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

Gu Ning returned to her residence and collapsed onto the floor.

The room was silent. She was all alone; Barto and the others hadn’t returned yet.

She lay there for a while before sitting up. Looking out the window, she saw the sky had gone completely dark.

She checked the time again. It was already seven o’clock.

’Strange, why aren’t they back yet?’

Just as Gu Ning was about to send a message to ask Barto, a faint "CLICK—" sounded from behind her.

Her back instantly tensed, and she whipped her head around to look.

The door had slowly opened a tiny crack.

Gu Ning was sitting by the entryway. She stared at the door for a few seconds, then snatched the hard hat she had tossed aside, put it on, stood up, grabbed the doorknob, took a deep breath, and yanked the door open.

The doorway was empty. There was no one there.

She leaned halfway out to look. The hallway was cluttered with junk, and the light was dim. Not a single soul was in sight.

Gu Ning cursed under her breath, ’I’m seeing things,’ and slammed the door shut with a "SLAM!"

’I have to move! I absolutely have to move!’

"CLICK..."

Wanai leaned against his door, watching through the crack as the person in the opposite apartment angrily slammed her door shut. He took a bite of the fruit in his hand and opened a message on his terminal:

Beast Alliance (Eric): [Not bad. The chain of evidence is complete. Leave the rest to us. The final payment has been sent to your account.]

A notification for the transaction popped up.

Wanai glanced at it. Ten million had been deposited.

He typed in the chat box: [Are you sure it’s them?]

Beast Alliance (Eric): [Positive. It all matches the intel we have.]

Wanai: [What are you going to do with the Mixed Breeds under them once you catch them?]

Beast Alliance (Eric): [The situation in Zone 19 is complicated. We’re mainly focused on catching the ringleaders.]

Eric didn’t tell Wanai too much. Wanai was just a mercenary they had hired for the investigation, not an internal member.

Wanai didn’t ask any further. Based on these few messages, he had a good idea of how the Beast Alliance was going to act.

The masterminds behind the smuggling of female-related items would be captured alive. As for the others, they might live if they didn’t resist.

Dwarf hybrids were the most aggressive; they would never surrender without a fight. And those people had plenty of armed Dwarf hybrids under their command.

In a chaotic place like Zone 19, the Beast Alliance wouldn’t have the patience to capture them and take them to the Mixed Species Administration like they would in other zones.

Wanai took another couple of bites of his fruit, then casually tossed the core toward a dark corner of the room. It landed precisely in the trash can.

He closed the door, walked over to the living room sofa, and sat down. He then opened another file on his terminal, one he hadn’t sent to Eric.

At the top of the file was a photo of a red-furred fox, and next to it was the fox’s name: Barto.

Below that was all the intel he had gathered on this fox’s movements, connections, and past records of illegal trading and violations of Beast Alliance law.

Just then, another message came in from Beast Alliance (Eric):

[If you find any other leads, send them to me. We’ll discuss the price separately.]

A corner of Wanai’s mouth curled up. ’He’s not completely stupid, then.’ After the question he’d just asked, if Eric still hadn’t figured anything out, he wouldn’t deserve his position.

He didn’t reply and opened another file instead.

This file was filled with photos, all of the same Mixed Breed.

The Mixed Breed in the photos was dressed in black work clothes, wearing a hard hat, goggles, and a mask. They were covered from head to toe, and their only exposed hands were stained with patches of black oil.

Wanai had added notes to each photo: where it was taken, what they were doing, their interactions with others, their reactions to events, and so on.

After several days of tracking and observation, his experience told him one thing for certain: this was not a Dwarf hybrid.

The Mixed Breed’s appearance came to Wanai’s mind. He thought for a moment, then changed the note in the file from "Dwarf hybrid" to: Mimic Mixed Species.

Then he sent a message to Eric:

[Mimic Mixed Species. Want it?]

A moment later—

Beast Alliance (Eric): [You have a Mimic Mixed Species?]

Wanai: [Relax. I didn’t buy it or capture it. Just happened to run into one.] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Beast Alliance (Eric): [Three million. Keep an eye on it for us.]

Wanai: [Not enough.]

Beast Alliance (Eric): [Five million. That’s a higher price than what the gangs pay for a Mimic Mixed Species.]

Wanai: [This one’s different. I want triple that, converted into Crystal Stones. If you want it, I’ll keep watch for another two days. If not, you can buy one from someone else later.]

Beast Alliance (Eric): [You’re going to sell it to someone else? Trafficking Mixed Breeds is a violation of Beast Alliance law.]

Wanai: [This is Zone 19. Do you have any idea how many people have their eyes on these Mixed Breeds? If you’re going to question me, our partnership ends here.]

After a while, Eric finally replied: [Fine. Nine million then.]

Wanai fiddled with the small folding knife in his hand. Seeing the new message, he could just imagine the person on the other end gritting his teeth in frustration.

He closed the knife and replied: [It’s triple the five million.]

Beast Alliance Investigation Team Office.

"That black-hearted leopard is asking for an outrageous price!"

Eric slammed his hand on the desk in anger.

His colleague, Kevin, swiveled in his chair, holding a teacup. "What’s wrong? Getting extorted again?"

Eric said, "That black-hearted leopard wants fifteen million for one Mimic Mixed Species. Who’s the lion here, me or him?"

Kevin blew on his hot tea. "Trafficking a Mimic Mixed Species... you could just warn him directly for that."

Eric said dejectedly, "This leopard is a master investigator. In just a few days, he’s done what would take our investigation team a whole month. We can’t afford to get on his bad side just yet."

"Besides, he makes plenty from his mercenary fees. He has no reason to cause trouble for himself. He wouldn’t have captured that Mimic Mixed Species himself."

Kevin took a sip of tea. "So, you’re going to give him fifteen million? That’s way over our budget."

Eric tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment. "I’ll cover it for now. The Military Department needs a large number of Mimic Mixed Species. They’ve given us a quota. I’ll go ask them for the funds later."

Kevin said, "The entrances and exits to Zone 19 are completely sealed off right now. Even if he hands the Mimic Mixed Species over to our people, they can’t bring it back yet. And if you have him hand it over directly to the military base outside Zone 19, the Military Department might not approve your funding request."

Eric’s finger froze over his terminal’s message interface.

’That’s right.’ The military base in Zone 19 was different from those in other zones. It was in a state of semi-autonomous jurisdiction and had the authority to operate without orders from headquarters.

Eric said, "In that case, we’ll just have our people in Zone 19 watch over them for a while. We can bring them back after winter, once the entry and exit points reopen."

"Our people in Zone 19 already have their hands full. If we saddle them with babysitting a Mimic Mixed Species, we’re going to hear a lot of complaints."

"Why make it so complicated?" Kevin offered an idea. "He’s already asking for fifteen million. Just pay him a portion upfront and have him continue surveillance. After taking that much money, he’ll know what to do. And if he loses track of the target, you won’t have to pay the rest."

Eric thought about it. ’That could work.’

He sent a message to Wanai:

[Deal. I’ll pay you five million upfront. Keep the target secure. Don’t hand them over to any organization in Zone 19. We’ll extract them once the Zone 19 checkpoints reopen.]