Chapter 496: Accompanying You to the End of the World

Three minutes later.

The giant shears in Ge Qingming's hand dropped to the ground.

He was seized by a group of puppet children vying to be first, then lifted together and carried to the iron bed.

Feng Yuhuai stood before him, crooked a finger, and the scalpel pressed against Ge Qingming's chest.

"You can't treat me like this, I'm a Gardener, I'm a Gardener..."

Ge Qingming's voice was like a stuck tape recorder, endlessly replaying the same sentence back and forth:

"Feng Yuhuai, it was I who gave you new life, it was me aaaaah——"

Feng Yuhuai's mouth corner curved into a sweet arc, the scalpel elegantly sliding open the aged skin, like cutting open a sheet of old parchment.

A dozen pale hands immediately pried open the wound, scrambling to pull at the subcutaneous tissue, revealing the wriggling viscera inside.

"Hush"

Feng Yuhuai leaned in close, hair strands falling onto Ge Qingming's twisted face,

"You just taught me that as a seed one must break through the soil alone, but have you ever considered what the fate of a Gardener is?"

Feng Yuhuai paused, expression incomparably serious as she supplemented:

"Before, everyone I liked got eaten by me, but Doctor Ge, you're different, you gave me new life, so I don't want to eat you.

I likewise want to bestow new life upon you, let you become my family, accompanying me all the way to the end."

Ge Qingming's scalp went numb, he dared not look at Feng Yuhuai's sweet gaze again.

He had seen plenty of lunatics before, was even one himself, but the sweet-and-crazy kind like Feng Yuhuai, this was truly the first time he'd seen.

Ge Qingming closed his eyes in despair, thinking to himself:

"No wonder, every Gardener who offered seeds to the Puppet Mother would vanish without a trace after a while, I originally thought they had received the Puppet Mother's grace and retired in success."

"Thinking back now, perhaps they were all... by the very seeds they sowed..."

Ge Qingming suddenly realized, muttering to himself:

"Perhaps, becoming fertilizer that nourishes the seed is the fate of every Gardener, and if that is what the Puppet Mother wishes to see, then I..."

Just as Ge Qingming was pondering life philosophy, Feng Yuhuai whispered tenderly in his ear:

"But I, before I only knew how to eat, have never made family before, so, could you tell me the correct production steps?"

Ge Qingming's eyes snapped open, looking anew at Feng Yuhuai's humble, eager-to-learn gaze.

His face cycled through shades of pale and dark, lips trembling for a long while, then suddenly he burst into a fit of manic laughter:

"Making puppets is a skill every Gardener must master, but perhaps you're right, the Puppet Mother just wants to use the Gardener's hands to pass this ability to the seed."

Feng Yuhuai's eyes lit up, she nodded heavily.

Ge Qingming's hands death-gripped the iron bed's edge:

"The incision must follow a sequence, first remove the liver, then the spleen, then extract the kidneys....."

"During this process, blood must be drained and Condensing Puppet Fluid infused, only then can the puppet's lifetime vitality be sealed, preserving the puppet's abilities....."

"The method for making Condensing Puppet Fluid is in the parchment scroll on the third layer down inside the cabinet....."

"Finally, throughout the entire surgical process, no anesthetic can be used, to maximize retention of the puppet's sentience....."

Feng Yuhuai listened with extreme seriousness, she was the type of top student with exceptional comprehension, hearing it just once she grasped the key points.

Her eyes grew brighter and brighter, the blade in her hand wandering precisely along with the explanation, every cut perfectly replicating Ge Qingming's instructions.

Fresh blood splattered onto her porcelain-white face, then was rolled away by her excited tongue tip.

"Ah——!!"

Ge Qingming's scream suddenly pitched high, then bizarrely transformed into loud laughter,

"Right, just like that, you're doing excellently, you have the talent to become the final seed, when that time comes, I won't just be your family, I'll be the Puppet Mother's family aaaaah——"

The basement lights flickered bright and dim, casting this "master-disciple" pair's shadows on the wall — one manically lecturing in agony, one intently learning in a pool of blood.

Those puppets quietly formed a circle around them, looking exactly like medical interns.

When Feng Yuhuai's red thread began stitching the final wound, she suddenly shed tears.

These were not tears of sorrow, but a emotion transcending blood ties — because she clearly felt that the existence transforming on the iron bed had established a connection with her more intimate than father and daughter.

"I understand."

She stroked Ge Qingming's gradually cooling face,

"This is true family."

Feng Yuhuai waited by the iron bed with tears in her eyes, waiting for Ge Qingming to wake from his slumber, just like that night when Ge Qingming kept vigil by her bedside.

Unknown how much time passed, the aged body on the iron bed suddenly twitched.

Ge Qingming's eyelids slowly lifted, revealing the pale eyeballs beneath, a dead stillness within.

Feng Yuhuai's fingertip flicked lightly, a strand of red thread drilling into Ge Qingming's chest, Ge Qingming's pupils instantly turning into red circles, the whole person coming alive again.

She could feel that, unlike other puppets, Ge Qingming's body still retained a certain special connection — the resonance left by the Puppet Mother's Mark.

Compared to other puppets, operating Ge Qingming was far more effortless for her.

She hooked her pinky, and Ge Qingming sat up straight, he stiffly turned his neck, his withered mouth corner slowly cracking open into a benevolent father-like smile.

The arc of that smile, the wrinkles at the eye corners, even the slightly drooping brow tips, bore seven parts resemblance to Feng Ju.

Feng Yuhuai's pinky lifted lightly.

Ge Qingming's arms slowly spread open, faint "creak" sounds coming from the joints, his movements stiff yet precise, the arc of his outstretched arms just right, like a father waiting for his daughter to throw herself into his embrace.

Feng Yuhuai pounced over.

Her cheek pressed against Ge Qingming's cold chest, there was no heartbeat there, only the subtle sensation of red thread wriggling beneath the skin.

She tilted her head up, eye sockets brimming with tears, voice light as sleep-talk:

"Today I lost my original father, but created a brand new father, so, will you stay with me forever, be proud of me forever, all the way to the end of the world?"

The Red Thread secretly intertwined between the two, tightly entwining their fates like blood vessels.

Ge Qingming's arms slowly tightened, his broad palm gently resting on the back of her head.

The gesture was so practiced, as if it had been repeated hundreds of times.

Dozens of puppets suddenly knelt at the same time, red threads weaving between them into a blood-red spider web.

One after another, these "Brothers Sisters" extended their pale arms, layer upon layer embracing the "Father and Daughter" at the center of the Iron Bed.

Ge Qingming slowly turned his neck, his mouth splitting open as he laughed exaggeratedly, emitting hoarse sounds in fits and starts:

"Yu Huai... you are Father... and also the pride and hope of our whole family... we will always... always accompany you to the end of the world..."

Feng Yuhuai closed her eyes, burying her face in his chest.

In this moment, she once again had a good father who would never leave and would always be proud of her.

Hong Dong—

The phone vibrated inopportunely, breaking the warmth and quiet of this moment...

End of Chapter