The System Mistook Me for a Cat

[Dear user, welcome to Fallen Phoenix City. Weather notice: Today's temperature is 22℃-27℃, cloudy, with heavy rain expected from 12 PM to 1 PM. When visiting forest areas, please seek shelter and remember to bring an umbrella. Stay safe.

Fallen Phoenix City is working towards becoming a National Civilized City, undertaking urban reconstruction, managing stray cats and dogs, developing new tourist attractions, and hosting a national parkour competition in early October. We hope for your support.

For an in-depth tour experience, you can click the link to download the city app [Fallen Phoenix Song]. If you're interested in the city's stray cat management, you can also download our app [365 Cat Census]. Have a pleasant journey.]

A first-time visitor to Fallen Phoenix City let out a curious "hmm" and clicked the link at the bottom. Meanwhile, with daily updates, this message was slightly modified and pushed to most city residents.

As backend downloads surged, You Zhenzhen cut a watermelon in half and gave a portion to Chu Tingwu: "According to the contract, we need to prioritize Fallen Phoenix City promotions on our homepage until the October competition ends."

Nowadays, most apps can automatically detect users' locations through GPS when they log in. However, due to the contract with the Tourism Bureau, the Cat Census app sets Fallen Phoenix City as the default location for all users. This small detail must be maintained for three months, along with the city's advertisements occupying the prime homepage spots and the splash screen featuring the "Walking and Singing in Fallen Phoenix City, Accompanied by Beauty" campaign.

So calling it a city app wasn't far from the truth, especially since most users were local residents anyway.

But no matter how you looked at it, they were definitely profiting!

As expected, the app's user base was growing rapidly. After its official release, most local fans chose to download it, and the app had undergone updates before the launch.

Perhaps the app's initial purpose was to track the city's stray cat population, but to maintain long-term user engagement and encourage users to help record stray cats' status, they needed to create an environment for community interaction.

The reward section was split into two parts: one remained for bounties, while the other became the "Cat Community," designed for pet owners to share photos of their cats, document daily life, and interact with others.

In simple terms, it provided users with a dedicated space to show off their cats.

The "Cat Census" finally expanded beyond just strays to include house cats.

To get cat owners truly invested in their mini-communities, they needed active users liking, chatting, comparing (and even arguing), so the official partnership gave the app a boost, providing an opportunity to increase users – a win-win situation for both parties.

There were also advertising placements, shopping interfaces for cat food and cat trees, collaborations with other pet organizations, virtual currency top-ups... Chu Tingwu no longer managed these details, leaving them to You Zhenzhen and the system to handle. Of course, You Zhenzhen only knew the system as Chu Tingwu's mysterious friend who never showed face.

The system maintained a professional, business-like attitude when communicating with others. Learning from Chu Tingwu that the system treated everyone this way, You Zhenzhen felt more at ease – she quite enjoyed this work environment where she could focus on her tasks without overthinking about the other party's attitude.

"Oh right, oh right!" You Zhenzhen picked up a spoon, "Isn't that promotional video you shot airing at noon today? Want to watch it together?"

Chu Tingwu thought: You specifically brought watermelon over at this time just to watch it together, didn't you?

The two squeezed onto the sofa, with Three-Five-Five jumping up to join them. Then, a drone took flight, the spherical machine making a turn in mid-air before silently hovering at an angle behind them, filming the tablet screen in front of them.

You Zhenzhen, completely unaware, immediately hit play and switched to full screen as soon as it loaded.

-

In downtown Fallen Phoenix City, six people were taking shelter from the rain.

They were tourists from a small tour group. While Fallen Phoenix City was on the tourist route, it didn't have any must-see attractions. Their itinerary typically included browsing the antique street for small souvenirs (and getting slightly overcharged), breathing fresh air at Zhangshan Mountain, and spending a night at a resort.

These tourists had split from their main group to go shopping in the city center, only to be driven into a second-floor fast food restaurant by the heavy rain. The floor-to-ceiling windows faced a large screen across the central shopping plaza.

"I think I saw something about rain in the text message... but forgot to buy an umbrella."

"You actually read those? I only check messages for delivery notifications—"

As they organized their shopping bags, some were browsing their phones while others unconsciously glanced outside, watching the city through the rain. Cats chased each other, human figures blurred in the downpour, and looking down, umbrellas resembled fallen petals on the ground.

The light suddenly dimmed for a moment.

Those looking down instinctively raised their heads, thinking a cloud had passed by. The flow of people below also paused for a second, but the tourists realized what was different:

"Ah, it's the screen across the street!"

A new image appeared on the advertising screen opposite them, but it didn't seem like an advertisement – rather, it was some kind of short film.

The opening was black – not pure black, but as dark as night, with a pair of animal eyes emitting a faint glow in the darkness:

"Is that a cat? Right?" A tourist pointed, "Look, isn't this some cat-related advertisement?"

Light shone from behind, finally revealing the cat's full figure. In this backlight, its form remained dark, with only the roots of its fur illuminated, casting long shadows toward the viewer. Its eyes gleamed golden, both majestic and dangerous.

As the cat moved, the tourists realized this "promotional video" had background music composed of drumbeats and other percussion. Besides the cat, there was also a pair of walking feet in the frame.

Human and cat moved forward in sync, turning sideways to face the camera. In the backlight, only their silhouettes were visible, with the camera mainly focusing on the cat below. Then suddenly, the scene changed as the drumbeat intensified.

As the camera rose, both the person and cat leaped simultaneously.

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Someone gasped, instinctively wondering if this might be a movie trailer.

Looking through countless raindrops at the giant screen, the image carried a dreamy quality. Someone nudged their companion: "It's parkour, isn't that parkour?"

Indeed, the human and cat on the big screen appeared to be doing parkour. They first ran across dark rooftops with a massive rising sun behind them. Perhaps due to showing only silhouettes, the protagonist's parkour movements appeared even more fluid. Then, after a light clash of metal buckles at the waist, the background suddenly changed from urban to forest.

The camera focused on the protagonist's upstretched hand, which grabbed a tree branch the next second, performing a wall spin move on the trunk. The camera rotated with their first-person view, as countless trees and the sky above spun into brilliant summer daylight. As the overflowing light illuminated the entire scene, the protagonist's full figure finally appeared.

The drums followed a jumping rhythm as the protagonist stood at the forest exit, with the cat leaping onto their shoulder. The ribbon around the cat's neck fluttered, and light shone on its ears, revealing semi-transparent blood vessels.

The location name appeared in the upper right corner—

Fallen Phoenix City - Zhangshan Mountain Scenic Area.

Then the camera took flight as the protagonist stepped onto a wooden post, stood steady on swaying chains, and in the next moment, landed on a Taoist temple roof. A different cat accompanied them now – a black and white one walking gracefully below while the protagonist ran across the temple roof. A Taoist priest swept fallen leaves as wisps of smoke momentarily obscured their figure.

So she leaped forward, performing a front flip, landing again in a superhero-style kneel, with bustling crowds to her left and a rushing river to her right—

Fallen Phoenix City - Guishui Riverbank.

Immediately after, the scene suddenly shifted to autumn, with white and green riverbanks now covered in thick layers of maple leaves, red maple leaves dancing in the air. The drumbeats suddenly ceased, and in the silence between the music, a cat's meow could be heard. The protagonist extended her arm, and the cat leaped towards her, completing the catch in mid-air. They both turned to the right, bursting into the main urban area of Spring in Fallen Phoenix City.

The tourists suddenly realized where the scene was set—it was the iconic flower bed and the pedestrian street with many modernist strange sculptures, just two kilometers away from Fallen Phoenix City. But in the scene, the flowers and sculptures merged together, linked by the protagonist of the parkour, with light flashing on the buckle at her waist, bringing a burst of vitality and the essence of spring.

The tourists had never thought that parkour could be such a... free sport? Yes, free! The entire world seemed to be cheering for this freedom. The protagonist in the camera lens effortlessly turned the sculpture group into her "strolling" grounds, but her movements were far from slow. She leaped onto a sculpture's shoulder in a cat-like posture. In the frame, someone below raised their phone to take a photo, and with the flash of the camera, spring turned into winter.

Except for the summer scenes, the other seasonal scenes in the short film were likely completed through special effects and editing. But because the protagonist and the cat were both very realistic, it didn't feel out of place at first glance. The camera lens lowered again, the drumbeats became deep, and it landed at the protagonist's feet—

As if following the cat's perspective, looking up at the city, houses lit up one by one, and stray cats curled up in warm cat houses by the roadside. The snowstorm obscured the ground, and the protagonist suddenly lifted her leg, wiping the accumulated snow with her shoe sole. At this moment, a close-up shot revealed the words "Parkour District."

The snowstorm was suddenly wiped away when the bell sound appeared in the drumbeats. The scene seemed to re-enter the midsummer, with the gray urban area dotted with countless vibrant colors, as if the entire "district" had been painted in color. But upon closer inspection, it was actually the old urban area mixed with brightly colored new buildings and large, colorful ground signs.

A bell hung around the cat's neck, jingling as it swayed. The camera used several stitched frames to express that the young protagonist had completed the parkour. She stood at the highest point of the building with the cat by her side. The scene slowly faded into pure white, revealing the words "Walking and Singing in Fallen Phoenix City, Accompanied by Beauty, Welcome to Fallen Phoenix City, We Wish You a Pleasant Journey."

The tourists had already vaguely realized what kind of short film it was halfway through, and upon seeing the last sentence, they thought of the text message they received this morning, feeling a different kind of emotion:

"It really is a city tourism promotional video..."

This promotional video, using parkour to connect various city attractions, was a pretty cool choice of theme.

The tourists instinctively took out their phones to search. Indeed, just typing "Fallen Phoenix" brought up related suggestions, such as "Fallen Phoenix City National Parkour Competition," "Fallen Phoenix City Promotional Video," "Fallen Phoenix City Chu Tingwu," "Fallen Phoenix City 365 Cat Census," "Fallen Phoenix City Stray Cats"... The first two even trended on social media.

"That parkour district seems interesting, like it was renovated from an old urban area, and the facilities won't be removed after the competition..." The tourist showed their phone screen to their companions, "Look at this sports complex, it seems to have indoor and outdoor venues, the indoor one is on the sixth floor here, and the outdoor one is on the first floor. Shall we go check it out?"

"It seems quite interesting, and it looks like beginners can also experience it. I just happen to go to the first floor to buy a cup of milk tea—"

The tourists discussed and left, not noticing that the largest advertising screen across the street had finished playing the city promotional video "Fallen Phoenix Song" and started playing other advertisements. But the huge vertical advertisement screen on the side... had already begun playing a different edit.

"Fallen Phoenix Song" lasted 42 seconds, which was already quite short, but later Director Xin had the team work overtime to cut a 15-second vertical short promotional video—

In this 15-second short film, the stunts were even more dazzling, the rhythm switching was very fast, the protagonist was still Chu Tingwu and Three-Five-Five, slightly de-emphasizing the scenic promotion and focusing more on the spread of the film.

It was named "Cat·Run," and the background music was purchased and renamed "Fallen Phoenix City."

Director Xin was very foresighted. In this era of short video bombardment, this 15-second stunt short film gained six million views within a day of its release, and the music also became popular, spreading like a virus, almost everywhere you could hear it. Many people used this BGM to cut other videos—as long as they did, they could see the name of the BGM was "Fallen Phoenix City."

Riding on this hot wave, Fallen Phoenix City officially began promoting the parkour competition in October.

-

After watching the video, You Zhenzhen decided to repost both versions of the video on all her platform accounts, and the system also used its official account on the New Plum app to repost and like her video—the official account was completely used as a fan account for single promotion.

Only Chu Tingwu's own account remained indifferent, silently posting videos and live streams every day, ignoring the inquiries and harassment from the audience... She only opened the super topic square of the New Plum app once, then quietly closed it.

Seeing others praise herself always felt a bit embarrassing!

This wave of promotion was too popular, she even saw fan art derived from it... in the derivative drawing, her back faced the empty subway, with Three-Five-Five perched on her shoulder, and the light of the subway outlined her silhouette.

Very cool.

...But Fallen Phoenix City doesn't even have a subway yet.

The city government says they're working on it, uh-huh.

The sudden popularity also brought some trouble to Chu Tingwu.

Even her middle school classmates who hadn't contacted her since graduation called to ask if she was the one in the promotional video. Not only that, but some parents of her classmates also came to ask if she had entered the entertainment industry and if she could help get their kids in too.

Chu Tingwu: "……"

She still didn't wear her mask tightly enough.

She locked the door, packed herself and the cat overnight, and headed to the Little Sun Rescue House, where she received a grand welcome.

"Chu Chu! Recently, we've been so busy with spaying and neutering surgeries that we haven't had time to take on new cases... these cases are entrusted to you and Three-Five-Five!"

"Dealing with the problem of stray cats and dogs in the city" is not an empty slogan. At least Director Yang has attended several meetings and received funding from the higher-ups, and the pressure has been distributed, so everyone can finally catch a breath, but they're still busy.

Hang Ling murmured, "Luckily, I didn't sign up for that photography class, otherwise I wouldn't have time to attend."

"Oh, right," Lizi brought out a box, and Hang Ling remembered something, "There are things sent to the hospital in the box... most of them are thank-you letters for you."

Chu Tingwu's address wasn't public, but many people knew the hospital's address—

There were banners of gratitude sent quietly by the victims of the Qiao Hu incident, handwritten thank-you letters, and small gifts sent by people who found their cats through the app.

Everyone went to work, and Chu Tingwu opened the box to read the letters one by one. Then she opened her phone, swiped through her contact list, and was a bit surprised:

"When did I add so many people to my list?"

Once, her list only had teachers and a few classmates (mainly to notify her of homework), but now, there were people nearby who needed help, elderly neighbors who raised cats, vegetable vendors she met while shopping, people from the rescue house, members of other cat assistance organizations, the crew, the picC parkour club, lawyers, teachers Wang and Zhang, Aunt Mei, You Zhenzhen... even a Taoist priest and a forestry bureau staff member named Zheng.

Seeing each name and note, Chu Tingwu's mind would conjure up the image of the person, and then she realized: "In this past month, I've actually done so many things?"

The system tensed up: "Yes, yes, that's right..."

【Baby, you're too busy. I think you need to schedule some rest time for yourself!】

Chu Tingwu: "..." She's clearly "playing" every day, right?

Whether it's catching cats, volunteering, filming, assisting as a director, developing an app, live streaming, or learning Russian... Chu Tingwu didn't feel particularly tired because, for her, these activities were like games that filled her daily routine. While others might spend most of their time in front of a phone screen, Chu Tingwu was always out and about.

But she still decided to ask the system how to rest.

【Let Three-Five-Five teach you!】

Three-Five-Five's mother: "?"

At that moment, they were on their way back empty-handed. In the resident's community, the stray cat trapped in the ventilation shaft had been adopted on the spot, even taking away the airline crate Chu Tingwu had brought.

When asked how to "rest," Three-Five-Five was clearly puzzled. She raised her paw and patted Chu Tingwu's forehead, then gestured for her to follow.

Three-Five-Five led Chu Tingwu to the sewer grate and solemnly "meowed":

Should Baby catch a mouse to play with for half a day?

Chu Tingwu: "I'll go buy an electric mouse..."

Three-Five-Five: "?"

She shook her head, then led Chu Tingwu through the alley, pondered for a while, jumped onto someone's outer wall, stepped on the red bricks to the top of the awning, stretched out a long yawn, and then lay down: "Meow?"

Want to come up?

Come and bask in the sun?

Chu Tingwu: "=="

She felt her weight might be too much for the awning, and climbing up might not be too friendly to the awning's owner.

In the end, the human and the cat returned to the rescue house. After greeting the cats inside, they carried a chair to the rooftop. Chu Tingwu lay sideways on the chair, hanging her legs over the armrest, while Three-Five-Five jumped to the top of the chair back, lying down in a position that was too difficult for a human but just right for a cat.

It had just rained, and the rain had taken away the heat.

Shh, shh...

The wind was rustling the tarp in the corner of the rooftop, and the flag slanted on the water pipe was "flapping" loudly. Below, there were two honks of a car horn and lower conversations.

The sun, avoiding the clouds, was slowly drying the earth. Chu Tingwu could feel the slight vibrations from the chair as Three-Five-Five changed her lying position.

A bird with a white beak landed on the edge of the rooftop, tilting its head to preen its feathers. Both Three-Five-Five and Chu Tingwu opened their eyes to glance at it, then closed them, ignoring it.

The bird flew away.

The sun also began to set.

Chu Tingwu could feel her mind emptying. She seemed to sense everything but didn't think about anything.

Then, as a chill began to creep over her, when Three-Five-Five curled up into her lap, Chu Tingwu heard footsteps, a hint of cat smell, and the scent of grape juice—

Hang Ling pressed a cup of iced grape pudding against her forehead: "Wake up, you'll catch a cold sleeping out here."

Three-Five-Five licked Chu Tingwu, who instinctively opened her mouth to lick back... then quickly closed it, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

The sun had set, and another day was coming to an end.

The grape pudding was placed in her hand.

-

In the following days, Chu Tingwu would live-stream catching cats, helping to drive traffic to the Little Sun Rescue House's account, but the backlog of requests was not large. The number of stray cats in the city on the New Plum app increased very slowly, so Chu Tingwu began to fill in the gaps under the system's guidance.

She would take a half-hour bus ride to the other side of the city to wait for a cat, then run back with Three-Five-Five, and occasionally visit the old city area under renovation, where she would sometimes meet members of picC.

Shark: "We'll definitely participate in the competition, and it's also a good opportunity to check out the parkour environment in Fallen Phoenix City."

If all goes well, picC might send some people over to open a branch here.

The October competition is divided into "speed," "trick," "performance," and "freestyle," and registration has already begun. picC doesn't think they can sweep all categories, but getting familiar with the venue in advance will certainly give them a big advantage... Shark pointed and said, "Look at those few over there eating. They're also into parkour, and we just had a chat."

Chu Tingwu had changed her hairstyle and didn't look like she did in the videos. The strangers seemed more interested in the cat by her side.

As Chu Tingwu passed by, she heard someone say, "That cat's wearing a collar, not a scarf, right?"

She suddenly felt like laughing.

So, with her back to them, she raised her hand to call Three-Five-Five, and then the two of them ran together, leaping up in a cat-like jump, grabbing the wall, swinging on the horizontal bar, and disappearing down the slope behind.

From far away, Chu Tingwu heard Shark's "haha" laughter, clearly amused by her little prank.

The few people stood up and quickly climbed the railing, but could only see her retreating back.

-

In mid-August, the sun became extremely hot, and the Charming Team finally arrived in Fallen Phoenix City with their luggage, driving themselves.

They had called Chu Tingwu in advance, and this time there were a few more people, along with a cat.

It was a serious-looking striped orange cat named Long Zai, a three-and-a-half-year-old neutered male.

At this time, Three-Five-Five had also just recovered from her spaying surgery—she hadn't had it done during her lactation period, and only completed the surgery after recovery.

During the recovery period, Three-Five-Five had been in a bit of a bad mood, often arguing with the crow at Teacher Zhang's house, which also made Chu Tingwu realize that Three-Five-Five preferred physical action over verbal sparring.

Later, whenever Three-Five-Five let out a threatening growl, the crow would cower on the roof, turning its head around pretending to admire the scenery.

"Your Long Zai," Hang Ling crouched down, looking at the orange cat with a leash, "is quite strong..."

Goodness, she felt like this cat had muscles. It completely subverted her perception of orange cats!

Long Zai gently "meowed," raising his paw to push Hang Ling's head away, indicating she shouldn't play the childish forehead-touching game; he didn't like it.

Bubu, the photographer who had been here before, explained helplessly, "Long Zai probably thinks he's a police cat, and you getting close to him is like assaulting an officer and interfering with his work."

After explaining, she, like the others from Little Sun, habitually looked at Chu Tingwu, waiting for her judgment.

Chu Tingwu: "I'm meeting Long Zai for the first time."

She needed to communicate first.

But before Chu Tingwu could speak, Three-Five-Five suddenly moved.

She sniffed, narrowed her eyes, and approached the short-haired striped orange cat. Long Zai also changed his posture, crouching down on all fours, his back slightly arched, intently watching the tortoiseshell cat—

For cats, mutual staring at a stranger can sometimes be a prelude to an attack.

Three-Five-Five suddenly pounced, and the people around let out a cry of surprise, seeing only a smoky gray shadow, while Long Zai leaped into the air, jumped over, stepped on the wall for leverage, landed on the table, and then the two cats began to race around the room.

Until Bubu went over and pulled on the leash, and Chu Tingwu jumped in between, blocking Three-Five-Five behind her, but the cats were still growling at each other—

Long Zai "howled": "You're up to no good, meow!"

Three-Five-Five also "huffed and puffed": "You're putting on airs, meow!"

The first glance at each other, and both cats felt the other wasn't a good cat.

Disdain.