The System Mistook Me for a Cat

From an outsider's perspective, movies are made up of stories.

But different perspectives yield different answers. For Shao Lingwu, a movie is composed of a script, actors, settings, music, and even marketing—if a movie is to become a hit, none of these elements can be missing.

And because he cares more about music, when appreciating the film *Snow Mountain Horror 1*, he pays closer attention to the opening theme, ending theme, and the soundtrack... If it were adapted into an interactive movie where the audience plays the roles of the characters, would these songs still exist?

On the other hand, the advantage of interactivity is the quasi-holographic experience. Many viewers have already seen the original work and know the plot. If they simply recite the original lines without deviating from the characters, where does the fun of an interactive movie lie?

With these thoughts in mind, Shao Lingwu chose the role of the dog "Brook."

The familiar sensation of logging in appeared. He first smelled the not entirely unpleasant but not exactly pleasant scent of animals... This was on a train!

As he gathered his thoughts and opened his eyes, the sound of an old-fashioned train emerged.

Shao Lingwu realized that this was the fleeting scene at the beginning of the movie. The male and female leads were tourists heading to Mount Giselle for a hike, and the female lead had brought along her childhood dog, Brook, though the dog had to stay in the pet compartment.

...There really was no opening theme anymore.

Shao Lingwu was playing the role of a golden retriever, and at this moment, the cage in the compartment felt a bit cramped. He lifted his paw to fiddle with the latch, feeling like a single swipe could open the cage.

At the same time, a system prompt appeared—

[Brook, you love your owner, Asa, very much.]

[You are friendly toward most humans. You love their smiles. You are a kind dog.]

[You have a keen sense of smell and hearing, as well as excellent running and jumping abilities. You rarely use your sharp teeth—please remember this.]

[Do not let Asa encounter danger. Strive to protect her!]

After confirming that Shao Lingwu had read these lines, the text shrank and turned into a pale golden badge, hanging in the top-left corner of the interface.

At the same time, Shao Lingwu noticed three skills appearing in the center of the interface.

[Sniff] [Listen] [Investigate]

The three semi-transparent skill icons formed a fan shape, with a question mark in the very center.

He shifted slightly, using his nose to select a skill... Though, to be honest, the perspective of having such a long nose felt quite strange.

He selected the question mark—

[Please note: This interactive movie is adapted from the original work. The dialogue, settings, and even character behaviors have been altered to some extent. Some plot points will develop randomly based on the actions of the audience.]

Shao Lingwu rested his head on his paws, realizing... he probably couldn’t rely on the dialogue to identify the other players. Except for Teacher Zhang, who had said he would play the villain, it was unlikely the plot would change so much that even the villain was altered, right?

[In twenty minutes, you will arrive at the foot of Mount Giselle. You can rest for a while or do whatever you like... but don’t forget your mission, Brook.]

Shao Lingwu glanced at his paws... Huh, a dog’s purpose?

Thinking this, he chose the [Listen] skill. The sounds around him instantly amplified, and a lot of dialogue information appeared in the top-left corner. It was a bit chaotic, but soon, the conversation between the male and female leads was highlighted.

Of course, a dog could recognize its owner’s voice!

Asa, the female lead, was discussing their plans with her boyfriend. They had won a raffle to visit Mount Giselle. Both were hiking enthusiasts, and this time they were traveling with a tour group.

Originally, the two tickets belonged to a married couple they had met on a hobby website. The couple happened to be unavailable, so they transferred the tickets to Asa and her boyfriend.

The two were thrilled and came along, bringing their dog with them.

However, after arriving, they realized that the other passengers in the same carriage seemed to have some kind of connection, and some were hiding something. Only they seemed completely unaware.

Shao Lingwu: Because this is the Hell Tour Group!

The other passengers were all involved in a collaborative crime many years ago. They might not know each other, but if they were to come clean and compare notes, they would realize they were all culprits. So, in the movie’s plot, they would all be killed one by one by the mastermind behind the scenes. The male and female leads would stumble into this situation and only uncover the truth in the middle to late stages of the movie.

As a dog who knew everything, Shao Lingwu twitched his ears and listened to the conversation for a while, but he couldn’t tell if the male and female leads were played by fellow audience members.

He couldn’t rely on the dialogue to figure it out—the system had warned that the lines might have changed, and the two really weren’t saying the original lines... Hmm, could it be that both of them were “audience members”?

Chu Tingwu and Mei Zhiwei?

Shao Lingwu pushed open the latch and jumped out of the cage, deciding to explore. He didn’t care if he was discovered, but just then, he heard barking. The pet compartment was noisy, and he realized it was the dog in the neighboring cage, who had noticed he was out and was also clamoring to get out and find its owner—and the movie actually had dog language translation?

What he heard in his ears was barking, but the screen displayed the translated dog language.

And it was clear, Shao Lingwu thought, that the others weren’t playing the role of a dog, so they wouldn’t understand.

Like the female lead, Asa, for example.

When she noticed her dog had gotten out, she smiled apologetically at the people around her, patted the golden retriever’s head, and prepared to lead him back—but Shao Lingwu used the [Investigate] skill at that moment.

If [Listen] enhanced his hearing, what did [Investigate] do?

At that moment, the colors in his vision shifted slightly, as if the scene had faded, but a bag on the third row of seats began to emit a faint glow.

Shao Lingwu: “?”

He turned his head, tugging Asa toward the bag, and used [Sniff]. The scent didn’t change much, but the glow from the bag—which only he could see—matched the color of a woman dozing in the first row.

This seemed to indicate that the two had the same scent in the dog’s mind.

Shao Lingwu grabbed the bag with his mouth and ran to the first row. Asa exclaimed in surprise, and the woman in the first row, who had been sleeping with her head down, woke up and reached out to take the bag: “...This is mine?”

The train conductor also noticed something was wrong, and the surroundings became chaotic. The person in the third row quickly apologized, saying, “I must have mixed them up. I have a bag just like this.” The others grumbled, but the owner of the bag was kind and said she believed it was just a small misunderstanding.

Because of this incident, when Shao Lingwu was returned to the pet compartment, he was praised by Asa, who said, “What a smart dog you are, Brook.” However, Asa added, “Brook, why are you so quiet today?”

The tail wagged only slightly, and there wasn’t much barking.

Shao Lingwu: “!”

After returning to his cage, he lay down and let out a couple of “woofs,” which set off a chorus of barks from the surrounding cats and dogs. A small, overly excitable dog kept running around, seemingly amused by his accent. How absurd!

Shao Lingwu: “…”

Shao Lingwu didn’t care what the dogs were thinking… He was preoccupied with the fact that the person he had just met, the one who had lost something, was the final boss.

That person was Teacher Zhang Youyi.

When Shao Lingwu recognized him, it was possible that Zhang Youyi had also recognized him.

And the passenger in the third row wasn’t acting on purpose—it was all part of the villain’s plan.

Even though Teacher Zhang smiled warmly and kindly, recalling it now made Shao Lingwu’s scalp tingle.

Because the villain’s revenge had already begun.

The plot of *Snow Mountain Horror 1* is somewhat common by today’s standards, but it was a huge hit back in its day.

It’s a story of revenge—a mother avenging her daughter by killing everyone in a tour group.

All the climbers had committed wrongdoings, and the mother, terminally ill with little time left, decided to carry out her revenge in her final days. She had once been a spy, and while the main culprit behind her daughter’s death had died in a car accident before she could uncover the truth, the accomplices still had to pay.

She succeeded in her revenge, with the exception of two people who had given the protagonists free tickets and managed to escape. The rest met their end on the snowy mountain.

The character played by Zhang Youyi, though skilled, lacked physical strength and relied on cunning tactics. She manipulated the tour group, making those who had committed lesser evils believe they could be spared, only to turn them into her accomplices through threats and coercion.

…But in the later stages, when the protagonists uncovered the truth and tried to descend the mountain to call the police, these same people turned on them, nearly burying the dog alive.

The dog was almost buried alive!

But then a snowstorm struck.

The film has about fifteen minutes of the protagonists rescuing each other, building their emotional connection in a heartwarming way. There are also scenes of the perpetrators regretting their actions and struggling to survive, but ultimately, they don’t make it. The dog, Brooke, buried shallowly, manages to dig himself out and leads the rescue team to the protagonists, who are saved and taken to the hospital. The others, along with their sins, remain buried under the snow.

The final scene of the movie shows the bodies being unearthed one by one, their faces frozen in fear and pain.

Only the mother is smiling.

Shao Lingwu ran through the plot in his mind, then glanced at the prompt that had appeared beside him—

[Plot Deviation: 1.2%]

Was it because of his actions just now, which made the female lead trust the dog’s abilities more, thereby influencing the plot? In the original story, the dog had discovered several new bodies. Though Shao Lingwu couldn’t communicate with the protagonists, he could still affect their decisions or find the murder weapon earlier.

The golden retriever, “Brooke,” ignored the small dog’s provocation and instead pondered:

What could he do to change all this?

Wait, if he removed his God-like perspective and truly acted as Brooke, his goal wasn’t to uncover the killer but to protect “Asa”!

In interactive movies, if there’s no bias, immersing yourself in the role you’ve chosen… makes the sense of accomplishment even greater! Whether Asa was played by someone else or was an NPC, in the original story, Asa had been injured several times while investigating. Shao Lingwu could change that!

Shao Lingwu had an epiphany:

So this is what it feels like to write fanfiction with official support!

You don’t even have to think about the other characters’ lines or thoughts, but you can use your own methods to change the plot and fix regrets.

…Zhang Youyi was thinking the same thing.

Unlike Shao Lingwu, who had fewer skills and tasks, she had more abilities and a more complex script—but she didn’t have to follow it.

Teacher Zhang was excited. The script provided the original murder methods and references, but she suspected others would interfere. At the very least, some cases that required precise timing and specific numbers of witnesses would be hard to replicate perfectly. The system didn’t seem to recommend it either, merely offering suggestions and letting players choose their own path.

No matter the method, Zhang Youyi’s only goal was to send her enemies to hell.

But she didn’t want to die in the avalanche like in the original story… The protagonists were innocent, but the couple who had escaped justice by giving away tickets weren’t. In her mind, if the villain left the mountain, that couple would have to die too.

Thinking this, Zhang Youyi looked at the young couple playing the protagonists with a sense of maternal fondness.

She had no direct conflict with them. In fact, the actors who had originally played these roles were quite attractive and had been internationally famous stars in her time. Now, with their more three-dimensional, slightly altered avatars, Zhang Youyi found herself enjoying both the scenery and the people.

Come to think of it, were the protagonists played by Xiao Shao and Chu Chu?

She wasn’t sure. Maybe they had swapped roles?

After choosing the male lead role, Mei Zhiwei found it was quite similar to what she remembered. Her abilities aligned well with the male lead’s “skills.”

The male lead was good at driving, repairing tools, acting as a bodyguard, providing physical labor, (physically) calming the tourists, and completing tasks assigned by the female lead… Some of the skills were even a bit unrealistic, like “Guaranteed Successful Repair: You know you’ll succeed at least once a day, no matter what you’re fixing,” which gave him a fair amount of screen time in action scenes.

But perhaps because she spent more time with the female lead, Aunt Mei quickly realized that the person beside her was an NPC. She then deduced that the dog, Brooke, was Shao Lingwu, as the way Shao Lingwu acted as an animal was quite different from Chu Tingwu’s approach.

So, was Chu Chu going for the hard mode, choosing a victim who fights back against the odds, or had she picked a more marginal role?

Mei Zhiwei wasn’t sure, but she found this interactive mode quite intriguing. The plot was indeed changing… and all the participants hoped it would shift according to their own visions.

The “female lead” beside her, being an NPC, was completely unaware, but she didn’t seem like a program at all—her behavior was remarkably human-like.

So Aunt Mei reached out and patted her head. The “female lead” smiled brightly, wrapped her arms around Mei’s, and called out, “Brooke, Brooke, come here!”

The golden retriever looked up and gave her a resigned glance, letting out a couple of barks.

Aunt Mei pretended not to notice and petted the dog’s head a few more times.

Interactive movies, especially when you know who your companion is, but they don’t know you, and you can’t resist due to the role-playing constraints... it’s really fun!

The group stepped off the train, and the snow-capped mountain loomed ahead. An eagle soared in the sky, appearing as a tiny speck against the vast mountain. The wind howled, masking the hidden dangers of the place.

The eagle's figure gradually faded into the distance, disappearing behind the mountain ridge. Then, Chu Tingwu suddenly swooped down, wrapping her wings around herself and landing firmly beside her nest.

Everyone else had a mission.

...She didn’t.

The others seemed to be playing a treacherous, suspense-filled script of a snowy mountain thriller.

She was just trying to survive.

Yes, inside the nest lay the lifeless body of a snow mountain pika, its eyes wide open in death. Chu Tingwu sighed inwardly: How am I supposed to eat this?

Interactive movies are like holographic murder mystery games. Everyone plays their role, driving the plot forward based on their character’s personality. As long as they don’t violate their basic character traits (or in this case, their "eagle traits"), they can move freely within the scene.

Chu Tingwu, in the original story, was a snow mountain eagle. She made her first appearance by landing on the first corpse, letting out a cry that startled the humans, only to be scared off by their screams.

From then on, she often appeared in the background of scenes, mainly as a mood-setting element, always present at murder scenes but never actually contributing to the plot.

In this holographic interactive game, she had even less of a script.

She didn’t even need to discover the bodies—after all, there was a dog in the main cast who would eventually notice them. Her only task was to survive until the movie ended.

Chu Tingwu thought: Should I just drop the pika on a corpse to make an appearance?

Let the bodies keep each other company?

She hesitated for a moment, then lowered her head. As she approached, the prey’s body disappeared, and she felt a sense of fullness.

...Well, at least I don’t have to eat it myself.

And so, Chu Tingwu began her diligent career as a hunter.

At first, she found it a bit boring. Both flying and hunting were made easier by the game system’s assistance lines. But as she immersed herself, she quickly realized that being an eagle required skill.

Of course, even being a cat required constant learning.

The same was true for an eagle. Her natural advantages were suppressed by the game’s settings, but her ability to learn and think remained intact. Soon, she began to devise more efficient hunting methods—how to use the wind to glide, how to stabilize her body to avoid falling, even how to store food in the snow and locate prey on the ground.

When the sound of barking echoed across the snowy mountain, Chu Tingwu was busy tracking pika.

When screams pierced the air, she was resting on a bare rock face.

Since the interactive movie only lasted about three hours, the audience wouldn’t have to spend days like the characters. Instead, the scenes would switch at key moments. While the others were caught up in their snowy mountain thriller, Chu Tingwu soared through the sky, playfully chasing birds and arrogantly carrying a hibernating snake back to her nest.

She glanced down and noticed that from this height, the humans were just tiny dots.

What did their love and hatred have to do with an eagle?

-

The humans were playing a game of Werewolf.

And they were fighting shadows, so to speak.

The three of them had gradually figured out each other’s identities but couldn’t find Chu Tingwu.

Then, perhaps out of some unspoken agreement, they began to suspect that every slightly suspicious NPC might be Chu Tingwu, playing her role flawlessly.

After all, she could be quite the drama queen.

Because of this, Zhang Youyi acted more cautiously, Shao Lingwu grew more vigilant, suspecting that Chu Tingwu might be collaborating with Zhang Youyi, while Mei Zhiwei... Mei Zhiwei was busy cooking.

She had already earned several compliments from the female lead, Asa. Despite the limited time and ingredients, Mei Zhiwei refused to give up on preparing a meal.

And surprisingly, the game allowed her to taste the food. It felt different from reality—eating gave her a sense of fullness, but the taste in her mouth was like chewing air.

Mei Zhiwei pondered this as she watched the dog detective continue investigating the case.

Shao Lingwu was working hard. If it weren’t for the character’s limitations, Mei Zhiwei suspected he might have been writing in the snow with a stick.

Theoretically, there was no conflict between them, as Zhang Youyi didn’t want to kill innocent people unless the female lead got too close to the truth, jeopardizing her goal—and Zhang Youyi was running out of time.

She had to kill everyone on the mountain before the avalanche hit.

Mei Zhiwei watched coldly, realizing: This interactive movie could also be a competitive one.

Since the movie could accommodate up to four players, if the slots were full, one player would inevitably choose the antagonist role, opposing the main group. If no one wanted to play the dog, there could even be three factions: the killer, the victims, and the detective.

As she observed the surviving "victims," she couldn’t help but wonder: Which role had Chu Tingwu taken?

By the way, only someone who had cooked might have noticed... Why were the supplies dwindling?

Was this also part of Zhang Youyi’s plan, using the dwindling resources to sow discord among the camp members and accelerate her killing spree?

-

Chu Tingwu swooped down and snatched a can of meat from behind the tent.

She circled mid-air with the can in her beak, glancing at the current situation. Everyone was too busy discussing the dead and the killer to notice the missing can.

So she returned to her nest, replenished her food supply, and resumed her battle of wits with the pika on the mountain.

She found one!

Yes, yes, yes!

Her predatory instincts kicked in!

The adult eagle spread her wings, her cold eyes surveying the ground below. But as she flew against the wind, she caught sight of the collapsing peak of the mountain. The snow billowed like a white fog, surging with a force that could obliterate everything—

She circled once in the air, then dove down, choosing to fly close to the avalanche before gradually pulling away. She let out a long, warning cry toward the human camp.

As if fate itself had intervened.

This scene perfectly mirrored the one in the movie.

The humans’ screams, the sound of a car starting, the dog’s barks, the arguments, and even gunshots echoed one after another. But in the end, the pure white snow covered everything, and Chu Tingwu continued to circle above.

Even without knowing the original movie’s plot, she could guess that the story was nearing its end.

...Wait, was her character supposed to be like this in the original, or had she accidentally overacted?

With this thought in mind, when she noticed movement below, Chu Tingwu instinctively reacted like a hunter. She dove down and landed on a dog’s head.

Oh... it seems to be a dog brought up by humans.

She stepped aside, allowing the dog she had accidentally stepped on in the snow to scramble out in a panic.

The fluffy golden retriever gave her a very human-like glance, shook off the snow, and then turned to search for traces of others. After letting out two long barks, it turned and dashed downhill... as if looking for a rescue team.

Both its movements and sounds were exactly like those of the dogs Chu Tingwu had seen in real life. She could sense the anxiety and worry in the golden retriever's heart—it was a smart and brave dog.

After a moment's thought, Chu Tingwu suddenly flew out again, pressing the golden retriever back into the snow. Her wings spread out, a wingspan of 1.6 meters standing out starkly in the snowy landscape—the car ahead screeched to an immediate halt!

The golden retriever, emerging from the snow once more, gave her a pitiful look, barked once, and then, as if remembering its mission—

It led the rescue team to search for the male lead, the female lead... and the still-breathing Zhang Youyi.

As the rescue team exclaimed in surprise, everyone broke out of the storyline and began watching the "epilogue" from a god's-eye perspective.

Both the male and female leads, as well as the antagonist, were rescued. However, while the leads were still unconscious, the antagonist quietly left the hospital and was never heard from again.

Later, when the female lead contacted the couple who had provided the gift, she received no response.

[Plot Deviation: 27%]

Perhaps, that mother had finally achieved her ultimate revenge.

When Chu Tingwu emerged from the immersive experience of the holographic movie, she still felt a bit disoriented, specifically in the sense that she felt her head could rotate 360 degrees.

Shao Lingwu and Mei Zhiwei were the next to leave the movie and return to the cat room, with Zhang Youyi following a step behind. Everyone seemed deeply immersed in the movie's plot, still pondering over what they had just experienced.

Chu Tingwu: "What did you think? Was it fun?"

Mei Zhiwei: "Not bad, but the dishes we made didn't taste much different... a bit of a shame."

Chu Tingwu: That's something to ask the system about.

Zhang Youyi, on the other hand, said: "It was quite interesting. If I tried it again, I could probably change even more of the plot."

Chu Tingwu: ...Friends who often kill have more experience, huh?

Shao Lingwu: "Woof..." I still ended up hurting A-Sa.

Others: ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​‍"?"

Shao Lingwu: "Ah... uh!"

He had accidentally gotten used to barking!

Chu Tingwu chuckled silently, then opened her mouth: "Woof?"

Why not just try it again?

Shao Lingwu's gaze shifted for a moment.

He suddenly glanced at her sideways, his eyes conveying, "You chose that bird that showed up last, didn't you? I can tell!"

Chu Tingwu: "=="

Heh.

Chu Tingwu reached out her hand and gently patted the little dog's head.