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During that time, he went upstairs to pick up a newly arrived delivery.

By now, he had gathered every material needed to make a puppet.

Listening to the system notification that one hundred points had been credited, Qi Chao tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Even a mosquito was still meat. One hundred points amounted to thirty thousand Star Coins, which was no small sum.

Upstairs, after learning a few characters, Lan Luo ran over to watch cartoons in front of the projection screen as usual.

Qi Chao did not know whether it was just his imagination, but he felt that something was off about Lan Luo today.

Lan Luo had only taken a few bites of the High-Grade Energy Stone Qi Chao had prepared that morning. He had not eaten much the previous night either, so he should have been hungry by now. Yet when Qi Chao asked, Lan Luo still flashed his usual brilliant smile and said outright that he was not hungry.

Lan Luo truly was not hungry.

His eldest brother had already angered him until he was full.

Qi Chao did not know that Little One had lost his appetite because he had been wronged. He simply believed Lan Luo's explanation and thought he had been overthinking things.

Yet when he came out of the basement for lunch, Lan Luo still stopped eating after only a few bites.

That was far too abnormal.

How could Little One suddenly be eating so little?

"Lan Luo, are you full after only two bites?" Qi Chao frowned slightly, walked over to the puppet, and ruffled his hair.

"Mm." Lan Luo's eyes curved as he showed a contented expression like a cat's. He even seemed to be in a rather good mood.

Qi Chao instinctively ruled out the possibility that Little One did not want to eat because he was upset. That left only one reason: Lan Luo was sick.

Could puppets get sick?

Of course they could. Anything alive could get sick.

But Qi Chao searched every post on the forum, and none mentioned symptoms like a puppet falling anorexic. When he made his first forum post, all he received was a flood of mocking comments.

Qi Chao stared at the replies under the post, his brows furrowing. What the hell was this? How had they even started arguing?

He paid no attention to the farce in the thread. After reading it from beginning to end, he finally reached a conclusion: as long as a puppet's Puppet Heart was fine, it would not get sick. And if something did go wrong with its Puppet Heart, the symptom would not be loss of appetite.

Qi Chao was rather puzzled.

Could Little One really be fine?

At that moment, Lan Luo sat on the sofa, swinging his legs as he stared eagerly at the cartoon. He did not look sick in the slightest.

After thinking it over, Qi Chao decided to ask an expert. He opened Doctor's chat window and typed in his question.

Several minutes passed without any movement in the chat window.

Qi Chao remained calm. Not everyone sat in front of their Light Brain waiting to talk to him. Doctor was a busy person, and he understood. After a moment's thought, he found the two professional puppet makers he had added not long ago.

Unlike Doctor, the two immediately answered after Qi Chao sent his question, though their responses were different.

Bei Ge: [Loss of appetite? As long as it can still eat, isn't that enough? Why are you worrying so much? How's that trash Mother Stone of yours?]

Qi Chao gave him a perfunctory reply, then opened Aisli's chat window.

Aisli: [I have never heard of puppets showing symptoms of loss of appetite. Perhaps it is simply not hungry? You can wait until it is hungry before feeding it.]

After asking so many people, all of them thought the puppet was not sick. Qi Chao was still a little worried, but he was no longer as tense as before.

As long as Little One was all right, that was enough.

As Qi Chao thought this, his Light Brain suddenly vibrated.

It was a message from Doctor.

Doctor: [Loss of appetite?]

Qi Chao typed a yes and sent it over.

Doctor: [You can crush the Energy Blocks into grains the size of rice and put them in water for him to drink, then observe the puppet's condition.]

After asking so many people, this was the first professional suggestion he had received. Qi Chao was startled and curiously typed: [Why do that? Does crushing them to rice-grain size make them easier for Little Ones to digest?]

He had learned something. He had learned something.

Before even trying it, Qi Chao already believed more than half of it. It could not be helped; compared to Doctor's words, all the earlier responses seemed far too unprofessional.

That evening, Qi Chao followed Doctor's instructions, crushing the Energy Stone into rice-sized grains and soaking them in water before bringing it to the little puppet.

Only Father would soak Energy Stones in water.

Lan Luo was very smart. He almost immediately understood what had happened, and at the same time grasped Father's meaning. He paused, then used a spoon to place the rice-sized Energy Stone grains into his mouth one bite at a time.

Qi Chao had been mentally prepared, but he was still shocked when he saw this.

The little puppet had actually eaten every last bit of the Energy Stone! Not a single grain remained!

Qi Chao turned around, took out his Light Brain, and excitedly typed a long message in the chat window to express his thanks.

Meanwhile, where Qi Chao could not see, Lan Luo quietly let out a breath.

Soaking Energy Stones in water was one of Father's punishments.

Father was telling him not to cause trouble for him.

Lan Luo's eyelashes trembled slightly. He wanted to obediently listen to Father's words, yet it seemed he had become a bad child in front of Father once again.

Just then, Qi Chao, having sent his message, came over with an undiminished smile. He crouched down and reached out to ruffle Lan Luo's soft hair, his eyes full of distress as he said in a low voice, "Lan Luo, today must have been very hard for you, right?"