The System Mistook Me for a Cat

“How about we settle on Qihe City?”

“But it doesn’t seem like there’s much to do there… Just taking a boat ride? There’s not even a famous amusement park or anything.”

“What about that newly opened amusement park called Changyi Comprehensive Entertainment City? We could check it out.”

“No amusement parks. Let’s go to a ranch. I managed to snag tickets for the first day at Shanwan Ranch.”

“==Wow, you’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you!”

After sending this message, Jin Yu pushed her keyboard aside and pulled out her phone to search for “what equipment to buy for first-time camping” and “how to set up a tent for beginners.”

She and the other friends in the group chat had met through gaming. The original game they played had long since been shut down, and the company behind it had gone bankrupt. But the friendships forged in the game hadn’t disappeared. They had moved on to several other games together—some were deeply invested, while others just played casually from time to time. Still, they often teamed up for sessions.

“Jin Yu” was her usual gaming ID. In this day and age, online friends were a peculiar kind of relationship:

You might have known someone for years without ever learning their real name. Even when meeting in person for trips, you’d still call each other by nicknames or aliases. Yet, you believed the bond between you was unbreakable.

This year, the group happened to have a week free, and they were discussing whether to go on a road trip. One of them, a die-hard fan of *Yuan Tang*, suggested Shanwan Ranch… If only *Yuan Tang* had collaborated with a bubble tea shop instead. But no, it had to be a partnership with another game and a ranch in a second-tier city.

The friend who made the suggestion, Zhizhi, complained, “I’ve already pre-registered for *Xue Butong*. I’ll give it a try when I have time, and I can get some *Yuan Tang* rewards too. But without any physical merchandise, it just doesn’t feel like a collaboration, you know?”

Simply buying some online merch felt like being a total sucker.

So, they decided to bite the bullet and spend dozens of times more money to travel hours by train to “suffer” at the ranch.

Jin Yu wanted to say: How about I reimburse you for the merch money…

Unlike Zhizhi, Jin Yu rarely played *Yuan Tang*, so theoretically, no matter how many collaborations there were, she wouldn’t be the target. But now, she had to learn how to set up a tent from scratch—

Because the ranch’s internal hotel was closed (rumor had it that it was still under renovation), if visitors wanted to stay overnight, they had to rent tents and camp in the designated area.

Even camping required an online reservation, and spots were in high demand.

Thinking about this, Jin Yu sighed and opened Chu Tingwu’s personal account. She scrolled down and picked up where she had left off last time:

She had first heard about *Cat Cat Xue Butong* and then followed Chu Tingwu, though she hadn’t managed to secure a spot in the second beta test. As a casual fan, she wasn’t the type to go out of her way to meet her idol in person. She usually just watched videos and liked posts, and she avoided Chu Tingwu’s outdoor content. Some people loved the thrill, but Jin Yu was afraid of sudden, intense moments. So, she only watched Chu Tingwu’s cooking and study streams.

What most fans found boring, Jin Yu adored. She felt her heart calm down just by watching.

There were also many subtle details in Chu Tingwu’s streams, like when the pen she was twirling between her fingers slipped but landed perfectly upright on the table… Fans had compiled these moments into a “superhuman” highlight reel, which Jin Yu often rewatched.

Chu Tingwu never explained these things. She never explained how she could catch a falling book behind her back while leaning on a chair, or how she could leap onto the back of a toppling chair and balance it perfectly. She never explained how she could overhear arguments from the next building and casually gossip about them. When asked, she’d just give a look that said, “Can’t you guys do this too?”—not boastful, but with a hint of playful teasing.

Some thought these moments were coincidences, while others believed they were the result of deliberate practice.

But Jin Yu was captivated.

She felt that Chu Tingwu lived in the same world as everyone else but saw another, more fascinating world just beyond a thin veil. It wasn’t a place you could reach through money, intelligence, or even athletic talent. It wasn’t something you could chase after with effort.

So, she was sometimes grateful for the internet. It had allowed her to catch a glimpse of that other world.

“Maybe going to the ranch won’t be so bad…”

She heard that the recent streams, though outdoors, weren’t too extreme. She’d probably just need to bring sunscreen.

-

After sending a message in the group chat, Zhizhi started waiting for *Yuan Tang*’s maintenance to end. Even though *Cat Cat Xue Butong* was all the rage and everyone said it was fun, she really wasn’t into puzzle games… Who wanted to do homework after school? Especially when it wasn’t even for exams or grad school, but just to play a game!

Zhizhi just wanted to log in, collect event rewards, and get the new skins. This time, there weren’t any new heroes, but Yang Guifei had a new skin with a white cat you could hold in your arms—adorable!

The skin wasn’t expensive, but you had to complete some tutorial tasks to unlock it, and you could get a discount with event tokens. Zhizhi casually clicked through the tasks, one hand holding her bubble tea. But as she progressed, she suddenly noticed a cat appear in the screen.

At first, she didn’t pay much attention, but the little white cat kept peeking out from the edge of the screen, too shy to come in.

Zhizhi: “?”

She thought it might be an event easter egg or an NPC, so she clicked on it a couple of times. The kitten dodged her taps, and she instinctively pressed and dragged her finger across the screen. The cat seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand, dragged to the center of the screen.

It looked timid, and Zhizhi expected some dialogue bubble to pop up above its head. But instead, her headphones picked up a soft:

“Meow—”

Oh!

Even though she didn’t understand the language, the sound and the cat’s movements clearly conveyed its emotions. Zhizhi swiped her finger across the screen a couple of times, as if petting the cat’s head. The kitten seemed to calm down, no longer too scared to move. It lowered its head, eyes looking up warily, as if wondering what was touching it, but its tail started wagging.

Zhizhi: “…”

Ugh, why did they have to make it so cute for an event?

She noticed a translucent bubble slowly rising above the cat’s head. The kitten’s ears twitched, as if it wanted to paw at the glowing dots inside but didn’t dare.

Zhizhi immediately tapped the bubble, but with a soft “pop,” it burst, scattering colorful dots that transformed into—

A character customization screen!?

Zhizhi: “?”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

She had seen this interface in a stream before. Wasn’t this the “cat creation” screen from *Cat Cat Xue Butong*? Did they just copy it over?

She opened a search page to compare and realized there were some differences. This was just the basic version, and there were no options to buy special skins with real money. So, the customization options were limited.

But that was fine by her. Zhizhi didn’t want to spend too much time on character creation anyway. Fewer choices meant she could decide faster.

Soon, a little cat with a goofy mustache was born.

Zhizhi: “Pfft.”

After hitting confirm, the customization screen faded, and the white kitten slowly donned its new “skin.” It clearly had no idea it now looked like a silly little goofball, and its cute movements took on a slightly ridiculous air. Zhizhi felt a pang of guilt and vowed, “I’ll get you the event skins and outfits from the shop as soon as I can.”

No wonder the event shop had so many items… Upon closer inspection, half of them were for the cat!

This unnamed little kitten was kept on her game login screen, sometimes hanging on the UI logo, sometimes squatting on the exit button, and other times playing with the "homepage mascot" on the main screen, tugging at their hair.

However, when the match started, Zhizhi was surprised to discover that if she used the mascot hero, there was a certain chance the kitten playing with the mascot would be brought into the competitive map.

Wow, what a thoughtful little easter egg!

The kitten couldn’t do much, but it could sit on the hero’s head and meow!

Even teammates and opponents kept asking her how she did it—

“But why do you think ambushing and killing me repeatedly will make me tell you?!”

Ugh! Lose, enemies!

Zhizhi ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‍initially thought the easter egg ended there, but as she kept playing, she soon noticed that the kitten could grow a tiny bit. Though not obvious, upon closer inspection, it had indeed gotten bigger.

—The kitten could grow by winning matches!

After some hesitation, Zhizhi checked the announcement again and found that, as part of the collaboration, this kitten was a gift for all new players, but it wouldn’t exist permanently. It would disappear after the collaboration event ended.

If a player joined the game after the collaboration, they could still get the kitten, but this time it would only last for seven days before disappearing.

It was essentially a limited-time welfare pet for all players.

Zhizhi: “Phew…”

It lasted for a month, so she had enjoyed it for a month. She wanted all her heroes to carry the kitten at least once and see the little goofball grow up!

But reality hit hard—soon, Zhizhi lost a match.

This time, the kitten didn’t change much, but after jumping off the hero’s head, it refused to play with that hero anymore.

Zhizhi: …Agh, but this is my best hero! It was just bad teamwork earlier, please, let’s try again, okay?

The kitten refused.

Even a sad emoticon bubble floated above the kitten’s head.

After poking it a few times, the bubble finally changed.

“Meow~”

The little goofball let out a sound, and a new bubble appeared with a paw print inside.

[Dear player, would you like to download "Cat Studies" and import your current data? You can log in with your Yuan Tang game account, bind your phone number, and directly inherit the kitten data you’ve already obtained.]

Zhizhi: “…”

Zhizhi: Fine.

She didn’t want to! She didn’t want to study!

But the kitten is watching! The kitten is so excited!

How can you not set an example for your own kitten?