Chapter 43: Chapter 43: You Want Me to Cooperate with This Virtual Female?

Idelos glanced at the video.

A moment later, his casual expression froze. The video had captured his full attention.

The scene was set in the corner of a study. Two seconds in, a slender, small female walked into the frame.

The small female had her back to the camera. She wore a green shawl, and her feet, clad in black ankle socks, rested on the carpet.

The black socks made the exposed skin of her calves look dazzlingly pale.

After the small female walked over to the bookshelf, the camera began to pan up, circling around her before slowly zooming in.

Idelos’s gaze followed the camera’s movement completely, his eyes fixed on the small female in the video.

The small female casually picked a book from the shelf and flipped through it. After a few seconds, as if noticing the camera, she looked up from the book.

Her bright, clear eyes crinkled. Even with a mask on, you could tell she was smiling.

The thirty-second video finished, and Deviant reached out, pausing it on the small female’s final, smiling moment.

"So? What do you think?" Deviant asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

Idelos studied the small female’s face for a moment, then scoffed. "Which company’s new drama is this? It’s a pretty good gimmick, quite appealing."

A thirty-second video of a female... this wasn’t something a small company could afford.

But the small female in the video was wearing a mask and didn’t show her face. She looked unfamiliar, so she must be a newcomer.

Deviant wasn’t surprised by his words.

Idelos picked up his wine glass, his gaze falling on the small female’s Bear Clan ears. "A Bear Clan female? Brown bear or black bear?"

The small female’s build didn’t quite resemble that of the brown or black bear clans, but her appearance in the video meant she was already an adult.

’Judging by the shape and color of her ears, she looks more like a brown bear.’

He scrubbed back through the video, wanting to see if she had any other beast-like features.

Deviant said leisurely, "I’m not sure what kind of bear she is, but I am sure of one thing: she’s not a real female."

Idelos: "?"

Deviant pulled up the personal page of the creator who posted the video for him to see.

Idelos fell silent when he saw the profile bio on the homepage.

"This creator is pretty amazing, right? They even fooled you." Seeing his reaction, some of the resentment Deviant felt from working late into the night dissipated.

Idelos said, "Are you messing with me? A Level 3 account has this kind of aesthetic and camera work?"

Deviant said in surprise, "Level 3? Half an hour ago, he was only Level 2 when I looked."

Idelos furrowed his brow.

"It’s true," Deviant said. "He only registered the account a few days ago. Look."

Deviant opened the creator’s video page.

Idelos looked. There were only four videos in total, and the earliest one had been posted less than a week ago.

The view and like counts on these videos were extremely high. Although they couldn’t compare to some of the most popular virtual female videos, they had only been up for a few days.

Reaching Level 3 in less than a week was not something an ordinary video creator could achieve.

Idelos didn’t like virtual females, but this one didn’t look virtual at all, so he clicked on the other three videos to watch.

The videos were very short and had almost no plot. If he hadn’t known in advance that this was a virtual female, he would have thought they were just casual, slice-of-life videos posted by a young female from some clan.

’If this is a virtual female, then this creator is a real master.’

Whether it was the scenes or the camera setups, the aesthetic and professionalism were a huge cut above other creators.

The most important thing was the modeling of this virtual female.

It wasn’t that photorealistic virtual females didn’t exist, but none of them were as vibrant and lifelike as this one.

It was only when he saw the Dog Clan ears on the small female in two of the other videos that Idelos finally believed she was virtual.

He could tell at a glance that all four videos used the same model. Aside from the different beast ears, the virtual female’s body type and facial contours were identical. Even the filming locations barely changed, and that green shawl had appeared twice.

’This guy really is skilled and audacious,’ Idelos thought. ’To dare reuse the same model... even the biggest film companies today wouldn’t do that. Every virtual female they release has a specific personality, appearance, and clan.’

Idelos saw Deviant staring at the video with gleaming eyes and said, "So this is your great idea? You want me to collaborate with this virtual female?"

Hearing this, an idea sparked in Deviant’s mind. "A collaboration? That’s great! This virtual female is the hottest thing right now. In a few days, she’ll definitely be a viral sensation all over the web. I’ll contact them!"

He was a man of action, immediately sending a private message to the creator named Gu Demiao Ning. As he typed, he said, "Other companies have probably already contacted him for the model’s licensing rights. I don’t know if we can secure a collaboration, but I have to hurry..."

A vein throbbed on Idelos’s forehead. He closed Deviant’s terminal. "I told you, I’m not taking on any more scripts with virtual females. I don’t care how good-looking they are."

Deviant had no choice but to give up. ’How did I end up with a boss like this?’ he thought. ’You may not like making money, but I do!’ 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

In his eyes, this virtual female was a walking goldmine.

’Whatever. I’ll find another chance to contact them about a collaboration later. First, I need to solve the problem at hand.’

"I didn’t show you this virtual female’s video so you could collaborate with her," Deviant said. "The PawPress officials slipped their own agenda into the comments under her video. They started a poll. Gu Demiao Ning was originally going to release a Fox Clan version, but after the officials interfered, he ended up making a Bear Clan one instead."

Deviant explained the whole story to Idelos. "What you need to do is simple. Just come out and condemn the officials and voice your support for the Fox Clan. The public opinion about you will turn around immediately."

A lot of Beastmen had private-messaged him today about this, asking Idelos to step up and show his support.

Idelos tilted his head and chuckled. "All my shows are broadcast on PawPress, and you want me to condemn their officials? What, just because I won’t act with a virtual female, you’ve gotten tired of making money too?"

Deviant had an air of confidence. "The PawPress officials didn’t just cause public outrage this time; they messed with the wrong person. This Gu Demiao Ning fellow is pretty smart. He didn’t release a Tiger Clan or a Fox Clan female. The officials have been put in an awkward position, and it’ll probably be hard for them to try and control him in the future."

"He has a huge audience in the palm of his hand now. If the officials don’t want to clash with him, they’ll apologize by tomorrow at the latest. You might as well seize the initiative."

Idelos didn’t answer him right away. He stared at the virtual female on the video’s thumbnail for a while before finally saying, "I’ll think about it."

...

「Zone 19. East Wall defense construction site.」

「Office.」

Gu Ning sat at her desk, head down, writing furiously. After transcribing the last word from memory, she handed the exercise book to Alex, who was sitting beside her.

"Not bad. Ninety percent accuracy."

Alex looked over the exercise book, offering generous praise while helping her correct the few incorrect words.