Chapter 16 — From Collapse to Brilliance: I Don't Need You

Diệu Kỳ decided it was time to approach Nhật Lam more directly and openly. She arranged to meet her friend on a weekend evening, at a quiet tea shop away from campus, where there was no danger of anyone from the old lab stumbling upon her.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me," Diệu Kỳ said, when they both sat down at the small tea table.

Nhật Lam looked at her, his eyes a bit searching. "You didn't ask me out here just to ask about my health, right?"

Diệu Kỳ smiled slightly, silently thanking her friend's inherent sophistication for helping the conversation get straight to the point faster. "That's right. I need to tell you something important, related to Ý Nhi."

She recounted, with carefully selected details, how her research project at the Dawn Institute had just been intentionally slandered by someone with fake documents, and indirect evidence showed that Ý Nhi was closely involved in this conspiracy.

After listening to Nhật Lam, he did not show any surprise as Diệu Kỳ predicted. On the contrary, she sighed, as if a burden that had been suppressed in her heart for a while was now somewhat relieved. "I've suspected this for a long time. Since you left, I've been quietly taking notes of the unusual things I observed, just like you suggested."

She took out a small notebook from her bag and opened it to pages filled with notes. "I write down almost everything, even though I don't know if I'll ever use it or not. But there's something I think you need to know right away."

She recounted, her voice becoming more serious. "About three months ago, Thảo My once showed me a text message that he said was from you, sent to a mutual friend, which contained some rather unpleasant statements about him and Đình Vũ - like criticizing the two of them for working slowly and relying on you. I remember very clearly, because at that time I found it strange, because the style in that message was not at all like the way you usually talk."

Diệu Kỳ heart beats faster. "Did you ask Thảo My where he got that message from?"

"I asked," Nhật Lam replied. "Thảo My said that Ý Nhi accidentally took a photo from a mutual friend's phone, when that person accidentally revealed the screen while reviewing old messages. But I noticed that Ý Nhi is always the only one who has this type of 'evidence', no one else has ever personally witnessed their true origin."

This is exactly the trick that Diệu Kỳ remembers clearly from her previous life — fake messages, sophisticatedly disguised with image editing tools, always presented with a vague origin story, impossible to directly verify, but convincing enough to sow doubt in the hearts of listeners.

"Do you still remember the specific content of that message?" Diệu Kỳ asked.

Nhật Lam tried to remember, then shook his head. "I only remember roughly, I can't remember the full text. But I can ask Thảo My again if he still has that screenshot. Maybe he still has it saved on his phone."

"If that's possible, that would be great," Diệu Kỳ said, feeling a glimmer of hope. If Thảo My still retains that screenshot, it could be important digital evidence — because a photo taken from another photo, or a message spliced with fake photos, often leaves digital traces that can be detected through in-depth analysis, similar to how she discovered fake documents in her project case.

"But I have to ask tactfully," Nhật Lam said, his voice thoughtful. "If Thảo My knows I'm investigating Ý Nhi on your behalf, he might get defensive and even tell Ý Nhi. I need to think of a reasonable reason to ask about the past without making him suspicious." Diệu Kỳ nodded, grateful for her friend's sophistication and caution. "You're right to be careful. We can't let Ý Nhi know that we're being investigated, otherwise she will be even more careful, even erasing all remaining traces." The two continued to talk for a while, reviewing all the suspicious events that had happened over the past year - from the rumors about Diệu Kỳ "knowing something was going on", to Đình Vũ gradually becoming cold, to the times Ý Nhi "accidentally" appeared at the moment when conflicts arose in the group. Each disparate piece of the puzzle, when placed side by side, begins to form a complete, indisputable picture of a systematic campaign of psychological manipulation, carried out by the same hand.

"I just don't understand," Nhật Lam said, her voice filled with concern, "why Ý Nhi does these things? She is trusted by the whole group, highly appreciated by Mr. Tuan, there is no need to harm anyone to get that position."

Diệu Kỳ was silent for a moment, thinking about what she had understood about Ý Nhi through many years of observation, even though only she knew the deep origin of that understanding. "There are people who, no matter how successful they are, never feel enough, if there is someone shining brighter next to them. For such people, dragging others down is sometimes much easier than rising up yourself." Nhật Lam nodded, his eyes becoming distant. "If that's true, it's scary. A person is willing to ruin another person's life just because he can't stand the feeling of being overshadowed."

"That's right," Diệu Kỳ said, her voice low. "And that's why we need to stop her, before she causes irreparable harm to anyone else."

That evening ended with a tacit agreement between the two friends — Nhật Lam would continue to silently observe, collecting more evidence from inside the lab, while Diệu Kỳ, with Bách Sơn's support, would continue to investigate from the outside. Both understand that this is a war that requires maximum patience and caution, because even a small mistake can make Ý Nhi wary and erase all traces before they can collect enough evidence for a public confrontation.

Nearly a week later, Nhật Lam texted to meet Diệu Kỳ urgently. When the two met at a familiar tea shop, Nhật Lam seemed excited and worried. "I asked Thảo My nicely. He still kept the screenshot of that message. Because he was so sad at the time, he saved it to 'look back at it sometimes to remind himself to be more careful in relationships'. I asked him to send it back to me, saying he wanted to see it out of curiosity."

She showed the phone to Diệu Kỳ to see the photo. Diệu Kỳ looked at the screen, feeling cold down her spine as she read the words that were supposed to be hers - harsh words, completely foreign to the way she usually communicated with her friends. But with an eye trained through months of self-study in digital forensics, she quickly noticed some unusual features in the messaging app interface layout shown in the photo — the font displaying the sender's name had a very slight deviation from the app's default font, almost impossible to detect with the naked eye without careful zooming and comparison.

"Can you send this photo to me?" Diệu Kỳ asked, trying to keep a calm tone even though an indescribable emotion was rising in his heart - both anger at the cruelty of the trick, and relief because he finally had tangible evidence that could be seriously analyzed digitally.

"Of course," Nhật Lam replied, immediately sending the photo via text message. "What are you going to do with it?"

"I will ask someone with expertise to analyze it more closely," Diệu Kỳ said. "If it's as I think, this is an edited photo, not taken directly from a real conversation. This could be an important piece to help us prove that Ý Nhi fabricated evidence to break up the friendship between me and Thảo My." Nhật Lam nodded, his eyes shining with a ray of hope. "I hope the truth will be revealed soon. I'm tired of the atmosphere of mutual suspicion in the lab over the past year."

Diệu Kỳ gently held her friend's hand, her eyes steady. "Soon. We're getting closer to the truth every day."

On the way back, Diệu Kỳ immediately sent the photo to Bách Sơn along with a brief message reporting its entire origin. Less than an hour later, he called back, his voice filled with rare excitement. "I asked the institute's technical department for a preliminary analysis. They confirmed that the photo showed signs of being edited in the display name, using a font that is similar but not entirely identical to the original font of the most popular messaging application today. This is a technical sign that is very difficult to recognize with the naked eye, but can be completely proven with a specialized image analysis tool."

Diệu Kỳ held the phone tightly, her heart pounding. This is the first digital evidence, specific and independently verifiable, proving that Ý Nhi intentionally fabricated evidence to break up the friendship between her and Thảo My. Although the road ahead is still long, she clearly feels that the pieces of the truth are gradually being put together, and the day Ý Nhi has to face the consequences of what she has done is not far away.