How about giving yourself to me?

Somewhere, in a rented room, in front of a computer screen.

An obese man with a face covered in acne wore a sinister grin as his fingers clattered over the keyboard.

[You know, with Xie Lin's face and the way he's half-covered like that, even I want to...]

Before he could finish typing, a knock suddenly came at the door.

His hands paused, and he turned to look.

"Who is it?"

"Police. Open the door!"

The man froze.

The police station?

Cops?

What did they want with him?

"Hurry up. If you don't open up, we're coming in."

"...Coming, coming!"

He was just a fat shut-in with an instinctive fear of the police.

The man stood, picked his way around the trash on the floor as though crossing a minefield, and gently pushed the door open.

Two uniformed officers were staring straight at him.

"Wang Xinmin?"

"Yes, that's me. May I ask what this is about?"

The older officer took out his credentials and flashed them.

"You're suspected of spreading sexual rumors online and publicly insulting and defaming others, in violation of Huaguo's criminal law. Come with us!"

"N-no, officer, I didn't!"

"Don't tell me that. Tell the person involved!"

With that, he pulled a gleaming pair of handcuffs from his waist and snapped them around the man's wrists.

Only after being taken to the police station did he discover that plenty of others like him were already handcuffed in detention.

After talking among themselves, they realized they had all been arrested for spreading rumors about Xie Lin.

"Wait, what's going on? Didn't we just casually repost a few things?"

"Who knows? I made a few fucking pennies off this. Who'd have thought I could actually end up in jail?"

"Forget it. Xie Lin has someone powerful behind him. I heard the company that hired us has already disbanded."

One of them spoke as if suddenly enlightened.

"Do you think it could be Lu Ye?"

"Could be. The police usually don't like dealing with this stuff, but what if he threw money at it?"

"Money alone wouldn't cut it. He'd need power too. Otherwise, with all the people spreading rumors year-round, how could they arrest them all?"

They huddled together, growing more frightened as they talked.

"We're not going to get locked up for years, are we?"

"No way. There are so many of us. Could they really handle us all?"

"...Hard to say. He's the richest man in Jiangzhou. He has plenty of money and can afford lawyers."

Outside the iron door, Qin Zheng leaned against the wall and pushed up the glasses on his nose.

A young man in a sharp suit approached and gave him a slight nod.

"Assistant Qin, the legal team has been contacted."

"Good. They smeared someone they shouldn't have. Let them spend some extra time in there and learn their lesson!"

Meanwhile, after being kicked off his main account, Xie Lin eagerly logged into his alternate account and took on the haters one by one.

But before he could get his fill, he refreshed the page, and all the paid trolls suddenly disappeared.

"Huh?"

Xie Lin stared blankly at his phone.

The comments under his Weibo posts were now completely clean, as though nothing had happened.

[Xie Lin really works hard. Even though he's only played minor supporting roles in his previous projects, his acting can't be overlooked. All he needs is a chance!]

[Same with this dating show. He's genuine and never hides anything. Compared to a certain fake innocent, I still prefer Xie Lin!]

Xie Lin rubbed his chin, utterly baffled.

The odds of the paid trolls suddenly developing a conscience were even lower than his chances of getting rich overnight.

What exactly was going on?

Who was helping him?

Refusing to believe it, Xie Lin refreshed several more times.

On the last refresh, a new Weibo post suddenly appeared.

[Threatening me? Was that your own decision, or did Star Emperor Entertainment tacitly approve? @Zhao Dan @Star Emperor Entertainment]

An audio recording was attached below.

Xie Lin tapped it, his eyes widening the longer he listened.

Fuck!

It was the recording he'd made when Zhao Dan called earlier!

What the actual fuck? Had his phone come to life?

When Lu Ye jumped in through the window, he found Xie Lin rubbing his phone and muttering to it.

"Phone, oh phone, can you grant me a wish?"

Then he held the phone to his ear and listened for a while, nodding as though this were perfectly serious.

"Then here goes! My wish is for another hundred wishes! Hahahaha!"

Xie Lin's dewy, almond-shaped eyes curved into half-moons as he clutched his phone and rocked with laughter.

Lu Ye leaned against the balcony doorframe, his eyes full of amusement, his earlier worries vanishing into thin air.

But a fine, persistent ache followed close behind.

Was he forced to be strong because he had no one to lean on?

Xie Lin cackled for a good while before turning and discovering someone standing by the window. He jolted in fright.

"For fuck's sake, can you use the door next time?"

"I don't have a key!"

"Heh. The all-powerful President Lu needs a key?"

Lu Ye sighed, walked over, sat on the carpet, and wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"If I really were all-powerful, you wouldn't have been smeared."

Xie Lin's smile faded, and he fell silent for a long while.

Then he suddenly spun around and started smacking Lu Ye's arm.

"Getting full of yourself, huh? You actually hacked into my phone? Huh?"

Lu Ye sprang up and ran around the living room, explaining as he went.

"I just wanted to see if there was anything useful on your phone."

"Do I get any fucking privacy? Do you have a death wish?"

"My people didn't look at anything else. They only checked the voice recorder!"

"That's still not okay! What's mine is mine. You can't go snooping without permission!"

Lu Ye suddenly stopped. Xie Lin couldn't brake in time and was about to crash into his back.

He turned, caught Xie Lin in his arms, and stepped back several paces to absorb the impact.

"Here!"

Lu Ye pulled his phone from his pocket and offered it to him.

"What's yours is yours, and what's mine is yours too. Here, look through my phone!"

Xie Lin froze, then shoved him away.

"Get lost. Who wants to look through your phone?"

"You can look at anything on my phone. I have no secrets."

"Is this about whether you have secrets?"

"I was wrong. It was an emergency. Next time, I'll definitely ask you first."

"Heh. You think there'll be a next time?"

"No, no, never again! Next time I want anything, I'll ask you directly!"

With that, Lu Ye bared his small white teeth.

"Really! Really!"

Xie Lin stared at him for a long while.

"Hmph!"

Xie Lin wasn't truly angry, and there really weren't any secrets on his phone.

He had also deleted everything related to Fu Yunxi.

He simply didn't want to indulge this damned Alpha and let him endlessly test his boundaries.

Yet what infuriated him even more was-he actually wasn't angry!

Fuck, this was so annoying!

Xie Lin sprawled on the sofa and tipped his chin at him.

"What happened to those paid trolls?"

Lu Ye smiled faintly.

"It was easy. I just offered the police a bounty. Three thousand for every paid troll they caught."

Xie Lin frowned.

"Isn't that blatant bribery?"

"We don't do anything illegal. I only used a tiny bit of money to speed up their operations."

"...How much is a tiny bit?"

"Qin Zheng just reported it. They arrested over ten thousand people nationwide. Just thirty million or so. No big deal."

"..."

Over thirty million!

Just!

These damned rich people!

If he had that much money, he'd quit immediately...

Wait, why should he give that fucking Star Emperor Entertainment the money?

Wouldn't he be better off living it up himself?

"Don't worry. I hired a legal team too. Guaranteed maximum sentences!"

Xie Lin frowned, his gaze wandering, looking a little awkward.

"...That must cost a lot too, right?"

"It's not bad!"

Lu Ye plopped down on the floor and looked up at him.

"If you really feel bad about it, how about giving yourself to me?"