Do You Have Any Opinion on Mechanical Cat Ears? (CAT EARS)
If the previous statement still seemed like an ordinary debt collection or joke—even giving Sheng Songshi the momentary illusion that "Ji Yiwei could become a comrade"—the next sentence sent a chill down his spine.
"By the way, just like today's bill, I hope the ownership of the White Bird Project can be handed over to me as soon as possible."
His dark eyes were heavy and a superficial smile floating on the surface while an unspoken threat lurked beneath. He glanced at Sheng Songshi, then at Zhou Yuechu, his lips curling in a half-smile.
"Don’t drag it out."
"You two decision-makers should discuss it soon. It’d be best not to wait until the next time I come looking for you."
Ji Yiwei had this ability—he could chat and laugh with you as if you were already friends. But the moment that thought first crossed your mind, he would immediately sense it and, with a friendly demeanor, push you off a cliff.
The most terrifying part was that even after being treated like this, you would still cling to the delusion that you could become his ally.
...Because you had once gotten along so pleasantly.
This wasn’t the first time Sheng Songshi had realized Ji Yiwei could mess with people’s minds, but he hadn’t expected it to be this effective. Despite his efforts to steady himself, he could still feel his emotions churning with unease. By the time he returned to his residence in the Void Zone, night had already fallen heavily.
Of course, this wasn’t his original home—that one had been blown up when Ji Yiwei went berserk. This was a replacement.
Housing in the Main System’s space was cheap; new hosts might struggle to afford it in the short term, but veteran hosts could easily own several properties.
The Main System understood well that humans could easily be dulled by a life of luxury. To make hosts develop goodwill toward it and to work wholeheartedly without second thoughts, it couldn’t shortchange them materially. It also had to dangle the promise of a so-called bright future before them.
But this method didn’t work on Cat-Balls. Cat-Balls didn’t place much importance on material desires—they weren’t greedy, and were just content to bounce around happily for days with just a bag of supplements. They also didn’t dwell on grand ambitions, simply loving to play and work while easily forming bonds and a sense of responsibility with others.
The clever Main System thus wore two faces and employed two methods.
Sheng Songshi sat on the floor beside the scallions he had planted, lost in thought. He reflected on many things, from his interactions with System 1001 to Ji Yiwei’s relationship with System 2333.
In the end, a tiny figure representing Ji Yiwei and a small Cat-Ball representing System 2333, holding each other’s tails and circled above his head in affectionate harmony, laughing as they spun from one side to the other—until Sheng Songshi’s head throbbed with pain.
[Your systems aren’t like this?]
[Brother Sheng, they really are sentient, emotional beings.]
[Searching for treatments for stiff neck...]
These words were like incantations, hammering into Sheng Songshi’s skull one after another, while the laughing figures of Ji Yiwei and 2333 also took turns pounding on his head.
Sheng Songshi didn’t understand how things had come to this.
Those systems—always cold, mechanical, efficient—were actually like that in private. They were... intelligent beings with emotions.
If that were the case, then his long-standing schemes, one of the core strategies of the White Bird Project, would undoubtedly become persecution against an entire sentient species.
He hadn't told Zheng Xibei about that plan yet, intending to reveal it only after implementation began. It wasn't that he distrusted his friend, but no matter how much he emphasized caution, Zheng Xibei's relationship with the System grew increasingly close—laughing together daily in foolish antics. Receiving the news abruptly might cause him to reveal traces.
So Sheng Songshi had only shared that idea with the steady and cautious Zhou Yuechu, who remained silent for a long time before saying she needed to think. This time, after emerging from the elevator shaft and learning the System was actually an intelligent lifeform, Zhou Yuechu's face registered shock before she immediately turned to Sheng Songshi.
Sheng Songshi understood the meaning behind that glance.
Yet, if they didn't employ such methods, if they didn't utilize the System, how else could they shake the Main System after destabilizing the peripheral worlds?
Deep in thought, Sheng Songshi noticed his private communicator faintly glowing. This device, invented by Zhou Yueluo, helped them evade the Main System's surveillance—nearly all hosts of the White Bird Project used it privately.
"Brother Sheng, I'm at your door. We need to talk."
Sheng Songshi opened the door to let Zhou Yuechu in. She was damp with night dew, as if she'd wandered in the cold for hours.
Carrying a bag of instant noodles, Sheng Songshi recalled Zhou Yueluo mentioning how his sister stress-ate noodles frantically.
True to form, Zhou Yuechu asked for hot water to prepare the noodles upon entering. As they waited at the dining table, she took a deep breath and cut straight to the point.
"Brother Sheng, do you still intend to carry out that plan?"
Sheng Songshi remained silent. Zhou Yuechu leaned on the table, standing abruptly with uncharacteristic agitation. Normally respectful and composed, this was her first breach of decorum.
"They're intelligent lifeforms!" she whispered fiercely, her eyes pained. "The original plan involved using viruses to corrupt them, even employing them as direct mediums to attack the Main System—whether through explosions or other means, treating them purely as..."
She couldn't continue and could just press a hand to her forehead.
"It's too cruel... too brutal..."
Sheng Songshi let the silence stretch before speaking slowly.
"Yuechu, ever since learning the System is intelligent, I've been contemplating one thing." He gazed at the dim ceiling from his chair. "These beings are loyal to the Main System. Our situation may have grown more perilous."
Zhou Yuechu froze.
"As intelligent lifeforms, their obedience stems from genuine devotion. There are no bugs to exploit, no program logic—just greater cunning and adaptability..."
As Sheng Songshi spoke, Zhou Yuechu trembled slightly.
If previously using the System to attack the Main System had tested her limits, then utilizing sentient Systems as weapons would shatter them completely.
"...Brother Sheng, I still can't accept it." She closed her eyes in anguish, then opened them with renewed hope. "But since the system is an intelligent being rather than a rigid program, doesn't that mean they could potentially be swayed? Their loyalty to the Main System should be shakeable. We could take a different approach—"
"Yuechu."
Sheng Songshi interrupted her.
"You know perfectly well this is just an overly optimistic fantasy. The White Bird Project can't withstand the damage when such illusions shatter."
"......"
Seeing Zhou Yuechu finally break into silent tears, Sheng Songshi sighed deeply.
"Yuechu, when I learned the systems were actually intelligent beings, the shock I felt was no less than any of you. I understand that feeling—how every past interaction you'd explained away as programming suddenly becomes memories of interacting with a living being. Their responses to you, their reminders, those moments when you fought side by side in missions..."
Zhou Yuechu choked back a sob. "Yes... looking back now, when Ji Yiwei went mad and System 1314 recited that specific clause from the Infinite Space Host Guidelines to me... that might have been a veiled warning."
Because of that warning, she'd managed to persuade Ji Yiwei to change his mind and spare Sheng Songshi's life.
"To be honest, I've also felt... that joy of mutual understanding in certain moments," Sheng Songshi said softly.
In his reckless youth, he'd looked down on everyone except his close friends—System 1001 had stayed by his side.
When news of Zhou Yueluo's death came, filling him with grief and rage, making him treasure those around him while blaming the systems—System 1001 had still remained.
System 1001 was excellent—always stable, efficient, fighting alongside him in mission worlds. So when he learned 1001 was actually an intelligent being who'd borne his many emotions despite not being an AI, the guilt cut deep.
—Yet he still wouldn't waver.
"Yuechu, I fear we're running out of time. At the last veteran hosts' gathering, the Main System clearly noticed the undercurrents among us. They're already implementing new regulations to root us out and suppress us. The situation... isn't optimistic."
He repeated:
"The situation isn't optimistic."
He extended his hand to Zhou Yuechu, just as he had after sitting motionless for three days following Zhou Yueluo's death, when he'd gone to gather trustworthy friends and standing before the sobbing Zhou Yuechu with this same outstretched hand.
"—For all hosts. For us. For Yueluo."
"Yuechu, let's continue the White Bird Project."
Without his usual non-prescription glasses, Sheng Songshi's eyes revealed nothing but sincerity and resolve. He stood firmly on the hosts' side—to prevent them, all hosts, from reaching that terrible ending. He would bear all the accusations of deception and cruelty.
This was Sheng Songshi's determination.
As she looked at his extended hand, Zhou Yuechu's expression grew increasingly tormented. She clutched her disheveled shoulder-length hair, letting it curtain her face.
A long time passed—long enough for the soaked instant noodles to lose their aroma—yet Sheng Songshi's hand remained steadily outstretched.
"...Brother Sheng, I'm sorry."
Zhou Yuechu lowered her hands from her head.
"I'm withdrawing from the White Bird Project."
The barrier she could never cross was called—
Her own conscience.
Each person has their own worries, but System 2333 is a carefree cat-ball.
Last night, he struggled all night trying to exploit a bug—utter failure. Frustrated, exhausted, and still feeling bloated from that big-eared thing he ate without having a chance to spit it out, he was thoroughly uncomfortable.
All these discomforts led him to openly slack off during the day, sleeping in his cat bed beside Ji Yiwei with his tail stretched straight out.
Ji Yiwei glanced at the time, thinking that San San had slept long enough. Even cat-balls could feel groggy and sluggish from oversleeping, just like humans. But he couldn’t bear to wake San San directly, so he twisted open a packet of supplements, placed it nearby, and gently fanned the scent toward him.
In less than a second, System 2333 abruptly lit up, with his first action being to gobble down the supplements with enthusiastic "nom-nom" sounds.
Boot-up speed surpassing 99.9% of all kittens in the Infinite Space!
After finishing the supplements, System 2333 stretched lazily and woke up. He glanced sideways at Ji Yiwei with his vertical-line eyes, and Ji Yiwei immediately started acting spoiled.
"San San, let’s eat out today."
System 2333 checked the schedule—today was indeed Ji Yiwei’s turn to cook—and mercilessly called him out.
"You just don’t want to work and want to splurge instead! Zero! Zero! Zero! Zero!"
But Ji Yiwei was both clingy and skilled at wheedling. System 2333 had no choice but to agree to go out with him. However, just before leaving, he hesitated.
He remembered what System 1314 had once said—Ji Yiwei had joined the White Bird Project. System 2333 believed Ji Yiwei must have had a necessary reason to join, not out of greed as Xiao Yi had claimed. Yesterday, Ji Yiwei had taken him to a leisure resort in the Forest Zone, slept with him at night, and then napped with him during the day. Wouldn’t that interfere with his work?
Cat-balls took work very seriously. Ji Yiwei should be busy—did he really have time to eat out?
"If you have work, you should do it first," he said earnestly.
Ji Yiwei smiled.
"Things should be pretty relaxed lately."
He had long noticed that there were two factions within the White Bird Project—the hardliners led by Sheng Songshi and the moderates led by Zhou Yuechu. Faced with the formidable enemy that was the Main System, both sides chose to set aside their differences and cooperate. But now that they knew the systems were sentient beings, those differences would only widen.
Ji Yiwei didn’t want either faction to gain the upper hand—or rather, he didn’t want either of them at all.
He wanted to take control of the White Bird Project. More importantly, he wanted a White Bird Project that obeyed him like an extension of his own will.
To achieve that, he was willing to spend more time—pressuring, provoking, inciting, observing.
Right now, the White Bird Project…
Was probably already tearing itself apart.
Author's Note:
Sheng Songshi is a great leader—he always stands on the side of the hosts, just like Xiao Yi always stands on the side of the cat-balls.
But San San’s stance is everything, and Ji Yiwei… well, he has no stance. If San San says jump, he asks how high. (Shrugs)
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