The Feng residence gleamed under the soft glow of chandeliers, every corner polished as though awaiting royal guests. Yet beneath the splendor, the dinner table was always a battlefield. It was where Father Feng, Feng Nanhao and Mrs.Feng Li Chun Xia consistently berated her and brainwashed her to serve Xueyao.
Feng Father's booming laughter shook the cutlery as he lifted his glass. "Yaoyao, you've brought honor to the family again! First place at the National Expo, and now the media is clamoring for interviews. Our Feng name shines brighter than ever!"
Mother's eyes curved with pride as she placed another chicken wing into Xueyao's bowl. "Eat more, darling. You've worked so hard. Your sister should learn from you." Her gaze flicked coldly to Xueling at the end of the table, as though the very sight of her dulled her appetite.
Xueyao lowered her lashes demurely. "Father, Mother, it was nothing. Sister helped me revise—"
"What revision? Don't belittle yourself." Father cut her off with a dismissive wave. "Xueling can barely keep her grades afloat. How could she possibly help you? Don't shield her laziness."
Snickers rose from the servants standing discreetly nearby.
Xueling calmly set down her chopsticks, her lips curving in the faintest smile. "Father's right. I could never compare to Sister in stealing the spotlight."
The word hung like a dagger in the air. For a split second, silence pressed down on the room.
Xueyao's fingers tightened around her chopsticks before she forced out a tinkling laugh. "Xueling, you do love to joke."
Mother's expression darkened. "Enough. Stop embarrassing your sister with your nonsense."
Xueling said no more. She simply sipped her soup, put down her spoon and, as if she had not just cast the first shadow across her sister's perfect halo, got up to leave.
"okay" she said and silently glided out of the dining room
"Hmmph. Empty theatrics! who is she showing her temper to? Mannerless thing!" Mrs Feng admonished. Her vitriol followed Xueling all the way upstairs, till she reached her room and closed the door.
The jarring insults stopped and Xueling looked around the familiar room. The sparsely furnished, tucked away at the far end of the hall room that had always felt more like a servant's quarters than a daughter's. A rickety twin bed lay in a corner, with faded sheets and a thin quilt. Across from it was a wooden desk discarded by Xueyao when she was in elementary school. A small lamp was the only ornament on this dilapidated desk. An even older chest of drawers, a few sets of old clothes, and piles of books – these were all she had.
Feng Xueling slowly walked up to the small mirror on the chest. For a long moment, she gazed at the pale girl staring back. Then, slowly, she reached up, tugging free the dull black hairband, loosening the shapeless bun her mother insisted she wear. Midnight hair spilled down her shoulders like a waterfall.
Her fingers brushed her face, wiping away the powdery foundation that had dulled her glow. Beneath the mask, her skin was porcelain, flawless, catching the moonlight with an almost ethereal shimmer. Her lashes were long, her nose fine and elegant, her lips naturally tinted the color of cherry blossoms.
The girl in the mirror was breathtaking. So breathtaking that even she caught her breath.
This was why they had caged her in plainness, why her mother had sneered at her beauty and forced her into ill-fitting hand-me-downs. Because if she stood beside Xueyao in her true form, there would be no comparison.
Her gaze hardened. "No more hiding."
She turned to her desk, powering on the battered laptop she had salvaged a few weeks ago when she discovered computers and coding. In her past life, this was her domain; she ruled second to none. Well, maybe not second to none. There was that hacker MS… The laptop screen flickered and beeped to indicate it had fully booted. Keys cackled beneath her fingers as she naturally navigated to the dark web and logged in. The list of tasks were long and right at the top, with fire sign against it, was the 10 million gig no one had been able to crack this past month. This is it.
The Sentinel system had been only the beginning. This time, she would build something greater. A new program, one the world had not yet imagined. She could already see its skeleton forming in her mind — adaptive, self-learning, unbreakable. A fortress of data that could protect empires.
And this time, her name would be carved into it.
In the heart of the capital, high above the glittering skyline, the Mo Corporation tower stood like a fortress. Inside its top floor office, a man sat behind a wide expanse of glass.
Mo Shenyu.
At twenty-five, he was already a legend. Tall, broad-shouldered, his black shirt collar undone at the throat, revealing the faint scar running down his chest — the remnant of a knife wound meant to end him. His gaze, deep and fathomless, carried the chill of a midnight sea. To outsiders, he was untouchable: the most capable heir of the Mo family, with military blood in his veins and wealth that made empires bow.
But at this moment, his fingers tightened around a slim, worn hairband resting on his desk.
A simple thing. Black, frayed at the edges. Yet it carried the faintest scent, soft and elusive — a fragrance that haunted his nights.
He closed his eyes, and the memory returned.
Blood soaking the earth. His body failing. The betrayal of kin, the forest swallowing him whole.
And then—her.
A girl with slender arms dragging his half-dead weight through the mud. Her frantic hands pressing herbs to his wound, her breath ragged in the night. Her hair brushing his cheek as she bent over him, leaving behind the faintest trace of that fragrance. When dawn broke, she was gone. Vanished like mist, leaving only this hairband and the imprint of a plum blossom mark at her nape burned into his mind.
He had searched for a year. A year of madness, tracing whispers, chasing shadows. And still, she eluded him.
A knock broke his reverie.
"President Mo," his assistant Liang said carefully, stepping forward. "The investigation into that night… there was a school trip near the forest, scheduled around the same time. It might be our only solid lead."
Mo Shenyu's eyes snapped open. They glimmered with a hunger, an obsession. "Then find her."
Liang gulped and then nodded, "If it is a student…"
Mo Shenyu just flicked a glance at him, his ice-cold gaze freezing Asst.Liangs words before he could say them. A sharp chime sounded from the computer. A new notification flashed across the dark screen.
Mo Shenyu clicked. His eyes narrowed.
"The company firewall breach… resolved?" Liang frowned. "Already? That's impossible. Even the Sentinel System couldn't handle it."
Mo Shenyu's lips curved — not in amusement, but in something sharper. Dangerous. "The Sentinel is rubbish. Bloated, short-sighted, a child's toy. Whoever wrote this patch… their code is alive. Adaptive. Ruthless."
On the screen, a single alias blinked: XL.
Mo Shenyu's gaze lingered, the cold in his eyes replaced with something else — curiosity, edged with intrigue. "Find out who this XL is."
"Yes, President Mo."
As Liang left, silence reclaimed the office. Mo Shenyu leaned back in his chair, his long fingers drumming lightly against the hairband on his desk.
The faint scent of that night rose again, twining with the memory of that mystery scent that occupied his thoughts, haunted his dreams.
"Where are you?" His voice was low, almost a whisper. "I need you…"