The branches swayed.
A white-and-gray, long-haired ragdoll cat weighing about ten pounds dropped from above with a Coke bottle in his mouth, landed on President Jiu Ai's shoulder, and said:
"President! Who were you just talking to?"
President Jiu Ai wasn't surprised at all by a talking cat. Instead, he looked at the bottle that had fallen to the ground and complained, "Tiaotiao, why did you only pick up this much?"
"Because a little boy was fighting me for trash today."
"You're a Biological Weapon, and you couldn't even beat a kid to it?"
Tiaotiao was a Biological Weapon President Jiu Ai had acquired during his travels through space, trading an entire planet's worth of food to the Foodie Star People.
Incidentally, President Jiu Ai was also an alien. Having been saved by Giant Super Power as a child, he had traveled an immense distance across more than half the Milky Way to reach Earth.
Tiaotiao yawned. "President, it's just one bottle. Do you really have to fuss over it?"
"Wrong! Today's words of wisdom are: little by little, a little becomes a lot; dripping water wears through stone." President Jiu Ai said solemnly, "Even picking up trash requires careful research. Young people like drinking beverages, for example, so there are the most bottles near school dormitories."
"By improving efficiency, we can save up some money and go from picking up trash to buying recyclables. Save a little more, and we can buy an electric scooter to deliver takeout. Then we save up, buy a cheap car for rideshare work, and ultimately restore Giant Mountain Technology!"
Tiaotiao licked his paw. "Such backbone. But President, you still haven't said who you were talking to."
"Just the Goddess of Light's human host."
"The Goddess of Light? How do you know?"
"I've met