| PN | Mineral Vein | 191
"Since that's the case, you can continue. What kind of organization you want to establish and what you plan to use it for—these are decisions you must make for yourselves," Qi Chao paused briefly before continuing, "I only have two requests: first, don't easily compromise your principles, and second, nothing is more important than your safety."
The puppets in the family had started planning this two years ago to help him. No matter what, Qi Chao would never discourage them. His heart swelled, and he couldn't help but tighten his grip on Shen Yuxi's hand.
Qi Chao realized once again that the children had actually grown up. They were more mature than he had imagined.
The children's original intention was to help him.
So, they recruited allies, formed collaborations, and took advantage of Qi Feng and Qi Ye's love for excitement, borrowing the pair's villa as their base.
If Qi Chao's guess was correct, the companions the children had gathered must possess some special qualities that would help them achieve their goals quickly.
Although still a bit inexperienced, no matter how one looked at it, the children had clear plans when doing these things. If given enough time, perhaps these children really could accomplish something remarkable.
Thinking of this, Qi Chao felt like an ordinary father, watching his children gradually mature.
Along with pride, his heart was tinged with a complex, bittersweet emotion.
Although for now, the children were still very attached to him and did all these things to help him, Qi Chao knew that one day, the children would experience more of the world.
His role, it seemed, was simply to protect these children for a little longer until they fully grew up.
"I’m really glad that you have such thoughts," Qi Chao said with a smile. "Keep up the good work. Once you've sorted everything out, you can help me quickly deal with those troublesome matters."
These words were like a pass, instantly lighting up the puppets eyes. Lan Luo, a bit nervous, asked, "So, Dad, does this mean you agree to let us keep helping you?"
Qi Chao nodded and repeated the two points he had mentioned earlier.
"Got it! We understand!"
The puppets cheered with joy.
Because of the matter with the council members, their dad had been a little upset. When they revealed the plans they had been working on for the past two years, they were filled with apprehension.
They worried that what they thought of as a surprise might actually be a shock to their dad. Now that they had his approval, the puppets couldn't hide their excitement.
Seeing their reactions warmed Qi Chao's heart. He chuckled softly, then turned his head and happened to catch Shen Yuxi deep in thought.
Clearly, Shen Yuxi was still mulling over the conversation Qi Chao had mentioned having with him earlier.
He glanced at the children in the family huddled together, discussing their next steps. After a moment of thought, he decided not to linger any longer.
Now that he understood what the children wanted to do, Qi Chao no longer felt as worried as before. In comparison, Shen Yuxi seemed more important at the moment.
Leaving the living room, Qi Chao took Shen Yuxi by the hand and headed back to their room.
Perhaps because the atmosphere around the two parental figures seemed a little off, after Qi Chao and Shen Yuxi went upstairs, Li Bai couldn't help but voice his concern. "What’s going on with Father and Dad? They’re not going to argue, are they?"
"That’s impossible," Agu said with a cheerful smile.
Li Bai was far too naive. There was no way Dad would argue with Father.
Agu had a vague sense that Father might be paying the price for his bad taste. Since he knew the two adults wouldn’t actually quarrel, Agu felt rather pleased to see Father in a tight spot.
As for the issue with the council member, it was undoubtedly Father that had tipped Dad off so quickly that they were behind it.
Agu’s emerald-green eyes narrowed into slits. Serves him right.
Before Agu could enjoy his satisfaction for long, Qi Chao’s head suddenly popped out from the second floor.
A moment later, the puppets downstairs heard him announce, "Remember to write a 6,000-word reflection tonight. I’ll check it tomorrow."
Every puppet, including Agu, froze instantly. Their eyes filled with despair as they looked at Qi Chao.
However, Qi Chao showed not an ounce of sympathy, merely waving at them casually before disappearing back upstairs, leaving a group of stunned puppets standing motionless under the burden of their new assignment.
Meanwhile, after casually dropping this “forgotten task” on the children, Qi Chao felt entirely at ease as he returned to the bedroom.
Yet, before entering, he deliberately suppressed the smile tugging at his lips, adopting a calm expression instead.
The sound of the door opening and closing echoed softly.
Shen Yuxi looked at Qi Chao. His fingertips paused slightly, and after a few seconds, his lips, seemingly paler than usual, quivered as he spoke. His typically gentle voice carried a faint tremor. "Don’t act like this. It scares me."
That single sentence shattered Qi Chao’s composure.
Shen Yuxi knew precisely where his weak spots lay, always confident that Qi Chao would forgive him.
As this thought passed through Qi Chao’s mind, he looked into Shen Yuxi’s anxious, almond-shaped eyes and watched the nervous flutter of his lashes. After a few seconds of silence, his turbulent emotions calmed down.
Shen Yuxi stood up and embraced Qi Chao, taking the initiative to admit his mistake. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it from you just because of my bad taste. Qi Feng and Qi Ye were also helping the children prepare a surprise for you, and I shouldn’t have hidden it from you."
Unlike the puppets, Shen Yuxi's apology was not only proper but also pointedly included the involvement of the two brothers, Qi Feng and Qi Ye.
Whether he was deliberately redirecting the fire, only he would know.
Qi Chao hadn’t been very angry in the first place. Given that Shen Yuxi was merely helping the children, his apology quickly dispelled any lingering irritation.
Qi Chao returned to his usual affectionate self, leaning closer to Shen Yuxi as if nothing had happened.
Feeling Qi Chao’s arms wrap around his waist, Shen Yuxi relaxed inwardly. Even though he knew Qi Chao wouldn’t genuinely be upset, he had still felt a little nervous.
The expressions he had intentionally shown earlier was so convincing that even he wasn’t sure how genuine it was.
Now that Qi Chao had forgiven him, a genuine smile touched Shen Yuxi’s lips.
Resting his forehead against Qi Chao’s shoulder, he said softly, "Letting the children act freely—aren’t you worried they might cause some trouble?"
"With the more level-headed children keeping an eye on things, nothing will go wrong," Qi Chao replied.
Though he truly believed the children in the family were all well-behaved, even the best-behaved kids had their mischievous moments.
Take Agu and Chi Yao, for instance—there were times when Qi Chao couldn’t, in good conscience, deny that they could be little troublemakers.
The only fortunate thing was that Xing Yue, Moss, Ayu, Xuan Jian, and Shuang Jian were all calm and composed children. They always managed to rein in the wild ones just as they were about to gallop out of control.
Qi Chao truly trusted them.
Shen Yuxi's lashes lowered slightly, a deeper smile flickering in his eyes.
He looked up and asked, "The children scared the council members into the hospital. What’s the association’s response?"
"Nothing much. Didn’t I already tell the president the truth? I’m guessing he’ll start retaliating either tomorrow or the day after."
In fact, Qi Chao hadn’t expected to keep the president in the dark for so long. Now that the president knew what they had done, there was no way he’d sit idly by.
After all, someone who’d held his position for so long wouldn’t be so easily outmaneuvered.
Hearing Qi Chao’s words, Shen Yuxi knew that he was already prepared to deal with whatever came next. He didn’t ask further questions but silently planned to pick up and drop off Qi Chao at the association daily to prevent the president from doing something reckless in desperation.
"What about Elliton? How’s that situation?"
Shen Yuxi wanted to know how much longer Qi Chao would have to keep up these early-morning and late-night routines.
"Thanks to the children, only two council members are still stubbornly resisting," Qi Chao said. The rest of the council members opposing the Puppet Master Alliance were already hospitalized.
Of course, Qi Chao knew this was only a temporary victory. If they didn’t move quickly to consolidate their advantage, things would only become more troublesome once those council members recovered.
Right now, every moment is critically important.
Shen Yuxi could hear the advantage in Qi Chao's explanation. He pressed his lips together slightly and said, "I’ll go out with you tonight."
"Alright," Qi Chao agreed without hesitation.
Since joining the association, Qi Chao had been going out every evening to handle various matters. To avoid disturbing Shen Yuxi’s rest, he always left quietly, taking care not to make a sound.
But in truth, Shen Yuxi always woke up shortly after Qi Chao left. He would wait for Qi Chao to return before falling asleep again.
Initially, Qi Chao hadn’t noticed this. However, over the past couple of days, he had started to pick up on it.
So, when Shen Yuxi brought it up, Qi Chao saw no reason to refuse.
That night, the two of them quietly left the villa. Seated in the aircraft, Shen Yuxi’s blue eyes focused on Qi Chao, who was gripping the controls and staring intently ahead.
He knew exactly where Qi Chao was headed.
To expand the Puppet Masters Alliance's influence, the alliance had devised numerous strategies, such as recruiting Xiu Mei to live-stream promotional content or offering rare and valuable training resources to attract puppet masters to join.
These efforts were tasks that should have been handled by the administrators—You Zhao and the others—while Qi Chao concentrated on dealing with the association.
But everyone understood the current situation. The alliance’s current advantage was only sufficient to draw in low-level puppet masters.
To attract highly talented humanoid masters, they needed to convince them that joining the alliance would offer far greater benefits than staying with the association.
After careful deliberation, Qi Chao had set his sights on the mother-stone veins. As the incarnation of the Mother Tree, Qi Chao had a natural affinity for these veins.
At present, most of the mother-stone veins were tightly controlled by the association. To acquire them, the options were limited: either purchase land and mine it themselves—a highly unpredictable and uncertain venture—or buy ready-made veins from the association, which was simply not cost-effective.
In this situation, Qi Chao leaned towards creating the mineral veins himself.
As the incarnation of the Mother Tree, which provided energy to the mother-stones, Qi Chao had an innate understanding of how to use his abilities, even though he had only recently awakened and was still getting used to not being fully human anymore.
The two quickly arrived at the desolate mountains in the outskirts of Linjing District.
Qi Chao held Shen Yuxi’s hand as they walked forward.
As time passed, Qi Chao’s short black hair unknowingly began to grow longer, and his deep brown eyes transformed into a vibrant emerald green. He was consciously reverting to his original form.
“Brother Shen, wait here. I’ll be quick,” Qi Chao murmured softly, turning his head slightly to give the instruction.
“Alright,” Shen Yuxi nodded, the tips of his ears tinged with a faint red. Even now, he wasn’t entirely accustomed to Qi Chao’s original appearance.
Qi Chao chuckled lightly and released Shen Yuxi’s hand. He then turned to face the chosen desolate mountain, his emerald eyes focused and steady. His breathing grew lighter as he raised a hand toward the barren landscape.
From his palm, green light began to emanate, forming clusters of glowing orbs.
These orbs shimmered faintly like fireflies in the night, numbering in the thousands as they surrounded Qi Chao. Maintaining a composed expression, he directed the light clusters to flow into the mountain before him.
As time passed, the green light clusters over the desolate mountain grew increasingly dense, their radiance invisible to the human eye yet illuminating the entire mountain in an otherworldly glow. The sight was breathtakingly beautiful.
Qi Chao looked on, feeling a small pang of regret that Shen Yuxi couldn’t see this stunning display.
But that thought was fleeting. In the next moment, Qi Chao refocused his attention, continuing to release green light clusters into the mountain.
When the glowing clusters finally began to dissipate and fade into the mountain, the creation of the mineral vein was complete.
Qi Chao exhaled deeply, a subconscious release of tension.
The next step was for the alliance to purchase this desolate mountain, which would soon house a newly-formed mother-stone vein.
Mother-stone veins came with a valuable byproduct: energy stone veins. Acquiring a mother-stone vein meant the surrounding area would naturally contain energy stone deposits as well.
Energy stones served as essential sustenance for puppets and, when refined, were a crucial fuel source for aircrafts and other technologies. Their versatility made them incredibly valuable.
With these resources, the alliance would finally have the confidence to compete with the association on an equal footing.
Satisfied with his work, Qi Chao sent the mountain's coordinates to You Zhao, then turned back and reached for Shen Yuxi’s hand.
“Let’s go, Brother Shen,”
Shen Yuxi froze for a moment. "It's already over?"
From his perspective, Qi Chao had only stood there for about half an hour, then withdrew his hand. It seemed almost too simple to be true.
"Mm." Qi Chao rubbed the tip of his nose, speaking casually. "It wasn’t really that difficult."
Shen Yuxi nodded thoughtfully, then furrowed his brow, looking at Qi Chao with concern. "Doesn’t doing something like this take a toll on your body? Are you sure it won’t cause any harm?"
"It’s fine. Don’t worry," Qi Chao reassured him. "I’m just moving the mineral vein from one place to another. It’s tiring, but it won’t hurt me."
"From another place?"
Shen Yuxi was surprised. This was the first time he had heard about this aspect of Qi Chao’s ability.
"Yes. Once I sense it, the nearby veins will move to the location I designate. So when I choose a desolate mountain, I make sure it’s a suitable spot to avoid accidentally moving someone else's veins."
Qi Chao explained calmly.
"I see," Shen Yuxi said, his expression softening as he processed the information.
Shen Yuxi found it a bit fascinating. He chuckled softly, but then couldn't help following the train of thought.
Given Qi Chao's nature, he would never carelessly move the mineral veins belonging to ordinary people.
So, aside from the unclaimed veins, whose veins could be nearby?
The association, which owned the vast majority of the mother-stone veins, would likely find it quite interesting if they noticed their veins disappearing while the alliance’s stockpile was steadily increasing.
The potential conflict and the association’s reaction to this shift would certainly be intriguing.
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