Looking at herself in the camera, Gu Ning decided this wouldn't work.
'What if I show my real face and my account gets doxxed?'
Her personal information on the terminal was registered as Mixed Breed. If she showed her face, it would be easy to find out she was faking being a Beast Female. Once she was exposed, she and Cook would both be finished.
Gu Ning's gaze fell on a rent and utility bill lying on the sofa. Even if she didn't leave, rent was due soon.
The landlord was a burly Beastman with a thick beard and a gruff voice. He had already come by twice to hound Cook for the rent, slamming his fist on the door and warning that if they didn't pay on time, he would throw him out.
The little money she had wasn't even enough to cover rent. They would have to move somewhere even worse.
Zone 19 was already dangerous and chaotic, and this neighborhood was considered one of its safer areas.
Most of the Beastmen living here worked in the nearby factories and kept regular hours. As long as she and Cook were careful, the neighbors wouldn't pose a threat to them.
'Can't leave, can't stay. My only choice is to risk it all.'
After much deliberation, Gu Ning carefully considered her options. She temporarily turned off the camera, got up, and paced around the room.
The apartment was just a one-bedroom. Since the bedroom didn't even have a window, she found it too stuffy. She and Cook had always slept in the living room, while she used the bedroom as a storage space, filling it with all sorts of "useful" items she had scavenged from the dump.
Gu Ning went into the bedroom, stepped over the clutter, and opened a square iron box.
Inside were old clothes she had scavenged. They were all for male Beastmen, so she couldn't wear a single piece. She had planned to alter them for cold weather or use them as blankets.
Seeing her go into the bedroom and start rummaging through her things, Cook didn't know what she was up to. He just sat quietly at the bedroom door, watching her.
Gu Ning pulled out a black short-sleeved shirt and held it up to her body. It was long enough to reach her knees; it could be made into a dress.
Having selected her material, Gu Ning got her scissors, needle, and thread and started to cut and sew.
She didn't know how to tailor clothes, but she was decent at simple crafts.
Gu Ning cut off the shirt's sleeves, hemmed the raw edges, and altered the neckline. 'That should be good enough,' she thought.
She put on the modified garment to try it out. It looked like a sleeveless long dress, perfect for lounging at home.
'Still, it feels like something is missing.'
Gu Ning thought for a moment, then found a dark green piece of clothing. She cut a strip to use as a sash and fashioned the rest into a large bow.
She sewed the bow to the back of the waist and then tied the sash around her.
Gu Ning turned on her terminal's front-facing camera and filmed herself spinning around to get a full view.
Then she let her waist-length hair down to cover her back, leaving only the large bow exposed. From behind, it was impossible to tell that the dress was modified from a male Beastman's T-shirt.
'Perfect!'
Gu Ning was very satisfied.
But she was still missing one important prop.
'How can a Beastman not have beast ears and a tail?'
Gu Ning pulled out a thick, grayish-white fleece blanket. She cut two pieces of fabric from the edge and started making a pair of fake beast ears, modeling them after the ones on Cook's head.
Cook sidled up to her, looking quizzically at the things in her hands.
"Cook, lower your head a little," Gu Ning said, patting his head. She wanted to get a good feel for the texture and shape of his ears so she could make hers more realistic.
Cook obediently lowered his head and even nudged into her embrace. Finally, he just lay down and rested his head on her lap.
Gu Ning smiled and ruffled the hair on his head. 'It feels like my pet dog has come to life.'
After two hours of painstaking work, Gu Ning finally finished the beast ears. She couldn't figure out how to make a tail; with the materials she had on hand, it would just look too fake.
The beast ears were the absolute limit of her crafting abilities.
By the time she finished, it was already the dead of night, and Gu Ning was too exhausted to stay awake. She put her things down, went to the living room, grabbed the blanket from the sofa, spread it on the floor, and crashed.
'I'll get a good night's sleep first. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.'
Cook lay down beside Gu Ning, just as he always did. He wrapped his arms around her and draped his tail over her waist in a gesture that was both protective and possessive.
...
Gu Ning didn't wake up until almost noon.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Cook's clear, puppy-dog eyes staring intently at her.
Cook always woke up before she did. He wouldn't do anything, just remain in his sleeping position holding her. The moment she woke up, he would "wash" her face with his saliva, giving her a frantic licking.
At first, she wasn't used to this level of intimate contact from Cook. She'd never even been in a proper relationship, let alone slept next to a man, much less one who was always cuddling and licking her.
But Cook's behavior was more like that of a big dog; she couldn't bring herself to see him as a typical man. Over time, she had just gotten used to it and let him do as he pleased.
She rolled around and played with Cook on the floor for a bit to wake herself up, then Gu Ning got up to wash.
She ate a few bites of the leftover compressed biscuits from yesterday and fed Cook as well, then she got back to what she hadn't finished the night before.
First, she cleared a corner by the living room window. She wiped the dirty glass clean and then placed a chair next to it.
The chair was iron, so old that it was starting to rust and the paint was chipping. Gu Ning found a decent-looking gray plaid blanket and draped it over the chair.
Next, Gu Ning turned on her terminal's camera to test the shot. Once she confirmed the scene looked okay through the lens, she placed the terminal on the central table and adjusted the camera angle.
With everything set, Gu Ning put on the beast ears and began to film, walking back and forth in front of the camera.
Cook stared at the pair of beast ears on her head and suddenly grew excited, his tail wagging furiously. He pounced on her, wrapping her in a hug and affectionately rubbing his face against hers. He stuck out his tongue and licked her face, her hair, and even the fake beast ears.
"You can't be in the shot," Gu Ning said, pushing away Cook's nuzzling head and fixing one of the ears he'd licked askew. "Cook, I'm working. Be a good boy."
Cook, however, was even more stubborn than usual and refused to let her go.
Gu Ning had no choice but to use his terminal to take a few pictures of them together to placate him. After she was done, she made him sit down on the sofa.
Cook happily stared at their pictures on the terminal. He pointed at Gu Ning in the photo and uttered a few garbled syllables. "Ning... Coo...k..."
"Sit here quietly, okay? I'll play with you after I finish filming."
Cook nodded and stopped bothering her, though his tail continued to wag with excitement.
Gu Ning ruffled his fluffy hair and went back to filming.
She moved about in front of the camera, switching between various poses—leaning against the window, sitting in the chair—trying her best to look natural and relaxed.
After recording for nearly half an hour, Gu Ning felt she had enough footage. She ended the recording and sat down to edit the video.
First, she cut out any shots that showed her face clearly, leaving only a hint of her side profile at most. Then, she cropped out the lower half of her body, showing only the frame from the waist up.
In the end, from half an hour of material, she edited it down to a ten-second clip.
Gu Ning played the ten-second clip. In the video, she walked to the window, leaned against it to look outside, and then sat down in the chair.
It was a very simple, ordinary video.
Back in her own world, this would be considered a slightly artsy, slice-of-life video. Add a filter and some melancholy instrumental music, and you could title it "A Day in the Life of a Single Homebody."
The thought amused Gu Ning. She added a hazy, amber filter to her video, blurred the scenery outside the window, and then added the glowing light effect of a sunset.
The video editing software was free, but many of the special effects, post-production tools, and music tracks had to be paid for.
Gu Ning's account was empty, so she couldn't afford a single one. All she could do was blur the parts of the video that might give away her location.
After finishing her post-production work and making sure there were no giveaways, Gu Ning uploaded the video to the backend of her Gu Demiao Ning account.
Her finger hovered over the send icon. She took a few deep breaths and tapped "Send."