There were twenty-seven stray cats in Changning Community.
This was three more than the hospital's statistics, likely newcomers from elsewhere, but the hospital staff checked and found they had all been neutered.
"These two are probably pet cats that were abandoned," Lizi said, lifting one of the cats to weigh it. The cat didn't struggle, staring longingly ahead. She glanced at another hiding under a bicycle, "That one's a stray, right? Chu Tingwu, am I correct?"
Since Chu Tingwu's ability to understand cat language emerged, she had gradually become the authoritative human cat language translator. Whenever cats were chatting nearby, her colleagues would eagerly ask her to interpret, then grin foolishly regardless of what she said.
Chu Tingwu nodded, petting the pet cat's head. It continued to gaze longingly at where the cats had just gathered to eat, ignoring her.
The docile pet cats and a few recently matured kittens were whisked away after eating. Chu Tingwu bid farewell to everyone and left the community with San Wu Wu—
A virtual screen before her eyes constantly changed, displaying a map of the entire Fallen Phoenix City.
"I've asked Teacher Wang to handle the activity application. The applying organization is affiliated with Little Sun Hospital, thanks to Director Yang. The application has been approved, with a limit of 200 participants..."
The activity would last ten days, with a three-day application period. Despite it being summer vacation with only a few students remaining on campus, over fifty people had already applied in just half a day.
Since it involved photographing cats, credits were calculated based on the number of cats recorded. Individuals had to record over 20 cats to submit a screenshot for credit calculation, with credits doubling for over fifty cats, though it was still only four credits.
The advantage was that this could be done anytime, even by chance encounters with cats on the street.
"Many people have already started uploading," the system continuously monitored the backend. "Currently, cat activity uploads are mainly concentrated in the university town, near the rescue house and the neighboring community, with a few from people's commute routes—"
The photos automatically included the cats' IP locations, which the system marked on the virtual screen. Soon, two areas on the map were covered in red dots.
But zoomed out to the entire Fallen Phoenix City, they were just two tiny red spots.
Chu Tingwu looked up at the city map: "Let's go to the commercial street."
Avoiding the current high-activity areas identified by the system for test users, and choosing areas with frequent cat activity, the central commercial street far from the university town was the best choice.
She planned to take a stroll around the commercial street, arriving at Teacher Zhang's house for class around six o'clock.
The system sounded a bit disappointed: "We can't fly drones in the commercial street..."
But it perked up again: "Little one, you're planning to go take photos in many places yourself, right? That means you can go out and exercise every day! Great, great, great!"
Chu Tingwu: "...I never realized Fallen Phoenix City was so big before."
Living in the city for over a decade, her activities were limited to fixed locations. She didn't know about the surrounding urban areas, some gradually aging, others demolished and rebuilt. She had only visited a few local attractions, dragged out by her grandmother to play. She knew even less about the small lakes, horse ranches, and resorts hidden in remote areas.
The system had quietly marked all these suitable activity spots on the map, enlarging the font, with obvious implications.
Chu Tingwu: "=="
Should she run to the commercial street? Was the system that eager for her to exercise?
Chu Tingwu felt her forearm, able to sense the taut muscle lines, her legs similarly so... Even though her exercise was mostly limited to the dream classroom, her muscle mass was slowly increasing, supporting those movements.
The system promptly displayed Chu Tingwu's personal data panel—
At the bottom, the pixel avatar was expressionless, mood calm. Although the binding time wasn't long, Chu Tingwu had already grown 1.5cm taller, reaching 164cm, with a net weight gain of 3 jin.
She nodded, tied her shoelaces, took a deep breath, and began jogging.
San Wu Wu immediately trotted along.
The wind occasionally brought cool air from supermarket air conditioners, sunlight casting golden-red patches through the leaves. After jogging a few hundred meters, Chu Tingwu mentally asked the system: "Plan a straight route for me."
This way of running was too slow.
A virtual map with a 3D route appeared in Chu Tingwu's peripheral vision. The system controlled the drone to fly ahead. Though the drone flew silently, Chu Tingwu swore she could sense encouragement from its mechanical shell.
She gave an "OK" sign, then set off.
-
Behind the small hill in Minghua Park, students from the Fallen Phoenix University of Technology's drone club were test-flying their newly modified drones. Most of them were local to Fallen Phoenix City.
Except for a few whose drones were heavier, most had bought civilian drones that didn't require registration. Minghua Park had no drone flight restrictions, though some forested areas were limited, and there was a height restriction. Someone couldn't help complaining: "I should have bought a racing drone. The footage from my drone isn't very interesting."
The club president sighed: "Racing drones have even more restrictions, and could you afford to crash one?"
The complainer's family wasn't rich; he was just grumbling.
He didn't actually think drone footage was unexciting. Though drones couldn't fly high or perform many stunts, they provided a perspective humans couldn't see with the naked eye—a free-flying view.
They had come out this time to participate in a city drone photography competition. Though not famous, the first prize was still worth tens of thousands of yuan.
Someone suggested: "This competition is organized by the Fallen Phoenix City Cultural and Tourism Bureau. They probably want shots of scenery to promote our good environment, right?"
"The environment is quite suitable for retirement..."
"No ambition. I'll only shoot what I want to shoot."
"Come on, no one wants to act in your short film. And why use a drone for that? You don't have any special techniques; it's all just overhead shots showing the tops of actors' heads."
"Zhenzhen, have you shot your short film? You haven't taken out your drone?"
The young girl addressed as Zhenzhen mumbled: "...How about shooting cats?"
She showed her phone screen to everyone: "Look at this activity, 'Pet Hospital Charity Photo Shoot, City Stray Cat Data Registration,' worth two innovation and entrepreneurship credits. Anyone short on credits?"
This announcement was met with a chorus of "Wow" and "Thank you." Most college students, especially those prone to procrastination, were always short on credits. These weren't course completion credits, but for participating in activities. Though "credits" were virtual items, they could determine whether students could level up and graduate smoothly. Moreover, a single activity only gave two or three credits, but everyone needed to accumulate three-digit credit scores... Even activities as simple as attending meetings were competitive.
Thanks to the girl's reminder, those needing credits signed up for the activity. They had an advantage—they were confident that with drones, they could quickly meet the basic requirement of 20 cats.
After downloading the app, someone immediately decided to take off again, excited. However, You Zhenzhen, who spoke earlier, was still scrolling through cat photos in the app while rapidly texting her roommate—
"Want to go pet some cats tomorrow?"
"Not a cat cafe! I just downloaded an app. Oh right, you should download it too! You need to apply for the activity first to get the download link... Anyway, hurry! If you're late, you won't be able to download it!"
"They're just some stray cats, not particularly pretty, but after looking at the photos for a while, I really want to see them in real life, especially since they're local! Weren't you planning to enter a photography competition? I think this has potential! Give it a try! The theme could be something like 'Real Stray Cats in the City'..."
She typed away, unaware that the other club members were gathered behind their president, staring blankly at the screen of his drone.
The president was also using an overhead angle, previously filming an old neighborhood nearby, adjusting the light and shadows. A girl and a cat had just entered the frame.
He hadn't paid much attention at first, assuming they were just passersby... but hearing others talk about photographing cats, he instinctively zoomed in and realized something was off:
"Why is there another drone filming this girl?"
"Wait, that speed—"
The girl and the cat weren't stationary; when he captured them, they seemed to be taking a brief rest.
Five seconds later, the drone in the frame took off, while the girl braced one hand against the wall, stepped onto the top of the wall with one foot, and then leaped again without hesitation. Her short sleeves billowed in the wind as she jumped with the breeze to the second floor of the old apartment complex. Her arms tensed with effort as she flipped herself onto the roof of the awning.
Dangerous!
The high-flying drone pulled back, providing a clear view of the maze-like roads of the old buildings, some structures high and others low, red tiles covered in a layer of dust. The young girl ran swiftly across the rooftops, with the calico cat beside her maintaining the same pace. Together, human and feline leaped from the edge of the roof simultaneously.
The president had seen similar scenes in parkour videos, where the athletes' movements were more powerful, mimicking animal movements—gorilla jumps, cat leaps, wall runs, rolls—allowing them to move quickly through complex terrain.
But the president suddenly realized: the difference between this girl and those athletes was that she seemed more... "lightweight."
And faster.
Parkour was originally invented as a way to "get around" quickly, evolving into a spectator sport in modern times, and branching out into freerunning, which incorporated more showy moves like backflips between transitions. The unnamed girl in the frame, however, gave the impression that she was genuinely using this skill just to get from point A to point B.
So, it wasn't that she lacked power, but rather that those powerful landings and lifts served no purpose for her.
If one could already jump farther with ease, land steadily, and continue forward, why bother with rolls to disperse force, or climbing up and down?
Despite having no prior knowledge of parkour, the president found himself feeling a twinge of envy and longing as he watched the footage... longing for the "freedom" the girl exhibited as she vaulted over walls.
"She must be some parkour video creator, right?" one of the onlooking club members said. "She even has a drone."
Yes, she must be filming a video.
Look at that perfect drone flight path, and that well-trained, collared cat beside her... She must be a parkour pro with a team behind her.
Everyone wanted to go meet her, but as they searched the footage, they couldn't find any sign of her team. Shouldn't there be a vehicle with equipment parked nearby?
Someone gasped as the girl in the frame left the neighborhood. She removed her black fingerless gloves, turned them inside out and tucked them into her pocket, then tried to clip a leash onto the cat... but the cat shook its head, seeming reluctant.
The girl crouched down and exchanged a few words with the cat, then waved at the air.
That basic consumer drone descended, landing on the ground and extending its self-propelled wheels.
So it had been modified too.
In the frame, the girl clipped the cat leash to the drone, crossed the street, and was just a few steps away from climbing the stairs to the city center's commercial district.
They watched as the drone used its wheels to roll up to the stairs, adjusted its wheel height, extending and retracting smoothly to move itself up the steps, continuing to follow the girl and the cat.
Everyone: "...Huh?"
...These days, walking a cat isn't trendy enough; you have to walk a drone too?
