Chapter 19 — From Collapse to Brilliance: I Don't Need You

A week later, the inspection department's extensive investigation had enough grounds to convene an official confrontation session, much larger in scale than the previous closed meeting. This is no longer an internal matter of the Breaking Dawn Institute. The entire school's disciplinary council was established, with the participation of Professor Lương Vĩnh Đạt, Mr. Thái Bình Nguyên, representative of the training department, and Professor Đoàn Khắc Tuấn, invited as a witness because he was the direct instructor of both Diệu Kỳ and Ý Nhi.

The news spread quickly in school. Thảo My, Đình Vũ, and Nhật Lam were all asked to be present. Khuong and the intern who was accidentally taken advantage of by Ý Nhi also received invitations to attend.

Diệu Kỳ sat on one side of the table, Bách Sơn sat next to her. Opposite, Trịnh Ý Nhi sat with her back straight, her face still maintaining a familiar calm and fragile expression. But Diệu Kỳ, who had observed her for two lifetimes, noticed a small tension at the corner of Ý Nhi's mouth - a sign of someone preparing for the final game.

Professor Dat tapped lightly on the table to open the meeting. "Today, we will clarify the entire incident related to the incident of editing dosage records that caused serious consequences for volunteers participating in the trial. Please Mr. Nguyen present the results of the expanded investigation."

Mr. Nguyen stood up and opened the file. "We have identified that the unauthorized login session used the information of an on-duty employee. This person admitted to clicking on a link in a fake email, pretending to be an official system maintenance notice. We traced that email to be sent from an anonymous account, created less than a day before the incident."

The whole room was silent. Ý Nhi still sat motionless, her hands clasped together on the table.

"But," Mr. Nguyen continued, "we cannot directly determine the identity of the email sender using normal technical measures."

This is the moment Ý Nhi has been waiting for. She stood up, her voice trembling, in the same vulnerable manner she had practiced over the years. "Dear Council, I would like to speak. I feel very hurt standing here, in this situation. But I think, I have a responsibility to say something that I have kept hidden for so long."

She turned to look at Diệu Kỳ, her eyes filled with tears. "Since the day Ms. Diệu Kỳ changed majors, I've always heard rumors that she acted strangely, knew many things in advance but no one understood why. I didn't dare to believe it, until recently, when I accidentally discovered that she had asked many times about my personal life and past in an unusual way, as if trying to make up a story to blame me."

Professor Dat frowned. "Do you have proof for what you just said?"

"I have a text message exchanged between me and my friend Khuong," Ý Nhi said, her shaking hand holding out a phone. "In there, Ms. Diệu Kỳ asked Khuong to ask for information about me, about my past at my old school. I think, perhaps it was Ms. Diệu Kỳ who was deliberately setting up to harm me, to hide her real mistakes in the project."

The room was buzzing. This is a sophisticated counterattack - turning the investigator into a suspect, taking advantage of exactly what Diệu Kỳ had secretly done to learn about Ý Nhi, turning it into evidence for an opposite plot.

Diệu Kỳ stood up, his voice rang out, firmly, without any trembling. "I admit, I learned about Ý Nhi. But not to harm her, but because I suspected she was the person behind the plot to slander me, right from the first fake document case."

"Isn't this proof that you're trying to blame me?" Ý Nhi asked, her voice choked. "You suspected me, then secretly investigated me, and now that everything was discovered, you turned to accuse me to protect yourself."

Bách Sơn stood up, his voice was calm but powerful. "Your Honor, I would like to present a series of evidence that has been systematically gathered, not just over the course of a few days, but over the course of many months."

He opened his laptop and connected it to the large screen in the meeting room. "First, please review the first fake document, which was sent anonymously to the inspection department a few months ago." A technical analysis appears on the screen, clearly showing each deviation in font, format, and fake electronic signature compared to the real system standard. "This document was created by someone who is knowledgeable about the project's internal reporting format, but does not have direct access to the system."

Ý Nhi still kept her sad expression. "That doesn't prove it's me."

"Yes," Bách Sơn said, "it alone is not possible. But please invite Mr. Khuong."

Khuong stood up, his voice was a bit shaky but clear. "I would like to confirm that in the time before the incident, I knew and chatted regularly with Ý Nhi via text message. She asked me many times about the research team's data organization and report format, for the reason of writing an essay. I did not think that information could be exploited, until I found out."

Ý Nhi turned, her eyes showing a flash of panic before she could hide it. "Mr. Khuong, why do you say that? We were just having a normal academic exchange."

"I thought so too, until I saw the text message you sent asking me about Diệu Kỳ at the same time as you said," Khuong replied, no longer avoiding her eyes. "I checked my message history. She asked me about Diệu Kỳ first, then two days later I received a message from Ms. Diệu Kỳ asking me to pay attention to see if anyone asked for unusual information about the project. The chronological order is completely opposite to what she just presented."

The meeting room was once again filled with whispers. Ý Nhi sat still, her hands clasped together, her face gradually losing its usual fragile look.

But she hasn't given up yet. "It was just a misunderstanding about the message order," Ý Nhi said, her voice harder. "There is nothing to prove you were behind any of the fake documents." Professor Dat nodded towards Bách Sơn. "Do you have any other evidence?"

"Yes," Bách Sơn said. He clicked the mouse, the screen changed to another image. "Please Ms. Thảo My."

Thảo My stood up, her hands shaking as she held the phone. She looked at Diệu Kỳ for a moment, her eyes filled with regret, then turned to the council. "A few months ago, Ý Nhi showed me a text message, saying it was from Diệu Kỳ, criticizing me and Đình Vũ. I believed it immediately, without thinking about it. Later, when Nhật Lam asked again, I searched for that screenshot."

She gave the phone to Mr. Nguyen. "The technical team of the Breaking Dawn Institute analyzed it for me. They said the font of the sender's name in this photo does not match the original font of the messaging application, proving that this is an edited photo, incorporating Diệu Kỳ's name into another conversation." Mr. Nguyen looked through the attached analysis and nodded in confirmation. "The assessment results match what Ms. Thảo My just presented. This is falsified evidence."

Đình Vũ, sitting in the back row, stood up, his voice heavy. "I also remember. Ý Nhi once told me that Diệu Kỳ changed majors because she knew the risks, making me doubt Diệu Kỳ's responsibility in handing over the job. At that time, I believed it immediately, without asking where the information came from."

Each testimony overlaps, like the last bricks building up a wall of truth. Ý Nhi sat quietly, her face pale, no longer able to maintain her familiar weak look. But her eyes, as they glanced at Diệu Kỳ, were not remorseful — but a cold, vicious glint, as if calculating a final move.

Professor Dat tapped lightly on the table, signaling a pause. "We'll take a fifteen-minute break before continuing with the conclusion."

Diệu Kỳ sat down and let out a long breath. She knows this is not the end. Ý Nhi is still silent about the origin of the fraudulent email, about the real identity behind the unauthorized login session that caused serious consequences for the volunteer. And someone who had put all his effort into such a long-term plan would not be easily defeated by just a few indirect testimonies.

She glanced at Bách Sơn. He nodded slightly, his eyes determined. Both understand, the decisive round is still ahead.

During break time, Diệu Kỳ walked into the hallway, stood next to the window, took a deep breath to calm down. Nhật Lam came closer and gently held her hand. "Are you okay? I thought Ý Nhi was so scary just now. I didn't expect that at the last minute she would even dare to accuse you."

"I'm fine," Diệu Kỳ replied, her voice calmer than she expected. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. It's just that, she still hasn't admitted to the most important part — the phishing email and the unauthorized login session. Without direct evidence for that part, she can still get away with all the remaining charges." Nhật Lam nodded, his eyes worried. "Do you think you can find it?"

Diệu Kỳ looked towards the end of the hallway, where Bách Sơn was talking urgently on the phone with someone, his expression intensely focused. "I believe so. And I believe, the moment she feels the most desperate, is also the moment she is most vulnerable to revealing her flaws."