It Turned Into a Game, Meow!?

The interface that materialized before Yun Juan’s eyes, a familiar pale blue projection directly into her visual system, nevertheless stirred a specific memory.

Its text and structure instantly transported Yun Juan back to a past shrouded in the lingering scent of cigarette smoke and instant noodles.

It was both intimately familiar and profoundly alien.

Gazing at the now completely revamped system panel, the first thing that struck Yun Juan was the four prominent characters: [Soul Lantern Game].

Rendered in an ornate, flowing script, each character was adorned with a delicate cat-paw border.

Yun Juan wondered where Bai had found such whimsical inspiration.

Unlike the previous cluttered interface, where everything was crammed together, several new tabs now graced the bottom of the screen.

[Character Attributes]

[Skill Learning]

[Public Chat]

[Under Development φωφ]

The font itself had transformed, each stroke curving with a charming roundness, making it look quite adorable.

Beside each tab, a simplified white cat head logo, identical to the cat ribbon, now appeared, though this time it was colored in.

Yun Juan felt a distinct sense of unreality.

Just as she had done when communicating previously, Yun Juan mentally tapped the Character Attributes panel.

The content on the panel shifted, and a column of text, styled with the same rounded, cat-paw-edged font as the tabs, emerged.

It looked remarkably like a cute, anime-style mobile game.

[Nickname: Yun Juan]

[Level: 3]

[Mental Power: 42/45]

[Skills (2/3)]

[Scripture of the Spirit Vine (crossed out) Upgrade System, Auxiliary System]

The surreal sensation intensified, second only to the time Yun Juan had transformed into a cat-person.

So, why had a simple night’s sleep turned her contract into a game?

Yun Juan closed her eyes and ruthlessly pinched the tip of her ear.

A jolt of electric pain and tingling stimulated her cat spirit, simultaneously confirming that this was no dream; it was real.

‘Oh!’

‘Right, the chat group is still there!’

Confused and bewildered, Yun Juan quickly clicked on the Public Chat tab.

The familiar interface appeared, and Yun Juan breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, this hadn’t changed.

At this very moment, the chat group was buzzing with heated discussions.

[Ten Thousand Whys: This is the result of Cat and Boss Bai’s diligent work all night!]

[Melancholy Cat: And?]

[Melancholy Cat: What specific improvements were made?]

[Ten Thousand Whys: Let me introduce them.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: The main change is the interface adjustment.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: The new interface now looks more comfortable, tidy, and cute.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: Secondly, we’ve changed the previous mental flow to display as a separate level.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: The level and the original mental flow value are not equivalent.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: The current level primarily references the number of skills.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: In the future, everyone’s skill count will vary.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: See that Skill Learning interface?]

[Ten Thousand Whys: At Level 1, you automatically learn my Scripture of the Spirit Vine, which provides upgrade and mental power limit functions.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: At Level 2, you automatically learn the Auxiliary System.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: From Level 3 onwards, you can choose to learn other new skills.]

Dr. Cat, in her serious persona, briefly emerged to provide a simple explanation of last night’s work.

[Li Xiao: Oh… I see…]

[Li Xiao: No wonder my skill count suddenly dropped by one.]

[Li Xiao: But thankfully, I still have two levels left, otherwise the chat group would be gone.]

[Cat Eats Fish: Cat’s skill limit has increased by one, but for now, I’ve only learned the Upgrade and Auxiliary System.]

[Ten Thousand Whys: Normal people are Level 2 to Level 4.]

Knowing that this was not an accident but a deliberate change, Yun Juan finally shed her confusion.

A game?

This was Yun Juan’s hobby, and she eagerly joined the discussion.

[Yun Juan: Do upgrades have a progress bar?]

[Yun Juan: What are the conditions for upgrading?]

[Ten Thousand Whys: Hmph hmph~ The Upgrade System’s Scripture of the Spirit Vine was provided by Cat, you know!]

[Ten Thousand Whys: This is where Cat’s skill truly shines, meow!]

[Ten Thousand Whys: You don’t have to do anything!]

[Ten Thousand Whys: It automatically increases your mental power limit!]

[Ten Thousand Whys: As for upgrading… maybe by fighting monsters?]

It seemed the active version of Dr. Cat had reappeared.

Just as the cats were about to ask more questions, Officer Wei interrupted the discussion with an @.

[Melancholy Cat: @Ten Thousand Whys, come to my office.]

Coincidentally, Dr. Cat was not far from Officer Wei’s office.

Shortly after the @, the green-furred cat, still in her active state, bounced open the office door.

Officer Wei, her small face creased in a frown, was writing something.

Dr. Cat curiously leaned in.

“What are you writing, meow?”

“A report!” Officer Wei grumbled irritably.

“What’s the matter?”

“You made such a big change with Bai without even telling me.”

“Cat also knows the skill effects of the Scripture of the Spirit Vine.”

“It only slightly increases that ‘mental flow’ value when life around us dies.”

“You shared this skill and even changed the contract to be like a game.”

“Aren’t you afraid it will cause chaos?”

Listening to Officer Wei’s worries and complaints, Dr. Cat understood what she was thinking.

Officer Wei feared that some cat-girls, coveting power, might have their moral compasses dulled by the game-like system, leading them down a path of no return.

“Relax.”

“The other cat-girls haven’t noticed yet, but don’t we both know?”

“Bai’s contract has a huge impact on personality.”

“As long as Bai doesn’t allow it, Cat believes no cat will defy Bai’s will.”

“That’s why, no matter how useful the Cat-Person Squad is, the higher-ups never mention expansion and even assigned us a task to garrison different sub-bases to keep us dispersed.”

Dr. Cat casually answered the short Officer Wei’s questions.

There was no dissatisfaction or overt emotion in her words, merely a straightforward statement of facts.

“Such words… speak less of them… But even so…”

Officer Wei lived up to the nickname Bai gave her, still somewhat uneasy.

Dr. Cat twitched her green ears, interrupting Wei’s words.

“Better safe than sorry, right?”

“Bai has disabling authority.”

“Surely you can rest assured now?”

“If you don’t trust other members, can you not trust Bai?”

“Alright… now I know how to write the report…”

“It’s nothing.”

“There should be other arrangements in a few days, like calling all the cats back or something.”

On the other side, seeing that the main participants had left the group chat, Yun Juan continued to study the new panel, opening the last tab: [Skill Learning].

To Yun Juan’s surprise, there weren’t many skills in the skill library.

This seemed somewhat inconsistent with her impression of Bai as an almost omnipotent boss cat.

[Learnable Skills:]

[Versatility]

[Reincarnation]

[Pure Land of the Heart]

[Stone Skin]

[Photosynthesis]

[All-Seeing Eye]

[Ghostly Shot]

[Hide and Seek]

Though not many, they were enough to give Yun Juan decision paralysis, as her Level 3 status only allowed for one skill slot.

‘Hmm… I should choose a familiar skill first… Appraisal…’

Thinking this, Yun Juan mentally poked the All-Seeing Eye.

A simplified drawing of Bai’s cat head popped up, with a speech bubble floating beside it: [Are you sure you want to learn the skill All-Seeing Eye?]

It had to be said, the new panel was indeed cute and pleasant to look at.

Yun Juan happily clicked confirm.

There was no special sensation, but she knew she could use Appraisal again.

‘Wait…’

Immediately after learning the skill, Yun Juan suddenly realized a major problem: Versatility was gone!

What about her travel?

She was still on a mission at the sub-base!

Just her luck, the contact phone rang at that exact moment, clearly indicating a new mission.

Yun Juan didn’t know whether to answer or not, frantically fumbling with the panel.

‘Is there a skill forget function?’

‘Can I re-learn it?’

Yun Juan was not disappointed.

When the skill details in the personal attributes interface were opened, there was indeed a ‘Forget’ button at the bottom.

After Yun Juan frantically clicked it, a familiar-looking cat head popped up, slowly exhaling a speech bubble: [Are you sure you want to forget All-Seeing Eye?]

‘Confirm, confirm, confirm!’

The floating cat head showed a crying, Q-version expression, and the text in the bubble changed: [Very sorry, meow.]

[To reduce server workload, the skill forgetting function requires a three-day cooldown~]

‘What the heck is a server?!’