CH 71

(Throwing the Handkerchief)

Edited by Silver Wind 

“WAH—”

Just as the children issued the first note of their cries, they were interrupted by someone before they could cry out fully.

Shen Dongqing carried Guo Guo who was the initiator of the ruckus. After contemplating briefly, he decided against wasting his ice cream and acted against her directly.

He tickled Guo Guo’s armpits. 

Guo Guo: “……”

The sob suddenly turned into a giggling noise halfway through, since Guo Guo could not resist laughing as her sensitive spots were being tickled. With the tears hanging at the corners of her eyes as she laughed, she looked rather cute.

As for the other children, insomuch as crying could influence them, laughter was equally contagious.

With Guo Guo laughing first, the sound of grief turned into a sea of joy as all the children started laughing out loud as they cried.

The teachers released a breath.

As Guo Guo laughed until the point she was gasping for air, she begged for mercy: “Let go of me, let go of me…”

Shen Dongqing placed Guo Guo on the ground.

Guo Guo stopped laughing and glared at him huffily before she started to run away in a series of patters. 

However, before she could take two steps out, she was grabbed by the scruff of her neck heartlessly, and she could only march in place.

Turning her head back, Guo Guo saw a familiar face and she nearly wanted to cry out of frustration. Aggrieved, she exclaimed: “I don’t wanna play games with all of you anymore!”

Why were they still bullying her when they refused to play the game no matter what they did?

Shen Dongqing hauled her back like he was holding a little chick. “I’ll play with you.” 

Guo Guo: ……

She finally found someone who wanted to play games with her, but why couldn’t she muster any happiness at all?

After having her two previous attempts foiled, Guo Guo did not want to play games with this bad person, but in accordance with the rules stipulated in the kindergarten, as long as someone was willing to play the game, they were not allowed to reject it.

Guo Guo lowered her head, staring at her small feet. After giving it some thought, she said: “We’ll play handkerchief throw, whoever wants to play raise your hands!” 

Several hands raised up.

It was all the children, and none of them chose to put their hands down.

Then, two big hands raised up slowly.

They belonged to Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan, and the pair smiled at each other. 

The other players exchanged looks.

The Long-skirted Lady had become the first cannon fodder among them precisely because she had agreed to the children’s request. The death conditions were placed right in front of their faces in explicit terms, who would still choose to violate them?

Apart from Fang Qi, who still believed in the strength of the two Big Bosses, the gazes that the other players were regarding them with, gave the impression that they were looking at dead people.

Guo Guo lifted her head to stare at them: “Have you played Throw the Handkerchief before?” 

Shen Dongqing shook his head: “No.”

Perhaps owing to the fact that he had never been to kindergarten, he had never heard of such a game at all.

Feeling like the chances of their victory was higher, Guo Guo grinned happily. “The Handkerchief Thrower is the ghost, and the person who has the handkerchief thrown behind them needs to catch the ghost. If they don’t catch the ghost and allow the ghost to take their seat….” She paused, a strange glint twinkling her eyes, “They will become the next ghost!”

She clearly had an innocent and tender voice, but her strange depiction of the scene caused an intense contrast which made the onlookers’ hearts chill. 

Guo Guo stared at Shen Dongqing, pleased, wanting to see his terrified expression.

However, she was slated for disappointment; not only was Shen Dongqing not afraid, he even replied in an expectant tone: “That sounds rather fun!”

Guo Guo stomped her foot angrily, “Let’s start!”

The space in the classroom was not large by any measure, so the children went to the field. Similarly, the players followed along for the sake of obtaining information about the “game”. 

The children did not require any guidance at all; they sat down on the flat grass in succession and in an orderly manner to form a circle. There were two empty seats in the circle which happened to be opposite of one another.

Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan sat down, and they looked particularly conspicuous amidst a bunch of small loli heads.

Ktfgf kjr j rwjii ybs – ktbrf jqqfjgjcmf mbeiv cba yf vlrmfgcfv vef ab tlr ibkfgfv tfjv – jmalcu jr atf utbra, jcv tf tfiv bcab j tjcvxfgmtlfo jr tf rabbv ja atf rlvf.

Xeb Xeb abbx atf ifjv lc mijqqlcu tfg tjcvr jcv rajgafv rlculcu j rbcu: “Ktgbk, atgbk, atgbk atf tjcvxfgmtlfo~” 

The other children started singing as well.

“Throw, throw, throw the handkerchief~”

“Put it behind your friend’s back gently~”

“Do not tell him, do not, do not tell him……” 

It was originally a happy tune, but the scene abruptly changed when they sang it for the second time. The children’s voices started to sway, stuttering and jamming, and they were even interspaced with bursts of laughter from the children.

The child with a lowered head started to walk in circles.

One round, two rounds……

By virtue of his short legs, his speed was rather slow. He needed to take two steps to cover the distance that an adult would accomplish in one, and he did not manage to walk one full circle even after the song was sung once. 

Fang Qi, who had been observing from the side lines, made a surprised noise.

The Blonde Lady, who had been wholly absorbed in watching, pushed him. “You scared me!”

Fang Qi said: “There’s one extra person.”

Feeling strange, the Blonde Lady asked: “One extra what?” 

Just as she said that, she came to her senses. There was an extra child on the field!

Since the three of them were acting as kindergarten teachers, they spent the greatest amount of time with the children. They knew that the class had a total of twelve students, but there were thirteen students on the field.

One extra person.

Fang Qi swallowed his saliva. “The additional child is a ghost.” 

Now that the previously undiscovered fact had been shattered, the boy throwing the handkerchief stopped pretending as well. They could see him rock his feet back before he stood on his tiptoes and he began to float gradually.

Without making a sound, he placed the handkerchief behind Shen Dongqing’s back.

How could he possibly react given those circumstances?

Fang Qi was about to open his mouth to remind him when he suddenly felt something cold touch his fingers. 

“Hush—” It was unknown when it had occurred but a child was standing beside Fang Qi, and there was a smile hanging on his ashen-pale face. “Teacher, you can’t break the rules oh.”

With his interruption, the most opportune time to give a reminder had been lost.

Fortunately, Shen Dongqing sensed the handkerchief that had fallen behind his back. He grabbed the handkerchief with one hand and went to chase after the small boy.

The boy accelerated out of his slow pace and started running swiftly, wanting to sit in that emptied out seat before Shen Dongqing could catch him. 

From the spectating players’ perspective, the small boy had already turned into a fragmentary shadow, and he reached the seat that Shen Dongqing was originally sitting on in a few seconds. He even had the time to look behind his back to see if he had chased up to him.

There was no one.

A trace of doubt flashed past the boy’s mind, and it made his movements halt.

Was he going to successfully win the game like this? 

The little boy turned his head back, and he was about to sit down on the seat when he felt his shoulder being patted once. A voice reverberated from behind him

“Caught you~”

Instead of refuting, the boy that was acting as the ghost jumped in fright, and his entire person almost leapt up in response.

He twisted his head stiffly to see Shen Dongqing stuffing the handkerchief in his hands before he sat back in his seat again. 

Caught in a trance, the boy squeezed the handkerchief. It was apparent that there was no one behind him just now, how did he manage to chase up to him all of a sudden…

The spectators could not help but cover their face.

When the boy was running like his life depended on it, Shen Dongqing did not move at all. He just stood there and dropped his head, waiting for the boy to run to his door, which then allowed him to catch the boy easily without expending any energy.

Was this considered spoiling the rules or being rolled over by intelligence? 

Before the little boy could make sense of it, the song rang out once more.

After placing the handkerchief behind Shen Dongqing once, the boy chose another target. He walked a circle before he threw the handkerchief behind Zhou Wenyan.

He learnt to be attentive this time around, he had made sure to check if his target was chasing him before he ran.

However, Zhou Wenyan did not use such a simple and crude method like Shen Dongqing. Rather, he chased  the boy honestly. 

It was just that the lead that the boy had this time around was not wide enough, and he was caught by Zhou Wenyan in less than two steps. Furthermore, he looked quite stupefied when he was caught as well.

The little boy was on the verge of tears.

They finally managed to play a game after much difficulty, and yet he lost the game. Why was this happening?

Reluctant and unwilling, Guo Guo stood up. “You have won…” 

Before she could finish her words, Shen Dongqing intercepted her: “Let’s do it again.”

Guo Guo’s mouth dropped. “Ah?”

Shen Dongqing did not stand up from where he was sitting. “It’s quite fun, let’s do it again.”

The little boy’s eyes brightened. Maybe he could win the game and stop being the ghost if they played again. 

Hence, he said in a hurry: “Okay, okay!”

Left without a choice, Guo Guo beckoned her classmates to sit down again.

The Throwing the Handkerchief song sounded again.

The boy clenched his fists, preparing to put on a big show. 

And then…

He was defeated by cruel reality once more.

No matter how he ran, he would get caught by the pair through various methods that they employed. When he was at his last leg, his visage was already vegetable green and brimming with despair.

He did not want to play anymore, he did not want to play this game ever again… 

Meanwhile, Shen Dongqing had played enough. “Let’s stop here first.”

Upon hearing those words, the children who had sung themselves hoarse stood up immediately and ran inside the classroom. Judging from their appearances, they would not be inviting the other players to play a game any time soon.

The field of children was reduced to Guo Guo alone. She scrunched her face together. “We lost, this is for you.”

After stuffing an object into Shen Dongqing’s hands, she walked away without looking back. 

Shen Dongqing lowered his head to scrutinise it. Guo Guo had given the handkerchief prop that they had used in the game just now.

There were some dark yellows colouring the handkerchief, and it was also stained with specks of brown blood. Upon unfurling it, he realised that there was a messy scrawl drawn on the fabric.

This should have come from a child’s writing, and the drawing was quite abstract.

Head tilted, Shen Dong stared at it for a long time before he finally understood what was being drawn. The drawing on the fabric depicted a group of children playing Throw the Handkerchief while one child was wiping their tears as they were being brought away from the group by a humanoid figure completely shrouded in pitch-black. 

Moreover, a building had been sketched at the side, and stark reds were used to draw a bloodied cross on the second floor of the building.

Zhou Wenyan leaned over to make a comparison. “It’s the Dean’s office.”

Shen Dongqing: “But we went there last night.”

There was nothing inside. 

Zhou Wenyan ruminated for a moment before he uttered: “The timing wasn’t right.”

Shen Dongqing: “We’ll go tonight?”

Zhou Wenyan took the handkerchief from Shen Dongqing’s hands. “Perhaps…” He faltered momentarily, “We can play another round of games.”

The teachers brought the children back to the classroom. 

The Blonde Lady and Fringed Girl were conversing in low murmurs.

Blonde Lady said: “It seems like the game isn’t scary at all.”

And with how the pair looked like they were just playing, going one round after another until the children were going to collapse from the game, it looked like it could not be more simple, alright?”

The Fringed Girl nodded. “They definitely obtained some clues needed for clearance after they played the game with the children.” 

Blonde Lady hesitated slightly, “Should we give it a try as well?”

Fringed Girl did not dare to agree, merely saying: “I’ll go and ask my boyfriend.”

Fang Qi let out a “hehe” as he heard them converse from the side.

The only reason why the game looked simple was because the Big Bosses were the ones playing. If  supporting characters like them tried to play the game with the NPCs under the assumption that it was simple, wouldn’t that be equivalent to seeking their deaths on their own accord? 

He had always maintained one code of conduct, which was to lie down, become a salted fish, and wait for victory. He would be frivolous while he could.

All the players had their own thoughts.

It was at that moment where Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan burst through the door.

Shen Dongqing took hold of Xiao Yu, who was the closest to him. He curled the corners of his lips into a smile, and asked in a kind and affectionate tone: “Shall we play a game?” 

Xiao Yu became dumbfounded.

They were always the ones looking for people to play the game with them, it was never the players who came knocking on their doors to play the game.

Having recalled the image where they were suppressed by their strength, Xiao Yu shook his head instantaneously, “Don’t, don’t want to!”

His throat was hurting from how much he sang just now! 

Zhou Wenyan also placed his long legs down and pulled one of the children to a stop. He bent his waist condescendingly and asked: “Shall we play a game?”

The child released a “wah” and cried.

Zhou Wenyan clicked his tongue. He warned: “You’re not allowed to cry.”

The child suppressed his tears forcefully in response, sniffling, which made him look exceedingly pitiful. 

These two people were akin to unfeeling despots who bullied kindergarten children as they asked every child the same question once. As a result of their actions, all of them were scared into holding back their tears because they did not dare to cry, and the rims of their eyes were red.

Shen Dongqing hugged his shoulders, “You’re not willing to play with us?”

The children shook their heads desperately.

They looked for the players because they wanted to win. No one would go and look for abuse after losing n number of times, alright? Did they think they were stupid? 

Zhou Wenyan: “Forget it.”

Since the children did not want to cooperate at all, they could only forsake the game-playing method to obtain clues for the time being.

Thus, the two local tyrants departed again.

The teachers discovered that after these children had been beaten up relentlessly by society, they became exceptionally obedient. They stopped pulling at the teachers, asking them to play the game, and it even went to the extent where tears would start welling in their eyes subconsciously when they heard the word “game”. 

It practically reached the point where the listeners would feel sad and the witnesses would shed tears, since the possibility was too horrible and tragic to imagine.

Hence, another day passed like this.

Perhaps because someone had played the game with the children, the day went by peacefully, and no lives were lost. However, the player did not dare to relax their vigilance either. When it was time for them to sleep, they shrank back to their dormitories, not dating to go out. 

But two people remained as exceptions to this rule.

Shen Dongqing took a short nap, only waking up when it was time to depart. However, because his drowsiness had yet to dissipate, he hung onto Zhou Wenyan’s body like a sloth.

Thankfully, Zhou Wenyan had a lot of strength, and he half-carried his partner out of the room directly.

The kindergarten was extremely quiet at night. Not even the sound of a cricket could be heard; it was like a dead piece of land. 

The Dean’s office was also on the second floor. Without requiring much time, the pair travelled down the second-floor corridor and reached the entrance.

Shen Dongqing was about to go forward to open the door when Zhou Wenyan called him to a stop. “Wait.”

He halted, smelling a waft of blood. When he lowered his head to look, he saw fresh blood flowing out from the crack in the door of the Dean’s room, which immediately stained a large area of the ground.

Zhou Wenyan jumped past the pool of fresh blood on the ground. Before he had the time to push open the door, the heavy door opened by itself. It was even a buy one get one free situation, wherein a human figure fell to the ground and split into four to five pieces like a watermelon. 

Under the aid of the moonlight, they could see a head with dyed hair rolling over with a rumble.

It was the Blonde-haired Boy from the pair of sweethearts, who was also a security guard in the kindergarten.

It was highly likely that something happened during his night shift.

Zhou Wenyan moved his feet away to evade the blood that was flowing over. He gave the corpse on the ground a sweeping glance. “Is this considered a warning?” 

Rather than being frightened by the sight, Shen Dongqing became more motivated instead: “Let’s go in and have a look.”

A player folding here meant that there was something interesting inside.

Zhou Wenyan had the same thought too.

Hence, the pair entered the Dean’s office one after another. 

The Dean’s office appeared different at night compared to daytime. It was completely dark inside, as though it were a beast that devoured humans and wanted to swallow them whole.