yue standing alone at the school entrance, like a small tree without support in the storm.

But this small tree was exceptionally resilient—though seemingly unstable, its roots gripped the soil firmly, standing stubbornly against the wind no matter how fierce the storm.

—Just like those delicate roses from the previous instance.

It seemed she had been wrong from the start.

Shen Maomao felt an inexplicable sense of loss and sadness.

Ren Yue was never a delicate dodder, nor did she need her care.

She had simply been presumptuous about everything.

---

The author has something to say:

Current Lou Jingmo: “Sorry, I like big-breasted girls.”

Future Lou Jingmo: “It’s actually great!” [zhēn xiāng, internet slang for changing one’s mind after rejection]

---

---