The Hand of Confession – Chapter 99

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Blood Rain

Heaven and earth became a red curtain

During the time she was away, the character on the desk had been completed. Just as she expected, it was the character “Mao.”

A short distance from the “Mao” character, new strokes appeared, currently only showing a downward stroke and a vertical stroke, still unclear what character it would become.

Shen Maomao couldn’t wait for them to finish writing, quickly carved a “Lou” on the desk, and added a question mark beside it.

The other side didn’t respond to her, continuing to complete the unfinished character.

This time, the other side wrote the character “Wan”.

Shen Maomao, unwilling to give up, drew a circle next to “Lou,” but still received no response.

The person on the other side began writing a third character. Shen Maomao dejectedly put down the stolen knife, realizing in her heart that perhaps her characters couldn’t transmit to the other side.

The third character was only half carved, with a “study” radical on top and a horizontal stroke from left to right below. The next stroke suddenly slanted to the desk’s edge, as if some external force prevented the other side from continuing, making Shen Maomao’s heart skip a beat.

She waited several more minutes, but no more characters appeared on the desktop. She instantly understood that the person on the other side might have encountered some danger and couldn’t continue.

However, even without the complete message, Shen Maomao could roughly guess what the other side wanted to express—probably asking her to come to school at night?

The person carving characters on the desk wrote hurriedly, with no discernible handwriting style. She suspected the writer was Lou Jingmo, but wasn’t sure – who knew if this might be a trap?

She tiptoed to return the knife, not drawing anyone’s attention.

After returning to the classroom, she was no longer anxious, instead her mind was full of those two characters left by the person who might be Lou Jingmo.

Lou Jingmo had indeed mentioned exploring the school at night, and told Golden Retriever to find her at school if scared. So even though the handwriting on the desk was completely different from Lou Jingmo’s, she still thought there was an eight-tenths chance it was Sister Lou herself, with the remaining two-tenths being the game trying to mess with her.

Even without these two characters, she would definitely try to find a way to stay at school tonight. She just didn’t know how to avoid Mother Shen’s eyes and that woman on the third floor. Perhaps today there would be even more strange things appearing…

Lost in these thoughts until afternoon, the sky that had finally cleared for half a day suddenly showed a large patch of dark clouds.

These dark clouds came swiftly and suddenly, appearing almost instantly above the school, covering the entire school in a huge shadow, causing students to run out of their classrooms and look up at these unusual clouds.

Shen Maomao leaned on the windowsill, feeling inexplicably uneasy in her heart, with an indescribable sense of foreboding.

The next second, blood-red rainwater fell from the sky, pouring down on the students still standing outside, drenching them one by one into little red figures.

Heaven and earth became a red curtain, separating those inside and outside the building.

The bloody smell hit their noses, and the people outside ran towards the teaching building like madmen, but when they reached two meters from the building, they were blocked by what seemed like an invisible air wall. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t move forward half a step.

“Gulp…”

“Gulp…”

That sound she had heard before rang out again, just like the day they discovered Chen Meihan’s corpse. A spring-like source suddenly appeared on the playground, bubbling up one crimson bubble after another.

The ground paved with dirt quickly became wet over a large area, and then puddles formed.

Something like an unknown creature seemed to be swimming in the puddles, and a pair of red hands reached out from the water surface, grabbing the foot of a child who had fallen behind and pulling downward.

With a “splash” sound, a child over one meter tall sank directly into water that wasn’t even ankle-deep, leaving behind only circles of bubbles.

Outside, children’s crying and screaming rang out. Everyone crowded at the air barrier, their small faces pressed against the transparent wall, snot and tears streaming down as they cried and begged teachers to save them.

Inside the teaching building was also filled with gasps and discussion, but obviously, no one would go save them, as everyone could barely protect themselves…

Shen Maomao looked outside through the glass window and made eye contact with a little boy who looked younger than her. The boy seemed to see hope, crying as he reached out his hand to her, his unclear voice reaching Shen Maomao’s ears—

“Sister… please save me…”

Shen Maomao turned her head and returned to her seat.

The light in the boy’s eyes was like a candle flame swaying in the wind, quickly dimming after being washed by the heavy rain.

The next second, Shen Maomao grabbed her little duck umbrella and jumped directly out the window!

She walked in the blood rain holding her umbrella, running to the little boy’s front.

The blood water had already spread to the edge of the air wall. No matter who touched the blood water, they would be pulled under immediately, never to surface again.

The remaining children wished they could melt into the air wall, and the students who had luckily escaped in the classroom all moved away from the windows. Only Shen Maomao, like a fragile moth, rushed straight towards the fire [meaning: heading into danger].

She stood by the air wall, tentatively reaching her hand towards the other side.

But to her surprise, her hand passed through as naturally as moving through air, meeting no resistance at all.

Crimson water drops fell on her arm, bringing a burning, stinging sensation. The boy grabbed her hand, and the others nearby noticed the situation, gathering around like mad people.

Shen Maomao tried to hold the boy’s hand and bring him to the safe zone, but failed.

She could still move freely, but the boy’s hand was stuck at the air wall. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pull him through.

The little boy cried anxiously, forcefully banging his arm against the wall: “What should I do… Why can’t I get out… Someone please save me…”

Shen Maomao felt a pang in her heart: “I’m sorry…”

“Thank you, sister…” the boy looked at her, his previously panicked expression becoming calm.

“No need to apologize…” he gripped Shen Maomao’s hand tightly, a malicious smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, suddenly starting to pull her forcefully into the air wall, “Just come in and keep me company!”

Shen Maomao’s eyes widened suddenly.

A strong force came from the little boy’s hand, making Shen Maomao stumble, almost losing her balance.

“Stay and keep me company… sister…”

Meanwhile, the other children gradually gathered around her, their eyes gleaming with schadenfreude [taking pleasure in others’ misfortune], seemingly happy to have a fool to die with them. Several of them had already reached out their dirty hands, ready to help pull her in sooner.

Shen Maomao threw away her umbrella, twisted her caught wrist, and her other hand passed through the air wall, gripping the boy’s wrist, using a skillful twist—

With a “crack” sound, the claw that had been holding her went limp, and the boy let out a piercing scream.

Shen Maomao picked up her little duck umbrella from the ground, rested the handle on her shoulder, and smiled at these bad children: “Didn’t expect that, did you?”

As she spoke, she wiped the blood water from her face with her sleeve.

A patch of red spread evenly across half her face. Like a fierce ghost, she wore an innocent smile, but her mouth spoke words unfitting for her age: “You bunch of little turtle sons [meaning: inexperienced youngsters], today this old lady will not only be Lu Dongbin [legendary immortal known for kindness], but also be the Yellow Springs guide [death realm guide] for you bunch of dog things!”

She had tried to help because her soft heart ignored her own safety. Failing to save them was her own uselessness, and she didn’t expect their gratitude…

But what kind of behavior was it to try to drag her down just because she couldn’t save them? Wasn’t it just like The Farmer and the Snake, Dong Guo and the Wolf, Lu Dongbin and the Dog [all Chinese parables about ingratitude]!

She stood before the air barrier, in the blood rain, coldly watching these children being swallowed one by one, the softness in her heart long gone.

The little boy whose purpose wasn’t achieved showed a vengeful light in his eyes, looking exactly like that man Shen Maomao had seen downstairs that day.

He screamed, roared, angrily questioning Shen Maomao why they had to be the ones who died.

Shen Maomao quietly watched him struggle; watched the water level get closer and closer to him; watched him go from hysterical to trembling, and finally spat at him: “You deserve it!”

After saying this, she turned and left, walking step by step back to the classroom, no longer looking at what happened behind her.

The last sounds floating to her ears were continuous “gulps,” exactly like fish blowing bubbles.

---

Shen Maomao washed the blood water off her body alone in the water room. Clear tap water flowed over her hands, but that blood water seemed to have grown into her skin, no matter how hard she scrubbed, it wouldn’t wash off.

“Such bad luck…” she mumbled, giving up the fight with her already aching skin.

Fortunately, this red color was only eye-catching to look at, without any bloody smell, otherwise she would definitely become a living target for the ghost world.

When passing by a mirror on her way out, she almost jumped at her own reflection. In the mirror stood a little red person red from head to toe, who looked not only terrifying but also had a hint of comical festiveness.

After acting tough, Shen Maomao felt like crying.

For the first time, she doubted her own soft-heartedness.

She couldn’t believe this blood water wasn’t a death trigger point. If she hadn’t been soft-hearted, she could be sitting quietly in the classroom waiting for school to end, instead of anxiously waiting for death to come like a ghost.

But when she chose to help Mother Shen before, Mother Shen had never tried to throw her over to block Father Shen while escaping herself!

She sorted out the sequence in her mind.

The problem wasn’t her being soft-hearted, but these bear children [meaning: badly behaved kids] whose moral compass had been destroyed by who knows what.

But it would be understandable if it was one or a few bear children acting this way, why did all the children trapped in the middle want to drag her down to die with them?

Perhaps as products of this instance, they naturally had more malice than normal people, making it easier for dark flowers to grow from the bottom of their hearts?

Shen Maomao couldn’t be sure.

However, this was enough to make her face her soft-heartedness seriously.

If she hadn’t learned escape techniques and had self-defense abilities, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to break free quickly just now, and she would have been surrounded by a group of bear children, forcefully dragged into the air wall by them together—or maybe thrown directly into the blood water?

When she revived next to Lou Jingmo, and Lou Jingmo asked her how she died, she would have to say “I was killed by a child younger than me”…

Losing face, losing too much face.

---

---