Chapter 3 — Lottery Ticket Without Name

The timekeeping machine room is located behind the cafeteria, the door is locked with a magnetic card. Nhi has legal rights, but her card was rejected because the system was "under maintenance".

Quan used his machine repair skills to open the auxiliary electrical panel without breaking the lock. Inside, timekeeping data is stored on an old machine, the fan makes a whirring sound.

They copy logs. On the night Lam disappeared, his card was swiped three times in the computer room, even though the camera showed he was not present.

An admin tag created the fund transfer transaction. The card code belongs to the foreman, but the time of swiping coincides with Tai's shift.

Nhi took a screenshot, then closed the phone. They heard footsteps in the hallway.

The guard said you can't enter the engine room. Nhi gave a written request to preserve the data, but he called the foreman.

Quan and Nhi left through the emergency exit, carrying the chopped copy.

On the road, a truck chased. The troops turned into the warehouse, using the path between the containers. The car stopped and a person threw a glass bottle into the window.

Nhi asked if it was because of the ticket. Quan said it could be because of the USB.

They went to Mrs. Sau's house. She said Lam asked to meet someone outside before he disappeared, who promised to help denounce the factory.

That person's name is Thanh, the owner of the pawn shop.

Quan once borrowed from Thanh. He doesn't just lend; He kept copies of the workers' IDs and knew who was in debt.

Thanh opened the door and told Quan to come pay or change the ticket. He knew the ticket before Quan spoke.

"I can give you a way out," Thanh said. "Give me the ticket, I'll clear your debt and save your life."

Nhi asked why Thanh had a photo of Lam's death notice. Thanh responded that the photo was sent from someone who wanted money.

The army did not deliver anything. Thanh just laughed and said that lottery winners without names will never be able to withdraw money.

On the way out, Quan saw the camera in the store pointing at the safe. Inside were dozens of copies of workers' identification cards.

Nhi said: "Thanh is the data link, not the last ticket holder."

Quan opened the USB and discovered a hidden file named "K-17". The password is the date Lam went missing.

The file contains a photo of another ticket, with the union fund account name printed on the back.

The winning ticket is not a prize. It is the key to open the withdrawn money book.

Quan did not go to the old hospital alone. He sent the positions to Nhi, Mrs. Sau and a retired union official. Lam's text message could be a trap, but if it was a request for help, he didn't want to keep his friend waiting any longer.

The old hospital located behind the factory has been closed since the industrial park expanded. The storage room is in the basement, the door is covered with lime. There were long streaks on the floor, like someone had just moved a file box.

Nhi found the hospital admission book with the name Lam, but the day of admission was the same as the day he was still keeping time. That page was torn from the notebook, leaving only a piece of the corner with the insurance company's triangle mark.

Quan heard the sound of water dripping. He followed the sound to an abandoned cold storage. Inside there was a medicine cabinet and a phone tied under the shelf. The phone has video recording turned on.

Lam appeared, not tied up, but his eyes were constantly looking out. He said: "If you can see this, it means they used the death certificate. The ticket with no name is the only thing they haven't been able to fix on the machine. Don't give it to the press. Find the cash book first."

The video stops there. Nhi checked the time stamp and saw that it was filmed three days ago, when Lam was not yet "dead".

A door behind the cold storage opened. Thanh walked in, not bringing his juniors with him. He placed two cups of coffee on the barrel wood, as if they were meeting normally.

“I can tell you where Lam is,” Thanh said. “In return, Quan read the numbers on the ticket in front of my camera.”

Quan did not answer. Nhi asked Thanh who paid him to monitor the workers.

Thanh smiled and pointed to the filing cabinet. "I don't track. I store. Every worker has a price: debt, relatives, medical records. Whoever owns the data knows their decisions."

Quan looked at copies of ID cards arranged by name. There are also photos of Mrs. Sau, Hanh and Phuc. Next to each record is a number and the symbol K-17.

“Who did you sell them to?”

"To those who can pay. I don't ask what they do with the data."

Nhi turned on the recording. Thanh noticed, but did not stop. "I know you want to make me the bad guy. I'm just the middleman."

Quan approached the cabinet. Thanh immediately pulled out his knife, but did not attack. He's just blocking the way. "Don't open compartment K-17. You will see the name of the person who signed Lam's death certificate."

Quan asked: "Khanh?"

Thanh did not respond. Silence is enough.

There was a car sound outside. Thanh looked at his watch and cursed. He grabbed Nhi's USB and ran through the emergency exit. Quan chased after him, but Nhi held him back.

"Let him go. Look at compartment K-17."

In the compartment was a set of withdrawal slips, each bearing the scanned signature of the foreman and confirmation of Lam's death. One ticket stated the amount of two billion, the recipient was the consulting company "Minh K-17".

The company name matches the code on the employee card found at Quan's house. Nhi took a photo of everything, then sent the encrypted copy to the lawyer.

Just as they left the basement, Quan's phone rang. Thanh sent a photo: Lam standing at the beginning of the overpass, holding a hook ring in his hand.

The message had only one line: "I can't catch your friend. But the real ticket holder is right behind you."

Quan returned. In the empty hallway, a figure wearing a safety jacket had just disappeared through the emergency door.

Quan ran after him but only saw the emergency door swinging. On the steps there was a drop of blue oil, the same type of oil used for motors in the workshop. The other person was not a hospital employee; he walked through the engine room in his work shoes.

Nhi caught up and gave him a bag of evidence. In it was a shirt button picked up under the table and a piece of K-17 card. “We don't know who the coat man is yet,” she said, “but we know he wants us to think Lam is still alive here.”

Quan looked at Lam's photo on his phone. “If it was a trap, why did they leave the file for me?”

"Because they need us to open compartment K-17. There might be something in there they haven't gotten to yet."

Before leaving the hospital, Nhi sent a data preservation request to the management board. The system informed her that her account had been logged in from an unfamiliar device. She changed her password, but the recovery email pointed to the insurance company.

Quan understood that this case had gone into places that a lottery ticket should not touch. He put the copy of the ticket in his shirt, deciding that if Lam was really alive, they would find him with evidence, not with Thanh's promise.