Chapter 41

Chu Tingwu handed over the slightly dusty belt.

Ris accepted it with a serious expression.

Then, he attached the short belt to the metal buckle on his pants and pulled out another one from his pocket, placing it on the left side—now both sides were symmetrical.

Ris let out a huge sigh of relief.

The members watching from the side: "Are you guys conducting some kind of arms deal?"

One member explained to Chu Tingwu with an exasperated look: "It's just a decorative piece for his pants. He lost it somehow this morning... He has severe OCD and feels uncomfortable when things aren't symmetrical."

Their parkour pants were custom-made uniformly, but each person had different English letters on their belt buckles, so they couldn't exchange them. The members initially wanted to persuade Ris to give up looking for it—after all, a palm-length belt would be too hard to find. Unexpectedly, someone brought the belt back in the afternoon, and—

Chu Tingwu held down the crow, which squawked: "Caw!"

Yes, and they brought the culprit bird to apologize.

As for how she found them... everyone assumed the young girl had probably seen their parkour performances and recognized them.

Judging by her nimble movements, she must be a fellow practitioner.

Someone curiously asked: "Are you also a competitor?"

Since she was a competitor and hadn't asked for autographs, she probably wasn't a fan.

Chu Tingwu shook her head, returned the belt, apologized, and left.

When she had chased after them earlier, she took the rooftop route, but now she walked normally on the ground, accompanied by two cats and a crow, showing none of her previous intensity when pursuing Ris.

This parkour club called "Paint Club" was different from "picC". Most of its members were college students gathered by the founder. They regularly filmed various parkour videos—

For instance, they would recreate action movie scenes with club members playing characters and filming first-person parkour videos. They also made parkour videos featuring special effects of animal chases, animal companions, and shooter game scenarios.

Because they were good at following trends and their videos were more youth-oriented (edited to look cooler), although they had fewer members than picC and weren't as established, they had a stronger online presence.

Several main members occasionally streamed live. One member stared at Chu Tingwu's retreating figure and nudged Ris: "Ris'er, why does this little sister look familiar?"

As dusk fell, across the street was a huge advertising wall. It had been showing other advertisements, but as night descended, the display happened to change.

In the frame, the protagonist stood on the eaves with a familiar tortoiseshell cat beside her, both facing away from the camera as if gazing out over the entire city.

The Paint Club members: "..."

Ris, no, Ris'er was silent for a moment: "I thought the promotional video was mostly edited."

They had seen Fallen Phoenix City's promotional video before, but since it was post-processed and focused on the city rather than parkour, while the parkour looked cool, they couldn't tell Chu Tingwu's skill level.

Moreover, since the action direction and design team was "picC", and rivals tend to be dismissive of each other, some people thought they had found an actress with the right look and had picC's stunt doubles perform the technical parts.

The actress was even a local.

As for Chu Tingwu's video account, the club's PR team had watched it repeatedly and produced a report, concluding that Chu Tingwu's current popularity was largely due to her "human-cat relationship," "pet factor," "technical ability," and luck.

As for her actual skill—

They couldn't train cats, so they couldn't replicate it.

Ris'er scratched his face: "Should we invite her to collaborate on a video?"

Meeting like this was fate, and such a dramatic encounter too. They could recreate the recent "chase and run" scene, which already had a built-in plot—Paint Club thought this was a good idea, as releasing the video would allow for interaction and mutual follower growth.

Besides, although Chu Tingwu wasn't very enthusiastic, she was quite polite.

Another member raised their phone: "I'll start streaming, a Fallen Phoenix City livestream vlog."

They could first describe the situation in the stream, since it was indeed quite dramatic, then approach Chu Tingwu. This way, whether she accepted or declined, their actions wouldn't seem too forced.

Besides, the livestream vlog was one of the contract conditions when the competition organizers invited them to participate, using Paint Club's account to drive traffic online.

The member panned the camera around and had others greet the viewers.

This time slot happened to be prime time for fans watching videos during meals. The member smiled and said:

"The food in Fallen Phoenix City is quite good. There's a really nice beef noodle shop right across from our hotel... We tried out the parkour district today. Of course, this outdoor venue won't be used until the finals on the 4th, but it's good to get familiar with the terrain early..."

[Little Lu, you guys practiced until nighttime?]

"Yes, it's getting dark. Speaking of which, something really coincidental happened today," Little Lu pointed his phone at the advertisement screen for two seconds before lowering it, "involving our Ris'er—"

His online ID was actually Lu, but most club members had accents, so Ris became "Ris'er" and Lu became "Little Lu". Fortunately, he had changed his name to Lu-Little Lu in advance, otherwise he might have become "Dear Lu" among fans.

[Oh! Did I see the cat, Chu-meow! Not the one in the ad screen, but behind you, Little Lu!]

Little Lu read the comment and couldn't help but marvel: the little sister really had a lot of fans.

So really, couldn't they learn from her? Making money isn't shameful.

He shrugged and turned his head, then froze—

Chu Tingwu was chatting with a female student about their age, probably a college student.

After exchanging a few words, Chu Tingwu handed the black cat to her and then poked the crow on her shoulder.

The next second, a spherical "flying device" rose from behind them, casting down bright white light that stretched their shadows long.

Little Lu: "?"

Little Lu: "!?!"

What was that thing? A UFO?!

The comment section went silent for a moment, then two seconds later, both Little Lu and Chu Tingwu's fans who had come after hearing about "Chu-meow's" appearance exploded with comments.

[What is that, a mini UFO? That size can't abduct people, only cats... oh wait, Chu-chu is a cat, so never mind.]

[What the hell? UFOs are disc-shaped, this is a ball, must be a light ball with a powered flight system—but where can you get such a powered flight system, please sell it to me!]

[Long-time viewer here, my instinct tells me this is the drone she mentioned briefly in her videos... I think she said she modified the drone to prevent cats from pouncing on it, making it somewhat ball-shaped...]

[At the time everyone thought no matter how ball-like it was, it was still a drone, must have been exaggerating, but now we realize—meow! She was being literal!]

[Wait, this ball has been filming videos for so long, and you fans never knew about it?]

[Drones can't self-film... oh no, I mean flying balls.]

Little Lu: "?"

Watching the viewers flood into the livestream, he and his club members exchanged looks, speechless.

He had thought about riding on the little sister's popularity, but they hadn't even gone to say hello yet, and somehow they were already doing it! And it was just because they accidentally caught her drone in frame—without even needing her to appear!?

Little Lu made an "uh" sound and simply raised his phone to film that direction. He could see other parkour practitioners nearby who couldn't resist taking out their phones to film as well, with some quietly asking their companions: "Are they filming some special effects movie?"

Companion: "Movie special effects are added in post-production, real-life special effects would be superpowers?!"

Little Lu: "=="

Some people wanted to approach Chu Tingwu to say hello (and perhaps ask about the link to this game), but Chu Tingwu seemed to have finished talking with that woman. Then, she did some simple stretches and took off her jacket.

It was autumn, and the temperature was fluctuating. Some people wore short-sleeve shirts under thick autumn coats, while others wore shorts with fluffy slippers, showing off their hairy legs—a real mix-and-match fashion statement.

Chu Tingwu seemed to follow this trend.

Under her thin jacket, she wore a black sleeveless turtleneck and black arm guards that extended to her upper arms.

Chu Tingwu tucked her hair behind her ears, and the woman beside her stepped back, took out her phone, and looked down.

Since Chu Tingwu hadn't started her livestream, more and more of her fans were gathering in Little Lu's livestream. They shared many followers, and some recognized the woman with the phone—

[Isn't that Little You? What's she looking at? I want to see too!]

[I keep switching to Chu's livestream but she still hasn't started. I'm tired of this. Am I an outsider? What can't I see?]

[It's probably video from the drone... Is Chu about to do a parkour run? But it's so late, can she see the path clearly?]

Little Lu: "Hmm."

Indeed, the sun had set, and many shops had turned on their lights. From the rooftop, you could see a sea of lights, and if you looked carefully, you could make out the outlines of buildings. Doing parkour now definitely wasn't a good idea—human eyes can't see in the dark—even with the drone above providing light, the risk of making a mistake was very high.

Chu Tingwu spread her arms.

Little Lu stood up, raised his phone, and instinctively aimed to film her.

-

The drone overhead and its projected light were just a decoy—in reality, everything in the darkness was clear as day to Chu Tingwu.

Her eyes flickered with invisible luminescence, as the system mapped out several "paths" that others couldn't see.

Of course, even if others could see these paths, they weren't routes that ordinary people could easily complete.

Chu Tingwu shook her head slightly.

The virtual fluorescent markers showing each position point shattered, and the world returned to its natural state—

Chu Tingwu jogged forward, leaped up, pushed off the wall with her hands while her toes touched the wall top, then spread her limbs and lunged forward, grabbing the second-floor railing. With a flex of her core, she pulled herself up to the second floor.

The light illuminated the second floor as Chu Tingwu ran through the empty corridor, the night wind blowing her bangs. She suddenly stepped onto the railing, did a front flip onto the rain shelter, then jumped up to grab a protruding tree branch. Using it like a horizontal bar, she swung herself up into the tree, walking across the trunk like a balance beam to reach the second-floor roof on the other side.

The drone rose up, circling halfway around her as she took steps, then continued to ascend, capturing her crossing the edge of the rooftop from above.

She directly crossed over to the roof of a two-story building that was adjacent to a three-story building.

Little Lu drew in a breath.

They were all on the roof of this three-story building, which offered a good view.

Just as he was wondering if he should go down to film Chu Tingwu, he saw a pair of hands appear at the edge.

Chu Tingwu gripped the edge of the third floor, pulling herself up in a cat-hang position using just her arms—then continued straight ahead.

The crowd instinctively parted to both sides, making a path for her.

Before Chu Tingwu passed through, a crow suddenly flew down from above. The darkness seemed to be its camouflage; people only noticed the continuously flapping crow when it was illuminated by the strong light.

As the crow flew past Chu Tingwu, the girl suddenly accelerated. She jumped from the edge of the rooftop, reaching forward with both hands to push off the edge of the opposite roof.

The crow, which had been flying below her, now maintained the same rhythm, beating its wings to fly above her head again.

Under the drone's spotlight, the crow's feathers cast a huge shadow on the ground.

Little Lu instinctively took a step forward, then realized—

Chu Tingwu could run, but he couldn't. It was too dark; he couldn't see the path clearly at all.

Even though many fans in the livestream were asking (requesting) him to continue filming, Little Lu shook his head and only filmed Chu Tingwu from a distance as she continued forward. In his phone's camera pixels, the girl's figure wasn't clear, but they knew where she was—the position of the spotlight in the sky marked her location.

Little Lu muttered to himself: "This looks like a planned competition route?"

Of course, parkour competition routes aren't rigid straight lines. In this competition, the organizers had announced in advance: they would arrange five fixed points along the way, and competitors could choose any path to reach the target points, completing the competition by circling half the block.

The routes between two points were up to the competitors to arrange.

However, in the reference map, the organizers provided nine points. The start and end points were fixed, but the middle points would only be determined on the day of the official competition, maintaining an element of suspense.

Ris'er: "Is she really not competing?"

Little Lu shook his head: "She's probably not old enough."

What a shame.

-

Chu Tingwu jumped down from the finish point location, landing on her toes, and You Zhenzhen ran over.

You Zhenzhen: "I asked the event organizers. You're appearing as a special guest judge. The other two judges are from England and America, both professional parkour athletes who are very popular on international social media."

Chu Tingwu becoming a judge at such a young age wasn't just luck—it also had to do with her filming the city promotional video and being a local of Fallen Phoenix City, which gave her additional attributes.

Chu Tingwu didn't need to attend the preliminaries and semi-finals; she only needed to appear at the finals. However, there was one segment in the finals where, after the "five-point" route was determined, the judges had to run it themselves.

Chu Tingwu thought of the system's suggested response: "Is it because they're foreigners?"

You Zhenzhen: "Yeah, many people online are unhappy, wondering why a domestic competition chose foreign judges... Inviting you was partly for public relations reasons. The organizers revealed that if the champion's performance surpasses the judges', they can naturally invite the champion as a judge next year—and if not, then it makes sense for them to invite more 'professional' judges."

In other words, the judges and competitors were actually in a hidden "competition," though the pressure on the famous foreign judges definitely wasn't as... great as on Chu Tingwu?

You Zhenzhen glanced at Chu Tingwu.

The young girl put on her clothes and pouted: "Meow?"

The sound of flapping wings came from above. She raised her hand and caught the approaching crow with a frown, whispering in its ear: "If you want to fly with me, fine, but how did you manage to bump into me twice?"

The crow buried its head in its wings, playing dead.

You Zhenzhen: =v=

She couldn't see any signs of pressure at all.

"Anyway," You Zhenzhen gestured, "you're the youngest and one of our own, so even if you don't perform well, people won't be too harsh on you!"

Being a minor, unless you commit a crime, you'll generally receive some favorable treatment online—especially someone like Chu Tingwu who is young and possesses special skills.

Chu Tingwu nodded: "Then I'll come for rehearsal on the third."

On the third, this area would be closed off, of course giving time for the judges to familiarize themselves with the venue and for staff to set up.

Chu Tingwu had dinner with You Zhenzhen, then took the cat and crow back to Teacher Zhang's house.

As for today's video, the event organizers specifically called to suggest she hold off on posting it, as they would also be filming footage of the judges' rehearsal runs on the third to broadcast as part of the TV program—

Chu Tingwu could release her video after the competition ended.

She agreed, but her fans grew anxious waiting. They started commenting on her previous videos and livestreams, evolving from "Chu, hurry up and post! I know your editing team is super fast, stop holding back!" to "Chu, if it's too much trouble, I'll edit for you! Just send the raw footage to my account, I'll do the post-production for free (pinky promise)", and finally to "Little Chu, open up! Why aren't you opening the door? Did you even film anything... Were all those promised videos just lies? Were all our solemn vows meaningless..."

Chu Tingwu: "Ugh."

The system mumbled, determined to defend its right as the "protector of its young cub." It dug out previous filming archives and edited an eight-minute vlog about life in Golden City, posting it to temporarily appease the fans.

The fans finally stopped clamoring, but when the event promotion staff came across the video, they nearly spat their tea at the screen:

Teacher Chu, we're in the middle of promoting Fallen Phoenix City at full steam, what do you mean by suddenly posting a vlog about Golden City!

-

Early the next morning, after Chu Tingwu finished breakfast, there was a sudden knock at the door.

"...Third aunt?"

Third aunt held oil sticks in one hand and carried a calico cat in the other, greeting Three-Five-Five as well: "Tingwu, you're back for the holidays? Why haven't you come to visit?"

The previous ten-yuan cat was bought by Third aunt, and the cat she was holding now was "Niu Niu," purchased for five yuan. The last time Chu Tingwu saw Niu Niu, she was barely palm-sized, but now she had grown considerably. Kittens grow fast, and her eyes were still large, making soft "meow meow" sounds as if responding.

Chu Tingwu thought: Seems like... quite a chatterbox?

After exchanging pleasantries with Third aunt, she finally revealed her true purpose for visiting, somewhat embarrassedly lifting Niu Niu and petting her: "Well, actually, I wanted to ask your cat for a favor."

Chu Tingwu: "Oh?"

Third aunt slapped her thigh: "My aunt's granary has a rat problem this year. They don't have cats, so they borrowed Niu Niu to catch them, but Niu Niu doesn't know how to catch rats at all - she even got scared by them. I asked around, and friends said it's because she didn't have an adult cat to teach her when she was younger. Your cat is female, right? Could she teach her?"

Third aunt clearly remembered Three-Five-Five's rat-catching heroics from last time and had been waiting for this opportunity.

Three-Five-Five recognized Third aunt's familiar scent and felt at ease, licking her paws while occasionally glancing up at them.

Chu Tingwu stroked Niu Niu, who responded with several soft mews.

Chu Tingwu: "She's still young, it's normal she can't catch them yet... Three-Five-Five should be able to teach her hunting, but are there any prey around here for practice?"

Third aunt: "If you're free, I can drive you all directly to my aunt's place?"

Chu Tingwu: So the rat problem isn't solved yet==

The car carried both humans and cats to their destination, and only then did Chu Tingwu realize Third aunt's aunt lived behind the historic street.

This area was at the urban-rural interface, with fields contracted to local villagers. Most villagers' houses had been renovated into rural villas, some of which were rented out as guesthouses for tourists.

One household had been rented by a TV show crew filming a variety show in the historic street years ago, and their living room still displayed photos with celebrities - even though they couldn't recognize who the celebrities were anymore.

Third aunt got out of the car and first greeted Great-aunt, and Chu Tingwu also politely said hello, receiving a bag of candy in return.

Third aunt: "I brought a big cat to teach my little cat. This big cat is really capable, just watch!"

Great-aunt: "Then hurry up and catch those rats for me!"

The group of people and two cats arrived at the granary. Even through the door, Chu Tingwu could smell the rat droppings. Three-Five-Five raised her head, and Niu Niu, who had been put down, gave a couple of "meows" before crouching on Third aunt's shoes.

She remembered this place, with its unpleasant smell and things that bit her nose - very scary.

Chu Tingwu: "..."

She pulled out a rat trap from her bag - ordered two days ago, delivered yesterday, ready to use now.

She noticed that even though they were just catching rats, in this rural area, when a car stopped at someone's door, neighbors would come out to look. Now several people had gathered around to watch the cats catch rats.

Chu Tingwu meowed at Three-Five-Five.

Three-Five-Five sniffed, turned around, grabbed Niu Niu by the scruff of her neck, and carried the somewhat heavy kitten into the granary.

The humans, who were much larger than the cats, immediately crowded around the door, with someone complaining: "Ying, why doesn't your storehouse have lights? No wonder you have rats!"

Great-aunt: "If you have lights, why don't you catch rats with your bright lights!"

The smell was unpleasant. Three-Five-Five twitched her ears and nudged Niu Niu again.

Niu Niu whimpered pitifully: "Meow—"

Why hadn't her human come to pick her up yet?

Just then, Chu Tingwu looked toward the dark corner on the left, and Three-Five-Five turned her head too. In an instant, before the humans could see what happened, the tortoiseshell cat had a large gray rat in her mouth.

The rat was still struggling, trying to twist around to bite the cat.

Both humans and Niu Niu were startled. Niu Niu actually jumped backward with all four paws, but when she realized the rat was actually in Three-Five-Five's mouth and not running on the ground, the little calico cautiously approached.

She tilted her head to watch for a while, then bit the rat's plump bottom.

Three-Five-Five: "=="

The mother cat shook her head, stunned the rat, and dropped it on the ground, signaling Niu Niu to try again.

The little calico seemed less afraid now and went straight for a bite - only to get bitten by the rat that had regained consciousness.

Niu Niu: "Meow!"

She and the rat scattered in opposite directions, and Three-Five-Five pounced, pinning down the rat again. By now, she had lost her teaching patience and picked up the rat, walking with measured steps behind the little calico toward the door.

The humans instinctively made way for the cats.

So Three-Five-Five carried the rat outside, and Great-aunt praised: "This big cat is impressive, so spirited!"

As for the little cat... small, chubby, and quite cute too...

She'll probably learn when she gets bigger.

The system also praised: "My cub is still the most capable. Three-Five-Five, when she first taught you, you learned to catch rats right away."

The system added: "When I first saw this kitten, I thought you were still cuter... People were always praising her back then, but now it seems they were exaggerating."

It displayed a waving emoji on the screen, seemingly trying to express that it had made this conclusion after careful comparison and serious consideration.

But Chu Tingwu couldn't be bothered to argue anymore.

Chu Tingwu: Fine... so Niu Niu is my life's comparison group... Sёarch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She poked the calico once, and then others came forward, rubbing their hands together and asking: "Little girl, can we borrow your cat? We need to catch some rats too!"

Great-aunt pushed them away and started negotiating prices for Chu Tingwu (and her cat) in the local dialect. Chu Tingwu became curious: "I remember there were several stray cats in the next street, how come there's still a rat problem here?"

She still remembered how she had met Big King in the historic street.

Third aunt: "Ah, there was an adoption drive earlier, and quite a few were taken. There are some cats kept in the historic street, but their owners won't lend them out no matter what..."

"They say it's because they were originally strays, and they're worried the cats might go wild again if let out, that they need to be properly domesticated first."

Three-Five-Five crushed the rat's head and tossed it aside. Chu Tingwu picked it up with the tongs and put it in a bag.

Someone next door praised again: "This cat is so obedient, doesn't even play with its prey."

Chu Tingwu: Alright, you just want to borrow the cat to catch rats, don't you?

She looked up and realized the speaker didn't seem like a villager.

It was a woman with dimples when she smiled, probably in her thirties or forties, wearing flattering makeup, but Chu Tingwu's sharp eyes still caught the dark circles under her eyes.

When she turned around, the woman was studying her face, but her gaze didn't feel intrusive.

Perhaps it was because the woman had a very gentle and comfortable aura.

"Hello," she said with a smile, "I'm renting a place here. Is your cat called 'Three-Five-Five'?"

Chu Tingwu hadn't introduced Three-Five-Five's name before, and the villagers never cared about cat names, yet this person recognized it immediately.

She extended her hand, and the woman shook it with both hands, saying, "I'm a director. You might not know, but I once tried to contact you through Fenghua Network, though unfortunately, we couldn't work together."

At the mention of director, Chu Tingwu remembered: "Are you Director Mu Lou, the one who wanted to turn Dragon Baby's story into a film?"

Yes, the system had mentioned this to her when she was in school!

Director Mu Lou had indeed contacted her before.

In the entertainment industry, Mu Lou was famous for her "beautiful cinematography and vivid characters." Her debut was a small-budget art film that, despite its melodramatic romance and ordinary plot, helped launch both lead actors to minor stardom.

She was particularly skilled at creating atmosphere through lighting and maintaining perfect pacing - though slow, her work was never boring. Under her lens, ordinary faces became elegant, and beautiful faces became iconic. Many idol fans wished their favorite stars would stop making bad movies and have their managers work harder to get them into Mu Lou's productions!

However, Mu Lou hadn't made a film in two years, reportedly due to creative burnout and poor health.

When Mu Lou had contacted Chu Tingwu, she had hoped to cast Three-Five-Five as an animal actor in her new film project.

Though it was an adaptation, the director wanted to bring in the original cast from the story.

But while Three-Five-Five seemed agreeable, filming would require Chu Tingwu's presence, and the cat mother didn't want to leave her kittens for too long.

Considering her class schedule, Chu Tingwu had declined.

Now meeting by chance, Mu Lou didn't mention the film, but just smiled and accompanied Chu Tingwu to catch mice, raising her phone to ask, "May I take some photos of Three-Five-Five?"

Of course she could - others didn't even ask when they took photos.

Chu Tingwu asked, "Are you here to scout locations in Fallen Phoenix City?"

Mu Lou nodded: "Yes, I've decided to film here in Fallen Phoenix City. I can tell you a bit about the adapted storyline - we're changing it so Dragon Baby's original owner didn't die, and it'll be more of a light comedy where the cat and owner reunite and work together to take down a criminal organization hiding in Fallen Phoenix City."

She made it sound simple, but the adaptation had been thoroughly discussed and deliberated with the tourism bureau.

Mu Lou had indeed been recovering from illness, but over a month ago, she had stumbled upon Chu Tingwu's videos about Dragon Baby, followed the story, and found inspiration.

"Before this, I kept making the same kind of movies. I wanted to break through but couldn't find that creative spark, which made me very anxious," she sighed softly before smiling again. "But after seeing Dragon Baby's story, I suddenly thought - what if I could make a fairy tale with a happy ending?"

These days, everyone seemed to want to make complex, profound content, refusing to film predictable plots. But in reality, perfecting just one element - be it visuals, story, pacing, or character design - was enough to make an outstanding film.

So she had packed up and come to Fallen Phoenix City, determined to see the city for herself.

The villager who rented to her surely didn't know that this woman had far more online followers than the minor celebrity their neighbor kept talking about.

It was obvious Director Mu Lou wanted to invite Three-Five-Five, but Chu Tingwu still declined: "I'm too busy with classes, and I don't want to take a long leave for filming."

Director Mu Lou: "But I want to invite not just your cat, but you as well."

Chu Tingwu: "?"

Director Mu Lou: "Don't rush to refuse - I'm not asking you to act in the film, but to be a special staff member. I hope to gather as much of the original team as possible, but I've checked, and Dragon Baby can't be in the film, so I must cast a new animal actor. And this orange cat will be the star."

She refused to use special effects instead of real cats, so the cat's acting ability was crucial. Mu Lou pleaded, "Teacher Chu, could I hire you to help with the cat auditions? We can film the cat scenes during your winter break."

Though the film had been greenlit thanks to her connections, production wouldn't start that quickly. If - if Chu Tingwu could handle the auditions and cat training as she envisioned, they could probably squeeze the filming into the high school winter break.

Chu Tingwu hesitated, and Mu Lou continued persuading her: "Some animal actors' owners have told me they let their pets appear in films and TV shows because these productions can circulate online for a long time, preserving their children's images through the internet. Professional filming can capture animals more clearly and beautifully than home videos."

"Regarding Three-Five-Five's scenes, we can sign a quality-related contract. If I don't film it well, we won't use the footage, okay?"

If some idol fans were here, they'd probably cry in the bathroom - their idols begged to be in films but couldn't, while now Mu Lou was begging someone else to participate, and that someone was a cat?

Mu Lou's words moved Chu Tingwu.

Probably no cat owner could refuse such an offer.

And if they only needed her during winter break, she could indeed make time... though it meant she probably couldn't spend the New Year with her mother and brother this year.

They reached a verbal agreement, planning to sign formal contracts when Chu Tingwu's lawyer arrived in a few days.

Mu Lou thought for a moment and suggested: "Teacher Chu, if you're thinking about getting certifications, you should do it soon. That way I can justify paying you more."

The investors' money needed to be spent appropriately, after all.

With this new connection, they grew closer, and Mu Lou continued following Chu Tingwu, seemingly seeking creative inspiration.

Chu Tingwu picked up a decapitated mouse and asked after some consideration: "Do you have heart problems?"

Mu Lou: "Ah... yes, a minor issue, but my assistant and I always carry medication. Though I've never made this public, how did you..."

Chu Tingwu nodded, vaguely pointing at her chest: "I heard your heartbeat."

Mu Lou: "..."

Mu Lou: "?"

She stared at the back of Chu Tingwu's head, watching as the calico cat Miumiu, finally driven by Three-Five-Five, caught a small mouse and trotted happily toward Chu Tingwu's position.

Miumiu seemed to have picked up a not-so-good habit from Three-Five-Five - bringing mice to their owner.

Third aunt wouldn't mind, right?

But this mouse wasn't dead yet, and when it hit the ground, it was about to bounce away and escape. Just as Mu Lou was about to warn them, a silver flash caught her eye: Chu Tingwu swiftly extended her hand, stunning the mouse with the mouse tongs, then pointed at the calico cat while making "meow meow" sounds. The calico lowered its head in shame before going to bite the mouse's head properly.

Then, the young human finally showed a satisfied expression, threw the dead mouse into the bag, and wiped the calico's mouth.

Mu Lou: "..."

Damn, she held her head.

Was it too late to change her mind? Could she ask Little Chu to appear in the film? Even just a few minutes would do! Ideas kept flooding her mind!

-

Chu Tingwu, unaware of Mu Lou's internal struggle, spent the afternoon playing with the Chang twins, invited them to her home for a while, and then went together to Little Sun Animal Hospital, bringing cookies for Hang Ling and others.

...She had bought them in Golden City using Hang Ling's cake card.

On the evening of the second, they went to watch the preliminary parkour competition. Although the preliminary parkour course didn't change much and the speed races passed quickly in each round... everyone would gasp when the results of each match were announced.

"Competitions are so exciting," Chang Yile sighed, "It's so nerve-wracking no matter who wins."

Even though she didn't know any of the competitors, she couldn't help wanting to cheer for those who fell behind—

After all, they were just a few positions behind, with some effort they might be able to catch up!

Some competitors who were initially in the lead made mistakes and fell from above, getting overtaken by those behind them. Although the competition content wasn't particularly rich, everyone enjoyed watching it.

After the speed race came the freestyle competition, also known as "freestyle parkour," where competitors had one minute and ten seconds to arrange their own routes and moves, with scoring based on difficulty and aesthetic appeal.

Chu Tingwu glanced at the two judges from afar—she didn't know much about freestyle and wasn't sure what they were arguing about regarding the scoring, though everything seemed pretty good to her.

The young judge sank into contemplation: thankfully, the freestyle finals were tomorrow, so she wouldn't need to score them; she just needed to handle the speed race finals.

Early on the third day, Chu Tingwu arrived at the parkour district early and entered using her staff badge.

The English judge was a beautiful redhead who, despite the cooling weather, wore long pants and a crop top. Beside her, the American judge was rather tall and lean, sucking on a lollipop while standing on the second-floor terrace, hands on his hips as he surveyed the district before him.

They were conversing in their native language.

Lollipop: "Maggie, when is our little girl arriving? I'm so curious about her cat!"

Redhead: "She's actually the cat-like girl. Have you seen her videos? She really is like a cat, with amazing jumping power and balance. You should be curious about more than just her cat, Arthur."

Lollipop: "Hey, she's quite popular, especially among teenagers. They love the idea of parkour with animals. One of my students even asked if they could bring their horse—good heavens... Anyway, I'm really curious about how she convinced a cat to do parkour with her."

Redhead: "Well, don't let yourself get beaten by a cat."

Aliali: 673eb950c4f3f33ac4ee7f08

Lollipop: "Don't joke around, no matter what animal the little girl brings, I won't lose."

Chu Tingwu: "Good morning."

Lollipop: "!"

He jumped up from where he was, bounced onto the railing, and crouched there with wide eyes: "Oh my!"

The redhead handled it better, only pausing briefly before turning to Chu Tingwu: "You really are like a cat. I couldn't hear your footsteps at all."

She only knew a few phrases in Chinese, but Chu Tingwu was speaking in English, so they could communicate. The redhead smiled, about to say something when her gaze suddenly fell on Chu Tingwu's shoulder.

There sat a crow with a small ribbon tied around its neck, apparently with some writing on it.

—The text actually read "I'm under rehabilitation."

The redhead silently looked at Lollipop, and Lollipop looked back at the redhead, both speechless:

He indeed wouldn't lose to a cat... but why did she bring a crow?!