Puppet Notes (Wearing Book) - 44

 

| PN | Moon Theme | 44

The venue did not allow spectators to enter early, so Qi Chao had to temporarily part ways with the doctor and the others.

"Li Bai can't go in?" Li Bai looked at his father entering the venue, his amber eyes behind the mask showing some anxiety.

"No, only participating puppet masters are allowed in for the first round," Shen Yuxi said, his lips slightly parted as he smiled at Li Bai.

Li Bai felt a bit disappointed and nodded obediently.

Since arriving at the venue, Lan Luo had been acting strangely. Though his face still wore a bright smile, he seemed much more anxious compared to usual.

Shen Yuxi glanced at him, as if understanding the reason. His slender fingers tapped the headband on Lan Luo's head, his voice calm and gentle, with a faint smile, "I know he's here, you don't need to be so nervous."

Li Bai next to them did not understand.

Moss, who had been holding a doll, looked up. His dark eyes seemed a bit frightening, as if he guessed what they were talking about.

Lan Luo tensed up for a moment but then relaxed. He had known that it wouldn’t be long before his father found out that Qiao Sheng was here.

“Father, don’t be sad,” Lan Luo gathered his courage and clutched Shen Yuxi’s sleeve, looking up to comfort him.

Shen Yuxi gave a light laugh and did not speak.

…

On the other side, Qi Chao entered the contestants' lounge. As he glanced around, he noticed four or five cameras pointing at him from the corners.

According to the organizers, once contestants entered the lounge, they were within the live broadcast range, and every move they made would be shown to the audience.

Qi Chao thought for a moment, then nodded at the cameras before sitting down in the waiting area to rest his eyes.

Meanwhile, viewers who had been waiting in the live stream saw this unfamiliar face and started typing furiously.

【This guy looks pretty handsome, but I don’t recognize him. Is he a newcomer?】

【I haven’t seen him before either, but he seems familiar… Damn! Isn’t this the tycoon’s son?】

【！！！Ahhh, this is definitely Qi Chao! He really is the tycoon’s son, amazing!】

 

The chat room was immediately flooded with question marks and expressions of shock. The tycoon’s son coming to compete in a puppet master contest? Was this some kind of international joke?

Qi Chao's fans in the live stream were ecstatic, like it was a festival. They excitedly shared stories about the tycoon’s son’s achievements on the screen—his impressive mental strength, how he could make puppets all day without a hitch, and that the puppets he made were S-rank. The chat quickly filled with astonished comments, with many people expressing their surprise.

S-rank?

Damn, this is indeed a very impressive figure.

The fact that the tycoon’s son chose to participate in a puppet master competition, despite being so talented, made him seem like a protagonist in a novel. Many netizens developed a strong interest in Qi Chao because of this.

Naturally, Qi Chao was unaware of this, as electronic devices such as light brains were not allowed into the venue.

There were about a thousand puppet masters in the venue, most of whom were members of the Puppet Master Association and knew each other well. As Qi Chao sat alone in the corner, resting his eyes, he could overhear the laughter and chatter of the four puppet masters beside him.

“If the judge is Qing Yu, we’ll design a deformed puppet. If it’s Lang Chuan, it’ll be a flawed puppet. As for Bugu, I remember she doesn’t have any specific preferences—just pay her, and she’ll make the puppet, though her style tends to be more extravagant.”

“Alright, you’ve done your research thoroughly.”

“Of course. The Puppet Master Association has already told us who the judges are, so it’s just a matter of guessing the details, haha.”

Hearing these words, Qi Chao opened his eyes and looked over. His deep brown eyes darkened slightly, and he pursed his lips before shifting his gaze away.

In the first round of the competition, the scores were based on both the judges’ ratings and audience votes. To achieve high scores, many participants would try to cater to the judges’ preferences. Even if the judges’ designs for the puppets were questionable, participants would still eagerly imitate them.

Qi Chao knew that such people were not uncommon, even in his previous life. Having lived nearly thirty years, he had become quite open-minded about many things.

However, seeing puppet masters who were willing to disregard even their own "children" for the sake of victory still made him feel uncomfortable, and his expression darkened.

A puppet master should have their own principles.

Qi Chao looked at the calluses on his hands and thought to himself that if he didn’t have such principles, he wouldn’t deserve to be regarded as a father by his puppets.

The competition soon began.

The three judges were seated at the judging panel, while the thousands of puppet masters were spaced one meter apart, each with paper, pens, and rulers provided by the association.

【It’s starting, ahh, we’ve been waiting for two hours.】

 

Many comments like this scrolled through the chat.

Shen Yuxi, along with three puppets, was seated in the audience. His gaze fell on the large screen, and seeing the three judges at the panel, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

“I see Dad!”

Li Bai exclaimed with excitement. He kept pulling on Lan Luo's sleeve and tugging on Moss’s hem. Despite wearing a mask, his bright amber eyes were still visible.

Hearing this, Shen Yuxi looked over and saw on the screen that Qi Chao was relaxing his wrist and appeared casual, the same as usual but with a hint of something different, as if he had been stimulated by something.

No one understood the flaws of puppet masters better than Shen Yuxi. Although he hadn’t seen what happened in the waiting area, he could guess the situation with a little thought. He gave a light laugh, a glint of interest in his eyes.

“Attention: The first round of the morning session will begin shortly. Contestants, please prepare yourselves. The judges will announce the topic in five minutes,” the host’s clear and resonant voice reached every puppet master’s ears from the judges' panel.

“Note: All puppet masters should design their puppets based on the topic within three hours. The design must include the puppet’s background and design sketches.”

Qi Chao’s gaze fell on the three judges engaged in conversation—Qing Yu, whom he already knew, and the other two, who should be Bugu and Lang Chuan as mentioned earlier.

After a glance, Qi Chao looked away. His slender fingers twirled the pen a few times. Even for the sake of victory, he would not change his principles.

The judges finalized the topic within the five-minute period, and the host, having learned the topic from the judges, announced it within the given time.

“Morning session topic—Please design a puppet based on the theme ‘Moon.’”

Moon?

Qi Chao was momentarily stunned when he heard this word, then began to ponder.

As soon as the topic was announced, the chat room exploded with activity.

【Wow, just one word? Oh my gosh, we have to design a puppet that fits the theme and finish the design and background within the time limit? So difficult. Normally, it takes puppet masters thirty days just to design one drawing, right?】

【Not just that, if there's no inspiration, it could take several months.】

【Damn! This is so hard!】

All the puppet masters in the competition were encountering this kind of prompt for the first time. With just one word, most of them didn’t know where to start. Many chose to abandon their own ideas and instead tried to cater to the judges’ preferences.

The cameras occasionally panned to Qi Chao’s direction. Unlike the other puppet masters’ confusion, Qi Chao seemed to have a clear idea. With his head down, he was sketching and writing on the paper, looking focused and serious, similar to how he was in the basement.

【I think Qi Chao is almost done with his design.】

【1 It seems that BunBun and Elder Beast Qiao are also making good progress.】

【No wonder he’s an S-rank master. The few tier-3 puppet masters I follow haven’t even started yet.】

“Is Daddy almost finished?” Li Bai asked eagerly.

“No, it’s still early,” Shen Yuxi responded gently. Unlike the clueless audience, he was aware of some of Qi Chao’s small habits. 

For example, when faced with a difficult problem, Qi Chao would unconsciously poke at the white paper with the tip of his pen.

Shen Yuxi was always very good at observing people’s subtle actions. He shifted his gaze from Li Bai back to the large screen. Although his blue eyes still held a smile, a closer look would reveal that the smile didn’t reach his eyes, seeming more like a mask.

Even if Qi Chao’s work wasn’t perfect, Shen Yuxi thought, he had ways to push Qi Chao to the top position.

On the other side, Qi Chao had no idea that the doctor was already prepared for his defeat. His pen tapped on the white paper as he considered the design of the puppet.

When thinking about the moon, Qi Chao’s first reaction was the concept of a lunar eclipse. On Blue Star, there was no legend of a lunar eclipse caused by a celestial dog. However, in his previous life, Qi Chao had designed many puppets based on Chinese folklore, and he could be said to be quite skilled in this area.

In ancient times, a lunar eclipse was seen as a bad omen. On such days, people would set off firecrackers and beat drums to drive away the celestial dog. Most legends depicted the celestial dog as a fierce, evil creature, though in reality, a lunar eclipse was just a natural phenomenon.

To design the celestial dog, the image would need to lean towards something more evil. Qi Chao wasn’t adept at creating puppets with negative traits, but perhaps due to the lingering frustration from earlier, his speed in designing and sketching the puppet background turned out to be unusually fast.

At about 1.6 meters tall, the puppet’s black wings extended from the shoulder blades all the way down to the ankles. The addition of canine ears, a tail, and a haughty expression gradually brought the youth’s image to life.

After completing the character design, Qi Chao quickly began considering the proportions of the body. With the addition of the wings, any slight mistake in proportion could make the wings appear cumbersome.

Qi Chao had always been somewhat of a specialist—poor in literature but good at mathematics. 

As a puppet master, he could quickly solve even the most complex calculations.

Meanwhile, the three judges on the panel observed the various expressions of the puppet masters below, each showing different reactions.

Bugu, the only female among the judges, had a very strained relationship with the two men. It could even be said that if the association hadn’t spent a large amount of money to invite her, Bugu would never have agreed to share the stage with the two men.

She sat on the panel, applying nail polish, and sighed in exasperation as she listened to the two men discussing their newly created deformed and missing-limb puppets.

“The competition is about to end,” Qing Yu said, adjusting his glasses. Despite his refined appearance, it was hard to believe he had such a peculiar taste for creating deformed puppets.

“Is the verification machine ready?” Lang Chuan asked, tilting his chin towards the host standing beside him.

“Of course,” the host replied with an apologetic smile.

In the morning session, there were thousands of submissions, so it was impossible for the three judges and the audience to review each one individually. 

Although the scoring criteria were set, only a very few submissions would be presented to the audience and judges for direct evaluation. Most submissions would receive a very standard score from the verification machine.

After the competition ended, all the submissions were marked with special tags and placed into the verification machine. The machine would select the top twenty submissions based on the topic and content provided by the participants.

As the participants finished their designs and started whispering among themselves, the noise grew somewhat loud. Lang Chuan, most annoyed by these bothersome sounds, furrowed his brow and asked the host, “Have the selections been made?”

“Yes, the selections have been made. However, there’s one submission where the verification machine produced an unusual result,” the host said, looking puzzled and unsure how to comment.

The verification machine, developed by the mainframe headquarters, was highly intelligent and had aesthetic standards above the average level on Blue Star. It had been a long time since any issues with verification had arisen.

“What’s unusual about it?” Bugu asked with curiosity.

The host placed the nineteen outstanding submissions on the table and then handed the unusual one to Bugu.

“This submission is hard to connect with the theme of ‘moon’ based on the design of the puppet. However, the background of the design is related to the moon. Typically, the verification machine should have judged this submission as not passing, but strangely, it did pass,” the host explained.

Generally, both the puppet's background and its design should relate to the theme of the moon for the verification machine to approve it. Elements like lunar motifs on the clothing could be considered sufficient. 

However, from a visual inspection, there were no moon elements in this submission.

The black-haired, black-winged youth’s eyes were blood-red, and the clothing was dark-toned. The name “black” seemed more appropriate than “moon,” indicating a complete contrast to the theme.

Seeing this, Bugu smiled. Her thoughts differed from the host’s. Since the verification machine accepted this design, it meant that the world view of this puppet master’s background was very complete—complete enough to convince a machine that this seemingly unrelated work actually contained elements of “moon.”

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