The System Mistook Me for a Cat

**Name Collision!**

"That was their idea first..."

We worked so hard to come up with a name, only to find it was already taken!

"I told you they came up with it first!"

"Can't 'they' just change it—"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"No."

A group of "youngsters" who hadn’t attended college were disappointed to discover the name collision. During the meeting, they had overloaded the other attendees with excessive information. It wasn’t until Manxing went back to tidy up that she realized something was off. But after some thought, she realized the game really suited the name "Learning Pass," as the focus on learning outweighed the gaming aspect.

Still, something felt strange.

So, within the company, the employees, feeling a bit awkward, decided to change the name to "Learning Pass (Cat Edition)." The final name would be decided later, as there was still plenty of time from game design to official release.

However, internal testing and seminars could start right away.

The meeting was held online, scheduled on a weekday, with key members from the branch offices attending. You Zhenzhen even brought Tian Shi, who was slacking off at her own company, to the meeting.

This time, Chu Tingwu explained the game design more clearly. Tian Shi listened and couldn’t help but remark:

"Seems like... a huge investment?"

But it also sounded really fun.

Tian Shi wasn’t technically an employee of Wu Voice Group, but due to various connections, she always managed to sneak into important meetings. She had gone from being a fan to someone with insider information, collaborating long-term with her idol’s company on outsourced projects... a truly dedicated fan.

Tian Shi: "=="

After listening to the meeting next door, she couldn’t help but come up with several ideas and additional designs. She opened a new document and started typing. But as she typed, her boss sent her a message, asking her to come to the office.

Tian Shi: "..."

Oh no.

While their company usually turned a blind eye to employees doing outsourced work, Tian Shi was embarrassed to realize—she wasn’t actually doing outsourced work this time. She usually didn’t do her side projects in the office... because this time, she was providing designs for free, without charging her idol.

She was basically working out of love!

But her boss didn’t care about that.

After finishing overtime and returning to her rented apartment, Tian Shi lay on the sofa. The billboard outside her window had already changed its content. This was downtown Sea City, a symbol of prosperity and expense. She had graduated from a prestigious university, outcompeted all her peers to land her current job... but the initial excitement and passion had long since cooled. After work, she spent most of her time in a daze.

Later, she decided she couldn’t go on like this and picked up her old hobby—chasing idols and creating fan content. To produce better content for her idol, she used her spare time to continue improving herself. Over the years, the only idol she still followed was Chu Tingwu... and she had even infiltrated her idol’s company.

Whatever, time to sleep. Tomorrow, I’ll check when the national biology competition results come out.

But the next morning, Tian Shi received a different call.

It was from Wu Voice Group headquarters, formally asking if she’d be willing to come in for an interview. If she passed, she’d be in charge of the "Learning Pass (Cat Edition)" project.

Tian Shi: "?"

Tian Shi was furious: "You’re such a big company, can’t you stop with the nepotism? Do I have any experience? This project is huge; it’ll probably spin off into its own subsidiary. Are you expecting me to be the general manager then? I’m just a designer; I know nothing about running a company. What if we lose money? Even if your boss doesn’t care, I care if she loses money!"

HR: "Uh..."

You’re not even hired yet, but your sense of responsibility already surpasses most people.

The HR didn’t expect to have to explain that the company wasn’t practicing nepotism and to list out Tian Shi’s qualifications—it felt like the roles were reversed—but Tian Shi was indeed a suitable candidate. She might lack management experience, but her personal and professional background was solid, and she clearly cared more than most.

"Because it feels like you really like this project?" Chu Tingwu later said when she called Tian Shi.

Tian Shi’s full name was Su Xuan. Facing her idol, she was much more polite:

"Then I’ll go lose money for you."

Chu Tingwu laughed: "Then I hope you make an interesting project while losing money. Profit and fun—you gotta have at least one, right?"

Tian Shi thought that made sense. Wu Voice Group had recently opened a branch in Sea City. While going through her resignation process, Tian Shi, with the help of new colleagues, began assembling a game development team. Everything was in its infancy, and she felt like there was an endless amount of work. One late night, while scrolling through news updates, she suddenly realized—

The national biology competition results were out!

-

When Chu Tingwu arrived at the training camp with her luggage... she realized that most of the national training team were familiar faces.

The top 77 in the national competition received gold medals, and the top 50 entered the national training team. But most of the people here, Chu Tingwu had already met during the winter camp, and they had all seen her too.

The International Biology Olympiad was in July, but the training camp didn’t teach them any courses. Instead, they were subjected to rounds of exams—just like during the winter camp. Lecture time was reduced, and exams became more frequent. After each exam, they weren’t told their rankings, but they always received their scores.

Chu Tingwu could feel a cold yet intense atmosphere. The students here were the top of their age group nationwide. Barring any surprises, they’d likely continue being classmates in university... except for Chu Tingwu, who, after exams, would search for what courses the animal conservation major at the University of Science and Technology would take.

If all went well, by early July, after the final selection of 50 to 4, four people would fly to the Republic of Magana to compete in the international high school biology competition. At this point, everyone here was a competitor for those spots, but once the selections were made, they’d cheer for their fellow countrymen on the international stage.

Chu Tingwu was feeling a bit dazed from all the exams when Tian Shi contacted her to say that "Learning Pass" had entered internal testing.

Chu Tingwu: "...Don’t mention studying to me."

Tian Shi: "?"

Chu Tingwu: "How about we change the app name to 'Game Pass'?"

Tian Shi: That would be way too un-academic, no?

After some deliberation, the name for the internal testing version became—

"Learn Not Pass (Cat Edition)"

Chu Tingwu: "=v="

She brought Zhou Qiang and Chu Xiao along to check out the internal testing.

-

Yang Xi was also keeping an eye on the new software being developed by Wu Voice Group.

She wasn’t a fan of Chu Tingwu but was a member of the game platform UX team—her job included writing recommendations for new software on the platform and testing independent games submitted for approval.

Additionally, her department required her to search for "hidden gem" games, experience them, and write reviews, submitting weekly reports.

No matter how much she loved playing games during her student days, after working for so long, she felt like she’d rather read a couple of books... though definitely not math books.

So, when Wu Voice Group merely hinted at developing an AR game, Yang Xi immediately took notice.

A passing colleague poured cold water on her enthusiasm: "From game design to release, dragging it out for two years is considered fast. What’s the point of paying attention now?"

Yang Xi: "But this is Wu Voice we’re talking about."

She shrugged, not bothering to argue further—she wasn’t actually a fan of Chu Tingwu. It was only after buying knee pads that she learned about Chu Tingwu and the company behind her.

Buying the knee pads was a coincidence, but she quickly became a fan. As a desk-bound office worker with negative athletic ability, every time she watched a VR livestream, she felt like she could push herself a little more. So, she particularly loved the outdoor livestreams.

Later, when the company released compatible equipment, she immediately placed an order.

Yang Xi discovered the terrifying efficiency of Wu Voice Group when she was buying elbow pads—other companies usually take over a year to develop something, constantly pre-selling and delaying, but Wu Voice Group seemed to operate as if development time didn’t exist. They could start production straight from the blueprint, complete testing, and launch immediately, not keeping users waiting for even a second.

A reporter once asked about the reason behind this, and the spokesperson, with the calm demeanor of someone who owns a lively and aloof cat, replied:

“Because our boss uses it too.”

Yang Xi hadn’t waited in vain.

Half a month later, she received a link to sign up for the game's closed beta. The link was only live for half a day because the beta only needed 300 participants, selected from 20,000 applicants. Yang Xi was incredibly lucky to be chosen.

When she found out she had been selected, she jumped up from her chair—

Damn, now she had something to write about in next week’s report!

However, an AR game… what kind of equipment would it require?

The game’s description was vague, only stating that it was an AR-based learning assistant game with elements of nurturing and combat… and the name didn’t exactly sound exciting.

Yang Xi: Whatever.

At least she had something to write about for next week’s report.

She was added to the beta testing group and then downloaded the software called *"Can’t Learn (Cat Edition)"*. This was a closed beta with data wipe, but after the official launch, beta testers would receive permanent skins and special titles as gifts.

This was pretty standard, and Yang Xi didn’t care much about it.

She still had work to do, so she downloaded the software and set it aside, only opening it after finishing her tasks.

Her colleagues, upon hearing she had gotten into the beta, joked that she should call them over when she started playing—

After all, it was an AR game developed by Wu Voice Group, and they were genuinely curious.

If it could achieve even half the effect of the AR tiger from the news… even if it was a learning “game” with weak gameplay, plenty of people would probably grit their teeth and play it, right?

When Yang Xi finally finished her work, her colleagues gathered around. She held up her phone and first checked the app’s icon: a pink-and-white cat paw with a small round “No” tag in the corner.

It was kind of cute.

Suppressing a laugh, she opened the app. It started with the usual account registration and identity verification process, followed by—

**[Please choose your cat.]**

Yang Xi pondered for a moment, and a colleague chimed in: “Got it, it’s like Pokémon battles!”

With AR being a blend of virtual and real-world interaction, combined with nurturing and combat, a “Pokémon”-style capture, train, and battle mode made sense. The colleague speculated that Wu Voice Group might be trying to create their own IP with this game, turning it into a battle mode where learning was required to nurture the “Pokémon.” If done well, it could become a hit.

Yang Xi nodded but also felt a bit helpless: “But Pokémon AR can only be seen through the camera, right?”

AR that’s visible to the naked eye is called virtual projection, while the more common AR in games is virtual manifestation, which only appears on the phone screen.

She chose a cat that caught her eye, and a tiny kitten appeared on the screen. The system prompted her to scan and input test questions to feed the kitten and help it grow.

A colleague brought over a book for civil service exam preparation. Sure enough, after scanning and inputting the questions, the kitten grew slightly bigger… but where was the AR?

The system seemed to read her thoughts and popped up a notification, informing her that she could go to nearby locations to find AR images.

Yang Xi laughed: “I’ll have to tell the boss I need to go out for work.”

Colleague: You just want to go out and play *Pokémon Go*, don’t you!

Damn, but the excuse was pretty solid. They all agreed that if Yang Xi found any cats while out, she should “catch” them and bring them back to show everyone.

Yang Xi shrugged.

She followed the instructions to a location two streets away. It was a pedestrian street, often used for events, and it seemed like it had just been renovated. She tried to open the camera mode to “catch the cat,” but the app didn’t seem to have a camera mode… so how was she supposed to catch Poké—err, cats?

As she got closer to the IP location, the app suddenly popped up a selection box—

**[Would you like to deploy your cat for battle?]**

**[Your cat’s name is [Xi Bao (Sea City - Weixin District)]. Would you like to represent Sea City - Weixin District and compete for a spot in the next round?]**

**[Please note, Xi Bao is still very weak. It’s just a baby.]**

Yang Xi reflexively clicked “Agree.”

**[You have been matched!]**

Then she thought: Wait, what?

The next second, the nearby device started running, and a middle school girl holding a phone looked over in confusion.

In the middle of the crowded pedestrian street, a virtual projection unfolded in mid-air. An invisible platform floated, and two virtually projected kittens appeared in the center.

One was chubby and looked around curiously, while the other hadn’t even opened its eyes yet. Their movements were lifelike but had the semi-transparent quality of virtual projections.

Everyone could see it!

Yang Xi: “…”

The one with its eyes still closed was her Xi Bao!!!