Do You Have Any Opinion on Mechanical Cat Ears? (CAT EARS)
With the authorization and appointment from the Main System, System 1234 led a large group of robots to the warehouse district.
The coordinates provided by System 2333 were precise, but to avoid appearing too suspicious, 1234 naturally went through the motions of an inspection. Eventually, he locked onto one particular warehouse.
If he had relied solely on routine checks, 1234 wouldn’t have flagged this as a problematic warehouse.
But how did System 2333 know about it? Could it really be like the rumors whispered among the cat-balls—that Miracle Kitty 33 had some kind of mystical insight?
Facing the tightly shut warehouse door, 1234 raised his tail as a signal. He had already obtained the master key for the entire warehouse district, and a robot immediately stepped forward to unlock it.
Though unpopular among the other cat-balls, none could deny 1234’s dedication to his work. Once he set his mind to something, he gave it his all—a trait the others respected.
1234 had done his homework beforehand, carefully reviewing the rental records of multiple warehouses.
The one before him was supposed to be vacant, yet there were signs of use. Someone must have bypassed the leasing process, using technical means to claim it for themselves.
Before arriving, 1234 had also thoroughly checked the surveillance footage of nearby roads but found nothing suspicious—proof of the intruder’s caution.
At this moment, 1234 had no idea he was engaged in a long-distance game of wits with his own host.
The robots opened the warehouse door and assumed defensive positions for a few seconds, but no attack came. Unafraid of danger, 1234 floated inside—only to be met with a staggering sight.
Hundreds of robots stood in formation with the models of both old and new. Who knew how much they had secretly siphoned from the Main System to amass such a terrifying force? Filled with righteous fury, he reported this shocking discovery.
The Main System: "…"
One less idiot.
"Seize them all. Investigate relentlessly!"
1234 knew the Main System would be furious, but this reaction seemed unusually intense. It was as if an invisible sore spot had been poked—or as if someone had reminded it of past misdeeds but he didn’t dare dwell on it. After all, this was the great Main System.
During the search, 1234 also discovered a hidden door. The password couldn’t be cracked, but that wasn’t an issue. After reporting to the Main System, he simply blasted it open—revealing an empty interior.
1234 was puzzled.
He had expected something even more important and shocking inside, but there was nothing, as if it had been looted. Refusing to give up, he circled the space multiple times but found no trace of anything—not even a single cat hair.
No suspicious marks were left at the scene, as if everything had been meticulously scrubbed.
In truth, Ji Yiwei had made sure to erase all traces of 33’s tail prints and meteor hammer imprints during his last visit. If even the Main System couldn’t detect anything, then his work was flawless.
Though the investigation yielded no further leads, 1234 floated out of the warehouse to watch the robots busily clearing and transporting the confiscated machines. He then gazed at the sky and let out a deep sigh.
System 2333 had truly handed him a major achievement.
The results of this raid sent the Main System into a thunderous rage.
Recently, it had been closely monitoring the system side, especially System 2333 while applying repeated pressure and various means of wear and tear, expecting to force out flaws. Yet unexpectedly, it was the host side that ran into trouble first.
The Main System thought its previous tactic of forcibly assigning tasks within tight deadlines had already caused some internal division among the hosts, which would take time to settle. Who knew they could still stir up trouble!
It decided to shift its focus and investigate the hosts thoroughly.
But just like how splitting a watermelon in half means the melon is dead, the Main System, trying to split itself in half to handle both sides, also "died like a melon."
It failed to realize that its former methodical self had vanished, replaced by one being led around by both the hosts and the system.
Pressing down one gourd only to have another pop up—attending to one side meant neglecting the other.
This was the beginning of its downfall.
When it came to understanding a dogmatic leader, no one knew better than System 2333.
Noticing the Main System was becoming overstretched and diverting more attention to the host side, he seized the opportunity to slip out at night and return to his own Restricted Zone 306.
On the protective net, countless heads of Ji Yiwei grinned brightly at him, granting passage without hesitation.
The moment System 2333 entered the Restricted Zone 306, he was stunned.
Peach trees now stretched as far as the eye could see, their canopies blotting out the sky. The once sparse grassland had transformed entirely—the barren desert had turned into a vast prairie. The ghostly songstress was struggling to weed her fountain.
Utterly bewildered, System 2333 went to ask the resident ghost.
Tears of despair streamed down her face as she sang a mournful tune.
"Ah"
System 2333 nodded.
"So, shortly after I left, a massive world fragment drifted over?"
"Ah ah~ ah ah ah~~"
System 2333 nodded again.
"And that fragment merged with our territory?"
He speculated that a nearby world, drained of its energy, must have broken off and drifted into his own world, which, still in its growth phase, gladly absorbed it.
More and larger fragments might come in the future, expanding his domain.
"Ah ah ah!"
The ghostly songstress pointed tearfully at the overgrown weeds in her fountain.
What a disaster! Grass sprouting everywhere—way too much grass!
System 2333 tucked his tails behind his back like a little old man, though with two tails, it didn’t make him look aged—just like he was sporting a giant bow. Stroking his nonexistent screen beard, he comforted the ghostly songstress.
"Don’t worry, I’ll have the robots start weeding right away."
Ding-dong-ding-dong~ ding-dong!
He pulled out the program storage given by System 4399.
The only slight hitch was that since he’d told System 4399 these robots would be used on a barren desert, the programs included were all desert-appropriate—definitely not weeding. Where would grass grow in a desert?
Thinking quickly, System 2333 imported a hair-trimming program instead. Sure enough, the robots began "trimming" the prairie.
Heh! What a modest little genius he was!
—Until the robots finished "trimming" the prairie and promptly turned to trim his and the ghostly songstress’s heads.
Ghost: "Aaaaah!"
Hair -N.
System 2333: "..."
Ears - 2.
Having retrieved his own ears and the female ghost's hair by beating up robots, System 2333 then spat out the enormous cat ears obtained this time.
The previous cat ear had already been neatly placed on the open ground, surrounded by lush green grass. System 2333 adjusted their positions slightly, making the two cat ears perfectly symmetrical.
Suddenly, thunder rumbled across the sky.
His world was now brimming with energy, even beginning to rain.
This was a sign of the world becoming a true world—a positive development.
System 2333 took shelter under a makeshift awning to avoid the rain.
As the rainwater washed over them, the two giant cat ears were cleansed of dust, becoming clean and shiny. Listening to the sound of the rain, System 2333 suddenly felt extremely happy.
He thought, maybe he should give this world a name? The test subjects and structures had long been buried under flowers and grass, and continuing to call it Restricted Zone 306 seemed disrespectful to this newborn world. But... what should he name it?
This place was quite far from the Main System space and close to the edge of the worlds controlled by the Main System, yet also resembling a small island...
The robot brought over a stone, the female ghost prepared an engraving knife, and System 2333 used his tail to carve two words into the stone:
[Far Isle.]
A distant island.
A distant dreamland.
Perhaps one day, this place would become a refuge for the cat-headed spheres.
The entire world seemed to rejoice at its new name.
After working a bit more with the female ghost and the robot, an alarm icon flashed on System 2333's screen, followed by his entire head buzzing uncontrollably, forcing him to steady himself with his tail.
The time had come.
Everyone should be ready by now, and his storage space was almost completely emptied, with ample room remaining.
It was time to do that thing.
Wen Xu stayed in his laboratory as usual.
Truth be told, he hadn't done much work these past few days—something that would have been unthinkable before. But there was no helping it; only a few robots remained in the lab now. All his other robots were gone.
First, the virus-infected robots were all stolen, then the remaining ones were confiscated by the Main System. He absolutely couldn't risk bringing in new robots now, or he'd surely be exposed and Wen Xu didn't dare check the warehouse either.
Outside, 1234 stood guard with robots almost around the clock, waiting to catch the thief who stole the robots.
The cameras, however, were still mostly operational due to their hidden locations, except for a few that were damaged or ran out of power. The accompanying dumb AI for monitoring was also still functioning.
Too lazy to watch the empty warehouse footage, Wen Xu propped his chin on one hand, zoning out. He thought this might be his punishment, while the dumb AI kept droning on.
[Conclusion: No robot individuals matching requirements found.]
[Conclusion: Stolen.]
[Conclusion: Owner should report to authorities immediately.]
What a literal artificial idiot!
Annoyed beyond measure, Wen Xu was about to shut down the dumb AI when its voice suddenly distorted, as if stuck in a loop as it kept repeating endlessly.
[Con-con-con-con-conclusion...]
Unable to take it anymore, Wen Xu slapped the main console. The dumb AI finally stopped glitching and spoke.
[Conclusion: Robot.]
[Conclusion: Matches objects stored in warehouse.]
[Conclusion: Cancel alarm.]
Wen Xu abruptly stood up.
With trembling hands, he pulled up the surveillance feed.
The outer warehouse remained completely empty, yet inside the hidden storage room, rows of robots were eerily arranged in perfect order!
And judging by their appearance...
They were precisely the batch that had been stolen from him earlier!
Outside the warehouse, the cat-balls were making a swift retreat under camouflage cloth, with System 2333 leading the charge with particular enthusiasm.
Tonight's operation, spearheaded by System 2333, had been planned back when they were still at the mining site.
These robots had kept 4399 working through countless sleepless nights to modify them and equipped them with 4399's own research breakthroughs. As Third-Three had said: since 4399 couldn't seize control and the hosts wouldn't reprogram them, why not combine their strengths to create the perfect form!
Mission accomplished, tails swishing away, leaving only meows behind!
That's just how us cat-balls roll!
Author's note:
Main System (frantic): Press the cat heads!
Main System (worried): Press the human heads!
Main System (distraught): Cat head human head cat head human head cat head human head cat…
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