Puppet Notes (Wearing Book) - 155

 

| PN | Shut Up | 155

Old Liu, Zhang Li, and Li Ge sat in the guest room of the villa, looking somewhat dazed. For a moment, they fell silent, unable to believe they had ended up in the stronghold of the villain. 

The thought that several demon puppets were living right across the hall and that the book's main villain was next door made the few book transmigrators tremble in fear.

Even Li Ge, who had made the decision to come here, swallowed nervously.

"Let's think positively. Since that man brought us to the villa, it means the villain won't kill us... at least not for now."

"Right, right."

Hearing their leader's reassuring words, the two of them forced a smile, feeling a little better. Given the situation, they could only look on the bright side. Just then, there was a sudden knock at the door.

Old Liu and Zhang Li, who had just regained a bit of their spirits, instantly turned into cowards, hiding behind Li Ge. 

Seeing this, Li Ge sighed. He was actually quite brave; otherwise, he wouldn’t have made the decision to cooperate with the puppets in hopes of gaining a chance at survival. He stood up, gestured for his two companions to hide beside the bed, and opened the room door.

When Li Ge saw that it was a black-haired man outside the door, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. 

"Hello, thank you for letting us stay here. During our adventure, our backpacks and other belongings were washed away by the river. If it weren't for your invitation, we would definitely be camping out in the wilderness right now." 

Li Ge tried hard to ignore the threatening gaze of the puppet named Agu, and attempted to cozy up to the black-haired man in a seemingly natural manner.

"It’s nothing. At that time, we were all in a rush and didn’t really introduce ourselves to each other," Qi Chao said with a smile. 

Although the puppets in the house and these men all claimed they were just playing around, Qi Chao felt there was more to it than that.

The man wanted to build a good relationship with him, which aligned perfectly with his intention.

"This is Agu from my family; you’ve met him before." Qi Chao said, placing his hand on the white haired boy and Qiu Qiu beside him, his voice low and smiling, "This is Li Bai and Qiu Qiu; they’re all good kids."

Good... kids?

Li Ge, Old Liu, and Zhang Li looked at the grinning Agu, recalling just a short while ago when this devil puppet had been throwing corrosive balls at them while laughing maniacally. They were almost at a loss for how to write the words "good kids."

"Is... is that so?" Li Ge forced a trembling laugh.

Old Liu and Zhang Li, standing behind Li Ge, didn’t dare to make a sound.

Qi Chao nodded and paused to study the three of their faces. Then, as if he had remembered something, he said, "It might be a bit cramped for three people in the guest room. Are you sure you don’t want to split up?"

"No, no!" 

The three of them shook their heads in unison. Just staying in the same place as the villain was frightening enough; if they really split up, wouldn’t that be asking for trouble? 

After all, the first rule in horror movies is never to separate from your companions, or you’ll end up alone and vulnerable.

Worried that Qi Chao might overthink things, Li Ge quickly added, "It's already enough trouble to occupy one of your guest rooms; you really don’t need to go to the effort."

"Actually, it’s really no trouble at all. You don’t have to feel embarrassed," Qi Chao replied, looking at the three with sincere eyes. 

He didn't push the matter further and, after a moment's thought, patted Agu on the shoulder. "Come on, go help me bring some bedding for these three uncles."

"Okay!" 

Agu lifted his head, his green eyes narrowing into a slit as he happily agreed.

"No, no, we can do it ourselves." 

If it were just this kind-hearted black-haired man, that would be one thing, but if they let the devil puppet help them fetch the bedding, Li Ge and the others were afraid they wouldn’t survive the night.

"It's fine, you’re our guests. How could I let you do the work?" Qi Chao insisted.

The three of them couldn’t argue against Qi Chao, so they could only watch as he left the room with Agu.

The room fell silent again, but the three of them didn’t feel any relief from Agu's departure. Instead, they were on edge, nervously watching the two puppets standing in front of the door.

One was a white-haired puppet wearing a mask.  

The other was a blond-haired fairy puppet.  

These two unfamiliar yet exquisite puppets filled the three men with dread. Nearly a year of trials had left deep psychological scars on them.

 They knew all too well that the more delicate and beautiful a puppets looked, the more ruthless its methods and terrifying its abilities would be.

“Li... Li Bai, Qiu... Qiu Qiu, hello?” Li Ge stammered, looking at the two puppets that had never appeared in the book before. He struggled to recall the names Qi Chao had just mentioned, fearing that he might inadvertently provoke the puppet's wrath.

Only after seeing Old Liu and Zhang Li nod did Li Ge feel a bit more at ease.

Li Bai and Qiu Qiu looked up at the three humans. 

Their eyes were like the most beautiful gems in the world, the golden hue shimmering with a pure luster and an indescribable tranquility. 

The three book transmigrators felt an uncomfortable pressure from their unwavering gaze, reminiscent of their time in the trials. Fear and darkness loomed over them like a thick swamp, making it hard for them to breathe.

Just as Old Liu seemed about to collapse, the next moment, the two puppets suddenly raised a few blue flowers from behind them.

Bluebells, which symbolize "welcome" in the flower language of the Blue Planet.

The three book transmigrators were momentarily stunned. Even if they didn’t know the specific meaning of the flowers, they could tell from the puppets' gesture of offering flowers that it was a sign of goodwill.

"Is this for us?" 

Li Ge hesitated.

The white-haired puppet nodded, and the golden eyes beneath the mask sparkled like dazzling sunlight, revealing a pair of cute little tiger teeth. "Yes, we welcome uncles to our home."

"Welcome!" 

Qiu Qiu, with her transparent little wings fluttering behind her, looked like an innocent fairy with her blond curls and pointed ears. She tilted her head back, echoing her brother’s words.

"This flower is from Li Bai, this one is from Li Bai on behalf of Lan Luo, and this one is for Big Brother Moss..."

As Li Bai spoke, he shyly handed the bluebells to each of the three humans. Qiu Qiu flapped her wings excitedly, following closely behind her brother and nodding her head vigorously.

When the book transmigrators came to their senses, they realized their hands were already full of bluebells.

They exchanged glances and, when they looked down, they saw the two exquisitely beautiful puppets smiling at them like innocent children, which made the atmosphere feel a bit strange.

"Th... thank you?" Li Ge hesitated to say, and the next second, he saw the eyes of the two puppets light up instantly.

"No need to thank us! Dad said that guests should be treated with courtesy when they arrive!"

Perhaps due to her excitement, Qiu Qiu seemed to have bitten her tongue, making her speech a bit unclear. Combined with her golden eyes and princess-like appearance, it was impossible not to feel a twinge of softness in one’s heart.

So cute.

This thought flashed through the minds of the three grown men.

In the next moment, they immediately reprimanded themselves. The puppets were cute, yes, but they were also truly terrifying. 

Hadn’t they already endured enough abuse before?

Li Bai and Qiu Qiu were unaware of the three humans' conflicting thoughts. Following their dad's teachings on being polite to guests, they cheered and dashed off to the next room to help their dad tidy up the bedding, eagerly seeking a head pat as a reward.

Li Ge and the others could hear the cheerful sounds from the two puppets and instantly felt their hearts melting. 

What kindhearted little treasures!

Not only did they want to help their dad tidy up the bedding, but their adorable insistence on earning a reward was utterly irresistible. It was completely unrelated to the demon puppets they were familiar with.

The three book transmigrators couldn't help but start questioning their lives.

"Li Ge, what on earth is going on? What’s the relationship between this man named Qi Chao and the villain? Why are those demon puppets so close to him?" 

"And why are the demon puppets here completely different from the ones in the trial grounds?"

Not to mention that the unfamiliar puppets here were all so well-behaved; just the fact that Agu and Chi Yao, who had caused bloody chaos in the trial grounds, seemed to have completely changed their personalities around Qi Chao was already very strange.

"I don’t know." Li Ge shook his head. He recalled the logo he had seen on Qi Chao's flying machine and, after a moment of silence, brought up another point of confusion: "I remember there was a cannon fodder named Qi Chao in the book, right?"

Old Liu and Zhang Li exchanged glances, one of them having never read the book and the other having only read half of it, both looking bewildered at the mention.

"Forget it; maybe I'm overthinking it." 

Li Ge shook his head. Hearing the cheerful commotion from the next room, he lowered his voice. "No matter what his identity is, the puppets here trust him."

"That conclusion can’t be wrong. We absolutely cannot offend him. On the contrary, we need to build a good relationship with him," Old Liu and Zhang Li quickly nodded in agreement.

"And..." Li Ge recalled the blonde man he had caught a glimpse of on the aircraft and fell into deep thought.

According to what Qi Chao had said, the villain was physically weak, which was why he had been sleeping on the aircraft the whole time. Even when they returned to the villa, it was Qi Chao who carried him inside.

Because the other party was well covered up, they hadn't really seen the villain’s face clearly from beginning to end.

If the blonde man was just an ordinary person like Qi Chao, that would be one thing. But if he truly was the villain from the book, and Qi Chao had gained the villain's trust and even carried him, then they would need to redefine Qi Chao’s identity.

"And what else?" 

Old Liu and Zhang Li looked puzzled.

Li Ge snapped back to reality, shaking his head. He decided to hold back his speculation for now, not wanting to frighten these two cowards. 

Instead, he found an excuse: "Besides, Qi Chao seems like a nice person; he should be a good guy we can trust for the time being."

Li Ge's intuition had always been accurate. From the moment he first laid eyes on Qi Chao, he could tell that the man was likely someone with a solid moral compass.

In fact, Zhang Li and Old Liu also felt that Qi Chao was a good person; otherwise, he wouldn't have brought them back.

Just as they were thinking this, Qi Chao walked in, smiling as he handed them the bedding he had prepared.

The three book transmigrators breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that no puppets were following behind Qi Chao. 

However, before they could truly exhale, they heard Qi Chao casually remark, "You seem to be quite afraid of my children."

“No, no, how could we be afraid of such well-behaved puppets? We’re just really tired,” Li Ge quickly replied.

The three of them could tell that this man named Qi Chao genuinely believed that the puppets in his home were very obedient and had no idea what the puppets were capable of outside. 

Even the demon puppets had been hiding this from him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let them go with the excuse of playing a game just when they were about to capture them.

“Really?” 

Qi Chao looked at the three of them with his deep brown eyes. 

After all, he had run a couple of studios and was quite sensitive to people's emotions without any filters—especially since the fear displayed by these three was very apparent.

“Really.” 

Li Ge and his two companions nodded vigorously.

The three of them wanted to tell Qi Chao the truth, but they knew that they couldn't bear the consequences of revealing such sensitive information.

 If the demon puppets discovered that their secret had been exposed, they might not kill Qi Chao, but in their anger, these three insignificant individuals would certainly be in grave danger.

It was better to just take things one step at a time and see how it went, even waiting for the apocalyptic conclusion from the book didn't seem so bad.

Seeing the three deny his words, Qi Chao didn’t press the issue further. He smiled and said, "You all should tidy up your things. I’ll go downstairs to make dinner, and we can eat together later."

Mentioning food made all three of them swallow hard.

Having merely survived in the trial grounds was already challenging enough. In that desolate place, the only things they could eat were branches and wild vegetables, and there were hardly any fish in the lake. It had been a long time since they had eaten a proper meal.

"Thank you."

When it came to food, their tone was noticeably more sincere. It was hard to tell if it was just their imagination, but Qi Chao even thought he detected a hint of a sob in their voices.

But it was just a meal—what was there to cry about? 

Thinking this, Qi Chao assumed it was just his imagination. He chuckled to himself, planning to coax more information out of the three later.

Once the room fell into complete silence, the three book transmigrators collapsed onto the carpet simultaneously.

“Li Ge, sniff, we can finally have a proper meal,” one of them said, even though he wasn’t sure how good Qi Chao’s cooking would be.

 As long as it wasn’t tree bark or wild vegetables, he could swallow anything down.

Old Liu felt a pang of bittersweetness in his heart.

Who wasn’t feeling the same way?

Just as Zhang Li and Li Ge were getting a bit sentimental, they suddenly noticed that Old Liu's eyes had widened in fear. The two turned to look, and that’s when they saw a swirling vortex had appeared on the wall in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere.

A blonde man slowly stepped out of the swirling vortex. His skin was fair, and his appearance was stunning; a gentle smile adorned his face, and his warm demeanor naturally drew people in. 

However, the three book transmigrators began to tremble uncontrollably at the sight of him.

Two words echoed simultaneously in their minds—the villain.

This man was undoubtedly the villain.

The three book transmigrators stared vacantly at the bandaged monster and the red demon behind him. They had prepared themselves for encountering the villain when they arrived at the villa, but seeing him in person left them in a daze. 

In that brief moment, they had even mentally drafted their wills.

The villain tilted his head slightly, a strand of golden hair falling to the side of his cheek, enhancing his striking appearance. His pale, thin lips parted slightly, and he said, “So, you are the book transmigrators? This is our first meeting.”

Book transmigrators.

The three words struck them like thunder, and Li Ge and his companions found themselves struggling to swallow.

They knew the villain would have the puppets monitor them, but when the truth sank in, it still left them feeling uncomfortably exposed.

“H-Hello,” Li Ge stammered, his voice rigid.

Shen Yuxi’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he approached the three, squatting down before them.

His sickly appearance made him seem fragile, as if a gust of wind could knock him over. 

However, Li Ge and the others did not dare underestimate him. They lowered their heads in a show of respect.

Moments later, they heard Shen Yuxi let out a soft laugh, his tone gentle as he said, “I know you’re all intelligent people. Qi Chao brought you here as guests, and you surely understand what can and cannot be said, right?”

Immediately, the three of them transformed into enthusiastic nodding machines.

The villain seemed pleased with their response, his voice becoming even softer. 

Yet, to Li Ge and the others, it felt as if a slick, venomous snake was wrapping itself around them.

“I know you accidentally ended up in that place. If you can make Qi Chao happy, I’ll let you leave in a few days,” Shen Yuxi said softly. “I don’t just kill people; you know I’m a villain with principles, right?”

His voice was light, dissipating in the room like the wind, leaving no trace behind.

Yes, a villain who doesn’t kill, just one who aims to end the world.

Li Ge silently added this thought in his mind. Although he had many things he wanted to complain about, he certainly wouldn’t say anything out loud in such a situation.

“Understood, understood! Please rest assured, we’ll definitely make you satisfied,” Li Ge replied, though the temptation of being able to leave this hellish place was too great. 

Coupled with the fact that the villain did have an odd rule against killing in the trial grounds, which indicated he had some principles, the three humans couldn't help but feel a flicker of hope.

Shen Yuxi observed the expressions of the three book transmigrators, his gaze holding a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. Then, he turned and left the room.

The villain came quickly and left just as fast, as if staying even a moment longer would sully his eyes. Once the room fell completely silent, the three of them slumped together in a daze.

At that moment, Li Ge fully realized that the person Qi Chao had carried down from the aircraft was indeed the villain. 

His mind raced with disbelief, a slight haze of confusion settling over him. 

So impressive. Qi Chao could actually get close to that villain, who had always remained aloof. 

What kind of person was he, really?

With these questions swirling in their minds, the three of them made their way downstairs, only to be astonished to find the villain sitting comfortably on the sofa, surrounded by a group of exquisitely crafted puppets.

Qi Chao emerged from the kitchen wearing an apron, greeting them with a warm smile.

“Oh, I just remembered!” he said, turning to the three of them. “This is my lover, Shen Yuxi. Brother Shen, these three are the ones I mentioned to you earlier.”

Shen Yuxi’s peach blossom eyes curved gently, his warmth seemingly unreal as he smiled and said, “Nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of the children in our home.”

From their initial meeting. It was clear that the villain had forbidden them from mentioning what had just happened. But the three of them couldn’t focus on those four words at all; their minds were overwhelmed by what Qi Chao had just said.

My lover.

Lover?!

What the hell! 

This guy named Qi Chao was actually in a relationship with the villain?! 

The revelation hit them like a thunderbolt, their minds racing to process the implications. 

How could this be? 

A man they had viewed as a formidable enemy, and yet Qi Chao, who seemed so unassuming, was romantically linked to him?

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