Chapter 179: Yu Yao: Let’s Pretend to Be Close Friends!
“Wow, this puppet is pretty complicated.”
Bai Feng looked at the system’s suggested methods for making puppets. According to the book, there are four types of puppets.
First, the simplest is the wooden puppet—cheap, easy to make, and if it breaks, the materials can be reused. Saving the planet, one splinter at a time!
Second, there’s the metal puppet—tougher than wood, pricier, and definitely more intimidating. Think of it as wearing steel armor but instead of a knight, you get a walking, talking prison bench.
Third, we have the flesh and bl**d puppets—these are super fancy and kinda creepy. Made from spiritual beasts or powerful cultivator corpses, they scream “dark magic” louder than a Black Friday sale on forbidden spells.
And last, the hybrid puppets—these little guys take a bit of everything. No major flaws, no spectacular advantages, just a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Aside from these, there are some rare, exotic puppets that require materials so rare that they’re basically legendary unicorn horn—better not to think about those right now.
Bai Feng decided to start small, focusing on the basic wooden puppets. The elites could be a mash-up of wood and metal, and the big boss puppets? For speed, maybe a top-grade wooden sword Cultivator puppet; for body refinement types, a metallic brute.
“Let’s just make a few and see how they go.”
The materials for basic wooden puppets are common, and lucky for him, he had plenty. He strolled into the yard, grabbed his supplies, and quickly crafted a basic wooden puppet.
This puppet had no facial features—just a perfect round head—and the most detail was on the hands and arms because he was aiming for a sword Cultivator.
Next, he shoved his divine consciousness into it. One blink later, the puppet awoke, reaching out to grab a wooden sword.
“Pretty decent.”
Bai Feng nodded approvingly, then picked up the wooden sword and pointed at the puppet. “Attack me.”
As soon as he gave the command, the puppet lunged at him. The wooden sword in its hands moved smoothly, slicing through the air like it’d been practicing swordsmanship for years. It looked less like a stiff doll and more like someone who’d embarrassed themselves during a sword art competition.
Bai Feng raised his hand to block, but suddenly, the puppet switched tactics—one leg kicked into his stomach.
“Not bad, not bad. The fight’s pretty lively.”
He kept watching, noticing that although the puppet was flexible and not just blindly attacking, its adaptability was limited. When faced with tricky moves, it looked a bit dumb—like it had been programmed with a slightly defective AI.
But overall, he was satisfied. He wasn’t planning to set the puppet loose in a tournament anyway, just wanted to test its fighting style.
“Alright, enough.”
The moment he said that, the puppet lowered the wooden sword and stood still.
“Junior brother, you’re here too? I bought some snacks… Eh? When did you learn to make dolls?”
A voice suddenly floated from outside the yard. Bai Feng turned and saw Yu Yao climbing over the wall.
“Senior sister, can’t you just walk through the front gate?”
“Next time, for sure!” Yu Yao chuckled and strolled over, setting some snacks down on a nearby table. “I noticed you seem to like those sticky rice cakes—so I brought a few more.”
“You pay close attention, huh?” Bai Feng tossed down his wooden sword, picked up a sticky rice cake, and took a bite. “Senior sister, what brings you here?”
“Just wanted to share some snacks,” Yu Yao said as she sat on a stone bench, helping herself to a piece. “Don’t think I only come over when I have trouble.”
“Then I’ll take it as gospel.”
Bai Feng sat back, savoring his snack in silence, watching Yu Yao, wondering when she’d crack.
A few minutes passed, and Yu Yao hesitantly lifted her head: “Uh, little brother…”
“Huh?”
“Are you thirsty? I can get you some water.”
“Thank you, senior sister. The tea is in the cabinet.”
A few more minutes passed. Bai Feng sipped his tea, and just as he thought he was safe, Yu Yao looked up at him again: “Little brother…”
“Yes, senior sister?”
“Are you tired? Do you want me to rub your shoulders?”
“Thanks, senior sister. Should I sit a little lower?”
Yet more minutes, and Yu Yao, with both hands, clenched Bai Feng’s shoulders. Finally, she couldn’t hold back anymore: “Little brother…”
“What’s up, senior sister?”
“Help me out with something…”
“But senior sister, didn’t you say you just came over to share snacks?” Bai Feng asked with fake innocence.
“I… I suddenly remembered something!” Yu Yao said, her tone sounding slightly pleading as she leaned forward. “Help me out, please! I really can’t handle it anymore!”
Bai Feng put away his teasing grin and asked curiously, “Senior sister, what happened? Even Yu Ling Long can’t fix it?”
“It’s nothing serious,” Yu Yao sighed helplessly. “Recently, my grandfather suddenly wants to celebrate his 514th birthday. I don’t know what my parents told him, but celebrating his 600th? Fine. But now, he’s talking about a birthday party out of nowhere. I’m stuck trying to figure out what gift to give.”
“That’s all?”
Bai Feng twitched his mouth. He’d thought it was some earth-shattering crisis, but it turned out just to be a birthday for an old guy!
Our family’s situation, you know, little brother, it’s probably just an excuse to get bigger presents,” Yu Yao sighed. “So I need you, little brother, to help craft something fancy—maybe just a design sketch is fine, as long as it shows how close we are. That’ll shut them up. Otherwise, I’ll be facing another wedding dilemma like last time…”
The memory of last time’s chaos at Yu Yao’s house suddenly clicked for Bai Feng:
“How about I go with you to wish him a happy birthday?”
“Little brother, are you serious?” Yu Yao’s face didn’t show excitement but grew serious. “If you go, I can’t promise you’ll come out unharmed.”
“…Maybe I’ll pass then.”
Bai Feng hurriedly shook his head, shivering at the thought of leaving Yu Yao’s place again. He definitely didn’t want to be cornered by the women of the Yu family, especially with a few young girls lurking around. That’d be more frightening than a horror movie marathon.
Then he started to ponder: if giving a gift is the way to prove how close we are, then what kind of gift would do the trick?
“I can’t think of anything…” Yu Yao frowned, then suddenly brightened: “Hey, what if we fake it?”
“Fake what?”
Bai Feng looked puzzled. Was she talking about faking the gift? Or the relationship? Wait, they already had a close working relationship, so why fake that? Was she talking about…?
“I mean fake the relationship,” Yu Yao’s expression grew serious. “We just pretend to be close friends, and then record a few clips with the Image Retainer—easy peasy.”
And that’s how they ended up planning a pretend friendship, just like in a soap opera.
