The True Dream of Cats, Schrödinger's Lid (Bonus Update)

In the bedroom of antique collector sister Shen Buyao.

Shen Jiuyi sat up in the dark room.

After calming herself alone for quite some time, she finally managed to completely settle her emotions.

She checked her phone for the time.

3:07 AM.

Only a short while had passed since she returned from Lin Yu's room on the third floor.

"Is this what they call a psychological projection of fate?"

"Even though he helped me, I imagined him as some kind of predator."

"How utterly filthy of me..."

A few minutes later.

Shen Jiuyi got up and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth again.

Even though she knew it was just a dream, she felt that without brushing, she couldn't cleanse the filth in her heart.

After today,

Shen Jiuyi wasn’t even sure if she could face Lin Yu as if nothing had happened.

Over twenty years of living an unblemished life—

seemed to be taking a turn on this very day.

After brushing her teeth, she went to the window and gazed at the stars again.

Muttering to herself, she said:

"Will I really face a bloody disaster...?"

As she spoke,

she touched the short hair by her ear.

It did seem a bit longer—should she buy some hair ties?

......

Third floor, Lin Yu's bedroom.

At this moment, Lin Yu was regretting why he had said those last words.

If he hadn’t mentioned "tying up your hair,"

perhaps

he would have already broken the precedent of not engaging in strenuous activities in the dream world!

No matter how much he regretted it now, it was useless.

A missed opportunity was just that—missed.

Lin Yu steadied his mind and lay back down.

There was still one more dream to experience tonight.

Let’s see what the anxious little cat is up to.

After a few calming breaths,

Lin Yu once again entered the dream world.

......

This time, it wasn’t some unfamiliar setting—it was the storage room at home.

Judging by the light outside, it seemed to be around dusk.

"Yu, is that you?"

"H-how did you know I was hiding here?"

The voice of the cat-like girl came from inside a large box in the corner of the storage room.

Her whisper, trembling slightly, betrayed her nervousness.

Already hiding right from the start?

The pacing of the dream world was much faster than real-life routines.

Lin Yu walked over to the box and looked down.

The petite figure of the cat girl fit perfectly inside.

At this moment,

she was only wearing a thin nightgown, looking up at Lin Yu with timid eyes.

Lin Yu’s inner thoughts: Adorable~

Her delicate face was now filled with panic.

Playing dumb, Lin Yu asked:

"Cat, what are you doing hiding here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!"

"We haven’t even finished the defense mission in Zone 860—are you planning to leave me to handle it alone?"

"Running away isn’t like you, and to such a hard-to-find place at that!"

The cat girl made a shushing gesture with one hand while tugging at Lin Yu’s clothes with the other,

begging him not to speak so loudly.

Lin Yu, feigning confusion, pressed further:

"What’s wrong? Can’t I even talk at home?"

The cat girl tugged harder at his clothes, whispering as quietly as possible:

"Aunt Ru Xue is here—she’s my legal guardian!"

"She found out I’ve been secretly living in the apartment, and now she’s searching everywhere for me in the living room!"

Lin Yu exaggerated his reaction: "What?! She actually tracked you down here? What do we do now?"

The cat girl shifted inside the box: "Yu, get in first! We’ll talk inside!"

Lin Yu: "???"

What kind of logic was this?

Some bizarre feline reasoning?

Someone was after her outside,

and now that Lin Yu had shown up,

shouldn’t he be the one to go out and stall, mislead, or draw attention?

Hiding together in the box?

Were they just waiting for Aunt Ru Xue to come, spray them down, and then loot their bodies?

Then again,

after getting used to some of the more rational and orderly dream worlds,

suddenly encountering this kind of nonsensical dream scenario did feel more "real."

By comparison,

the cat girl’s dream was the "pure, unfiltered" kind.

Lin Yu nodded firmly:

"Good point—let’s get in!"

He stepped onto a smaller box nearby and effortlessly jumped into the larger one.

With Lin Yu now inside,

the space inside the box automatically adjusted to a comfortable size,

just enough to fit both of them!

But the moment he crouched down,

he noticed the cat girl staring at him with disbelief.

Lin Yu, confused: "???"

The cat girl, frantic: "Close the lid! If we just crouch here like this, Aunt Ru Xue will spot us the moment she walks in! And here I thought you were smart!"

Lin Yu: "..."

Oh, great.

She even managed to sneak in a jab at him.

But damn it, this was an open-top cardboard box—where was this so-called "lid"?

However,

if the dream world’s host said there was one, then there had to be one.

"Right, my bad—I overlooked that."

Lin Yu stood up again, intending to conjure a lid through sheer imagination.

But as soon as he got up, he realized he didn’t even need to try—

a garishly colorful plastic lid was already propped up beside the box.

Even brighter than the cat girl’s hair!

Lin Yu: "..."

Wasn’t this just screaming "Look here, something’s wrong!"?

Unless Aunt Ru Xue was colorblind, who wouldn’t notice this?

"Yu, stop wasting time—hurry up and close it!"

The cat girl, curled up inside, urged him impatiently.

Suppressing his urge to complain, Lin Yu decided to respect the dream logic despite not understanding it.

He reached for the lid, ready to comply.

Huh?

The moment he grabbed it, something felt off.

Was this a plastic lid or a slab of concrete?

How could it be this heavy?!

Lin Yu’s body had undergone "superhuman enhancement,"

and even he struggled to lift it.

Just how absurd was the actual weight?

"Up… come on…"

"Tsk! This lid… makes no sense?!"

Lin Yu stared at his hands in shock.

At first, he thought, Fine, heavy is heavy—but can’t I still lift it?

Yet,

just as the lid was about to be raised, its weight seemed to double, slamming back down.

After three failed attempts, the plastic lid’s weight had officially become an unsolvable mystery.

Beads of sweat forming on her forehead, the cat girl quickly stood up:

"Yu, it’s just a normal lid—why is it so hard for you?"

"Move aside, let me!"

Lin Yu suddenly realized something…

The moment he crouched back down,

within a second,

the cat girl effortlessly lifted the lid with one hand and placed it over the box.

She then smoothly crouched back down, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Cat girl: "Yu, was that really so difficult? Piece of cake!"

Lin Yu: "..."

Oh, really?

So even in the dream world, on the verge of panic, her subconscious was still competing with him?

What a damn Schrödinger’s lid!

......

(Bonus chapter delivered! Will continue working hard on updates tomorrow—your support is greatly appreciated!)