But she had too many private messages. She had even disabled notifications before. Aside from official messages from Anzhua which were automatically pinned, everyone else’s DMs would get buried by new ones.

Just as Gu Ning was searching for the DMs from the three film companies, a message arrived from Reya: [Rest assured, I will not steal any of your private information.]

Gu Ning: ’...This just makes you seem even more suspicious!’

Reading Reya’s message, Gu Ning got the strange feeling that she was being watched.

The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

She tapped on Reya’s account page to check his information.

It was probably a work account. His profile picture was a paw print icon, similar to the Anzhua software’s logo, and his bio contained only a single line: Exclusive customer service for Gu Demiao Ning.

Besides that, there was no other information.

Nothing about it seemed particularly out of the ordinary.

[Is there anything you need?]

Reya’s message popped up, covering his profile page.

Gu Ning: [Please don’t send pop-ups. If you need something, a private message is fine.]

Reya seemed to pause for a moment before replying: [Understood. It’s just that you don’t seem to check your private messages often. Would it be possible for you to pin my messages?]

Gu Ning saw that his tone was polite enough. Communicating with him was calm and reasonable, so she said: [Okay.]

’Since he’s official Anzhua staff,’ she thought, ’if his attitude is decent, I should be polite too. I might have more video-related work in the future, and it would be good to have a contact person to help handle things.’

After replying, she manually pinned Reya’s personal account.

Now, the only pinned chats were the official one, Reya’s, and Kloer’s.

[Thank you.]

The moment Gu Ning finished pinning his chat, Reya sent his thanks.

Gu Ning still felt something was a bit off. She replied in the chat box: [Please don’t disturb me for non-work-related matters.]

Reya: [Understood.]

Gu Ning closed his chat window.

Just then, several messages quickly appeared below Reya’s account in her inbox.

Gu Ning glanced at them, assuming they were just DMs from other Beastmen, and was about to close her inbox.

But the messages from this one account were coming in too frequently. It was the same message over and over, making it seem extremely urgent.

It wasn’t like Gu Ning had never been spam-bombed with DMs before. Aside from those demanding she upload new videos, they were mostly from more extreme Beastmen—cursing her out or making strange requests.

[Hello, Mr. Gu Demiao Ning. I am Idelos’s agent. I would like to collaborate with you. Would you be available to discuss this?]

Gu Ning had no intention of responding, but then she caught a familiar name in the repeated messages—Idelos.

Her finger froze over the exit button.

「Meanwhile, in a luxurious office in the Second District.」

Deviant was still frantically spamming Gu Demiao Ning with the same private message, terrified the other party wouldn’t see it.

Deviant was getting desperate.

He had been sending DMs to this Gu Demiao Ning fellow for days, but they had all vanished without a trace, without so much as a peep in response.

At first, he had composed long, detailed messages, praising Idelos from top to bottom, inside and out. Of course, this praise wasn’t just to show off; it was meant to give Idelos a better chance of winning the deal.

All the major film companies were trying to collaborate with Gu Demiao Ning through various means. For now, no one had secured his authorization yet, so Deviant had to hurry.

The virtual female, Yuanbao, was the hottest virtual character at the moment. He had to get the primary authorization. That way, if those film companies like Feixing wanted Yuanbao to make an appearance in their productions, they would have to come begging him.

It was an incredibly lucrative investment.

Besides, regardless of whether Idelos actually wanted to star in a drama with a virtual female, Deviant would hold all the cards. With Yuanbao’s authorization in hand, he could pick and choose from any script he wanted.

If Idelos wanted to act with Yuanbao, even better. If not, Deviant could just find other actors. Either way, Idelos and Yuanbao were the two trump cards in his hand. Even if they didn’t act together, just tying the two of them together for a bit of promotion would generate enormous traffic.

The future looked bright.

Lately, Deviant had practically been living on Gu Demiao Ning’s account page, sending DMs every single day, yet he still hadn’t received a single reply.

Deviant didn’t have Gu Demiao Ning’s personal contact code, so private messages were his only way to reach him.

He could occasionally see the guy was online, so it was impossible that he hadn’t seen his messages. He had a Level 5 account! His account name and profile picture were so flashy; even if the guy had a mountain of DMs, he should have noticed his, right?

After days of sending messages to this guy with no response, Deviant had switched tactics. He went from writing long-winded introductions about Idelos and himself—an exceptionally capable agent of high moral character—to simply spamming the most concise and direct message he could think of.

Today, as soon as he finished his work, he saw that Gu Demiao Ning had updated his bio and immediately sent him a DM.

Deviant stared at the chat interface, spamming away as he muttered, "He has to see my messages this time!"

Idelos, who was nearby, glanced at his terminal and said, "Just give up. He’s not interested in collaborating. He’s not going to reply."

"Hey, superstar, if you’re not going to help, could you at least not stand there raining on my parade?"

Idelos returned his gaze to the book in his hands, flipping through the pages as he spoke. "He wants information about Zone 5, but you want the authorization he’s holding. On top of that, you’re using me as a gimmick for the collaboration. Of course he’s not going to pay you any mind."

Deviant retorted, "So you do know how bad your reputation is lately. I’m using you as a gimmick because you spoke up for him, and everyone knows your stance on virtual females. Maybe he’ll even think you’re sincere and genuine. If he has half a brain, he knows the other companies just want to use his Yuanbao for their shows too. He might as well consider us."

Without looking up, Idelos said, "If he were smart, he wouldn’t license the rights to his virtual female to anyone. He could just hold onto them, start a small company himself, and make more than enough money."

Deviant argued, "That’s true, but he needs to accumulate two hours of video content to upgrade to a Level 5 account. Yuanbao’s model is so detailed, and it doesn’t look like he has a team. It probably takes him ages just to make a ten-second video. If he wants to see short-term profits, he’ll definitely have to work with a company."

Idelos raised an eyebrow slightly, his expression noncommittal. "Isn’t there a ready-made solution right in front of you?"

Deviant asked, "What solution?"

Idelos turned a page. "Doesn’t he want to go to Zone 5? Since he’s asking about the cost of living there, it means he wants to live there long-term. It also means he doesn’t know much about the Upper District. He most likely lives in the Middle Lower District year-round, cut off from information. Just give him what he wants, and he won’t be that hard to win over. You should hurry, before he’s tempted by someone else’s offer."

After hearing this, Deviant smacked his forehead. "Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? I was so focused on the collaboration. Just watch! I’ll definitely win him over this time."

Back on her end, Gu Ning had just finished reading all of Deviant’s private messages. She was still wondering how to reply when she saw another message pop up from him.