The System Mistook Me for a Cat

Chapter 7

The four cats originally in the living room were conquered by the smell of the cat food, even though they only sniffed it.

The cow-patterned cat, who hadn't gotten to eat any, licked Chu Tingwu after she finished eating, then couldn't resist licking Three-Five-Five's mouth, only to be swatted away by an irritated Three-Five-Five, yowling.

However, everyone could see that the cow cat was all bark and no bite, and hadn't actually been seriously injured.

And Chu Tingwu could tell:

The black and white cow-patterned cat, though missing a front leg, was actually the most lively and mischievous.

Big Orange, the heaviest, was quite gluttonous but also laid-back, still curled up next to Chu Tingwu's hand, its small eyes darting between the cow cat and Three-Five-Five, then to the bowl Three-Five-Five had licked clean.

The long-haired calico cat was rather aloof, but also loved to act coy. Since Chu Tingwu had both a human physique and the scent of a kitten, and had been marked by Three-Five-Five, the long-haired calico retreated after finding there was nothing to eat, crouching high up and slowly grooming itself.

The short-haired calico cat was the oldest, considered elderly even among adult cats. It would occasionally meow to break up fights, but didn't seem to put much effort into it, exuding a casual, spectator-like air.

After Three-Five-Five and the cow cat finished fighting—or more accurately, after the cow cat finished being beaten one-sidedly—the five adult cats seemed to have established their pecking order. They approached each other to sniff and smell, then returned to their own little spaces. Only the cow cat came close to Chu Tingwu, seemingly wanting to groom this kitten, but was then scolded by Three-Five-Five.

—Three-Five-Five, who saw Chu Tingwu as a child, could accept human contact, but apparently couldn't accept other adult cats approaching.

—In Three-Five-Five's eyes, although Chu Tingwu could bring food, she still seemed very fragile and in need of protection.

Even to the point where...

Three-Five-Five lay on the sofa, exposing her belly, and continued to urge with a calling voice.

Chu Tingwu: "..."

Nursing was out of the question, so she could only bury her head to nuzzle the cat.

With her whole head buried in the tortoiseshell's long fur, she was also thinking about the "cat battle, children's version" she had just witnessed. If all went as expected, she would learn about this in tonight's dream course.

After Chu Tingwu finished nuzzling the cat, Hang Ling sat down next to her and showed her the video she had just finished editing:

"Little Chu, you said we could share the cat food tutorial for free. I thought about it, and since you're just here as a volunteer, there's no need to post this video on our account. Do you want to open your own account?"

Hang Ling had even thoughtfully edited the video for her and labeled the ingredients, just without adding voiceover.

Chu Tingwu received it on her phone and said, "Then should I register an account first?"

The website where Little Sun Pet Hospital posted rescue videos was a global video platform called Fenghua Video. It was currently the video site with the highest number of registered users, with sections for both long and short videos, as well as a large live streaming platform, attracting massive traffic.

Chu Tingwu asked the system, "Can you help add some voiceover?"

With such a handy system here, why bother doing it herself?

The system readily agreed: "I'll search for similar videos for reference."

After 0.01 seconds, the system looked at those "Kitty Growth Diary," "My Milk Bean Over the Years," "Cat Trainer Liu," "Little Amie and Her Cats" and other videos in the data layer, and had a sudden realization:

[Baby, I'm going to register an account right now to record your growth journey!]

"I asked you to help me register an account to post cat food tutorials. What exactly did you reference..."

[QAQ]

The system felt it had done nothing wrong.

On this planet, all beloved cats would have their video images recorded, whether they were rescued strays, adopted kittens, or lions, tigers and black-footed cats. So for its baby, an extremely rare human-cat, the only one in the whole world, how could they not have an all-round, no-blind-spot growth documentary!

After some debate between the system and Chu Tingwu, the final registered ID for this account was "Chu and Three-Five-Five," rather than "Nanny-type Cub Raising System A7 and Chu Chu," but the system managed to secure the right to narrate the videos as "System"!

It also took the opportunity to decide that it would be the one filming videos for Chu Tingwu from now on.

System: "Of course I should be the one filming videos to record your growth, not that human!"

Chu Tingwu: Hang Ling filming videos isn't to record me... nevermind, do as you please.

She let the system handle uploading the cat food tutorial video, after all, the real cat food recipe came from the system, she was just responsible for making it, adding ingredients and stirring according to its prompts.

Hang Ling: "Have you registered? After I post the video, I'll share your link in the comments—"

She had filmed "Three-Five-Five's Rescue Follow-up," because the group members were also very concerned about Three-Five-Five. A cat destined to be released suddenly having a home made everyone worry whether she could get along well with her "family" and become a well-behaved big cat.

The rescue follow-up only included about ten seconds of cat food video clips, and then Chu Tingwu's link would be pinned in the comments, which was just about right.

Since Chu Tingwu had always seemed very reliable, Hang Ling didn't bother to watch her tutorial—it was just adding subtitles, which could be done with AI smart import nowadays, so it couldn't possibly go wrong—and she posted it directly.

She tagged the group, and the savvy group members promptly clicked on the link.

[Three-Five-Five's wounds are healing nicely, she seems to have no trouble jumping, that's great.]

[It feels like Three-Five-Five really sees the little sister as a kitten. The way she hisses at other cats is just like my cat right after giving birth, protecting her kittens...]

[That cat food must be so delicious, Three-Five-Five only went to hiss at the others after finishing eating. And those cats too, it's too funny, they keep licking the little sister's fingers hahaha]

[How did she catch that at the end! The little sister's reaction speed is too amazing, right? Could it be that the cat deliberately jumped into her hands?]

[Hahaha, I just noticed your title, little Hang. Shocking! The new volunteer little sister at Little Sun Hospital turns out to be a master at catching cats barehanded... Why only let her feed cats then? Shouldn't you send the little sister to catch cats in the field? She'd be a powerful support!]

Hang Ling:

[Hahaha, the little sister is mainly responsible for taking care of the few cats in the living room, let her practice more.

Those curious about the cat food can go check out the tutorial, it's made by Little Chu herself. The ingredients are very simple, but all the cats love it. I've posted the video link in the comments, and the account is also newly registered by Little Chu. Our account mainly focuses on rescues after all, so we won't post too many follow-ups on adopted cats.

I've discussed it with Little Chu, if there are more videos related to Three-Five-Five, she'll film and post them on her own account, so you can follow her~]

This paragraph was also in her video description. After driving traffic to Chu Tingwu's account, she clicked on Chu Tingwu's video, deciding to contribute a view herself, and then her mouth gradually fell open—

The video was still the one she shot with her phone. She remembered the clarity was average, but somehow Chu Tingwu had used some software to adjust the clarity to 4K, and even reduced the shake rate, greatly enhancing the video's watchability, making it look like some kind of cooking documentary.

And amid the unhurried, gentle background music came the voice of a video narrator.

The narration seemed to be synthesized, but it wasn't any of the popular voice effects on the market. It had a kind of steady, mechanical quality that was very ear-catching.

[I am your cub-raising system. As you can see, our cub Chu is making food for the cat mom who adopted her...]

Wait? Who adopted whom?!

And who are you saying you are?

Hang Ling watched on with a wooden expression, listening to the narration.

[...Very good, look at those paws, the force is very precise, crushing the ingredients just right—]

Hang Ling: "Pfft."

[Baby is really too amazing!]

Hang Ling looked up at Chu Tingwu, who was adding food for the other cats. The girl's movements were steady, her expression reliable. Then listening to the "system" in the video mechanically calling "baby" again and again, how could it not be funny?

Before Hang Ling even noticed, she had finished watching the three-minute-plus video. She had edited the video herself, so of course she knew the quality wasn't too good. But after adjusting the image effects and adding voiceover, it became particularly eye-catching.

She analyzed it and concluded that the reasons she unconsciously watched the whole thing were probably the immersive BGM and exquisite visuals on one hand, and the "system" narration that both drew you in and pulled you out of the story on the other—

It was supposed to be a video of cooking for cats, but the narration turned it into an effect of "my cat got up and cooked me three dishes and a soup". This was probably because the system used a very convincing AI voice to create the feeling of truly treating Chu Tingwu, such a big... person, as if he were a cat.

It made sense; a system raising humans isn't that different from humans raising kittens, right? After all, it's just one species raising another species.

Of course... Hang Ling didn't think Chu Tingwu really had any system; it was just for show.

She called out to Chu Tingwu: "Xiao Chu, did you do that voiceover for your video yourself? It's quite interesting."

Chu Tingwu: "Huh?... I asked my friend to help with it."

Other staff members were also called over to watch. After watching, everyone burst into laughter, except for Chu Tingwu, who looked unamused.

He repeated: "My friend helped with the editing and voiceover."

...As if trying to distance himself from something.

Hang Ling shook her head with a smile and couldn't help but ask: "Your friend is quite skilled. Does he take commissions? You know, for adjusting video post-production effects..."

It would probably be expensive, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Chu Tingwu: "It says it's not taking commissions at the moment... It didn't charge me for helping either."

A big shot who only takes friendship jobs, huh? Guess even money can't sway them.

Hang Ling wanted to reach out and pet Three-Five-Five, but the cat jumped away and settled on Chu Tingwu's knee to continue grooming. She sighed, and just then, she noticed someone was mentioning her in the group chat.

"Ah!" Hang Ling stood up, "That 'One Dot Black' we couldn't catch on the rainy day has appeared again. Its butt seems to have been bitten. Should we go now?"

Chu Tingwu also grabbed his phone—he had just been added to the group, but the messages quickly scrolled up, so no one noticed—ignoring the notification about the account being followed, Chu Tingwu saw the video posted in the group by a fellow member.

"One Dot Black" was a cat from the southern Rongyu Residential Area. It was entirely white except for a black circle on its nose, which looked a bit ugly at first glance. Now it was lying on the second-floor platform at the entrance of the residential complex, its injured bottom exposed to the camera, with its head buried in a pile of junk. Only its faint breathing could be seen.

Lizi, who was responsible for taking care of the kittens, came over: "It probably went upstairs to shelter from the rain, or ran into the building after getting injured, then got scared and jumped onto the platform. But now it's injured and can't jump back. Who knows how many days it's been hungry."

The two of them asked Da Yu to stay behind while they took the cat-catching pole. The cat carrier was already in the car, with all the necessary equipment ready. But just as they were about to leave, Chu Tingwu said, "Can I come along?"

"Hm?"

"Three-Five-Five wants to go to Rongyu Residential Area," he said. "All her kittens are buried there, so she's always trying to escape... If we don't resolve this, she'll keep trying to run away."

After all, in a mother's eyes, she doesn't just have Chu Tingwu as her only kitten.

Hang Ling almost blurted out "How do you know?", but after a moment's thought, she went to get a leash instead.

In the car, she said to Chu Tingwu:

"I'm actually not sure if I should let you take Three-Five-Five out. She might take the chance to escape and become a stray cat again. But I feel like you understand her... In any case, don't untie the leash carelessly."

Chu Tingwu: "Okay."