The System Mistook Me for a Cat

Before obtaining a feather duster, Chu Tingwu first selected the most complete and beautiful feather from the collected red falcon feathers and fixed it in an acrylic frame. Then, in her hotel room, she leisurely crafted a small shuttlecock with the other broken feathers.

She packed these two gifts together and asked the front desk to send them to the address in Luofeng City, as gifts for Teacher Zhang and Shikuai.

In the corner of the hotel lobby, some people were playing board games. The sounds were not loud, and occasionally, there were a couple of meows. It was a cat who was in charge of rolling the dice, transparent dice rolling in the air. This was a temporary board game session, but strangers quickly got familiar with each other during the play, and Chu Tingwu could hear their quiet laughs.

As she exited the hotel lobby, she felt the humidity in the air and instructed the robot at the entrance to fill the umbrellas at the rental counter.

A heavy rain was coming.

The tourists at the ranch had all received warnings about the rain, advising them to take shelter indoors, while Chu Tingwu arrived at the bird pavilion just before the rain started.

Inside the bird pavilion, only a few familiar employees were present. Cheng Cai arrived later, driving back in the rain, but her hem still got a bit wet.

During this period, Cheng Cai had been acting as the official broadcaster for Shanwan Ranch, doing comprehensive live broadcasts. It was also through her perspective that the viewers realized—

This ranch seemed like an enlarged version of the Wu Central Nature Gallery!

Cheng Cai had been focusing on live broadcasting animals, and even after changing locations, the main theme of her videos remained centered on the animals, including parrots and peacocks that had moved residences, the Yorkshire Terrier that had come to retire, the three horses that served as the game prototype, and other animals such as cows, sheep, chickens, and cats and dogs.

At first, the audience's focus was on the red falcon, but soon, they began to notice these ordinary yet extraordinary animals.

Cheng Cai: "Today, a viewer asked me if we accept boarding services."

She fetched herself a cup of coffee, and Chu Tingwu was puzzled: "Boarding for what?"

Cheng Cai: "Horses. This viewer is a longtime fan of the live stream. They own a horse and previously boarded it at a equestrian club."

Some families can afford to keep a horse but, unlike Chu Tingwu, cannot provide a ranch where the horse can run freely. Of course, the club's facilities are certainly adequate... Somehow, they suddenly wanted to send their horse to the ranch.

Chu Tingwu shook her head: "Once we start this precedent, it will be troublesome. You can say that the three horses at the ranch are 'investors' boarding them, and we currently do not provide other boarding services."

Mentioning horses, she remembered something. The equestrian coach had asked Chu Tingwu earlier if she wanted to send Raphael and the others to compete. In her opinion, the horses were well-raised and not participating in competitions was a pity.

Chu Tingwu had replied then—

"I'll ask the horses."

Coach: "?"

She saw Chu Tingwu check the requirements and materials related to the competition and then really brought a PPT (whoever made it) to the stable, sitting on the horse's back and discussing with them for a while. Finally, it came to nothing! No, Chu Tingwu came back and told her:

"Raphael seems to prefer helping with deliveries rather than those competitions."

During this period, the white horses had not been idle. They alternated between acting as chariots (sometimes even blocking people who didn't want to ride), and helping robots with deliveries, happily running on the ranch roads with goods from the vending machines on their backs.

Coach: But you are certified racehorses with credentials ==

The three horses belonged to three different owners. The coach still wanted to try, so Chu Tingwu also sent messages to the other two owners. The next day, the coach saw Chu Tingwu riding Raphael out of the ranch, heading towards the Chu Family in Qihe City.

Unlike in Beijing, riding a horse on the streets of Qihe City, though more likely to be watched by many, also meant being able to go to more places.

Raphael would stop on its own without Chu Tingwu needing to pull the reins, waiting for the traffic lights. While waiting on the sidewalk, a group of children crossing the street walked past, almost mesmerized by the white horse.

Chu Tingwu sat on the horse's back, looked down, and smiled:

"No touching."

The teacher pulling the children to hurry up: "......"

Although they had that thought as well, otherwise, if the children stopped to touch the horse, the line might get chaotic. But why did that sound so... cocky?

Chu Tingwu rode like this, surrounded by onlookers, all the way to the Chu Family. After greeting Big Great-Grandpa, she turned to another building in the community and waved at the second floor: "Family Cousin—"

Chu Ruming, on vacation at home: "Hey!"

Chu Tingwu, following Chu Xiao's request, came to invite his mother to go horseback riding at the ranch.

After she took over the ranch, probably to avoid suspicion or perhaps instructed by Big Great-Grandpa, to prevent other family members from taking advantage of her, those who would occasionally visit the ranch stopped coming instead.

This was something the system discovered through ticket sales information.

Until this time, when Chu Tingwu came to their door—

Riding a horse, she arrived. Chu Ruming hesitated for a moment, curious about the feeling of riding a horse, and hearing it was her son asking her to help see his horse, she half-heartedly got into the car.

Now, every weekend, this cousin would come to visit the horse. The first time, she would only take a 360-degree video of the horse running and send it to Chu Xiao. By the second time, she had taken photos of herself riding the horse and had become quite familiar with the coach.

On the way back, Cheng Cai also saw the horse taking shelter from the rain in front of a restaurant. She waved from a distance, intending to tell Chu Tingwu, but found her checking the parrot feed: "Ah!"

Cheng Cai quickly walked up, unsurprisingly finding Chu Tingwu holding half a familiar brown-black feather: "Another red falcon is here?"

Chu Tingwu: "Nothing serious. Driven away by the seagull drone."

Previously, the system only controlled drones to shoo away birds, but now it seemed even "their" birds had to be driven away.

Not to mention, the red falcon couldn't beat the parrots!

Both belonging to small birds, the red falcon was slightly larger than the budgies, but the parrots here had grown up together, often saw people, and were therefore more lively and braver. Plus, there was a peacock backing them up... Since both sides became aware of each other, the red falcon hadn't gained much advantage.

... But possibly stolen bird feed just tasted better.

Chu Tingwu: "We shouldn't let the parrots roam free. They can't fly too high, and if they go out, they'll definitely be bullied by the red falcon."

Although one is an unthreatened species priced at forty yuan, and the other is a priceless national first-class protected animal, Chu Tingwu decided not to favor either side and keep them from meeting.

The parrots had also gotten used to their small "territory" and didn't have the habit of committing suicide if confined to a cage like the red falcon. In the bird pavilion, Chu Tingwu could feel their calm and satisfied mood, even though—

Chirp chirp.

They were so noisy.

But she forgot, there was a bird that liked to wander, and no one thought it was a problem for her to go out.

That was the female peacock she had adopted—Lan.

Lan was a mature female peacock, having lived in the school's kitchen, later in the rebuilt nature pavilion, laid eggs with a male peacock, and met all kinds of humans... This had shaped her very calm personality.

She wouldn't call when seeing people, wouldn't be surprised by cars, and would nod upon seeing passing drones—there were often such drones filming. As for seeing Three-Five-Five, that was even more familiar. She also wondered why the lion cat hadn't been seen for a while...

Lan walked in the grass, avoiding cows and sheep. When humans passed by, she could hear them say—

"Did AR technology update again? This peacock is so realistic..."

"You're rusty in the head; that's real!"

She trotted down the slope, glanced at the road, and although she had never walked on it before, her past experiences told her that the road might be occupied by cars (even bikes moving at high speed), careless pedestrians (including those on horseback), or even cats sleeping sprawled in the middle of the road, who would get angry if stepped on.

Now, although there were no cats, Lan didn't walk on the road either. She felt the moisture in the wind and, uneasy, quickened her pace, hastening through the deserted path until she finally saw—

The lake!

Probably the school's lake.

Though it seemed bigger.

The carefree peacock looked up at the sky, let out a call, and squeezed into the small hut by the lake, crouching down.

The rain arrived.

Chu Tingwu felt a chill from the torrential rain, though the noisy rain sounded almost comforting. The small lake in the mountains was quiet; all the animals had taken shelter, and the scenery had become blurred under the wind and rain.

The sky was darkened by heavy clouds. Chu Tingwu went to the office next to the avian exhibit to find a raincoat, only to discover Cheng Cai and Cheng Cheng dozing together near the sofa.

Cheng Cai's head rested on her forepaws, while Cheng Cheng, by comparison, appeared much smaller, her head resting on Cheng Cai's back, softly snoring.

When Chu Tingwu approached, though her footsteps were almost inaudible, Cheng Cheng still woke up.

The Yorkshire Terrier lifted its head, barked a couple of times, and then wagged its tail. Chu Tingwu said, "You can keep sleeping."

Cheng Cheng tried to get up but was pushed back by Chu Tingwu.

Although she didn't quite understand dog language, she could tell that Cheng Cheng was worried about other animals—like the peacock, or Three-Five-Five—had they found shelter from the rain?

The Red-billed Woodhawn had also taken shelter.

By the time Chu Tingwu reached the lake, the rain had ceased, and the ground was thoroughly drenched. The surroundings were so quiet it seemed like the birds had never been there. But as Chu Tingwu lowered her gaze, she could see the red-billed bird flying over the lake, casting a swaying shadow stirred by the wind.

She filmed a video of the birds salvaging their nests.

After the downpour's ordeal, the nests, made from various materials scavenged here and there, had suffered varying degrees of damage. Some had been completely destroyed, while others were only slightly damaged—the differences in construction skills among the bird pairs were evident. Those that looked the most energetic and busy were clearly dealing with the most severe damage.

Chu Tingwu heard a sigh through her earpiece.

She had seen it too.

A bird's egg had been blown out of its nest by the wind, leaving it shattered, with the yolk hanging on the wet, glistening green leaves, creating a fragment of an unhatched life.

The adults circled mournfully in midair but eventually flew away, as they still had other eggs to care for in their nest.

They had to patch up their home and look after the remaining eggs. Soon enough, ants and insects would find the broken egg, and everything would resume its natural cycle.

Chu Tingwu avoided the ants' routes and silently passed by the busy Red-billed Woodhawns.

At the staff housing area, the expert team on the other end of the camera, despite having seen this many times, still felt a twinge of admiration:

Although Chu Tingwu had never boasted about her skills, watching her back in the camera, they felt she was like a ghost walking through nature.

They saw her open the small door of the house by the dock—originally meant for staff, but since the lake tour hadn't been opened, and the area was sealed off, it had been unoccupied for some time.

The peacock huddled in the corner.

Chu Tingwu let out a peacock call—though her call didn't convey specific words, she had now mastered the art of mimicking other animals' emotions.

Lan looked up and echoed with a call, ready to get up, but she paused, then squatted back down.

Chu Tingwu: "…?"

She went to the female peacock's side, adjusting the camera on her collar as she did, and then she saw the female peacock move aside, letting out a proud call, inviting Chu Tingwu to see—

Three eggs nestled under her.@@novelbin@@

Chu ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‍Tingwu: …

"Tap tap tap," "Tap tap tap!"

She heard the real parents of the eggs tapping on the window glass—

The two Red-billed Woodhawns, smart in their own way, had built their nest inside the house, only for the strong wind to close the window, trapping the actual parents outside. Now, they were fuming with urgency.

Chu Tingwu helped them open the window.

Lan was shocked.

She stared suspiciously at the approaching Red-billed Woodhawns, then at the eggs now wedged behind their backs, and finally at Chu Tingwu.

Chu Tingwu: "…"

What are you looking at? Look at the size of those eggs! They're obviously not yours! You never even sit on your own eggs!

And even if you did lay eggs, where would she find a few high school students to hatch them anyway?