The System Mistook Me for a Cat

After entering the provincial team, Chu Tingwu's next important exam was the national competition.

The national competition was held in early June, where about three hundred members from provincial teams across the country would take the exam together, competing for gold, silver, and bronze medals. The top fifty gold medalists would be selected for the national team.

Chu Tingwu was one of only two members from her school, No. 5 High School, to be selected for the provincial team. Since returning from the winter camp, her skills had noticeably improved, and the coaches in the competition class could see it. However, being selected for the provincial team was still an achievement worthy of being announced and praised at the weekly school assembly.

The principal was responsible for reading out the commendation.

But he felt that whoever wrote the commendation script must have copied it directly from an old document. For one thing—did this kid really attend every class? He had even heard that she never did her homework.

Moreover, the school had recently updated its surveillance equipment, and last month, Chu Tingwu was caught on camera climbing over the school wall. The photo, taken so quickly that her figure was blurred, was still posted on the bulletin board!

Well, half of it was. The other half had been torn off by a cat two days ago, and the remaining half was dangerously flapping in the wind.

...The grade director suspected that the cat was sent by Chu Tingwu, but there was no evidence.

"Sometimes, the school only cares about results, not the process," Chu Tingwu said at the dinner table. "So starting tomorrow, I don’t have to go to class anymore."

The other student who had been selected for the provincial team had also taken a long leave of absence, deciding to study full-time at home with a professional competition coach hired by her family.

Teacher Yuan: "Should we sign you up for a youth class too?"

Chu Tingwu: "== No, that’s not necessary."

She was currently having dinner at Teacher Yuan’s house.

Like the other student, Chu Tingwu had decided to study at home for the next month or so. Of course, the provincial team coach had invited them to join, but not all members attended, and different schools had different schedules. So Chu Tingwu just asked for some electronic course materials.

She was serious about studying at home.

However, staying at home all day was a bit boring. She usually maintained a regular fitness routine, so after finishing her meal, she took on a part-time job at Teacher Yuan’s place—

Every day, she would take Cao Meng to his swimming class for toddlers.

Recently, several children at Cao Meng’s kindergarten had caught a cold, possibly the flu, so they were on break.

Teacher Yuan and Teacher Cao were both too busy with work and didn’t want to send their child to their grandparents for care, so they enrolled him in a class where he would learn math in the morning and swimming in the afternoon.

In return for taking Cao Meng to and from his classes, Chu Tingwu could have lunch and dinner at Teacher Yuan’s house.

That evening, after Cao Meng finished scooping the cat litter, completing his daily chores as a little worker, he asked seriously, "Mom, Dad, why is there so much meat in tomorrow’s dishes? Is it because Sister Chu is coming over?"

Teacher Yuan joked, "Maybe it’s because aliens love eating meat?"

She had long known that her child considered Chu Tingwu an alien, with her drone being a miniature spaceship.

Cao Meng: "No, Aunt Su told me Sister Chu isn’t an alien—she’s actually a tiger in disguise."

He raised a finger: "We have to admit that anything can exist in this world, so it’s normal for there to be monsters."

Teacher Yuan couldn’t help but laugh: "It’s because of that news story, right… Fine, fine, she’s indeed a little tiger, but even monsters have to take exams. Don’t bother her tomorrow; she’s busy."

Cao Meng said "Oh," a bit confused:

Sister Chu next door did need to go to school and take exams, but he hadn’t been pestering her to play. In fact, after dinner today, Sister Chu had said she would stay with him after his trial class tomorrow.

-

The next day, Chu Tingwu had the driver take them to the interest class.

The tutoring center was quite large, occupying the first and second floors of the building. The third floor was a library, and the fourth floor was a cinema. In addition to the toddler swimming class, the center offered other extracurricular activities. The receptionist gave her a keycard and wristband, reminding Cao Meng to wear the wristband at all times, and then pointed them in the right direction.

Cao Meng seemed quite happy.

Although kindergarten was fun, they didn’t have swimming there.

They first went to the waiting room, where Chu Tingwu noticed many parents with their children. She quickly lost her own name and was given a new title: "Cao Meng’s sister."

Some parents had already tried the class and were there to accompany their children, while others were there for the first time, unsure about the teacher’s quality.

After greeting them, Chu Tingwu quietly began to identify the "profiles" of the other parents.

Like a detective, she had recently leveled up her intuition skill to lv2 and had become somewhat addicted to this game—

First, she would form a conclusion, then look for clues to support it, reverse-engineer the evidence, and verify the accuracy of her conclusion.

Sometimes she would make mistakes in the details. For example, a student from another class limped into the room, and Chu Tingwu guessed he had fallen down the stairs on his way out. But later, she overheard him telling his friends that he had suddenly decided to jump from the second-floor window:

"Because that would get me to school really fast! And it’s cool!"

"I even wanted to jump into the school like the person in that disciplinary notice photo, but I couldn’t jump that high—"

Chu Tingwu: *pretends not to hear*.

So, while she could make mistakes, her accuracy rate was still quite high, usually hitting the mark about seventy to eighty percent.

When the swimming coach arrived, Chu Tingwu observed him and concluded… he must have stayed up all night, either gaming or watching short videos.

This didn’t require any intuition skill; just listening to his heartbeat and looking at his expression was enough.

The swimming class was divided into two groups, one for boys and one for girls, each with their own coach and an assistant. Although the coach looked tired, his teaching skills were still intact, and he was good at handling the kids.

Chu Tingwu could tell he was a bit distracted, but he didn’t make any mistakes. Soon, Cao Meng excitedly jumped into the water and started splashing around.

The coach was in charge of teaching, while the assistant watched over the kids. The parents patiently observed from the side, while Chu Tingwu quietly analyzed the parents, using her skills to deduce their professions, personalities, and marital statuses—

She created a table for each person, listing her criteria for judgment, and then let the system score and verify her conclusions.

She played this game for a while, and some parents had already left, planning to pick up their kids after class, while others stayed, waiting until the lesson ended.

Just then, someone entered, followed by the receptionist.

The receptionist glanced into the classroom and quickly said, "Oh, no, your daughter is in the other classroom. Boys and girls are in separate classes."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The person realized they had entered the wrong room, smiled apologetically, and turned to leave.

Some parents were on their phones and didn’t notice, while others glanced up but didn’t pay much attention, continuing to watch the pool.

Chu Tingwu was initially the same… but her intuition suddenly sent her a warning.

...Something wasn’t right.

Almost instantly, an image of the person formed in her mind:

Around thirty years old, carrying the scent of cigarettes, alcohol, freshly washed clothes, and a mix of shower gel and perfume.

Chu Tingwu only saw his right hand; his left hand was in his pocket, so she couldn’t tell if he wore a ring. His neck was bare, and she wasn’t sure if he had calluses on his hands.

Everything else was vague.

She stood there, still able to hear the footsteps of the "parent" and the receptionist—"tap, tap, tap." The "parent’s" steps were steady, while the receptionist’s were a bit hurried. It didn’t seem like there was a problem.

But what if she analyzed further?

The person had driven here, and their car hadn’t been washed in a while. They had eaten something for breakfast… They didn’t have a pet… No, all of this was irrelevant.

Chu Tingwu overheard the man discussing with the teaching assistant, saying he had some family matters to attend to and needed to take his daughter home early. The teaching assistant smiled, and the receptionist said, "This is the parent of child number 013."

The teaching assistant realized who it was and called out, "Pingping, your dad is here to pick you up."

The female coach was still in the pool, and the child named Pingping seemed to splash around a couple of times before reluctantly climbing out, murmuring, "Dad?"

The receptionist patted the little girl's head and helped her change her clothes before handing her over to the man.

Chu Tingwu glanced again at Cao Meng in the pool.

The man was about to leave with the little girl.

She still hadn’t pinpointed what felt off… In fact, after overanalyzing, she began to wonder if her intuition had failed her.

Did the man harbor any ill will toward the little girl? It didn’t seem so, but why did she feel such aversion toward him?

…The man was about to leave with the little girl.

Chu Tingwu heard him thanking the receptionist, while the little girl stood nearby, smoothing out her clothes.

Suddenly, Chu Tingwu pushed the door open.

Other parents nearby noticed her action but quickly returned to their own business.

Chu Tingwu walked directly toward the parent and the little girl. The receptionist was heading back to her desk, and the parent was about to leave with his daughter. From any angle, the scene appeared entirely normal—

But Chu Tingwu grabbed the little girl’s other hand.

The world seemed to sharpen in that moment. That inexplicable intuition told her, yes, this was the right thing to do.

The parent turned around, frowning. "What are you doing?"

Chu Tingwu ignored him and asked the child, "Is he your dad?"

The child froze.

The parent was furious. "What do you mean? What are you doing? Who are you?"

Chu Tingwu crouched down. "It’s okay, no matter if you say yes or no."

The child replied, "...Yes."

The parent was utterly baffled and felt insulted. "What’s wrong with you? Where are your parents?"

But Chu Tingwu ignored him, keeping her gaze level with the little girl. The girl seemed to gather a bit of courage and whispered even softer, "But Mom and Dad are divorced."

Usually… it’s not Dad who picks her up?

The receptionist came over to intervene. "Excuse me, could you please not disturb the other guests?"

Chu Tingwu looked at her and, this time, decided to trust her intuition—even without any evidence—because her intuition had never lied to her.

She said, "Are you dating her dad? Or are you just in that ambiguous stage where you think you’re together?"

The receptionist: "..."

The receptionist’s expression changed instantly.

-

Chu Tingwu handed the little girl over to her mother, who arrived shortly after. The mother cursed her ex-husband for being so persistent and repeatedly thanked Chu Tingwu.

Unsurprisingly, the receptionist was going to be fired… but the girl’s father was still causing trouble.

He was the biological father, so even though the girl’s mother called the police, they couldn’t do much beyond giving him a stern warning.

Though this incident wouldn’t make the news, it spread among the local parents, likely through those who brought their children to the class—Chu Tingwu decided to fan the flames. Even though she wasn’t there for the class, she had parents too.

She told Three-Five-Five about this "terrifying" incident.

Three-Five-Five: "..."

Chu Tingwu: "Meow!"

Three-Five-Five let out a soft "meow" and reluctantly went out to spread the word among the cats.

Two days later, the girl’s biological father stepped out for work and stepped into two piles of dog poop at his doorstep. After changing his shoes, he stepped into two more piles at the entrance of his company.

He: "?"

His colleagues: "...?"

Though no one knew what was wrong with this guy… it was clear his luck had taken a nosedive.

Better to keep a safe distance, just in case.