Chapter 5 — Dead Man's Special Award

Nam did not deny receiving money from Minh Khang.

He took Thu to a cafe without cameras and told him that Huy had hired him to set up a legal fund for whistleblowers. Part of the money was transferred to Nam's account, but it was clearly stated as a lawyer's fee. Huy asked him to hide the transaction to avoid being tracked.

“Why didn't you say?” Thu asked.

“Because Huy said if I knew, I would make myself a target.”

Thu put the list on the table. “You are already a target.”

Nam looked at her name. "This is a fake account. If the company uses it, they will make up a story about you receiving embezzled money."

They need an incorruptible proof. Nam contacted an independent notary to seal the data, and Thu found an employee who worked with Huy.

The only person who agreed to meet was Ngoc, in charge of the records warehouse. Ngoc said that on the night of the fire, Huy was taken out the back door and not into the warehouse. The person who took him away was a bodyguard named Quang, currently working for the director.

Ngoc handed over an access card, but as soon as Thu took it, a black car drove past. Ngoc was knocked down. The card fell into the manhole.

Thu pulled her onto the sidewalk. Ngoc could only say: "Huy is still alive after the fire."

That news turned all assumptions upside down. Huy may have been hiding, or being held somewhere.

Nam received a call from an unknown number. The other person said: "The ticket is a decoy. The real dead person is in the basement cold storage."

Thu and Nam sneaked into Minh Khang's basement at midnight. They found a locked room with a generator, blankets and medicine boxes inside.

On the wall are dozens of photos of Huy, taken the day after he was declared dead.

The last photo was taken two days ago. Huy stood in front of a small altar, holding another ticket.

Behind the photo, there is an arrow pointing to the name **Ngoc**.

Thu called Ngoc three times but the phone was turned off. She and Nam checked Minh Khang's transportation schedule and discovered that cold storage was used to store records during the days the company was preparing for an audit. Huy could have been kept there, but could also have disappeared on his own to set a trap.

They arrived at the warehouse at noon, pretending to be a maintenance team. The security guard did not check the documents, just looked at the access card Ngoc gave and opened the gate. It was freezing cold inside, rows of tarpaulin-covered shelves stretching to the end of the house.

Behind a shelf containing old servers, Thu saw dried blood and a blue button. Huy often wears shirts of that color. Nam didn't say anything, but his hand clenched so tightly that it turned white.

A knocking sound echoed from the freezer room. Thu opened the door, only to see an empty chair and the heater running. On the chair is a piece of paper: **Living people do not need to be rescued if they have chosen their path.**

Thu realized Huy wanted them to find the right place, not to be dragged out. She followed the wires to the small room in the back. A camera is recording the document shelf, while the screen shows the real time of the Project 14 office.

On the screen, Trong gave Duy a ring similar to Huy's ring. Duy said a funeral must be held to block all investigations.

Nam looked at the video and admitted that he knew about the plan to create a fake death but did not know that Huy would use the ticket to activate his account. Thu was angry, but there wasn't enough time to argue.

They copied cameras. Before leaving the warehouse, a warning appears: **Unknown device logged in.**

Huy is watching them from afar.