Puppet Notes (Wearing Book) - 171

 

| PN | Transformation | 171

Shen Yuxi's illness came suddenly.  

When Qi Chao returned to the villa, Shen Yuxi was already unconscious on the bed. His lips were colorless, his cheeks unnaturally flushed, and his chest was heaving violently. He was unresponsive to the outside world.  

Qi Chao's heart sank when he saw this scene.  

"When did Brother Shen become like this?"  

"Two hours ago."  

Qi Yang replied, his gaze shifting toward the door. Ten puppets were quietly crowded at the entrance, trying not to disturb Shen Yuxi, saying nothing, but their eyes were full of concern.  

Looking at them like this, the puppets were more likable than Shen Yuxi.  

Qi Yang knew this was not the time to think about such things. He paused briefly, then spoke seriously, "Brother, it can't be delayed any longer. The repair of the plane must begin by tomorrow morning at the latest, or else Brother Shen will soon be drained of his life by the dimension."

The plane's self-destruction requires gathering energy, and the fastest way to gather energy is by absorbing the life force of the world's pillars, such as the villain or the protagonists.  

There are still ten shadows left to be purified.  

Qi Chao was silent for a moment as he looked at Shen Yuxi lying in bed. He reached out and touched his burning-hot cheek. Even if the plane hadn't drained Shen Yuxi's life force, over time, Shen Yuxi's mind could still be damaged by the heat.  

Qi Yang stood beside him without speaking. No matter what decision his brother made, he would support him.  

"Dad, will Father be okay?"  

Qi Chao had remained silent, and several of the puppets immediately began to worry. Moss's voice was a little hoarse as he hugged the doll tightly, his dark eyes filled with panic.  

The other puppets stared anxiously at their dad, feeling nervous about what Qi Chao would say next.

Hearing the words, Qi Chao snapped back to his senses and realized that the ones who were likely the most panicked right now were the children at home. 

He withdrew his hand from Shen Yuxi’s cheek and reassured them, "It’s okay, don’t worry. Brother Shen won’t be in any danger. I’ll go out for a bit, but you all take good care of your father. I’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

As he spoke, he patted Qi Yang, who was standing beside him. "Bring the things you’ve prepared."

Qi Yang immediately understood his brother’s decision, nodded, and turned to head for the studio.

"Dad, I want to go with you."

The words came from Xiang Yue.

He glanced at his unconscious father on the bed, his tail hanging behind him. "Lan Luo and Agu can take good care of Father. I want to stay by your side."

Because of the deliberate concealment by both Father and Dad, they only knew part of the story. However, from their conversation just now, Xiang Yue could tell that the task ahead was highly dangerous and might even affect both Dad's and Father’s lives.

"I want to go too."  

"We do as well."  

"Dad, don't leave Agu behind."  

It turned out that all the puppets wanted to accompany Qi Chao to the trial grounds.  

"No," Qi Chao replied firmly. "Brother Shen needs someone to take care of him right now. You can come with me, but someone has to stay behind to look after Brother Shen."  

He left it up to them to decide who would stay and who would come.  

The children were not only worried about Brother Shen but also about themselves. Qi Chao understood this and didn’t plan to refuse their kindness.  

To outsiders, the puppets might seem heartless, cold, and vicious, but in reality, they were no different from ordinary children. They felt fear and worry when a parent was ill, and they also wanted to help their dad overcome difficulties.  

Knowing that time was of the essence, the puppets didn’t hesitate. After Qi Chao finished speaking, they quickly gathered in a circle, deciding who would leave and who would stay to care for their father.  

Li Bai, Xiang Yue, Xuan Jian, Shuang Jian, Qiu Qiu, Agu, and Chi Yao followed Qi Chao to the trial grounds.  

Meanwhile, Ayu, Lan Luo, and Moss stayed behind at the villa to look after Shen Yuxi.  

When Qi Yang came into the room holding the capture device, Moss opened a vortex and set its destination to the trial grounds. After the group stepped through the vortex and left, the room grew quiet.  

Lan Luo silently helped Father change cooling pads.  

Ayu projected her surveillance onto the wall, clenching her fists as she whispered, "Dad and Father will be fine."  

"Mm."  

Moss watched the projection of Dad’s figure, his voice hoarse and his dark eyes deep with emotion. "They will definitely be fine."  

The ones left at the villa to care for Father could only comfort themselves with these words.  

In the room next door, the three book transmigrators exchanged a glance. Noticing that the room next door had become much quieter, they quickly guessed that the others must have already left.  

Earlier in the afternoon, the three of them had already sensed that the atmosphere in the villa was off.

"What should we do now? Should we go out and check?"  

"No, something major is definitely happening today. We should stay here."  

The three book transmigrators exchanged a glance and silently reached a consensus — they would not go outside.  

Meanwhile, on the other side, the remaining ten shadows crouched in the trees. In the darkness, their gazes were fixed on the ground, their presence unusually silent.  

If it had been any other time, the shadows would have been letting out wails and screams in the darkness. However, after Qi Chao started coming here often, the shadows had grown quiet at night.  

The screams of the shadows were expressions of their dissatisfaction and resentment.  

Every time they cried out, Qi Chao would respond, smiling and soothing them.  

But after Qi Chao left, the shadows’ cries and wails were no longer met with any response. Over time, they had grown silent during the night.

Perhaps even the shadows themselves hadn't realized it, but at some point, their anticipation for Qi Chao had surpassed their hatred for humans.  

The shadows were waiting for Qi Chao's arrival.  

However, this time, they didn't have to wait until daylight. With a rustling sound, Qi Chao emerged from the vortex.  

Why had he come early?  

The shadows stirred restlessly on the branches, sensing that Qi Chao was not in a good mood.  

"Sorry to disturb your sleep," Qi Chao nodded at the shadows and briefly explained his current situation, though he didn't mention asking them to return to the Mother Tree.  

The shadows longed to return to the Mother Tree. If they could, they would have done so long ago instead of waiting until now. Naturally, Qi Chao would not make such an unreasonable request.  

He closed his eyes and exchanged information with the Mother Tree. In his sea of consciousness, the Mother Tree shook its branches and leaves, agreeing to Qi Chao's request.  

The Mother Tree was just like Qi Chao.

Just as Qi Chao cared deeply for the puppets, the Mother Tree cared for them just as much. 

Upon learning that the dimension was about to self-destruct, even if it was just for the sake of the Mother Stone and the puppets, the Mother Tree would not remain indifferent.

"Brother, I’m starting."  

Qi Yang placed the capture device on the ground and gave a reminder.

The capture device was only half a meter tall and resembled an old-fashioned gramophone, with a large horn mounted on a black vintage wooden base.

"Okay."  

Qi Chao opened his eyes, nodded, and then addressed the shadows perched on the tree. "Don’t be afraid, it will be over soon."

The shadows crouching on the tree quietly lowered their heads to look at them. Black mist swirled around them, but they seemed to not understand Qi Chao's words.

For now, none of this was related to the shadows in the trees, Qi Chao thought, turning to his children. "You all go to the base of the tree. If anything happens, I’ll call you. Don’t worry."

Xiang Yue’s gaze lingered for a moment between Dad and the "gramophone" before leading the other puppets to the designated spot, their eyes fixed firmly on Qi Chao’s back.

After making all the arrangements, Qi Chao let out a temporary sigh of relief and waved his hand, urging his younger brother to go to the base of the tree. He then squatted down and activated the "gramophone."

The horn of the gramophone was actually an energy interference device for the capture device. 

The principle behind the capture device was to create an illusion that prevented the world's consciousness from gathering energy by disrupting the magnetic field. 

In this situation, to achieve its goal, the world's consciousness would naturally have to seek out the trial grounds and crush the "bugs" that were interfering with it.

[Is the machine you made reliable?]

The system watched the host’s back from afar, feeling a bit uneasy. Who would dare trust something to capture the world’s consciousness?  

As if that wasn’t enough, the host even planned to repair the world’s consciousness. 

What on earth were these two brothers thinking? 

There had never been such a terrifying event in any known dimension before.  

[Do you not trust me, darling?]

Qi Yang casually responded in his mind, but his eyes were fixed on Qi Chao, clearly paying more attention to his older brother at the moment.

The system sensed this shift in attention and didn’t say anything more. After all, creating an energy interference capture device wasn’t a big deal—after all, a villain capable of thriving in an infinite-flow world would easily be able to make such a device, given their expertise.  

The most difficult task was actually repairing the world’s consciousness.  

While the system was lost in thought, the database suddenly garbled, followed by a wave of fear that surged through its operating system.  

It was an overwhelmingly terrifying sensation. The system forced itself to look around and noticed that Qi Yang’s expression had also darkened. The puppets, including Xiang Yue, were on high alert, their eyes full of caution. 

Even Li Bai, usually a bit clueless, had bared his fangs.  

The shadows in the trees were shrieking, as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and the once-foreboding forest now felt even more suffocating.  

It’s here…?  

The system began to panic. It instinctively looked toward the host, only to find that the host, who had been in the process of opening the gramophone, was now sitting motionless on the ground. 

His black hair cascaded behind him, and he was eerily still, almost like a statue.  

The green light orbs swirled around Qi Chao like a storm, enveloping him tightly in the center.  

The system couldn't make sense of the situation, so it could only observe Qi Yang's expression. From what it could tell, things still seemed somewhat manageable?  

But just as it was thinking this, Qi Yang's expression shifted, and even the system could tell that the light orbs were significantly fewer now. It was as if they were losing power, and their momentum was waning.  

"What should we do?"  

What the system could see, Li Bai could certainly see as well. He looked frantic, the glaring red patterns having spread across his entire cheek at some point.  

Xiang Yue, Qiu Qiu, Xuan Jian, and Shuang Jian all bore the same markings on their faces, as though it was some sort of seal. The red patterns shifted across their skin, glowing with a faint crimson light.  

In the past, the puppets didn’t understand what these markings were.  

They only knew that when Dad was in danger, the patterns would become especially noticeable. 

Now, the uncontrollable impulses and power within their bodies seemed to be speaking to them.  

"The Mother Tree is lacking energy," Xiang Yue said.  

This was what the patterns were telling them.  

The markings were urging them to protect Dad.  

After a brief silence, the five puppets turned and headed towards the Mother Tree.  

Agu stood to the side, watching the five puppets, then turned to look at Dad. His smile had long since faded. He grabbed Xiang Yue’s arm. "What are you all going to do now?"

"Give energy to the Mother Tree."  

"How?"  

Agu had an ominous feeling, and when he thought of the trial grounds, he suspected that the "supplying" Xiang Yue referred to might mean sacrifice.  

Xiang Yue didn’t respond.  

The markings told them that as long as the puppets' souls returned to the Mother Tree, it would receive energy.  

In the tense silence, a hoarse voice emerged from the storm of light orbs.  

"You are not allowed to do anything foolish."  

Qi Chao faintly sensed the energy fluctuations of the children at home. Taking a deep breath, he knew he couldn’t just stand by and watch the puppets sacrifice themselves to provide energy for the Mother Tree. 

He hurriedly accelerated the flow of his spiritual power.  

His green eyes cut through the storm of green light, focusing on the black jagged vortex in the sky. The massive vortex seemed ready to devour everything at any moment. The green light orbs swirled into the vortex, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

Qi Chao had already anticipated this. He held his breath and focused, weaving the light orbs into a rope-like shape. The light moved with the grace of a green serpent, tightening around the vortex as he tried to find the fractured part of the dimension and repair it.

The pain in his sea of consciousness subtly signaled the exhaustion of his mental energy. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he bit his lip, determined not to stop.

The incomplete vortex of the dimension swept everything in its path. It seemed to sense Qi Chao’s actions and grew even more violent. The quiet forest was filled with the constant rustling sound.

"Dad is in pain."  

Qiu Qiu wiped away her tears, her transparent wings drooping limply behind her, as if soaked by rain.

"We need to go."  

Xiang Yue spoke, turning his body to leave, only to find that the shadows in the trees, which had been scattered, were now converging into a mass of white light, flowing into the immense Mother Tree.

Like them, the shadows also didn't want to see Qi Chao in pain. They anxiously watched his back from the trees, but they didn’t know how to resolve the situation.

However, this problem found its solution when they heard Xiang Yue speak about supplying energy to the Mother Tree.

For the first time, they acted of their own accord, abandoning their hatred of humans and returning to the Mother Tree.  

Once the shadows disappeared, Qi Chao noticeably felt the energy around him refill, much stronger than before.  

Xiang Yue watched his father’s back and spoke, "Let’s go."  

As he said this, he tried to pull out his core, but the green light orbs immediately intervened, blocking his attempt.  

The same thing happened to the other puppets. A few seconds later, the light orbs formed into beams, tying them up.  

The shadows returned to the Mother Tree because it was the resting place of their souls, but Qi Chao wouldn’t allow the puppets who were still alive to sacrifice themselves.  

He divided his mental power, using it to bind the few puppets left in his home, and then turned his full attention back to dealing with the dimensional vortex.

The energy from the shadows was indeed immense.  

Qi Chao could clearly feel his spiritual power replenishing. His gaze softened as, through the green light orbs, he seemed to see the children he had spent these days with. Closing his eyes, he focused, and the green serpent-like ropes of energy continued to probe the interior of the vortex. 

Finally, in the center of the vortex, he found the damaged part and began funneling energy into it.

With a sharp crack, the vortex vanished.  

Qi Chao opened his eyes. His face showed no sign of relief, for he didn’t believe the plane had truly been repaired.  

It felt like his green serpent ropes had found the weakness in the world’s consciousness. The other side had weakened itself to deceive him into thinking it was defeated, hoping he would lower his guard.

His gaze shifted to the gramophone device. At its top was a block of crimson crystal, which resembled the Mother Stone of the puppets.  

Of course, to be precise, it was a Mother Stone formed by the world consciousness as a way to show weakness.  

His fingers twitched slightly.  

What was the meaning of this? 

Was it trying to make him believe it wouldn’t do anything to the Mother Stone? 

Was it trying to show that it was harmless, perhaps to lure him into underestimating it?  

Qi Chao wondered, and silently, he pondered if this Mother Stone could be used to create a puppet.

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