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

By now, all the materials needed to make puppets were finally complete.

Qi Chao tugged at the corner of his mouth as he listened to the system notification announcing that one hundred points had been credited to his account.

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

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

Qi Chao did not know whether it was just his imagination, but he felt that Lan Luo seemed a little off 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 night before either, so he should have been hungry by now. Yet when Qi Chao asked, Lan Luo still gave him his usual bright smile and said outright that he was not hungry.

Lan Luo truly was not hungry.

His older brother had already angered him full.

Qi Chao did not know that Little One had been wronged and therefore did not want to eat. He simply believed Lan Luo's explanation and thought he had been overthinking it.

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

That was far too abnormal.

How could a perfectly fine Little One be eating so little?

"Lan Luo, are you full after just 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 comfortable, catlike expression. He even seemed to be in a fairly good mood.

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

Could puppets get sick?

They definitely could. Anything alive could get sick.

But Qi Chao searched through every post on the forum and found no mention of puppets having similar symptoms. When he made his first forum post, all he received was a pile of mocking comments.

Qi Chao frowned as he looked at the comments beneath the post. What the hell was this? How had they started arguing?

He paid no attention to the farce in the thread. After reading it from beginning to end, he finally came to a conclusion: as long as a puppet's Puppet Heart had no problems, it would not get sick. And if its Puppet Heart did have a problem, the reaction would not be loss of appetite.

Qi Chao was somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that Little One really was fine?

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

After seeing this, Qi Chao thought it over and 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 that. After some thought, he found the two professional humanoid puppet makers he had added not long ago.

Unlike Doctor, the two of them immediately answered after Qi Chao sent his question, though their responses differed.

Bei Ge: [Loss of appetite? As long as it can eat, isn't that enough? Why are you worrying so much? How's that garbage 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 anorexia. Perhaps it simply isn't hungry? You can wait until it is hungry before feeding it.]

After asking so many people, all of them believed the puppet was not sick. Though Qi Chao was still somewhat worried, he was no longer as nervous as before.

As long as Little One was all right.

Just as Qi Chao was thinking 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 may crush the Energy Blocks into rice-grain-sized pieces, put them in water, and feed them to him. Then observe the puppet's condition.]

After asking so many people, this was the first professional suggestion anyone had offered. Qi Chao was stunned and curiously typed: [Why do that? Does crushing them into rice-grain-sized pieces make them easier for the Little Ones to digest?]

I've learned something. I've learned something.

Before even trying it, Qi Chao already believed more than half of it. He could not help it; compared with Doctor's words, everything said earlier had seemed far too unprofessional.

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

Only Father would soak Energy Stones in water.

Lan Luo was very smart. He nearly immediately figured out what had happened and understood Father's meaning as well. After a pause, he used a spoon to place the rice-grain-sized Energy Stones into his mouth one bite at a time.

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

The little puppet had actually finished every bit of the Energy Stone! Not a single piece was left!

Qi Chao turned and took out his Light Brain, excitedly typing 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 an Energy Stone in water was one of Father's methods of punishment.

Father was telling him not to cause trouble for him.

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

Just then, Qi Chao, having sent his message and still smiling, crouched down and reached out to ruffle Lan Luo's soft hair. There was a hint of heartache in his eyes as he asked in a low voice, "Lan Luo, today must have been very hard for you, right?"