The game posted below happened to be Xu Ye’s favorite.
It made sense to see a post seeking gaming teammates in other places, but finding it in this forum full of cats and dogs was outright bizarre.
Xu Ye pondered—could humans also browse this forum, apart from cats and dogs.
She didn’t realize she had almost excluded herself from the category of humans, nor did she recall the post by the stray cat about getting a health check.
She clicked on the post, which had a reply below.
[2F: Haha, David’s looking for teammates again? You’re the only one here who knows how to game.]
The poster’s ID was “David.” Xu Ye thought for a moment and clicked on the reply page.
[3F: I’ll join. I promise I won’t drag you down and have some game sense.]
Within seconds, the original poster replied to her:
[4F: Third floor, my ID is ‘Not David.’ Add me with a note saying you’re from the Cat Forum.]
Xu Ye logged into the game and searched for the ID. It was an account with excellent stats, using the default avatar and only a handful of skins.
After adding the friend, the other side promptly invited her to a match. David didn’t say a word or turn on voice chat. The moment Xu Ye joined the team, he immediately started the game.
This David displayed remarkable skills and game sense, always choosing high-difficulty assassins and dazzling her with seamless combos.
Moreover, he had a great temperament.
Xu Ye, being a bit nervous, occasionally unleashed skills that disregarded her teammates’ safety—a beauty of chaotic gameplay. David managed to dodge just in time, but she once got overly excited and used a big move that slammed David into a wall, just a step away from the tower’s protection.
Xu Ye sent a string of apologies. Instead of blaming her, David graciously came to assist her in catching opponents.
Originally, Xu Ye planned to test whether David was human and log off after a few matches. However, he rarely sent messages, never used voice chat, and only issued signals, making it difficult for her to ask directly.
Besides, David’s gaming prowess was exceptional. Xu Ye effortlessly enjoyed victory after victory, unable to resist the temptation of this powerful teammate and played until midnight.
During one game, a teammate ignored Xu Ye’s signals and cursed her with rather vulgar words in the chat.
Before Xu Ye could respond, David unleashed a torrent of insults at lightning speed. Even while farming jungle monsters, he managed to type rapidly, flooding the screen with messages until the offending teammate’s words were entirely drowned out.
Xu Ye was stunned, watching David’s non-repeating vocabulary. She quietly farmed minions and took screenshots—planning to copy David’s comebacks next time someone cursed her.
The rude teammate, likely shocked by such typing speed, fell completely silent for the rest of the game. After the match ended, that player added Xu Ye as a friend with a note:
“Please ask your friend to teach a class. I’ll learn on my knees.”
Xu Ye smirked smugly and clicked “Decline.”
By 2 AM, under David’s guidance, they had won game after game, only losing once due to an AFK teammate. David truly lived up to his promise—carrying the team as long as his teammates could move and didn’t sabotage.
David typed in-game: “That’s it for me. Time to sleep. Let’s play again next time.”
“Alright,” Xu Ye replied.
She closed the game and opened the forum, accepting David’s friend request there.
[David: Impressive. Are you new here?]
From this message alone, Xu Ye couldn’t determine David’s identity. After hesitating, she cautiously replied with just two words.
[Good Ye: Yes.]
Based on the current situation, aside from the mysterious David and the forum administrator, Xu Ye seemed to be the only human here. She wasn’t sure how she ended up in this forum but instinctively felt she should conceal her identity as a human.
[David: I’m the only one in the Cat Forum who plays games. There seem to be a few in the Dog Forum, but I don’t want to play with them. Queue with me next time?]
So, David wasn’t human—he was a cat, and a very skilled gaming cat at that.
As a longtime solo player, Xu Ye quickly broke her solo-only principle and replied, “Sure.”
After all, who could refuse a cat that was not only skilled in gaming but also protective of its teammates?
Xu Ye suddenly became curious. Who were these gaming dogs? If she could form a five-player team with cats and dogs…
She realized she couldn’t refuse a dog that played games, either.
But how did cats and dogs even play games? Where did they get their phones? How could they read human text?
With their short claws, how did David manage to switch three items in a second and still send a “retreat” signal?
Xu Ye’s fingers were relatively long, yet her grandma-level speed could barely handle swapping items for a surrender vote.
Suppressing her curiosity, she decided to investigate later.
[Good Ye: How did you learn to play games?]
[David: My little brother plays esports. I learned by watching him.]
Xu Ye couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. Some people play for years to reach top ranks, while some cats learn from just watching. What a pity this cat wasn’t sent to compete in esports.
The conversation should have ended there. Xu Ye was about to browse the Dog Forum to see if she could figure out which dog was the esports player when David sent her another private message.
[David: How do you have so many skins in the game?? How did you get them!]
Xu Ye, who could now afford to buy skins for her frequently used heroes, had a collection. In contrast, David’s account only had event-rewarded skins.
Judging by David’s surprised tone, it seemed cats and dogs couldn’t make in-game purchases.
[Good Ye: I have special ways to get skins.]
[David: Can you get one for me? I can trade you something in return.]
After asking which hero’s skin David wanted, Xu Ye logged into the game and gifted him the skin.
[Good Ye: No need to trade. I’ll give this skin to you as a gift.]
Xu Ye declined David’s insistence on trading something in return. She thought, What could a cat possibly offer in exchange? Cat food?
Besides, David was skilled, protective, and even voluntarily offered to be her teammate. Gifting her future “carry” a skin as a welcome present seemed very reasonable.
Xu Ye then scrolled through the Dog Forum for a while and laughed so hard at some huskies’ destructive antics that she couldn’t close her mouth. It was almost 4 a.m. when she finally put down her phone and fell asleep with the strange thoughts of “A cat carried me in-game” and “My teammate is actually a cat.”
Xu Ye was woken by a call from the delivery person. She went downstairs to inspect the package and brought her new phone back to her room.
After selecting one of her college photography works as the phone wallpaper, she installed her frequently used apps, inserted the SIM card, and connected to Wi-Fi.
The moment she logged into Feixin, Xu Ye frowned at the sight of over a dozen messages from Liu Hao.
Liu Hao was a colleague in her group. They had worked together for over a year without much interaction until last week when Xu Ye worked overtime. It suddenly started raining, and everyone else had left, leaving Liu Hao stranded at the company entrance.
Xu Ye had always kept an umbrella at her workstation and happened to have another with her that day. Out of goodwill, she lent one to Liu Hao.
In hindsight, Xu Ye wished she could go back in time and stop herself from being so kind.
Since then, Liu Hao had been sending her messages every few days. He was greasy and narcissistic, so Xu Ye usually ignored him.
[Liu Hao: Why didn’t you reply yesterday? Is something more important than me?]
[Liu Hao: Want to watch a movie today? That new sci-fi one looks good.]
[Liu Hao: Haha! Here’s your chance to treat me to a movie. Don’t waste it! [Rose] [Thumbs up]]
[Liu Hao: It’s 9 a.m., and you still haven’t replied? Xu, you’ll never get married if you keep sleeping in.]
[Liu Hao: Haha, if you were with me, I’d let you sleep till 10 before cooking for me.]
…
Xu Ye held her phone at arm’s length, frowning and squinting. She’d never felt this speechless in her life.
She remembered Liu Hao hadn’t been this insufferable a few days ago. Today, he seemed to have unlocked some new level of obnoxiousness, sending a string of messages that made her cringe.
Xu Ye’s upbringing prevented her from outright cursing, so she promptly blocked and deleted Liu Hao, feeling much better as she went to freshen up.
After making a simple breakfast, she gathered last night’s and this morning’s trash into a bag and headed downstairs.
She was about to lift the trash can lid when she heard a faint “meow-meow” from inside.
Lifting the lid and peeking in, she saw a small, colorful kitten perched atop a pile of trash.
The palm-sized kitten awkwardly moved its paws on the dirty, smelly garbage, and Xu Ye noticed blood on its front paw.
After hesitating for a moment, she reached out toward the kitten.
Just as her hand was about to touch it, a man’s voice stopped her.
“Don’t touch it.”
The voice was familiar—low and muffled, as though it passed through fabric.
Xu Ye turned to see the man from yesterday who had been catching cats. He was still fully covered with a mask and gloves.
She had overheard his conversation about caging the cats and still remembered his deep, pleasant voice.
Even more memorable were his eyes; one glance yesterday had etched them into her memory. Fully geared, the man clearly came to rescue the kitten. Xu Ye stepped back to make space.
Only then did she remember the post she’d seen: “Boss’s human contact is reliable.”
Yesterday, she had been too shocked by the forum’s existence and David’s gaming skills to think about it.
She wondered who the “boss” of those cats was, how they contacted humans, and whether this man knew about the forum.
The man gently lifted the kitten with one hand and opened the cage at his feet with the other. The kitten remained calm and obedient throughout, not even moving its injured paw.
Seeing the kitten’s health was in good hands, Xu Ye turned to leave, but the man stopped her.
“Want to visit a pet shop? There’s one next to Fuli Mansion called Lerong Pet Store.”
Xu Ye hesitated, wary of accepting an invitation from a stranger, and looked curiously at the man, who seemed a little tense.
As if afraid she’d refuse, he added a trump card: “Xu Ye, senior, I’m Huo Shuyan. I studied finance under Professor Zhao Juan, who’s mentioned you before.”
The man’s tone was flat, like he was reading from a script, but his words piqued her interest.
Since Huo Shuyan was her junior, Xu Ye hesitated for a moment and agreed.
She wanted to ask how they communicated with the cats but thought it inappropriate to bring up. If Huo Shuyan didn’t know about the strange forum, revealing it might cause trouble for her—or worse, for the cats and dogs.
As they walked, Huo Shuyan spoke suddenly, “Senior, don’t touch stray cats directly in the future. Some of them carry diseases. The same goes for stray dogs.”
Xu Ye noticed Huo Shuyan’s slightly reddened ears and nodded. She pulled her shirt closer, finding it odd that anyone would feel warm in the cool morning weather.
The pet store wasn’t far. After a ten-minute walk, Xu Ye saw the shop.
A tall, artistic-looking man with a high ponytail stood at the entrance. When he saw Xu Ye, he raised an eyebrow but quickly adjusted his expression.
Huo Shuyan introduced him, “This is my friend, Liu Shuo. The store is his, I just help out here.”
Xu Ye smiled, “Hello, I’m Xu Ye.”
She had assumed this artistic-looking man was a customer. Turns out, he was the owner—proof that appearances could be deceiving.
Liu Shuo nodded with a smile, “Hello, I’ve heard about you. Nice to meet you.”
Then he suddenly glanced aside, coughed, and added, “Your photo is on the school’s honor roll. Nice to meet you.”
Xu Ye was busy admiring the store’s well-equipped interior and didn’t notice the flaw in Liu Shuo’s words—the honor roll was updated annually, and her photo had been from her freshman year.
Author’s Note:
I wish David could carry me in games too.
Tl’s note: Same
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