When the plane landed on the continent of Antarctica, the sky was still bright.
However, it was already evening, though the sun hadn’t completely set. Mist swirled in front of the distant icebergs, and the snow hadn’t lted, so everything remained a vast expanse of white.
Professor Mi, standing nearby, said, “When you co back tomorrow during the day, you’ll see the clouds eting the distant snow-capped mountains, as if the sky and the earth are converging here.”
Their research team was composed of people from different countries and ethnicities, sponsored by a corporation, but various national research stations had also extended their hospitality. The station where they would stay tonight was one of them.
Two days later, the team would split up. The geologists in the group were scheduled to follow an inland route to another research station at an altitude of over 4,000 ters, while Chu Tingwu and others would transfer to Hua Country’s icebreaker to join the research team onboard.
Their accommodations for the night weren’t bad. Chu Tingwu shared a room with a teammate nad Misha, and dinner was served as a buffet.
Though it was evening, the world outside was still bright. Misha, who was very considerate, advised Chu Tingwu with experience, “Only the research station has internet. If you’ve taken any videos or photos and want to share them, do it in the next few days.”
While Chu Tingwu was unpacking, Misha noticed she had brought filming equipnt.
Chu Tingwu thought for a mont and said, “I don’t have anything I want to share right now.”
Besides, she wasn’t worried about being offline. Her system acted as a global router, and currently, the internet was buzzing with news about the upcoming beta test of *Cat House Simulator*.
Better to just watch penguins in the polar region, she thought.
Misha sat on the bed and laughed. “Oh, penguins. There are plenty of penguins here. I always miss them during every polar expedition… They’ll be the only bright spot in your life here. Of course, sotis we also get to see whales.”
She sighed. “Adult penguins rarely co close to the research station, but if the weather is good tomorrow, we might have a chance to go out.”
Because of Chu Tingwu’s age and academic background, everyone treated her like a child and didn’t expect her to contribute much to the research work. Professor Mi had brought two students along. The other one, a doctoral candidate, had previously been roped into working on a ranch and was now a seasoned workhorse. Chu Tingwu couldn’t even find an opportunity to assist… Perhaps he hadn’t yet shifted his perception of her from “boss” to “future junior.”
However, even if the weather wasn’t good tomorrow,
Chu Tingwu would still get to see penguins.
She didn’t need to adjust much to the ti difference and went to bed according to her usual routine. But after closing her eyes, she didn’t let the system pull her into the dream classroom…
Chu Tingwu: “…I think I need to ntally prepare myself.”
It wasn’t the excitent of being able to “interact” with Antarctic animals.
It was just that… penguins lived in a rather slly place.
In the dream classroom, the system would perfectly recreate the surroundings, from visuals to slls and textures, making it more imrsive than any holographic ga—but for once, the sole player was reluctant.
Sll is a complex thing. Cities are filled with all kinds of odors, including unpleasant ones. The nature reserves Chu Tingwu had visited also had the scents of wild animals… But in those places, other slls balanced things out, so what she perceived was always the overall atmosphere of the environnt.
A cat’s nose quickly adapts to unfamiliar surroundings (those that don’t adapt end up stressed), then dulls the stronger, less important slls, morizing the scents and identifying dangerous odors before marking the environnt with its own scent.
But Antarctica’s environnt was too pristine!
The natural scents were too faint, which made the slls produced by the animals (like their waste) stand out all the more.
If others found it rely stinky, for Chu Tingwu, it was downright unbearable—
And she couldn’t even amplify other environntal slls to mitigate the stench.
For once, lying in bed with her eyes closed, she was deeply conflicted.
Chu Tingwu: “Goodnight, system.”
Misha: “What?”
Chu Tingwu: “Goodnight to you too, Misha.”
She was avoiding the issue =,=
-
At the sa ti, the promotional campaign for the new ga *Cat House Simulator* officially launched.
Unlike the sowhat rushed release of *Flying Birds*, *Cat House Simulator* was born under the spotlight. After seeing the Easter egg in *Flying Birds*, everyone was even more excited about the new “semi” holographic ga.
So, when the promotion went live, people were surprised to find—
The ga, which required a VR pod for the full experience, was being promoted through a mini-ga that could be played on a mobile app.
Yes, to promote their semi-holographic ga, they had first created a mini-ga that could be played instantly by scanning a QR code.
So people wanted to flip the table and shout, “I just want the holographic experience, give it to now!” But most of the eager, restless netizens chose to scan the code, log in, and start playing.
And the na of this mini-ga… was *Cat Box*?
Yue Si canceled her livestream plans for the day as soon as she saw the announcent, timing it perfectly to scan the code.
Though she wasn’t the first to trigger the *Flying Birds* Easter egg—Chu Tingwu had beaten her to it—she had followed Chu Tingwu’s lead and, having previously been on a cyber pilgrimage, beca the second person to trigger the Easter egg. She even created a tutorial, riding the wave of the ga’s popularity and becoming the fastest-growing content creator in the FPS community thanks to *Flying Birds*.
Her friends and family were envious, and Yue Si knew she had to seize the opportunity.
Her subsequent rise in followers was due to her relentless search for strategies, always striving to be the first to uncover new Easter eggs. She even moved a VR pod into her studio.
So friends worried she was investing too much, but Yue Si believed… while traditional gas wouldn’t disappear, the future, as technology advanced, would undoubtedly belong to holographics.
Being able to experience semi-holographic gas through a VR pod now wasn’t a loss—it might even be a gain.
She was currently in the pod… Although *Cat Box* could be played on a phone, the official recomndation was to use VR equipnt for the best experience.
She opened the app, selected “Load,” and after the progress bar completed—
A closed cardboard box appeared on the screen, with only a small round hole in it. Then, the cara zood in, seemingly entering the box, and the perspective shifted… The player beca the “cat” trapped inside the box.
[Please wear the full set of “Wu” series knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, and gloves. Ensure they are properly fitted and do not move more than three ters away from your gaming device.]
Since playing the full ga *Cat House* required VR equipnt, this setup made sense.
Yue Si put on the gear, clicked the confirmation button on the screen, and followed the instructions to place her phone on a stand a ter away, then projected the screen.
[Extend your hand]
Yue Si stretched out her left hand, and a “scratch” sound ca from the speakers, as if sothing had hit the cardboard box.
She thought, “Aha,” and imdiately understood what was happening.
She then punched forward with her fist, and sure enough, the sound of the box being hit was clear, though this ti it was a dull thud instead of a sharp scratch.
Correspondingly, in the ga interface, the light streaming through the hole in the box swayed slightly.
She laughed and explained to her still-confused assistant:
“This is similar to playing *Ring Fit Adventure* or *Fitness Boxing*.”
Through the connected devices, the player’s real-world actions were reflected in the ga.
She really was the cat inside the box. When she raised her hand, the “cat” raised its paw. When she kicked, punched, or rolled, the “cat” did the sa.
Of course, she was only hitting air, with so slight feedback from the devices, but the realism was severely lacking.
The ga system seed to assu that even the clumsiest player could grasp this chanic, and soon presented the main objective:
[Task: Escape the box!]
More people in the studio gathered around to watch the commotion because, to be honest, even just watching Yue Si play was quite entertaining—she seed to be adapting to her "paws," even though she technically wasn’t.
On the screen, the cardboard box had already been torn open with various holes, so bearing tooth marks (Yue Si: "Hmm...") and others showing claw marks or even punctures from nails.
Apart from what seed to be a ventilation hole, the box appeared to be sealed shut with tape, so it took quite a bit of effort for her to finally create an opening big enough for a cat to squeeze through.
Yue Si was also drenched in sweat... She should have realized when she bought the knee pads that they weren’t just gaming equipnt but could actually double as workout gear.
Soon, an eager employee stepped in to take over the ga, while Yue Si went to rest on the side, watching the employee excitedly tear at the box, widening the hole and squeezing out in an awkward manner.
As the "cat" squeezed out, the box tilted to one side, and the player controlling it turned around to see a dusty full-length mirror behind the box.
In the mirror was a long-haired tortoiseshell cat with a sooty appearance. Compared to the average cat, it looked rather skinny, and without the fur, it probably wouldn’t weigh much. And then—
Yue Si almost spat out her milk tea:
"Why is this cat walking upright?!"
The employee controlling the ga: "..."
His intuition told him sothing was off.
Slowly, very slowly, he crouched down, and everyone could see that in the ga, the long-haired tortoiseshell cat in the mirror also crouched down, its expression serious but its movents slightly awkward.
The employee lay down on the floor.
The cat also lay down.
The employee silently pushed himself up with his hands... while the cat in the mirror stretched out in a perfect feline stretch and even wagged its tail.
Yue Si: "...Pfft."
The ga *Cat Box* indeed used motion capture, and it captured human movents with 100% accuracy. If a player stood up while playing, the cat in the ga would also stand upright on its hind legs, making for a rather comical sight.
The task of escaping the cardboard box was completed, and the next task quickly popped up—
[Task: Leave the room!]
The studio staff huddled together, and the cara followed the employee’s movents as it panned around.
The room appeared to be a storage space, cluttered with various old items, the most prominent being the full-length mirror. The clutter blocked the window behind it, so the only way out for the cat was through the door.
The door was directly across, with nothing else in the way. About half a ter away stood a table, its height matching that of the doorknob.
Yue Si: "Jump up to grab the doorknob, or jump onto the table and use your weight to press it down. That should open the door, right?"
It sounded like a reasonable idea.
Until the employee started jumping.
The cat’s claws left frustrated scratch marks on the wooden door.
—The doorknob’s height seed normal, but it was actually twice the length of the tortoiseshell cat’s body! Why couldn’t it reach even when jumping from a standing position? And when it finally managed to reach, it couldn’t grab hold. Isn’t this how cats jump?
The system: "?"
If the cat in the ga truly had to replicate real-life movents one-to-one, wouldn’t players have to jump to twice their own height? Not necessarily—just mimic the movents roughly, and the tortoiseshell cat in the ga would jump on its own!
*Cat Box*, as a precursor ga, was designed to help players get used to the feline body chanics in *Cat House*. Eventually, players would realize they could leap three ters high, just like a real cat. By playing *Cat Box* first, they could learn so techniques for applying force and moving properly. Otherwise, the semi-holographic ga would be filled with cats walking upright, jumping into walls, and failing to catch mice.
The player was still jumping.
The player was still trying.
The system: "..."
The system felt no sympathy and considered updating the ga to add a mouse to the storage room.
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