Do You Have Any Opinion on Mechanical Cat Ears? (CAT EARS)
That night.
Before the curfew time, the charging room hadn't yet settled into silence. Some of the cat-eared spheres gathered in small groups to play with toys, while others perched on their charging docks and whispered to their neighbors in hushed voices. Since everyone kept their volume low, a few cat-eared spheres had already begun to doze off.
System 2333 was among those sleeping. Tonight, his friends Xiao Yi and the others planned to sneak out, so to avoid drawing attention in case the Main System decided to conduct an unexpected inspection, it was best for him to stay obediently in the charging room. Still, this counted as rest—he had been working nonstop for several nights in a row.
As curfew approached, nearly all the cat-eared spheres had returned to their charging docks and gradually winding down for sleep. Soon, the vast charging room fell into complete silence.
—That feeling of being watched again.
But this sensation didn’t frighten System 2333. He detected no ill intent in that gaze—only an unwavering, almost stubborn affection. If anything, the warmth of that stare lulled him into an even deeper sleep.
In his dream, flocks of paper birds swirled and scattered. As their delicate wings dispersed, one gently landed on his… fingertip?
His fingertip?
His cat ears twitched, and System 2333 woke up. He realized it wasn’t morning yet—he had only dozed off briefly, as curfew hadn’t even started. Unnoticed by him, a tiny folded paper wingtip was desperately trying to squeeze itself into a gap beneath the charging dock before vanishing moments later.
Another cat-eared sphere hurried in from outside. Spotting System 2333 passing by, it paused in surprise before quickly calling out,
"Three-Three, curfew’s about to start. Where are you going?"
System 2333 offered a reassuring smile.
"Don’t worry, I know. Just stepping out for a moment—I’ll be right back."
He floated out the door and glanced around.
Nothing. Of course, with other cat-eared spheres still moving about, it wasn’t like anyone could just crouch in front of him and stare. Scratching his head with his tail, he began drifting toward the elevator shaft, weaving against the returning crowd.
"Three-Three, curfew’s almost here."
Every cat-eared sphere he passed reminded him, and System 2333 thanked them each time and promised a quick return.
Skillfully navigating the newly discovered blind spots and glitches in the surveillance, he reached the vicinity of the elevator shaft.
He recalled 5555 mentioning they could sense a gaze here. 5555 was an unusually perceptive cat-eared sphere and often noticing things others missed. While some remained skeptical, System 2333 trusted their instincts completely.
Focusing intently, he, too, began to detect traces of that gaze—especially around the abandoned elevator shaft.
System 2333: "!!!"
His thoughts raced to the secret passage he and his friends had painstakingly carved out—the one that bypassed the Main System’s surveillance and connected to the miniature world above to the systems’ living quarters below. Could these gazes belong to their hosts that were quietly observing them from below?
The realization sent a thrill through him, as if a sudden clarity had dawned.
Indeed, he had initially misunderstood, always thinking the host would come during the quiet late-night hours. He had even planned to actively avoid them, allowing the host to investigate freely. But now it occurred to him—being seen might actually be better!
They, as systems, were bound by confidentiality agreements, but the hosts hadn’t signed any such troublesome contracts.
If a host sneaked over through the elevator shaft to observe them and stumbled upon some earth-shattering secret, well, that wouldn’t be the fault of the cat-ball systems, would it?
Because this matter involved confidentiality agreements, System 2333 couldn’t even tell his friends, as he wasn’t sure where the red lines of the agreement lay. But now that the idea had struck him, he could subtly facilitate things—like bringing other cat-balls over to dance a yangko or something?
The abandoned elevator shaft was like a door between yin and yang, a passage for humans to peer into the world of spirits. After witnessing the vibrant daily lives of the cat-balls, surely the host would develop a new understanding of them. Understanding was the foundation of cooperation, after all!
System 2333 excitedly twisted his two tails into a bow.
But then another thought struck him—if the hosts of the White Bird Project were coming down, then wouldn’t Ji Yiwei also…?
At this realization, System 2333, who had been thinking logically and calmly up until now, suddenly started scratching the ground with his tail.
No way! It was like being caught by Ji Yiwei dancing wildly at home after work with hair all disheveled. Even though he hadn’t done anything outrageous near the elevator shaft, the thought was still embarrassingly mortifying.
As he scratched the ground with his tail, he suddenly heard a small whisper from a cat-ball beside him.
"Bathroom, kitchen, living room, balcony…"
System 2333 raised his screen. A cream-colored cat-ball twitched its ears and greeted him while looking on the verge of tears, clearly frightened.
"Meow, Three-Three, did you just get off work?" A few teardrops appeared on his screen. "Curfew’s almost here, and I want to go back to the charging room, but I’m too scared. Could you please walk with me?"
It was the late-returning 5555. No wonder he was scared—this was the very place where his psychological trauma had originated.
"Of course, no problem." System 2333 patted 5555’s head with his tail and lowered his voice. "Little Five, are you sensing the gaze too now?"
5555 also lowered his voice, sniffling.
"Yes, and—and the gazes have multiplied, wuwuwu!"
Before, there was just one ghost. Now it felt like there were three, meow!
"Three-Three," he trembled, "is it because it’s the dead of night now, and all the ghosts are out, wuwuwu!"
System 2333: "…"
He hadn’t expected the number of gazes to increase.
You hosts really aren’t being careful about this—don’t you have any other way to watch the cat-balls? It feels like a whole crowd is staring at us!
If this many people are watching, we’ll have to start charging!
The atmosphere in the abandoned elevator shaft was so awkward it could make a cat-ball dig out an entire Main System space.
Sheng Songshi, Zhou Yuechu, and Wen Xu exchanged glances, speechless. Zhou Yuechu and Wen Xu had been about to leave, while Sheng Songshi had just arrived. None of them had expected to run into each other, let alone the fact that Sheng Songshi and Zhou Yuechu had just parted ways due to ideological differences.
Zhou Yuechu forced a smile.
"If Mr. Ji were here too, it’d be even livelier."
The other two: "…"
That wouldn’t be "lively."
That would be an explosion.
To explain why this particular combination led to such an awkward situation, we must start from the beginning.
Since withdrawing from the White Bird Project, Zhou Yuechu had actually felt relieved, no longer burdened by guilt. Once all the handovers were completed, she would fully regain her status as a free host.
If she had to go against her conscience to exploit and persecute an intelligent species, Zhou Yuechu knew she couldn't do it—and neither would her late brother Zhou Yueluo, had he still been alive.
With her mind at ease, she began pondering more deeply. Based on her personal experience, she believed the system's sincerity toward hosts was genuine, at least when it didn't involve the Main System.
During dangerous moments in mission worlds, System 1314 was always by her side. Whenever she found herself in mortal peril, 1314 would solemnly say to her:
[Go ahead, Host.]
[The host and system share both glory and downfall. We bear all consequences together.]
Though 1314 was merely reciting lines from the manual, hearing them in those moments always bolstered Zhou Yuechu's confidence.
If these words came from a mechanical program, they might just be placating rhetoric for hosts. But when spoken by an intelligent being, they amounted to risking one's life alongside her.
Yet Zhou Yuechu couldn't blame Sheng Songshi either.
They had invested too much in their original plan—whether it was partitioning the edge worlds or developing viruses. The only variable was Ji Yiwei's forced involvement, dragging a madman into their carefully laid schemes.
Even with Ji Yiwei's interference, Sheng Songshi had barely managed to preserve their trump card. But this was temporary—who knew how Sheng Songshi would handle Ji Yiwei's apparent ambition to swallow the entire White Bird Project?
At dawn, Zhou Yuechu sat in the garden rest area, lost in thought, when someone called her name.
Looking up, she saw Wen Xu.
Wen Xu's attitude toward her wasn't extreme—he even addressed her as "Sister Yuechu"—though his expression was complicated.
"I heard you finally fell out with Sheng Songshi? I always said his plan wouldn't work."
He glanced around; no hosts were paying them any attention, so he lowered his voice slightly.
"Sheng Songshi just clings to what Brother Yueluo left behind. But I've made new breakthroughs based on Brother Yueluo's work—not just seizing control, but actively manipulating robots to continue operating under their original programming."
Pausing briefly, his tone grew proud.
"They'll obey my commands while retaining all their original programmed functions."
He had used old techniques to capture some robots, then employed his new method to let these controlled robots blend back in. The robot that delivered fruit to Ji Yiwei had been one such controlled unit—though he hadn't anticipated just how insane Ji Yiwei truly was.
Zhou Yuechu's lips parted.
"So the robot that first provoked Ji Yiwei was yours..."
"...Yes."
"How many can you mobilize now?"
Wen Xu visibly preened at this question.
"Several hundred by now."
Zhou Yuechu gasped.
The Main System space had thousands of service robots alone—not to mention the Main System's undoubtedly vast army of combat robots!
If Sheng Songshi had holes in his head, then Wen Xu was a head growing out of holes—filled with chuunibyou delusions of leading a robot uprising. As for other plans like preventing the Main System from escaping or what to do after the rebellion? He hadn't considered any of them.
And he dared to provoke Ji Yiwei!
Stupid on top of stupid!
Unbelievably stupid!
Zhou Yuechu was about to lecture Wen Xu, telling him to behave and not court death with half-baked ideas, when she suddenly froze.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar figure strolling leisurely with his hands in his pockets, looking exceptionally pleased.
That eye-catching tea-gold hair and those dark, faintly amused eyes—who else could it be but Ji Yiwei? But why was he in the Miniature Garden? There was no sign of a system with him, so he probably wasn’t here on a mission.
Zhou Yuechu had already averted her gaze, not even looking directly, yet the ghostly Ji Yiwei still noticed. He saw her and flashed a meaningful smile.
Her blood ran cold.
"It's so early and the systems haven’t even started working yet. Why is he here?" she muttered aloud.
Wen Xu, mid-rant, was cut off by her sudden remark and looked baffled.
"Yuechu-jie, who are you talking about?"
"Ji Yiwei."
In less than a second, Zhou Yuechu watched as Wen Xu dove under the table and curled into a standard explosion-defense posture with his hands clutching his head.
He was even trembling.
"I haven’t even gone home…" Wen Xu lamented from beneath the table. "I haven’t dared to go home for days!"
Zhou Yuechu could only console him.
"He seems to be in a good mood. He probably won’t come after you."
Only then did Wen Xu cautiously peek out from under the table—just in time to see Ji Yiwei that after a brief pause, suddenly start walking in their direction!
A ghost! The ghost was coming!
Author's Note:
Ji Yiwei: Saw a cat, happy!
Ji Yiwei: Hm? Who’s over there?
Ji Yiwei: Too happy, might as well scare them before leaving XD
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