Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Really Not Considering a Virtual Female Script?

Midnight.

Gu Ning finished editing her video, uploaded it to the backend, and collapsed into bed, exhausted.

Before dawn, she was woken by a full bladder and groggily climbed out of bed to use the bathroom.

Before leaving her bedroom, Gu Ning didn’t forget to put on her robber’s gear.

The moment she opened the door, she saw Cook sleeping on the floor right outside.

He was lying on the cold floor without even a mat beneath him or a blanket to cover him.

Hearing the door open, Cook sat bolt upright, looking at her with eyes still hazy with sleep.

"Cook, why are you sleeping out here?" Gu Ning asked softly, patting his head.

She glanced into the living room. Barto was asleep in its own little nest, and right next to it was the bed she had made for Cook.

Barto was tiny and liked to curl up when it slept, so it wasn’t taking up any of Cook’s space.

Cook didn’t say anything, just nuzzled her with his head.

Gu Ning was desperate to pee, so she felt her way to the bathroom in the dark first.

The water and electricity in this building were centrally controlled, as was the case for most of Zone 19. After midnight, the power and water were shut off.

Gu Ning had a habit of storing water. She kept several large barrels full in the bathroom, so she wasn’t afraid of a sudden water shutoff leaving her with nothing to use.

Barto stirred at the sound, rolling over in its nest to look toward the bathroom.

In the darkness, it could clearly see Gu Ning come out of the bathroom and feel her way along the wall back to the bedroom, still dressed from head to toe in that strange outfit.

’...Does she have to be so bundled up just to go to the bathroom?’

Seeing Cook trailing after Gu Ning like a tail, Barto rolled its eyes, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Cook didn’t follow Gu Ning into the bedroom. Instead, he lay down at the door, continuing to watch over her.

Seeing him lying there on the floor, Gu Ning squatted down, nudged him, and said in a hushed voice, "Cook, go sleep in the living room."

Though Cook could be a handful during the day, he was never noisy when she was sleeping. When she didn’t let him in the bedroom, he would listen obediently, unlike when she tried to leave the house, and he’d cling to her.

Cook gently bumped Gu Ning with his head before lying down by the door again.

Seeing this, Gu Ning couldn’t bear it and stopped trying to push him toward the living room.

Cook’s behavior and genes were indeed mostly dog-like, but he was also part human. She couldn’t treat him entirely like a puppy.

She remembered that when she first met Cook, his behavior was still very human.

Back then, she had been huddled in a narrow, filthy pipe. Afraid of scaring her, Cook had used a pole to pass her food. He never entered the pipe to drag her out or rush her to leave; he just guarded the entrance, occasionally passing her food and some warm clothes.

It was constantly raining outside the pipe, and Cook stood guard in the rain. Whenever the silhouettes of wild Mutant Species flashed by, Cook would lure them away before running back to continue watching over her.

Eventually, Gu Ning came to trust him. After she emerged from the pipe, Cook brought her back to this room and took meticulous care of her every day.

He knew she couldn’t understand his words, so he would draw pictures to communicate.

But as she began to adapt, Cook started to degenerate, losing his ability to communicate through drawing.

For the first half-month, he could still speak intermittently, but soon he was only able to utter single-syllable words.

Then he was severely injured in a fight with a Beastman, and she had to take his place working at the construction site.

From the moment Cook was injured, his degeneration became drastic.

Gu Ning’s heart ached as she looked at Cook, whose behavior was becoming more and more animalistic.

"Cook, come in," Gu Ning said, taking his hand.

Cook froze for a moment at her action, then his eyes lit up. He happily scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom.

After rolling around for a bit on the bedding Gu Ning had laid out on the floor, Cook finally settled down, holding her as he slept, just like before.

The commotion had driven away any sleepiness Gu Ning had felt. Lying in the crook of his arm, she opened her terminal to check on her newly posted video.

The moment she opened the video, Gu Ning saw a screen full of special-effect barrage comments. The comment section had also accumulated tens of thousands of comments.

Gu Ning glanced at the time. It was now a little after four in the morning, less than five hours since she had posted the video.

Even at this hour, many Beastmen were still active in her comment section.

’These Beastmen have so much energy,’ Gu Ning thought. ’Don’t they ever sleep?’

She then checked the "Like Value" bar under her account. It had already reached 100,000.

Moreover, the dislike ratio was very small, barely moving at all.

When Gu Ning saw that the Like Value bar was full, the sleepiness that had just begun to creep back over her vanished.

She didn’t hesitate to upgrade her account.

She pressed the account upgrade button. The next second, the screen flashed with petal-shaped firework effects and words like, "Congratulations on upgrading your account, keep up the good work!"

Gu Ning opened her personal account to check the upgrade information.

After her account reached Level 3, both her "Donation Value" bar and "Like Value" bar were reset.

The Donation Value cap increased from one million to five million, and the Like Value bar went from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand.

Just after she finished upgrading, the Donation Value and Like Value began to rise again.

Seeing the donation amounts constantly refreshing in the backend, Gu Ning snuggled contentedly into Cook’s warm, soap-scented embrace and fell asleep.

But for many Beastmen, it was a sleepless night. Immersed in Gu Demiao Ning’s new video, they stood vigil in the comment section, howling wildly over the new video from the female creator, too excited to sleep.

「Second District—Silver Moon City.」

Deviant finished his work, organized the files on his desk, and stood up to leave his office.

Carrying a folder, he walked down the quiet, spacious corridor. As he passed the lounge, he saw a figure through the glass wall, still sitting on the sofa and scrolling through a terminal. Its faint white glow illuminated a face of unparalleled beauty.

Deviant knocked on the glass.

"Come in," the person inside said without looking up.

Deviant pushed the door open and went in. "Idelos, you’re not asleep yet?"

He glanced at his wrist. "It’s already five o’clock. You have a promotional event for the new show at eight."

Idelos: "Not going."

Deviant scoffed. "Oh, superstar, could you please not make more work for me? I’ve been busy doing PR for you until this ungodly hour. It wasn’t easy to reach an agreement with Feixing. If you don’t go, was all my work for nothing?"

He handed the folder to Idelos. "All you have to do is apologize at the event, say it was a slip of the tongue, and that you’re not actually boycotting virtual females."

Idelos didn’t take the folder. He sat up straight and leaned back. "Apologize? Feixing lied to me and said it was a real female this time, but I ended up acting opposite thin air for half the day. The fact that I didn’t walk out on the spot was me already giving them face."

"They were in the wrong, but you can’t just publicly boycott virtual females." Deviant walked over to the liquor cabinet, poured two glasses of wine, and handed one to him. "Because of what you did, the entire Fox Clan is getting dragged through the mud."

"Let them talk," Idelos said, taking a sip of wine. "From now on, I won’t accept any scripts with virtual females."

Deviant said, "But virtual females are a huge source of traffic. Who watches those self-indulgent arthouse films you used to make?"

Idelos: "Then I’ll film action scenes. I’d even do a documentary." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Deviant sat down next to him. "Are you really not going to consider any more scripts with virtual females?"

Idelos: "Not considering it."

He only acted out of interest, and he was getting tired of performing certain types of roles.

Deviant didn’t press him further. Instead, he opened his terminal. "Fine, if you’ve made up your mind, so be it. But you still have to apologize for this at today’s promotional event so you can move forward with your work. I’ve found the perfect way for you to salvage your reputation."

"Take a look at this short video." Deviant moved the open video in front of Idelos.