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

After reading the official private message, Gu Ning opened the comment section of her teaser video.

The official poll that had been pinned to the top was gone, apparently deleted by the platform. She’d seen the platform’s moderators jump into things and make a mess before, but she hadn’t expected them to apologize so quickly. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

They must have gotten flamed too hard by the Beastmen.

Gu Ning scoffed. ’If you had any guts, you wouldn’t have deleted it!’ she thought.

Having witnessed the Beastmen’s combat prowess both online and off, she was no longer particularly afraid of the sleazy platform moderators.

Given how fanatical Beastmen were about females, all she had to do was pull a few small strings and they would probably tear the platform’s headquarters apart.

Having just upgraded her account to Level 4, Gu Ning was feeling pretty smug.

She then opened the comment section for the Bear Clan female’s video. An official apology comment was highlighted and pinned to the top. She didn’t bother reading the platform’s comment closely; her eyes were immediately drawn to the most popular user-voted comment right below it.

When she saw the commenter’s avatar and username, Gu Ning’s eyes widened instantly.

The avatar wasn’t a Beastman’s selfie but a beautiful, snow-white fox. The fox stared straight ahead, the corners of its mouth turned up in a faint, cryptic smile, its pair of golden eyes captivating.

The avatar’s frame was a silver moon radiating a soft white glow, making the fox look like a Divine Beast.

Gu Ning’s gaze fell to the username—

Idelos [Silver Moon City]

Gu Ning thought she was seeing things and rubbed her eyes hard.

A moment later—

She shot up from her bed.

Holy crap!

Idelos!!!

Gu Ning recognized the famous Beastman celebrity. On this platform, he was a top-tier star, the kind who got his own dedicated feature page. She’d seen quite a few of his movies and shows.

He might not have been the most popular Beastman actor—in fact, he got a lot of hate—but Gu Ning thought that among the crowd of male Beastman actors, his good looks stood out. His handsomeness was refined and in a class of its own.

She really liked Idelos’s gentle and elegant air. You could barely see a trace of the fierce, predatory look that was so characteristic of Beastmen in his eyes.

She had also seen his interviews. He was gentle and polite; even when a Beastman cursed at him and threw a stool at him on the spot, he maintained his smile, a stark contrast to the other Beastman actors beside him who immediately rushed forward to start a fight.

The only good-tempered Beastmen Gu Ning had ever seen were Alex and him.

Suppressing her excitement, she clicked on Idelos’s avatar to confirm his identity. After making sure it was really him, she went to read his comment.

The comment was a lengthy post condemning the platform for abusing its power for personal reasons. The tone was serious, and it strongly supported her video.

"I have my own opinions about virtual females, but I respect every female, be they real or virtual. I also respect the expression of any Beastman capable of independent thought,"

Idelos wrote at the end.

The comment section was flooded with accounts from the Fox Clan, all coming out to support Idelos’s post.

Previously, because of Idelos’s boycott of virtual females, the Fox Clan had been getting dragged through the mud. They didn’t dare show their faces in the comment sections of videos—whether of real or virtual females—or on any other website for that matter. They were afraid of getting beaten up by other Beastmen on the street. Even worse, they worried Idelos’s actions would tarnish their clan’s reputation with actual females.

Idelos, known as the Silver Moonlight, was the public face of the Fox Clan. Although many of his fellow clansmen scoffed at the title, he was the one who usually handled interviews with females on important occasions, bringing great honor to the Fox Clan.

They might complain about him, but they knew they couldn’t back down when it was time to show a united front.

With this, Idelos had more or less made up for his previous "gaffe," helping the Fox Clan score a point and save face.

Now, it was all up to how the aggrieved party would respond.

The aggrieved party was currently rolling around on her bed.

Gu Ning laughed for a long time as she read Idelos’s comment.

’So, does this mean the moderators only apologized to me after seeing his post?’ she realized Idelos had posted his comment before the platform’s official apology.

With a huge, influential star like Idelos stepping up to condemn the platform on her behalf, she had finally secured her footing on the site. She wouldn’t have to worry about the moderators trying to cause trouble for her anymore.

However, plenty of people in the comment section were still trashing Idelos. One comment thread dedicated to flaming him had piled up over ten thousand replies, its popularity second only to Idelos’s own post.

The original poster of that top comment was a certain snarling husky.

Gu Ning tsked. ’Leo, the pup from Zone 11. Why is it always you!’

She couldn’t for the life of her figure out how he always managed to land the top comment. She scrolled through the replies:

[Tch, a while ago he was all "we should boycott virtual females," and now he’s spouting this nonsense. Hypocrite.]

[So annoying seeing him with that big plate in his avatar. Really thinks he’s the "Light of the Second District," huh? (Spits)]

[You guys actually believe he boycotts virtual females? Who do you think has starred in the most movies with them? He’s got you all wrapped around his little finger, you idiots. (Contempt)]

[Why’s he getting involved now? Don’t tell me he’s got his eyes on our adorable little female, Yuanbao?]

[F*CK, that’s possible! He definitely wants to collab with Yuanbao! Gu Demiao, ignore him, you hear me? Don’t you dare license out Yuanbao’s model, no matter how much they offer!]

[Miao Dengning, I’m ordering you to protect our Yuanbao! If you dare license her out to one of those bullshit companies, I’ll dig up every last bit of dirt on you!]

[What’s this stinky fox doing here, trying to stir things up? Is this your turf? Did anyone ask for your opinion? We’ll protect our own little female, so GET LOST!]

[If that stinky fox dares to make a move on our Yuanbao, I’ll personally beat the "Light of the Second District" into the "Shame of the Second District"!]

[I hate this fox too, but seeing you all go rabid over a virtual female really makes me think he was right to boycott them in the first place.]

[@ the guy above me, you’re just a pack of mad dogs who can’t even get near a real female.]

[(Vicious snarling) You wanna see what a mad dog can do?]

[This is hilarious. A bunch of puppies trying to act like wolves.]

[Here, doggies, doggies! Come and get it, I’ve got something fresh and steaming for you.]

"..."

Gu Ning fell silent as she read the comments, seeing the frequently-used name "Yuanbao."

’It’s only been two days, and I already have a nickname?’ she thought. ’Who came up with it? It sounds like a name for a giant panda.’

She scrolled further down the comments and found her answer.

A Beastman had started a poll for a nickname, and out of a pile of strange suggestions, "Yuanbao" had won by a landslide.

Interestingly, the person who started the poll was a panda Beastman. His avatar was even a chubby panda gnawing on a bamboo shoot.

Gu Ning found it adorable. ’He seems more like a "Yuanbao" than I do,’ she thought. ’Oh, wait—a bear!’

*

「Second District.」

"This creator is finally online!"

Deviant shot up from the sofa, excited to see the notification that Gu Demiao Ning’s account had been upgraded.

He had been camping on Gu Demiao Ning’s video page for two days, and he’d finally caught them.

Idelos glanced up from his script. "What are you planning to do?"

Deviant replied, "Contact the creator, of course. I’m going to ask for the licensing rights to this virtual female."

Idelos took a deep breath and pressed his temples. "Haven’t I told you I’m not working with virtual females anymore?"

"Fine," Deviant said. "Anyway, I have a feeling the ’Light of the Second District’ is going to be replaced before long."

"..."