The System Mistook Me for a Cat

Chu Tingwu's life remained busy and fulfilling, though it seemed even more hectic than before.

However, her classmates clearly didn't see it that way—

Different academic competitions had varying schedules, with the biology competition being earlier. In theory, everything would be settled by July this year.

For most students, once the results of the provincial competition (the league) came out in April, some could turn their attention to preparing for the college entrance exam.

How Chu Tingwu managed to keep up with her studies, maintain daily physical exercise, and even go out for outdoor activities twice a week was beyond them.

At the start of the school year, all their classes were suspended, and students focusing on competitions spent their entire day solely on their competition preparation... By early April, the atmosphere in the class seemed to have grown even more tense.

When Chu Tingwu was live-streaming, even some fans advised her: "Mibao, you don't have to stream VR content. Just stream yourself doing homework to fill the time. After all, your competition exam only happens once in a lifetime."

In the face of such an important exam, everything else had to take a backseat.

Chu Tingwu felt that they were more nervous than she was.

The system was also nervous—

But it was nervous about Chu Tingwu's birthday, as she had requested it to "not make a big fuss" this year. The system finally toned it down, only collaborating with Fenghua Network to have the website display a birthday greeting on the homepage and organize a related video competition—yes, a VR live-streaming competition.

When Chu Tingwu opened her phone early that morning, her expression was one of "=。=". Perhaps to cover up the obviousness, the homepage greeting not only wished "Happy 17th Birthday to A'chu" but also celebrated the "66th Day of VR Live-Streaming." What was there to celebrate about that?

This attempt to downplay the occasion naturally drew some criticism, and the website quickly added a note, laughing it off and explaining that all major contracted UPers on the platform would receive similar celebratory activities. They emphasized that the birthday greeting and the live-streaming competition should be seen as separate events—yes, separate.

In the pinned video on Chu Tingwu's channel, Tian Shi left a birthday message, earning herself a one-day cake avatar badge and a birthday hat emoji that would appear when she replied. She then suggested to the system:

"Should we change the VR interface's UI too?"

Make it more festive!

She said this with a hint of frustration, as she had realized that she would have to work overtime during Chu Tingwu's birthday—her overtime task was to create illustrations for a new campaign by 365 Company, which was part of the activities celebrating Chu Tingwu's birthday, organized by the company below.

Tian Shi: "..."

What to do? I feel like my love for my favorite has decreased by 0.1%. Let me go and draw a congratulatory illustration for your boss!

Indeed, this year she didn't have time to create a full video, so she settled for a celebratory illustration and even made a cake herself—which she ate after taking a photo of it for Chu Tingwu.

Chu Tingwu: "=="

She silently gave it a like.

At midnight that day, she marked her calendar with a cat paw print, and three days later, she checked off the date—the day of the league competition.

Jin City was the provincial capital, and the students from Fifth High were fortunate to take the exam locally.

The league competition began on an ordinary day, with neither hot nor cold weather. Everyone was transported by bus, with the second-year students sitting in the back, either silently reviewing their notes or dozing off. Then, Chu Tingwu heard some chattering.

Soon, the first-year juniors boarded the bus.

They looked at their seniors with a mix of curiosity, nervousness, and excitement. Those who were woken up exchanged glances—

Though it was just a matter of sitting in the front or the back, everyone's feelings were somewhat complicated.

...Perhaps next year, these juniors would look at the new first-years in the same way?

The girl next to Chu Tingwu nudged her. She turned her head in confusion, and the girl whispered, "Let me lean on you for a bit."

She rested her head on Chu Tingwu's shoulder.

Sunlight streamed through the bus window as they drove further away from the school gate. Regardless of the exam results, for most people, this exam would be something they remembered for the rest of their lives.

When Chu Tingwu arrived at the exam hall, she felt surprisingly calm.

The competition consisted of two rounds: a written test and a practical experiment. The written test was entirely multiple-choice, with single and multiple correct answers... She finished it very quickly.

Some questions were familiar, having been covered by Zhou Qiang and others during their study sessions. They had even guessed most of the questions during their group calls, where they quizzed each other—this time, they had guessed about seventy to eighty percent of the questions. But Chu Tingwu knew that they were mainly helping her with last-minute preparation.

As for the slightly unfamiliar questions, Chu Tingwu read the prompts and directly selected the correct answers from the options she was unsure about.

As she wrote down her answers, she felt a sense of realization—

So, after finishing the test, she couldn't help but ask the system: "I got all these questions right, didn't I?"

【Your [Intuition Lv1] has upgraded to [Intuition Lv2].】

【Whether in combat or in daily life, your intuition will provide you with more convenience, as it is mostly correct.】Nôv(el)B\\jnn

【After the upgrade, the improvement in combat instincts is more noticeable, and your physical abilities have also been slightly enhanced.】

The system replied: "Yes, all correct!"

But this wasn't just due to intuition. Rather, this sixth sense was closely tied to the knowledge Chu Tingwu had previously studied—she had encountered the relevant material before but hadn't fully memorized it. Now, her intuition retrieved the information from her memory and told her, "Choose this one."

The system offered some advice for further upgrades:

"You need to keep trying and verifying—repeatedly activating the instincts buried deep in your memory and turning them into intuitive choices."

When the number of "always being right" instances reaches a certain point, a qualitative change will occur, allowing the skill to reach Lv3.

At Lv1, the ability to discern the intentions of other beings was based on subconscious information processing. The brain captured this information but didn't present it to Chu Tingwu directly, instead telling her: "That person is bad, the exit is to the left, just listen to me!"

With each level, the amount and speed of information processing increased, becoming: "Choose A, this place is about to explode, just listen to me!"

And by Lv3...

The system said: "You'll know how to make a random pot of stew taste better!"

Chu Tingwu: "That's good enough."

She had thought it might allow her to turn an alien she'd never seen into a more palatable local dish!

Chu Tingwu didn't bother changing her answers; the ones she had chosen blindly were her own, so there was no need to resist them. After chatting with the system, the exam ended.

Chu Tingwu realized she hadn't reviewed her paper—but her intuition told her there were no mistakes caused by misreading the questions.

The feeling of the recent upgrade was intriguing. While the heightened senses were noticeable and explicit... the effects of the intuition skill were more subtle.

She decided to fully embrace this feeling—

Then, her footsteps faltered as she was about to leave.

Other examinees passed by her. Some walked a few steps before squatting down to cry, only to be quickly pulled away by their classmates. The surrounding "atmosphere" was heavy. Chu Tingwu turned to look at someone standing in a daze, and a thought suddenly popped into her mind:

"His parents are going through a divorce."

This thought came out of nowhere, as there was no evidence to support it. Chu Tingwu tried to analyze why her intuition had come to this conclusion.

He did seem to be in a bad mood, with heavy eye bags, but so did everyone else here. He smelled of breakfast, shoes, engine oil, and a hint of wintergreen oil... as well as a faint scent of plum blossoms.

The plum blossoms that hadn't yet withered were only found in the easternmost neighborhood of the district. She had smelled them while parkouring just a couple of days ago, narrowing down where he lived.

He was wearing the uniform of Sanzhong High School, which is located in the East District. As she was parkouring, she seemed to overhear a conversation below about a couple in Building Three who were on the verge of divorce and had even hit their son who came to mediate… They mentioned that the child was doing exceptionally well in school…

"What a pity, isn’t there an important exam coming up for the kid? Even if Old Kong and his wife want to fight, they should at least wait until after the exam!"

Perhaps Chu Tingwu had been staring for too long, the classmate turned to her: "Uh… do you need something?"

Chu Tingwu shook her head. Someone in the distance called out, "Kong Kancong, let’s go! The teacher is about to take attendance!"

Chu Tingwu said, "They’re calling you."

Kong Kancong was a beat slow: "Oh… oh!"

It wasn’t until he got on the bus that he thought to himself: How did she know they were calling me?

Chu Tingwu felt a strange sense of satisfaction as her intuition was confirmed. However, when the school bus returned to the campus, she glanced out the window and frowned.

Everything outside seemed normal. There weren’t many cars at the school gate, but Chu Tingwu couldn’t shake the feeling that she smelled something familiar yet unfamiliar… It was ordinary, but for some reason, she found it distasteful.

The others got off the bus one by one, and Chu Tingwu turned to look again.

A person stepped out of a white luxury car parked across from the school gate and hurried over to Chu Tingwu: "Miss Chu?"

Chu Tingwu said, "I don’t like Western food."

The man was momentarily taken aback, then smiled politely: "Understood. Please wait a moment, I’ll need to consult with the boss."

He made a call to Shen Yue.

-

The driver started the car, while Secretary Qiu discreetly observed Chu Tingwu through the rearview mirror.

When he had been waiting to pick her up, he had been watching the school bus return, noting the students as they got off—some looked tired, others relaxed. But when Chu Tingwu stepped off the bus, Secretary Qiu had a sudden thought:

Yes, this is the one.

Chu Tingwu carried her bag with one hand, her tall and slender figure giving even the simple school uniform an air of elegance. As the weather was turning warmer, she had rolled up the right sleeve, revealing a section of her forearm.

The people around her were chatting in small groups, not too close to her, yet somehow encircling her.

Secretary Qiu noticed that whenever Chu Tingwu spoke, the others would turn their attention to her… She was the one most people wanted to talk to, but their demeanor wasn’t rushed, as if they knew their turn would come.

This was a girl who patiently answered every question, responded to every comment, making people feel close to her yet not daring to overstep. If she wanted to, she could easily become the school’s star, the kind of person her peers looked up to… No, Secretary Qiu thought, she already was that person.

Although he had always known that the boss was married for the second time and had two children from his previous marriage, it wasn’t until the boss’s divorce that Secretary Qiu learned who those two children were.

It was said that Chu Tingwu had been assigned to the boss’s custody, and the person responsible for sending her living expenses was Secretary Qiu’s colleague… the same secretary with whom the boss had been having an affair.

*Ahem.*

Secretary Qiu didn’t forget his mission and spoke up: "Miss Chu, Mr. Shen has come to Jin City specifically to discuss the matter of custody with you. The divorce between Mr. Shen and Ms. Jian is mostly settled, except for the issue of your custody… Ms. Jian, as your stepmother, is insisting on having custody of you, and she claims it’s your wish. This has deeply saddened Mr. Shen—"

Chu Tingwu cut him off: "Ms. Jian is right."

Secretary Qiu tried to phrase it more delicately: "If you choose to go with Ms. Jian, Mr. Shen may reconsider the future distribution of his assets. Moreover, Ms. Jian still has to take care of Miss Mu Xi."

Chu Tingwu: "Mhm."

Chu Tingwu: "If he doesn’t want to pay for Mu Mu’s living expenses, I can support her through college."

Secretary Qiu: "…"

She’s impenetrable, utterly impenetrable!

He glanced at the driver, then thought about Chu Tingwu’s background and decided to lay it all out: "Mr. Shen and Ms. Jian’s negotiations have fallen apart. Currently, you’re the only child under his custody. After contacting his ex-wife, Ms. Lu, he’s been in a bad mood—Anyway, if you just give in a little, the assets will likely all go to you in the future."

Even though Chu Tingwu was already wealthy, why would she pass up the chance to become even wealthier?

Chu Tingwu pondered for a moment.

The car stopped in front of a restaurant.

Before getting out, she finally spoke:

"Did he visit our ancestors’ graves this Qingming Festival?"

Secretary Qiu: …No, because Mr. Shen was still dealing with his divorce case.

Chu Tingwu smiled: "Then when he goes bankrupt, I can fund his tuition for senior college."

That is, if her middle-aged father was willing to go back to school.