The puppets' stage play

"I think you have been by my side from the beginning."

"Even if you are pretending to be angry, you only left after making sure that my cultivation was sufficient to complete the subsequent processes."

"That mission must have been your excuse. I didn't notice it at first, but your attitude exposed you."

"Now that I think about it, when I encounter a problem, you always appear immediately to help me solve it."

Shadow Demon Liduo remained silent, her whole body seemed to be sinking in shadows, her face was dull.

Qi Xiu ignored it and continued to explain.

"The initial suppression was to make me put aside my pride and act with caution."

"The repeated messages passed on after that, I think, were not only your own ideas, but also the instructions of those above you."

"You are just someone else's puppet. You have no will of your own. You are just a mere mouthpiece."

"So, can you stop that 'friendly' look? To be honest, it's disgusting."

Qi Xiu turned around with a disgusted expression on his face and a cold gaze.

The maid A Shou remained silent for a moment and looked at him with hostile eyes. Fortunately, she thought this guy was really for his master, but she didn't expect this!

"We will send people to guard all qualified newcomers, but only for the first mission, not just you."

Lido's extremely calm voice came, with no personal emotion in her words.

"The mission thing is also true. I am not always watching over you, even though it is just some small missions in the nearby star field."

"I have never had any need to deceive you. After all, I am just an insignificant 'weak'"

"It's different from you!" Liduo's words seemed to be filled with warmth. She stared directly at Qi Xiu, her eyes full of envy.

"You are a different person that everyone is optimistic about. Even if you are favored by that person, you will definitely reach the pinnacle of your career and live in a high-level position in the future."

"And me? I'm just a shadow demon, a weak and powerless race, with an upper limit of only level three. I'm the cannon fodder among cannon fodder."

"I only managed to reach this level with the help of gifts from others, and this is the limit. No matter how hard I try, I can only be considered weak to the fifth level."

"So I envy you, I'm jealous of you. The favor you receive is a gift that I couldn't even imagine. So all I want to do is rely on a strong person like you, so what?"

"I can't do anything by myself!"

Facing Li Duo's expression of tears, Qi Xiu just smiled coldly,

He just stretched out his hand to expand the range of the ring a little. The little demons who heard some movement in the distance looked confused, scratched their heads, and left one after another.

"You are not lying, your weakness is exposed, it is really disgusting"

"Do you think I will take pity on you and let you join my team with a smile?"

Qi Xiu shook his head, "How naive."

"What contribution have you made to me, and what is your value? Why should I accept a guy like you with unknown origins and obvious prospects?"

"The career path is by no means smooth sailing. Your so-called pampering is actually disdainful to me. Why should I need help from others?"

“I alone am enough to reach the heights.”

Liduo was not moved by Qi Xiu's heroic words, she just smiled bitterly.

"What you don't understand is that the more you lose, the more you understand your own powerlessness."

"At that point, there's nothing you can do but pray to others, and that's what I did."

"That's why you are what you are now!" Qi Xiu asserted, his tone was cold, and he glanced sideways at Liduo.

"The ninth level of professions is very different, but we will not rely on the strong, we can only rely on ourselves."

"Let me tell you the truth of this world. This is what my teacher told me."

Qi Xiu looked up and recalled the teacher's voice and appearance, with a noble tone.

"This world pursues balance, so the more you lose, the more you get, but no one can be sure when you will get it."

"So we should be persistent and tenacious. Even if we use both hands and feet, we can never stop."

"Because, expectations will eventually fail, but hard work will not. It creates the path you came on, and this is your greatest precious wealth."

"This honor will never be taken away. It is a symbol of your 'path'"

Qi Xiu looked at Li Duo, his eyes shining brightly.

"And that's where 'career' comes from, so you get it?"

"Understand what?" Lido asked blankly.

"Idiot" Qi Xiu scolded softly, but his expression gradually relaxed and was no longer as cold as before.

"The road to career is the ladder to the gods. Even if you pursue it even a little bit, you won't stay at this stage, and there is no need to rely on others."

"You mean... you want me to join you." Liduo looked a little scared.

"Well, what I mean is that there is not one road. You don't have to rely on the path of your predecessors. You can also find your own path."

"Can I..." Lido's voice was like whispering, and her expression was in a trance.

"Nothing is wrong. I am just a useless person who has reached this stage." Qi Xiu's expression changed slightly, but it was not obvious.

His tone gradually became lower, "It probably only takes a little determination..."

Lido gradually returned to her normal demeanor, and there was vitality in her eyes.

Qi Xiu looked dazed, looking at the lonely sky with dull eyes.

"Third level, the starting level. Among those who seek immortality, it is the golden elixir, and among those who seek magic, it is the great mage who opens up the mana pool."

"The boundary between humans and non-humans, after reaching this point, there is no turning back, we can only go to the end."

"And I finally figured out one thing when I reached this level."

"'I' was wrong, no one is without possibility, and 'he' is no exception."

Qi Xiu's face was expressionless, but his whole person exuded a strong aura of sadness.

"Then are you going to give up?" Lido had also heard of the rumor, and she couldn't help asking the other person.

"No matter what others think, I will always go to the last scene to see the scenery, so that I can live up to 'my' expectations." Qi Xiu's face straightened, he regained his usual calmness, and spoke calmly.

"Then I hope you will remember me as your 'sister' after you succeed." Li Duo walked out of the knot in her heart and looked at Qi Xiu with a smile.

"Ah, I will definitely forget it," Qi Xiu retorted with a chuckle.

"..." Mamoru fiddled with the hem of his clothes, looking pale and slightly unwilling.

She didn't know any of these things. She didn't know anything about her master's past, and she couldn't get in the way.

"Okay, the care between you and me has been eliminated, and we can cooperate well from now on." Qi Xiu raised the corners of his mouth and smiled in his eyes.

"...! So you did it for this?" Liduo's expression was blank, and her eyes felt a little angry.

"I will not waste my fearless time. I invite you out now just to resolve our differences."

"As for your secret 'protection' behavior, I don't think it matters. This is also an appropriate way to deal with it."

"It's just that I don't want you to hide anything from me in the future. After all, I am a very stingy person." Qi Xiu spoke seriously and looked into Liduo's eyes.

"Hehe, I understand my petty 'brother'." Lido swept away her previous weak posture and became arrogant again.

Qi Xiu shook his head slightly. The other party seemed to have misunderstood something, but since he had warned him, he would no longer show mercy to the other party when he made mistakes.

Mamoru ran up to Qi Xiu, stretched out his small hands, blocking Li Duo's sight, and stared at him with angry eyes.

"Hey...sigh" Li Duo glanced at Qi Xiu teasingly, then turned to look at Mamoru, who shook his head and sighed, and his figure gradually faded away.

Qi Xiu looked around, and could still vaguely see Li Duo's figure in his eyes. He nodded, turned around the broken chain without mercy, and walked towards his past 'home'.

"Hey, wait for me, Master" Mamoru hurriedly followed.

Along the way, Qi Xiu observed that this area was very different from when he left. The roads were widened, the moss on the corners disappeared, the ruined areas were cleared, and at least reasonable houses were built.

Even the houses on the road he was walking on were mostly brand new. There were still traces of water on the road. The ground was spotless, at least without too much dust.

"It seems that your two servants did a good job. This place is much better than before you left." Liduo's voice sounded in Qi Xiu's ears, with a hint of teasing in her words.

"You don't have to laugh at me. It's not that I haven't understood it before. This is not what they did, but another guy." Qi Xiu spoke calmly, his eyes still looking around.

"... Could it be that the black dog who was enlightened by you using some spiritual skills? Is his intelligence so high?" Liduo hesitated and was extremely puzzled.

"There is no need to doubt, the spiritual enlightenment technique is different from the usual spiritual enlightenment method. It will forcefully open up the wisdom of the recipient. Of course, some damage is unavoidable."

"Normal second-level people are perfect existences. Oh, I'm talking about our definition of the second level, which has nothing to do with you shadow demons."

Li Duo was about to interrupt but was blocked by Qi Xiu. She could only look at Qi Xiu fiercely.

Qi Xiu looked calm and continued talking.

"And these guys are actually equivalent to leaky buckets. Even if they continue to improve themselves, there will be certain limits."

"That boundary is the template set by the caster. I hand-made it according to the characteristics of the jet beast, plus the special atmosphere of my profession, and some simple physical training methods to create the 'motherboard'"

"Coupled with my original negative emotions, I added some seasonings to make them irritable all day long and unable to control themselves, thereby limiting them to a certain level that will not exceed my expectations."

"But, I heard that as spell casters, you can forcefully control each other, so why do you have to worry about each other's actions?" Lido couldn't help but ask.

Qi Xiu glanced at Lido, and the emotion revealed in her eyes made her feel uncomfortable.

"Why should some cannon fodder care about their autonomy? As long as everything goes according to plan, their little indulgence before death is also allowed."

"What's more, I've always been curious about how far human autonomy can go."

"You actually call them 'people'?" Lido looked surprised.

Qi Xiu stopped, touched the wall next to him, looked at the gray powder on his fingertips, and smiled.

"In my opinion, the definition of human beings is an extremely ambiguous existence. No matter what others think, as long as it is useful to me from my point of view, what's wrong with treating them as human beings?"

"If your elders over there hear what you say, they will definitely reprimand you. They hate all inhuman existences."

Lido tapped her cheek with her finger and tilted her head with a smile.

"That was in the past. Now my elders have seen through some things, and they might even praise my words."

"You are just talking nonsense and making naive assumptions." Lido snorted.

"You really don't understand." Qi Xiu turned his head and continued walking.

"Master's words are wise words, you don't understand!" A Shou guessed, pointed his finger at Lido's direction, swiped his finger twice on his face, stuck out his tongue, and left quickly with a smile.

"...Sigh" Lido couldn't help but sigh as she looked at Mamoru who was making small movements to her right.

This stupid kid clearly didn't notice him, but he felt a little warm in his heart. The corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously, and he followed the two in front of him.