Chapter 1 — Don't Press the Submit Button

My best friend called me, crying, saying her mother was hospitalized and couldn't return in time. She asked me to help her submit her contest entry. Tonight was the deadline. We both entered this contest, my work was submitted a long time ago. I was just about to agree when the computer mouse suddenly vibrated. "Definitely don't click!" "After you help her submit her work, the first prize and her 200,000 prize money will be lost!" "She also livestreamed saying she was an academic thief, causing her to lose the prize money, her mother had no money for medical treatment, so she passed away. She would be abused by the whole social network, and would also have to bear a huge debt, and in the end the house would be ruined!" My hands trembled, immediately. shrink back. The mouse made a sound again. I closed the website, opened WeChat and set up a group, bringing in both the instructor and Mr. Tran in charge of the project. 1I called the group directly. Teacher Tran immediately picked up the phone: "Lam Niem, it's almost twelve o'clock, why are you looking for me so late?" I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice calm. "Teacher Tran, To Tinh's mother was admitted to the hospital, she told me to log in to her account to submit my work for her. Is this in accordance with regulations?" Teacher Truong, the instructor, also participated in the call, his voice carrying a clear sleepiness: "What's wrong? What happened in the middle of the night?" Is that so?" Teacher Tran's voice was a bit more serious: "This is a national academic competition. Candidates arbitrarily manipulating each other's accounts is a serious violation." "To Tinh, you can contact the organizers to ask for an extension, or give me your account and password, I will help you submit it." To Tinh was silent for a few seconds, her sobs just got a little louder, then she started crying again with self-pity. "Teacher Tran, my mother was just hospitalized. I'm so nervous, I forgot my password. Yesterday I went to Niem Niem's dorm. I logged in with her computer, and her computer automatically saved it. "My mind was buzzing. The mouse's voice was still extremely calm. "Immediately take a snapshot of the login time of the files." I tightened my grip, my nails digging deep into my palm. "To Tinh, didn't you hear? Teacher Tran said he could help you contact the organizers, following the official process." To Tinh did not speak. After Mr. Tran hung up the phone, a man's voice suddenly came from the other end of the line. It's my boyfriend, Chu Can Nien. "Lam Niem, do you have a problem with your mentality?" "To Tinh is your best friend, her mother is in the intensive care unit, she could die at any time. Can't you help? If you press the submit button to help her, will you die?" He paused for a moment, his tone even more bitter. "Why didn't you realize that I was this type of person before? Selfish, cold-blooded, not wanting to see others live well. Are you afraid that To Tinh's work is better than yours so you deliberately don't help?" "Now you refuse to do even the slightest thing, are you still worthy of being human?" I stared at the phone screen. It's almost twelve o'clock, why is he at To Tinh's place? The mouse vibrated. "Definitely don't listen to him. He's right next to To Tinh now!" "After she died, the next day he would publicly date To Tinh!" "In the livestream room, he hugged To Tinh, telling hundreds of thousands of people: 'Since freshman year, Hua Niem has been copying To Tinh's work. I saw with my own eyes her copying files from To Tinh's computer.'" "He gave all the copies." The sketch she once sent him to To Tinh was edited and turned into iron evidence proving that To Tinh did it first, and she copied it later. If everyone thinks for To Tinh, then who will think for me? Should I use my life?

to think for them? My fingers were still shaking a bit, but my mind was more alert than ever. I downloaded the group call recording, saved it to Baidu Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud, creating three backup copies. After that, I called the security room under the dormitory. "Uncle Vuong, my name is Lam Niem in room 403, building 6. Can you help me with something? I will make a video call." Uncle Vuong received the video call. I pointed the phone camera at the computer screen. "Uncle Vuong, my computer has my classmates' exam accounts and passwords saved. To avoid suspicion, I want to take a snapshot of the time properties of all the files in front of you." I opened the file properties section and took pictures one by one. Time of sketch creation: 23:47 on November 5 last year. Time to create first draft: 14:33 on January 12 this year. Time to complete the final version: 9:15 a.m. on March 20. "I'm done taking pictures, Uncle Vuong. I'll take the computer down and leave it in the security room. From now on, I won't touch this computer anymore. I'll wait until tomorrow when Mr. Tran comes to handle it directly. I'd like you to testify for me." Uncle Vuong nodded: "Okay, bring it down here." I closed the computer, used my phone to record a video from the moment I turned off the screen, put the device in my bag, and walked out. room, go downstairs, enter the security room and deliver it to Uncle Vuong. The whole process has only one continuous shot. The security room's surveillance camera fully recorded the time it took me to complete everything. 23 hours 58 minutes. There are only two minutes left before the submission deadline. Videos and photos are synced to three cloud storages. After returning to the dormitory, I texted Mr. Tran: "Teacher Tran, my computer has been deposited in the security room, the entire process has video evidence. Before, To Tinh used my computer to log into my exam account. To avoid suspicion, please help me directly delete the saved password tomorrow." Teacher Tran immediately replied: "You did it right. Tomorrow morning I will come pick it up at eight o'clock." The mouse's voice softened: "This time, no one has it." You could say she had touched that computer.” The phone screen lit up and then dimmed again. Chu Can Nien and To Tinh took turns sending me messages. 2 At six o'clock in the morning, I stayed up almost all night. As soon as I picked up the phone, I was stunned. To Tinh posted a three-thousand-word article at just after three o'clock in the morning. The attached photo is a selfie she took in a hallway somewhere. Her eyes were red and swollen, and behind her was a blue sign saying the special care room. She said her mother was not going to survive and needed the contest prize money to save her life. Not only did I refuse to help her submit her work, but I also took her work into the competition. She just attached a photo of the conversation. The five words “follow official procedure” that I sent looked like I was sitting on my hands and watching her mother die. The comment section already has hundreds of comments. "How can this kind of person still have the face to live in this world?" "An academic thief who doesn't even let people save his life after stealing is an animal!" My hands are shaking. I want to explain, I want to post the entire recording of the group call that night. The mouse vibrated. "Don't post! Whatever you say now will be cut and distorted." "Chu Can Nien is always ready to stand up as your boyfriend, saying that you edited the photo and made it up. First take a screenshot and save it, don't say anything." I bit my lip, forced myself to open the comment area, take a photo of each comment and save it. Someone found my Weibo account, and hundreds of private messages immediately flooded in. "How did your mother give birth to a person like you?" "Go to hell, you trash, stop wasting air." The phone vibrated continuously. I was numb when I opened each news

message, take a screenshot, save it, then continue to open the next message. It felt like there was a cotton ball stuck in my throat, making it difficult to even breathe. While I was saving the evidence, my roommate Tieu Tran sat up in bed. She hesitated for a long time before whispering: "Nien Niem... This morning at five-thirty, Chu Can Nien came to the dormitory and said you asked him to take the computer to be repaired." "I said the computer wasn't here. He kept asking where the computer was, his expression extremely scary. I didn't dare say it, then he left. "Five-thirty. A layer of cold sweat immediately broke out on my back. I took out my phone with shaking hands and checked the three cloud storages. In Baidu Cloud's login history, at four o'clock in the morning, an IP address somewhere else tried to log in, but entered the wrong password and was blocked by the system. Someone is taking advantage of the night to delete my backups. They want to destroy all my evidence. I immediately changed the passwords to all three vaults and turned on two-step verification with my phone code. My fingers trembled so much that I could barely press the number keys correctly. The mouse gently vibrated. "They couldn't get the computer, and they couldn't log in to the archive anymore." "But next, they would change to another route, from within the school." Sure enough, at ten o'clock in the morning, Mr. Truong sent a message to the graduate student group, telling me to come to the office to talk in the afternoon and not need to attend the group meeting. Five minutes later, a senior sent me a private message: "Someone called anonymously to accuse me of academic misconduct." In the afternoon, when I met Mr. Truong, he threw a photo of To Tinh's files down in front of me, his expression very unsightly. "The time of all the files is earlier than yours. How do you explain?" I just opened my mouth, but before I could speak, the phone vibrated. To Tinh created a group of two hundred people, directly pulled me in and sent a recording: "Lam Niem, I give you the last chance. If you take the initiative to withdraw from the competition, return the work to me, I can not prosecute. Otherwise, I will make a big deal out of it. Think carefully for yourself!" Someone in the group immediately chimed in: "That's right, quickly give me an explanation!" "That's truly shameless, even if you steal it, you won't even admit it!" "There are people who won't admit it!" Being an alumni like that is truly a disgrace!” My phone vibrated frantically. In just a few seconds, more than two hundred messages filled the screen. Every message is forcing me to confess. I left the group and showed Mr. Truong the timeline in the emails I had arranged. The teacher watched for a long time, his expression became more and more serious, and finally raised his head: "The evidence on both sides is very clear, I cannot make a judgment right now." "Tomorrow the academy will arrange for the two sides to meet. I will bring the evidence and explain everything directly." 3 At ten o'clock the next morning, I pushed open the door of the meeting room and walked in. To Tinh's eyes were red and she leaned on Chu Can Nien's shoulder. Seeing me, his eyes avoided for a moment, then his face quickly darkened. Teacher Tran, Teacher Truong and the disciplinary commissioner sat on both sides, looking serious. I sat down. The mouse shook slightly: "Let her speak first." To Tinh began to explain. Seven file photos are displayed on the table one after another. The creation time of each file is earlier than the date I submitted my entry. She raised her head to look at me, tears hanging from her eyelashes. "Nien Niem... I really consider you my best friend. Why do you treat me like that? Now my mother is still in the intensive care unit, I really need that money..." She bowed her head, her shoulders shaking violently. Chu Can Nien immediately caught her and gave her a tissue. He has never treated me like that. He raised his head and looked at the teachers: