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

The internet in the Beastman World was similar to that of the human world. Aside from the different devices used to get online, there was hardly any difference.

However, many websites were meticulously categorized according to the culture, diet, and preferences of the various Beastman clans. Some even required you to confirm your clan identity before you could enter. Gu Ning could tell which clan a site was for just by looking at the category icons.

It was just like animals on the savanna marking their territory.

Even clans from the same family, like the Dog Clan and the Wolf Clan, had separate categories. The Dog Clan’s icons were usually cute, smiling puppies with their mouths open and tongues out, while the Wolf Clan’s icons had stern expressions and piercing eyes.

Whenever Gu Ning used her terminal to go online, the system would automatically translate everything into a language she could understand. The translation was a little stilted, but she had no major issues using it.

She didn’t quite understand why this world had a script she could read, but she just chalked it up to an advanced translation system.

She normally relied on the terminal’s translation system to read e-books and watch videos, learning the Beastman language and script to understand their culture and world.

She discovered that most Beastmen were straightforward and short-tempered, and they didn’t hide it, even online. Their profile pictures were all selfies, or if not, pictures of their own species. Their usernames were also basically their real names with their home city added as a suffix.

Everyone was basically online under their real name.

Gu Ning often saw Beastmen arguing on various public websites. The discrimination between clans was severe. For example, the Wolf Clan loved to insult the Dog Clan, saying they ate shit, while the Dog Clan would insult the Wolf Clan for their "ghostly howling." Neither would even acknowledge the other’s existence as a separate clan.

The same went for the Cat Clan and the Tiger Clan.

These "cats and dogs" would trade insults online, and if an argument got heated enough, they’d arrange to fight in person.

Her favorite pastime was watching these big lugs argue. It was hilarious.

Sometimes they could make her double over with laughter, especially with their species avatars and names. It was like watching a bunch of cute little animals bickering.

It was one way of making the best of a bad situation.

Today, Gu Ning wasn’t in the mood to watch Beastmen argue. She was going to make some money online.

Among a sea of apps with little animal icons, she found a public video app with a paw print icon called "PawPress" and opened it. There, she could watch all sorts of movies, shows, and anime produced by Beastmen, as well as videos of them sharing their daily lives.

Most of the videos on the platform were free. The site didn’t have a membership system, so anyone could freely share, upload, and tip videos they enjoyed.

Some official accounts for film and television companies would even insert commercials into their videos to earn ad revenue, a model no different from Gu Ning’s original world.

Only a small fraction of videos featuring Beast Females required payment.

Gu Ning opened the leaderboards on "PawPress." The top ten videos on both the free and paid charts were all about Beast Females.

At first, Gu Ning had assumed that videos involving Beast Females would contain some kind of restricted, R-rated content.

But after clicking through the top videos on the free chart, she realized she had been overthinking things. There were no scenes that needed censoring, nothing suggestive at all. It was all normal footage.

Aside from interviews with a few Beast Females in the top three spots, the rest of the free chart was filled with long and short-form videos like movies, shows, and anime created by male Beastmen.

The Beastman actors in these productions were usually breathtakingly attractive. Some would even retract their bestial traits like ears and tails. If you ignored their towering, muscular builds, they looked almost human.

These top-ranking videos boasted exquisite cinematography, rich plot elements, and nuanced, sincere performances from the Beastman actors. Gu Ning watched in silent amazement, ’Are these Beastmen really from the same world I’m in?’

’It seems there’s a world of difference between one Beastman and another,’ she thought.

Of course, there were also videos with terrible plots and production values. The comments sections for those would be full of people insulting the creator’s entire clan, which sometimes escalated to offline brawls.

When a Beastman said online they were going to beat you up, they really meant it.

Gu Ning also discovered that the females in these productions weren’t always real. Many were CGI characters, or just cameo appearances. Any video with a real-life female had to be marked as paid content. Even a one-second clip of a real female could make a terrible film a blockbuster.

’But for me, all this is just something to look at,’ she thought. ’I’m a human—one who the Detection Device flagged as a Mixed Breed at that. I shouldn’t even think about trying the Beast Female angle.’

Even though she was a human female, she was a completely different species from Beastmen. ’Maybe to a Beastman, humans are no different from Mixed Breeds anyway.’

’Why else would they mistake me for a Mimic Mixed Species every time they noticed something was off about me?’

In the month since she’d crossed over, Gu Ning had faced too many death threats. The danger was enough to make her keep her distance from all Beastmen.

The one small mercy was that Beastmen merely disliked Mixed Breeds; they weren’t at the point of hunting them down on sight. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Gu Ning browsed a few more videos, then logged into her "PawPress" account. She went to her channel’s backend to check on the videos she had uploaded.

She had started uploading videos to "PawPress" two weeks ago.

The videos were just some scenic shots of Zone 19. They had less than a hundred views and only a handful of comments, all from the same Beastman.

Ases [Death Swamp]:

Is this Zone 19?

I’m from Zone 19 too. It looks really familiar (wolf head smiling emoji).

So nostalgic. I can’t believe someone is still filming Zone 19. It’s really well shot, I can tell you put a lot of care into it.

(Ases [Death Swamp] gave your video a Wolf Paw of approval. Please continue to produce high-quality content!)

---

Gu Ning smiled. Her profession was photography, and she was a video blogger. Her signature style was this kind of atmospheric, scenic videography that focused only on the environment.

Her professional-level shooting and editing skills had even earned her a bit of fame.

But here, her style didn’t seem to be very popular.

Gu Ning clicked on her earnings. 0.

The smile vanished.

Not a single tip. Her heart sank.

She had posted three videos, and their combined views didn’t even break one hundred. It would be a miracle if anyone had tipped.

Gu Ning propped her chin on her hand and sighed, but she still went ahead and started editing the new footage she’d shot.

The editing software was very similar to what she had used before. It had a comparable interface and was even a bit faster and more convenient than her old software. She got the hang of it almost immediately.

Thank goodness the terminal could translate for her. Otherwise, she’d be completely lost in this strange, non-human world.

While Gu Ning was engrossed in editing her video, Cook sat quietly behind her, holding her. He would nuzzle her neck from time to time, planting little kisses and licks here and there, trying to get her attention.

Gu Ning would occasionally stroke his head or scratch his chin to placate him.

After half an hour of editing, Gu Ning wrote out the title: *A Day in the Life of a Zone 19 Laborer*

After a moment’s thought, she added more to it: *A Day in the Life of a Little Zone 19 Mixed Breed. Do Mixed Breeds Dream of a Grand Feast? They Do.*

This newly edited video contained footage of her working at the construction site.

’With a Mixed Breed on camera, the view count should be a little higher,’ she reasoned. But she didn’t hold out much hope for any income. "PawPress" had a dedicated section for Mixed Breeds, full of content about them. Her video was just a drop in the ocean, nothing special.

Gu Ning had already decided to treat this account as a personal blog to document her life.

As for making money...

Gu Ning repeatedly clicked on the free videos with the most tips. Beast Females, and more Beast Females.

The ones that weren’t about Beast Females were about Beastmen firing guns—RAT-A-TAT-TAT—or engaging in bloody hand-to-hand combat.

Clearly, Beastmen preferred two things: Beast Females and combat.

Despite their humanoid forms, their bestial instincts were powerful.

Based on the video titles, most of the top-ranking videos on the paid chart were also about Beast Females.

Gu Ning’s resolve not to go the Beast Female route quickly wavered.

The bloody, hand-to-hand combat route was out of the question. She was nothing like the Mixed Breeds in the videos who could take down a full-grown Beastman. One punch from a Beastman would be enough to kill her.

But Beast Females...

At the thought of what she was about to do, Gu Ning’s heart began to hammer like a machine gun, RAT-A-TAT-TAT.

’I’m already a Mixed Breed, anyway,’ she thought. ’An unpopular one at that. It’s not going too far to earn a little of their money and mess with them a bit, is it?’

Gu Ning took a few deep breaths. After making her decision, she chose to create a new account.

She stared at the "Create Username" field for a moment before typing: Gu Demiao Ning [No Man’s Land].

The "real name" system on the site was voluntary, not mandatory, so neither of her account names was her real name.

Her old account was named Kaidi [Zone 19], with a goofy-looking mutt as the profile picture.

Gu Ning picked a Ragdoll cat for her new profile picture. ’Now I have both a cat and a dog,’ she mused.

Once the account was created, Gu Ning opened the video camera and aimed it at herself.