During training, Chu Tingwu could feel many people observing her.
She was used to it by now.
She had even memorized everyone in her class by their scents.
Her scent detection skill was still at level 2, but Chu Tingwu could feel herself becoming more adept at using her keen new sense of smell... Most of the time, when meeting someone new, she would first mark them with a scent label in her mind and judge whether this scent indicated friendliness or dislike—then, upon meeting again, before the person's image appeared, the emotion associated with their scent would already surface in her mind.
...It was as if she was using another brain to remember these scents, and they wouldn't fade even after a long time.
That evening after training ended, Chu Tingwu was again pulled into the dream course by the system.
But this time, the reference subject didn't seem to be cats—
Chu Tingwu's combat course happened once a week on average, and the content involved wrestling with kitten-sized lions, but since the kittens had no fighting ability, she treated these lessons as playtime with fluffy creatures.
But today there were no fluffy creatures in class.
The system displayed a projection in the room for Chu Tingwu:
"Little one, this is a 3D projection of your physical condition."
The scene looked very sci-fi, and Chu Tingwu noticed her fingers were marked in red with enlarged feature points. She sat in the chair, pondering: "My nails seem to grow very slowly?"
She hadn't cut her nails for a while, but they had only grown a tiny bit, barely covering her fingertips.
The system's tone was very grave: "Little one, I have some very regrettable news to tell you—"
It projected an upright cat next to her human body projection, the same height as Chu Tingwu, but with obviously different joint structures.
[You can't grow into this form!]
Chu Tingwu: You just figured that out?
[Human-cats are just too special... I've been having you learn feline combat methods all this time, but you don't have those kinds of teeth, nor sharp claws (chokes up)... I've determined that your nails will grow even slower than a cat's, and they'll completely stop growing at some point, but they'll become extremely hard.]
[They'll also shed and regrow after aging.]
The system showed a video clip of a tiger hunting, showing Chu Tingwu the direct footage of a tiger slashing open an antelope's belly with one swipe: "You'll probably be able to achieve this level when you're an adult..."
Chu Tingwu: "Tear open an antelope with bare hands?"
Obviously, her nails wouldn't grow too long, just about the length that normal people keep their nails, with a certain curvature, but they would be very, very, very hard—hard enough to be used like blades, and if she wanted, with a slight adjustment of angle, they could be used as sharp weapons.
But the system wasn't very satisfied and felt extremely guilty.
Chu Tingwu had to comfort it instead: "I'm a bit of a clean freak anyway, I wouldn't tear things apart with my bare hands..."
That didn't really sound like comfort either?
Compared to her hands, her feet had also changed somewhat, with the thickness of her soles better able to absorb the impact of landing—normal cats should have soft pads on all four feet for landing, but human-cats mainly use two feet, requiring higher balance.
After completing its self-consolation, the system continued: "But little one, you still need to learn some survival skills. Human cubs have already started learning, so I think your new course needs to begin too."
Learning these skills doesn't necessarily mean she'll have to go tear apart antelopes in the wild, but she can't not know how!
Chu Tingwu: "...I think you have some misunderstandings about military boxing."
Human cubs don't learn military boxing for wilderness survival!
However, she was already used to the courses the system arranged for her, so she might as well learn them properly.
The conversation room disappeared, transforming into the No. 5 Middle School playground. Chu Tingwu found herself standing in the middle of the field, with no one around—
According to the system, simulating familiar environments helps cubs apply classroom techniques in reality.
Then she heard an angry roar from a beast.
A Siberian brown bear over two meters tall jumped down from the phoenix tree at the school.
Chu Tingwu: "..."
The brown bear lunged at her.
Chu Tingwu: "......"
System, your cub has only learned military boxing and kitten pouncing, is this really something she can handle?!
-
Chang Yixin was the earliest riser in the dormitory.
Usually, when she just got out of bed, Chu Tingwu on the opposite bed number two would also open her eyes, looking as clear as if she hadn't slept at all the previous night, then grip the guardrail and jump straight down.
But today was unusual—Chang Yixin had already gotten dressed, yet Chu Tingwu still hadn't woken up.
So she simply sat cross-legged on her bed, looking at how the others were sleeping.
Chang Yile was sprawled face-down on her pillow, An Shiyan was hugging her pillow and sleeping soundly, while Chu Tingwu liked to sleep curled up, with her elbows and knees together. Usually, just as Chang Yixin finished putting on her clothes, Chu Tingwu's eyes would open, as if awakened by her roommate's movements, though she didn't seem like someone who would have trouble sleeping due to noise.
All in all, she was quite an intriguing roommate.
When she got down from her bed, she felt a breeze pass behind her ear, and turning around, sure enough, Chu Tingwu had jumped down from her bed and started putting on her military training uniform.
A few minutes later, after they had finished washing up, the other two were also awakened by their alarms.
Chang Yile slowly climbed down the ladder, while An Shiyan was still sitting on her bed in a daze, trying to wake herself up properly.
When she was still two rungs away from the ground, Chang Yile reached out to pat Chu Tingwu's shoulder: "Chu Chu, have you seen my shoes—"
Her shoes had been kicked somewhere unknown on the floor.
But in the next second, Chang Yile let out an "Ouch!"
Because Chu Tingwu had grabbed her wrist and then lifted—hoisting Chang Yile up by her thigh onto her shoulders.
Chang Yile: "?"
She was sitting on Chu Tingwu's shoulders, but the person below seemed to have frozen.
Chang Yile: "Um... I can put on my shoes, you don't need to carry me to breakfast."
Shoulder ride! She actually experienced a shoulder ride with her roommate again! The last time was when she was five years old, being taken out by her parents, fighting with her sister for a spot on their father's shoulders because it felt higher... But she's fifteen now!
Chu Tingwu: "=="
"It was instinctive, just instinctive..."
She had instinctively wanted to do a shoulder throw, good thing she changed the movement midway!
An Shiyan: "?"
"Actually, I can't find my shoes either..."
Chang Yile: "Then wait, I'll help you put them on—"
After fooling around for a while, they went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Students from other dorms were also up, and people would occasionally greet them along the way. Most people would wave at Chu Tingwu from afar when they saw her.
Chu Tingwu: "Morning..."
She called out their names—students from her class, from the neighboring Class 2, and even chatted with the cafeteria aunties. Chang Yile remarked from the side: "Your memory is so good. I'm a bit face-blind, I can only remember people from our class right now."
And even then, she only remembered faces, not matching them to names yet.
Chu Tingwu: "I'm just good at recognizing people."
She was even better at recognizing cats.
High school students still had pure personalities, and many people were pleasantly surprised when Chu Tingwu could call out their names. While Chu Tingwu was eating breakfast, a neighboring classmate even gave her a meat bun.
Chu Tingwu: "Thanks?"
Although she was already full, she could still eat a bit more.
Today's military training followed the usual two routines, but near the end of the day, Instructor Yan taught them a complete set of military boxing moves and had them practice for half an hour.
"Come on, let's learn ahead of schedule and outdo the other classes."
The other classes saw it all!
Instructor Yan walked through the rows, stopping in front of Chu Tingwu.
She learned the moves quite quickly... but this child, why did she look so angry when throwing punches, putting so much force into every strike.
Instructor Yan: "Good, that's exactly the spirit we want! Much more powerful than yesterday!"
After saying that, he carefully skirted around from the side in a manner that didn't match his words.
When they finally dispersed, as others were about to leave, Instructor Yan called out to Chu Tingwu and said quietly, "Write your military training diary well, and sing louder during the songs, make sure you memorize all the lyrics."
Each class had three military training exemplars, but there were only six exemplars for the entire grade level, basically one person per class.
Her roommates could all see it - Chu Tingwu was likely to get one of the military training exemplar positions as she had always performed well. Chang Yile raised her hand in a salute and asked, "What's the use of being a military training exemplar?"
Chu Tingwu replied: "Just an honor, I guess."
Perhaps there would be recognition at an assembly and a certificate?
Chang Yile: "Oh!"
System: "Oh!!"
Becoming a military training exemplar made it easier to be remembered by school leaders and teachers, and would attract classmates' attention—
A passing unfamiliar student: "Chu Tingwu, your cat is in the cafeteria!"
...but Chu Tingwu didn't seem to need that much attention; she was already well-known.
To be honest, while she had already remembered most people, even more people remembered her. Some even trained on the other side of the field but would specially come over to look at her during meals in the cafeteria.
Even second and third-year seniors had heard about the special freshman who had a cat bringing her popsicles during military training.
So after finishing dinner and receiving her popsicle, she went with Three-Five-Five to rest under a tree shade.
Three-Five-Five's left front paw rested on her thigh, dozing off to bird songs with twitching ears. Although she could see her kitten every day and knew the kitten was just across from the house on the field, Three-Five-Five still felt uncomfortable every night when her kitten wasn't home.
So her daily routine after waking up was to first knock on the neighbor's door, go into Teacher Yuan's house for an extra meal, chase Coal Ball around the house, then go find the parrot in the next building to exchange insults through the door, followed by playing with cats and dogs in the neighborhood to reinforce her territory marks, and when the sun reached its peak, she would bring some snacks to her kitten.
Chu Tingwu slowly stroked Three-Five-Five's back, making the cat purr. In the September weather, occasional cool breezes mixed with the hot wind, making the cat's fur and Chu Tingwu's hair flutter.
She closed her eyes.
Instinctively, she mysteriously knew: which direction the wind would blow.
In a place Chu Tingwu couldn't see, the progress bar of [Perception: lv0] silently increased by a small increment.
Then, at a certain moment, like plants breaking through soil, distant sounds suddenly became both closer and more distant, and the world became clearer to her ears—
[Hearing: lv1]
She could hear the insects wriggling in the soil beside the flower bed below, hear birds suddenly flapping their wings and landing on tree branches, causing leaves to tremble into a silent short tune, and even feel the vibrations of distant footsteps transmitted through the ground to her feet.
Tap tap, tap tap...
Tap, tap...
The sounds painted this world into a magical canvas hanging between heaven and earth, and Chu Tingwu was like the only child standing before the painting, wearing a bewildered expression.
She had no similar guides, only a cat by her side.
Three-Five-Five stretched lazily, letting out a "Meow..."
The system encouraged her: "Just follow your instincts, little one."
When Instructor Yan passed by the field, he noticed someone was still on the horizontal bar at the other end of the field.
Unlike comrades who might come for basic exercise out of restlessness, in the twilight, he could vaguely see the person wearing a military training uniform... which class were they from?
Except for boarding students, all second and third-year students had gone home by this time. The most numerous and hardest to manage students in school now were the newly arrived first-years.
He stood on tiptoe to look and saw that the person was hanging from the horizontal bar with their arms, head above the bar, swinging casually back and forth. A cat was crouching on top of the bar, another cat below, and yet another cat was grooming itself nearby.
Instructor Yan: "..."
Though he only saw the back view, he could guess who it was.
Instructor Yan: "Chu..."
Chu Tingwu suddenly moved.
She rotated 180 degrees, swinging herself above the horizontal bar, then let go, completing a beautiful flip in mid-air, landing with one leg forward and one back, precisely on top of the horizontal bar with a "pat."
The cats meowed several times, as if applauding her performance.
Instructor Yan drew in a sharp breath, his heart nearly jumping out—
Even in gymnastics, there should be others watching during training, and even with mats below, injuries were still common.
But Chu Tingwu had completed this high-difficulty move with no one around... was she expecting the cats to catch her if she fell?
And Chu Tingwu hadn't come down yet - she stood on top of the horizontal bar with her hands in her pockets, silently gazing into the distance—like a cat climbing high to view the scenery. Then she walked back and forth on the horizontal bar as if walking on flat ground, even bounced a couple of times, and finally crouched down to play with the cats below. Only after realizing the cats couldn't climb up did she jump down.
Soon after, Instructor Yan saw Chu Tingwu calling to her tortoiseshell cat as they walked toward the field exit.
They would probably part ways at the dormitory building.
He stood at the exit without a word, arms crossed, watching.
From about several dozen meters away, the girl's gaze seemed to fall on his face.
Chu Tingwu: "..."
Instructor Yan humphed.
Chu Tingwu: "..."
She silently looked toward the diagonal direction of the girls' dormitory.
Instructor Yan: "...?" Wait!
The side of No.5 Middle School's field facing outside had steel railings, while the inside had a circle of tall wire fencing—but soccer players still often kicked balls over it, and basketball players even more so, despite the wire fence being over three meters high.
At this moment, Instructor Yan suddenly felt the school's wire fence didn't seem so high anymore!
He saw Chu Tingwu tell her cat to go home first, then sprint toward the diagonal—
Instructor Yan couldn't maintain his crossed-arms posture anymore and ran in the same direction.
Chu Tingwu made one jump, as agile as a monkey. In the blink of an eye, she was straddling the top of the wire fence, and in another blink, she had flipped over the fence and jumped down. Then, after running a few more steps, she was already at the girls' dormitory entrance.
A passing comrade: "Old Yan? Old Yan, what are you doing, going for a run?"
Before Instructor Yan could speak, by the time he reached the girls' dormitory, Chu Tingwu had already vanished, with only other girls returning to the dormitory occasionally turning to look at him.
Instructor Yan: "..."
This little rascal!
-
The military training exemplar he chose himself, he had to finish training her even with tears in his eyes.
Instructor Yan wanted to "train" her face to face, but after trying to catch her for two days, he couldn't find any fault with Chu Tingwu in person.
On the fifth day of military training, when they needed to submit the list of military training exemplars, he went to find the homeroom teacher, Teacher Yuan. After some hesitation, he mentioned Chu Tingwu: "For the exemplars, I plan to give them some extra training. When we submit the military training exemplar list, each instructor can recommend one grade-level exemplar to present themselves before the chief instructor... the list includes these few: Chu Tingwu, Chang Yixin, Tang Zhe. Chu Tingwu has trained the best..."
Teacher Yuan: "That's great, this child is quite... has quite good athletic ability."
Teacher Yuan and Instructor Yan exchanged glances.
Teacher Yuan: "Was she caught climbing through windows?"
Instructor Yan: "She climbed through windows too?!"
"..."
Teacher Yuan was also at a loss—
Once or twice would have been fine, but getting midnight snacks every night meant eventually running into the night duty dormitory supervisor. The supervisor only noticed that fourth-floor residents kept going to the first floor bathroom, but when Teacher Yuan heard it was Chu Tingwu's dormitory, something felt off.
She went to check the security footage: while the cameras didn't catch Chu Tingwu climbing out of the first-floor bathroom window, they did capture Three-Five-Five delivering takeout every night.
Teacher Yuan: "..." Was it the cat climbing in with takeout nearly its own weight, or the person climbing out? Looking at that height, it didn't seem to be an issue either way.
Instructor Yan: "If any violations are caught, even nominated standard-bearers will have their status revoked."
Teacher Yuan: "Then I'll have another talk with her."
On the fifth day of military training, three predicted standard-bearers from Class One were called to the teachers' office.
Chang Yixin entered through the door arm-in-arm with Chu Tingwu, while Tang Zhe followed behind them. Teacher Yuan glanced at them and immediately understood why Instructor Yan had chosen these three - they all had good appearance and posture, both boys and girls were relatively tall, and none had problems with slouching. Though they had gotten a bit tanned, they looked healthy and energetic.
Teacher Yuan: "When we evaluate outstanding students at the end of the year, being a military training standard-bearer counts as bonus points. The school's outstanding student awards come with prize money, though not much. If you're willing to join, you'll need to do some extra training with the instructor after military training ends these days. Does anyone want to opt out?"
Chang Yixin: "When I'm doing extra training, Chang Yile will probably accompany me—"
Teacher Yuan: "That's fine, the instructor won't mind."
Chang Yixin: "What I mean is, can we make her leave? She'll definitely be eating ice cream on the sidelines."
It would be terrible to watch them train while eating.
Teacher Yuan: "=="
Seeing they had no other requests, Teacher Yuan sent the two to find the instructor while keeping Chu Tingwu behind.
Teacher Yuan: "Um... Tingwu, Instructor Yan told me he hopes to nominate you as a grade-level standard-bearer. There are only six spots for the whole grade. The instructor thinks you've done very well in all training aspects, but there's one small issue."
Chu Tingwu, who was pulled to sit in a chair nearby, already understood: "I'll tone it down these couple of days. I mainly worry about not getting enough regular exercise, so sometimes I give myself extra practice."
Teacher Yuan: Just these two days?
Teacher Yuan coughed: "I heard from other students that you do parkour, and you're quite skilled at it. When I was your age, I couldn't imagine being able to make videos for TV or becoming an online content creator with nearly a million followers. However... climbing over school walls is not allowed. Getting caught would result in a demerit. If you want to practice parkour, you should find a safer place and take proper safety precautions."
Teacher Yuan had spent an entire evening researching what parkour was, and thinking about Chu Tingwu's situation, contacting her family probably wouldn't help much — for a child whose parents were divorced and who lived alone, being able to earn money through social media at such a young age was actually quite admirable. So after much deliberation, she neither used harsh words nor firmly demanded Chu Tingwu give up parkour.
The girl in front of her nodded: "I understand. Getting caught means a demerit. I'll be careful."
After Chu Tingwu left, Teacher Yuan leaned on her desk, lost in thought:
...Being careful not to get caught, huh?
You look so obedient, but you're really quite rebellious at heart!
-
When Chu Tingwu came out, she found Chang Yixin and Tang Zhe waiting for her by the stairs instead of leaving first.
She was quite familiar with Chang Yixin, but Tang Zhe was a male classmate she had barely spoken to — however, she had detected the scents of chili powder, tea-scented facial cleanser, sheep milk laundry detergent, and peacock feathers on him.
The first three scents merely gave Chu Tingwu some insight into Tang Zhe's lifestyle, but the last one made her suspicious.
Chang Yixin: "The instructor said to meet at the indoor gymnasium."
They had been called over after dinner, so after an extra hour of training, they could return to their dorms.
The indoor gymnasium was better lit. When they pushed open the doors, the military training standard-bearer candidates from other classes were already there, chatting in small groups before practice began. As soon as Chu Tingwu walked in, she heard someone whisper to their companion: "That's her, Chu Tingwu from Class One. I heard she has connections that let her bring a cat to school."
The kind of "connections" like Three-Five-Five helping Coal Ball lose weight?
She calmed herself and found that the surrounding whispers seemed to amplify - if she focused on listening, she could hear everything clearly. After several days, Chu Tingwu had adapted to this new hearing ability just like she had adapted to her sense of smell, and it didn't feel noisy in familiar environments.
But she suspected she had also picked up a house cat's habit of feeling uncomfortable in new environments.
Suddenly, someone approached them, apparently a student from Class Five. He greeted the three of them: "The coach isn't here yet, why don't we practice first? Let's not waste time."
Chang Yixin glanced at him, smiled tightly, and pulled Chu Tingwu to one side.
Tang Zhe, wearing an expression that clearly showed he was with them, followed with his hands in his pockets.
—What's the point of practicing for just ten minutes? The upcoming extra training would be exhausting enough.
The student's expression soured, but after looking at them, he walked over to Class Three. Classes Three and Four seemed convinced by him and began lining up with Class Five. Class Two drifted towards Chu Tingwu's group - their classes were next door to each other and they were already somewhat familiar. Class Six's students sat in a corner, apparently playing gomoku, ignoring everyone else.
When the coach entered, this was the clearly divided scene he encountered.
Instructor Yan waved them over: "Come here, come here. We're not practicing the same items as them. Let's come over here and do a set of boxing exercises."
Although each class was supposed to have one grade-level standard-bearer by default, the rules only specified the total number of six... it didn't matter how well other classes performed, they weren't his people anyway.
However, after pulling the three aside, Instructor Yan also pretended to look stern while saying quietly: "Couldn't you at least pretend to go along?"
Tang Zhe: "Coach, you just said they were pretending..."
Instructor Yan: "Well, I have my pride too!"
Making it look like these three on his side were very well-behaved.
Looking up, Instructor Yan saw Chu Tingwu, and he: "..."
Never mind, with this one here, pretending probably wouldn't work anyway.
The three began practicing military boxing. The instructor corrected their movements, then said: "Chang Yixin, put some force into it! Imagine the person you hate most is in front of you - come on! One punch for each! Tang Zhe, stand steady, is there something on your shoe sole? Why are you wobbling? Chu Tingwu—"
"Stop spacing out! Your movements are standard, but where's your eye contact? Your expression? Are you planning to fall asleep right in front of me?"
"You're all only fifteen or sixteen, how come you have less spirit than my eighty-year-old neighbor!" He clapped his hands, "Wake up, wake up! Feeling drowsy after eating? If you work efficiently and finish practice early, I'll let you watch videos for half an hour!"
Tang Zhe: "?"
Instructor Yan: "What's with those expressions..."
Chang Yixin: "We're skeptical about your video selection standards."
Instructor Yan: "?"
Don't use respectful language to be sarcastic, just because last time he promised to show videos but ended up showing Class One a military training documentary and made them write reflection papers!
That was part of the military training curriculum!
Chu Tingwu: "Huh? What videos?"
Instructor Yan: "..." You really did fall asleep!
...In the end, that evening after training, what they watched was a clip from an anti-Japanese war movie.
After watching, Chu Tingwu rubbed her ears, feeling they had been overwhelmed by the noise. Chang Yixin was quite curious about the rest of the plot, though she found using hand grenades to blow up planes a bit far-fetched... As they were walking, Chu Tingwu suddenly stopped.
Chang Yixin: "Did you forget something?"
The surroundings were completely quiet, and it was now completely dark. The three had been walking together. Under the streetlights, three long shadows were cast on the ground. Tang Zhe, who had been walking with his head down, now also looked up with a puzzled expression.
Chu Tingwu looked toward the shrubs on the left: "Our school only has two peacocks, right?"
And both should be male, so why could she smell the scent of an unfamiliar peacock here?
Tang Zhe: "There are three. There's another blue peacock that's always kept in the cafeteria's back courtyard and isn't usually let out."
That one was female, so it wasn't kept with the male peacocks. After all, the school wanted students to get close to animals, not start peacock breeding.
Chu Tingwu: "Then it seems it does get let out sometimes..."
Or perhaps it sneaks out.
Skipping the topic of peacocks, the three parted ways at the corner. Chu Tingwu and Chang Yixin continued walking together, but Tang Zhe slowed his pace as he walked, muttering, "Wait, how did she know it was let out..."
He stood there puzzled for a while before running back to the dormitory. Inside, two of his three roommates were huddled on Tang Zhe's bed, while another sat next door, occasionally glancing up. Upon seeing Tang Zhe, they quickly called out, "It's still warm, we didn't let it get cold!"
Tang Zhe climbed onto the bed using both hands and feet: "Let me check the egg again with the candling method!"
He took out his flashlight and examined it with the cold light: "Thank goodness, it's fine."
His peacock egg was safe!
Actually, when he was called to the office today, Tang Zhe had intended to decline being the military training model student, but he couldn't find a reason at the moment and could only vaguely agree... He could hardly tell the homeroom teacher that he needed to return to the dormitory early to incubate an egg, could he?
Two days ago, Tang Zhe had found a peacock egg in some bushes on his way back to the dormitory. He was sure it was a peacock egg because of the peacock feathers nearby, and the egg was unusually large. It still felt warm to the touch, and when he shone his flashlight through it, he could tell it was likely fertilized.
After bringing it back to the dormitory, the roommate who knew about peacocks said, "It takes about a month to hatch a peacock egg, right? Should we turn it in?"
How could they possibly do that!
But they had military training during the day, and could only provide body heat to the egg during lunch and rest periods—these high school boys were making do with incubating the egg this way. While Tang Zhe went for extra practice, they kept the egg warm with their body heat. Tang Zhe worried: "But it seems like the temperature's going to drop these next few days, it might rain."
They would still be training outside then, so what could they do?
Who wasn't a teacher or instructor, but happened to be free during their training time and could keep the egg warm with body heat?
"A cat..."
"The school cats won't listen to you!"
"Give it back to the peacock?"
"I heard some peacocks don't even know how to incubate eggs their first time..."
"We've never laid eggs either, how would we know how to do it?!"
"Wait," Tang Zhe said, "Stray cats won't work, but what about Chu Tingwu's cat?"
Everyone pictured the tortoiseshell cat in their minds. Its imposing appearance gradually faded away, leaving only the bright words "female cat" in their mental image.
"Let's go kneel before Chu Tingwu tomorrow..."
"Why do we have to kneel? We're all classmates—can't we just hug her legs and cry?"
"Old Tang, you go! You found the egg, and when you cry during evening practice, only Chang Yixin will see you."
"Get lost..."
