Chapter 3: Senior, Cat, and the Prelude to Observation

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This feeling…

I’d seen it at school before, that’s what it was.

The top student who studied incredibly hard, and the popular school flower who loved making friends.

That kind of pairing!

It seemed like someone as invisible as her had no place in it.

“Hm? Why did you run off, come here~”

Lisa waved at Liuli.

“Me, me?”

Liuli looked around, pointing a finger at herself.

Lisa got up from Lin Zhiyi, walked over to Liuli, grabbed her hand, and pulled her over.

“Of course you. Who else would it be?”

“Lisa.”

Lin Zhiyi glanced at Lisa.

“I’m her administrator. According to regulations, non-administrators cannot have too much contact with managed individuals…”

“She hasn’t been fully confirmed yet, right?”

“If she had been, and they were letting her out for a stroll, there would have been a broadcast announcement.”

“No broadcast means no confirmation!”

Lisa clasped both of Liuli’s hands, introducing herself with some excitement.

“Hi there, I’m Lisa Kokert. Just call me Lisa.”

“I’m your administrator’s senior, you know~ What’s your name?”

“Uh… uh… you… you… you… you…”

Liuli was startled by such an enthusiastic approach.

In all this time, no one had ever greeted her so warmly.

Lin Zhiyi raised her tablet behind Lisa.

On it were two large Chinese characters: Jinghua.

“Umm… hello… my name is Jing… Jinghua, whew…”

Liuli tried to adjust her breathing.

This kind of situation was still too much for her to handle.

Compared to accepting hostility or indifference, she found pure kindness like this even harder to accept.

“Little Jinghua… what a pretty name!”

“Not like mine, a common name you see everywhere…”

“Enough.”

Lin Zhiyi used her tablet to pat Lisa, who was taller than both Liuli and herself.

“I need to give her a tour of the containment facility. We’ll be going now.”

Lisa looked at the two, her gaze shifting back and forth between them a few times, then broke into a look of sudden realization.

“Oh~ I see. Then I won’t disturb your work. See you later~”

She pulled out her phone and started tapping on it.

Liuli noticed that Lisa’s phone and Lin Zhiyi’s tablet seemed to be made of the same material and brand label.

Both had a frosted gray-white texture, and both had a logo of a large tree growing on a globe.

“…”

After seeing Lisa off, Lin Zhiyi turned back to look at Liuli.

“Were you scared by her?”

“That’s just how she is. She’s not a bad person.”

“Yeah, a little…”

“I’ll continue the introduction.”

“This is the cafeteria.”

“You go over there, show your detection ring, and tell them what food you want.”

“There’s no ration limit here. You can take as much as you want.”

“Oh, okay…”

“This is the arcade…”

“It’s just like those street arcade machines outside.”

“You just scan your detection ring at the reader and you can use them.”

“Oh, okay…”

“The gym…”

“If you want to improve your physical fitness, you can come here, but you have to call me.”

Lin Zhiyi pulled up Liuli’s physical data on her tablet.

“I can prepare training at different intensities for you.”

“I guarantee your training will be scientific, safe, and effective.”

“Ahaha… well… let’s hold off on that for now.”

Seeing the gym, Liuli felt a bit intimidated.

She remembered reading a comic online where there was a character called the “Kongfu Barbie”—a girl’s face on a muscular, strong body with visible muscle definition…

“It’s just a suggestion.”

Liuli wiped sweat that didn’t exist from her forehead.

Although everyone had their own kind of beauty, she didn’t want to end up looking like that.

Most importantly, her physical fitness wasn’t great.

Back in the middle school entrance exam, running a thousand meters nearly killed her.

Even now, thinking about that experience gave her lingering fear.

“These dormitories are the staff quarters for this floor.”

“You don’t have permission to go over there.”

“Yeah… I understand.”

“Speaking of which, just now… that sister named Lisa mentioned that it’s rare for me to be able to move around like this?”

“The ones contained here are mostly anomalies that are relatively easy to contain.”

“Some are friendly, but anomalies inevitably cause accidents.”

“So most anomalies remain in a sealed state.”

“Will I be locked up too…?”

“If tests show that your ability or you yourself pose no threat…”

“Given how cooperative you’ve been today, you can maintain this level of freedom of movement.”

“Okay.”

Liuli nodded.

Based on what they’d said, she only reflected attacks.

That shouldn’t be too threatening… unless someone wanted to hit her every day.

After that, Lin Zhiyi led Liuli around the remaining areas a few times, and the living quarters tour was complete.

“The next place you can go for daily activities is… the nature garden.”

“Do you want to go?”

“I want to go… are there little animals there or something?”

“Quite a few.”

When Lin Zhiyi brought Liuli to the nature garden, Liuli finally understood what “quite a few” meant.

Upon entering the nature garden, the first thing that caught the eye was an artificial sky dome.

Made with some unknown technology, it simulated sunlight, temperature, clouds, and natural wind.

The nature garden looked like a theme park.

Various ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowers were planted everywhere, and quite a few people were resting there.

And most importantly—there were cats of all different breeds and sizes everywhere!

There were active, playful tabby cats, round ball-like orange cats, lazy British Shorthair blue cats, and elegant yet fierce-looking Ragdoll cats.

All of them seemed very friendly toward people, and without exception, they all had bells tied to their tails that didn’t ring.

“The containment facility keeps so many cats?”

“This botanical garden itself is an anomalous product.”

“Huh?”

“O-07-112, Botanical Garden Seed.”

“This isn’t a secret, so I can tell you.”

“Plant a specific seed and this space is formed.”

“Quite a number of beast-form anomalies are very stable here, so a lot of non-aggressive beast-form anomalies are also contained here.”

“Like those cats, O-02-09, Scent Bell Cats.”

“Although they look like cats to you, the ornament on their tails is actually the main body.”

“If you want to play with them, be careful to avoid that ornament.”

“Unless they voluntarily let you touch it.”

“They have a hive consciousness—once they dislike you…”

“Will they scratch me?”

“They’ll just stop paying attention to you.”

“So… so cruel… I’ll be careful.”

That didn’t sound too dangerous.

Maybe that’s why these cats were placed here?

“But if they’re just like this, can they really be considered anomalies?”

“They still carry anomalous fluctuations.”

“As long as there are anomalous fluctuations, it will cause modifications to reality… big or small, they all affect people’s lives.”

“Anomalies are existences that differ from the everyday.”

“To protect the fragile, precious order of human civilization and the perception of normalcy, the Containment Bureau has made a lot of efforts.”

“You probably only just learned about anomalies since coming here, right?”

“If so, that proves the Containment Bureau’s work is effective.”

“If you put it that way… I feel like the people at the Containment Bureau are quite…”

“Quite?”

Lin Zhiyi turned her head to look at Liuli.

“Quite great.”

“Just like the police officers who protect us in everyday life.”

Liuli put a finger to her lips, thought for a moment, and said, “Doing confidential work like this while having to deal with potentially dangerous things must be really hard…”

“Having that kind of resolve is amazing.”

“I can’t even bring myself to ask my teacher for leave.”

“Not all of them are…”

Lin Zhiyi started to continue, but seeing the clearly naive, pure girl in front of her, she didn’t finish.

Instead, she said, “Thank you.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you want to go play with the Scent Bell Cats?”

“Is that okay?”

“Won’t it interfere with your work?”

“My job is to stay by your side, record, help you adapt to the facility, and conduct tests.”

“There’s nothing scheduled today.”

“Just playing is fine.”

“Yay!”

Liuli was filled with excitement at the thought of playing with cats.

She’d always wanted to raise a cat, but as a student, she could barely support herself, so she could only satisfy her cravings by watching pet bloggers.

Now that there were real cats to pet, she was definitely going to pet them all!

Liuli went over and grabbed a round-headed orange cat to play with.

Not only was that orange cat’s head round, its body was perfectly round too.

Scent Bell Cat—as the name suggested, fragrant.

Liuli had heard before that cats all carried a certain cat smell, and only people who stayed around them often could get used to it.

But these cats weren’t like that.

These cats each carried different kinds of fragrances.

For example, the big orange cat in front of her had a fresh citrus scent.

Around her, there were vanilla-scented ones, strawberry-scented ones, and… how were there also longan and lychee scents!?

Forget it.

First, pet the cats.

Liuli placed her hand on the big orange cat with a smile.

Although it looked fat, it felt soft too.

She’d heard that cats were more fur than flesh and felt a bit bony when you touched them, but this big orange cat didn’t feel like that at all!

Soft and smooth to the touch.

The sensation she’d imagined in her head appeared in reality.

She ran her hand from the big orange’s neck down along the direction of fur growth to the base of its tail, then stopped.

That was what she’d learned from the [How to Properly Pet Cats] article she’d read online.

“Meow~ meow~ ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling~”

The big orange cat purred happily, shaking the bell on its tail.

Those bells hadn’t made any sound just now, but now they did.

The sound was crisp and pleasant, lifting one’s spirits.

Lin Zhiyi found a bench not too far from Liuli and sat down, observing the situation between Liuli and the cats.

“Whoa… so cute… such a pretty sound… and fragrant.”

“No wonder they’re called Scent Bell Cats.”

“Do you have a name?”

Faced with cats of all sizes, Liuli seemed much less reserved.

She could let herself go, even though there were people not far away watching her.

But she was completely immersed in the world of kitty cats!

A true cat-petting king wouldn’t be defeated by something as simple as people watching…

Liuli suddenly felt some weight on her shoulder.

Turning around, it was a well-proportioned tabby cat with a big round rump, its paws looking like clean, standard little white gloves.

“Wow… little white gloves.”

“Meow~”

The tabby cat stretched its head out, ears slowly drooping, seemingly wanting Liuli to pet it.

“You want me to pet you? Thank you!”

Liuli stroked the tabby cat’s head.

The tabby cat’s scent was like apple, and the timbre of the bell on its tail was also slightly different.

More and more… probably several dozen cats gathered around Liuli.

When Lin Zhiyi saw this, her hand operating the tablet paused for a moment.

After observing carefully for five minutes and confirming that they were all just coming to play with Liuli, she relaxed.

Some staff members resting nearby couldn’t help but cast curious glances at Liuli.

Some even started moving closer, but upon seeing the detection ring on Liuli’s wrist, they quickly averted their eyes or walked away.

Liuli naturally didn’t notice any of this.

She was too busy playing with the cats.

The play session with the cats lasted a long time…

Until Liuli felt her stomach start to growl.

Only then did she instinctively look around for Lin Zhiyi.

Lin Zhiyi was still sitting on the bench not far away, waiting, looking down at her tablet.

Whether she had ever left was unknown.

“Ah… Sister Zhiyi…”

Liuli looked at the cats with some reluctance.

“Cats, I’m sorry… I’m hungry.”

“I need to go find Sister Zhiyi to eat!”

“I’ll come see you again next time.”

“Meow~ meow~”

The Scent Bell Cats made a lively chorus of sounds, crowding around Liuli, their tails swaying rhythmically.

Bells of different timbres formed a little tune, seemingly expressing reluctance.

“Okay, okay… tomorrow.”

“If I have time tomorrow, I’ll come again.”

“Let me go first, alright?”

The cats seemed to understand human nature and finally made a path for Liuli.

“Thanks, goodbye!”

Liuli trotted over to Lin Zhiyi.

“Um… Sister Zhiyi, have you been waiting long?”

“I’m sorry, I got too into playing… I made you wait so long.”

“It’s fine.”

“I was organizing some data and scheduling arrangements here anyway.”

“No delay.”

After a moment, seeing that Liuli still didn’t seem to have an answer, she added another line.

“Did you have fun?”

“I did!”

“Ah… yes… sorry…”

Almost unconsciously, Liuli habitually apologized, as if apologizing for having said “I did” too loudly.

“I’m glad you had fun.”

“Also… you don’t need to apologize to others for your own happiness.”

“You didn’t harm anything.”

“…No… it’s nothing…”

“I just… I think I was a bit loud just now… so…”

“It’s fine.”

“Do whatever makes you comfortable.”

“In this environment, you only need to follow the iron rule of containment regulations.”

“Yeah… okay.”

“Thank you, Sister Zhiyi.”

Lin Zhiyi stood up.

“Looking at your detection data just now, the overall indicators suggest… you’re hungry?”

“Yeah… hungry enough that my stomach is growling.”

“Let’s go eat.”

“After we finish, we’ll head back.”

“Your room should be ready by now.”

The two arrived at the cafeteria.

At this hour, there were quite a few people eating, but Liuli seemed to have a special channel to get her food early.

She got a serving of coconut curry beef brisket rice and a cup of hot sweet milk tea, then waited for Lin Zhiyi to get her meal before finding a less crowded spot to sit together.

The curry beef rice was delicious, and the milk tea was good too—not the cheap powdered kind.

However, from time to time, curious glances—some even carrying hints of malice—were directed at Liuli.

Liuli naturally felt those looks.

“Sister Zhiyi… I noticed it when I was getting my food earlier.”

“They… are they looking at me?”

“It’s a bit strange…”

“That detection ring is worn by anomalous individuals.”

“Some people here have experienced malicious incidents involving anomalies, so they might harbor some hostility toward you.”

“Don’t mind them.”

“I’ll keep you safe during your observation period.”

“I… I see…”

“Yeah… Sister Zhiyi, are you done eating?”

“…”

Lin Zhiyi looked at the tablet on her lap, then at her own and Liuli’s unfinished meals—the chicken cutlet rice and curry beef brisket rice.

“I’m full.”

“Let’s head back.”

“O… okay!”

The two dumped their leftovers into the recycling bin, placed their utensils on the cleaning cart, and returned the way they came to the room marked with the [Jinghua] sign.

The door… seemed to have been renovated.

It had been replaced with a wooden door with an electronic lock, and it looked just like the one at Liuli’s house.

Lin Zhiyi still glanced down at her tablet from time to time, waiting for Liuli to enter her room.

“Wow… this is… is it really?”

Liuli pushed open the door.

What came into view were white walls—not metallic, but ordinary walls.

On the walls were many stickers of cats and anime characters.

The floor was warm brown wood planks laid in a rectangular cross pattern.

The bed had been replaced with a larger one, big enough to roll around on.

The desk had been replaced with a large gaming desk with a white wooden surface and black metal frame legs.

On the computer desk was a fully equipped new computer with a large monitor.

Across from the computer desk was a cat-shaped bean bag chair and a gaming console.

The room also had some bookshelves and glass display cabinets, stocked with manga, game cartridges, Chinese textbooks, math books, English books, history books…

“Why did all these things get recreated too…”

“Can I return them?”

“You can.”

“Just submit a request and put them in the recycling chute.”

“That’s good then…”

Liuli looked at the room…

Except for the difference in size, the furniture styles and approximate placement of items were all the same as her small room back home.

Even the textbooks on her bookshelf had been replicated.

She instinctively reached out to touch a familiar spot, found a switch, pressed the second one, and the room’s lighting shifted to a warm orange glow.

“Really… exactly the same…”

“Even the feel… how did they do this?”

“The Containment Bureau is very efficient.”

“It’s normal.”

“The government gives us a lot of funding, and the Bureau also has some production capacity.”

“None of this is difficult.”

Lin Zhiyi glanced at her tablet, then set it down and looked up at Liuli, who seemed excited to go turn on the computer.

“I’m going back to rest now.”

“Will you be alright here alone?”

“Ah… yeah… yeah!”

“Thank you, Sister Zhiyi.”

“Thank you for accompanying me today.”

“I feel so bad…”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tomorrow, when it’s time, the detection ring will vibrate to wake you up.”

“Make sure you rest well.”

“I’ll be going now.”

“Yeah, yeah… see you…”

Lin Zhiyi reached out and closed the door, then left.

“…Sister Zhiyi… she’s fine, right?”

Liuli thought back to how Lin Zhiyi had been today.

Her emotions seemed to have been consistently stable.

She should be fine.

It was only 7:30.

Time to try turning on the computer to see if she could download that [one] game she’d always wanted to play.

Liuli turned on the computer.

Pink and blue alternating lights swirled through the water-cooled case…

Although this computer was connected to a local network, it seemed to have a massive amount of content available for download, and it was already logged in and bound to Liuli’s personal information.

E-01-999, Jinghua.

Gender: Female.

Age: Developmental assessment indicates 14 years old.

Cleared permissions: Game downloads, music downloads, manga downloads, novel downloads, access to the entertainment video library, and general education material downloads from elementary to middle school level.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

So then…

OO-soul Bar Bar Bar, download!

[On the other side]

Lin Zhiyi walked quickly through the corridor.

Soon, she reached the cafeteria, grabbed a large purple rice roll, and found a corner to sit down.

“…Whew—”

She let out a deep breath.

Today’s work… honestly speaking, it was tiring.

More tiring than she’d expected.

That had nothing to do with Liuli herself—she knew that.

This child hadn’t done anything wrong, and she’d tried her best to treat her kindly.

“Little Zhiyi.”

Lisa’s voice arrived at just the right moment, hands behind her back, striding toward her.

“Didn’t you eat?”

“I ate.”

“Not enough.”

“Oh ho~ heh, I knew you’d sneak off to eat rice balls by yourself.”

“I’ve been waiting to catch you for a while.”

“Here, for you!”

Lisa produced a box of sliced roast duck leg and a bottle of rock sugar pear drink.

“Thanks.”

Lin Zhiyi nodded, took the items, and began typing on her tablet with one hand while picking at the roast duck leg with a wooden skewer in the other.

“Hey hey, I was nice enough to save your favorite duck leg for you, and that’s how you treat me?”

“I noticed you’re pretty warm to that little white bird though~”

“…She’s an observation subject.”

“It’s my duty to keep her emotionally stable.”

“Alright, alright~ Yes, yes~”

“You’ve got a new favorite and you’ve forgotten your old friend…”

“How sad… Mm!”

Lisa’s mouth was stopped by Lin Zhiyi stabbing a piece of duck leg with a fresh skewer and pushing it toward her.

“Well then, thank you to the considerate and understanding Lisa, senior.”

Lin Zhiyi looked up, flashing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Hmph.”

“At least you have some conscience…”

“Tired?”

“You’re still not used to it, are you?”

“And they still assign you this kind of…”

“This is my own problem.”

“If I can’t overcome it, then I can’t keep working.”

“Got to say, it’s so like you…”

“Sometimes being too composed and reliable isn’t a good thing either.”

“Be careful not to scare the little white bird…”

“Let me see the report?”

“It’s still the observation period.”

“That’s confidential.”

“If it’s confidential, why are you writing it in the cafeteria?”

“No one’s here now.”

“This is a blind spot.”

“Come on, just let me see.”

“My application for deputy administrator has been approved.”

“I have the authority to see it now.”

“…”

Lin Zhiyi handed the finished report to Lisa.

Lisa’s green eyes clearly saw that the hand Lin Zhiyi used to pass the tablet was trembling.

“You’ve worked hard.”

The following is the report compiled by Lin Zhiyi:

May 8, 2023, 9:45 AM.

Made contact with [Jinghua].

Informed her of necessary and permissible information.

Fitted her with a detection ring.

Began recording all vital sign data.

Collected DNA samples.

…

May 8, 2023, 1:31 PM.

[Jinghua] began activities with [Scent Bell Cats].

Summarizing the results of the first few hours of contact: After leaving her room, [Jinghua]’s mood index continued to decline.

Her willingness to cooperate with research is evident.

Her personality shows tendencies toward self-deprecation, hesitation, and submissiveness.

May 8, 2023, 1:53 PM.

[Jinghua] appears to have a strong attraction to the entire [Scent Bell Cat] group.

Cause unknown.

When her mood is elevated, [Jinghua]’s anomaly index shows a minor increase.

May 8, 2023, 5:13 PM.

[Jinghua] felt uneasy about being looked at by others and requested to return to her containment unit without finishing her meal.

At that time, her mood index was extremely low, and her anomaly index showed a significant upward trend.

I granted her request.

When she returned to the prepared unit, her mood index recovered and her anomaly index returned to near-normal levels.

In summary, it is hypothesized that [Jinghua]’s anomaly index is polynomially correlated with her mood index, but the corresponding changes in her ability are unknown.

The next section covers the tests Lin Zhiyi planned for Liuli tomorrow.

[Stress Reflex Test]: To measure the baseline reflex values of [Jinghua]’s reflective ability.

[Index Test]: To measure changes in [Jinghua]’s anomaly index when using her ability, and to test whether and to what degree reality is modified when the index changes.

[Suppression Test]: To test [Jinghua]’s specific performance within a restrictive protective force field.

[Compliance Test] (This one was crossed out)