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

Just a few seconds after Gu Ning sent the message, Alex replied:

[Around twelve o’clock.]

Gu Ning checked the time. It wasn’t even seven yet, so she could relax and go take a shower.

Then, Alex sent another message.

Gu Ning opened it. It was a voice message—

"There are new toiletries in the bathroom you can use." Alex’s deep, steady voice came from the terminal, with the whistling of wind in the background. "Let me know if you need anything else."

After listening, Gu Ning went into the bathroom to look. Next to the hot water valve was a basin filled with toiletries. It even contained a clean change of clothes, a hairdryer, and other items.

Gu Ning picked up an undershirt and held it against herself. The style looked like it was for a Dwarf hybrid. While it was still a bit big on her, it was much smaller than her other clothes.

Barto had brought her a lot of clothes, but very few of them had fit.

Looking at these items, Gu Ning marveled at how thoughtful Alex was, but at the same time, she figured that with his mysophobia, he probably couldn’t stand having an unbathed Mixed Breed staying in his room.

She sent Alex a "thank you" message, locked the bathroom door from the inside, stripped off her many layers of clothing, and turned on the hot water.

The moment the hot water sprayed over her, Gu Ning let out a long sigh of relief.

The comfortable shower environment gave rise to a brief fantasy. ’If Alex could accept me as a Mixed Breed, just like Cook does, might I have a chance at a slightly more normal life...’

’No, a Dwarf hybrid and a Mimic Mixed Species can’t be put in the same category at all.’

Gu Ning quickly snapped back to reality.

Beastmen didn’t just feel disgust for Mimic Mixed Species; the danger they posed made them wary and fearful. Or, they would simply buy and sell Mimic Mixed Species like objects.

No matter how good Alex’s character was, when faced with something dangerous, even if he didn’t attack, he would still be on guard and keep his distance.

She would have the same reaction if she encountered a wild beast—in fact, her reaction might be even stronger.

She was just judging him by her own standards. She couldn’t believe Alex would ever accept a Mimic Mixed Species.

Gu Ning braced her hands against the smooth wall as the hot water streamed over her body, soothing the anxiety in her heart.

Another thought crossed her mind.

’I could explain to Alex that I’m not a Mimic Mixed Species. I have my own consciousness and can’t transform into other people. I’m not even a Beastman, let alone a Mixed Breed.’

’Given Alex’s personality, he should... he should listen to my explanation, right?’

Gu Ning brushed her wet hair back. The idea swirled in her mind for a moment before she gave up on it.

She couldn’t gamble her personal safety and future stability on the character and trust of someone she had only known for a few days.

She could only guarantee her own actions and abilities.

Right now, she was capable of leaving Zone 19 on her own; it would just be more difficult.

But the good thing was, she wasn’t alone. She still had Cook and Barto.

Gu Ning sighed. ’I should just focus on saving money, find a chance to leave Zone 19 soon, and find a safe place to settle down with Cook and Barto,’ she thought. ’I shouldn’t be thinking about all this other nonsense.’

After a comfortable shower that lasted over half an hour, Gu Ning changed into the clean clothes she had brought, dried her hair, and then sprayed herself with the Beast Smell Agent.

Once all that was done, Gu Ning pulled on her bandit-style ski mask and came out of the bathroom.

Seeing the empty living room, she felt relieved and went into Alex’s bedroom.

She wanted to lock the bedroom door from the inside but found it wasn’t possible. She leaned in to examine the lock closely. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it; it simply didn’t have a feature to be locked from the inside.

’Oh well. If it won’t lock, it won’t lock. My spot was the sofa anyway.’

Closing the door, Gu Ning threw herself onto Alex’s bed.

It had been almost two months since she’d transmigrated, and this was the first time she’d gotten to sleep in a bed.

She hugged the comforter and rolled around on the bed a few times, and the idea of coming clean to Alex popped into her head again.

’Who doesn’t want to live a good life? Damn it!’

Gu Ning barely managed to suppress the thought. She rolled over, sat up, opened her terminal, and logged into her Anzhao account.

’You have to fight for a good life yourself! Don’t be blinded by a moment of comfort!’

Clicking on her latest video, Gu Ning first checked her Favorability score.

She hadn’t had any time to log into Anzhao these past two days, so she had no idea how her new video was doing.

When she saw the maxed-out Favorability bar under her profile picture, Gu Ning clutched her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

’Great, I can save the backlog of videos I have for the next stage.’

She did a quick calculation. It had been about three days since she posted the video of the female from the Bear Clan.

In three days, the one million Favorability points had been maxed out.

It might not have even taken three days.

Gu Ning remembered that on the morning of the second day after she posted her latest video, her Donation value was already maxed out, and the Favorability bar was a third of the way full.

For a new account like hers, this speed was terrifyingly fast.

Gu Ning didn’t overthink it; her mind was completely filled with the thought of making money. She rubbed her hands together excitedly and hurried to upgrade her account.

The second her account leveled up from Level 3 to Level 4, its Favorability and Donation values were reset to zero.

The Donation cap was raised to ten million, and the Favorability cap was raised to five million.

Reaching Level 4 was the dividing line between a regular account and a top-tier one.

Personal accounts that reached this level were all well-known names on the leaderboards.

And just like that, Gu Ning, with a new account that had only four videos, had charged into the top ten on the individual creator Favorability rankings.

This leaderboard updated based on real-time data. Leveling up to Level 4 had catapulted Gu Ning’s account from the fringes, near the hundredth spot, straight to the most conspicuous position.

Many Beastmen who loved her videos noticed the change in her ranking. In an instant, her account’s backend became even more lively. The private messages were mostly congratulating her and urging her to post a new video.

There were too many for Gu Ning to read, so she could only give them a cursory scan.

Her terminal interface was still displaying celebratory fireworks when a chat window suddenly popped up on its own.

[Mr. Gu Demiao Ning, congratulations on reaching Level 4 and unlocking Anzhao’s exclusive customer service.]

[I am your dedicated customer service representative, Reya, and I’m here to support you every step of the way.]

Gu Ning stared, stunned for a moment, at this account with the official profile picture.

The platform had sent her congratulatory DMs when she leveled up before, but based on their content, they seemed to be automated messages sent by the system.

Gu Ning scanned the message from this dedicated customer service rep, a little puzzled.

She didn’t reply, instead going to look at the private messages in her backend.

People were sending her private messages almost every second; they were refreshing so fast she couldn’t even lock onto one.

Gu Ning went straight to the pinned unread messages.

Official messages were automatically pinned. She hadn’t checked her backend in two days, and the platform had actually sent her over a dozen private messages. Gu Ning opened and read them one by one. Aside from the latest automated congratulatory message from the system, the rest were all from official staff members.

Several of them were apologies regarding the poll that had started a flame war in her video’s comment section. They also offered her compensation, promising to promote her next video on the best possible section of the homepage.

Looking at the sincere-sounding apologies, Gu Ning couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

’What happened in the last two days? Why are they suddenly apologizing to me?’