The System Mistook Me for a Cat-Chapter 181

Occasionally, while sailing at night, one might encounter seabirds.

So, out of boredom and curiosity, when Zhou Yan was on the boat, he had learned a lot about birds. Naturally, he also knew that during this time, he might encounter various migratory birds.

But when he heard the sound of birds, he also heard the sound of fine rain hitting the sail.

It was raining.

He looked up. The stars were still bright, and the night wind was picking up. A small bird flew over from a distance, seemingly wanting to cross over this sailboat and head south.

Even though they had to face the rain, they didn’t retreat. Zhou Yan wasn’t a newbie in sailing competitions. He had encountered all sorts of accidents during practice.

But as the bird soared, someone just dropped onto the boat… well, that was beyond the scope of normal accidents.

Beneath the moonlight, he noticed that it was probably a girl wearing a wingsuit, blending in with the migratory birds, yet she hadn’t caused any disturbance among the flock. In fact, when she slid down the sail, a few tiny birds were pecking at her hair, as if inviting her to follow.

But eventually, the girl and the birds parted ways. The girl didn’t seem to consider herself an outsider, waving at the flock as they flew further and further into the distance under the moonlight, as if bidding them farewell.

Zhou ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‍Yan: “...”

Wait, who are you?

Before he could ask the question, the girl turned her head. The wind blew her hair, carrying the moist sea breeze from the rain, and she said, “Zhou Yan?”

Zhou Yan: “You know me?”

Could she be an acquaintance... but what kind of friend would pull off a wingsuit stunt like this for a chance meeting?!

Even his parents wouldn’t be able to pinpoint him out here in the middle of the sea!

Chu Tingwu: “Not exactly. But I know your address in Sang City, your phone number, and even the name of this boat.”

Zhou Yan was shocked.

Chu Tingwu: “Because they’re all engraved on the boat’s plaque. =="

She hadn’t spotted the plaque during her flight, as it was on the opposite side of the sailboat, but she recognized the boat as the one that had been “adopted” back in Sang City.

It was clear that the current owner had taken great care of it. Chu Tingwu almost didn’t recognize it as the same boat that had once belonged to the unlucky swimmer.

The unfortunate swimmer seemed genuinely unaware it was just a random meeting, but he was still quite concerned and offered to take Chu Tingwu back to shore.

He was practicing sail control in the middle of the night, and she was out wingsuit flying in the evening—they were clearly cut from the same cloth.

Both of them were labeled by others as slightly off for pursuing their hobbies at such odd hours.

And when it turned out that Chu Tingwu had also dabbled in sailing and even helped control the foresail, Zhou Yan’s interest in their conversation grew even more.

They landed in the rain, but something was off at the dock.

Because as soon as Chu Tingwu stepped off the boat—the cops walked over.

Zhou Yan: “?”

Chu Tingwu turned her head to wave at him, showing no intention of discussing future meetings or exchanging contact information. In fact, the gesture was identical to the one she had used to wave off the birds, very detached.

But then she turned and said, “I won’t accept mediation. I’ll be assigning a lawyer to handle this, and thank you for your work.”

There had been quite a commotion. The two minors who had thrown the incendiary devices had been caught. They were both local to Sang City, aged fifteen and sixteen, and were currently attending vocational high school.

Once the accident happened, Man Xing immediately applied to help Chu Tingwu manage the situation, taking over the tasks she disliked. However, since Lian Tong happened to be in the neighboring province, he bought a ticket and rushed over, snatching the “job” from Man Xing.

Chu Tingwu hadn’t even spoken yet, but Lian Tong was already raring to go.

He hadn’t been handling the secretary’s work for a while, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable.

Now Chu Tingwu sat in the backseat of the car, while Lian Tong sat in the front, briefing the boss on the situation.

Even though it was past midnight, he seemed full of energy, while Chu Tingwu looked ready to doze off.

Lian Tong: “Given the financial status of the two suspects, it’ll be hard to get any substantial compensation.”

—Both minors had complicated relationships with their families. One had been a stay-at-home child before their grandparents passed, and now lived with their aunt and uncle. The other had gone through a parent’s divorce and mostly “wandered the streets,” skipping school regularly.

Chu Tingwu: “Then let’s not.”

Lian Tong glanced back at her, nodded, and said, “They’re suspected of attempted assault and knowingly attacking a protected animal, the Red-Rain Falcon, with intent to create a public scandal… basically, the suspects are definitely going to jail.”

Both were old enough to face prison time.

From Lian Tong’s understanding, their actions were driven purely by resentment. Before Chu Tingwu and the Red-Rain Falcons arrived, they had already made homemade flares and tested them in an abandoned bunker. Then, while casually browsing videos, they happened upon Chu Tingwu’s live feed, realized her route was remote (perfect for the crime) yet live-streamed (great for exposure), and impulsively decided to shoot the flares at her.

Their actions were so sudden… the system hadn’t even predicted it.

Chu Tingwu even reassured the system, “It’s alright. There are just a lot of crazies in the human world. It’s not your fault.”

Cats are better, cats might go crazy, but they don’t make homemade bombs.

Lian Tong pondered for a moment and said, “They regretted it immediately after they did it, planning to run. But they underestimated the police… their motives were also extracted. They felt too ‘miserable’ and wanted to use you as a platform to expose their plight.”

As for the Red-Rain Falcons, the impulsive (and not particularly cultured) high schoolers hadn’t thought about the birds at all.

Even less had they anticipated that it was the same birds that would land them extra time in prison.

Chu Tingwu: “Then let’s make sure they don’t get any exposure.”

She gazed out the window. Skyscrapers sped by, and even though the gaps between the buildings didn’t reveal the sea, she couldn’t see if the distant shore had any signs of the flock of birds that had grown more distant with each passing moment. But she wouldn’t forgive a preemptive crime, no matter how small the actual consequences.

If the law says there’s guilt even without serious harm, then that’s because they deserved it.

And it wasn’t like she forced them to break the law.

Lian Tong wasn’t surprised, but he was a bit curious:

Sending two minors to jail wasn’t hard, but ensuring “no exposure”… given the amount of online chatter about this incident so far, how was that supposed to work?

-

Tonight was probably a sleepless night for many.

Viewers who had been following the “Red-Rain Falcon Flock Reunion” were now witnessing a HE ending, and they couldn’t fall asleep. Not just because of the sudden accident, but because of the scene when Chu Tingwu closed her eyes, while others remembered more clearly the moment of the incident through the live feed.

And since the broadcast was VR, the audience felt an even stronger sense of violation than Chu Tingwu herself.

Some analyzed coldly: “It felt like a host getting attacked during a broadcast—the harm transcended the screen, hitting everyone watching. It was ongoing, not a video with a known ending, so it facilitated deeper empathy.”

So, if the person in the frame was angry, the viewers would be angrier. If the person in the frame was fearful, the empathy would multiply… But this time, the person in the frame was gliding through the night sky.

When Chu Tingwu was attacked, she only did two things: neutralize the only negative effect the flare could cause, calm the flock with her voice, and then, fly with them.

Her fans had seen such footage before. During the mission with the drones in the flock and when they were at Shanwan Ranch.

Of course, some joked, “Wouldn’t it be great if you could just possess the drones?” The angles were great, but certainly better than the humans controlled.

And right now, Chu Tingwu had made it a reality with a VR live stream.

The vast sea was beneath her, the Red-billed Tropicbird by her side, and starlight glittered on the water, her body held aloft by the wind… it was almost as if the attack had never happened—as if the UP master had merely been preparing for a wingsuit flight.

For some, the flare had seemed like just another part of the show, a mimicry so realistic that it was mistaken for a genuine flare.

It wasn't until Zhu Tingwu returned to land, issuing a calm and impartial statement to dispel the rumors, followed by an official statement from the police, that the truth was finally solidified.

At first, there was anger, but soon people noticed something unusual: The police had moved at an astonishingly rapid pace, releasing the investigation results before the online speculation and rumors could gain any real traction.

Yet, because the incident was both dramatic and thought-provoking, combined with the attention-grabbing Red-billed Tropicbird, the online fervor showed no signs of abating anytime soon.

That was what Professor Mi had told Chu Tingwu.

He had likely come specifically to offer comfort. Chu Tingwu was temporarily staying at the foundation's staff quarters, and by now, she had already received three waves of visitors. So, she and Professor Mi decided to head to the garden restaurant for some food.

Chu Tingwu nodded: "I'll figure something out."

She didn't necessarily think that discussions were harmful, but the recent case made it hard to maintain a healthy environment for conversation. Until the verdict was delivered, normal discussions were bound to devolve into quarrels.

Professor Mi chuckled: "Don't overthink it. You're the victim here, so no matter who's in the wrong, it's not your fault—oh! When did you learn the language of the Red-billed Tropicbird?"

This was something he had been wanting to ask, and his old friends were equally curious. While there were indeed those who studied and mimicked the calls of birds, human attempts to replicate them often fell short. In the ears of the birds, humans and machines alike were already tainted with an accent, making it difficult to convincingly mimic their language.

Chu Tingwu could already speak cat and dog (she had clarified that she couldn’t, but no one believed her), and now bird language, too. This kind of mimicry talent—Chu Tingwu was tailor-made for the field of wildlife protection!

Chu Tingwu: "I don't actually know every word, just some of the common ones…"

Professor Mi gazed at her with a kindly expression.

Chu Tingwu: "Well, it's mainly because I'm sensitive to the emotions of animals. I can usually identify them directly, so all I need to do is categorize and learn them."

Professor Mi's kindly expression was almost overflowing.

Chu Tingwu: "Uh, is there anything you need my help with?"

Professor Mi: "Yes!"

There was a project they were rushing to complete in Antarctica, and he just happened to have an open spot for a student!

After seeing Professor Mi off, Chu Tingwu indulged in a massive spread of food, which made the chef, a kind aunt, worry profusely. She believed Chu Tingwu must have been traumatized by the previous two bad guys, completely overlooking the fact that Chu Tingwu had always been a big eater—teenager or not, Chu Tingwu was still technically a minor!

Chu Tingwu ate for over half an hour, and the system remained silent.

Finally, she herself broke the silence: "Murder is against the law."

The system: "=="

Did it really seem that violent?

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

It was just thinking about how to help the youngling achieve her goal—

For instance, shifting the internet's focus away from the incident she disliked.

Expose a celebrity's infidelity? Unveil a secret of a foreign royal family? Launch a new offline event for *Kitty Academy*? Or help some film crew stoke the rumors about their lead actors?

In reality, clearing all online content would be a trivial task for the system, but while it could erase information, it couldn't control human thoughts. It could suppress, but not manipulate too overtly.

Chu Tingwu sat quietly, her skill progress in intuition steadily increasing. She seemed to be using this ability constantly, so there was nearly nothing in the world that could escape her notice. At the moment, she didn't fully understand what "secrets" were, but she felt a sense of reassurance.

It was the reassurance that "the system would handle it, not because it was a system, but because it would always try its best to do so."

So maybe this wasn't just the power of intuition?

The system: "It seems I have no choice but to do that…"

Chu Tingwu: "What?"

The system: "I had planned this as a New Year's gift for you, and it's not entirely finished yet."

But after analyzing countless plans and their outcomes, it had realized that the first plan—presenting the gift—would solve everything. However, wanting to give the youngling a surprise, the system had attempted other solutions.

And failed.

...Humans are such a hassle!

It cursed all humans to never become cats in their next lives.

"It's okay," Chu Tingwu thought for a moment, "consider it an early celebration for the New Year."

-

The netizens, caught up in the heat of the moment, suddenly noticed that Chu Tingwu had posted an oddly timed blog:

"Wishing everyone a Happy New Year."

Wait, the New Year hasn’t even arrived yet!

But everyone just assumed it was a joke, so no one paid much attention.

A few minutes later, however, they found something strange: A celebrity was exposed for infidelity, a foreign royal family's scandal suddenly came to light, *Kitty Academy* introduced a new trip challenge mode, and the latest B-grade film's leads and supporting cast began a messy round of six-way rumors… even pushing the previous top trending case down the charts.

Chu Tingwu: "Is this effective…?"

The system: "Let's see."

The exposed celebrity: "?"

The exposed celebrity: "What exactly—"

What exactly happened? Which insider dog handler didn’t pay off properly? Didn't they agree not to release anything during this period? Taking money and not delivering services, where’s the professional ethics?