The Ultimate Function of the Little Puppet

The Copper Fragment, originally the size of half a palm, had extended outward; resting in his palm, it now covered three-quarters of it. Shen Le weighed the fragment in his hand, feeling a bit troubled:

If it grows a segment every time I repair something, and another segment the next time... how big will it eventually become?

Forget about it turning into a bronze vessel, like a tripod—even if it just grew into a copper plate a foot wide, I wouldn't be able to handle it!

Half a palm wide, I could hang it around my neck as a pendant and tell people it's an ancestral amulet. But a foot wide? What am I supposed to use it for?

A chest protector?

He stroked it carefully with his fingertip. Last time, after he finished repairing the Gold-Painted Landscape Screen, the copper surface had slightly bulged, as if a new stroke had been added. This time, there was another stroke, intersecting slightly with the previous one, looking as if a horizontal line had appeared beneath a dot. In the space between the dot and the horizontal line, a tiny point of light flickered—dimming and brightening, dimming and brightening.

"What is this light for? What does it represent? A skill? A cultivation technique? A portal to a pocket dimension? Or—"

Shen Le tentatively poked it. Where his fingertip touched, the surface wasn't the hard, rough texture of copper; instead, it felt slightly elastic and warm. Shen Le held his breath, gathered his strength, and gave it a sharp poke—

Everything went black.

"BOOM!!!"

A deafening roar shook the building, sending dust, roof tiles, and broken timber raining down.

"Air raid! Air raid!"

"Quick, take cover!"

"Erzi! Erzi—"

"Mama, Mama! Waa—"

Shen Le looked around in a daze. Above his head, a low, thunderous rumble approached from the distance, followed by a sharp, piercing whistle that felt like it would drill through his skull as it tore through the air!

Huh?

What is going on?

Did the Copper Fragment transport me somewhere?

Or is there another world inside this fragment, and I'm meant to explore, grow, and find some kind of opportunity within it?

Still, this world is dangerous enough. Explosions, air raids, and these rumbling, whistling sounds... have I stumbled into a war?!

Shen Le reflexively flattened himself against the ground. The whistling lasted only a moment before turning into a massive explosion that left his ears ringing.

He stayed curled on the ground for a long time, listening until the whistling, explosions, and the sound of collapsing buildings faded into the distance, before he cautiously emerged—

It was a living hell.

Hot, incinerating winds laden with the stench of gunpowder rushed toward him.

The smoke was thick with an inescapable, nauseating scent of blood.

Shen Le had only ever seen war in movies and on television; this was his first time experiencing it firsthand. Everywhere he looked, a third of the houses on the street had collapsed, and the remaining two-thirds were, at best, missing all their windows with shattered roof tiles that trembled and fell piece by piece.

"Fire! Put out the fire—"

"Hurry, get water—the basins, where are the basins..."

"Help me—my little girl is trapped under the bricks—Nannan, Nannan, hold on, Mama is coming to save you—"

"Help—"

Screams and wails filled the air. People shouting for water, people calling for rescue, mothers weeping for their children, wives crying for their husbands—all sorts of mournful sounds merged into one.

For a moment, Shen Le forgot to wonder if he had transmigrated or been reborn. He instinctively rushed toward a collapsed house, wanting to help move the rubble and save the child underneath. However, he reached out with both hands and pushed with all his might, but the half-collapsed brick wall remained unmoved.

Thinking he hadn't used enough strength, he turned slightly and grabbed a few bricks. He tried to lift them, but the light, loose bricks remained completely immovable...

"Ah... this is just like the previous scene; it's a memory inside the Little Puppet... So, I can't be harmed here, but I can't do anything either? Am I just a spectator?"

To test if it was truly just a memory, and because he couldn't stand by and watch, Shen Le ran back and forth along the long street.

He went from one end to the other, trying his hardest to be of some help. He tried to move bricks, lift water basins, and pick up the wailing toddlers...

Every attempt failed; he could only observe, never touch. Moreover, the street seemed to have invisible walls. Whenever he reached the end of the street or tried to turn into the side alleys, he would bump into an inexplicable barrier after only a few steps, unable to move any further.

Shen Le wandered around in a daze, unable to find a way to enter the scene or a way to leave. Everyone on the street was crying, shouting, fighting fires, and saving lives. He alone stood apart, like a lonely soul drifting between heaven and earth.

The only ones similar to him were a few very young children who, unaware of the tragedy of losing loved ones or the horror of collapsing buildings, wandered the street in a daze. Occasionally, when scolded by an adult, they would burst into loud, frightened sobs.

Shen Le circled those children several times, trying to comfort them, wipe away their tears, sing to them, or make funny faces, but it was all completely useless. Just as he was growing anxious, someone slowly crawled out from a half-collapsed old house nearby.

It was an old man with graying hair. No, wait—not an old man. He wasn't actually old, just so haggard and filthy that he looked much older than he was. His shoulders, elbows, and lapels were covered in layers of patches, and he was covered in grime, with a thin trail of blood trickling down from his temple.

He didn't seem to care, wiping it away casually with his sleeve. He crawled over to the toddlers, struggled to his feet, untied a cloth bundle from his chest, and reverently took out a...

Puppet?!

Little Puppet?

Is that you?

So, is this really your memory?

Is this the past you experienced, connected to me by the Copper Fragment?

Shen Le rubbed his eyes and stepped forward quickly, bending down to look. The puppeteer was covered in filth, yet the puppet he held was spotless and dazzling. It wore a flowing red dress, its crown glittered with brilliance, and its hands held a long, red-tasseled spear.

Held in the puppeteer's hands, it swayed before the weeping toddlers, and with a few tugs of the strings, the puppet tilted its head, arched its back, straightened up, and spun around, its spear dancing as it flicked out seven or eight spear flowers in rapid succession:

"The three cannon blasts outside the camp gate roared like thunder, and from Tianbo Mansion stepped forth a minister who guards the realm. With a golden crown pressing down upon my temples, I have donned my iron armor once again. The commander's banner flutters into the clouds..."

Following this came a rapid succession of spins, circling the stage, shaking the spear with one hand, then two, tossing it, and catching it—a dazzling display that left the onlookers spellbound. A few toddlers who had been crying were gradually drawn in by the puppet; with tear-streaked faces, they began to giggle and clap their hands in delight.

Shen Le stood to the side, watching the puppeteer chant while manipulating the strings, fully absorbed in entertaining the children, and he couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face. At the same time, a surge of joy welled up within his heart:

Do not be afraid!

Children, do not be afraid!

Even in the face of war, of bombardment, of homes reduced to ruin, of family lost or wounded—

Life must go on, and life will go on. In these days that follow one after another, there will always be those small moments of joy to help you remember, to give you the courage to carry on!