The System Mistook Me for a Cat

In this international competition, each country could only send four representatives, with individual rankings. To secure more honors, Coach Yang naturally chose the most outstanding candidates.

Chu Tingwu had been on the fence, but after seeing her consistent improvement in exam results, Coach Yang ultimately decided to select her—

"On one hand, after the national exam, her ranking in the training camp continued to rise," he said. "On the other hand, her rate of repeating mistakes is very low."

This showed that Chu Tingwu not only continued to improve steadily but also rarely repeated the same mistakes… So, after careful consideration, she secured the last spot.

While they were discussing, they could see Chu Tingwu passing by on her skateboard through the window, greeting a cat perched on the wall. As she "meowed" her way past, the others instinctively looked at Coach Yang.

Coach Yang: "...Ahem."

Kids need to develop in a well-rounded way, after all. It’s not like they have to study every single moment to be considered excellent students.

As for Feng Ziping… Coach Yang couldn’t help but sigh when he thought of him.

Although Feng Ziping had a face that always seemed to be "glaring," among the four, he was actually the most gentle and easygoing. He was a bit slow-paced in daily life and had a superstitious streak.

But Coach Yang wasn’t too worried about Feng Ziping’s superstitions affecting his performance. Even if he claimed that his tarot reading predicted financial loss today—

Later, he’d pull out some coins to consult the I Ching and get a reading that assured him everything would be fine. Then he’d believe the day would go smoothly, with no issues at all.

Coach Yang: So you only believe the parts that are favorable to you?

Compared to the other members of the training camp, Feng Ziping’s superstitions were a minor flaw. Besides, there were people in the team who could keep him in check, like:

Zhou Qiang: "Do you usually flip a coin to decide which route to take when you go out?"

Feng Ziping: "How did you know?"

Yes, he did. He also used coins to decide what to eat for breakfast, like now, when he was considering flipping a coin to choose between the two airplane meal options.

Zhou Qiang: "What if the coin lands on its edge?"

Feng Ziping: "The probability of that happening is very low. It wouldn’t affect my life."

Zhou Qiang glanced at Chu Tingwu.

Chu Tingwu: "?"

She took out a coin, felt its balance between her fingers, and then tossed it into the air. The coin gleamed silver as it fell, hitting the table with a "clink," bouncing once, and then spinning wildly before slowly coming to a stop—standing upright.

It wasn’t heads or tails. It just stood there.

Feng Ziping looked at the coin, then at Chu Tingwu, and finally said with difficulty:

"Then I won’t eat."

Coach Yang: I told you to keep him in check, not to bully the poor guy!

Luckily, it was just an airplane meal. Coach Yang sighed and didn’t intervene much. But when he woke up from a nap, he found the others sleeping with earplugs while Feng Ziping was quietly practicing flipping coins.

The coins landed silently on the softer ground, but none of them stood upright.

He looked as if his entire belief system had been shattered.

Coach Yang: "..."

Hey.

-

Tao La held a flag and a sign, waiting at Loran Airport.

The Republic of Magna had hosted dozens of World Biology Olympiads, and Tao La, a staff member and a Chinese expatriate living in Magna, had no language barriers. This time, she was responsible for picking up the Chinese team.

When she saw the Chinese team, her smile was radiant. After greeting everyone, she led them to the bus while explaining:

"The opening ceremony is the day after tomorrow, followed by lectures. Tomorrow, you’ll probably have to do some interviews…"

Coach Yang had already briefed Chu Tingwu and the others about this on the plane.

In fact, before heading to the airport, they had taken a group photo at the airport entrance to mark their "departure." Everyone had a feeling the photo would turn out awkward, so they unanimously pushed Feng Ziping to the front, especially since he was the tallest.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Feng Ziping stood tall and imposing at the front, looking like their captain. Chu Tingwu and Zhou Qiang stood on either side, smiling faintly, while Chu Xiao lingered in the back, trying to find his mask.

On the plane, they mused:

"I feel like this photo is going to end up on TV or in newspapers."

"They’ll probably release it after the competition, right? Good thing I stood further back."

"I saw that—your foot was half a step behind mine. Not fair =="

"Huh?" Feng Ziping was puzzled. "Are you guys nervous? But didn’t you already appear on TV before? Right after the national exam, my family even made me watch the program!"

Chu Tingwu, Chu Xiao, and Zhou Qiang: "..."

Meanwhile, Shao Lingwu, who was accompanying Sanwuwu riding a horse: "Achoo!"

But even after the domestic photo shoot, there were interviews abroad too, conducted by Chinese journalists stationed in Loran.

On the way to the venue, Coach Yang couldn’t help but remind them: "When we’re not around, don’t wander off! You’ll have time to explore Loran after the competition! Don’t wander off! Especially you, Chu Tingwu!"

He looked at Chu Xiao, who nodded.

Chu Tingwu also nodded: "My nephew will keep an eye on me."

Coach Yang: "...It was fine until you said that. Now I feel like even Chu Xiao is unreliable."

The coaches might not always be around because they didn’t stay in the same accommodations as the contestants.

The official language in the Republic of Magna was English, and while everyone’s English was decent, the exam questions needed to be translated into their native language for better understanding. So, the coaches would review the questions in advance.

To ensure fairness, after the opening ceremony, the coaches translating the questions would be out of contact with Chu Tingwu and the others until the exam was over.

Coach Yang went over the exam procedures again on the bus, sighing: "They said they’d reform this year, but they didn’t change much."

The overall process wasn’t drastically different, but it seemed stricter than previous years, likely due to a cheating incident two years ago.

Tao La watched him with a smile—

Compared to students from other countries, the Chinese students were much more disciplined. They stayed in their dorms without wandering off and rarely got into disputes with other contestants, making them particularly easy to manage.

The boys and girls were housed separately, but the accommodations were spacious. With only about 300 contestants from around the world, everyone had their own room. Chu Tingwu learned that her neighbor was a contestant from Russia, with Zhou Qiang on the other side and a French contestant across the hall.

Everyone adapted to the local customs, exchanging simple greetings in varying levels of English. After dropping off their luggage, they were taken away by their respective team leaders.

Chu Tingwu and Zhou Qiang headed downstairs together, passing at least three groups of contestants taking selfies or recording videos.

Zhou Qiang: "..."

She glanced at Chu Tingwu: Maybe you should take one too?

Chu Tingwu: "No thanks…"

Sanwuwu is busy livestreaming a big cat riding a horse.

Surrounded by different skin tones, unfamiliar voices, and foreign architecture, Chu Tingwu finally felt the reality of being in a foreign country. Her emotions were mixed as she glanced around, but when she blinked—

Subtitles appeared beneath everyone’s words.

Chu Tingwu: "..."

It was like being in a holographic movie, with real-time translations following every spoken word, as if she could walk up and trigger a dialogue at any moment.

System: "=v="

And then the dialogue actually came!

Wait, she could understand this one!

It was the Russian contestant next door, the brown-haired… something-sha. Her name was too long, so Chu Tingwu decided to call her Alyosha. She came over to ask if Chu Tingwu and the others wanted to play cards that evening, since the student accommodations would lose internet access after the opening ceremony.

She spoke a mix of Russian, English, and a bit of Chinese, with a charming and familiar rolling accent. The girl Alyosha dragged along was also brown-haired, though more reddish, and looked exasperated until she heard Chu Tingwu’s fluent Russian. Then she perked up:

"What kind of card game?"

Hmm... Chu Tingwu was naturally talking about the mini-game recently launched in "Learn Unstoppable."

No matter what game it is, the fun it offers tends to slowly diminish over time. Even in simulation games, the initial excitement can turn into a daily grind, which is why games need to constantly update with new features. "Learn Unstoppable" has divided its app into a study zone and a cat zone, allowing users to both review their studies independently and enjoy the pure fun of an AR cat-raising game.

A while ago, the study zone introduced a series of card games that combined playing cards with solving problems, which drew criticism from some players:

"Who would enjoy this? If it weren't for the new outfits for my virtual pet, I wouldn't even touch this!"

However, another group of players found the solo gameplay of these card games genuinely useful—

"I feel like I'm not wasting my time. Even when I'm slacking off on my phone, the guilt feels lighter."

Plus, it’s actually fun, you can learn something, and even earn rewards along the way. If you don’t want to play, I will.

But what Chu Tingwu was introducing wasn’t the online gameplay—it was the offline mode for when there’s no internet. After all, not only was there no internet here, but they also couldn’t play "Learn Unstoppable" since the game was still region-locked.

So Chu Tingwu specifically brought AR projection equipment. When her luggage was checked at the dormitory building, it took a while to confirm she wasn’t carrying some high-tech cheating tool.

She had agreed with Alyosha and the others to rest that night, and the next day, after joining her teammates for interviews and making some typical exam-taker declarations, she returned to the dorm.

The boys and girls were housed in separate dorm buildings, but there was a shared common area in between. With the opening ceremony the next day, the team leaders couldn’t contact the students anymore.

After parting ways with the students, Coach Yang spent some time reading in his room but felt inexplicably restless.

He lingered until around 8 p.m., then decided to call the other two observers and head over to the dorms to check on the group.

But when he arrived at the common area of the student dorms, he found that... there were quite a lot of people there.

Coach Yang: "?"

People were whispering, and though the voices weren’t loud, the atmosphere felt a bit chaotic. Coach Yang pulled the observers through the crowd... and saw two rows of cards floating in mid-air.

The two rows of cards shimmered with a translucent glow, one row slightly longer than the other.

It seemed like candidates from various countries had gathered here, and the onlookers all looked rather serious.

Chu Tingwu stood with her arms crossed, facing the cards, while Chu Xiao stood beside her. He raised his hand, and a card floated over, transforming into a small hand card as it approached him. The card clearly had text on it—a question.

Because he quickly answered it.

Coach Yang recognized it as a molecular biology question...

He was still puzzled when, in the next moment, another card flew out from the row in front of Chu Xiao. The two small cards collided and disappeared.

"Oh!" someone with an accented English voice exclaimed, "Is the turtle card now with the American team?!"

Coach Yang: "..."

All this fanfare...

And you’re just playing Old Maid!