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Anyone who saw these two puppets would never believe they were made by the same puppet master.
Lan Luo, standing at 1.2 meters tall, had a delicate appearance. His blue eyes were clear and transparent, his slightly curly golden hair was fluffy and soft, and his smile was sweeter and softer than cotton candy, earning him the nickname "angel."
In contrast, the other doll in the study was eerily frightening. He wore a black suit and stood nearly 1.6 meters tall, but his entire body was wrapped in bandages. Even his hair was covered by bandages, leaving only one dark, lifeless, and creepy right eye exposed.
"Big brother," Lan Luo called again.
"Yes," the puppet's voice was somewhat hoarse.
It was clearly a reunion between two brothers, but there was no warmth between them. It felt more like a conversation between a superior and a subordinate than a family reunion.
Lan Luo looked up quietly at his big brother with his blue eyes, waiting obediently for his orders.
For Lan Luo, every visit from his big brother meant a new task. This task could be assigned by their father or it could be from his big brother himself.
Lan Luo would definitely complete their father's orders.
As for his big brother's orders, Lan Luo would complete them depending on his mood.
The spacious study was eerily silent.
After a few seconds, Moss's lips moved slightly under the bandages. His dry, hoarse voice sounded like an old broken bellows, "There's trouble over there. Father asked me to tell you to control yourself and not kill anyone before he arrives."
"Okay."
Lan Luo obediently nodded when he heard it was an order from their father. Recently, his master had been treating him well, so he had no plans to kill his master for now.
The study fell silent once more.
Lan Luo continued to gaze at his big brother.
Moss with his only eye coldly scrutinized the seemingly obedient Lan Luo, as if weighing the credibility of his words. In his eyes, Lan Luo was not trustworthy.
In fact, among all the puppets created by their father, Lan Luo was the least to be trusted.
Although Lan Luo often pretended to be docile and harmless, he was actually the most violent of all the puppets.
One moment, he might be acting sweet and affectionate, but the next moment, he could be smiling while ripping out someone's heart over some trivial matter. His temperament was extremely unpredictable.
Many tasks had failed due to Lan Luo's bad temper.
This matter was a direct order from their father and they could not afford any mishaps.
Moss slowly walked over to Lan Luo, half-squatted down, and grabbed Lan Luo’s hair. His eerie dark eye stared intently into Lan Luo’s eyes, emphasizing each word, “Do not cause any trouble before father arrives.”
He spoke slowly and didn’t use overly harsh words, but Lan Luo's expression instantly darkened.
Moss's repeated emphasis seemed to imply that Lan Luo was a bad child.
Lan Luo’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and he pressed his lips together, suppressing the gloom in his eyes and the subtle grievances. He was a good child and would obediently listen to their father. “When will father arrive?”
“Soon.” Moss stood up. “I will meet your master in the name of father’s assistant.”
Lan Luo nodded with a sullen face. Mos gave him a long, penetrating look but said nothing more. He turned and retreated into a swirling vortex.
In the next moment, the vortex twisted and spun, a light breeze swept through, and the study returned to its usual silence.
At this moment, Qi Chao, who was in the basement, was blissfully focused on making a new puppet. He had no idea that a bandaged one-eyed puppet had come and gone, nor did he know that his own puppet child was in a foul mood.
Making puppets was Qi Chao's expertise. He could do it with his eyes closed. However, this time, there was an additional step involving the release of mental energy.
Whether molding clay, refining details, or creating molds, each step required the puppet master’s mental energy. The transparent special gloves had circles on the front that glowed faint green.
This was the mental energy sensing device of the gloves. As long as the circles glowed, it meant the mental energy was running smoothly.
Initially, Qi Chao wasn’t accustomed to releasing mental energy while making puppets. But perhaps due to his talent, he became proficient in just a few minutes.
He focused on the head that was about to take shape, his well-defined fingers kneading the special clay. As the carving knife meticulously refined the details, the contours of the head gradually became clear.
Making a doll wasn’t something that could be completed in a day or two. As an experienced puppet master, Qi Chao knew well how excruciating the long process could be.
After completing the tasks for the day, Qi Chao tidied up, got up, and went to bed. The next morning, he continued to work in the basement.
During this time, he went upstairs to fetch a newly arrived package.
By now, he had all the materials needed to make his puppet completely.
Qi Chao heard the system notification of 100 points being credited and smiled slightly.
No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. One hundred points are equivalent to thirty thousand star coins, which is not a small amount.
Upstairs, after learning a few words, Lan Luo, as usual, ran to the projection screen to watch cartoons. However, Qi Chao couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Lan Luo today.
This morning, he had prepared a high-grade energy stone, but Lan Luo only took a few bites.
He hadn't eaten much the night before either, so by now he should have been hungry. When Qi Chao asked, Lan Luo gave his usual bright smile and said he wasn’t hungry.
In truth, Lan Luo wasn’t hungry.
He was still full of anger from his encounter with his big brother.
Qi Chao, unaware that Lan Luo was upset and didn’t want to eat, simply believed Lan Luo’s words and dismissed his concerns as overthinking.
However, when Lan Luo still ate only a few bites at lunch, Qi Chao knew something was wrong.
Why was his usually energetic puppet eating so little?
“Lan Luo, are you full after just a few bites?” Qi Chao asked, frowning slightly as he walked over to Lan Luo and ruffled his hair.
“Mm.” Lan Luo's eyes curved as he showed a contented expression, like a cat enjoying being petted, seemingly in a good mood.
Qi Chao instinctively ruled out the possibility that Lan Luo's lack of appetite was due to his mood. There was only one other reason: Lan Luo was sick.
Could puppets get sick?
Of course they could. Anything with life could get sick.
Qi Chao searched all the posts on the forum but found nothing about similar illnesses in puppets. For the first time, he posted on the forum, only to receive a bunch of mocking replies.
Grandpa's Here_1st Floor: [Hahaha, puppets getting sick, hahaha, this is the funniest joke of the year.]
Autumn Wine Words_2nd Floor: [Has the poster lost his mind? Puppets are things that pop out of rocks; how could they possibly get sick? Oh wait, they can get sick. If the puppet's core is gone, isn't that being sick?]
Climb Upstairs_3rd Floor: [As the name suggests, the guy upstairs should climb off. Don't look down on puppets!! Poster, don't listen to them. Eating fewer energy stones might be because they don't like the taste. Try buying energy stones of different colors to change things up for your puppets.]
There's Always Some RZ_4th Floor: [Switching? 3rd Floor, do you think puppets are your dad? Changing the taste, really? Hot fact: puppets don't have taste buds. Cold fact: energy stones have no flavor. Read more to avoid exposing your ignorance.]
Gossip Envoy_4th Floor: [Oh, a fight? Great, I'll settle down here. Grabs popcorn to watch the drama.jpg]
Qi Chao frowned as he read the comments. What nonsense! How could a simple question turn into a heated argument?
Ignoring the drama in the thread, he read through all the responses and finally concluded that as long as the puppet's core wasn't malfunctioning, the puppet wouldn't get sick. And if the core did have issues, the symptoms wouldn't include a loss of appetite.
Qi Chao was puzzled.
Could it be that his puppet really had no issues?
At that moment, Lan Luo was sitting on the sofa, swinging his legs and eagerly watching cartoons, looking nothing like someone who was sick.
Seeing this, Qi Chao thought for a moment and decided to consult an expert. He opened the chat interface with the Doctor and typed in his question.
A few minutes passed, but there was no response.
Qi Chao remained calm. Not everyone was always by their comms device waiting to talk. He understood that the Doctor was a busy person. Thinking it over, he decided to contact two professional puppet master’s he had recently added.
Unlike the Doctor, both responded immediately, though their reactions differed.
Bego: [Loss of appetite? If it can eat, why worry so much? How's that junk core of yours doing?]
Qi Chao replied with a perfunctory comment and then opened Ashley's chat interface.
Ashley: [I haven't heard of puppets having symptoms of loss of appetite. Maybe it's just not hungry? You can try feeding it later when it’s hungry.]
After consulting so many people, all of whom believed that puppets couldn't get sick, Qi Chao, although still a bit worried, was no longer as anxious as before.
As long as Lan Luo was fine, Qi Chao was relieved.
While he was thinking this, his comms device suddenly vibrated.
It was a message from the Doctor.
Doctor: [Loss of appetite?]
Qi Chao typed "Yes" and sent it over.
Doctor: [You can crush the energy blocks into rice-sized pieces and mix them with water to feed him. Then observe the puppet's condition.]
Qi Chao was astonished. This was the first piece of professional advice he had received. Curious, he typed: [Why should I do that? Is it to help the puppet digest better?]
Doctor: [You can think of it that way ^_^]
Qi Chao felt like he had learned something new. Without even trying it yet, he was already convinced by the Doctor's suggestion. Compared to this, the earlier responses seemed too unprofessional.
In the evening, Qi Chao followed the Doctor's instructions, crushing the energy stones into rice-sized pieces and soaking them in water. He then brought the mixture to the small puppet.
Lan Luo, being very intelligent, quickly understood the reason behind this method. He also realized that it was his father's intention. He paused for a moment before using a spoon to eat the rice-sized energy stones one by one.
Qi Chao was prepared for this, but he was still shocked when he saw it. The small puppet actually ate all the energy stones without leaving any behind!
Excitedly, Qi Chao turned around, grabbed his comms device, and typed a long message of thanks in the chat interface.
Meanwhile, out of Qi Chao's sight, Lan Luo let out a small sigh of relief.
Soaking energy stones in water was one of his father's methods of punishment.
His father was telling me not to cause him trouble.
Lan Luo's eyelashes trembled slightly. He wanted to obey his father's instructions but felt as if he had once again been a bad child in front of his father.
At that moment, Qi Chao, still smiling from his earlier message, knelt down and gently ruffled Lan Luo's soft hair. His eyes showed a hint of pity, and his voice was low and soothing. "Lan Luo, you've had a tough day, haven't you?"
Qi Chao's thinking was simple. Since crushing the energy stones into rice-sized pieces was to aid digestion, it indicated that Lan Luo might have trouble digesting energy.
In other words, his little puppet was actually ill. Despite this, Lan Luo acted as if nothing was wrong and even smiled at him, which made Qi Chao feel both heartache and affection.
Lan Luo was stunned and looked at Qi Chao with his clear blue eyes, feeling puzzled.
"If you're ever feeling uncomfortable, you must tell Daddy," Qi Chao said, not wanting to be too stern. He joked lightly, "Lan Luo is the best child in the world. When good children feel bad, they need adults to comfort them."
He was the best child in the world.
Hearing this, Lan Luo's eyes immediately brightened. He nodded vigorously, his face lighting up with excitement, as if he had received an extraordinary treasure.
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