Chapter 18 — From Collapse to Brilliance: I Don't Need You

On Monday morning, Diệu Kỳ was summoned to an emergency inspection meeting at the office of Professor Lương Vĩnh Đạt, director of the Breaking Dawn Institute. The meeting room was small but solemn, with Professor Dat sitting in the chair position, Mr. Thái Bình Nguyên representing the inspection department sitting next to him, and Bách Sơn sitting on the opposite side, looking tense but still trying to maintain the necessary composure.

"Tôn Diệu Kỳ," Professor Dat started, his voice serious. "We received a report from the technical team that the volunteer's dosage records were illegally edited, leading to serious side effects. System access traces showed a suspicious match with your account. Do you have anything to explain?"

Diệu Kỳ sat up straight, trying to keep his voice calm even though his heart was pounding. "Teacher, at the time the change in records was recorded, I was attending a scientific conference in another city, completely away from campus. I had all the evidence confirming my presence — photos, text messages, confirmation from the conference organizers, and even location data from my phone."

She placed on the table a stack of documents she had prepared the night before, including a confirmation letter from the conference organizers, time-stamped and geolocated photos, and a list of people who could testify to her presence throughout the weekend.

Mr. Thái Bình Nguyên looked at the documents and nodded. "This is reliable evidence of your physical absence. But," he paused, his eyes becoming sharper, "accessing the data system does not necessarily require physical presence on campus. With a remote network connection, you can log into the system from absolutely anywhere, including from the city where you attended the conference. An alibi of your physical presence, unfortunately, is not enough to rule out the possibility that you accessed from far."

Those words caused the whole room to fall into a heavy silence. Diệu Kỳ felt a cold run down her spine - this was exactly the trap that she had not fully anticipated. She was so focused on proving that she was not present at the scene that she forgot that, in the digital age, physical absence does not mean the inability to intervene remotely.

She glanced at Bách Sơn and saw that he was also frowning, clearly realizing the dangerous flaw in their defense argument. If nothing else can be proven, this meeting could completely end with her being temporarily suspended for further investigation — an outcome that, if it happens, will cause her credibility to collapse almost immediately, regardless of whether she is later exonerated or not.

Diệu Kỳ took a deep breath, tried to calm down, and let her mind operate as sharply as possible. She recalled everything she had learned about digital forensics over the past several months — not only about how to prove absences, but also about how to analyze network access traces to determine the true origin of a connection.

"Teacher, Mr. Nguyen," she said, her voice gradually regaining stability, "I would like to ask, does the recorded access trace include the IP address or network location information of that connection?"

Mr. Nguyen reviewed the documents and nodded. "Yes, the system does record the IP address of that suspicious login session."

"Then I would like to ask permission to compare," Diệu Kỳ said. "If possible, please show me that IP address, and if possible, please ask the inspection department to help look up the approximate geographical location of that IP address. If you have indeed logged in remotely while in the conference city, that IP address must match the area you are staying in, or at least the mobile network you are using at the time. You can provide your mobile data usage receipt for comparison."

It was a gamble, but one based on the solid understanding she had accumulated — spoofing an IP address to look like she came from a specific location, she knew, was extremely difficult, especially if the attacker did not have deep network expertise. If Ý Nhi made a fake login from somewhere in the city where the project took place or nearby, the IP address will reveal a clear difference.

Mr. Nguyen, after a moment of hesitation, agreed to let the technical department investigate on the spot. A few minutes later, the results were projected onto the big screen in the conference room: the IP address of the suspicious login session was determined to originate from a public internet cafe, located right in the city where the campus is located — completely unrelated to any area near the city where the conference that Diệu Kỳ was attending was located.

The room was once again filled with silence, but this time it was a completely different silence. Professor Dat looked at the screen, then looked at Diệu Kỳ. "If this IP address is correct, and you can prove you were hundreds of kilometers away at the time, then clearly, someone else used some method to fake the login trace, making it look like it came from your account."

"That's right," Diệu Kỳ said, feeling a wave of relief flow through her body, even though she knew she wasn't completely out of danger. "I believe that the person behind this incident used the stolen login information of another employee, who had access to the system, to make unauthorized changes, and intentionally left traces pointing back to my account to blame," Bách Sơn, at this moment, spoke up, his voice full of determination. "I request the inspection department to expand the investigation, re-examine all access logs of the staff on duty that weekend, as well as review system emails sent in the week before the incident, to determine whether any fraudulent attempts to appropriate login information occurred." Mr. Nguyen nodded and wrote down the request. "I will proceed with this immediately. But I also have to make it clear that until there is a final conclusion, Diệu Kỳ still needs to temporarily stop participating directly in sensitive stages of the project, to ensure the objectivity of the investigation." Diệu Kỳ nodded, accepting that condition, although she couldn't help but feel heavy in her heart. She understands that this is a necessary and fair measure, but it also means that, in the near future, she will have to stand on the sidelines of the project she has worked so hard to build, while the person behind all the plots is still free to act.

Leaving the meeting, Diệu Kỳ and Bách Sơn walked out into the hallway together, both breathing a sigh of relief even though they knew that this was just a small battle in a long war. "You handled that situation very well," Bách Sơn said, his eyes filled with admiration. "I really can't think of a way to match IP addresses that quickly."

"I'm just lucky to have remembered that in time," Diệu Kỳ replied, even though she knew clearly in her heart that it was not luck, but the result of countless nights of diligent self-study, preparing for this very moment of life and death. "But I'm worried that the opponent won't give up easily after this defeat. We need to quickly find positive evidence about the true identity of the person behind it, before she has the chance to perform another, more dangerous attack." Bách Sơn nodded, his eyes became serious. "We won't let that happen. This time, we'll be one step ahead."

On the way home, Diệu Kỳ stopped by the hospital to ask about the volunteer's health status, although he was not allowed to meet in person due to patient information confidentiality regulations while the investigation was ongoing. She could only stand in the hallway and listen to a nurse she knew say that, after timely treatment, his condition had gradually stabilized, although he still needed to be monitored for a while to fully assess the extent of the long-term effects.

That news made Diệu Kỳ breathe a sigh of relief, but also made her more determined to bring Ý Nhi to justice. She thought of that strange man, of the family who worried every hour at his bedside, of his dream of curing the rare disease in which he had put all his trust in this research project. All of that, now, had been turned into a tool in the hands of someone who, out of jealousy, was willing to harm anyone who got in her way, whether they had anything to do with her personal vendetta or not.

"We have to hurry," Diệu Kỳ whispered to herself, as she walked out of the hospital gate, the pale afternoon sunlight covering the road in front of her. "Not only for me, but also for everyone who could become the next victim, if she is not stopped in time."