| PN | A Gift | 114
To investigate their next target, a few puppets returned from Ganfen District to Linjing District and quickly rushed to the apartment where the target puppet was located.
Xuan Jian and Shuang Jian had become much stronger since their creation. They stealthily entered the target puppet’s room, taking advantage of the cover provided by the large trees in the darkness, and a few minutes later, they jumped down from the window.
“I found it,” Xuan Jian said to the other puppets in front of him.
His wrist communicator vibrated continuously.
After looking at the message from Agu regarding the target puppet, Xiang Yue turned off the screen and said, “Let’s go.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the communicator vibrated again. Xiang Yue opened it to find a few meaningless remarks from Agu. He calmly closed the communicator.
In the plan to find allies, Agu had actually played a significant role. Whether it was teaching Xiang Yue and the others how to identify puppets on the communicator or how to pinpoint their exact locations, without Agu's guidance, the puppet’s plan would not have progressed so swiftly.
For this reason, Xiang Yue's attitude toward Agu improved significantly.
Agu had always liked Xiangyue, and upon noticing the change in Xiang Yue's demeanor, he seemed to discover something interesting.
He would pester Xiang Yue every day, sending him numerous messages.
It was clear that the other party was both idle and bored. Otherwise, they wouldn’t send meaningless messages every few minutes.
Xiang Yue switched his communicator to silent mode and then looked up at Li Bai, calmly saying, “Brother Li Bai, this target puppet has a rather violent temper. If we can’t handle it, we’ll just leave.”
“Understood.” Li Bai’s golden eyes narrowed with a smile, revealing his little fangs. “We want to have a cooperative ally relationship with him. If he doesn’t want to get involved in this matter, we won’t force him to join.”
Lan Luo, Xuan Jian, and Shuang Jian listened to the conversation between the two puppets but didn’t express any opinions.
Moss, who initially had no thoughts on the matter, followed the puppets to the target’s location.
Upon seeing the business apartment in front of him, his expression darkened significantly.
This place felt very familiar.
It seemed he had brought Ayu here before.
Moss’s fingers brushed over the doll in his hand, vaguely recalling something.
The puppet locked inside this business apartment was an S-level puppet capable of gathering information. Ayu’s ability involved obtaining information through surveillance and, based on that, predicting future events with over eighty percent accuracy by synthesizing the information.
However, the puppet in this apartment was different; after collecting information, he could analyze past events with nearly forty percent accuracy.
If Ayu and the puppet inside could unite, the father’s plan would go much smoother. However, the puppets locked inside are far more uncontrollable than expected.
On the surface, he seems gentle in nature, but in reality, he is a wolf yearning for freedom. To gain his freedom, he does not hesitate to betray his master.
When the wealthy owner attempted to use him to gather intelligence on competitors, he can put on the guise of being obedient and provide false information that lands the owner in prison.
No one would suspect the puppet deliberately lying.
After being passed through five different masters, the puppet was bought by a trader and was locked in a cage.
From then on, the wealthy only needed to pay five million star coins to obtain information from the puppet, which had a 40% accuracy rate.
There are always some wealthy individuals willing to gamble on information with only a 40% accuracy rate, because information is the most valuable commodity; if they bet correctly, they will take a significant step forward.
His ability is indeed useful.
Unfortunately, their father has no interest in taming a wolf that might betray him at any moment.
That puppet is different from Agu. Even though Agu enjoys teasing his father and is always rather foolish, he would never undermine their father's plans.
This target puppet, however, cannot be trusted in the same way. Therefore, Moss and Ayu did not take him into the trial arena.
Standing in front of the business apartment, doubts gradually rose in Moss's heart. How did Xiang Yue and the others find out about this puppet?
If finding Cheng Qi was because they identified the puppet using the light brain among many light brain numbers following Agu’s method, how did they find the puppet in this apartment?
As far as he knew, that puppet had been kept confined by humans, so it didn’t have a light brain.
“Did Agu tell you?”
After the four puppets entered the apartment according to the plan, Moss looked at Lan Luo and asked hoarsely.
Lan Luo did not deny it.
Moss stood in the blind spot of the surveillance, leaning against the wall of the alley to conceal his body. He looked at Lan Luo and said, “Do they all know about the abilities of the puppet inside?”
“They do.”
Lan Luo looked up at Moss, his blue eyes narrowing slightly. “That puppet's abilities are quite useful and beneficial for the plan.”
Of course, just as Li Bai had said before. They were merely allies; if that puppet was unwilling, they would not force it.
Moss hummed in response and didn’t bring up the matter again. He looked up at the darkened rooms in the business apartment and suddenly said, “The leaves of the mother tree in the trial arena have started to turn white.”
Lan Luo paused. He looked up, his blue eyes fixed intently on Moss. “Is there something you need me to do?”
For a long time, Lan Luo had been kept in the Linjing District by his father. At first, he could still undertake some peripheral tasks, but once he arrived at the Qi family’s home, he hadn’t done any more tasks, and his father didn’t tell him anything about the trial arena.
The older brother's meaning was clear; their father might be planning to assign him a task.
“No need,” Moss replied hoarsely.
Originally, it was needed.
According to their original plan, the father should have sent Lan Luo back to the trial arena at this time to protect the mother tree. The mother tree was most vulnerable when its leaves began to turn white.
Although Lan Luo had a bad temper and often messed up tasks, if it was just about protecting the mother tree, with his special ability, he would definitely be able to complete it.
But now, due to Qi Chao, their father had no plans to bring him back to the trial arena for the time being.
“I just wanted to tell you that both father and I will be very busy lately and might not have time to pay attention to things here. You need to protect Dad.”
Protect Dad?
Lan Luo wasn’t foolish; his eyes instantly darkened. “Is someone trying to hurt Dad? Is it the association, or some damn person?”
“The news Father received is that the association wants to recruit Dad,” Moss said, looking down at Lan Luo, his black eyes deep. “You know we absolutely cannot allow Dad to become associated with them.”
“Understood.”
Lan Luo nodded, his fingers fidgeting with the seam of his pants, his blue eyes gradually growing dim.
He was well aware that the possibility of Dad joining the association was slim, but as long as there was even a one percent chance, Lan Luo would not allow it.
Just as he was about to say something, the four puppets jumped down from the window of the business apartment.
Lan Luo immediately shut his mouth, putting on his usual bright smile.
“Did Xiao Que agree?”
Xiao Que is the puppet locked inside the business apartment.
“He agreed,” Xiang Yue replied, his tail swaying slightly behind him before drooping down, making it clear to anyone that he was in a joyful mood.
Moss was not surprised by this outcome.
Xiao Que had been confined by humans since his birth. Even if he dealt with his current master, there would still be another master waiting for him.
It was like a deadly cycle, symbolizing that as a puppet, he could never escape his fate of being merely a tool.
In such circumstances, when the four puppets emerged from the darkness and told him he could change his fate through an alliance, Xiao Que would certainly not refuse.
“Are we going to take him away?”
Moss tilted his head. “Taking him away should be simple; we just need to open the cage.”
This simplicity was only relative to them. In reality, although it was just a business apartment, the trader had set up various traps to protect his cash cow, making the security level no less than that of the empire's confidential museums.
“No need for now. There’s nowhere to place them once we get out,” Xiang Yue answered calmly.
The "them" naturally included Cheng Qi.
Moss hummed in response, then opened a spatial vortex, bringing the five puppets back to the villa.
In the darkness, the villa felt quiet. The puppets, who had worked hard all night, were immediately overcome by fatigue upon returning home.
After Moss left, the five puppets tacitly chose not to say much, turning to their rooms to rest.
They all understood that this was just the beginning.
In the following days, the puppets did not invite other puppets to join them as they had that night. They knew that the most important thing to do now was to find a safe place to serve as their stronghold.
In this stronghold, neither Cheng Qi nor Xiao Que would encounter any danger.
To that end, they specifically sought out Qi Feng and Qi Ye to rent a villa under their name.
Qi Feng and Qi Ye had heard about the plans of these puppets a long time ago.
As middle school students, the two brothers thought it was incredibly cool and eagerly supported their actions, even wanting to participate.
When Xiang Yue and the others approached them, the brothers had no intention of asking for money; however, Xiang Yue and the others still refused.
They couldn’t take goodwill for granted.
Their father had taught them that.
Each of the puppets had some money in their pockets—an allowance given to them by Qi Chao. It wasn’t a large sum, but accumulated over time, it became quite considerable.
After renting the villa, they brought Cheng Qi and Xiao Que over.
According to the puppets' plan, both Cheng Qi and Xiao Que needed to acquire enough human knowledge; only then could the plan continue.
“Do you know how to read?”
Xiang Yue tried to get a grasp of the two puppets' backgrounds.
Cheng Qi could read.
In order to live as a human in the Ganfen District, he had self-studied the characters of Blue Star, although he didn’t know many.
In contrast, Xiao Que understood very little; his life seemed entirely consumed by being used.
“Is it really necessary to know how to read?”
Xiao Que looked at the five puppets. “My abilities should be able to help you; reading isn’t important, is it?”
What he said made sense, but their goal was to elevate the status of the puppets, and relying solely on special abilities would not allow them to compete with humans.
To help the two puppets, Xiang Yue and the others would go out at night every other day.
Sometimes, when Qi Chao was in the basement creating puppets, they would take the opportunity to sneak out during the day.
This routine lasted for nearly a week.
Qi Chao noticed something was off.
The children at home went to bed on time at night but seemed lethargic during the day.
Even though Qi Chao was busy, he couldn’t help but notice this change and, worried that the children might be getting sick, he stopped his work immediately.
“Are you really not feeling unwell?”
Qi Chao asked as he looked at the children. They nodded, but his concern lingered in his heart.
While chatting with Shen Yuxi that night, it seemed like Brother Shen knew something, and he gently reassured Qi Zhao, “The symptoms you mentioned don’t seem like an illness, so there’s no need to worry.”
Brother Shen's words eased Qi Chao’s mind a bit. He observed the children for a few days and confirmed that they really didn’t have any adverse reactions before resuming his daily work.
However, his worries didn’t dissipate; aside from work, he paid even more attention to the children.
Because of this, he discovered that the kids seemed to have made new friends online.
This was something Qi Chao stumbled upon unexpectedly.
If Lan Luo hadn’t been chatting with his friends on the light brain at that moment, Qi Chao wouldn’t have noticed this matter.
It seemed that their friends were all the same person. When Qi Chao caught a glimpse of the light brain screen, he saw a group chat.
Qi Chao felt a bit complicated for a moment; he had been unaware that his children had made friends at home, making him feel that he was not doing well as a dad.
Though he felt a bit disappointed, Qi Chao was happier overall. After thinking for a while, he decided to make a bunch of square energy stones the next day and packed them into gift bags.
As the puppets were feeling drowsy, Qi Chao placed the gift bags in front of them and smiled, “Have you met your friends? If you have, these energy stones are for you to share with your friends.”
In truth, Qi Chao had considered that his children’s friends might be humans rather than puppets.
However, he quickly dismissed that idea; if they were human children, Lan Luo wouldn’t be acting so relaxed.
Although Lan Luo had been trying hard to conceal it, Qi Chao had noticed a long time ago that Lan Luo harbored a feeling of envy toward human children.
Thus, Qi Chao concluded that his children’s friends must be puppets.
He smiled and said, “You can also invite them over to our house sometime. If you want to play with him, I can take you, but remember not to stay up late chatting on the light brain.”
Qi Chao thought that the reason his children were so tired during the day was that they were staying up late in their rooms chatting with friends.
Friends?
Sending energy stones?
The five puppets felt a bit stiff. They didn’t know when their dad had discovered this matter.
Xiang Yue’s ears also drooped slightly, revealing a hint of guilt.
They were indeed chatting with other puppets, but if Dad knew that those two puppets were not their friends but allies, he would probably have a different reaction.
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