Chapter 58: A Small Task Turns Into a Big Task

Saa was startled, looking at the puppet that had suddenly appeared. It was brimming with spirituality, and even the skirt armor used to decorate its body was made of extremely precious materials. It was undoubtedly a puppet totem belonging to some Great Wizard of a high-ranking clan.

For a moment, anger and resentment intertwined in his heart: "Are you here to watch me make a fool of myself? I have lost, but how have you won? You are merely spinning around in a mire, pulling down everyone who tries to climb out!"

The puppet human figure glanced at the female puppet with its damaged chest: "Have you given up?"

Saa wiped away his tears and said angrily, "I will never give up! If I cannot go to the Great Selection, I can still build my own mystery. I will fix her!"

The small puppet said calmly, "If you haven't given up, then fix it quickly."

Saa was taken aback. Feeling that this puppet did not seem to be here to mock him, his momentum weakened slightly. "There is too little time, and I don't have money to buy materials. Before tomorrow, she won't be fixed..."

"What materials do you need?" The small puppet stood on top of the wardrobe, looking down condescendingly. "Your design is already extremely redundant. A repair puppet with a wingspan of only six chi—even if repaired from the front and back simultaneously—where would it ever need three pairs of arms? The spider legs beneath the body are even more redundant. If you want to make repairs in complex terrain, gecko-like suction cups and vine-like attachments are far more suitable. Therefore, you can completely dismantle two pairs of arms and use the iron-wood among them to repair the core in the chest. By then, Great Mountain Tu's score for your puppet will only be higher, not lower..."

Lin Zhao looked at the stunned Saa and poked him: "Is what he said making sense?"

Saa snapped back to reality and, with lightning speed, dismantled the four redundant arms from the girl he held dear as a treasure. The decisiveness of his hand speed was almost enough to slap Lin Zhao in the face.

The puppet then simply pointed out a few modification schemes, dismantling almost all the redundant parts on Saa's puppet. It even repurposed the iron-wood that had been soaked in the Water of Rending Chasm, stating that the material's effect would be even better after purification and could accommodate the Heavenly Wizard's feather.

The entire process was swift and decisive. In less than ten minutes, under the puppet's direction and amid Saa's flustered rush of various modifications, the female puppet was completely remodeled.

Throughout the process, Saa's expression was extremely resolute, as if he were carrying out some fatal mission, so excited that he felt like tearing his heart out.

"...Alright," finally, the small puppet waved its hand with magnanimous mercy. "Re-accommodate the wizard feather now. Don't use your left hand; the spirituality on the Heavenly Wizard's feather will affect the activity of your wizard power."

Saa nodded cautiously, pulled away the linen cloth wrapped around his right arm, revealing a mechanical arm composed of tree vines, gears, and pipelines. With somewhat unskillful techniques, he began to chant a spell, placing the Heavenly Wizard's feather back into the crystal-wood core within Ah Mo's chest.

In an instant, the Heavenly Wizard's feather quivered gently within, and clear, crisp singing seemed to resound in the surroundings.

"Si Jin's feather has the weakest power, and is still leaning towards soothing wizard power," the puppet said with a hint of disdain. "When you have the opportunity in the future, replace it with the scales of the Lord of Di State; those are the most compatible with this puppet."

Saa wanted to say that the scales of the Lord of Di State were a hundred times more expensive than a wizard feather and far beyond what he could afford... but he didn't dare. He could only raise his eyes and look at his puppet with hopeful anticipation.

The puppet girl gently blinked her eyes, extended her hands, turned to look at Saa, and tilted her head.

"It worked!" Saa rushed forward, embraced his natal puppet, spun around in the air twice, and cheered with the excitement of a child.

After carefully inspecting Ah Mo and confirming there were no issues, he turned around and bowed deeply to the puppet: "Thank you! Thank you for saving me, and for saving Ah Mo!"

"Don't thank me," the small puppet stared at Lin Zhao and raised its chin. "I only helped you to curry favor with him."

Lin Zhao, who had been serving as the background scenery all along, couldn't help but smile: "Are you sure you're currying favor with me? Not with him?"

With that, he pulled Old Tree's hand and shook it right under the puppet's eyes.

Ji Yaoguang smiled slightly, interlaced his fingers with A Gui's, tightened them, released them, and then tightened them again, as if playing a game.

The puppet shook its head: "I know who he is, but I have no plans to procure materials from him for the time being. I came to you because there are some parts of the patent you mentioned earlier that I cannot quite figure out. Can you explain them to me again?"

Lin Zhao slightly released Old Tree's hand and smiled with a chuckle: "Of course. But first, tell me your name, and why you want to know?"

"My name is Qihong Jin," the puppet said with a calm expression, gently adjusting the crown-like visor on its face. "I want to know because I think what you said is very important."

"Alright, but I haven't finished touring this State of Qihong yet. Shall we walk and talk?" Lin Zhao asked readily.

"If you want to tour the State of Qihong, I, I can guide you..." Saa took a deep breath and said softly from the side. He didn't know how to thank these people, but this was the only way he could help.

The puppet glanced at him and said calmly, "Write the repair process of today into a summary and hand it to your master tomorrow. I want to read it."

Even though it was a puppet the size of a palm, this casual glance possessed an aura far exceeding eight feet tall. Saa immediately lowered his head: "Yes."

The small puppet continued, "You are very curious about their identities, but in the State of Qihong, letting others know you have a connection with them is not a good thing. When you reach Great Mountain Tu, you will get to know them again. This dormitory is not suitable for you; I have changed your student status. Go to District Two and report to Qi Lingyou. Additionally, you should spend more time reviewing the new designs regarding communication witchcraft."

Saa's scalp tingled incessantly: "Wh-Which academic official might you be?"

"I am one of the sovereign's mind-窍 (heart-portal) puppets. You can consider me a part of the Grandmaster Qihong." The small puppet calmly uttered these words, stepped down from the air step by step, floated over to stand in front of Lin Zhao, and said earnestly, "Give me your hand."

"You are Grandmaster Qihong?" Lin Zhao extended his hand, feeling a mixture of amazement, curiosity, and doubt.

"Not entirely." The small puppet sat cross-legged in his palm as a matter of course, fished a small tea table out of the void, poured itself a cup of tea, and said, "Alright, let's go!"

Lin Zhao was startled and couldn't help laughing out loud: "Where are you going?"

"Don't chat here. This is my surveillance blind spot, prone to being overheard," the puppet said openly and honestly right in the middle of his palm.

"Old Tree has never even used me as a mount, yet you are quite arrogant," Lin Zhao cupped the small puppet before him, looked at its arrogant demeanor, couldn't help patting its head, and then presented it to Old Tree like offering a treasure: "Look, Yaoguang, he has such a strong personality."

Ji Yaoguang nodded, then smiled and extended his hand toward the puppet: "Sit over here."

The voice was very gentle, and the tone carried no coercion whatsoever—just a very polite invitation.

The small puppet fell silent for a moment. It got up, dragged its tea table, and cautiously walked step by step into Ji Yaoguang's palm. Then, after pausing for a moment, it said earnestly, "Emperor, I think I'd better fly myself."

Saa stood to the side in a trance. *Emperor? What Emperor?*

He glanced at his crude basement, steadied Ah Mo, and barely managed to keep from collapsing to the floor.

At that moment, the puppet placed the tea table beneath its bottom, sitting right on the edge, and everyone watched as four propellers emerged from the legs of the tea table like a tiny drone, hovering beside Lin Zhao.

In a dreamlike state, Saa sent the two men and one puppet out the door, standing blankly at the entrance for a long time until Ah Mo poked him with a puzzled expression.

"I feel like an innocent blade of grass caught up in a grand scene," Saa patted his face. "Ah Mo, did you record everything that lord said?"

"Do you need me to repeat it?" the puppet girl asked.

"Not quite..." Saa took a deep breath, suddenly surging with vigor. "This pie in the sky is too big; I can't finish it alone. Ah Mo, go notify my brothers and tell them to bring all their books on communication witchcraft over immediately. Right now, I need to write the repair summary first!"

This might very well be his biggest opportunity to break free from this mire!

Leaving that narrow and chaotic basement behind, Lin Zhao held Old Tree's hand as they walked along the wide street. The surrounding noise of machinery served as background music, lingering persistently.

The small puppet hovering near his ear did not attract any attention at all. Someone even glanced at it and muttered, "All show and no substance."

"With such loud noise, won't it damage hearing over a long time?" Lin Zhao asked casually.

"Complete hearing damage requires decades of continuous exposure. Wizards won't be damaged, and ordinary people don't live to the age where they completely lose their hearing," the puppet replied.

"So there is no need to regulate it at all?" Lin Zhao was speechless.

"The citizens of the State of Qihong live very hard lives," the puppet said calmly, "but after they die, they go to the Puppet Heaven. They won't have to toil, they won't have to struggle, and they won't have to rush around for a living. They can freely acquire knowledge and live happily and peacefully."

Lin Zhao tilted his head and asked with a light smile, "Then, Grandmaster, why do you still join forces with the Lord of Di State to suppress your Puppet Heaven? Do you no longer love these subjects who live such happy and peaceful lives?"

"..." The puppet fell silent.

After a long while, the puppet retorted, "I once thought that by becoming a puppet, people would no longer have selfish desires. But the reality turned out not to be so..."

"Selfish desires are not wrong. If it weren't for the selfish desire just to survive, why would humans persist for so long in this apocalyptic world?" Lin Zhao tilted his head to look at him. "You were also a figure who fought your way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood back then. Surely you understand?"

The puppet said gloomily, "Little friend, let's go back to discussing the patent issue!"

Lin Zhao did not press further. He said, "I believe knowledge is also a form of property, but because it can be replicated and widely disseminated, it should be shared broadly. However, during the process of dissemination, feedback should be given to the owner of the knowledge. That is why patents came into being."

"That doesn't suit the State of Qihong," the puppet grimaced helplessly. "The major and minor clans of Di would just use this law to target ordinary little wizards."

"Isn't this something you should be managing?" Lin Zhao was surprised.

"If I could manage it, things wouldn't look like they do now," the small puppet shrugged. "I am just someone who builds tools. I can't compare to those formidable sovereigns who play human hearts in the palms of their hands. I can only manage a few puppets."

"Then stop occupying the position," Lin Zhao sneered.

"I am more than willing to abdicate in favor of the Emperor!" the puppet stated decisively.

"No, no, no!" Ji Yaoguang waved his hands repeatedly. "We have no such intentions."

"I am the one with this intention." The puppet smiled. "The sovereign has regretted it long ago. He should have followed the example of the Great Wizard Mountain Tu, comfortably holing up in the Wizard State as the master of a single school, instead of being instigated by his clansmen to step forward and found a nation. The kingdom in his dreams is far too different from the world today."

"What was it originally supposed to look like?" Lin Zhao asked curiously.

"It was originally what you imagined: everyone gathered together, resources shared, knowledge disseminated without hesitation, and every whimsical idea brought to life by someone," the puppet curved the corners of his lips. "And then, over three thousand years, through compromise after compromise, the State of Qihong gradually became what it is today."