Chapter 13

[August 1, 20XX]

I’ve figured out the reason for the misunderstanding.

After logging into my account today, several messages from strangers led me to the root of the problem. These messages, laden with strong sexual connotations, clearly pointed out my oversight: the Earthly numerical expression of my homeworld ID isn’t merely a length value as I originally thought—in this civilization, it carries an additional layer of sexual implication.

This is the first time I’ve encountered a culture that flaunts external reproductive organs and sexual functions in such a manner—it’s a topic worth studying in the future.

However, what’s more important now is establishing contact with Dan Ning.

I abandoned the “18CM” account and registered a new one: “Qikeliyah,” my real name.

After repeated searches, the computer confirmed that this string of characters held no special meaning.

Registration successful.

Given yesterday’s incident, I didn’t directly message Dan Ning again. Instead, I browsed the forum for topics he was interested in, hoping to naturally acquaint myself with him through discussions on common interests.

The forum Dan Ning frequents has an enormous volume of traffic, covering a wide range of topics—some of which I couldn’t comprehend even with the computer’s assistance. Fortunately, Dan Ning isn’t particularly interested in those.

His recent browsing history mainly points to two sections: one on space, the other on pets.

Earth’s civilization is in the early stages of space exploration, with various nations launching probes and spacecraft into the cosmos. The country Dan Ning belongs to has recently completed several significant aerospace projects, which might explain his keen interest in this field.

This discovery relieved me, as discussions on other trending topics require an overwhelming amount of local cultural knowledge. Only in the realm of space exploration can I easily capture his attention without violating Alliance regulations.

As for his other area of interest, I don’t think it’s necessary to deliberately focus on it—after all, I won’t be his pet for much longer.

[August 2, 20XX]

The plan is progressing smoothly.

I received a reply from Dan Ning under a thread discussing the possible forms of extraterrestrial life.

“Your ideas are quite interesting.”

This reply exhilarated me. In my excitement, I elaborated on a race with smooth blue skin and eight tentacles.

“Is the prototype for this an octopus?” Dan Ning replied again.

Pleasure caused my mimetic tail to twitch involuntarily: “The path of evolution shares commonalities. Perhaps one day, the octopuses on your planet could evolve into such beings.”

“‘Your planet’? Is the person in the above post an alien lurking on Earth?!”

A momentary lapse allowed someone to catch the flaw in my wording. The originally serious discussion was derailed by this interjection, and Dan Ning’s account didn’t reappear.

I felt somewhat dejected.

Still, no matter what, we’ve already begun communicating as equals.

[August 3, 20XX]

My online exchanges with Dan Ning are developing positively.

The restructuring of the Biocomputer is also progressing satisfactorily.

The regenerated neural tissue has already transferred the computer functions loaded onto me back to it. Though it’s not yet capable of running all programs, it no longer burdens my nervous system.

The only issue is that the physiological structure of the Mimetic Species leaves no extra space within the body cavity for the computer to take shape—I need to adjust my mimetic form.

Given the frequency of my hospital check-ups, altering internal organs is clearly inadvisable.

There’s only one place left to modify.

The mimetic testes.

Reproductive functions are unnecessary for me now that I can undergo transformation again, and the loss of testes would have minimal impact on other physiological activities of the mimetic form.

With the Biocomputer’s operation, the problem was smoothly resolved.

[August 4, 20XX]

Today, Dan Ning proactively greeted me in a thread.

I was very happy.

[August 5, 20XX]

Continued maintaining communication with Dan Ning.

Today, he posted a thread in the pets section: “My six-month-old male kitten’s two testicles combined are smaller than a 5-cent coin. Is this normal development?”

I think I need to increase my energy intake to accelerate the Biocomputer’s restructuring speed.