Puppet Notes (Wearing Book) - 78

 

| PN | Woken Up | 78

In order not to disturb the two children’s studies at home, Qi Chao moved very quietly when he left. However, no matter how small the sound, it didn’t escape Lan Luo’s ears.

After confirming that Qi Chao had indeed seen him studying diligently, Lan Luo felt a bit satisfied and lowered his head to continue reading his ethics book.

In Lan Luo's view, these books were like guides on how to pretend to be obedient. As long as he finished these books, he would know what kind of child Qi Chao considered to be well-behaved.

Qi Chao liked obedient children.

But Lan Luo knew that he wasn’t one. No matter how much he pretended, he would never be the well-behaved child in human eyes.

Recalling the times Qi Chao had rubbed his head, Lan Luo's gaze darkened slightly. As long as he was still a well-behaved child in Qi Chao's eyes, he wouldn’t let Qi Chao change his impression of him.

In contrast, the reason Li Bai was reading was much simpler. He knew that he wasn’t good at studying or memorizing, and if he slacked off any further, that idiot Agu might even surpass him.

Thinking of the upcoming exams that his father had mentioned, the golden eyes behind Li Bai's mask narrowed into slits.

Li Bai really disliked Agu right now.

He absolutely would not allow Agu to have better grades than him.

Qi Chao had no idea why the two children upstairs were so determined to study hard. After returning to the basement, he sent Shen Yuxi a message to let him know he was home.

A few seconds later, the light brain was silent. Qi Chao glanced at the screen, thought for a moment, and then got up to organize the materials for making puppets.

The design drawing for the celestial dog had already been completed, so Qi Chao planned to start making the celestial dog's shell first. 

Since it had been a while, a layer of dust had accumulated on the box, but the resin and special clay inside were still good to use.

Qi Chao took the clay out of the box and placed it on the table. He put on his mental strength gloves, and his eyes focused intently on the clay in his hands as he began to knead it.

Under Qi Chao's skilled hands, the white clay gradually took shape, and the contours of the facial features could faintly be seen. Qi Chao glanced to the side, reached out to grab a carving knife, and removed the excess parts.

Just as Qi Chao put down the knife, a familiar electronic sound reached his ears.

【Ding——

It has been detected that the host has entered the initial stage of the second puppet-making process. 

Congratulations, host, for activating this week's side mission.

Make a clay puppet body

Craftsman points reward: 100 (pending)】

Qi Chao paused. Ever since he made Li Bai, he hadn't activated a side mission again. Hearing the side mission prompt now brought back some nostalgia.

Now that Qi Chao was a big shot with two mineral veins under his control, he no longer valued task rewards like he used to. However, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to earn some points when it presented itself.

After notifying Qi Chao of the side mission, the system within his consciousness watched as its host buried himself in puppet-making. It let out a heavy sigh, recalling how it used to fantasize about Qi Chao discovering everything and escaping from here. 

It couldn't help but curse itself for being foolish.

Qi Chao had indeed left, but he had taken the demon Lan Luo with him. This didn't align with what the system had imagined. The host seemed blind whenever it came to puppets, and the system should have realized this long ago. It sighed again. 

Although the puppets hadn't killed the host yet, the system shuddered at the thought of the world line soon officially starting. It didn't dare to think any further and quickly left this dimension.

Though the neighboring host was useless, they were at least a gentle and understanding soul. With this in mind, the system sought comfort from the neighboring host.

Qi Chao didn't pay any attention to the system's departure. He was fully focused on refining the puppet's facial features. Even when the light brain made a series of beeping sounds, he didn't respond. Stopping now might cause him to lose the sense of touch he had just found.

After a few beeps, the light brain went silent again, and the basement returned to its quiet state. Without any distractions, Qi Chao became even more engrossed in his work.

Time passed slowly. Shen Yuxi glanced at the light brain screen, his eyes growing colder. It had been almost two hours since Qi Chao last responded to his message.

The desk in front of Shen Yuxi was covered with many dazzling diamonds. He picked one up and held it tightly in his hand. 

If Qi Chao had been there, he would have recognized the diamond as the gift he had given Shen Yuxi last time.

So, was that young man really someone Qi Chao liked so much?

Shen Yuxi knew that some men only liked those younger than themselves. Despite his superior appearance, he understood that success in certain matters wasn't solely dependent on looks.

Seeing that the light brain remained silent, Shen Yuxi pressed his lips together, his gaze darkening. A few seconds later, he softly instructed Moss, who had appeared behind him at some point, “Bring Ayu over.”

Moss nodded and stepped into the spatial vortex with the stuffed doll he was carrying.

Shortly after Moss left, the light brain suddenly vibrated. A video call invitation appeared on the screen. Shen Yuxi hesitated for a moment before accepting it.

“Sorry, Brother Shen, I was caught up in making puppets and didn’t get a chance to reply,” Qi Chao said, not noticing Shen Yuxi’s discomfort. His deep brown eyes crinkled into a smile. “Sorry for making you wait.”

Upon hearing this explanation, Shen Yuxi’s displeasure lessened. He tilted his head slightly, feigning curiosity as he asked, “Didn’t Tu Zhuang come back with you?”

“No.”

Qi Chao smiled. “I had him stay with my two younger brothers. They’re about the same age, so they have more in common. I didn’t need to join them.”

Same age, huh?

Shen Yuxi’s lips curved slightly as he released his tight grip on the diamond, revealing the pale imprint on his palm.

The conversation shifted away from Tu Zhuang, and Shen Yuxi’s tone became gentler. He chatted briefly with Qi Chao before ending the call.

The room fell silent again. Reflecting on his earlier emotions, Shen Yuxi’s smile slowly faded. He found himself increasingly affected by Qi Chao recently. His blue eyes narrowed as he stared at the chat interface on the light brain, deep in thought.

At that moment, a spatial vortex slowly appeared on the wall, and Moss and Ayu stepped out.

Ayu was much taller than Moss. She stood behind her father, tilting her head slightly as she looked at his back, her voice tinged with curiosity. “Father, is there something you need?”

She had been monitoring San Yue and Tu Zhuang. Normally, her father rarely called her back while she was on a mission.

“It’s nothing.”

Shen Yuxi’s tone was indifferent; he had already learned what he wanted to know earlier.

Ayu’s expression remained unchanged as she quietly stood behind her father.

A few seconds later, a faint noise came from outside the window. Ayu paused. After she had disciplined Chi Yao and Agu for their mistakes, she was well aware that the current noise was likely caused by Chi Yao.

Since her father fell ill, Chi Yao had taken to sleeping on the tree outside his window every day, and it had become a habit by now.

With this in mind, Ayu turned to the still-silent Shen Yuxi and said, “Father, when will you assign a task to Chi Yao? The trial grounds temporarily cannot operate without her.”

Shen Yuxi’s expression remained unchanged as he picked up the diamond from the desk, holding it in his hand. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

He cared about very few things. As long as the puppets didn’t interfere with his plans, he wouldn’t mind how much trouble they caused. He might punish them slightly, but since he needed the puppets for tasks, punishment only delayed his plans.

But this time, Shen Yuxi felt he had done something foolish, even resorting to cold treatment. Was it because he had been influenced by Qi Chao and had invested more emotion into the puppets? 

His lashes drooped slightly, and after a few seconds, he softly said, “Call Chi Yao in. Agu won’t be needed.”

Ayu’s cold face broke into a smile at this, and she nodded before turning to pull open the curtains.

Meanwhile, after finishing the video call with Shen Yuxi, Qi Chao went upstairs to take a stroll and chatted with the two small children at home for a while before returning to the basement to continue making puppets.

The celestial dog's form was something Qi Chao had never made before— a humanoid shape resembling a young boy, with the added challenge of the puppet having black wings, dog ears, and a dog tail. 

It was a fantasy-type puppet, making its creation extremely difficult.

Thinking about those wings gave Qi Chao a headache. However, since the design was set from the beginning, he had to complete it no matter how challenging it was. He had ordered special fibers and a custom skeleton for making the feathers online and, finally, stood up to input mental power into the three master stones.

In the fish tank, the two red crystals in the double mirrors gradually grew more intense in color, while the small dog shaped mother stone remained a dull gray, showing no signs of changing color and looking quite understated.

Qi Chao thought for a moment, then took out the celestial dog’s mother stone. After holding it and waiting for the stone to warm up to the temperature of his palm, he placed it back into the tank.

Qi Chao was unsure when the celestial dog’s mother stone would be awakened but estimated it would be in the next few days.

The next day, after receiving the special fibers, Qi Chao began making the wings. This process required him to use mental power to synthesize the fibers into feathers, then spend a significant amount of energy and time attaching the feathers to the skeleton. 

Additionally, to ensure the puppet could retract the wings into its body, he had to apply a special reagent to dissolve the feathers with mental power.

Any interruption in mental power during this process could cause the wings to fail.

To ensure the successful creation of the wings, Qi Chao decided to live in the basement. Concerned about the children’s studies, he moved the desk and other study materials to the basement so that if Lan Luo and Li Bai had any academic questions, they could ask him at any time.

When Lan Luo and Li Bai first saw the wing-making process, they frequently glanced at Qi Chao when they moved to the basement, but they soon became accustomed to it.

Their study schedule in the basement was quite regular, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m., when they would go upstairs to rest. Regardless of how early Lan Luo and Li Bai woke up, they always found Qi Chao working in the basement.

Li Bai was particularly curious about when his father slept. One night, after saying goodnight and heading to his room, he stayed up until 1 a.m. and quietly went to the basement.

At that time, Qi Chao was still working under the desk lamp. Through the crack in the door, Li Bai could only see his father’s slightly bent back and the partially completed black wings.

It was clear that Qi Chao was exhausted, as he occasionally had to stand up and wash his face to stay awake. After washing up, he would return to his work.

Li Bai stood outside the door, watching his father work from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Before turning off the lights, the tired man gently tapped the aquarium, greeting the stones inside before finally closing his eyes to sleep.

Listening to his father's steady breathing, Li Bai found his face wet with tears. He recalled the time when he was still just a stone, vaguely aware of someone waiting expectantly for his birth, day after day, creating his body.

Dad truly loves them.

Li Bai took off his mask and covered his eyes with his arm as tears streamed down his face. He didn’t want his father to stay up so late. He thought his dad was too tired.

That night, Li Bai didn’t tell anyone about what he had seen, not even Lan Luo. It was as if he had grown up overnight, yet he still seemed the same as before, showing his small tiger teeth, his golden amber eyes curved in a smile every day.

No one knew that from that night onward, every time Qi Chao stayed up late to work on puppets, Li Bai would quietly sneak down, sitting alone outside the basement door. Only after the lights inside went out would he sneak back to his room.

Li Bai never said anything or did anything; he just quietly accompanied his father outside the door. Qi Chao, however, didn’t notice Li Bai’s actions, as he was already overwhelmed with work.

Since starting to create the celestial dog puppet, Qi Chao rarely left the house, only visiting his brother’s home a few times to check if Tu Zhuang and San Yue were adapting to their new environment. 

For nearly three months, Qi Chao had been buried in work in the basement, and the time he spent tutoring the two children was time he had to squeeze out of his schedule.

However, both Li Bai and Lan Luo were very diligent, never slacking off even once. In the exams organized by Qi Chao and Shen Yuxi, both puppets consistently achieved excellent grades.

In contrast, Agu was always at the bottom of the class and rarely passed. 

During video calls with Shen Yuxi, Qi Chao could often hear Agu’s frantic and trembling voice as he tried to memorize his lessons, which made even Qi Chao feel a bit sympathetic.

The only regret was that Chi Yao seemed to have something going on and appeared much less frequently. When Shen Yuxi casually explained that she had gone to play with Ayu, Qi Chao didn’t inquire further.

"Has your celestial dog puppet not awakened yet?" Shen Yuxi asked during a video call one day.

"No, it hasn't."

Thinking about the celestial dog puppet that still hadn't awakened after three months, Qi Chao couldn't help but feel that it should be named Nezha. 

Normally, the mother stone should awaken within about a month. If it takes more than two months, many puppet creators would assume the stone is "dead" and will never awaken.

Shen Yuxi knew that Qi Chao had been very busy lately, which is why he hadn't tried to flirt with Qi Chao during this time. He understood that in such a hectic state, Qi Chao wouldn't have the mental space for anything else. 

He also needed some time to lessen the impact Qi Chao had on him. Shen Yuxi's eyelashes lowered slightly, his emotions hard to read. He parted his thin lips:

"Do you want to switch to a different mother stone?"

Qi Chao thought for a moment and then tugged at the corner of his mouth, "No. I think the mother stone is still alive; it's just reacting slower than usual."

Qi Chao had already accepted that this new puppet might have developmental issues.

Shen Yuxi was amused by Qi Chao's analogy, his peach blossom eyes curving into crescent moons. Seeing the fatigue in Qi Chao's eyes, he thought for a moment and asked, "Is the celestial dog puppet’s body completed?"

"Yeah."

Qi Chao moved aside, adjusting the camera to show the puppet lying on the workbench.

The boy on the workbench had long black hair and wore a black robe adorned with dark red moon patterns. Behind him, a pair of black wings were folded, they looked like it could wrap around the boy at any moment. 

On his head were a pair of black dog ears, and it wasn't hard to imagine how interesting it would be to see those seemingly aloof and cold ears move.

Since the heart hadn't been placed inside yet, Qi Chao infused the puppet's body with spiritual energy daily to prevent any issues with the dog ears, tail, or wings retracting due to a lack of energy later on.

"Not bad," Shen Yuxi remarked with a trace of amusement in his eyes as he looked at the puppet on the workbench. 

This was only Qi Chao's second time creating a puppet, and he had already managed to make a fantasy-type puppet in such a short period.

If the Puppet Master’s Association found out, they would undoubtedly go to great lengths to have Qi Chao join them. 

Shen Yuxi paused, then asked, "Have you decided on the puppet's name?"

Originally, Shen Yuxi had thought the puppet would simply be named celestial dog, but he recently learned from Qi Chao that he didn't intend to use celestial dog as the puppet's name, as it didn't seem quite fitting to him.

"I have," Qi Chao replied after a long thought, smiling. "I'll call him Xiang Yue. I think it sounds nice."

Xiang Yue?

Shen Yuxi looked at the boy who seemed to be immersed in the darkness of the night, pausing for a moment before a slight smile appeared on his lips. "Mm, it's a very good name."

After ending the video call, Qi Chao carefully moved the puppet from the workbench to the bathtub, pouring in a soothing solution. 

Until the heart was placed inside, the puppet needed to be soaked for long periods to prevent its skin from cracking. 

He thought to himself that he would wait a little longer; if the mother stone still showed no signs of awakening, confirming that it was indeed a dead stone, he would choose a new one.

With these tasks completed, Qi Chao walked over to the fish tank and began channeling his spiritual energy into the three mother stones inside. 

Today was Lan Luo and Li Bai's day off, so he had sent the two upstairs to watch cartoons. In the quiet basement, Qi Chao closed his eyes, guiding his energy into the three mother stones, unaware that the grayish mother stone had begun to crack slightly.

As he felt his spiritual energy being absorbed as if by a massive black hole, Qi Chao realized something was happening. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he redirected all his energy toward the grayish stone. 

The green glow surrounded the stone, only to be instantly consumed as if by a terrifyingly greedy beast, intent on devouring everything around it. It showed none of its previous restraint, swallowing up all the energy Qi Chao provided.

As time passed, Qi Chao began to feel slightly strained, his temples throbbing. The once-responsive mother stone in the tank suddenly ceased their activity, and even when Qi Chao released more energy, the absorption stopped. 

Sensing something significant had happened, Qi Chao opened his eyes to see a newly formed red crystal. 

The small dog-shaped mother stone held a certain whimsical charm, and as Qi Chao estimated his remaining energy, he picked up the crystal. It felt cold at first but gradually warmed in his palm.

Qi Chao walked over to the bathtub and placed the red crystal into the puppet's chest, submerging his hands into the soothing solution and slowly releasing his spiritual energy. 

Having just awakened the mother stone and now needing to awaken the puppet, his temples throbbed with a dull ache, though it was still bearable. A broad smile spread across his face—after all, his "Nezha" had finally come to life, and who wouldn't be excited?

The green energy flowed from the puppet's chest through its limbs and wings, then gathered back at the heart. 

Qi Chao guided his energy with his eyes closed, expecting the process to take a long time, just as it had before. 

But this time, to his surprise, it was much shorter. 

Almost as soon as the energy completed its circuit through the puppet's meridians, Qi Chao sensed something. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into a pair of blood-red eyes.

Those eyes, like a crimson moon, radiated cold rationality and an indescribable defiance. 

Yet, when they looked at Qi Chao, the boy seemed to withdraw his sharpness, leaving only loyalty and adoration. 

The black wings behind him stirred slightly, the feathers appearing somewhat wet, as though dampened by the solution.

Qi Chao gazed into those red eyes, and after a few seconds, he reached out to the black-haired boy, his eyes filled with warmth. He said, "Xiang Yue, you’re finally awake."

Xiang Yue stared intently at the man before him, listening as the man’s deep and magnetic voice echoed in his ears, "I've been waiting for you for so long."

So have I.

Xiang Yue looked at the man, as if gazing at his deity.

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