Victor Liang did not call twice.
He called five times.
Ethan stared at the glowing screen in the darkness of his dorm room. The name alone carried weight.
Victor Liang.
Billionaire. Investor. Public genius.
Future destroyer.
The phone finally stopped vibrating.
Silence returned.
But Ethan knew something had changed.
He didn't answer that night.
Instead, he opened his laptop and began searching everything he could about Victor Liang.
Public interviews.Investment history.Board memberships.Acquisitions.
Victor's track record was spotless.
Every company he touched grew.Every venture he backed dominated its market.Every risk he took paid off.
There was no scandal.
No lawsuits.
No controversy.
It was too clean.
Ethan leaned back slowly.
"Collapse," he muttered.
Future Ethan's words replayed in his mind.
Victor caused the collapse.
Not "involved."
Not "connected."
Caused.
That meant intention.
Or something worse.
The next morning, Ethan walked across campus with his hood up.
For the first time since receiving the phone, he felt exposed.
Every passing glance felt heavier.Every car parked too long felt suspicious.
He told himself it was paranoia.
But paranoia kept people alive.
His stock position had grown overnight.
Helios Technologies.
Still mocked on forums. Still called a "dying solar experiment."
But the charts told a different story.
Volume was increasing.
Quietly.
Institutional quietly.
Ethan's fingers hovered over the keyboard.
He had doubled once.
He could double again.
But something bothered him.
He wasn't the only one buying anymore.
His phone vibrated.
He froze.
Unknown number.
He let it ring.
Then a message arrived.
Not from Victor.
Not from the future.
A normal SMS.
"You've been making interesting moves. We should talk."
No name.
No signature.
Ethan's chest tightened.
This wasn't random.
Retail traders didn't text strangers.
He checked his trading platform again.
His positions weren't public.
He used a small brokerage account.
Minimal visibility.
Unless someone was watching order flow.
Unless someone was tracing patterns.
Unless someone had access to data far beyond retail.
His phone buzzed again.
This time—
Future Ethan.
The screen flickered slightly before the message loaded.
Shorter than usual.
More fragmented.
"Attention has increased faster than projected."
Ethan swallowed.
Projected?
"You are ahead of schedule."
Ahead of schedule meant one thing.
He was accelerating the timeline.
"Reduce visibility."
Then the typing bubble appeared.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
Stopped.
Finally—
"He notices anomalies."
He.
Victor.
Ethan's pulse pounded in his ears.
That afternoon, Victor called again.
This time Ethan answered.
"Mr. Carter," Victor's voice was warm, smooth. "I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."
Ethan forced a calm tone. "Just busy."
"Of course. Talented young men usually are."
There was a pause.
Then—
"You've been investing."
Ethan's grip tightened around the phone.
"Everyone invests."
Victor chuckled lightly. "Not like you."
Silence stretched.
This was a test.
Victor didn't accuse. He implied.
"I have access to certain analytics," Victor continued casually. "Pattern recognition. Capital flow modeling. Sometimes anomalies appear."
Anomalies.
That word again.
Ethan said nothing.
Victor's voice lowered slightly.
"I enjoy backing anomalies."
A hook wrapped in velvet.
Funding.
Protection.
Resources.
Or surveillance.
"I'd like to meet again," Victor said. "No pressure. Just conversation."
Ethan stared at the campus quad in front of him.
Students laughed.Birds crossed the sky.The world looked normal.
But it wasn't.
"Alright," Ethan said finally.
"Good," Victor replied smoothly. "I think we can build something extraordinary together."
The call ended.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
Future message.Anonymous text.Victor's analytics.
He was no longer invisible.
And invisibility had been his greatest advantage.
His phone buzzed one more time.
Future Ethan.
Only three words.
"Slow down. Now."
Ethan looked at his trading account.
His gains were growing.
So were the eyes on him.
For the first time since the phone arrived—
He hesitated.
And hesitation, he knew, could change everything.