"Skip the headache-inducing technical jargon and just tell me what you found," Schiller said, staring intently at Barbara's face.
"You'll definitely find it unbelievable," Barbara said. "I had absolutely no reason to cover for the culprit, especially since he might have kidnapped me. But I really had my reasons for doing this. I..."
"Relax, Miss." Schiller had one of his subordinates pour Barbara a glass of water. But it clearly did not relax her. Her fingers kept tapping against the cup, and she looked extremely anxious.
"Actually, during that time, my entire worldview was shattered. I never knew anyone in this world could possess such technology. It was simply unbelievable..."
Barbara's thoughts came out somewhat disjointed, but Schiller still understood what she meant and pressed on. "You mean you traced the email to a hacker with incredibly advanced skills?"
"Maybe." Barbara's tone was full of uncertainty. "I don't even know whether he really exists, because I found no actual evidence. Even if you locked me up for another year, I couldn't produce anything. But I just had a feeling. I didn't tell you because it sounded too absurd..."
"That's all right, Miss. Just tell me what you feel. I'll make my own judgment as to whether that's really the case."
"All right. As you know, not long ago—more precisely, shortly after the scandal photos of the President and Mrs. Romanoff were exposed—I wanted to find out who had released them. Right then, I received an email in my inbox. He wanted me to stop investigating the matter."
"I'd received plenty of threatening emails like that before, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But since tracing the email might lead directly to the person behind it all, I tried to track its source. I found nothing."
"That was normal