Chapter 14 — Floating Market Without Water

The USB was in the porridge box An's mother brought to the editorial office.

Mom said a person wearing a raincoat put the box on the boat at dawn, but didn't give his name. An opened the lid of the box and saw the USB wrapped in a nylon bag and a piece of paper:

“The data is not enough to save anyone, but it is enough to know the time.”

The editorial office does not have secure computers. An called the editor, disconnected the internet, and used the old machine just to copy. Files on the USB include maintenance logs, flow tables, vehicle schedules and twelve video cameras.

Video of the secondary settling tank from a far angle. Vinh appeared many times, always after 2 hours, wearing a protective vest. One time Duy came along. Another time there were people from the cooperative.

“Is there a file name?” asked the editor.

“Yes. But some files were renamed.”

Khai looked at the list. "The old name of the operating file often had the door code. The person who changed the name deleted the code."

An opens the flow table. On days when the market is empty, the southern branch increases; On days when the water level is low, the factory reduces capacity on the report but increases in the internal log. The data shows a steady gap.

“Who sent it?” An asked his mother.

Mom shook her head. "That person told me not to ask. They were afraid."

Khai said the sender could be Vinh. Duy objected over the phone:

“Vinh does not have permission to access the internal server.”

“But he has a broken key,” An replied.

“The key is not the data right.”

“So who has the data rights?”

Duy shut up.

I watched the video and discovered that every time Vinh appeared, the camera jerked a frame in the right corner. He adjusted his speed, noticing another person standing outside the light, often holding a walkie-talkie. That person never goes into the tank.

“Maybe the watchman,” Ti said.

“Or the one who gave the order,” An replied.

The editor asked them not to give the file out. An agreed, but called the environmental department to compare the data. Officials say internal diaries are not legal enough if the source and chain of preservation are not identified.

“So what should we do?”

“Keep the device intact, do not modify it, make a record of the deliverer.”

An's mother heard and said she did not know the name of the delivery person.

“So there are no records,” An said.

“Can write down who received the box and when.”

An record.

In the afternoon, Duy went to the newspaper office. He didn't ask for a USB, just asked to watch a video. An showed him a scene where Vinh entered the tank with a person wearing a jacket with the cooperative logo.

Duy looked at the other person for a long time.

“That's Miss Hanh,” he said.

“Who is Hanh?”

“In charge of the cooperative's calendar.”

An called Mrs. Hanh. She did not deny having entered the tank. She said the cooperative used to send people to check to see if the factory discharged on schedule. She doesn't have a measuring device, she just records the time in a book.

“Why didn't you report?”

“I'll tell Mrs. Sau.”

“Mrs. Sau knows?”

Mrs. Hanh shut up.

Ms. Sau came to the newspaper office afterward. She admitted that the cooperative had known for many months that the factory had opened the south branch outside of schedule, but had no water samples. She was afraid that if she reported, the factory would withdraw support.

“We were planning to renegotiate,” she said.

“How long will it take?”

“Until there is proof.”

“Yes now.”

“Data sent anonymously.”

“Do you receive part of the data?”

Ms. Sau did not answer immediately. She took a notebook from her pocket and placed it next to the USB. The book has the same operating hours but in Ms. Hanh's handwriting.

“I kept it,” she said. “I didn't give it because I was afraid the person who wrote it would lose his job.”

An looked at her. “You want me to make it public?”

"I want you to be right. The cooperative wasn't just fooled by the factory. We chose not to look."

Duy stood up. “If you put unverified data in the newspaper, the factory will sue.”

Mrs. Sau turned to you. “What if the data is right?”

Duy did not reply.

That night, An copied the USB into three copies, one for the environmental department, one for the lawyer and one for Mr. Nam's workshop. Ti placed the camera in front of the screen to take a checksum, even though he didn't fully understand the terminology.

When An was about to write, a video file opened automatically. In the frame, Vinh looked straight at the camera and placed a stack of papers on the tank lid. People outside the light said:

“If the market asks, say this is treated water.”

That person's voice belongs to Mrs. Sau.

An did not view the file right on the boat. She gave the USB to the lawyer and recognized her mother as the recipient of the box, even though she did not know the name of the delivery person. They made a simple record: time, location, sealing status, witnesses.

Khai says if the file is fake, they are being led away. An replied that if they don't check, they are also letting others decide the path.

They open the copy using an offline machine. The first video shows Vinh entering the tank at 2:09 a.m., holding a walkie-talkie. The second video shows the M-17 door opening at 2:17 a.m. The third video has Duy standing outside, but he is not seen giving orders. The fourth video is Ms. Hanh recording the time on the notebook.

An stops at each segment, recording file time and image quality. I took a screenshot with my camera so that if my computer crashes I still have the image.

“I just take pictures of everything,” An said.

“Because everything can disappear.”

“Don't let that sentence be the reason you don't delete anything.”

Ti nodded.

Duy came and asked to watch the video with his presence. Let me see. Duy said he came to the tank because he received a report of increased pressure and did not know the door had opened. He directed the pump to be turned off during rainy periods because the residential area was at risk of flooding.

“Why did you stand outside and not come in?” An asked.

“I have no right to enter the sealed area.”

“But do you have the right to give orders to others?”

“I called an ambulance.”

“Who are you calling?”

Duy gave the call schedule. The first round is for the operations department, the second round is for the government. There was no call from Ms. Van, but Duy said he sent a message.

“Is there a message?” An asked.

“The device is kept by the company.”

Khai looked at the file and realized that the broken camera used the factory system but saved the backup copy at the cooperative. Ms. Sau asked who sent the data. Ms. Hanh said the sender met her first and told her that if the server was deleted, she would have to keep the paper copy.

“Why didn't you say?” An asked.

“Because that person said they would lose their job.”

“Do you know who they are?”

Mrs. Hanh shook her head. “I only know the accent.”

“Male or female voice?”

"I don't know. They spoke quietly."

Part of the data shows that people in the cooperative entered the tank. Ms. Sau admitted that she sent Ms. Hanh to check the schedule, but did not have the authority to act on the valve. Hanh said she only recorded the time.

“So who filmed?” An asked.

No one knows.

Looking at the frame, I saw that the camera angle was set lower than the person. The spinner can be hidden under the filter barrel. He said Vinh did not film because he appeared in the whole frame.

“Maybe the camera is automatic,” Duy replied.

“The automatic camera doesn't reset the angle,” Ti said.

Duy looked at him, not smiling.

An asked Vinh. He said the secondary camera was installed in advance, but the data manager is the technical department. I don't know who turned on save mode.

Khai pointed to the file with a voice saying: "If the market asks, say this is treated water." That voice resembles Mrs. Sau, but the sound is distorted. Ms. Sau did not deny it, saying she had said the same thing when instructing people to receive water, because at that time she trusted the factory's data.

I don't call it a command.

At night, the editorial office received a request to remove old articles. The editor asked An if he wanted to include anonymous data next series.

An replied: "Not sure. So I will record it as data provided by an unknown person, not used alone to draw conclusions."

In the last file, Vinh looks straight into the camera. Behind him, door M-17 opened. People outside the light said:

“If the market asks, say this is treated water.”

That person's voice belongs to Mrs. Sau.

An created a comparison table between the anonymous video, Mrs. Hanh's book and the pressure calendar. The three sources did not exactly match, but they all showed that the door opened between 2:09 and 2:25. She wrote down the time, not choosing a fine minute.

Duy added call log. At 2:17, he called the operations room, then called the neighborhood officials. He did not call Ms. Sau, because he thought the cooperative already had someone at the wharf.

“That's the wrong assumption,” he said.

Ms. Sau listened and replied: "I also assume the factory will notify itself."

Khai says the system is created by such assumptions. One person thinks the other is responsible, then the water flows through the gap.

Ti recovered another frame. The person who placed the secondary camera did not show his face, but left the sound of breathing and the sound of the filter barrel hitting. He compared it to the recording on a rainy day, which was not enough to recognize the voice.

“Don't try to turn sounds into names,” An reminded.

“I just want to know.”

“Knowing is not enough if you are wrong.”

Ti nodded, then wrote "unidentified person" in the caption.

Ms. Hanh gave a list of people who had the right to enter the tank. There is a retired name, a unit transfer and a joint account. The longer the data, the less compact the responsibility.

An asked Vinh if he knew which admin account deleted the log. He said he only knew the display name "admin". No one can open evidence from a common name.

The editorial office kept the USB in the safe, but An still kept a copy of the photo on Ti's camera. Each person keeps a part, no one keeps it all.

At the end of the day, the factory sent a notice wanting to have a dialogue. Ms. Sau requested that the meeting be recorded, have questions from the people, and have minutes.

Duy texted: "I agree."

An asked: "Do you have the right to agree?"

He replied: “I will be responsible for asking for permission.”