The System Mistook Me for a Cat

"You passed the preliminary round before, right? It feels like the provincial exam is coming up soon. Are the results out yet?"

"I barely made it through the preliminaries, but I did pretty well in the provincial exam. Got a second-place certificate."

"That's great! (Cat and bird sounds in the background) Little Mei mentioned you signed a streaming contract with the platform?"

"Yes, I can sign the contract independently after my birthday... The platform contacted me the very next day after my birthday, wanting to try signing me again—they thought I didn't sign before because my parents didn't agree."

"So what made you change your mind and decide to sign?"

"(Yawning sound) Well, I calculated that I was already meeting their monthly streaming requirements, and after signing, I could get better revenue sharing. It seemed wasteful not to sign."

"You should go to sleep, you're yawning... Huh? Ten yuan? (Sound of something scampering across with a 'pitter-patter' and subtle wing fluttering)"

"It's behind you," Chu Tingwu said, "he wanted to surprise you!"

"Gah—"

On the other end of the phone, her classmate made a sound of disappointment at being caught.

Chu Tingwu didn't indulge it, laughing as she chatted a bit more with Teacher Zhang before hanging up.

Their online classes had never stopped, and they would switch between different languages while chatting. Today, after finishing class, Chu Tingwu asked an additional question:

"Is there any way to quickly improve English speaking skills?"

Her English grades had always been good, but test scores didn't necessarily reflect speaking ability.

It was already late May, and Chu Tingwu planned to accept the invitation from White, the animal behaviorist, to visit the Red Rock Reserve.

This wasn't a sudden decision. After White extended the invitation, she first researched information about the "Michelle Wolf Pack."

The Red Rock Reserve in America's Desk State was home to several gray wolf packs, and the Michelle Pack was one of the most famous ones—

Michelle was the name of the female wolf leader, a name with many meanings, but she was initially called this because Michelle was a rare white wolf, symbolizing "angel-like" qualities.

This white wolf cub had been the center of attention since birth in the pack.

Fifteen years had passed, during which she had left the pack due to internal conflicts but returned when the pack was in danger. As a leader, she had been the wolf queen and later retired. When the new pack split apart during a hunt and both wolf leaders died, the aging Michelle gathered the younger generation again, raising the next generation through hardship. They crossed the Isha River, occupied another mountain, avoiding the annual floods, and gained breathing room to raise their cubs...

Now, experts believed Michelle might be nearing her final days.

The new generation had grown up, and the old grandmother's condition was deteriorating. Wolf enthusiasts worldwide were concerned about her health, and opportunities for close observation were rare.

If Chu Tingwu joined White's team, she could stay at the camp inside the Red Rock Reserve and observe the wolves and other animals up close.

And the timing coincided perfectly with summer vacation.

After getting video recommendations from Teacher Zhang, Chu Tingwu made her decision and called White again.

White seemed delighted and after setting specific dates, Chu Tingwu asked, "Can I film videos?"

White: "Oh, I certainly understand you want to record these precious memories. Personal video recording is allowed, but you can't bring overly complex equipment that might affect the environment and animals—you should check with me before filming, preferably use lightweight equipment, and absolutely never leave equipment in the reserve, that would get you blacklisted."

"Also, I know you're likely a livestreaming content creator, and I'm glad you want to share with your friends in China, but many people might not want to appear on camera, so please ask others if they're comfortable with it if you plan to livestream."

Living in the reserve camp wasn't like regular tourist travel, it wasn't a leisurely and fun lifestyle... Due to limited communication and transportation, their supplies weren't as abundant as in the outside world, and they might face various supply shortage emergencies, with possible nighttime wildlife disturbances.

Of course, except for Chu Tingwu, everyone else was experienced, and White assured they would take good care of her. She would likely be assigned to room with one of his female students as roommates for a while.

After finalizing this in late May, Chu Tingwu began arranging other details.

The monthly and final exams went without saying, but the next morning, she first went to see the biology competition class teacher.

—The competition class indeed required summer courses.

The biology teacher seemed to understand why she came as soon as she entered: "Have a seat, here to request leave?"

Although a provincial second prize wasn't particularly useful except as an honor, it wasn't easy for a first-year high school student to achieve such a ranking after only studying for a few months.

Despite Chu Tingwu's frequent absences and never doing homework, the biology teacher looked at her kindly: "If you've found a tutor outside school, don't be shy about saying so. We don't mind, as long as you can achieve good results and succeed, all teachers will be happy."

Chu Tingwu: "I suppose you could say that..."

The biology competition included questions about animal behavior, and White could certainly serve as a teacher, while the system would help her with practical experiments—it was like having tutoring every night.

Biology teacher: "Oh, that's fine! Your tutor seems to be doing a good job, just don't forget to review those basic knowledge points... How many days of leave do you need? Let me record it."

Chu Tingwu successfully resolved the summer tutoring issue and got electronic course materials from the biology teacher for the summer.

She could self-study while at the reserve.

The system helped her handle visa and other details, and that weekend, Chu Tingwu had Man Xing drive her and Three-Five-Five to the Jin City Police Dog Training Base.

The trainer was surprised when he learned of her intention... Probably because the base had never taken pet boarding requests before.

Trainer: "You're going abroad?"

Chu Tingwu: "Yes, I can't bring cats where I'm staying."

It was difficult enough for people to enter the reserve camp, let alone bringing a cat, so Chu Tingwu couldn't take Three-Five-Five this time.

Although Three-Five-Five would be fine staying home alone with the system there.

But Chu Tingwu worried she might get lonely.

As for asking others for help... While many would be willing, Three-Five-Five wasn't friendly with just anyone.

After consideration, Chu Tingwu ruled out Teacher Yuan (worried her mother would be fed into a ball), ruled out Teacher Zhang (Fallen Phoenix City was too familiar, Three-Five-Five would probably patrol the streets with Ten Yuan—Three-Five-Five would be fine... but Ten Yuan might get lost), and finally thought of the base.

Three-Five-Five was familiar with the cats and dogs at the police dog base and usually came for "classes," and she seemed to behave a bit better at the base.

Chu Tingwu had observed her classes and found that Three-Five-Five showed some respect for the trainer who trained her.

Long-term boarding was different from short-term classes, so the trainer thought for a while and made a phone call, returning with a slightly strange smile:

"Teacher Chu, I heard you officially signed with Fenghua Network?"

How did everyone know so quickly?

After signing the official streaming contract, there would be a contracted creator badge under the streamer's avatar. Worried about convincing Chu Tingwu, the platform offered her a gold-level contract this time, with priority access to the best promotional spots and revenue sharing, plus low streaming requirements.

They didn't specify particular streaming content, only requiring a minimum of 30 hours per month.

However, rumor had it there were even better diamond contracts above gold level, like the platform's top male and female streamers who supposedly got actual shares... Of course, these were just fan rumors without actual evidence.

The instructor said, "I asked about what accommodations would be provided for San Wu Wu to stay here, since overnight stays would be needed. Then we thought about how pet boarding usually requires showing status videos to the guardians."

After all, owners often want to check on their pets' status due to concerns about untrustworthy boarding facilities.

Chu Tingwu said, "I would indeed be concerned about San Wu Wu's status..."

Of course, the system would inform her if anything happened, but having direct human feedback would be better.

The instructor nodded, "We've made some progress with our police cat training recently, and in line with official policies, we want to promote it and educate the public—at least to let them know that police cats are civil servants and shouldn't be petted casually—and we also hope that these cats' efforts can be recognized..."

Publicity has never been a bad thing. In human society, animals generally receive lower treatment than humans, and police cats' current treatment is similarly controversial. Therefore, as the first standardized police cat training base, Jin City Base can start with some educational publicity to advocate for better implicit treatment of police cats.

However, publicity requires funding. The higher-ups had been discussing promotional methods recently, and when Chu Tingwu came along, everyone realized... While this big UP (online content creator) was indeed too busy with studies and life to help film programs, her cat wasn't.

Chu Tingwu seriously listened to the instructor's plan while holding San Wu Wu.

San Wu Wu could now understand some simple human communication words, but couldn't pass the human language level 4 exam yet, so she needed Chu Tingwu to translate technical terms—

After listening, the cat mom jumped to the windowsill, looked at the training ground outside, and gave Chu Tingwu a dignified nod.

She liked the high amount of exercise in classes, and she also liked earning money.

So, Chu Tingwu first signed a contract with the base, ensuring that San Wu Wu's workload wouldn't be too heavy, while the training intensity would remain at the same level as during her substitute classes, and finally signed her name.

The instructor brought another blank paper, wrote down the contract contents simply, and had San Wu Wu press her paw print.

Although both the cat's paw print and this contract were invalid, it gave San Wu Wu a full sense of participation.

After pressing the contract, the cat mom seemed to understand something.

Back home, just as Chu Tingwu was about to open the door, San Wu Wu went to knock on Teacher Yuan's door first.

Teacher Yuan's family was already used to this knocking pattern. Cao Meng, sitting on the sofa, slipped to the door with unexpected agility for his size: "San Wu Wu!"

Coming to help walk their cat again?

Thanks to San Wu Wu's help, Coal Ball's weight loss plan had shown initial results. Since cat-walking-cat became a regular activity, Teacher Yuan's family regularly gave San Wu Wu cat treats as payment.

At Cao Meng's height, he saw San Wu Wu first, then noticed Sister Chu Chu.

San Wu Wu squeezed past him, meowed twice, seemingly not here to work.

Chu Tingwu: "=="

Teacher Yuan: "Hmm? Does San Wu Wu have something?"

Chu Tingwu thought for a moment, took out paper and pen, wrote something and handed it to Teacher Yuan—

[Party A Coal Ball (black long-haired Napoleon Munchkin cat, residing at Jinhua Residential Area 1-201) employs Party B San Wu Wu (smoke-grey long-haired tortoiseshell cat with yellow-tipped nose, residing at Jinhua Residential Area 1-202) for thrice-weekly cat-walking and exercise work.

Payment will be one random pack of cat treats.

Both parties shall seal with paw prints.]

Teacher Yuan: "...Coal Ball!"

Coal Ball had slipped to the bedroom door when it opened, now trying hard to jump and grab the doorknob to sneak in.

However, Teacher Cao inside the bedroom opened the door first, reached out to catch their cat, and first praised: "Coal Ball, you've lost weight!"

Coal Ball: "Meow meow meow?"

Stop the nonsense meow and let me in!

Teacher Cao caught Coal Ball, held back laughter while reading the contract, then like some irresponsible parents, pressed Coal Ball's paw to make her seal.

Chu Tingwu left with the contract, not noticing Cao Meng's thoughtful expression after watching the whole process.

Cao Meng: "Mom, is a contract something that can't be violated once you put your handprint on it?"

Teacher Yuan: "Yes, that's why you shouldn't sign contracts carelessly in the future, you need to be prepared to take responsibility."

Cao Meng had a sudden realization, pattered back to his room, and quickly came back with a paper: "Mom, how do you write the 'toy' character?"

Teacher Yuan: "?"

She turned to look and saw that Cao Meng probably wanted to write:

"Party A Mengmeng and Party B Dad sign a contract, employing Dad to make a UFO for me, Dad can play with grandpa's toy car three times a day—"

Teacher Yuan: "Umm..."

Cao Meng: "Hmm?"

Teacher Yuan: "How about letting your dad walk Coal Ball, giving the toy cars to San Wu Wu to play with, and asking Sister Chu Chu to make you a UFO instead?"

Cao Meng was very disappointed: "But San Wu Wu doesn't play with them!"

Teacher Yuan: ?

So you've actually tried that before?

-

After settling San Wu Wu, Chu Tingwu sent a message to Man Xing, telling her about her travel arrangements.

While she was abroad, Man Xing would be responsible for looking after San Wu Wu, and as for overseas, Chu Tingwu had people to assist her.

...Should be people, right?

White's student council would come to receive Chu Tingwu, and theoretically, no other help would be needed. However, the system still arranged for studio staff to stay outside the protected area. If any emergencies occurred, at least Chu Tingwu would have her own people around.

Chu Tingwu put down the phone, while Man Xing started searching for various information.

Although the boss didn't require her to follow, just in case, she had to understand the situation. She also indirectly inquired with Lian Tong and found out that he was indeed still managing the hospital, so she confirmed—

The one assisting the boss should be the "system," right?

With anticipation for the holiday, students changed into their summer uniforms, and the final exam of No. 5 Middle School's semester was completed.

The night after the exam, Chu Tingwu boarded a flight to Stardesc State.

-

San Wu Wu sat on the railing with her paws folded.

The Jin City Training Base had specially prepared rooms for their cat employees. Having trained with cats for so long, they naturally understood cat mom habits. The room was filled with items familiar to San Wu Wu, and if she still felt uncomfortable, Man Xing could come pick her up daily.

But the cat mom's actions seemed unrelated to the environment. She jumped down from the railing, sniffed around the room, then pushed the system's drone ball.

System: "=="

The drone ball turned on directly, hovering up and pointing its camera at San Wu Wu.

According to San Wu Wu and Chu Tingwu's agreement, this meant she was watching.

The tortoiseshell sat crouching, looked up at the ball and meowed twice. The instructor watched from the side, knowing that: Chu Tingwu probably wasn't watching during this time, it was very late, she should be catching up on sleep on the plane.

The tortoiseshell mom seemed unaware, did some stretches in place, then meowed twice, beckoning the drone ball to follow.

This flying ball flew in front of the instructor, the screen flashed twice, moved up and down, as if saying hello, then it entered recording mode.

The instructor slightly turned sideways to avoid showing their full body.

Although they were very interested in the "system's" filming effects, according to the contract, promotional videos featuring San Wu Wu would be independently filmed by the base, and during this period, Chu Tingwu could activate the drone anytime to film San Wu Wu's current status, but wouldn't directly record the base's training content.

San Wu Wu seemed to know this too, so after the drone activated, she headed straight outside the base.

Meanwhile, the system said something to the young one in the dream realm, then started the livestream—

The young one had to stream thirty hours every month! This counted as "work," so streaming now meant completing work content in advance.

This wasn't the first time Chu Tingwu had started streaming at odd hours, and most young fans were night owls. Many hadn't gone to sleep yet, so they immediately clicked in when they saw the streaming notification.

The system displayed "Jin City Police Dog Training Base" in the center of the screen, then shrunk and moved this text to the bottom right corner, while showing above Three-Five-Five's head:

[Three-Five-Five

<Long-haired Tortoiseshell>]

[...]

[The game feeling is strong, but System, are you showing off? We would recognize this even without the label!]

Three-Five-Five is quite famous now! Of course, if it wasn't labeled, people might...

[Ah! Is this Little Flower?]

Yes, they might call her by her stage name.

After "Tiger Head" was released, its performance kept improving. Although it was affected by competitors in the first two weeks, more theaters were added later. Seeing its performance, the screening period was extended. Now not only have the main actors gained another wave of popularity, but the cats in the movie have also become famous.

The kitten who played young Tiger Head was adopted by the assistant director, Orange's owner started streaming for it, and Flower Little Gang's owner took it traveling with the family dogs—

The owner was worried about their cat being stolen.

As for Three-Five-Five, she was already a famous cat, and this time she and Chu Tingwu have become one of the top pet content creators in the website's cute pet section.

...Though other content creators always felt like she wasn't quite in the same league as them.

The system didn't know what Three-Five-Five wanted to do, perhaps she was just feeling uncomfortable without the kittens around. Usually at this time, Three-Five-Five would be sleeping next to Chu Tingwu, not going out at this hour.

The system casually filmed as Three-Five-Five trotted out of her assigned quarters.

Some viewers in the comments noticed this wasn't where Chu Tingwu usually appeared, and they couldn't see him in the frame. When someone curiously asked about it, the system displayed a scrolling message at the bottom of the screen:

[Chu isn't here, currently Three-Five-Five is the only streamer.]

After all, the account was called "Chu and Three-Five-Five" to begin with.

The Fenghua Network staff member who had just arranged the livestream for manual promotion: "..."

Well, their contract didn't specify that the streamer must appear on camera. Essentially, as long as the account was streaming, it fulfilled the requirements.

But the staff member was curious. With no human present, only a cat—although there were "cat POV streamers" (referring to cameras attached to cats' necks to show their perspective), it was rare to have an entire stream from a cat's viewpoint.

First, because the cat cam's movement was too shaky and could cause "motion sickness."

Second, cats' lives don't actually have many complex aspects. While this kind of slow-paced streaming had its audience, viewers nowadays preferred content with more plot.

The staff member checked the viewership and noticed that after announcing Chu Tingwu's absence, the stream's popularity dropped slightly, but not by much.

Even though it was just Three-Five-Five, everyone was still looking forward to her actions, curiously asking in the chat where Chu Tingwu had gone and why they let Three-Five-Five stream alone... well, one cat stream?

Since the "streamer" wasn't reading comments, there naturally wasn't any response. The system simply lowered the drone's flying height a bit and bumped against Three-Five-Five's back.

Three-Five-Five: "?"

She tilted her head to look at the flying drone, seemed to realize something, then: "Meow meow, meow~"

I want to go check on those kittens meow.

She was explaining to Chu Tingwu behind the camera, but from the viewers' perspective, it looked like Three-Five-Five was chatting with them—after all, the cat's eyes were looking straight at them, so she must be talking to them, right?

So the viewers politely responded!

[Meow!]

[Meow meow meow!]

[Meow meow~]

New viewers who clicked in from the homepage recommendations: "?"

Is this some kind of group cat roleplay?

After the first time, Three-Five-Five would turn back to say something to the camera every few steps forward. The camera was very accommodating, adjusting its angle to show the surroundings, marking locations and objects.

Some people realized—

[Wow, is this where Three-Five-Five takes classes?]

Chu Tingwu had mentioned once before in a stream that he would send Three-Five-Five to the police dog base for training, and someone had explained that Jin City Police Dog Training Base was also training police cats, but this was the first time everyone got to actually see Three-Five-Five running around the base.

Because this time the streamer was just a cat without any human, the drone flew very low, and even when humans appeared in frame, you could only see their lower half... and the dogs beside them.

Trainer: "Three-Five-Five?"

Three-Five-Five crouched: "Meow."

Trainer: "Are you here to build relationships with the kittens early?"

They had decided to release a series of videos on the base's own short video account during Three-Five-Five's foster period, themed around police cat training, featuring both the selected kittens and young cats who had already shown progress.

Three-Five-Five's role was "Kitten Kindergarten Principal." Although Three-Five-Five looked fierce, she was actually a very responsible adult cat, and had experience with giving birth and raising kittens (according to Chu Tingwu).

At the base, they all agreed that Three-Five-Five was very human-like and could communicate directly through language, so they felt reassured leaving the kittens in her care.

Finding Three-Five-Five here late at night, the trainer opened the door for her and the drone.

Viewers followed Three-Five-Five into the kittens' living quarters and gasped in surprise.

[So many cats, all sleeping, hehe, auntie wants to eat them all up!]

[There are even purebred cats! I thought they would only choose street cats, always felt purebreds weren't healthy enough? Am I being too stereotypical?]

[I'm curious, where do the cats come from? I know police dogs are bred internally, all descendants of merit dogs, but the first batch of police cats haven't officially started work yet, right?]

[What happens to cats that don't pass? Can cats who don't make it as civil servants come to my home? My house is big!]

Since Chu Tingwu wasn't there, the trainer looked at the livestream on Chu Tingwu's account on his phone and explained:

"Kitten selection has nothing to do with breed. We mainly trace the family trees of currently high-performing cats and look for kittens among their siblings, then make our selection."

"Cats that can't complete training are first considered for adoption by their original families, but they can't be transferred or abandoned. If the original family doesn't want to adopt, we'll consider the same adoption channels as rejected dogs."

You could say that even cats that don't pass the final selection are already "excellent" cats, and long-term training may change their habits, so there are additional requirements for selecting adoptive families.

"By the way, Jin City Police Dog Training Base's public account and short video account will soon release a 'Police Cat Mini-variety Show,' where Three-Five-Five's role is the kindergarten principal. She'll not only train with the adult cats but also help the kittens complete basic training as their principal cat. Everyone interested can follow our account!"

After the trainer finished speaking, he saw Three-Five-Five sniff the heads of several kittens, then meow twice at the camera.

Chu Tingwu on the other side of the camera: "...Alright?"

She had the system respond, then watched as Three-Five-Five went forward, picked up a half-grown kitten by the scruff of its neck, and dragged it to the trainer.

Trainer: "?"

Seeing this kitten about to wake up, he quickly covered its eyes with his hand, and the kitten rolled over and went back to sleep.

Soon, Three-Five-Five had dragged seven or eight cats over, leaving only twelve on her side.

Trainer: "?"

Finally, Three-Five-Five stood at the edge of the carpet, raised her paw to draw a line on the ground, then turned her back to face the trainer and those cats with her bottom.

This body language was so obvious that it needed no human translation—he understood immediately.

The trainer laughed.

"You don't want to take these ones?"

He glanced over and immediately saw that these kittens all had chatty tendencies and were usually the extremely lively type.

The viewers noticed too—

[Are these kittens the kindergarten's underachievers?]

[How annoying, even kindergartens are getting competitive now. That cat mom clearly has a PhD and doesn't want to teach cats with poor grades and slow minds!]

[Sad news! What should we do about cats being forced to drop out? It's too harsh not letting them attend kindergarten. They can be sent to my home - I'll build a kindergarten for the cats!]

The instructor waved away the audience's comments, wanting to discuss further with Three-Five-Five, but then realized—

How could you reason with a cat!

When a cat wants to play dumb and ignore you, it absolutely will!

The mini reality show hasn't even started filming and we're already facing special circumstances!

She poked the calico cat's back and sent two messages to her publicity colleague: "Alright, alright, looks like we'll have to split our kindergarten into classes—Three-Five-Five will step down as principal and become Teacher Three-Five-Five, only in charge of Class One."

Class One would be for the cats that were kept, while Class Two would naturally be under her direct supervision as the original person in charge.

This way, the show might actually become more interesting.

They never really intended to have cat moms raise kittens; it was just to piggyback on the viral cat's popularity for publicity... Now, with the new angle of "human-trained cats" versus "cat-trained cats" competing against each other, it might generate even more attention.

However, what the instructor didn't know was—

As an experienced working cat, Three-Five-Five took the job seriously.

-

The evening's video indeed sparked some discussion within the community, and after the livestream, the Jin City Police Dog Training Base's account gained a surge of followers.

After all, in the pet video category, themes like "official accounts," "police cat training," and "kitten education" didn't have much competition. With exposure naturally came popularity, especially with the "controversial topics."

The main question was... why did Three-Five-Five specifically pick out those particular kittens without anyone teaching her?

Many small content creators simply clipped Three-Five-Five's cat selection process and analyzed frame by frame what personality or appearance flaws these kittens had - like having big heads, short tails, being tuxedo cats, having eyes that looked swollen with two black circles, lying on the ground meowing while seeming directionally challenged... clearly not qualified to become proper police cats-in-training!

The base staff who saw these videos were like: "???"

Those weren't the criteria for failing the assessment, stop making wild guesses!

However, all the speculation increased engagement, and more people started following and demanding updates on the "mini reality show," very eager to know how the two classes of kittens would perform! This was truly a slow-paced cat show - they suggested some major video platform should acquire it and turn it into a series of long-form videos!

The base staff didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Even more bemused were the pet content creators.

When they learned about Chu Tingwu's signing, they thought this young lady was strictly speaking more of an outdoor sports content creator... but now she proved herself with her livestream popularity—

She was indeed better at outdoor activities, but she could make pets (?) livestream themselves!

While the video was going viral, Chu Tingwu's plane had already landed.

She reported her safe arrival to her teachers and friends, then found her pickup car.

White's student named Lian had a high nose bridge, brown eyes, and darker wheat-colored skin. She would be Chu Tingwu's roommate for the foreseeable future.

Besides necessary conversation, she didn't say much to Chu Tingwu, just smiled friendly and started driving, appearing somewhat shy.

Until the car passed a certain intersection again, Chu Tingwu spoke up: "Should I give directions?"

Lian: "..."

Lian pulled over, quietly got out of the car, and opened the passenger door where Chu Tingwu sat: "Would you like to drive?"

Chu Tingwu: No, I don't have a driver's license.

After she started giving directions, the two began talking more, and Chu Tingwu quickly realized—Lian wasn't just directionally challenged, her thinking seemed somewhat different from others.

Halfway through the drive, she seemed to remember Chu Tingwu might be hungry, so she stopped to buy sandwiches and milk. The fast food was probably to save time, as the reserve was quite far from the airport.

When Chu Tingwu casually mentioned how nice a tree looked next to the convenience store, Lian responded with a "mm-hmm" and parked nearby, beginning to explain the tree's biological habits and which bird species the nest in it belonged to.

Chu Tingwu quietly finished her food while they waited for the bird to return to its nest.

Although they nearly got dive-bombed by the bird, Chu Tingwu still got out of the car and pointed out certain marks on the tree to Lian, explaining which small animals had made them.

Lian was visibly pleased.

Because afterward she drove while humming, and even with Chu Tingwu's directions, still took a wrong turn.

Just as they were about to reach the reserve, Chu Tingwu received a call from White: "Did Lian pick you up? Where are you now? I'll send someone to find you right away!"

Chu Tingwu: "=="

Chu Tingwu: "We're almost there."

White: "Oh my God, thank heavens!"

White: "I just told her your flight was arriving and asked her to find a staff member, but she interpreted it as going to pick you up herself, and her phone is turned off—"

White seemed long accustomed to this student's unreliability and quickly fired off a series of questions: "Does the car still have gas? You haven't driven into a ditch, have you? You're really not somewhere else entirely—maybe there's another road called Red Stone Road?"

Finally, he said very worriedly: "If worst comes to worst, you drive."

Chu Tingwu: "..."

She really doesn't have a driver's license ==

Beside her, Lian hadn't said a word, but her cheerful humming had changed to train whistle sounds, like an unhappy little locomotive.

Chu Tingwu: "Pfft."

She felt that this visit to the reserve would be quite interesting.

At the reserve entrance, Chu Tingwu first took a photo at the gate. Then, she cooperated with the staff to complete the luggage and identity checks before finally being allowed inside.

Their car didn't use the same entrance as tourist visitors, as they were heading to a camp near the core area.

After checking with Lian, Chu Tingwu took out her recording equipment, attached two fixed cameras to the car, and started livestreaming.

Viewers were already used to her style of starting streams without notice, and they quickly flooded in, calling their friends and posting their prepared messages—

[Three-Five-Five kitty, I'm here to support you... eh?]

[Three-Five-Five you're the best kindergarten teacher so could you maybe steal a student for me I've got my sack ready wait what?]

[What stream did I join, let me exit and check again?]

Chu Tingwu: "Happy summer vacation everyone, and hello to those who don't have a vacation—"

She adjusted the interior camera to face herself briefly, then switched to the window view: The sky stretched vast and desolate, dusk settling between mountain ranges, with no high-rises, power lines, or signs of human activity visible. Only occasionally could they spot the roofs of other vehicles in the distance before they diverged onto different paths.

Bison wandered in the distance, the herd appearing as black dots on the earth, flicking their tails and glancing over before turning away disinterestedly.

Chu Tingwu: "I'm currently at Red Stone Reserve in Stardesk State. Next, I'll be following the animal behaviorist who invited me here to study the North American gray wolf packs in the reserve. I'll be streaming occasionally and posting vlogs to my account."

[Holy cow...]

[Traveling cat...]

[Will you bring back postcards...]

Chu Tingwu: "?"

While some were still confused, others were already getting excited—

[Wait, the Red Stone Reserve wolf packs!? Does that mean Michel!? Ahhh Chu Chu are you going to see Michel up close, I'm going to unfollow you for half an hour to express my jealousy ahhh...]

[Unfollowing just to add special follow status right? I'm really curious about your connections, Chu kitty... or should I say, cat-nections ῳ*Ɩ, is this somewhere people can just casually enter? How did you manage it, teach me too (totally not trying to sneak in to see wolves)]

Since animal movements are unpredictable, and no one knows what results they might get before observing, Chu Tingwu didn't give a definitive response to such comments. She continued filming the scenery for a while longer, and just as she was about to end the livestream, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Chu Tingwu quickly grabbed Lian's shoulder with her free hand, then swiftly pushed the steering wheel with her elbow while lifting her foot to hit the brake.

The car swayed, completing a drifting maneuver, and successfully came to a stop at the edge of the ditch.

Lian: "..."

She released the steering wheel, cast an apologetic glance at Chu Tingwu, then made a "please" gesture before silently turning her head to look elsewhere.

Chu Tingwu: "==" Don't give up!

[Shocking! Underage streamer caught livestreaming unlicensed driving abroad, adult who grabbed the steering wheel too ashamed to speak up. More details in "Chu and Three-Five-Five" livestream channel! Send me 50 for hush money and memory deletion!]

Chu Tingwu: "Meow?"

She ended the livestream.

Driving? What driving? She was just a little kitty, that's all.