Three-Five-Five crawled out of bed, first tiptoeing on cat-like steps to the ensuite bathroom, where she grood her fur in front of the mirror. After smoothing down her ruffled fur, she jumped into the automatic litter box, stayed for a while, then hopped out and squeezed through the cat flap on the door. Just then, she heard the sound of the door opening.
Aunt i and Three-Five-Five ran into each other as the latter erged, and Aunt i greeted her familiarly, "Three-Five-Five, you're awake. Co out for breakfast."
Three-Five-Five: "ow."
Aunt i's sleeve still had black cat fur stuck to it, and although the living room downstairs had a cat tree and a cat bed, Shikuai insisted on lounging on the narrow staircase railing. As he lay there, his belly fat spilled over the sides, giving him a very relaxed appearance.
Three-Five-Five walked past without a glance, heading straight to eat her cat food.
Aunt i poured Shikuai's portion into the bowl next to Three-Five-Five's, but Shikuai twitched his ears and didn't start eating.
Lately, he seed to be on so sort of diet or sothing, as he had beco sluggish even when eating. However, Aunt i knew the reason: a few days ago, a friend of Teacher Zhang's family had visited and brought cat treats. Aunt i had opened a pack for both cats to try, and ever since, Shikuai had been begging for snacks instead of eating his regular als.
Aunt i wasn't one to indulge him. She lifted the blanket on the sofa and, sure enough, found Wu Classmate underneath.
Wu Classmate had long since learned to use a designated spot for his business, but perhaps due to the change in environnt, he had developed a bit of a stomach issue. A couple of days ago, he had an accident in the living room, so now he wore a bird diaper on his rear.
Before Aunt i could say anything, Wu Classmate seed to sense what was coming and let out a couple of squawks, flying over to hover above Shikuai's food bowl.
As soon as he looked down, Shikuai sprang into action.
The black cat in white underpants, who had been dozing just monts ago, now darted out in a flash to reclaim his bowl.
Three-Five-Five, who had almost been stepped on: "..."
Three-Five-Five raised a paw and gave Shikuai two solid thumps: even though it was just a close call, as the "cat mom," she treated Shikuai like her little brother, and little brothers were not allowed to fly over the big sister's head.
After Three-Five-Five finished eating, Teacher Zhang also woke up and sat down at the dining table for breakfast.
What made Aunt i happy was that since arriving in the small town of lmors, Teacher Zhang had been sleeping longer, and the quality of her sleep seed to have improved.
This Russian town was located within the Arctic Circle, and just by opening the window, one could see the aurora borealis. The town was sparsely populated, with houses spaced far apart. There was only one supermarket in town, and Aunt i went out once a week to stock up on supplies.
However, she didn't have to worry too much about running out of essentials, as every month soone would deliver food and water that couldn't be bought in Russia. This was arranged by Man Xing.
Just at the beginning of the month, Man Xing had sent Three-Five-Five over along with the supplies.
Though no longer working as a personal assistant, Man Xing still handled all sorts of life managent tasks, though most of the ti she delegated the work rather than doing it herself.
Unless the work involved Three-Five-Five or Chu Tingwu (the cat).
Snow had also fallen at Shanwan Ranch, but there, the peacocks, parrots, and horses had dedicated caretakers, and the dogs spent the winter in the hotel with the staff. So, only Three-Five-Five had gone abroad.
After finishing her al, Three-Five-Five calmly licked her paws and jumped onto the sofa.
Aunt i sat down beside her and began trimming the fur on Three-Five-Five's paws.
Teacher Zhang also ca over with her tablet, turned on an audiobook, and as soon as she raised her hand, Shikuai plopped onto her lap and started kneading.
She smiled and said softly, "Oh, Shikuai, you're getting fatter and fatter."
Though he could understand the word "fat," since Teacher Zhang hadn't said it in cat language, Shikuai pretended not to understand and just owed sweetly, too lazy to argue.
Aunt i chuckled:
Shikuai used to love running around outside, but the winters here were too cold. After one outing, he ca back with his head covered in snow, and since then, he had been piling on the pounds.
As for Three-Five-Five... after Aunt i finished dealing with the annoying fur on her paws, Three-Five-Five jumped down and walked to the door, even fetching her leash from the shoe cabinet, signaling to Aunt i that it was ti to go.
Aunt i agreed and went to get the custom-made VR live-streaming equipnt for the tortoiseshell cat.
Once everything was ready, the two of them went out for a walk.
This wasn't to start a live stream on Chu Tingwu's account—she no longer had a monthly streaming requirent. Instead, they were recording a VR video to send to the little one on the icebreaker once she had internet access.
The tortoiseshell's fur had visibly thickened, and after stepping into the snow, she lifted a paw to shake it off before retreating to the cleared path.
Once Aunt i caught up, the cat mom glanced back at her, made sure the leash was secure, and then suddenly leaped forward, diving into the snow—
She wanted to play "snow swimming."
Aunt i: "Ha."
Three-Five-Five had initially been troubled by the town's snow because, even with a cat's light weight, walking on the thin top layer could cause her to suddenly sink. But last week, she seed to have discovered that rolling in the snow was quite fun, and she could even paddle forward with her front paws.
Of course, Three-Five-Five never played like this in front of Shikuai. Only after they were a good distance from the house would she signal to Aunt i.
If she got tired of paddling, Aunt i would pick her up, brush off the snow, and carry her while continuing their walk.
As they walked, a neighbor's door opened.
Aunt i greeted them: "Lots of guests today?"
Two cars were parked outside the neighbor's house, so it seed they were heading out for work.
The neighbor laughed: "Yeah, so tourists arrived."
When she stepped out, she saw Three-Five-Five and brought out so snacks—not for cats, but the kind of sugary treats kids love.
She had once wondered if the family renting the house next door treated their cat like a child or if they had a child. But after talking with Aunt i, she learned that it was the cat who was raising the child, which explained why she liked snacks ant for kids.
The cat would bring the snacks back to the room and store them carefully.
Thinking of this, she took the opportunity to give Three-Five-Five's head a couple of hearty pats, withdrawing her hand just as the tortoiseshell let out an annoyed "ow."
The neighbor: "When your kid cos over, I'll take her to see the aurora for free!"
Aunt i smiled and said thanks.
The neighbor's job, colloquially known as "aurora hunting," was a common profession in the town. Of course, in this town, seeing the aurora was easy—just look up at the right ti. But not all auroras were the sa.
Tourists traveled from afar to take photos and enjoy the scenery, and that's where "aurora hunters" ca in.
Most were locals who knew the best spots for the most stunning auroras and the most photogenic views. They even coordinated with others to ensure certain locations remained free of crowds.
They took tourists out in cars to chase the aurora... it sounded incredibly romantic, but it was also a good business.
The neighbor patted the car and shrugged: "Those tourists ca by car, but their vehicles aren't suited for this place, so I had to borrow one from my siblings."
Aunt i and Teacher Zhang weren't too concerned about this, especially since Teacher Zhang couldn't see.
...It wasn't like Aunt i could take two cats and a crow to see the aurora, right?
On the way back from walking Three-Five-Five, Aunt i ran into the group of tourists. They seed to be discussing a tabletop RPG, planning to continue playing back at the hotel after seeing the aurora. Their lively chatter made the falling snowflakes seem more vibrant.
She smiled, pushed open the door, and heard Teacher Zhang humming a tune, Shikuai and Wu Classmate squabbling, and the robot vacuum slowly patrolling the room until Three-Five-Five jumped down and stepped on it.
Aunt i: "You start the ga, I'll go make so snacks."
She was referring to the ga "Cat House."
They had co here for a vacation, and it would have been inconvenient to bring the VR pod, but Man Xing had sent it over, and it was the latest upgraded version.
In the room, there were two experience pods. Aunt i could have played together with Teacher Zhang, but while Teacher Zhang was playing, Aunt i would usually do so housework, bake so snacks, or even play with the cat, especially Shikuai, to prevent him from sleeping too much during the day and suddenly going on a nightti ramble.
—Teacher Zhang was getting older, and Aunt i was worried that she might face so inconveniences in the experience pod. Since communication wasn’t suitable in the ga and the pod was soundproof, Aunt i rarely played.
She thought she might ntion it to Chu Tingwu later—perhaps they could add so health monitoring features to the customized experience pods, considering the elderly players.
But seeing Teacher Zhang playing the ga, Aunt i couldn’t help but smile.
The fact that even the visually impaired could experience the joy of semi-holographic gas made her very happy.
-
In the ga, Zhang Youyi went by the na “Teacher Zhang.”
She had been called “Teacher Zhang” for half her life and had grown accustod to the title. When the calico kitten addressed the players, it would take the last two characters of their ID and add “Mom.” So when she logged in, the calico kitten would ow and approach her, saying, “Teacher Mom~”
Teacher Zhang patted its head.
Perhaps other players didn’t feel the stark difference between a cat’s body and a human’s, but every ti Teacher Zhang logged into the ga, she could feel a unique lightness—compared to her human body, being a cat was just so comfortable.
Therefore, if it weren’t for the experience pod’s daily playti limit, designed to consider the players’ physical conditions, Teacher Zhang might have found herself getting addicted, just like the younger players.
—Even though the scenery here wasn’t quite like the real world.
The ga’s graphics were still just ga graphics; the semi-holographic realism wasn’t perfect, and even with the best experience pods available, players could still feel a noticeable difference from reality.
She glanced at the “snowy scenery” outside the window, opened the door of the cat house, and stepped out, first finding three ssage bottles in the snow.
After the chat channel went live, the friend system followed shortly after, allowing players to send private ssages once they added each other as friends.
What relieved the players was that while the ssage bottles still couldn’t be directed to a specific recipient, the chances of them drifting to a “friend” had increased, and players could now put small notes inside the bottles.
The number of ssage bottles was dynamic—players could get one by signing in daily, and once they retrieved the contents of a bottle, they could wash it and reuse it.
Inside the bottle was a gift from Teacher Zhang’s friend, Chengzi.
But it had already changed hands several tis—
Even though the probability had increased, the bottles still weren’t guaranteed to reach the intended recipient. So, when others found the bottles and saw the notes inside, they might add the “recipient” as a friend to increase the chances and then toss the bottle back into the virtual sea.
Thus, the gift had passed through several hands before finally reaching Teacher Zhang.
She had added several friends—so she continued to chat with, while others deleted her after completing the ssage bottle relay task.
But they were all undoubtedly good people.
Teacher Zhang’s friend Chengzi was no exception. She didn’t know Chengzi’s gender or occupation, only that Chengzi seed to have issues with their legs, much like how Teacher Zhang was visually impaired. Through the ga, Chengzi had also experienced what it was like to be “normal,” and both of them hoped that the era of fully imrsive holographic gas would truly arrive, and that Chu Tingwu’s company would continue to thrive.
She took out the gift, then rummaged through her own stash to find sothing Chengzi might find useful, and stuffed it back into the bottle.
Then, she picked up the other two bottles—these had also been misdirected to her. One contained a small note thanking the previous person for re-tossing it, while the other had only a note inside, no items, returning to the essence of a “ssage bottle.”
The note read:
“Hello, stranger, wishing you an early Happy New Year, good fortune, and prosperity. The cat food inside is a red envelope for your little one.”
“P.S.: I’m the second handler. The previous person already took the cat food, but I thought the blessing was nice, so I’m passing it on to you.”
Teacher Zhang was both amused and touched: quite generous, indeed.
For the recipient, it was essentially a free bottle.
After so thought, she added fifty pieces of cat food, left the note untouched, and simply added that she was the third handler, tossing in a small red envelope for good luck before throwing the bottle back into the virtual sea.
She returned to her workshop to work on so blueprints. Outside, the snow was falling heavier, and she decided to finish this week’s limited-edition design, giving the furniture a unified style. But before long, the system notified her that she had received another ssage bottle.
Inside was another note.
“P.S.S.S.: I’m the fourth handler. I took the cat food. I’m in a bit of a tough spot myself, so I can’t offer much, but thank you, kind stranger. Here’s a poem to wish you a Happy New Year.”
Teacher Zhang: “…”
Teacher Zhang: “Hmm…”
She tossed the bottle back out.
A little later, the chat room buzzed with activity—soone had received that bottle but decided not to toss it back.
[I Gave Birth to This Kitten]: [Image]
[I Gave Birth to This Kitten]: Whose silly poem is this? The previous person who tossed the bottle kindly adjusted the ter for you. Since the bottle’s probability is so low, I was worried you wouldn’t see it, so I’m posting it here. No need to thank .
The channel imdiately lit up as everyone gathered to admire this “masterpiece.”
The poet, feeling utterly embarrassed, lifted a paw to cover their face: “…”
We’re all cats here—writing poetry is already impressive enough…
What more do you want?
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