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Lan Luo seemed to have recovered somewhat. He was no longer as frightened as before and shyly accepted the apology with a smile. Seeing the little doll return to normal, Qi Chao finally relaxed.

That old lady should be grateful that her Little One had not been hurt.

Otherwise, Qi Chao definitely would not have let that brat off so easily.

Although the matter had ended, he had not forgotten how those children had mocked Lan Luo for having no friends.

After returning home and finishing dinner, Qi Chao resolved to work hard and went upstairs to draw designs for a little doll.

Lan Luo had originally been watching cartoons on the first floor. When he caught sight of Qi Chao heading toward the study, he jumped off the sofa and followed him.

After what happened at the park, Lan Luo seemed to have become rather attached to him.

Qi Chao gladly accepted that. In a gentle voice, he asked, "Kid, do you want a good brother to play around with?"

Brother?

Lan Luo looked somewhat confused. "Lan Luo has two older brothers."

The brothers Little One mentioned were probably the other little dolls made by Doctor. Qi Chao smiled and rubbed Lan Luo's golden hair. "The brother I mean isn't a biological brother. I mean a good friend."

As he spoke, Qi Chao used Little Fatty from the park as an example. "A good friend is a companion who can play and fool around with you, and who will always stand firmly by your side."

Lan Luo did not really understand, but he knew Qi Chao was using those children from the park as an example.

Human children all had good friends.

Then he wanted one too.

Qi Chao watched Lan Luo nod heavily, his eyes brimming with anticipation, and smiled. "Since Lan Luo wants friends too, I'd better work harder!"

Qi Chao had originally planned to put on some cartoons for Lan Luo so Little One would not get bored in the study. Unexpectedly, Lan Luo shook his head and refused outright, his gaze fixed on the drawing paper on the desk. Clearly, he wanted to watch Qi Chao draw.

Qi Chao chuckled, then moved a chair beside his own so the little doll could watch more easily.

Like a cat, Lan Luo lay sprawled over the desk, his eyes following Qi Chao's movements.

Charcoal-black lines outlined the doll's body structure: front, back, and side views, each sheet covered in proportional measurements.

These were the doll proportion diagrams Qi Chao used as reference. An expert could understand them at a glance, but they were rather difficult for an outsider to make sense of.

Though Lan Luo was a doll, that did not mean he could understand them. Seeing the little doll's bewildered expression, Qi Chao thought for a moment, pulled over a sheet of paper, and began sketching. In less than ten minutes, he had used colored pencils to draw a chibi little figure.

Qi Chao had conceived his little dolls' personalities and expressions thousands of times in his mind and gone through hundreds of discarded drafts. By now, even a rough line drawing could capture his own Little One's most striking features.

On the paper, a chibi boy with short white hair wore half a fox mask. He was squatting on the ground, staring at a slowly crawling snail in front of him and laughing happily, revealing two sharp little canine teeth.

Qi Chao placed the drawing in front of Lan Luo and said with a smile, "Kid, don't look at those anymore. Come look at this."

Lan Luo stared at the sheet of paper and nodded, though no one knew what he was thinking. Qi Chao merely assumed the little doll was curious, and, amused, said nothing as he lowered his head and continued pondering the proportions of the new Little One.

He drew chibi dolls to amuse children, but if he wanted to create a doll in the same proportions as Lan Luo, he still needed to continually refine the measurements of every part.

To be honest, Qi Chao had never made this kind of life-sized doll in his previous life. The closer a doll's body was to that of a human, the more meticulous its construction needed to be and the more difficult it became. It was no small challenge for him.

Before he knew it, it was eight or nine at night.

Qi Chao looked up at the time and quickly coaxed the little doll to bed. Only after Little One had fallen asleep did he return to the study.

[Hello, Host.]

The moment Qi Chao sat down, he heard the system's voice. He smiled. "Welcome back. I didn't expect your timing to be so good."

Within his sea of consciousness, the system's green glow flickered. It did not mention that it had returned an hour ago, only that it had been too frightened to make a sound while the doll was present.

As long as it did not say anything, no one would know how cowardly it was. The system tried to steer the topic toward making money. [Following an inspection by the General Bureau, your design works meet the listing standards. However, depending on their level of completion, each clothing or character design can be exchanged for a different number of points.]

Qi Chao was somewhat surprised that things had gone so smoothly, but he had no objections to the system's standards. After all, being able to trade with the store was already an unexpected delight.

[You have a total of fifty-six unpublished clothing design drafts from your previous life: thirty C-rank works, fifteen B-rank works, and eleven A-Rank works. Each rank can be exchanged for fifty, eighty, and one hundred points respectively.] The system continued, [Does the Host confirm the transaction?]

"Confirmed." As soon as Qi Chao spoke, he saw the Light Brain notification that the funds had arrived.

[After automatically deducting the system's commission and converting the points into Star Coins, you will receive 798,000 Star Coins. Please check them.]

Qi Chao grinned. This speed was damn impressive.

The system had never received so many points in its entire existence. How could it possibly be slow? This was enough to exchange for so much high-grade energy fluid.

Having received the benefits, the system's fondness for Qi Chao deepened. The General Bureau had originally been unwilling to conduct business with artisans, but once the system provided the plane number, the General Bureau agreed immediately. It had barely done anything and had already obtained a pile of points.

Now, the system found its host increasingly pleasing to the eye. Seeing that his host was still obliviously treating a demon as a treasure, the system felt guilty and began considering giving him another push.

It had just been about to offer a subtle hint when, before it could speak, the Light Brain on the desk chimed. The avatar on the screen looked very familiar, and the system shut its mouth and quietly watched.

Doctor: [You only replied to half of my message. Did something happen?]

Doctor: [Sorry. I waited for a long time and never received the other half of your message, so I was a little worried.]

When Little One fell from the swing, Qi Chao had been chatting with the doll maker. At the time, he had only sent half a sentence. Later, he had been too busy to check the Light Brain messages, so he never finished it.