Chapter 10 — A Diary, A Fallen City

【Looks like you found it.】 【Give me 24 hours. Take the diary to the abandoned dock west of the city. Go alone.】 【Remember, don't call the police. Otherwise, you will end up like your parents.】 【We... are also looking at you.】 At the end of the message, a photo was attached. The photo is downstairs in my house. A black van without license plates was quietly parked under a dim streetlight. I stood by the window, gently lifting a corner of the curtain. Downstairs, the black van without license plate was like a ferocious beast hiding in the dark, silent, but full of deadly menace. My heart was beating very fast, but my mind was strangely alert. Report to the police? That thought only flashed in my head for exactly a second, then I immediately dismissed it. The other party could find out my parents' past, could find me with such precision, and even know the existence of the diary. The force behind it was definitely not something ordinary police could deal with. Casually reporting to the police will only cause snakes to move, and may even be true to their threats, causing me to follow in my parents' footsteps. Chu Minh Khai is right. This is a game. A game I was forced into, having to bet with my life. The only card in my hand right now is this diary. I can't hand it over. Once I hand it over, I will lose the last useful value. I don't need to think about what the outcome will be. But I also can't not go. That was the ultimatum they gave me. I had to go, and moreover, I had to think of a way to break this situation while ensuring my own safety. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. I returned to the living room, placed the dark blue-covered diary on the coffee table, then took out my phone and started taking photos. Page by page, page by page, then page by page. I took extremely careful photos, making sure every word, every number, every document stuck in it was clear. I took pictures of the whole notebook for nearly two hours. After that, I compressed all the photos, encrypted them, and sent them to lawyer Phuong through a special channel. In the email, I just wrote one sentence:

“If I do not contact you within 24 hours, please hand over this document to the Supreme People's Procuracy.”

After sending successfully, I deleted all photos and email history on my phone. Having finished everything, I looked at the diary on the table and fell into contemplation. The diary is absolutely impossible to take away. I need a replacement. Something enough to change the truth, enough to help me buy time to escape. I think of Chu Minh Khai. No, more accurately, I'm thinking of the divorce agreement he left behind. I picked up the agreement and looked at his resentful dragon and phoenix signature at the bottom of the page. A plan slowly took shape in my head. I took out the printer and scanner in the house. Use the highest resolution to scan Chu Minh Khai's signature on the divorce agreement. After that, I found a notebook that was almost identical to the one my father gave me in the past, and also had a password lock. I used software on the computer to simulate my father's handwriting and faked a few pages of the book. The content is not important, but the format and presentation are exactly the same as my father's notes. I printed out those pages and carefully pasted them into a new notebook. The most important step is “evidence”. Pasted copies of transfer documents In the real notebook, I can't fake it. I stared at the divorce agreement and suddenly had a bold thought. I used a red pen to circle the terms on asset division and left empty-handed in the agreement. After that, I carefully tore out those pages, folded them neatly, and pasted them to the end of the fake notebook. Having finished everything, I looked at the "masterpiece" in front of me and nodded with satisfaction. From the outside, it looks exactly like a real diary. When opened, inside there were "my father's handwriting", there were "items" that looked real, and there were even a few pages of appendices that looked like "key evidence". Enough so that before the other party discovered the truth, I had a few precious minutes. Next is the location. Abandoned dock west of the city. I opened the map and began to carefully study the terrain there. The vast dock, closely packed warehouses, and containers stacked as high as mountains, are the perfect place to ambush... and also perfect to run away. The opponent chose that place, clearly having prepared everything. I can't just walk into the trap they set. I need someone to help me. Someone… who can create chaos, stretch time, give me a chance to survive. In my mind, Chu Minh Khai's face appeared — fear, regret, despair. No one is more suitable than him.