The afternoon light filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the presidential suite on the fiftieth floor, casting long shadows across the polished marble floor. Zou Luyao stood with her back to the others, staring at the sprawling cityscape of Xingxi City below. The streets were still orderly, the shopping arcade on the first four floors of their own building humming with civilian activity, but she could feel it—the crackling tension that had settled over every floor above them.
“The report from last night’s shift came in,” Tao Xiaonai said, her voice flat as she tossed a datapad onto the central conference table. She had her usual brisk efficiency, short dark hair tucked behind her ears, but her hands were trembling slightly. “Three more combatants were admitted for psychiatric observation. Suicidal ideation, auditory hallucinations, and one case of self-mutilation. It’s getting worse.”
Mali leaned back in her chair, arms crossed. Her uniform jacket was unbuttoned, revealing the crisp white shirt beneath. “The mental attack from February hasn’t faded. The suppressants only dull the edge. The troops are still drowning in their own rage, fear, and shame.”
“Lin Ruojian and Su Yucang held this together for two months,” Sen Xiaomeng said quietly. She sat at the far end of the table, a small device in her hand that she was disassembling with practiced ease—a prototype bondage lock, titanium alloy with a biometric release. Her eyes didn’t leave it. “They used their bodies as shock absorbers. Every night, every shift, every desperate scream. They took it all. And now they’re in orbit, and the building is still full of people who need to break something, hurt something, control something before they break themselves.”
Zou Luyao turned slowly. Her long black hair swayed, and the curves of her figure were outlined by the afternoon sun behind her. She looked at each of them in turn. “I know what you’re all thinking. I’ve been thinking it too, for weeks.”
Tao Xiaonai let out a hollow laugh. “That we’re going to have to do the same thing. That we’re the only ones left with enough authority to absorb the worst of it. The employees can’t vent on each other—they’d tear the organization apart. They need someone placed above them to tear down.”
“They need a symbol,” Mali said softly. “A president on her knees. A head of department with a gag in her mouth. Someone who was untouchable, now completely touchable. Lin Ruojian and Su Yucang were that for Earthside. Now it’s our turn.”
The room fell silent. Zou Luyao walked to the table and placed both hands on its surface, her fingers spreading wide as if she could steady the world. “I am not saying this lightly. But if we don’t act, we will lose personnel. Not through transfer or resignation. Through death. Through psychosis. Through desertion. The mental artifacts left scars we can’t heal with therapy alone. They need a physical outlet. And we…” She paused, her throat tightening. “We are the only bodies left in the hierarchy who can take it without breaking the chain of command.”
Sen Xiaomeng finally set down her gadget and looked up. Her eyes were sharp, analytical, but there was a tremor in her voice. “You mean we volunteer to become sex slaves for the entire Xingxi Pavilion Earth division.”
“I mean we let them take us,” Zou Luyao corrected. “We do not volunteer. That’s crucial. If they know we are doing this willingly, they will feel guilty. They will hold back. And the whole point—the catharsis—will be lost. They need to believe they have overcome us. That they have seized control out of desperation. That we are their victims, not their benefactors.”
Tao Xiaonai nodded slowly. “They’ve been circling for weeks. I’ve noticed it. In the hallways, during briefings, in the canteen—their eyes linger. They watch us when they think we aren’t looking. They imagine binding us, gagging us, using us in ways they’re too frightened to articulate. The desire is already there. It just needs a catalyst.”
“They need an excuse,” Mali said, understanding dawning in her expression. “A moment of weakness they can exploit. A threat they can hang over us so that they feel justified in their actions.”
Zou Luyao met her eyes. “Correct. We will not fight them. We will give them openings. Security gaps. Privacy lapses. Personal incidents that can be used against us. And when the first one comes—when an employee corners one of us in a basement corridor or a storage room—we will resist just enough to make the conquest feel real, but not enough to actually escape. And then we will become their property, one body at a time.”
Sen Xiaomeng clasped her hands together. Her knuckles were white. “I’ve already designed the equipment. Collars with distress-signal blockers. Restraints that look punishing but are actually padded. Gags that allow breathing through the nose. The training factory downstairs has been fully retrofitted—interrogation rooms, cells, a live-stream suite, a banquet hall. It’s ready. I just didn’t know when we would use it.”
“Now we know,” Tao Xiaonai said. There was a strange calm in her voice now, as if the decision had settled something deep inside her chest. “I’ve always known this part of me existed. The part that wants to be bound. That wants to be overwhelmed. That wants to be nothing but a breathing toy for others to use. I tried to suppress it with work, with discipline. But after the attack… after I saw Ruojian and Yucang give themselves so fully… I realized that service isn’t just a duty. It’s a release.”
Mali let out a long breath. “C-cup, short hair, and a secret fantasy of being forced to swallow every drop. I’ve never told anyone that before. But if we are going to do this—if we are going to open our bodies to thousands of employees—I need you to know I am not doing this purely out of altruism. I have needs too.”
“So we all do,” Zou Luyao said. “But we cannot let them know that. From the outside, we must appear reluctant. Coerced. Broken. It is the only way they will feel powerful enough to lose themselves in the act.”
Sen Xiaomeng stood up. “Then we start tomorrow. I will adjust the security protocols to create blind spots. I will ensure that the training factory doors are unlocked during certain hours. I will plant suggestive equipment in plain sight—restraints, gags, paddles—as if they were left behind by accident. The employees will find them. And they will know what to do.”
Tao Xiaonai walked to the window and stood beside Zou Luyao. She placed a hand on the glass, her reflection overlapping with the skyline. “The first one will be the hardest. The first hand that clamps over my mouth. The first rope that bites into my wrists. The first moment I look into an employee’s eyes and see the hunger that I have been starving for months. But after that, it will become routine. And we will serve Xingxi Pavilion in the only way that remains.”
Zou Luyao reached out and took her hand. “Then let’s make it count. For everyone who is suffering. For everyone who needs to hurt something before they hurt themselves. We are the shield. We are the release valve. And when this is over, we will be changed forever.”
Mali stood and joined them, followed by Sen Xiaomeng. The four presidents of the Earth Headquarters stood together, facing the dying light of the April sun, united in a decision that would strip them of title, dignity, and control—and give them something far more precious.
A purpose.