The digital storm brewed silently, far from Xia Yue's awareness. She had tossed out a few sharp words, a habit honed over years, never imagining they would echo so violently across the vast expanse of the internet. It was a common squabble, a brief moment of frustration, dismissed as quickly as it arose. But unknown to her, a sly couple had meticulously edited her video, snipping her harsh words from their true context, twisting them into a weapon, and aiming them directly at her unsuspecting back. The online world, ever hungry for drama, took the bait. It was Linghui Linghui, a fleeting messenger from the digital realm, who first warned Xia Yue of the impending chaos.

When Xia Yue finally logged into her game, a sense of dread washed over her. Her friend request list exploded, each notification a venomous curse, a digital stone thrown with precise intent. Weibo, the public square of judgment, was even worse. The comments section seethed with raw, unbridled hatred: "A girl with a filthier mouth than a public toilet," one read. Another followed, "Curses so smoothly, obviously no home training." Then came the truly horrifying conjectures, painted as undeniable truths: "The one upstairs, what home training would a little slut have? Smoking, drinking, tattooing, aborting, tsk tsk, who knows how she climbed up the ranks?" It was as if these anonymous accusers had lived under her bed, bearing witness to imagined sins.

Xia Yue was left speechless, then furious. Did these faceless accusers truly believe their own elaborate fictions? Her sharp tongue, a shield she had forged in the fires of past bullying, was now twisted into a weapon against her. She had learned long ago that silence only invited more pain. If they cursed, she cursed back. If they hit, she hit harder. No one dared to bully her now, or so she thought. A nobody she might be, but never a target.

Miles away, within the quiet confines of a towering corporate office, Sha Hao paused. A flicker of unseen energy, a chorus of raw emotions, resonated in his mind – Xia Yue's mind. It was a familiar, yet increasingly intense, presence. He knew her anger, her hurt, her defiance, long before she spoke a word. A silent observer, a hidden guardian, he sensed her rage mounting, her fingers flying across her phone, tapping out frantic defenses with an alt account. He stepped out, a calm presence in her storm.

"Need help?" His voice was a quiet anchor in the whirlwind of her fury. Xia Yue, without even looking up, snapped, "Yes! Come help me curse people!" Sha Hao offered a faint, almost imperceptible sigh. Her mind, he realized anew, worked in ways that consistently defied expectation. "The Sha Group has a professional legal department," he stated, a hint of steel in his voice. Xia Yue looked up, puzzled. He continued, "I can lend them to you to sue those people." She hesitated, a wave of doubt washing over her. Just verbal abuse, she thought, was it really worth it? But then, she saw the comments again, the cruel, piercing words about her being an orphan, without parents. The wound, a deep, old one, bled anew. She hated those words. In that moment, her resolve solidified.

Sha Hao, hearing her silent anguish, hesitated before reaching out, his hand gently stroking her head, a comforting gesture. Xia Yue was utterly bewildered. Was he treating her like a dog? Another sigh escaped Sha Hao, unseen, unheard. This woman's mindset truly was different. "It's getting late, you should rest early," he said, his gaze unwavering. Xia Yue looked around the luxurious apartment. "Where do I sleep?" There was only one bedroom. The sofa again? Although it was surprisingly comfortable. "You sleep in the bedroom." Her eyes widened slightly. "Then what about you?" Sha Hao wearily pinched his brow. "I still have a few international conferences to handle tonight. Don't wait for me." Xia Yue offered an awkward smile. She hadn't planned on it, but a show of concern for her sugar daddy felt appropriate. Sha Hao, reading her every thought, a peculiar weight in his mind, sighed again. Being able to read minds, he pondered, was it a blessing or a curse? He was almost certain now. This Xia Yue was not the Xia Yue he remembered from the fragmented echoes of a life that hadn't quite happened. Where did she come from? And why now?

The bedroom had an en suite bathroom. Only after Xia Yue finished showering did she remember she had no change of clothes, no towel. "!!!" She mentally cursed her tormentors again, blaming them for her predicament. As she hesitated, a soft knock echoed on the door. "I've put the clothes outside the door, come out and get them yourself." Xia Yue's heart leaped with delight. Her sugar daddy, ever prepared! But then, a thought surfaced: she hadn't brought any clothes here. Where had these come from? She dismissed the thought. As long as there was something to wear. After putting them on, she discovered they fit perfectly, as if tailor-made.

Lying in the bed, she couldn't fall asleep. The sheets carried the faint, distinctive scent of Sha Hao, perhaps the same incense. The thought of him having slept in this bed, so recently, made her strangely uncomfortable. Other than work, this was the most intimate contact she'd had with a man in a long time. Tossing and turning for what felt like hours, she finally drifted off after chanting the Great Compassion Mantra to herself for a while. In the next room, Sha Hao faintly pulled up the corners of his mouth. Her every thought, every restless turn, every whispered mantra, reached him. He admitted, a certain hidden delight arose from the bottom of his heart. He attributed it to the malicious workings of petty possessiveness. The threads of fate, or something far more intricate, were undeniably tightening around them.

The next day, Xia Yue awoke unusually late. Opening WeChat, she received a message from Linghui Linghui. The couple had deleted their Weibo post and issued an apology. Xia Yue, perplexed, checked for herself. Indeed, it was true. Looking further at the comments section, she saw the full force of the netizens' fickle rage. Feeling deceived, they turned on the couple with even more vitriol than they had directed at Xia Yue. Xia Yue was indifferent. A transient mob, always seeking a new target for their anger, never truly upholding justice, only venting raw emotion. But the speed of the resolution, the way the storm had simply vanished, left her with an unsettling, unreal feeling. Powerful forces were at play, far beyond her understanding.

Putting on her shoes and stepping out, Sha Hao was no longer around. She thought for a bit before taking out Sha Hao's WeChat to send a simple "Thank you." Feeling that was a little cold, she added a thankful cat emoticon. Tapping into Sha Hao's Moments, she found nothing, a blank void that almost made her suspect she was blocked. She looked at her own Moments again, a vibrant tapestry of food, fun, and happy selfies. The gap between their digital lives was vast. Afraid she might post something inconvenient for him to see in the future, she casually blocked his access to view her Moments. A new message popped up: "Sugar Daddy: You're welcome," followed by, "If anything like this happens again in the future, you can contact Lian Assistant directly." Then, a final message that made her heart skip a beat: "Sugar Daddy: Thankful cat emoticon.jpg." He had mirrored her emoji. A small, unsettling detail. How had he known?

Was this his way of saying he would always cover her? Xia Yue was extremely excited. Could she, in the future, walk sideways, untouchable? Just as happiness bubbled within her, she received a message from Jian Brother, and her upturned mouth corners instantly drooped. "Old Biden: Yue Yue come to the company for a bit, something's up." "Hopeless Monkey: Oh, coming right away." As she was leaving, she just happened to bump into Lian Assistant. "Mistress, this is the breakfast Mr. Sha asked me to deliver to you." Xia Yue took the breakfast with mixed feelings. "Assistant Lian, your work is so busy, but you still have to be responsible for delivering meals?" Did her sugar daddy only have one person to order around? A truly merciless capitalist, she thought. Not knowing if her brain short-circuited, Xia Yue blurted out, "How much does he pay you per month that it requires you to be on call 24/7, responding immediately whenever summoned?" If she didn't see wrongly, Assistant Lian seemed to smile faintly.

"Seven digits per month in salary, plus bonuses and stock dividends at the end of the year." Xia Yue was speechless. The clown, she realized, was she all along! "I'm sorry for the disturbance." Speaking of which, do assistants earn this much? To be honest, if she was paid that much, she would also be willing to be ordered around! Thinking of such an astronomical salary, Xia Yue, still unresigned, brazenly asked, "May I rudely ask, which esteemed university did you graduate from?" If it was possible, she also wanted to be an assistant. "Yale University." As expected, even the position of an assistant wasn't something ordinary people could take on; just the academic qualifications would cause her to be screened out. Xia Yue dabbed at imaginary tears in the corner of her eyes. "I was too presumptuous..." The world around Sha Hao, she realized, moved with an unseen efficiency, a powerful, almost magical force that bent reality to his will. Who was this man, really? And what part did she, Xia Yue, play in his carefully constructed world?