The System Mistook Me for a Cat

When the dredging vessel entered the small lake of the ranch to begin its work, the entire surface of the lake was stirred up. Not only that, but truckloads of mechanical equipment were also transported in, all of which would be installed and used on the ranch in the future.

Chu Tingwu only observed from a distance in the morning. Two days later, in the afternoon, she boarded a houseboat and headed straight to Fallen Phoenix City.

The "Tiger Head Cup" International Parkour Competition held in Fallen Phoenix City was about to begin.

...Although there were still three days until the start of the competition.

Chu Tingwu decided to use the parkour competition as an excuse to return to her hometown and avoid the construction period.

...Even though she wasn’t a participant either.

On the boat, Zhou Qiang "interviewed" Chu Tingwu with a carrot: "What exactly is your role? Are you a representative of the investors?"

Chu Tingwu: "Ahem."

She spoke solemnly: "I am a member of Fallen Phoenix City."

Her hometown was hosting an international event, so as a member of the city, shouldn’t she do her best to be present?

Besides, she was also a city ambassador! She had filmed promotional videos for her hometown and contributed to its tourism industry!

That was true. The last time they visited, they had even seen billboards featuring Chu Tingwu.

...But this time, when they disembarked, the billboards were gone.

The three of them stood side by side at the dock. Chu Tingwu looked to the left, then to the right, a visible question mark almost appearing above her head.

Chu Xiao pulled her aside and pointed to the right:

There was a familiar cat’s face.

"Stop pretending you didn’t see it…"

It was just that the city ambassador had changed from Chu Tingwu to the city ambassador cat, "Long Zai."

Chu Tingwu: "=,="

Darn it.

She quickly figured out that Long Zai’s role as the ambassador cat seemed to have something to do with the competition, so she could take some credit for it too—

When she had come up with the competition’s name, she had thought of Long Zai, the cat who was once called "Tiger Head" and had climbed Zhangshan Mountain, as well as the real Siberian tiger that had appeared in the area. In the end, the competition managed to capitalize on the popularity of both events.

However, the competition’s popularity also fed back into the original source. The movie *Tiger Head* was re-released for a limited time, and the higher-ups, seeing the momentum, decided: Fallen Phoenix City’s previous label was "The City of Parkour," but now that it had grown to host an international competition, it was time to remind everyone that Fallen Phoenix City was not only home to Long Zai, the nation’s first police cat, but also a filming location and a pilgrimage site for fans.

For example, the old amusement park used during the filming now had a higher daily foot traffic than the ranch.

Since the competition route ran from Zhangshan Mountain to the foot of the mountain, Chu Tingwu decided to take her friends to stay at the Taoist temple. Taoist Zhuge, holding Yanzi, waited for them at the entrance: "Good thing you called ahead, or there would’ve been no room left in the temple."

Chu Tingwu: "Has this place turned into a guesthouse?"

Normally, Taoist temples didn’t accommodate outsiders for lodging.

Taoist Zhuge: "Not exactly… It’s fellow Taoists who’ve come from other places for exchanges."

Only then did Chu Tingwu notice that there were indeed many unfamiliar faces… and even a monkey!?

The monkey was perched on top of a Taoist’s head, slowly munching on a peach, looking very polite.

Taoist Zhuge introduced him: "This senior brother is from Yunze Temple."

Chu Tingwu: "Greetings, Monkey Taoist."

Senior Brother Sun: "Greetings, layperson. My surname is Sun."

So he was still a monkey Taoist, huh?

During the conversation, they learned that the other Taoists had come either for exchanges or to watch the competition, but Senior Brother Sun was actually here to compete!

Chu Tingwu: "I remember there’s a hotel at the summit called Cloud Hotel? That should be closer to the starting point of the competition. Why are you staying at the temple?"

Senior Brother Sun replied frankly: "It’s cheaper here."

He then asked: "Why did you choose to stay at the temple?"

Chu Tingwu was equally frank: "It’s easier to order delivery here."

Taoist Zhuge couldn’t hold back: "Since when can delivery make it up the mountain?"

He had lived here since he was a child and had never once ordered delivery.

Was the delivery fee a hundred yuan or something?

"Oh," Chu Tingwu glanced at him, "I use the company’s drone delivery service. The delivery person drops it off at a designated spot, and the drone brings it up the mountain. Do you want to order something?"

Taoist Zhuge: "…"

Well, in that case, he wouldn’t hold back!

Chu Tingwu and Taoist Zhuge started browsing the delivery app together, while Zhou Qiang went to unpack. Since there weren’t enough rooms, they had to share, two people to a room. Even though it was midsummer, the weather on the mountain was still refreshing, with a cool breeze passing through the halls. The greenery outside the window made the place feel much cooler than the ranch’s grasslands.

Zhou Qiang pushed open the window and took a deep breath of fresh air, but out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a centipede scurrying away.

Zhou Qiang: Well, it’s the mountains… whatever.

She stood at the doorway and called out—

"Meow~"

This was her calling for Three-Five-Five to come over.

Although she hadn’t specifically learned "cat language," after hearing Chu Tingwu use certain phrases often enough, she could mimic them fairly well.

However, the next second, what dashed into the room was a calico cat.

The calico, named Yang Huaer, wasn’t startled by the unfamiliar face. Instead, it amiably sniffed Zhou Qiang’s shoes, then sat down nearby, tilting its head.

Zhou Qiang: "Wait a second…"

She rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a can of cat food. Tapping the lid, Yang Huaer’s eyes immediately lit up, and it sweetly rubbed against her leg. Although Zhou Qiang wanted to feed the cat right away, she hadn’t forgotten her original goal of finding a "mercenary," so she led Yang Huaer over to where the centipede had crawled.

Yang Huaer meowed a few more times, but realizing that this human was firmly committed to the principle of "no work, no food," it reluctantly got to work.

When Chu Tingwu entered the room, she saw Yang Huaer eating from the can.

Yanzi, who had followed her in, quickly squeezed over, demanding a share. The two cats bickered and jostled for space, while Zhou Qiang squatted nearby, watching for a while before turning her head—

Chu Tingwu was wearing gloves and using tweezers to deal with the various small creatures in the room, while Three-Five-Five lazily supervised from the side.

Zhou Qiang: …Are your roles reversed?

When Chu Tingwu stood up from the window, she noticed that Zhou Qiang had opened a bag of beef jerky they had made at the ranch.

Chu Tingwu: "Thanks?"

But why did her friend’s expression look so strange?

-

She had said she was here as a member of her hometown to observe, but the next day, when Chu Tingwu saw Arthur outside the door, she knew it was time to get to work.

For this competition, Arthur was only a participant. The judges were internationally renowned retired parkour athletes, but many of them were no longer active in the sport, instead working as coaches or commentators.

Chu Tingwu had returned to Fallen Phoenix City to run through the VR version of the competition course for Arthur.

Currently, other parkour competitions also equipped participants with cameras to provide viewers with thrilling first-person perspectives during the event, both to promote parkour and attract more enthusiasts.

The Tiger Head Cup Mountain Competition, however, went a step further. Although full VR gear wouldn’t be worn by the competitors to avoid hindering their performance, Chu Tingwu would run through the course wearing VR equipment first, and the VR footage would be uploaded—allowing viewers to experience the VR perspective at any time through the official promotional account.

On the other hand, there was also the AR virtual projection.

After such a long buildup, AR projections along the competition route were naturally part of the plan.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The AR projection design included progress bars, commentary text, and cats.

Since this was an international event, the competition had hired translators for live interpretation, and at key points, subtitles would be projected mid-air for commentary.

Chu Tingwu had previewed these features during her livestream, and longtime fans who had followed her broadcasts couldn’t help but comment:

[Doesn’t that mean… we’ll be able to see the effects from your first livestream with our own eyes?]

Back then, during Chu Tingwu’s livestream, translucent cat paw prints would appear where she was about to step. Fans had been amazed, finding the live effects almost magical… but in just two years, what had once been a stunning livestream effect could now be seen in real life.

Yet they were still watching Chu Tingwu’s livestreams.

The audience remained the same, and the UP (uploader) was still the same UP. The only thing that seemed to have changed was the technology, and the advancements in technology were precisely brought about by the UP. Long-time fans were overwhelmed with emotions.

But when Chu Tingwu upgraded her equipment, the fans had already swiftly adapted.

Chu Tingwu: "...Alright, I'll start by livestreaming a mountain climb for everyone."

She still had to make her way to the mountaintop first.

—

When she reached the summit, she found the event staff staying at the mountaintop hotel grooming Three-Five-Five, with other cats lined up waiting their turn.

Back in her familiar environment, Three-Five-Five could leave her kittens behind and go out to play. Last night, she had gone out with Yanzi and hadn’t returned by dawn. Turns out, she had made her way to the mountaintop.

The event organizers provided accommodation... but Chu Tingwu knew that while there was a buffet at the mountaintop, the participants couldn’t order fresh ingredients for cooking!

A ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​‍win...?

She meowed greetings to the cats, and they meowed back in response. The staff informed her that there was no one on the track, and Chu Tingwu made a hand gesture.

The track, of course, wasn’t the descending steps but a newly constructed "fast track" built over the steps with varying heights. It was indeed fast—if you rolled down from the top, with bad luck, you could end up straight in the underworld.

The track was made up of railings and metal panels, each panel about two meters high. Just looking at it made the audience’s feet tingle and their knees go numb.

But more viewers chose to put on their VR devices—

If they couldn’t experience it in real life, couldn’t they at least experience it through the UP’s perspective?

Chu Tingwu whistled.

[Mom, she’s scaring me!]

[Wow... why does this mountain parkour feel so different from Chu Tingwu’s rooftop parkour?]

[Of course! When you’re parkouring on rooftops, even though you know it’s high, you don’t usually look down!]

At most, you’d glance at the surrounding rooftops, mostly looking upward rather than downward. But on a mountain, you’re constantly descending rapidly, and just a second of looking down makes you want to faint.

Chu Tingwu bounced in place a couple of times, a hint of a smile on her face: "Alright, I’m jumping."

With those words, she took a step forward and leaped onto the horizontal railing in front of her. At the same time, a ripple-like light effect appeared beneath her feet. Fans screamed at the downward perspective, but Chu Tingwu didn’t hesitate for a moment. She jumped onto the next slanted railing, slid down a section, and then flew off the edge of the railing. Mid-air, she grabbed onto a horizontal bar two meters below, swung back, and used her calf to hook onto the edge of the panel, effortlessly dissipating the force before leaping out again with ease—

[Slow down, I’m getting dizzy!]

New fans who weren’t familiar with her style didn’t notice anything unusual, but the seasoned fans who had followed Chu Tingwu’s parkour adventures for a while and were almost experts themselves realized: Chu Tingwu’s movements seemed even more unrestrained and free than before?

The next moment, a familiar orange cat appeared—no, it was a projection of an orange cat.

It mimicked Chu Tingwu’s movements almost perfectly, as if it were parkouring alongside her—

Whoosh!

A smoky gray shadow pounced out, directly passing through the orange cat’s projection. It landed seriously on the railing next to the projection, even extending its paws to "swat" at the air.

Chu Tingwu: "=="

She was in the middle of a livestream and had to complete the agreed-upon recording, so she couldn’t stop. Instead, she continued descending.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Three-Five-Five, though unable to jump down the high railings in sync, occasionally took the neighboring steps. She rapidly descended the stairs while finding opportunities to swat at the "orange cat" next to her.

So busy!

But as she kept swatting, even Three-Five-Five noticed something strange—the "cat" beside her was slowly growing larger, and at a certain point, it suddenly transformed into a tiger!

Three-Five-Five gave the "weird thing" a strange look. This definitely wasn’t a cat—cats don’t grow like that—and it certainly wasn’t Long Zai. So, she let out a "meow" and chose to stop.

Fans unanimously agreed that Three-Five-Five must have realized she couldn’t beat a tiger, so she stopped chasing it.

Chu Tingwu: "=="

No, she only fights cats she knows!