2. A Fateful Encounter

Three years ago, at the age of 23, Lyla was accepted into Stonemont University’s psychology department due to her exceptional academic achievements. Skipping the master’s program, she became the youngest fully-funded PhD student, studying under an advisor renowned in academic circles. Her future looked promising, yet she was anxious—her advisor's primary research focus was on BD/SM psychology.

Growing up in a traditional Christian family, Lyla had always received a conservative education about sex. She had never encountered anything related to BD/SM, and she found it difficult to understand.

She once asked her advisor why, during the interview, he chose her despite knowing that her background didn’t quite align with his research.

Her advisor gazed into her pale blue eyes, as clear as a river, and said sincerely, "You’re a girl with a strong curiosity, and you’re brave and persistent in your pursuit of answers. You’re a natural researcher—that’s why I chose you."

Becoming a research scholar had been Lyla’s dream since childhood. If she had completed a master’s degree before applying for a PhD, she might have had more options. But her father had passed away early, and her mother had worked hard to raise her. To attend college, Lyla had taken on significant student loans, leaving no time or money to pursue a master’s degree. This path was her best option.

Her advisor's' words gave Lyla great encouragement. Even though the research field was one she found hard to understand, she bravely set out on her journey. However, the path was far more challenging than she had anticipated.

Shortly after starting her program, her advisor assigned her to a research group that focused on studying the relationship between contemporary BD/SM practices and anxiety relief. Lyla buried herself in an overwhelming amount of literature, but she struggled to make progress because she couldn’t connect with the subject.

She felt like her anxiety was about to reach a breaking point.

One evening, as she left the lab with dark circles under her eyes, she ran into Jessica, a fellow psychology PhD student. Jessica was dressed in a sequined tank top and a mini leather skirt, her face perfectly made up, as if she were heading to a nightclub. Seeing Lyla’s exhausted expression, Jessica was startled.

“Lyla! Are you sick?” she exclaimed.

“No,” Lyla replied with a bitter smile, shaking her head. “It’s just that I have to present my research topic to my advisor next week, and I still have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.” Jessica patted her on the shoulder. She rummaged through her bag, pulling out a tissue and a lipstick. She wrote a web address on the tissue with the lipstick and handed it to Lyla. “This is the most popular BD/SM dating site in the country. Our lab often recruits interview volunteers from there.”

“Thank you.” Lyla gratefully took the tissue. “I think I can find someone to interview there. Maybe it will give me some research inspiration.”

“No, no, no,” Jessica said with a smirk. “What I meant was… you should actually meet someone there and experience BD/SM firsthand.”

“No way!” Lyla’s face turned bright red. “Just because someone studies criminal psychology doesn’t mean they need to commit crimes. Likewise, studying BD/SM doesn’t mean you have to experience it personally…”

Jessica cut her off, “If I’m not mistaken, your research group is studying the relationship between BD/SM and anxiety relief, right? If you don’t believe in the subject yourself, how can you produce convincing research?”

Lyla was left speechless, biting her lip in embarrassment.

Jessica gave her a sympathetic look and patted her shoulder again. “Come on, cheer up! Don’t push yourself too hard—research isn’t the only thing in life!”

Lyla couldn’t remember how she said goodbye to Jessica. Her mind was a blur as she returned to her dorm. As she changed clothes, she realized she was still tightly clutching the tissue in her hand. The lipstick marks had smudged a little, but the web address was still legible.

Jessica’s words had sparked something in her. The reason she hadn’t been able to find inspiration was because, deep down, she didn’t believe BD/SM could relieve anxiety. How could she write a scientific paper to convince others of a theory she couldn’t even convince herself of?

Perhaps even Lyla didn’t realize that, despite her seemingly conservative and introverted nature, she had a spirit of challenge buried deep inside her.

With a hint of hesitation, she opened her computer and typed in the web address.

The site looked simple, much like any other dating site, requiring users to register before accessing the forums. Lyla clicked on the registration button and chose a username: Nicola Selene.

Nicola was inspired by the famous scientist Nicholas Maximilianovitch, who hanged himself twelve times for his research on near-death experiences. By choosing this name, Lyla wanted to express her determination to sacrifice herself for science, just like Nicholas.

Selene, on the other hand, represented darkness, symbolizing her shame regarding the experiment she was about to undertake.

Lyla never could have imagined that this username, which held special meaning for her, would one day become the name of a $100 million academic building. Such casual irony and playfulness was typical style of Shadow Master—Lyla knew that all too well.

After registration, Lyla quickly posted a message: "Looking for a Dom." She naturally assumed she should pretend to be a Sub rather than a Dom, since trying to act like a commanding Dom without any experience would only cause the experiment to fail miserably.

Just as she was about to send the post, some rather blush-inducing ads popped up on the screen, making her hastily add, "NO S/EX!" Still feeling uneasy, she added another line: "NO LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP!"

After making those changes, she took a deep breath and hit the ''send'' button. She didn’t dare look at the successfully posted message and quickly shut her laptop, her heart racing like she had just done something wrong.

That night, she slept fitfully, dreaming that she was being punished for failing to submit her paper. A man held her over his lap, s/panking her hard. His face was unclear, but his outline was strikingly handsome. He was stern, and his hand came down on her backside repeatedly. In the dream, she couldn’t feel pain—only the intense shame of being punished.

That powerful sense of shame lingered into the next day during class.

Lyla opened her laptop to take notes, only to realize she had forgotten to close the BD/SM forum page the night before. At that moment, a message notification popped up in the corner of the screen—it was a reply from someone with the username Shadow Master.

“Watch your tone, miss. You deserve a good punishment.”

Lyla’s face flushed bright red. She had always been a well-behaved, obedient girl and had never been criticized like this. Remembering the dream from the night before, she felt both angry and embarrassed. She couldn’t focus on taking notes and clicked the reply button.

“Shut up, egomaniac. It’s none of your business.”

To her surprise, her reply made the previously unnoticed post suddenly popular. The message notifications didn’t stop for the rest of the class.

“That’s Shadow Master—you’ve got some nerve.”

“Don’t let him become your Dom, or… good luck, hahaha.”

“You better apologize to Shadow Master and leave the site.”

The constant barrage of messages gave her a headache, but it also piqued her curiosity about this Shadow Master. She opened the mysterious user’s profile and browsed through it.

This person seemed to have a high reputation in the BD/SM community. Despite not having posted a single message, he had tens of thousands of followers.

His profile picture was a man’s lower body in a suit, with a large, long-fingered hand resting on his knee, holding a slender cane. The image exuded an air of mystery and allure.

Lyla was captivated by the hand’s beauty, but thinking of Shadow Master’s arrogant attitude, she felt some disdain and muttered, “Psychologically speaking, people often flaunt what they lack. This guy probably has ugly hands and just borrowed a model’s hand for his profile picture.”

Suddenly, a private message window popped up in the corner of the screen with a “pop” sound, startling Lyla.

Shadow Master: Have you seen enough of my profile?