Virtual Idol in the Beast World: Five Clans Fight Over Me

Gu Ning spent the entire afternoon sifting through her private messages, gathering information about Zone 5 and learning about the living conditions of its residents.

It was the first time she’d ever gone through her private messages so seriously.

Usually, there were too many for her to read. Besides, they were either cursing her out or demanding she upload new videos, so she rarely bothered to look at them.

Now, Gu Ning still couldn’t keep up.

Ever since she posted a question about the cost of living in Zone 5 in her bio, the private messages had been flooding in even faster than usual.

Most of the Beastmen saw her updated bio and immediately sent her a private message.

They were all curious about the identity of this mysterious new creator.

Any Beastman with half a brain knew that Gu Demiao Ning was most likely not a real name, nor could he possibly live in the No Man’s Land.

After Gu Ning’s identity was verified, quite a few Beastmen had secretly tried to dig up information about her.

However, none of them had found any more information.

The Beastman network surveillance system was strict, and it was impossible for the average person to easily obtain someone else’s personal information.

Now, seeing Gu Demiao Ning ask about the cost of living in Zone 5, the Beastmen were guessing he was planning to go there, using it as a clue to deduce his identity.

Most of them figured this guy was probably from the Lower District, or the Middle Lower District at best. They thought that after earning a bit of money from donations, he was getting delusional ideas about the Upper District and wanted to move there for a better life. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

In order to keep watching more of Yuanbao’s videos, they all actively tried to dissuade this clueless wolf, recommending other livable cities to him.

Some Beastmen even invited Gu Ning to live with them, offering her the protection of their pack.

Amidst the flood of dissuasive messages, sour-grapes sarcasm, and outright insults, Gu Ning managed to find a small amount of information about Zone 5.

As for the messages that were purely people venting their emotions at her, she would glance at them and skip past, not even bothering to open them.

After reading messages for two or three hours, Gu Ning saw that the rest were more of the same. She rubbed her sore eyes and crawled out from under her covers.

She went to the bathroom to change her sanitary pad, then crawled back into her bed, which was warmed by a kotatsu, and continued to lie there comfortably.

She organized the information she’d gathered about Zone 5, making plans for the future.

Seeing that the private messages were still popping up nonstop, Gu Ning deleted the question from her bio and was about to log out.

Just then, a chat window automatically popped up.

[Good afternoon, Mr. Gu Demiao Ning. How can Reya be of service to you?]

Hmm?

Reya?

Gu Ning stared at the chat window for a moment, then remembered.

’When my account went from Level 3 to Level 4, this same chat window suddenly appeared. This person named Reya said he was some kind of exclusive customer service representative for Anzhao?’

But he had only appeared that one time. After that, this "exclusive customer service" rep never showed up again, and she had almost forgotten he existed.

’An exclusive customer service rep can force a chat window to pop up and talk to me?’

Gu Ning didn’t reply. She closed the chat window and went to check her account’s backend.

If he really was an exclusive customer service rep assigned to her by Anzhao, there should be a notification about it in the backend.

Gu Ning looked through all the recent official private messages but saw nothing about an exclusive customer service rep being assigned to her.

’Did I miss a message?’

’No way. Official private messages are always pinned to the top. Even if I don’t read them, they won’t get buried by new messages from other Beastmen.’

Gu Ning was about to search further down when Reya’s chat window popped up again:

[I hear you’re interested in going to Zone 5?]

[When do you plan to depart? Will you have any companions?]

Gu Ning looked at Reya’s messages with suspicion.

[Are you an Anzhao employee?]

Reya: [I am your exclusive customer service representative.]

His reply seemed robotic, making Gu Ning wonder, ’Could he be a bot automatically assigned to me by the Anzhao system after I reached Level 4?’

The official Anzhao team seemed like a bit of a slapdash operation, so Gu Ning didn’t think too much of it.

She opened the chat box and sent a message to Reya: [Where I go is none of your business. Please do not pry into my private life.]

She was always sensitive about strangers getting close. For Reya, a customer service rep for a video platform, to ask about her trip to Zone 5 was already overstepping the bounds of his job.

Moreover, the fact that his chat window popped up automatically without any action on her part made Gu Ning uneasy and wary.

Reya sent an apologetic emoji. [I’m sorry. I won’t pry into your privacy. I only hope to be of help to you. Please don’t be angry.]

Gu Ning: [(Smiling face) Thank you, but please don’t bother me with non-work-related matters.]

Reya: [(Smiling face) Of course, Mr. Gu Demiao Ning.]

Just as Gu Ning was about to close his chat window, Reya sent a few more messages.

They were three images of different colors.

[This is work-related.]

Reya added for emphasis.

Gu Ning saw there was text on the images. Curious, she clicked on the light blue one and discovered it was an invitation letter.

She carefully read the contents of the letter, her gaze falling on the signature at the end, which was stamped with a moon seal: New Moon Film and Television Company.

’New Moon? Is it the New Moon I’m thinking of?’

Gu Ning then opened the other two images, one silver-white and one gold. They were also invitation letters, stamped with a star and a sun seal, respectively. They were from Feixing Film and Television Company and Shengyang Film and Television Company.

Gu Ning was a little surprised to see these three invitation letters.

New Moon, Feixing, and Shengyang were the biggest film and television companies on Anzhao. Most of the movies and TV shows on the platform were produced by these three.

Reya: [Mr. Gu Demiao Ning, are you interested in collaborating with New Moon, Feixing, or Shengyang Film and Television Company?]

’Collaboration?’ Gu Ning’s finger tapped back and forth between the three invitation letters.

Using different wording, all three companies were asking for the licensing rights to her virtual female model, expressing their desire to collaborate with her.

Looking at these three polite and sincere invitation letters, Gu Ning felt an indescribable sense of absurdity.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

’This is great.’

Gu Ning thought to herself, ’See? I told you I wouldn’t be short on job opportunities.’

’But where the hell am I supposed to get a model from?!’

’I don’t know how to do 3D modeling at all! At most, I can do some video post-production.’

Gu Ning sighed as she looked at the three beautiful invitation letters and replied to Reya: [I’m not interested in collaborating at the moment.]

Reya: [Understood. I will block their messages for you.]

’Block?’ Gu Ning found his reply a bit strange. ’Shouldn’t these three companies be contacting me through Anzhao’s official channels?’

Gu Ning: [Wait.]

Reya: [Please, go ahead.]

Gu Ning: [I’m just not collaborating for now. I might consider it in the future.]

If she wanted to establish herself in this world, she couldn’t spend her whole life pretending to be a virtual female and making videos of one.

But her profession was photography, and she had no intention of abandoning her skills. Maybe there would be other ways to collaborate with them in the future.

She needed to earn money and secure a long-term job.

Reya: [Understood. I will convey your intentions to them.]

Looking at his reply, Gu Ning grew more suspicious. [You’re just an Anzhao customer service rep, right?]

Reya: [Yes, I am your exclusive customer service representative. You can come to me with any request you may have.]

Gu Ning was still a bit skeptical. She moved his chat window to the side and opened her backend to see if there were any private messages from the three film and television companies.