Chapter 167: Software Completion

After a moment of silence, Xia Yu tilted his head and let out a “meow,” indicating that he didn’t understand.

“Don’t pretend. I saw you hiding in the corner when you came in, using a fork to lure the maid away,” Xu Youxiang said, pinching the black cat’s face.

Was that how I was exposed?

I didn’t expect Xu Youxiang to have seen that.

Luckily, I was using a substitute body.

No longer pretending, Xia Yu approached Xu Youxiang’s laptop and typed:

『Yes, it was me.』

“Tsk tsk tsk, so this is your third body then?”

Xu Youxiang and An Siyao had compared notes on Xia Yu’s schedule and discovered many inconsistencies. They had largely reached a consensus that Xia Yu had another identity, but they hadn’t expected it not to be a human, but a cat.

“Actually, this is my original form,” Xia Yu typed.

“Do you really think I’ll believe that?” Xu Youxiang said, holding one of the black cat’s paws and pressing its paw pad.

“This dates back to 1978. To explore mineral resources, eleven explorers and a black cat arrived in Greenland, where they discovered a meteorite.”

“The meteorite carried unknown and powerful bacteria. All eleven explorers perished, but the black cat survived.”

“And the black cat gained a special ability—body possession!”

“Although it sounds pretty cool, didn’t you previously tell An Siyao you were from the future?” Xu Youxiang said, lifting the black cat by the scruff of its neck and holding it in her arms.

Xia Yu offered no defense. He hadn’t intended to deceive Xu Youxiang anyway; he just found it amusing.

“Why did you come here?” Xu Youxiang asked Xia Yu.

She placed her laptop on her lap so the black cat could type without leaving her embrace.

『I interfere quite a bit in An Siyao’s life, so I came to see how she felt about it.』 Xia Yu told the truth.

“You don’t have to worry then. That girl is very loyal to you and is pretty indifferent about her own affairs. Not only did you make her famous, but even if you asked her to run away with you, I don’t think she’d have any objections.” Xu Youxiang said, scratching the black cat’s head.

『Right side.』

Xu Youxiang moved her hand to the right.

Closing his eyes, Xia Yu activated his telepathy. A sense of mental comfort and physical pleasure came simultaneously.

Yawning, he lay on the keyboard, preparing to sleep, but was pulled up again by Xu Youxiang.

“Hey, you promised you could heal my leg, right?” Xu Youxiang asked him.

『It should be possible, but it will take time,』 Xia Yu replied.

“What do you want? For me to obey you like An Siyao does?” Xu Youxiang asked again.

『No need. I’ve already obtained what I wanted from you, so you don’t need to give anything else. Besides, I didn’t ask An Siyao to obey me either.』 Xia Yu yawned again, still wanting to sleep.

“In other words, I don’t need to keep my distance from others for your sake?” Xu Youxiang confirmed.

Instantly alert, Xia Yu wondered what Xu Youxiang meant by that.

In his mind, he reviewed everyone Xu Youxiang had contact with, then relaxed, thinking maybe he was overreacting.

“Can you possess men too?” Xu Youxiang’s questions hadn’t ended.

『Generally speaking, I wouldn’t do something like that,』 Xia Yu wasn’t about to share his intelligence with Xu Youxiang.

“That’s good then.” Xu Youxiang tossed the black cat aside and climbed onto the bed.

Such treachery.

Jumping back to the laptop, Xia Yu typed to ask Xu Youxiang to call Xueyou and say the cat was with her.

He planned to leave the black cat at the villa for a while. Although Xu Youxiang’s words were highly credible, he still needed to observe for himself and see how An Siyao was doing.

After returning to his own body, Xia Yu was immediately questioned by Xueyou: “Brother, a woman called saying Xiaohei is with her.”

“Who was it?” Xia Yu feigned ignorance.

“She said her name was Xu Youxiang.”

“Oh, that’s an acquaintance. I understand.”

Although Xueyou was still suspicious, she didn’t ask further, seeing that Xia Yu clearly didn’t want to say more.

Successfully fooling Xueyou, Xia Yu then started worrying about how to deceive Xu Youxiang the next day.

When he was the black cat, he had only mentioned Xueyou without telling Xu Youxiang that the black cat’s owner was actually himself. He believed that when they met the next day, Xu Youxiang would be surprised and say something like “What a coincidence.”

How should he react then to appear natural?

At this rate, without any acting talent, I could compete for a best actor award.

Well, I’ll deal with it when the time comes.

Lying on the bed, Xia Yu fell into a second nap.

The next day, as expected, Xu Youxiang looked surprised and said exactly what Xia Yu had anticipated, making Xia Yu feel complex inside.

Easily handling Xu Youxiang, Xia Yu conveniently left the black cat with her.

In the following week, Xia Yu practiced songs with An Siyao and Liu Manman in the mornings, went to An Siyao’s place in the afternoons to comfort the students or observe An Siyao through the black cat, and in the evenings, he wrote programs, created art assets, and occasionally learned to play the dizi from Liu Ronglan.

To avoid suspicion from An Siyao and Xu Youxiang, he even had the proxy body take over several times so he could visit them in the mornings.

A week later, Xia Yu finally completed his software. Next came the adaptation to various phone models and the detection and fixing of bugs.

However, he didn’t act immediately. He had an idea—if this idea succeeded, the subsequent tasks wouldn’t require his involvement anymore.

He took out his phone and called An Tianfeng.

“Oh, the software is done? Great, bring it over and I’ll have someone check it for you,” An Tianfeng said.

Canceling his afternoon plans, Xia Yu took a car to An Tianfeng’s company.

After getting off the car, he saw An Tianfeng returning from playing outside.

“Come on, it’s about the phone software, right? I have professionals at my company.”

Leading Xia Yu to his office, An Tianfeng introduced him to a young man.

Manager Ruan, a member of the previous investigation meeting, was one of An Tianfeng’s senior executives. This alone showed how much An Tianfeng valued Xia Yu.

It was only this emphasis on Xia Yu that made An Tianfeng not believe that Xia Yu could create anything significant.

After all, making software required technical skill, creativity, and experience—none of which could be easily achieved.

Still, he was quite curious about what Xia Yu had made.

Taking out a phone used as a template, Xia Yu opened an app with a petal icon.

It was a small application that wasn’t very famous even on Earth in his previous life, but it was one of the top applications in its field.

Its name was Forest, also known as Concentration Forest, a software that could lock the phone and help users break free from phone addiction. It was very popular among college students.

However, Xia Yu didn’t use a tree icon but chose a flower instead, based on another consideration.

As one of the top applications in the concentration field, it wasn’t worth much money but could bring Xia Yu a considerable amount of wealth.

“What is this?” An Tianfeng and Manager Ruan looked puzzled, staring at the flower illustration on the homepage.

Xia Yu began his explanation.