Once Bitten, Twice Shy

'No Caller ID?'

Under normal circumstances, 11 digits would be displayed even when the caller was unknown. If the words 'No Caller ID' were displayed, did it mean that the person had deliberately hidden their identity?

Samantha's hand moved slightly and tapped the answer icon. "Hello, who's this?"

A voice that was speaking through a voice changer came from the other end of the line. "Samantha Larsson, check your email right now."

The person then immediately hung up after leaving her with that sentence.

Samantha blinked twice and was still stunned.

What could that be? A prank? A scam?

Samantha put down the phone and ignored it. She reached for the ring again and was about to put it on her finger once more.

However, she stopped midway and raised her eyes to look at the notebook on the desk.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she placed the ring down again and walked over.

She had only herself to blame for her damned curiosity!

Being someone who made a living in the media and communications industry, her curiosity and vigilance were inherently strong. What if it was something important? It was better to be safe than sorry.

She was worried about missing out on some trending news.

Samantha pulled out the chair to sit down and dragged the notebook closer to her. She lifted the lid, powered it on, and logged into her mailbox.

Sure enough, there was a new unread email that was sent five minutes ago.

When she saw the sender's email address, her pupils contracted all of a sudden and she could not help but tighten her grip on the mouse.

That email address…

If she remembered correctly, she had received an email from that very same email address two years ago.

At that time, the person wrote: [Timothy's excuse is untrue. Two years ago, he said he was bored of you and broke off the engagement, but there's actually a secret! If you're really interested, you can investigate it and find a big surprise!]

She half-believed it back then, but it turned out that there was no secret at all. She would stand to be a huge joke if she believed something similar again!

'You played me two years ago. Now you're playing with me again, are you?'

'Alright then, show me what kind of lies you made up this time!'

Samantha sneered and hovered the cursor over the email before clicking on it.

The email's contents were very brief: [Timothy is in danger right now. He needs you very much!]

Samantha's first reaction when she saw that was puzzlement. Following that, there was extreme speechlessness and laughter.

Timothy? In danger?

During the past three years, he had expanded his business throughout the entire world and had made the richest persons list almost every year. He was an outstanding businessman with the most net worth and the ideal lover in the eyes of many women! Without a doubt, he was the most outstanding bachelor there was!

His love life was progressing just as well as his career, for he was slated to remarry on the first of the coming month!

To put it more bluntly, he had achieved the three things that most men looked forward to: rising in life, getting rich, and having no wife to answer to.

Him? In danger? Where was the danger in that?

Samantha was the one who was in danger!

She had cheated death numerous times and it was not easy for her to retake control over her life!

That emailer seemed to enjoy corny jokes a lot! Just who could that person be?

Samantha was incredibly upset. She ran to the bedside and picked up her cell phone to try and call the number again.

However, a robotic message told her: 'The number you have dialed does not exist.'

'Does not exist?'

Samantha wondered if a ghost had called her earlier.

She pursed her lips tightly and ran back to the desk. After sitting down, she opened the email and typed out a reply as her slender fingers danced across the keyboard.

[Who are you? Why are you trying to trick me over and over again? Did I offend you or your family in some way?]

When she recalled everything that she encountered after returning to her homeland three years ago, she wanted nothing more than to look for that person and beat them to a pulp! Only then could she rid herself of all the resentment in her heart!

She waited for a few minutes but the sender did not reply.

Samantha laughed mockingly.

The person was probably scared after she called them out.

Did they take her for a fool?

Samantha could not be bothered to pay any more attention to the matter and closed her eyes to take a deep breath. When she finally opened then again, she moved the mouse with her hand and prepared to close her email window.

At that moment, however, a ding was heard and there was a new email in her inbox.

To think that the person had the cheek to reply to her!

Samantha opened the email and read the contents.

Rather than defending himself, he continued and wrote: [Timothy exchanged his life to give you the comfortable life you have right now. If you can live in peace with that fact, then by all means ignore my email. However, Timothy will disappear completely, and at this moment, you're the only one who can save him.]

'Timothy exchanged his life to give you the comfortable life you have right now.'

Samantha could not bring herself to laugh, not even sarcastically.

Was Timothy's life in any way terrible? When did he exchange his life to give her a good life?

'Haha. Don't liars use their brains nowadays? Or do they just conjure up lies from thin air?'

'Who do they think they're deceiving? Are they simply just trying to fulfill their daily lie quota?'

Samantha replied: [Why don't you show your identity if you have the balls? I have no reason to believe a single word you're saying if you're acting all shady and mysterious!]

After sending the email, she opened an IP locating app.

It was a piece of software she bought from a famous hacker because there were certain occasions where she needed to follow the trail of a trending piece of news.

She wanted to try and locate that person's IP address to see if she could find out who that liar was and teach them a lesson!

That software was supposed to be foolproof because few people had abilities that could match the famous hacker.

To her surprise, it took only ten seconds before the app interface went black. A line of red words even popped up: 'Don't waste your efforts.'

Samantha was genuinely very stunned.

It did not take a genius to know who sent that message. The app she used to locate that liar failed to hack into the liar's system and was even counter-hacked by that liar.

The move was extremely ruthless and was an impressive display of the person's sheer skill.

Samantha's face became more or less serious now.

Since that person could have such impressive skill, the chances of him being a liar was probably very low. However, the words he said truly made him out to be like a liar!

She quelled her anger and started to think clearly before sending another email again. [Who are you? Why are you telling me this?]

There was no reply.

Samantha's brows twitched. She thought about it from every angle and felt that everything was just too weird.

'Wait a second... Why am I letting myself be dragged into this?'

Whether or not that person's words were true, what did she have to do with Timothy in the first place? Why was he even worth her effort?

Timothy was supposed to be dead to her three years ago. When her heart died, Timothy had died along with it too.

She was already thinking about starting a new life.

She had already agreed to meet Alan later and start a new life with him.

Timothy's life and death had nothing to do with her.

Coincidentally, the alarm she set on her cell phone was ringing to remind her that it was time for her date.

Samantha calmed her flustered emotions gradually. She did not want to step into the quagmire that was Timothy.

As soon as she got up, another notification sounded to signal a new email.

She opened her eyes indifferently and glanced at it.

Samantha had already made up her mind that she would not respond to the person regardless of what they said. However, the email she received did not contain any words....