While Ding Yun and Fu Shiyun, residing within the orange cat's body, were having a smooth and playful exchange, Yun Meng, who had been sitting by and watching them for a long time, was utterly bewildered.
It wasn't that she couldn't tell they could communicate.
Nor did she see any other trickery.
The main reason was that, in her understanding, her orange cat, though affectionate, was only so towards its owner. It generally avoided strangers, and if it couldn't avoid them, it wasn't friendly.
Yet now, it was interacting so well with a stranger.
A stranger who hadn't even offered a cat treat. It wasn't resisting being petted on the head or belly.
This was truly a rare sight.
Later, as the other cats in the house joined in and also interacted well with Ding Yun, Yun Meng inexplicably felt as though she were the guest.
Unable to hold back her curiosity any longer, she asked,
"Um, do you have a cat-attracting constitution?
My few little furballs aren't exactly timid, but they don't warm up to just anyone. They seem to really like you now, completely ignoring their own feeder. Also, if you have this cat-attracting ability and like cats so much,
Why don't you get one yourself?"
"Ah, it's a bit embarrassing to say, but I really do like cats. However, I feel that keeping a cat, as described online, is quite troublesome. And I'm not a very diligent person; sometimes I find it a bother to even take care of myself. To then raise a cat...
I'm not sure if I could stick with it.
So, it's better not to have one at all.
It's nice to see others keep them!
It sounds a bit like 'Ye Gong's liking for dragons'..."
Ding Yun wasn't lying about this; she frankly stated her thoughts and even jokingly called herself a "Ye Gong's liking for dragons" at the end.
It was a liking, not a desire to own.
The kind of liking that made her want to hug, cuddle, and kiss them when she saw them,
But not really want to scoop their litter box.
Hearing Ding Yun say this, Yun Meng was a little surprised, but not scornful. She simply nodded and said,
"I see. I can understand that.
To be honest, many people who like cats are probably similar to you. They might impulsively want to get one, but then some parents might help them raise it, while others might not be too keen.
Then, if something else comes up, they abandon it.
It's better to think things through clearly like you do."
"Um, do you have any dietary restrictions? If not, I'll start making dinner. Please stay and eat."
In this situation, it was clearly not appropriate to continue the conversation on this topic, so Yun Meng quickly changed the subject and got up to prepare cat food and human food. She used to eat alone and could make do with something simple.
Alternatively, she could just order takeout.
However, since she had a guest, she couldn't just serve frozen vegetables and takeout boxes from the refrigerator. Sometimes, the less familiar one is with another, the more polite one needs to be.
But Ding Yun hadn't come over to freeload a meal. She had come purely to fulfill her earlier promise to Fu Shiyun within the time limit and to implant a chip into Fu Shiyun's current orange cat body, which would make communication easier later and prevent her from being disturbed every night, forcing her to chat with Fu Shiyun late at night.
Besides, all the necessary tasks had been completed.
Therefore, Ding Yun quickly declined, saying she had to go back later and couldn't stay long. After a few more polite exchanges, Ding Yun took her leave.
...
Following this pleasant meeting,
Ding Yun actually no longer felt like waiting for Yun Meng's live streams every day, watching them, tipping, and constantly interacting and providing commentary. But she didn't want to abruptly cut off contact and stop watching the streams. After all, she might still visit the orange cat in the future, or buy things the orange cat wanted and have them delivered, even to her doorstep.
For this reason, Ding Yun specifically used the Meow Star Communicator again, stating that typing to collect information and even communicating with some humans was too difficult and tiring.
She hoped they could send an artificial intelligence.
To collect and organize information on her behalf.
This would allow her to understand this world more quickly and integrate into the intelligent races of this world.
After hearing Ding Yun's excuse, the operator from the high-level Meow Star civilization was deeply moved. They rarely encountered such an active and hardworking alien meow star person. Many alien meow star people who had accidentally obtained Meow Star Communicators and evolved into meow star people would mostly only ask for food and drink. Sometimes, it might take ten or twenty years for them to consider extending their lifespan, and forty or fifty years before they had the idea of developing Meow Star influence or even establishing a nation.
Some even more excessive individuals might never have such thoughts in their lives, only wanting to use the Meow Star Communicator to freeload, have harems, and raise a bunch of kittens.
Therefore, when such a diligent person appeared,
How could they not be excited?
After being excited, of course, they would give, give, give, and give whatever was asked. To ensure the safety of such a proactive and diligent alien meow star person, they even directly offered,
Whether she wanted a robotic cat bodyguard.
To prevent her from encountering threats from humans.
Ding Yun politely declined this. She didn't know what kind of robotic cat it was. If the robotic cat had identification functions and discovered she wasn't a meow star person, things would surely become very troublesome and dangerous.
Besides, she had no fear of human danger at all.
Whether she had a robotic cat bodyguard or not made no difference.
Shortly after, Ding Yun successfully tricked, or rather, successfully received, a basic artificial intelligence chip sent by the high-level Meow Star civilization, which they claimed to have purchased from a human civilization.
As for why she wanted artificial intelligence,
It wasn't a big deal.
Mainly, she wanted the artificial intelligence to log into her relevant accounts, help her watch Yun Meng's live streams occasionally and interact, and send some gifts periodically.
This would help maintain their friendship.
It didn't need to be too close, just like ordinary friends.
In addition, after writing novels, it would be great to have the artificial intelligence help check for typos, find grammatical errors, and then manually revise them, which would save a lot of trouble.
Although using artificial intelligence for these purposes was a bit of an overkill, Ding Yun truly had no intention of showing off or causing trouble. So, of course, she would do as she pleased.
Use the artificial intelligence for her own needs.
Indeed, since acquiring this basic artificial intelligence, Ding Yun felt her quality of life had improved significantly. The previously not-so-smart smart appliances instantly became intelligent, and finding information and videos online was much easier than before.
With an improved quality of life, a comfortable living environment, and better living conditions, her mood naturally improved. These factors, in turn, led to a slight increase in Ding Yun's writing speed and skill, and she gained some popularity within a small circle.
Yes, only within a small circle.
Her readership was only about a thousand or so.
She couldn't help it; the themes she wrote about were too niche.
Science fiction was already niche in the female readership section, and excluding the larger categories of quick transmigration or post-apocalyptic themes, the remaining ones were naturally the niche within the niche.
Moreover, her novels lacked romance.
The protagonist wasn't even human.
And the overall style leaned towards hard science fiction.
It was normal for the popularity to be low. The small-scale popularity was due to someone recommending her novel to some hard science fiction enthusiast forums and groups, which brought about some attention.