I Really Want to Pet My Wife's Cat Ears - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Twenty-One Cats

Ji Mianmian nodded, her eyes seemingly glued to Shuoyu’s eyes. Cats love sparkly things, and her eye makeup was so beautiful!

Tidying her slightly disheveled skirt, the girl said, “Yes, I told you before I can see you.”

The girl on the screen raised a hand to touch her own eyelid. “Sister, it’s green here, and there’s silver glitter. When you blink, it looks like a little butterfly!”

Hearing Ji Mianmian describe her eye makeup perfectly, Shuoyu sucked in a sharp breath.

It seemed she had been monitored by a camera all along!

A surge of intense fear flooded her heart. Shuoyu felt as though the blood in her body was flowing backward; her hands and feet grew cold and numb. Distraught, she let her game controller drop to the floor.

A flurry of thoughts flashed through Shuoyu’s mind. She remembered how, sometimes when she shifted her posture slightly, the cat would look up to see what she was doing. She remembered how she sometimes played on her phone in bed out of laziness and she had the habit of sleeping naked.

In an instant, she wanted to call the police and have the game developers arrested.

But looking at Ji Mianmian’s worried and frightened expression, Shuoyu’s drifting consciousness flickered back to the moment they first met. Back then, Ji Mianmian had nothing to eat and was cautiously picking up a chicken leg Shuoyu had placed on the ground; her dress was filthy and torn, barely covering her body.

Time on Cat Island continues to move forward even when the player is offline. If she abandoned the game, it wouldn’t be long before Ji Mianmian returned to that kind of life…

Shuoyu thought of the movie The Wandering Earth 2; back when it was released, she had seriously pondered the question of digital life. Her conclusion then was that if she were to die one day, she hoped to upload her consciousness so her digital life could continue to accompany the family and friends she cared about.

The AI intelligence of Ji Mianmian was, in her eyes, no different from a living human being, and Shuoyu did not want her to simply “die.”

Once she had processed this, Shuoyu swallowed and pointed to the lettered camisole sweater vest on her chest. With a mix of anticipation and panic, she asked, “I haven’t asked you yet—baby, can you see this part of me?”

Ji Mianmian instinctively stood on her tiptoes, then shook her head. “I can only see a little bit. Is Sister wearing a white vest?”

Hearing this, Shuoyu let out a small sigh of relief. If Mianmian could only see up to her armpits, then there shouldn’t have been any “wardrobe malfunctions” when she crawled into bed naked.

She followed the same pattern, pointing up, down, left, and right to ask about various positions, vaguely determining the boundaries of Ji Mianmian’s field of vision. It was roughly similar to the selfie preview page when Shuoyu video-chatted with her family. Using a phone to log in versus a TV was simply the difference between a vertical and a horizontal frame.

Seeing Shuoyu’s expression gradually calm and her demeanor return to normal, Ji Mianmian felt relieved. She raised her hand and waved, asking, “Sister, three cats came to the safe zone today. After I feed them, they can enter the plaza. I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?”

Shuoyu immediately replied, “Thank you, baby. The more companions we have to fight the evil spirits, the better. The Meow Power they produce can even be used to make arrowheads for you.”

Aware that she was still instinctively thinking for the sake of Cat Island, a bitter yet liberating smile touched her lips. Shuoyu used the  Stroke action to rub Ji Mianmian’s cat ears. “I have business with No. 001. You go ahead and keep busy, Mianmian.”

When Shuoyu goes online, No. 001 usually dashes back to the Trade Shop to be on standby, fearing it might miss a sale if it’s not there when she wants to buy something.

Today, it had flown quite far. A female cat on Cat Tongue Mountain had given birth; the kittens’ resistance was very weak and they were nearly possessed by an evil spirit. After finally flying over and using the halo atop its head to add the Cat God’s blessing to the four kittens, it hinted to the mother cat that if life was difficult, she could migrate to Xier Beach.

That was when it sensed its precious, one-and-only player go online.

No. 001 rushed back as fast as it could, hurtling through the Cat Island sky like a white cannonball. The halo on its head rubbed violently against the air, nearly throwing off sparks.

Shuoyu selected the Trade Shop with the controller, only to find the Open Door option was still greyed out. The anger she had just suppressed flared up again. She cursed the cat playing the customer service role in her heart, wondering if it had abandoned ship and run away after realizing she knew Cat Island Diary was spying on players.

The more Shuoyu thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Angrily, she tapped the Trade Shop several times and even pulled out a hoe, prepared to dig up the flowering plants by the door and take them back to her house.

Suddenly, she heard No. 001’s scream from the other side: “Don’t dig up my flowers, meow!”

Shuoyu raised an eyebrow in its direction and, with an unchanging expression, finished digging up the flower and put it into her backpack. Only then did she click the Open Door button, which had relit now that the shopkeeper had returned.

Shuoyu got straight to the point. “No. 001, I’ve found that something is very wrong with this game. The cats on the island can actually see me through the camera, analyze my expressions and movements, and react accordingly…”

No. 001 hadn’t expected her to find out only now. Terrified, its fur stood on end, making it look an entire circle fluffier than usual. It tucked its neck in. “Does the player have any suggestions, meow? Do you want to turn off the camera permissions, meow?”

“No need. I can see the cats in real-time, and they can see me too. I quite like it.”

Shuoyu blinked and said seriously, “Writing this AI program must have been very difficult, but the gameplay experience it brings is truly excellent. It feels like I’m in face-to-face contact with the cats, which really brings us closer.”

No. 001, who had been prepared to make modifications and apologies, felt its rounded ears relax quite a bit upon hearing this.

Shuoyu gritted her teeth. “I’m just very worried about my image being leaked. Your game company must protect the rights of the players; you won’t steal my personal data, will you?”

No. 001 shook its head like a rattle. “No, of course not, meow! The camera only broadcasts the player’s status in real-time; it doesn’t store data, meow!”

“Then I’m relieved. I didn’t expect you could leave the shop and run around. Where were you just now?”

Shuoyu’s mood lightened considerably, and she was even in the mood to ask about No. 001’s business. Seeing she wasn’t there to pick a fight, No. 001 meowed, its fur relaxing as it began to “make biscuits” in the air again. “Just… flying around and looking at things, meow. It’s so good that you aren’t angry, meow.”

Hearing this, Shuoyu suddenly remembered that her expressions while petting the cats or Ji Mianmian were often quite… uninhibited. For a moment, her “idol baggage” felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

She coughed uncomfortably. “How about I give some feedback? Since you’ve already used camera permissions, add a real-time window to the game interface. Just like a video call make a small box so I can see myself, but it’s best if that box doesn’t have a zoom-in function.”

Shuoyu remembered that when she video-called her parents, her gaze was mostly focused on herself, and she couldn’t help but analyze the flaws and lines of her face under the lens. She wanted to see her real-time status to avoid doing anything unseemly, but she didn’t want to be distracted by her own appearance while playing.

No. 001 nodded repeatedly. “Okay, I’ll ‘pinch’ this feature for you by tomorrow, meow!”

Having cleared the air, Shuoyu felt much better. She couldn’t resist giving No. 001 a stroke before checking out the new stock. After purchasing a bunch of materials in one go, she accepted two orders to make beach lounge chairs to earn some Cat Coins.

Just then, No. 001 flew in front of her and said excitedly, “Congratulations to the Player for spending over 10,000 Cat Coins and 100 Cat Diamonds, completing the achievement Spending Money Like Water  and unlocking the Hearing function, meow!”

Before Shuoyu could ask, it continued to explain: “The hearing function needs to be paired with hardware to be activated. Please fill in your personal shipping information on the page that’s about to pop up and receive the courier on time!”

Shuoyu let out a soft laugh, her voice clear. “What kind of hardware are you talking about? It won’t be an extra charge, will it?”

Finally being able to try and link the player to Cat Island, No. 001 was incredibly excited, flying in circles in the air with its tail held high. “The Player doesn’t need to worry about the cost; I’ll send it with free shipping, meow! The hardware is a single-ear stud, a new technology developed by our company.

In the future, it can also be used to unlock functions like vision, taste, touch, and smell. No. 001 suggests that if the player doesn’t have an ear piercing, they can go and get one in advance, meow!”

Shuoyu’s enthusiasm for technology was limited to watching the latest sci-fi movies at the cinema; she couldn’t analyze anything from that description. She figured it was probably something like an earbud.

She touched her right ear, where a tassel earring hung, and laughed softly. “I’m starting to find your game company more and more interesting. I’ve only heard of VR glasses and virtual reality technology before, but now it feels like what you’ve made is even more impressive than those specialized researchers. I have ear piercings, so no need to worry about that.”

Clearing away her inner fear that the game might steal her privacy, Shuoyu stretched and moved the controller toward the cats’ gathering spot. She had checked the map and knew there were three new cat paw prints representing cat locations in the safe zone.

It was time to go greet them!

However, Shuoyu didn’t expect that after filling their bellies, the cats would gather in the plaza in front of the medical rescue station. On second thought, Cat Island had entities like evil spirits absolute predators for cats so everyone likely had old injuries. Shuoyu was very happy to be able to help the cats, treat their scars, and end their suffering.

But she still prayed silently that the cats’ injuries wouldn’t be too severe; it would be best if they could be cured with just Cat Coins. The “landlord’s house” (her diamond stash) was running low, and her side hustle hadn’t started making money yet she didn’t want to buy another 648 pack!

Ji Mianmian was the first to sense Shuoyu and waved to her with a smile: “Sister, you’re finally here! These are Big Yellow, Second Yellow, and Little Seashell!”

Support I Really Want to Pet My Wife’s Cat Ears