Chapter 6 — After the Rain, There's No Turning Back

Chu Tu Bach's face turned slightly pale. The sound of rain outside the window gradually became thicker. He suddenly reached out, wanting to hold my hand. I avoid it. His hand stopped in mid-air.

"Kien Vi, I admit I was wrong. But everyone will make mistakes. In our seven-year relationship, do you really not leave any way out?"

I looked at him.

“Did you make a mistake?”

“What do you mean?”

“Making a mistake is forgetting to bring an umbrella, being late to a meeting, saying the wrong sentence.”

“And what you did was steal, fake, and turn a life-saving system into a listing tool.”

“Chu Tu Bach, don't talk about illegal behavior as if it were just carelessness.”

His lips pursed tightly. After a while, he asked:

“Have you never loved me?”

So familiar. After the incident was revealed, the first reaction of some people was not to take responsibility. It's about moving the courtroom into emotions. I bowed my head and finally picked up the cup of cinnamon oolong tea. The tea has cooled, the delicate fragrance floating on the surface of the water.

“Once loved.”

I said.

“So when I found out that you were rotten, I was also hurt.”

Chu Tu Bach's eye sockets turned red. He asked hoarsely:

“So why can't you give me another chance?”

I put down the cup of tea.

“Because I've been in pain doesn't mean I have to be in pain forever.”

I stood up.

"Also, don't talk about seven years."

“Seven years is not a golden excuse.”

“It just reminds me that I've been wasting away long enough.”

The same incident happened a second time three days before the trial. Storm "King Lac" approached the East Sea, water vapor in the outer ring rolled up, Nam Xuyen, Thanh Nhai and Van Do continuously issued warnings of heavy rain. At one o'clock that morning, I received a phone call from the Van Do Emergency Response Office.

"Engineer Trinh, our 'Vu Dang' pilot sites continuously broadcast orange warnings, but the city's unified platform still displays yellow warnings. Can you confirm again?"

I jumped up from bed and opened the computer. The rainfall line on the screen looks like a snake suddenly erecting its spine. The data of three upstream monitoring points appeared abnormal. Soil moisture has nearly reached the limit. To make matters worse, in the valley's echo data there were deep low-frequency noises. That wasn't thunder. It's the sound of small cracks inside the mountain being compressed by rainwater. I immediately called Ky Tram Chu. He picked up the phone very quickly, his voice so alert that it didn't sound like someone who had just been woken up at one in the morning.

“What's going on?”

“There may be landslides in Van Do.”

“What do you need me to do?”

"Contacting the media at this time is not practical. Please contact the provincial emergency response agency and ask them to help me confirm coordination authority. In addition, save the entire contact history."

Ky Tram Chu said:

“Okay.”

You didn't ask why I didn't sleep. Don't tell me not to worry. Sometimes, the best companionship is not forcing you to stay in bed, but when you are about to rush into the wind and rain, he turns on the light for you. At 2:30 a.m., point number three in Van Do raised red alert. But the city level platform still shows yellow. The cause was quickly determined. The unified platform maintained by Trung Hai Technology has integrated the correction model of "Son Hoa Nhung". Judgment model: Zone The area once issued a false warning, downgrading the risk. I looked at that line, and a cold chill ran down my back. False alarm area. What a beautiful calling. Before the floods came down, all warnings seemed like false alarms. Before someone dies, all dangers seem like foresight. At three o'clock in the morning, I sent a full report to the Van Do Emergency Response Office, the provincial emergency response agency, the local meteorological station and Ky Tram Chu. In the last line of the report, I wrote: Proposal to immediately organize the relocation of people in Thanh Thach Cau, Lac Ma Pha and Cuu Kieu Thon at night. It's better to bother people than to wait for natural disasters. Twelve minutes past three, Chu Tu Bach called. I picked up the phone. His voice was forced very low.

“Trinh Kien Vi, please don't casually issue warnings.”

“Arbitrary?”

"The city-level platform has a unified judgment. You go beyond the level and send a red risk report. If nothing happens in the end, can you bear the responsibility?"

I looked at the data on the screen.

“Point number three has turned red.”

“‘Son Hoa Type’ only determines the color yellow.”

“The ‘Son Fire Seed’ has erased the layer of caution.”

I said.

“You understand better than anyone.”

The other end of the line was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was cold.

“Now is not the time for you to prove yourself.”

“Not to prove me.”

I said.

“It's about saving people.”

Chu Tu Bach seemed to have finally lost patience.

“Do you know how many people must be mobilized to move Thanh Thach Cau at night? The elderly, children, sick people, once chaos occurs, who is responsible?”

I said:

“I accept.”

He was stunned. I repeat:

“The report was signed by me, the model was made by me, the recommendations were made by me.”

“If a problem occurs, I am responsible.”

The other end of the line was silent for a long time. I hung up. At three forty minutes, the provincial emergency response agency passed a coordination proposal. At 3:50 a.m., the loudspeaker at the top of Thanh Thach Cau village rang out. 5. I video connect with volunteers at the scene. The screen shook violently. Rainwater hit the lens, the village road turned into a muddy stream. Some people walked around cursing, saying they were still torturing people in the middle of the night. Some people hugged their children, put on plastic raincoats and ran to the elementary school yard. An old lady refused to leave, saying the chickens in the house were not yet locked up. Village officials were so impatient that their voices were hoarse. I said through the screen:

"Grandma, chickens can avoid the rain better than people. People must go first."