Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 301

Chapter 301

Stella lazily lifted her hand and twisted her dry hair up into a messy bun.

Lucas snuggled in Stella’s arms, wiggling his little feet with joy, his whole world revolving around her.

Suddenly, Lucas pointed ahead and asked in a puzzled tone.

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On the computer screen, countless nasty messages were flooding Stella’s inbox at lightning speed. In just moments, thousands had poured in, all mentioning the same name, Lucky Candy.

[Anon freak, get lost from the forum. Stop pretending to be Lucky Candy!]

[I really thought Lucky Candy showed up. Disgusting!]

[Stealing Lucky Candy’s avatar? What a scumbag.]

Stella casually browsed through the messages, barely paying attention.

“Professor Cipher,” she said in a calm voice. When Professor Cipher looked up on the video call, Stella asked, “Since when did you pick up another protégé?” She chuckled under her breath as she spoke.

Professor Cipher frowned, asking, “What protégé are you talking about?”

It was not like any of the five of us, except Stella, had a protégé or anything.

Stella said, “Check the forum.”

She rested her chin in her hand, scrolling through the page at a shail’s pace until she landed on Lucky Candy’s profile. The moment she clicked in, she saw they were using the exact same avatar as hers.

The person was streaming live on another platform.

Even with her face totally hidden behind a mask and a hat, her sweet voice was enough to make fans go wild.

Stella checked out the number of followers.

It was more than two million.

That was pretty amazing for a study streamer.

Stella couldn’t help but laugh.

She thought, ‘This avatar? I just doodled it when Professor Cipher was bored and dragged me into the forum. I was in a bad mood, so I made it as goofy as possible; who would actually want to steal this mess?‘

Professor Cipher said, “What the hell is all this nonsense?”

Stella chuckled and replied, “Oh, I almost thought you guys went and recruited a new girl behind my back.”

Lucky Candy’s profile perfectly copied Stella’s, every detail replicated. Annoyed at the time, Stella hid her account and IP during class. Later, busy with life, she stopped logging in. No one would have imagined that someone would steal her creation and replace her.

Watching the hate comments keep flooding in, Lucas puffed up is cheeks and jabbed at the screen, grumbling.

Professor Cipher said, “This place is a toxic mess.” His expression was stern. “It’s all because you never want to step into the spotlight.”

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11:07 Mon, Feb 9 DD

Chapter 301

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He built this forum to give scholars everywhere a level playing field, not for people to drag in all that idol fandom chaos.

Stella sighed helplessly.

She thought, ‘Yeah, right.

“They just want to throw me under the spotlight and get their early retirement.

Seeing the other old–timers gearing up for another round of lectures, Stella didn’t hesitate; she cut the video call in a flash, and the world went silent.

The hate–filled private messages just kept pouring in.

Stella lazily opened the admin panel and disabled anonymity for everyone.

She hit confirm.

The next moment, a chilling robotic voice suddenly rang out in Lucky Candy’s livestream, with over two million viewers watching live.

It announced, “Forum Admin is online.”

They wondered, ‘Ad–min?‘

Everyone was left speechless, especially Lucky Candy’s fans who just been spamming hate messages. They stared in shock as the admin badge suddenly appeared next to their anonymous chats.

The fans were speechless.

They thought, ‘Wait a sec; did we just trash–talk the actual forum admin?

‘Holy crap!‘

This academic forum was so famous because rumor had it that both the founder and the admins were actually top executives from Rhaesia University, the most elite institution in the world.

Rhaesia University was the ultimate destination for scholars everywhere.

The founder of Rhaesia University was a true legend in the world of academia. Even living in seclusion, their status remained unchallenged. For top students worldwide, securing a place at Rhaesia was the highest honor imaginable.

The live chat went dead silent.

Lucky Candy was visibly freaking out. Just moments ago, she was about to start streaming herself tackling questions from QuizMaster, the official test bank created by the Clusia Ministry of Education, and last week, she’d just hit the top 100 nationwide.

With her looks and her brainiac status, Lucky Candy’s stream had been getting some serious buzz.

Just then, the stream froze for a second.

Lucky Candy, still wearing her mask, softly said, “The system might be…” But before she could finish, her screen was suddenly split in half, and a slender, snow–white hand appeared right in front of millions of viewers.

That hand was strikingly beautiful.

Upstairs in the study, Allan sprawled out on the couch and suddenly yelled, “Holy crap.” He shot upright. Sebastian, busy with his paperwork, glanced over with a cold stare. Allan felt a chill running down his spine. He asked, “Sebastian, isn’t Stella’s hand?”

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11:07 Mon, Feb 9 D D.

Chapter 301

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As he said this, Allan shuffled over in his slippers to Sebastian’s side and made the video full screen on his phone.

He was just browsing for some pretty streamers, saw Lucky Candy blowing up on the homepage, clicked in for fun, and boom, a hand he instantly recognized.

He thought, ‘Seriously, that’s our Stella.

I’d recognize her anywhere, even if she was just a pile of ashes.

Allan thought this, then shook his head and tried to ward off the thought.

Sebastian swiped his finger across the screen. “It’s her,” he said.

In the bedroom, Stella’s fingers flew across the keyboard, displaying a screenshot of the forum’s admin panel. Live–stream viewers saw its secret backend for the first time, and were stunned to find user personal data openly displayed.

Luckily, Stella had censored everything.

Stella turned on the voice modulator and said, “Your fans are pretty interesting.”

Meanwhile, in a luxury villa in Jaffina, Lucky Candy’s hand shook on the mouse; she nearly clicked off her beauty filter by accident.

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