The System Mistook Me for a Cat-Chapter 213

The month of August in Shangjing City is swelteringly hot.

Perhaps even more than the heat, the biggest issue is the stifling humidity. After a bout of rain and a gust of wind, a coolness finally begins to seep through.

By the end of August, freshmen have already arrived on campus early, and upperclassmen are also returning in droves. At the South Campus of Huaguo University of Science and Technology, students are constantly streaming in and out of the school gates.

Su Meng, a junior student, is one of the upperclassmen responsible for welcoming the new students. She is also a long-time fan of the content creator @A Chu and 355, having joined the fan group in its earliest days. She had heard that Chu Tingwu had been admitted to Huaguo University and would be her junior, so she eagerly volunteered for the welcoming duties.

Since her trip to Antarctica, Chu Tingwu's live streams have become less frequent, with more recorded videos. Most of her content now revolves around gaming or sports, sometimes featuring VR, other times regular footage, and often sharing videos of 355.

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While fans feel a tinge of regret, they understand that Chu Tingwu's identity has shifted from a simple pet and outdoor sports streamer to that of a college student and business owner. Streaming is no longer her main focus... though anyone stumbling upon her profile might still mistake her for a pet streamer.

As a fan, Su Meng still eagerly anticipates her live streams. If she manages to catch her junior, she’s determined to urge her to stream more.

With this in mind, Su Meng busies herself with welcoming the new students, giving directions, helping with luggage, handing out water, and scanning the crowd for Chu Tingwu—

Hadn’t she arrived in Shangjing City already? Could she have checked in early?

By mid-morning, the workload lightens a bit. Su Meng’s voice is hoarse, and a classmate hands her a bottle of water. She tries to thank them in a whisper but struggles to twist the cap open, her palms slick with sweat. The kind classmate takes the bottle back and opens it for her.

Su Meng: "Ahh... thank you, sis! So sorry to trouble you—huh?"

The helpful classmate is slightly taller than her, wearing the university’s cultural T-shirt and the same blue cap as Su Meng. Her skin, exposed to the sunlight, looks dry and fresh, as if she’s unaffected by the heat. With a quick twist, she opens the bottle and hands it back, glancing up: "Senior?"

Su Meng: "=="

She trembles as she takes the water from her idol.

Aren’t you a freshman, Chu Tingwu! Why are you blending in with us? Are you still in the social practice group or something?

Compared to her last live stream half a year ago, Chu Tingwu’s hair is shorter now, with the front strands barely reaching her ears and the back not quite touching her shoulders. Noticing Su Meng’s gaze, she turns and gives her a slight smile before heading off to guide a pair of parents dropping off their child at the school gate.

Su Meng: "..." Why does it feel like Chu Tingwu’s gaze seems to know everything?

Even though she’s technically the youngest junior here, Su Meng can’t bring herself to say hello!

Once she’s sure there’s no more help needed, Chu Tingwu pulls out her phone, summoning her electric skateboard to her location via GPS. She steps onto the board just in time—it’s time to head back for experiments.

After arriving in Shangjing City on her birthday, Chu Tingwu took a few days to rest before reporting to the university.

She isn’t officially enrolled yet, but the timing wasn’t ideal for joining the pre-college program with other early-admitted students. Fortunately, she knows Professor Mi.

With the new dormitory still under construction, Chu Tingwu has been assisting Professor Mi and even helped her senior complete a few small research projects.

Over the past six months, her main focus has been on innovative training projects with graduate students, exploring the factors behind the stark differences in social systems between captive and wild wolves.

This work hasn’t kept her in Shangjing City the entire time; she’s frequently traveled between nature reserves, public zoos, and private zoos.

But these six months have also allowed Chu Tingwu to catch up on her studies.

Previously, ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‍it was as if she had been auditing doctoral-level courses, with a scattered knowledge base in her field but exceptional practical skills that even her seniors envied.

Over the past half year, Chu Tingwu has dazzled her professors and peers with her uncanny understanding of animal behavior, her ability to handle any animal with ease, and even her creation of a "wolf language translation guide." On Professor Mi’s recommendation, she’s also been introduced to an animal psychology professor and spent two months interning at a veterinary hospital, learning basic emergency techniques.

Senior: "If it weren’t for the upcoming semester, I’d think you were planning to trek through a rainforest."

This was the senior’s comment upon finding a rainforest diorama on Chu Tingwu’s desk.

Chu Tingwu: "Not yet. The plan isn’t finished."

Senior: "You’re actually planning to do it!?"

Chu Tingwu smiles faintly, and the senior takes a step back, then adds, "By the way, why didn’t your company’s extreme sports fund get folded into the Starcloud Charity Foundation? Why create a separate project?"

Lately, with experiments keeping her busy, an assistant has been delivering lunch to Chu Tingwu—buffet-style, so others can grab a bite too. The senior, passing by with his bowl, overheard the assistant reporting on the newly established charity sports fund under the Wu Voice Group.

For the past two years, they’ve been sponsoring various extreme sports groups, from high-altitude parkour to free solo climbing, speed skiing, BASE jumping, sailing crossings, and no-parachute skydiving—activities the senior could never imagine himself doing. Initially, the sponsorships were sporadic and initiated by the Wu Voice Group, but recently, they’ve been consolidating into a public-facing extreme sports fund.

Chu Tingwu looks up: "Because it’s not just about charity. The idea is to use extreme sports to feed back into other aspects of the business... after all, both the company’s main operations and extreme sports are somewhat connected."

In VR live streams, thrilling outdoor content is always a hit.

For sports brands, having athletes they sponsor use their products is a form of soft advertising.

And now, with the company’s upgraded VR experience pods—no, rebranded last month as "holo-pods"—extreme athletes can wear the equipment to help gather data and enhance the realism of the experience.

Most importantly, the extreme sports fund organizes competitions and challenges with high frequency, which doesn’t quite align with the Starcloud Charity Foundation’s mission.

After six months of preparation, during which even the basic holo-pods have dropped in price to $9,998, Chu Tingwu has finally secured approval for a groundbreaking "extreme sports" project:

A solo, long-distance skiing challenge across the Antarctic mountains.

The Antarctic continent does not belong to any single country, and organizing activities there is extremely challenging. Currently, the only activities in Antarctica are scientific research and tourism. When Chu Tingwu proposed this idea, others believed the chances of success were very slim.

The investment is enormous, while the returns are minimal. The final outcome is a quadrennial event that requires about six months of preparation, during which cooperation with all research stations along the route must be secured—and even with thorough preparation, participants may still face unforeseen dangers.

It’s like a solo around-the-world sailing challenge; even with accompanying vessels, participants could still perish in the Roaring Forties.

Yet, the grandeur and terror of nature are also its most primal allure.

So, when this news was announced, the entire extreme sports community was electrified.

A new challenge that could very well become a regular event!

Travel to Antarctica, starting from the continent’s central region at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, and ski all the way to the continental edge using one’s own skis.

There’s no other place on Earth with such an environment, such a project, or such a romantic experience of traversing half a continent.

…Though to the average person, this is anything but romantic. Every word of the announcement seems fraught with peril.

…But for those who engage in extreme sports, is death really what they fear? They challenge death itself, chasing the thrill of narrowly escaping its grasp.

Wu Voice Group will cover all expenses and part of the equipment costs, transporting participants to Antarctica, and will handle the filming and broadcasting of documentaries and personal promotional videos, ensuring viewership and distribution channels.

Moreover, this is an international event. To pass the necessary approvals, in addition to Wu Voice Group as the main organizer, several well-established companies that frequently oversee extreme sports have joined in, providing significant assistance… As for internal resource allocation, the system will handle everything.

Chu Tingwu skated on her board all the way to the cafeteria and noticed a promotional poster at the entrance.

A few students who had just finished eating stood in front of it, discussing:

“What’s the point of showing this to me… I couldn’t possibly participate. I don’t even meet the basic requirements!”

“But since it’s posted here, and it’s organized by Wu Voice, I bet a lot of domestic skiers will sign up, right? At least that one person, um, that Chu… Junior Chu, I think she’ll participate!”

“Definitely, but in this kind of competition, whether it’s the boss or a professional athlete, there’s not much difference. It’s an extreme challenge, with full documentation, so there’s no real advantage. It all comes down to individual ability.”

“Hey? What’s this below? ‘Holographic interactive cinema, pre-experience high-altitude skiing, *Snow Mountain Horror 1* holographic remake’—isn’t that an old foreign movie? Let me check if there’s really a holographic version now.”

The movie is quite old but was very famous back then, a classic adventure film with a great storyline. Even if people haven’t seen it, they’ve heard of it and remember the iconic images of some of its famous characters.

This, of course, is related to Phoenix Pictures, which the system acquired.

Online promotions have already been rolled out extensively. However, when a friend asked Chu Tingwu if she wanted to “play” the movie together, she sighed:

“Next time, definitely next time.”

Since the school is located in Jin City, Chang Yile, who can play games and watch movies at home using a holographic pod, asked, “Huh? Are you busy with school stuff?”

Chu Tingwu replied, “Busy getting certifications ==”

Going to Antarctica isn’t just about getting reimbursed. You have to complete a series of skiing challenges under the supervision of staff to prove you’re an experienced extreme athlete before you can qualify as a participant in the “Antarctic Skiing” project.

Even the boss is no exception.

To make it to the first “Antarctic Skiing Cup,” she first has to participate in three extreme skiing competitions, secure placements, complete two specific extreme challenges, and then pass a review by the project team and a public online evaluation to squeeze into the top twenty and get a sponsored trip to Antarctica.

Chu Tingwu: “…Maybe I should just pay for it myself.”

Who exactly came up with these requirements in the first place—

Oh, right. It was her.

…Never mind.