183: Chapter 183 The System's Last Message

The red dots were growing like wild weeds. On the happiness map, the bright red points of light had increased from twenty-three to forty-seven, and then from forty-seven to eighty-one. Lin Feng stopped staring at his phone every day because they lit up too quickly for him to keep track. He placed the phone by the roots of the tree, screen facing up, thinking, 'Should I let the cat help me watch it?' No, the cat wouldn't watch. The cat only batted at the screen when it felt like playing, then ran away immediately after. Lin Feng squatted under the Old Locust Tree, a straw dangling from his mouth, looking at the sky. The sky was very blue, the clouds were very white, and occasionally birds flew past. Watching the birds fly, he felt they were like the red dots, flickering in the air as they flew from one tree to another, from Xinfeng Town to Millfield. The cat squatted beside him, head tilted back to watch the birds, stretching out a paw to catch one, but unable to reach, it retracted its claw.

The phone vibrated. It wasn't a system message; it was a call from Margaret. Lin Feng picked up. "What's up?" Margaret said on the other end. "You dropped your phone." Lin Feng looked down; the phone was perfectly fine in his hand. "Didn't drop it," Lin Feng said. "Then why are you squatting?" Margaret asked. "Watching birds," Lin Feng said. Margaret hung up. Lin Feng put the phone back in his pocket and continued watching birds. The phone vibrated again. This time it wasn't a call, but a system message.

[Host, you have one unread message. Sent: Seven hundred and thirty-one days ago.] Lin Feng froze for a moment. Seven hundred and thirty-one days ago, he had received a message—'Host, do you remember the first time you made someone laugh, did you laugh yourself?' That was the first one. Now another one had popped up, sent on the same day seven hundred and thirty-one days ago. He had actually missed two. He clicked it open. The message was just one sentence: 'Host, do you know why I chose you?' Lin Feng stared at the screen. He had never thought about this question. Why did the system choose him? He was just squatting there with a straw in his mouth; he wasn't handsome, rich, or smart, and he hadn't even finished university. His first task to make a stranger smile was accomplished with a cup of coffee covered in emojis. Not with money or skills, but with a cup of coffee. He thought for a long time before typing a line on the screen: "I don't know." Send. The message was like a stone sinking into the ocean, with no echo. He waited for fifteen minutes, but the phone remained silent. Just as he thought the system had gone quiet again and prepared to put the phone back in his pocket, it vibrated.

[Because you squat.] Lin Feng was stunned. Thinking he had misread it, he read it again. "Because you squat." Not because he was rich, not because he was smart, and not because he could use system skills. Because he squatted. He had squatted for several years, from street corners to the Old Locust Tree, from the Old Locust Tree to the church entrance, and from the church entrance to Starry Sky Town. He squatted to watch ants, squatted to listen to the wind, squatted to count steps, squatted to make Kaleidoscopes, and squatted to write manuals. He squatted not because he was lazy, but because he felt he could see more that way. Once he saw, he knew what to do. The system chose him not because he knew how to squat, but because he was thinking while he squatted. While others squatted in a daze, he squatted to ponder. Pondering how to make people laugh. Once he figured it out, he did it. And once he did it, people laughed.

He typed a line: "Have you ever squatted?" Send. The system was silent for a long time. So long that Lin Feng thought it wouldn't reply. The phone vibrated. [The system has no body. It cannot squat. But the system can learn. The system watched you for seven hundred and thirty-one days and learned to watch while squatting.] Lin Feng was stunned again. The system learned to watch while squatting? A bodiless thing learned to watch while squatting? He imagined the system squatting too, in some place unknown to him, watching him. Looking at his phone, he felt there was a pair of eyes behind the screen—not the camera, but its own eyes. He pulled the straw from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

[Host, do you remember the system's ultimate goal?] "I remember. To make the world happy." [You did it. But not because you completed the tasks; it's because you let happiness grow on its own. The toolboxes were sent out, and the red dots lit up by themselves. Happiness spreads on its own. You don't have to lift a finger; it moves by itself.] Lin Feng chewed on the straw. "Yeah." [All system tasks have been completed. There are no new tasks. The system will enter sleep mode. During sleep, all unclaimed rewards will be retained. You may claim them at any time.] Lin Feng said, "I won't claim them." [The system knows. That is why the system is not here to urge you to claim money.] "Then what are you here for?" The system was silent for a long time. The phone screen dimmed; Lin Feng tapped it, and it lit up again. The system message was still there, but nothing new. He waited a while and was about to lock the screen when it suddenly flickered. A line of text appeared, not in the system message format—no brackets, no 'ding'—just a line of ordinary small text: "Thank you. For teaching me how to watch while squatting."

Lin Feng stared at that line of text for a long time. The words slowly faded and disappeared. The phone screen returned to normal. He never received another system message again.

Lin Feng put his phone in his pocket, stood up, and brushed off his pants. The cat stood up from the ground and looked up at him. He squatted down and rubbed the cat's head. "The system is gone." The cat didn't answer; it rubbed its head against his hand, then jumped onto the canopy, squatting in front of the Telescope to look into the distance. Looking at the cat's silhouette, Lin Feng felt the cat was more reliable than the system. The system had to learn to watch while squatting, but the cat was born with it. The cat didn't need to learn; it knew how to squat from birth. It squatted on the canopy to look into the distance, squatted in the tree hollow to look at the stars, and squatted beside Lin Feng to watch him make Kaleidoscopes. It didn't look at the red dots, the happiness map, or those towns that lit up. It looked at people. It looked at Lin Feng, Margaret, Old Zhou, Ma Lan, and Xiao Ma. It watched people laugh, cry, daze, and busy themselves. Having watched, it knew who needed a nuzzle. Once it nuzzled them, that person laughed. It didn't write manuals, make toolboxes, or spread happiness. It only did one thing—squat. Squatting to watch, squatting to listen, squatting to nuzzle. After nuzzling, it went to sleep. Looking at the cat, Lin Feng felt he was becoming more and more like it. He also squatted, squatted to watch, squatted to listen, and squatted to work. When he was done, he also went to sleep. But he didn't have fur as thick as the cat's; it was a bit cold in winter.

Margaret came out of the Restaurant carrying a plate of mushrooms and squatted beside him. "What did the system say?" Lin Feng said, "It's gone." Margaret placed the plate on the ground. "Gone? Where to?" Lin Feng thought for a moment. "I don't know. It said it learned to watch while squatting. Maybe it's squatting somewhere else watching something else." Margaret looked at the cat on the canopy. "What is the cat looking at?" Lin Feng also looked at the cat. "Looking into the distance. It looks every day. Watching to see if anyone is walking over. Of the people who walk over, some bring letters, some bring sounds, some bring smiles. Once it watches, it knows who needs a nuzzle." Margaret smiled. "You too. You squat and look into the distance. When people from afar arrive, you know what they need." Lin Feng chewed on the straw. "Yeah. But I don't nuzzle. I make things. When I'm done, I give it to them." Margaret picked up the mushroom plate and handed it to him. "The things you make are more effective than nuzzles." Lin Feng took the plate and ate a mushroom. "The system said I taught it how to watch while squatting." Margaret was stunned. "The system can actually learn?" Lin Feng nodded. "It watched me for seven hundred and thirty-one days. It learned by watching." Margaret looked at him. "Who did you watch?" Lin Feng thought for a moment. "I watched the cat. I watched you. I watched George, Eric, Martha, Old Zhou, Lin Xiaohe, Ma Lan, and Xiao Ma. After watching enough, I learned." Margaret smiled. "Since when did you become so well-spoken?" Lin Feng said, "While squatting." The wind blew over, carrying the vibration of the cat's purr, the flickering light of the red dots, and the fresh sweetness of mushrooms. Lin Feng closed his eyes and took a sniff. He opened his eyes, stood up, and brushed off his pants. "I'm going to sleep." Margaret also stood up. "Now that the system is gone, who will you listen to from now on?" Lin Feng said, "I'll listen to myself. Listen to the cat. Listen to the wind." He turned and walked into the Restaurant, with Margaret following behind him. The door closed, and the lights went out. The cat jumped down from the canopy, walked back inside, curled up on the blue cloth with its head resting on the Iron box, and closed its eyes. The moon emerged from behind the clouds, casting the cat's shadow on the ground, round like a ball of yarn. The wind blew, and the shadow swayed but did not dissipate. Lin Feng stood in the Restaurant, looking out the window. He saw the cat's shadow, the tree's shadow, and the shadows of the red dots. The shadows of the red dots weren't red; they were black, but they were moving, flickering like heartbeats. He watched for a long time, then drew the curtains and went to sleep.

[Chapter 183 End]