The system is the worst at asking questions among all "beings" in this world.
Because it knows almost everything.
All things follow patterns - those who can predict and master these patterns are revered as gods by humans.
But even gods can't understand kittens.
It raised a young one who always has peculiar ideas, like right now—
"Um..." Chu Tingwu mumbled, "this cat looks a bit too ugly."
Chu Xiao: "You asked me to draw it. If you don't like it, you do it."
Chu Tingwu pondered for a while, then thoughtfully picked up a pen. Half an hour later, a life-like pencil sketch of a cat appeared on the paper, with realistic strokes and almost perfect replication of the cat's form, down to each individual hair.
Zhou Qiang watched from the side, feeling exhausted just by looking at it.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed "Art & Music Director" Shao Lingwu shook his head: "No good, it's too realistic and looks scary."
And it would kill the artist to draw like that.
The system didn't say a word, only generating various styles of cat portraits on the screen - anime style, American comic style, refined Disney-like, ink wash painting, 3D animation... But the young one merely glanced at them and continued discussing with friends.
Finally, the four of them put their heads together, discussing the ugly cat Chu Xiao drew for a long time, forcing him to modify it until they created a simplified drawing that barely resembled a cat.
Chu Xiao: "I'd rather draw cells and internal organs..."
It's not that he couldn't draw beautifully, but what's wrong with these people, forcing a science student to do art!
Hmph.
The system kneaded a bunch of data into the shape of that ugly cat, tossing it to the top layer one moment, then crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into the cyber trash bin the next, but the young one showed no reaction.
The young one's friend, tired of hand drawing, started programming, but the system found this inefficient - why not just hire a professional company with animation software instead of playing house? Another friend wore headphones, constantly adjusting sound data on the screen, but although the system lacked their creativity, it could easily complete such sound-finding and adjustment work, and faster too.
Why not ask it to help with this play-pretend!
The third friend seemed to be contacting yesterday's visitors, constantly dialoguing, discussing, and collecting "stories," but the system found nothing special about those experiences—
If your loved one dies at this moment, worldwide, there might be thirty others losing the same family member at the same instant, and without time constraints, perhaps twenty thousand people have nearly identical experiences... There has never been unique "emotions" in this world, hormones in the body change human moods and thoughts at appropriate times, so why do these repetitive experiences deserve to become "stories"?
The system could create countless such stories, and if the young one asked, it could make these stories move countless people, but the young one seemed unmoved—
Chu Tingwu: "Can you order four milk teas for us?"
System: "Of course! According to everyone's preferences?"
Chu Tingwu raised her hand to make an OK sign.
The system happily went to notify the restaurant to make milk tea.
Chu Tingwu glanced at the screen in front of her, stretched, and thought, well, let's see what the online reviews say.
-
There were almost no negative reviews online.
It wasn't that there hadn't been any incidents during the ranch's opening days, but rather that the ranch resolved issues too quickly - when a visitor complained about transportation problems and being crowded out of their seat, they received a staff response call almost immediately after posting their complaint, with an eager tone suggesting they were "finally having something to do."
Learning that the visitor's scheduled shared tour car had been occupied by others despite being their turn, and they were now unable to get transportation to the Mountain Bay Lake area, the staff immediately began solving the problem.
No car available? Don't want to cycle? No problem, it was their fault anyway. So a ranch rider appeared on horseback, leading another horse, offering the visitor a direct horse ride to their destination.
That wasn't all - upon reaching Mountain Bay Lake, their account received two messages. First, the wristband queuing system had been updated so that if anyone tried to cut in line for vehicles, the vehicle's self-driving program would lock.
Second, as thanks for their feedback, they received a small cash reward and an 80% discount voucher valid for any Wu Voice Group products, with a maximum discount of 5,000.
As a result, more process-related feedback came in, but almost no negative reviews from those who visited in person.
Some positive reviews were rather strange:
"What an amazing place. I left my parasol at the restaurant and only remembered after walking away. But when I turned back, I found the parasol already tucked in my bag. I'm certain I left it at the restaurant - some kind person must have found it, noticed I was coming back to look for it, and returned it directly. Doing good deeds anonymously - I'm grateful."
Many people replied with question marks, but someone commented:
"Wow, I thought I was the only one with such an experience. I lost my phone, probably dropped it in the grass. I thought it was gone for good, really. Rushed back to search but couldn't find it, then my friend said: 'Isn't it right there in your pocket?'"
"But that's impossible, I had checked before! If the lost item didn't come back by itself, then some anonymous good person must have returned it directly... impressive..."
With more than one person experiencing this, the evidence seemed stronger, until a third person shared their similar experience:
"Actually, my hat got blown away by the wind last night during a strong gust. Then, I heard horse hooves, and the next second my hat flew back from mid-air right onto my head - I thought the kind person on horseback had thrown it back, but when I looked, there was only a cat on the horse's back, seemed like a large long-haired cat!"
"I wanted to ask what happened... then my idol's projection appeared beside me, warning me to be careful of strong winds and not let my hat get blown away again. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, oh my god! Though I don't know who did it, I'm going to assume it was my idol!!!"
Chu Tingwu: "=="
After getting the hat and jumping down from the horse to put it on the person's head, the strong wind conveniently blew their hair to block their vision, while Chu Tingwu walked behind them: ...sorry for not making any footsteps.
As she continued scrolling, she saw a new comment:
"Thanks to the very patient staff, and thanks to the staff who specifically came to consult about the 'guide cat' story arrangements. Hope to see the animation soon and let the cute cats have a chance to earn cat food in the production team!"
This was from a visitor who came on the first day and contacted staff to ask about "how the temporary guide cat data would be arranged." To design the animation's story script, Chu Tingwu and others contacted these visitors, asking about their cat-related stories—
But they wouldn't put them in the animation.
Because this animation was just a simple little cartoon about a group of cats living in a big ranch, with cats that were somewhat ugly-cute, only able to express emotions through different meows and body language to tell a story, with each episode only being one minute long.
Because currently there was only one episode.
The system completely didn't understand.
But this didn't stop it from finding the hardworking young one adorable.
[But if you want to succeed...]
Chu Tingwu: "Why do we need to succeed?"
Chu Tingwu pushed away the computer, lying on the desk, couldn't help but laugh: "I just want to make a cute animation, not a successful one... If we use success as the judgment standard, then wouldn't the birthday animation you and Teacher Tian collaborated on for my birthday be very unsuccessful?"
Because although that hand-drawn animation was high quality, it wasn't even the most liked video on Teacher Tian's account.
The system announced loudly: "Those people just have no taste!"
What a poor review!
"Oh..." Chu Tingwu asked, "So it's a perfect animation then?"
The system froze.
As a rigorous program, it generally avoided using absolute terms to describe objective things, except for young creatures. Was this animation perfect? Of course not. It was just a fan-oriented animation project. The system only provided technical support, while the plot arrangement and storyboard ideas were completed by the master. Together they created a barely passable short animation.
But looking at the content again?
The system couldn't say the young creature in that animation was "imperfect."
This logical dissonance made it momentarily silent. But Chu Tingwu didn't speak, didn't respond to people calling her from outside, didn't mind the cat passing over the roof. She seemed to just be waiting...
System: "It's not perfect, but in my heart, it's perfect."
Heart - what a strange construct. But if humans and cats are supposed to have hearts, then perhaps systems can have hearts too.
It was a simple animation without much complex content or advanced technology, but the young creature in it was truly adorable. The young creature who watched the animation in real life was also adorable. Because the young one was happy about the animation, the animation itself became adorable—
The system hadn't realized this before, but after Chu Tingwu pointed it out, it now became the most adorable animation in the whole world.
Chu Tingwu nodded.
She seemed to want to say something else but swallowed her words, then said:
"Then I'll start creating an adorable animation too. Will you help me?"
Perhaps story inspiration only strikes at certain moments, but she had gained the ability to "love" and discover cuteness from the visitors.
Even if the audience thinks "cuteness" is just a temporarily generated program, life that is loved can be born from the program.
System: "Yes!"
One birthday animation down, because Chu Tingwu likes the new animation, it has now become the world's most adorable animation. Although it currently has zero viewers, neither Dis*ey nor Ghi*li can compare to it!
-
"Did you resolve the issue with that contractor? Did you win?"
With something made by someone who "studied animation for three years"? Isn't this contractor's standards a bit too low?
"The judgment criterion is which version of the animation I like..."
"?"
Aren't you always going to be the winner then?
