The System Mistook Me for a Cat

Chapter 14

The drone purchased by the system was still on its way via courier, so today's filming was once again done by Hang Ling holding the camera.

Chu Tingwu decided to teach the cats at Little Sun Rescue House how to cooperate with humans in rescuing cats. This idea didn't just come from Three-Five-Five's inspiration, but also because she felt this skill could indeed help alleviate the rescue pressure on Little Sun Hospital.

Cat rescue sometimes requires expensive specialized tools, and spaying, neutering, and treatment also need funding. Little Sun Hospital was barely able to maintain operations and was looking for ways to improve their situation.

Online traffic is a double-edged sword, but it's not entirely bad.

Hang Ling posted the video of Three-Five-Five rescuing One Spot Black on their account. Little Sun Hospital's account gained a wave of followers due to this incident. Now, as soon as they posted, they made it onto the natural recommendation list, and then the video was reposted by another cat rescue content creator.

This was a major content creator with two million followers, who explained to their fans in a very impartial tone:

"Cats are very intelligent animals. Many house cats can sense danger, even warning owners about gas leaks, saving fallen babies, detecting heart disease patients and calling for help... Although it's rare for cats to rescue other cats, trained cats can indeed understand human intentions.

As we can see in the video, the rescued 'One Spot Black' was first unable to move freely, and secondly, had a timid personality. It didn't understand that entering the human's rope loop would lead to rescue, but rather chose to submit to the powerful cat 'Three-Five-Five', being forced into the loop like cats playing and roughhousing with each other.

So, I hope fans don't misunderstand and let their own cats randomly attempt high-altitude rescues of other cats. Not all cats are like Three-Five-Five, and not all cats are as obedient as One Spot Black. Communication between cats, and between humans and cats, is complex. Cat-to-cat rescue should be considered an 'auxiliary communication tool' in cat rescue, like using cat recordings to call out hidden cats. Don't deify or demonize it, and don't try to imitate it casually.

However, I personally look forward to seeing more cases like this, helping us find new methods or train such rescue cats. Maybe one day we can even put staff vests on them. As long as this behavior can be replicated, it means we can reduce the cost and time of cat rescue... I might even train these freeloaders here who can't get adopted, to work for their room and board (laughs)."

The major content creator is called "Cha Mi Goes Home". They were originally just a college student entrepreneurial team, developing indie games while adopting a cat named "Cha Mi" in their studio. But once, when receiving a delivery, the cat ran out and ended up jumping from a 16th-floor window ledge in fright.

Everyone in the team developed psychological trauma from this, and they also discovered a gap in the "cat rescue" market. At that time, they were stuck on the 16th floor with no solution. The student responsible for feeding the cat almost wanted to tie a hemp rope and climb out to bring the cat back, but while they were looking for a rope, the cat jumped.

"If we encountered this... maybe others have too, so why don't we try to create an account that accepts requests for help?"

Unlike Little Sun Hospital, the Cha Mi team mainly focuses on high-altitude cat rescues. They bought professional equipment and rescued both house cats and stray cats. Stray cats were sent for adoption, but as years passed, the studio still ended up with many cats they couldn't rehome.

They continued making games, but developed "Cha Mi" into its own IP, selling merchandise, accepting donations, taking on commercial collaborations, making cat rescue games... In their self-deprecating words, they were "profiting from a deceased cat", but also letting the name of the deceased cat live on forever.

Reminding them not to see a second "Cha Mi" and be helpless again.

Before reposting the video Hang Ling shared, someone from the team had sent her a private message, asking if they could provide "supplementary information": "Our account has many followers, to prevent marketing accounts from cutting out your content and reposting it indiscriminately."

It's easy to imagine that marketing accounts would only keep the most sensational 20-something seconds.

Hang Ling of course didn't refuse, and both sides followed each other. The Cha Mi team couldn't help but ask curiously: "How did Three-Five-Five do it? Can we ask how you trained them?"

[Actually, it was all trained by Chu Tingwu. Three-Five-Five is the cat she adopted. But she's planning to try training our other cats too. We'll record the process in videos.]

In Hang Ling's imagination, Chu Tingwu would probably give a speech to the cats, and after communicating with them, simulate various forms of cat rescue indoors - high-altitude fishing rod rescue, lowering cat cages, or using capture nets for kittens. Cats could definitely be used to lure other cats.

The situation turned out to be quite similar to what she imagined. She held up her phone and watched through the camera as Chu Tingwu meowed twice, and five cats including Three-Five-Five appeared from all directions, quickly or slowly, then gathered in front of Chu Tingwu.

And then...

"Meow!" "Mew?" "Meow-wu-wu" "Meow meow meow" "Mew—" "Giao!"

Who made that last sound?

The black and white cat Oreo was bitten by Three-Five-Five, and while making a "Giao" sound, it jumped up, clinging to the edge of the sofa and hissing at the calico. Hang Ling's hand shook a bit... She had filmed it, but what on earth were they saying? Little Chu Chu, you really understand cat language, don't you! You all were having such a back-and-forth conversation!

The adults had gathered together at some point, all staying out of the camera frame, standing behind Hang Ling with strange, silly smiles on their faces as they watched the human and several cats sitting in a circle for a meeting.

Chu Tingwu raised her hand. Wearing a mask, she said to Hang Ling's camera:

"I've finished discussing with them. I'll lead by example first, showing them how it's done via livestream."

After she finished speaking, those four cats actually went over to look at Chu Tingwu's phone screen, then simultaneously turned to look at Hang Ling, as if asking why she hadn't set up the projector.

Hang Ling: "?"

Wait, they hadn't received any rescue requests today either.

In a small place like Fallen Phoenix City, not everyone would choose to seek help. Most of the time, staff members would encounter stray cats by chance and then go out with cages to catch them.

"Not catching cats," Chu Tingwu blinked, "We'll start with the simplest lesson: how to get cats to help people find recently lost cats."

She had just scrolled through "Nearby People" on her phone and saw a new help post from someone whose blue cat had just gone missing and was urgently

The next moment!

The short-haired young girl seemed to move in perfect sync with the cat. With a single-footed leap, she stepped on the five-foot-high railing with her toes, easily landing on the other side without the slightest stumble, and continued to chase after her cat in perfect synchronization.

Hang Ling: "?"

Wait a minute, I can't jump over that!

However, the livestream viewers were even more shocked than Hang Ling—

[Master Chu! Master Chu! Steady now, I'm getting motion sickness!]

[Slow down, Master! I just hopped on for the ride!]

[I've only experienced this kind of camera shake with cat streamers before. How come it's happening with you humans streaming too? This is too much!]