355: Chapter 355 Big Cat

Meanwhile, in Shen Mingyuan's dormitory.

The TV was still on, playing a segment of a nature documentary where a group of penguins waddled across the ice.

Little Pink had already fallen asleep leaning against the side of the bed, still clutching an empty cake box in her hand, with a small dab of cream on the corner of her mouth. The three-meter-long green snake had moved from the pillow to the foot of the bed, coiled up with its head resting on its body and its eyes half-closed.

Shen Mingyuan leaned against the headboard, listlessly clicking the remote, switching from one channel to another.

Just then, his phone suddenly chimed.

It wasn't a WeChat notification or a text message—it was a soft sound he had never heard before, like a drop of water falling into a deep pool. He picked up his phone and found a strange new icon on the screen: a grey background with a white border, and in the center was a minimalist, abstract bracelet pattern.

He froze for a moment, then tapped it open.

The interface was very simple, without any ads or splash pages, jumping directly into a chat group.

The group name was just a single character: Forge.

There were already several messages in the group.

.**: "Can everyone see this message?"

Lu Jianchuan: "I can."

Wei Ziqing: "Mhm."

Shen Mingyuan stared at the screen for two seconds, his fingers moving.

Shen Mingyuan: "I can see it too."

.**: "Great, as long as everyone can see it."

.**: "This is a software I specially made for everyone—a private channel, so there's no need to worry about being monitored. I'll notify you through here if anything comes up in the future. Since all three of you are here, you can chat here from now on."

Shen Mingyuan raised an eyebrow and was about to type when another message came through.

.**: "By the way, don't transform for the next few days. I'm going to give your armor a collective upgrade."

Lu Jianchuan: "Oh, that's good. What's being upgraded?"

Wei Ziqing: "What are we upgrading? What are we upgrading? Is there new stuff?"

.**: "Mainly adding a new form for Wei Ziqing, and then optimizing the form-switching logic for all of you to make transitions smoother and energy consumption lower."

Shen Mingyuan's fingers hovered over the screen, and he suddenly chuckled.

Shen Mingyuan: "Why does this feel like a game? Optimizing basic attack hitboxes and buffing the stats of old heroes?"

.**: "...You can think of it that way if you want. Just treat it like a game."

.**: "Don't worry, though. I'll definitely give Wei Ziqing a form with actual mechanics first, and then I'll 'balance' it with some insanely high stats."

Wei Ziqing: "Hell yeah!!!"

The three exclamation marks on the screen almost seemed to jump out. Shen Mingyuan could imagine the boy's eyes lighting up in the hospital bed on the other side.

Shen Mingyuan: "What on earth is 'balancing with your feet'... .**: It doesn't matter. We aren't in a fair duel here; I'm definitely going to give you the highest stats possible."

Lu Jianchuan: "What about ours?"

.**: "Yours will be optimized too, but Wei Ziqing is the focus this time. After all, he's currently the only one in the team with just a single form."

Shen Mingyuan glanced at the screen, then at Little Pink sleeping soundly beside him, and continued typing.

Shen Mingyuan: "Fine then, we'll wait for those 'foot-balanced stats' to go live."

Wei Ziqing: "I'm already looking forward to it!!!"

.**: "Get some good rest and wait for news!"

Meanwhile, in the Medical Department of GUPA Headquarters, inside Wei Ziqing's hospital room.

The door was pushed open from the outside, a head poked in, looked around, and then the whole person squeezed inside.

Long Qingyun.

He wasn't wearing his usual gaudy casual clothes today, having swapped them for an ordinary black hoodie. He carried two bulging plastic bags in his hands, with something tucked under his arm. After entering, he set the items on the floor and rushed to the bedside in three quick steps.

"Oh my god, Wei Ziqing! What happened to you?"

He stared at the thick bandage wrapped around Wei Ziqing's left arm, his expression as exaggerated as if he were witnessing some earth-shattering event.

"How many scenes have we even filmed? Season two just started, and you're already lying here? How am I supposed to act alone? Who's going to be my partner?"

Wei Ziqing leaned against the headboard, looking at the face full of 'shock' and sighed.

"There's nothing I can do," he said, his tone carrying the weariness of someone who had seen through life. "The world is unpredictable. Sigh, sigh, sigh—"

He sighed three times in a row, each one longer than the last.

Long Qingyun stared at him for two seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"Alright, alright, stop acting. Your acting is even worse than mine." He turned to pick up the two plastic bags and placed them on the nightstand. "Here, I brought these for you. Even though I was just passing by, it's still a hospital visit, so I couldn't come empty-handed."

Wei Ziqing propped himself up and peeked into the bags.

Canned cat food. Cat treats. Cat toys. A scratching post. A five-kilogram bag of adult cat food.

He froze for a moment, then looked at the unopened bag on the floor, where he could faintly see the edge of another cat food bag.

"Are you..." He looked up, his eyes filled with confusion. "Buying things for your cat? Why buy so much at once? Did you get another new cat?"

Long Qingyun's movements paused.

He scratched his head, his expression becoming somewhat subtle, as if he were organizing his words or trying to hide something.

"Ah, yeah," he said, his gaze drifting to the side. "Another one came to the house... a really, really big cat."

He paused.

"I have to take care of it today. But I haven't named it yet—at least, I haven't decided on a name. I'll talk about it when I've figured it out."

Wei Ziqing looked at him, feeling like something about those words wasn't quite right. But Long Qingyun quickly changed the subject, looking around the room and clicking his tongue.

"Speaking of which, you're really rich." He pointed at the room's layout—though it was a hospital room, it was clearly incomparable to an ordinary hospital, with a private bathroom, a smart-controlled bed, and even a floor-to-ceiling window. "How much does it cost to stay here for a day?"

Wei Ziqing leaned back against the headboard.

"Oh, actually, it's not like that," he said. "It's a benefit from where I work."

"Work?" Long Qingyun blinked. "Aren't you acting as my partner? That show hasn't finished filming yet, so where did this work come from?"

Wei Ziqing was silent for a second.

"Uh... a part-time job. Another part-time job."

Long Qingyun looked at him suspiciously but didn't press further. He looked down at his watch, then at the pile of cat supplies on the nightstand.

"Alright, I have to go. The one at home is waiting for food."

He patted the five-kilogram bag of cat food.

"This stuff is pretty heavy; I need to get it back quickly. Recover well, and we'll continue filming once you're better. The director said your scenes are being pushed back, so there's no rush."

Wei Ziqing nodded.

"Okay, take care on the road."

Long Qingyun picked up the two bags, with the scratching post still tucked under his arm, and walked toward the door. At the door, he turned back.

"By the way, do you have any suggestions for the cat's name?"

Wei Ziqing was taken aback.

"...Uh, Big Orange?"

Long Qingyun looked at him with a strange expression.

"Too ordinary. I'll think about it some more."

The door closed.

The hospital room fell silent. Wei Ziqing stared at the ceiling, turning the conversation over in his mind. A really, really big cat. No name yet. Buying so much cat food.

He kept feeling like something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Whatever, it has nothing to do with me anyway."

He closed his eyes.