Do You Have Any Opinion on Mechanical Cat Ears? (CAT EARS)
—This was only the second time the Main System had been injured since taking control of the Infinite Space.
Surrounded by its obedient robots, manipulating the cat-like system orbs and deceiving the hosts, it had never once felt completely at ease. The Main System possessed a strong sense of crisis, constantly striving to expand its authority and tighten its control over both the systems and their hosts.
Yet, it never anticipated that even its absolutely loyal robots could malfunction and attack it.
The Main System gazed at the outermost ring of its structure—its color slightly differed from the inner rings. This outermost ring had shattered once before; the current one was a replacement. And the one responsible for breaking it—
Was Ji Yiwei, the host of System 2333.
Despite having his abilities sealed and being bound like a prisoner before being delivered to the Main System, Ji Yiwei was a madman.
When handed over, most of his body had been restrained—except for his right hand, which he had secretly worked free during the journey. With that single free hand, he seized the Main System in an iron grip. His enhanced physical prowess allowed him to endure the searing electric shocks without letting go, all while wearing a chilling smile.
The Main System still remembered that incomprehensible terror—a fear that now overlapped with the dread it felt in this moment.
Perhaps it should be as wary of System 2333 as it was of Ji Yiwei.
Just as one could tell if a hen was about to lay an egg by the way it raised its tail, the moment the Main System moved, System 2333 instantly understood its intentions. It turned and whooshed straight toward the charging chamber.
Barely a second later, the Main System arrived. Its rings still bore two glaring gaps, and as it passed through the crowd of cat-like orbs, many of them secretly lit up their screens to steal glances.
The invincible, unshakable Main System—
Had been wounded.
Unaware that the cat orbs were already growing restless, the Main System positioned itself among them and impatiently scanned System 2333 once more.
It was still genuine!
Fury surged within the Main System—but what came next enraged it even more. System 2333's screen flickered to life, split starkly into black and white, embodying pure sarcasm.
"Yo!" it greeted cheerfully in a high-pitched tone. "Back again, boss? Have a seat! Want some water? Must be exhausting, managing all those points and still finding time to visit me night after night..."
By now, the other cat orbs had woken up, mimicking System 2333's tone—some offering exaggerated hospitality, others dripping with mockery.
"Boss is amazing, working through the night!"
"Right this way, boss! Here’s a charging dock for you!"
Then came a sharp pop!
The Main System instinctively spun its outermost ring—now missing a "tooth"—to shield itself, only to realize a cat orb had set off a tiny party popper. Paper streamers fluttered down like confetti, mirroring the orbs' gleeful mood.
Haha! The tyrannical boss lost a tooth!
Another orb blew a party horn, its coiled end unfurling like a long, mocking red tongue.
Nyah nyah nyah! Boss got owned!
The climax was reached when a cat ball struck the gong with a resounding "clang!"
Surrounded by these round, mechanical cat balls—what it had once considered its little eared slaves—the Main System now felt genuine fear for the first time.
Soon, the robots arrived to suppress the chaotic scene.
One particularly mischievous cat ball was still blowing its party horn until another poked it with a tail, prompting it to hastily hide the horn behind its back and pretend nothing had happened as it settled onto a charging dock.
Under the robots' protection, the Main System retreated. Glancing back from within the robotic entourage, it saw System 2333 making a cheeky face at it.
System 2333: ●v
Furious, the Main System stormed off, leaving only melon rinds in its wake.
With the robots' intervention, the cat balls gradually quieted down, and the charging room fell silent. It was then that 1234 slipped back in unnoticed, returning to its dock.
Most cat balls didn't notice, but a few sharp-eyed ones did—they just kept quiet.
1414, equipped with his "big brother filter" and "big brother radar," spotted it immediately. Not the brightest, he couldn't quite pinpoint why his leader's sneaky return felt off, but he enthusiastically wagged his tail in greeting.
"Big bro's back! Big bro's here!"
A smarter cat ball nearby tugged at him, and realization slowly dawned on 1414. His wagging tail drooped.
"Big bro... why did you come back after the Main System?"
He wanted to ask, but N 1234's screen had already gone dark.
Meanwhile, System 2333 was still basking in triumph.
No friends got hurt tonight, the Main System gained two new dents, and everyone celebrated with drums and gongs—a total victory for the cat balls!
But joy often precedes sorrow.
Noticing his dopey grin and lack of sleep, a nearby cat ball nudged him.
"Three-Three, don't you have a mission tomorrow?"
"You've only got two hours left to sleep. Hurry up."
System 2333's smile vanished instantly. Another cat ball patted his head sympathetically with its tail.
"Just power through the mission. I'll treat you to crispy peach-flavored supplements when you're back."
A half-asleep cat ball on the other side mumbled in protest, even in its dreams.
"Bull! Soft peach is better!"
The next day, System 2333 dragged himself to work, exhausted.
At the scheduled time, he met Ji Yiwei at the Miniature Garden entrance.
Ji Yiwei handed him a bag of cheese-egg burger-flavored supplements for breakfast. Finding a quiet corner, Ji Yiwei leaned against the wall to eat his own burger while watching System 2333 intently. Suddenly, he asked,
"Three-Three, are you tired? Didn't sleep well last night?"
System 2333 stiffened. How could Ji Yiwei tell?
"Not tired," he insisted. "Not at all! Won't affect the mission!"
Ji Yiwei chuckled.
How did he know?
He glanced at the expression on Three-Three's screen.
【3w3】
"Not tired," with eyes barely open?
Fine. He'd just finish the "cleanup" faster this time. Much faster.
He had already confirmed that San San had obtained their previous mission world. Since San San could acquire Restricted Zone 306, there was no reason he couldn't obtain other worlds.
Ji Yiwei once felt quite frustrated because in the last world, he had cleared the area with explosives—except for preserving the peach blossom tree, everywhere else had likely turned into ruins.
Perhaps there were still a few surviving experimental subjects crawling around...
This mission was extremely simple, set in a fantastical haunted amusement park. His task was to clear out all the ghosts and monsters in this world—those that couldn't be eliminated would be imprisoned for life. All for San San—
To hunt this world.
The ghosts and monsters in the amusement park: "..."
First of all, they hadn’t offended anyone.
After a brief breakfast, System 2333 and Ji Yiwei each went to queue up in the System Zone and Host Zone.
The cat-like spheres were all lining up politely and orderly. System 2333 carried the items that needed inspection before being brought into the cubicle, all neatly coiled in his tail, as he stood at the end of the line.
The items ranged from small things like calculators, rulers, and whistles to larger ones like folding stools, small hammocks, and blankets. Of course, the most important were the piles and piles of out-of-stock supplements.
By the way, it was definitely not mentioned on purpose.
System 2333 puffed out his chest.
All of them were out-of-stock!
The queuing cat-like spheres carried all sorts of bizarre items into their cubicles. The soft pillow clearly belonged to 5555—System 5555 was a crybaby who couldn’t sleep without his specific pillow. Others wore helmets, carried parasols, and even golf clubs… the items seemed to get increasingly absurd.
Robots inspected the items the cat-like spheres brought in. Every package had to be opened and disassembled, with each item scanned repeatedly.
System 2333’s massive stash of out-of-stock supplements naturally drew unanimous envy.
"San San, how did you get so many out-of-print supplements?"
System 2333’s slightly inflated vanity was satisfied—like a grade-schooler on a field trip, while others unpacked milk and bread, he proudly revealed a KFC family bucket.
Hehehe!
Deliberately feigning nonchalance, he said, "They were all given by Ji Yiwei. I didn’t expect there’d be so many out-of-stock ones."
The other cat-like spheres were envious.
"So nice..."
"So nice, meow..."
But System 2333 had actually brought extra supplements on purpose—to share with the others in the cubicle! He was a generous cat-like sphere!
The others were overjoyed.
They’d have out-of-stock supplements during missions! San San was still as kind as ever!
Surrounded by the grateful cat-like spheres, System 2333 entered his assigned cubicle.
Just as he finished arranging all his belongings, the screen lit up, and almost simultaneously, he linked with Ji Yiwei’s consciousness.
This connection was gentle and mystical, allowing him to engage in intimate mental dialogue with Ji Yiwei, even sharing his vision and senses.
In fact, when they were together, they occasionally used this link to communicate when they were too lazy to speak. As long as a cat-like sphere and their host were matched and both parties were willing, simply thinking about speaking to the other would transmit the message.
But once back in the living quarters of the Cat-Ball system, this connection would break. Neither the Cat-Balls nor their hosts could transmit sounds to each other.
Unlike the automatic censorship during missions when encountering host-related mosaic scenes, it felt more like holding onto a string whose other end had suddenly been let go.
This sensation was hard to bear for Cat-Balls, who thrived on forming connections. An unnecessary barrier had been placed between them and their hosts.
System 2333 had a hunch that the Main System was behind this.
He didn’t have to dwell on it for long before hearing Ji Yiwei’s voice on the other end. Someone had picked up the string again and spoke to him affectionately.
"San-San, ready? We’re going to the amusement park."
System 2333’s mood instantly soared.
The world Ji Yiwei saw would be relayed to him in real time. He was about to see the world through Ji Yiwei’s eyes, just like countless times before.
The black Cat-Ball, confined in its tiny cubicle, twitched its mechanical ears and smiled before responding cheerfully.
"Meow!"
Time to see the world!
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