Chat Group Development Process

[Testing, Meow~ Yun~ Say something.]

In the dead of night, Yun Juan, who had been sleeping soundly, was abruptly awoken by a communication sent through her contract.

“Meow? Meow-meow?”

The groggy Cat-girl sat up in bed, Bai’s message still transmitting.

“Boss Cat? What’s going on?”

Still half-asleep and disoriented, Yun Juan queried Bai with a confused meow.

[Developing a new function, meow-ow!]

Bai replied.

[Can you speak to other Cat-people?]

Bai then urged Yun Juan to try and sense the information channel she had painstakingly constructed between them over the course of half the night.

“Speak to other Cats?”

Yun Juan, now more awake, scratched her ear and pondered for a moment, a suspicion forming about Bai’s intentions.

Closing her eyes, Yun Juan followed Bai’s instructions, attempting to perceive other members as she would send a message to Bai herself.

Despite concentrating for a long time, much like Captain Wei had struggled with mastering the Versatility ability, Yun Juan found herself unable to grasp how to sense the information channel.

“Bai, are you trying to create a chat function?” Yun Juan inquired.

[Ch-chat…? Yes~ Everyone, speak together.]

“Oh~!”

At this historically significant moment of innovation, Yun Juan’s interest was piqued, and she eagerly questioned Bai.

“How did you do it?”

[Cat, built, channels, between, partners, mutually.]

Bai replied candidly.

Unsure of where to begin, she had simply brute-forced a direct channel between each partner, much like using her Reincarnation ability.

No wonder it had taken her half the night.

“You built individual communication channels between everyone?” Yun Juan furrowed her brow.

This was akin to two people holding walkie-talkies, she thought, and walkie-talkies that couldn’t change channels at that.

Every additional person would require another device, making it increasingly cumbersome with more participants, and only private conversations would be possible.

“Wouldn’t that be incredibly inconvenient?” Yun Juan voiced her concerns to Bai.

“Moreover, we can’t even perceive the existence of these channels.”

It was like an intrinsic sense; while they couldn’t directly detect the channels connecting them to Bai, once Bai initiated communication, they could instinctively follow that sensation to locate the channel and send information back.

[Mrow? Then… what should we do?]

This was uncharted territory, requiring self-reflection on information-level concepts.

Even her usually infallible All-Seeing Eye was proving useless now.

“How about a public chat room?”

“But we can only communicate with you through the contract.”

“Maybe an automatic forwarding system?”

Yun Juan, unfamiliar with such technicalities, could only offer tentative suggestions.

Yun Juan’s words were like a key, unlocking a myriad of future possibilities.

Countless hypotheses and inspirations instantly enlightened Bai, and the cat’s eyes gleamed with newfound understanding.

[Public screen… public… transfer…]

Sensing Bai’s joyous mood, Yun Juan curved her lips into a smile.

She had managed to help her boss—hooray!

After all, Bai was merely a novice, an informational aggregate lifeform.

As a beginner in information manipulation, Bai, lacking experience, naturally couldn’t concoct anything particularly novel or high-tech.

Yet, Yun Juan’s simple mention of a “public screen” had enlightened her.

If she couldn’t create something entirely new, she could always modify existing concepts.

A public screen meant public chat, and Bai immediately connected this to her “public skill.”

She realized she could leverage the public skill’s information channel to create a chat channel visible to everyone.

This would not consume extra skills and could even be displayed on the system panel.

Since the partners couldn’t perceive the newly established information channels, Bai had to utilize the only channel they could sense: the one linking them directly to her.

Conveniently, the source of the public skill’s information was also herself, which meant she could make this work!

Bai immediately put her idea into action, creating a new node within her Soul Lantern Network.

It was designed to be like the nodes every new contracted partner possessed, yet this particular node was entirely virtual, devoid of internal information or any psychic feedback.

Bai drew this null node into her own sphere, allowing it to overlap with her own essence.

By doing so, the node acquired her network address, granting it identical information reception permissions.

With the partners’ communication channel to her remaining unchanged, any messages they sent would be received by this null node.

Within this null node, Bai then embedded an incredibly brief and simple command.

It was merely to transmit all received information via the public skill’s channel.

Thus, a “chat group” was created: a single, unchanging information channel where everyone’s words were aggregated, and everyone had permission to view them!

Bai’s tail swished with extreme vigor; this was beyond mere happiness—it was exhilaration.

She rarely felt such intense excitement, but this was undeniably the most gratifying achievement of her cat-life so far!

Having completed such a monumental feat, Bai was eager to test the fruits of her labor immediately.

[Meow~ Meow~]

Two drawn-out meows, carried by the unbreakable bond of the contract, swiftly reached every contractor in the profound stillness of the night.

Hundreds of kilometers away, Chen Miao, who had just finished an all-nighter completing her Cat-Shark Rider puzzle, was finally preparing for bed.

She shouldn’t have stayed up so late, but the “cat riding a shark” puzzle had proven surprisingly addictive.

[Meow~ Meow~]

Two meows echoed in her mind.

Chen Miao recognized the sensation; it was a contract communication from Xuan Bai.

[Bai? What’s wrong?]

Chen Miao replied, puzzled, and soon, responses from the other Cat-girls began to trickle in to Bai.

[This interesting little contract can actually speak?][Boss? Did you finish it?]

[Mmm-mmm… Bai? I was sleeping, what happened?][Meow? Meow-meow-meow? Meow-meow-meow-meow?]

Initially, the Cat-girls assumed Bai needed them for something.

Both those awake and those who had been sleeping received the message, prompting them to inquire about what had occurred.

However, their replies were swiftly and accurately broadcast to the entire group.

From the familiar sensation that typically signified “Bai’s exclusive communication,” a torrent of jumbled messages poured in, instantly plunging the chat group into chaos.

[Wait?][What’s all this gibberish, meow?]

[You’re not Boss Cat! Who are you?][Bai? Can you see this? Cat will be at your door right away.][Meow? Meow-meow? Meow-meow-meow-meow?]

Watching the channel descend into utter pandemonium, yet thriving with lively exchanges, the carefree Bai finally replied with delight, explaining what had transpired.[New function, chat, everyone together.]

[That level of concise speech, it must be Bai?][So it’s a new function, you scared me!]

[Quite interesting.]

[It worked! That’s so cool!][Meow? Meow-ow-ow! Meow?!]

This completely new function brought the novelty of chatting mentally while lying in bed.

The Cat-girls grew excited, exchanging all sorts of topics within the chat group as if they had never conversed before.

However, it wasn’t long before the Cat-girls discovered the inconveniences of the chat function.[So, the food at this base assigned to me really isn’t as good as the General Bureau’s.][Luckily, I brought a lot of cat food, and there’s also the special military rations allocated.]

[Indeed, it’s not as good as Shop Manager Zhou’s cooking.][Everyone, don’t worry, this allocation measure is experimental.][If anyone truly finds it inconvenient for various reasons, the General Bureau understands.]

[After all, your identities are special.][You can report any inconveniences, and the General Bureau will respect your wishes and provide assistance as appropriate.][In the future, rotations or transfers will also be implemented, allowing everyone to return to General Bureau life periodically.][And the weather, it’s so humid where I am.]

[Indeed.][It’s fine here for me, it’s just that the training equipment isn’t very engaging.]

[Indeed.]

[Always ‘indeed,’ a repeater?]

[Indeed.]

[Who am I even chatting with? This chat group doesn’t have a name.][Indeed.]

[Wang Yu: Just add your own prefix.][Wang Yu: It’s impossible to tell us apart otherwise.]

[Reincarnation: Indeed.][Wang Yu: Use proper names, not online handles or nicknames.]

[Reincarnation: I am truly Reincarnation.]

[Who’s this?]

[Li Xiao: I don’t know, who are you?][Li Xiao: You forgot to add yours too.]

[Meow? Meow-meow-meow? Meow-meow?!]

After only a short time, the Cat-girls descended into confusion, forced to guess identities based solely on tone and message content.

However, their guesses were often inaccurate.

The one constantly meowing and the “middle-school syndrome” character remained unidentified.

In contrast, the one offering lengthy explanations was clearly Wei the Cat.

That was a minor issue.

The more significant problem was that since the chat channel utilized the public skill’s conduit, messages resounded directly in their minds.

Any cat who spoke would be heard instantly, with no way to mute or block the transmissions.

Bai encountered a new predicament.

This time, it seemed the inexperienced Bai had no solution to offer.

[Reincarnation: I can help with these two issues.]

The speaker, who called herself Reincarnation and had been labeled with “middle-school syndrome,” declared.

[Reincarnation Cat!]

Bai recognized her instantly.

It was the creator of The System, Bai’s senior, Reincarnation Cat.[Reincarnation: Your contract is quite interesting.][Reincarnation: I’ve studied it, and though I don’t fully comprehend it, I should be able to assist.][Reincarnation: How did you create this?]

Bai proudly explained her method to Reincarnation Cat.

Reincarnation Cat was also surprised.

[Reincarnation: A very clever trick.][Reincarnation: I wouldn’t have thought of it.]

[Reincarnation: You are very intelligent.][Reincarnation: You should have operating permissions for this panel called ‘The System,’ correct?][Reincarnation: Change the name, then inform me of the information alteration.]

Bai complied precisely.

Yun Juan, who had been observing the exchange among the powerful figures, received a notification: [Your name has been changed from Yun Juan to Yun Juan Cat.]

Yun Juan: ‘Ah?’

[Reincarnation: You, as the master, should inherently possess the permissions for your public skill.][Reincarnation: In The System, there should be an option with a ‘disable’ or ‘block’ meaning.]

[Reincarnation: Disable it, then inform me of the information alteration.]

Bai, with her tail held high, continued to follow Reincarnation Cat’s instructions.[Yun Juan Cat’s skill permissions have been blocked.]

[Yun Juan Cat’s skill permissions have been unblocked.]

Yun Juan: ‘Ah?’

[Reincarnation: Alright, just insert this into your virtual node.][Reincarnation: It will automatically read names, add prefixes, and include a constant mute function.][Reincarnation: Messages can only be viewed on the panel and can be unmuted by yourself or temporarily unmuted using the ‘@’ command to achieve a notification effect.]

Bai’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

[Xuan Bai: Reincarnation Cat, amazing, I love it!][Reincarnation: As long as you like it.]

Reincarnation replied calmly, then submerged and vanished, leaving behind a group of Cat-girls who had previously been too intimidated to speak.

[Chen Miao: Master.][Li Xiao: Master.]

[Wang Yu: Master.]

[Wei Hongzhi: Master.][Yun Juan: Master.]

[Gao Xin: Master.]

[Jump: Meow-meow!? Meow!]

[Wang Yu: And who is this master, meow?]