Puppet: "This puppet had been lying low for over a month, but you probably only discovered me this morning because I destroyed the neural interface machine. So I'm guessing the Heaven and Earth Chessboard still has some uncertainty to it. It isn't as convenient to use as imagined, or all my puppets should have been killed long ago."
The old man laughed instead. "You're too lonely. You've hidden in the dark like a rat all these years, so whenever you get the chance, you want to chatter away for a few extra sentences."
The puppet nodded earnestly and candidly. "That's right. That's exactly it."
"I'm curious. Since you obtained such an important puppet, why expose yourself? It was only a neural interface machine. Was it that important?" the old man asked.
The puppet patiently explained, "The commanders Qing Yu captured on the frontline are being sent into the city today. If nothing unexpected happens, Qing Chen will probably plunder their memories again. Back when Kamiyo Yunhe captured him, he demonstrated the wonders of the Qing bloodline. Among those commanders is one I was about to turn into a puppet. Unfortunately, I was just a little short. If Qing Chen plunders his memories, he may uncover even more clues."
"You're afraid of Qing Chen?" the old man asked.
"Yes. His mind works much better than mine. And you're so recklessly feeding him experience. What if he grows faster than I do?" the puppet said. "I don't want to see another all-round genius born. It wasn't easy for me to become one, either. You stole that body-snatching machine from the Kamishiro Corporation more than a decade ago. There was only one of them. Now that it's destroyed, I can rest easier."
2
"Anything else you want to say?" the old man asked