Gu Ning leaned on the table, peered over, and saw his personal information on the interface. "Your info... this isn’t right, is it?" she asked, puzzled.
The name field for the little fox read [Gu Li], not [Barto].
She had thought the little fox just made up a screen name to trick Deviant last time. She didn’t expect his personal information to actually list his name as Gu Li.
"I changed my name. What’s the big deal?" Barto said, grabbing a slip of paper and starting to write. "I pissed off a lot of people before. A new name keeps me from being recognized."
Gu Ning replied, "Ohh—"
’So that’s how it is. In that case, changing his name was necessary. But how did he change it so quickly? Isn’t there a procedure to follow?’
In the world she came from, changing the name on your ID required a ton of tedious paperwork. The Beastman World’s information management was so strict; changing a name couldn’t be that easy, could it?
But considering Barto’s skills, it probably wasn’t hard for him. Still, she worried he had cut corners again. They were about to go to Zone 5 and couldn’t afford to break any more Beast Alliance laws.
"Was it official?" she asked.
"Don’t worry." Barto tugged the drooping rabbit ear on her hat and wrote, "I had Andrew change the name for me."
After reading what he wrote, Gu Ning finally relaxed. She then opened her own terminal and scanned her and Cook’s travel passes.
The information that popped up matched the personal data on their terminals.
Suddenly, Barto leaned his head over, looked at the personal information on her screen, and asked, "Did Cook set up your personal info for you back then?"
Gu Ning tilted her head to look at him. "Yes, why?"
’Is there a problem?’
Barto asked again, "You’ve never been to the Mixed Species Administration?"
Gu Ning shook her head.
Back when Cook bought her the terminal, he still had a relatively normal sense of self and taught her how to use it step-by-step.
Before she even knew what was going on, her personal information was already on the terminal.
Now that Barto brought it up, she vaguely remembered that when she first turned it on, the terminal had scanned her face, and then she had randomly picked a puppy avatar from a bunch of small animal icons.
She never expected it was actually a wolf.
"Is there a problem?" she asked, watching Barto’s expression.
Barto pinched his chin in thought for a moment, then placed a hand on her head. "No problem. I was just asking."
He couldn’t figure it out for the time being. Gu Ning had been in Zone 19 for so long; if her identity had been leaked, there should have been some reaction from the Beast Alliance, Sky Watch Point, or somewhere else.
But her identity had been uncovered bit by bit by Alex and the others.
’Are they trying to protect her identity? But that doesn’t make sense either. If they wanted to protect her, they would have sent people over long ago.’
After thinking it over, he concluded it was because Gu Ning’s genetic traits were different from the females on the mainland, so the terminal had identified her as a Mixed Breed.
Now that Andrew was vouching for her identity, there was no need to worry too much. Once she settled down in Zone 5, she would get a new identity.
Andrew hadn’t changed her pass to "female" to prevent anyone in Zone 19 from getting any funny ideas.
With their travel passes in hand, the three of them enthusiastically began to pack their luggage.
Gu Ning went to the bedroom and looked at the several large boxes of things she had accumulated. It gave her a headache, and her heart ached to leave them behind.
Taking everything was impossible. The three of them only had one suitcase for three people’s belongings. At most, they could each carry a backpack as well.
Fortunately, the suitcase was built to a Beastman’s scale, so it was large enough to hold quite a lot.
Gu Ning sorted through her boxes, picking out only two sets of clothes to change into. She tucked a language-related book into her backpack to read on the road, and also packed a map and a lighter, just in case. After that came her toiletries.
Gu Ning tried to pack light, leaving the remaining space for food.
Zone 19 was far from the other zones, with vast stretches of wasteland and abandoned cities in between. They had to bring enough food and water; everything else was secondary.
She had been planning to leave Zone 19 for a long time. Although she was reluctant to part with all the things in the house, she didn’t dwell on it for too long.
’We’ll have better things in the future.’
By the time Gu Ning returned to the living room with the items she had chosen, Barto had already stuffed the suitcase full.
Cook also knew they were leaving and was trying to put a bone he was chewing on into the suitcase.
Barto gave him a bonk on the head with the very same bone.
"Don’t just throw anything in here. Go get your own underwear."
"AWOO..." Cook ran towards the balcony.
"That’s a lot!"
Gu Ning walked over to Barto, stunned as she stared at the mountain of luggage in the suitcase.
Her personal items didn’t even fill her backpack.
Barto scratched his hair, looking worriedly at the suitcase in front of him.
He had already done most of the packing, only to realize now that there was still too much to bring. The journey to Zone 5 was long. Even if they didn’t run into trouble, it would take half a month at this time of year, especially since they were traveling with a large group and had to pass through various checkpoints. Some things were essential. He and Cook could survive on nothing but compressed biscuits in their pockets, but Gu Ning couldn’t. Even if she said she could, he wouldn’t let her suffer on the road.
Gu Ning put down her backpack, knelt, and rummaged through the luggage Barto had prepared. There were a lot of clothes, blankets, and similar items. He had even stuffed a heater in there with its legs removed.
The suitcase was filled with these things before he had even started packing food.
She picked up some of the clothes and looked at them. Many of them were ones she had worn.
’The little fox is packing for me.’
They didn’t need the heater, either. Beastmen had high body temperatures; she was the only one who used it.
"We don’t need these."
Gu Ning took out the heater, which was taking up the most space, as well as the excess clothes.
Two sets of underclothes and innerwear were enough for changes. The rest was just dead weight.
Finally, she pulled a large pack of underwear out of the suitcase.
She glanced at it, took two pairs out, and stuffed them into Barto’s bag. ’Why pack so much underwear?’
Barto’s ears twitched when he saw Gu Ning stuffing the underwear he’d prepared for her into his own bag.
He snatched the pack of underwear back and decisively stuffed the whole thing into his own bag. "We might not be able to shower on the road. It’s good to have extra pairs to change into."
As he spoke, he picked out a few of the clothing items Gu Ning had discarded and put them back. He also put the heater back in, saying they might need it on the road.
Gu Ning couldn’t win against him, so she went to help Cook pack.
The pup’s things were the simplest; a few pairs of pants and his personal toiletries were about all he needed.
Even if they could shower on the road, both she and Barto had decided not to let him. His fur was so insanely thick that it took two or three hours to blow-dry at home, let alone on the road.
Seeing that Cook’s bag still had some extra space, Gu Ning packed his favorite big bone that he usually chewed on for fun.
After they were mostly packed, Gu Ning sat down to organize the photos she had taken for the Military Department’s propaganda division over the past two days, as well as the authorized video she had promised Deviant.
Before nightfall, she finally finished both tasks. Barto, having meticulously finished packing, was getting ready to make dinner.
Gu Ning sent the photos and accompanying press release to Cyril, then sent the edited video to Deviant. Afterward, she stretched wide and let out a long sigh of relief.
’Finally finished all my work before leaving Zone 19.’
Gu Ning stood up to stretch her arms and legs, and decided to check how Alex and the others were doing with their packing.
The last message in their chat history was from Alex, asking about her packing progress and what she was bringing.
[Assembling the group now.]
A few seconds later, Alex sent her a short reply.