Chapter 9 — Reborn: This Hell Is Mine

Man In The Dark

After a night of frank conversation with Bách Nguyên, Ý Vy understood that relying solely on personal trust between the two was not enough. If Tuệ Nghi is really behind the rumors and continues to escalate in the future - something her past life memories tell her will definitely happen - she needs to have specific, authentic evidence, enough to convince not only Bách Nguyên but also others if legal intervention is needed later.

She remembered a name that she never had the opportunity to know so early in her previous life - Biện Thanh Sơn, a famous private detective in the world, specializing in handling sensitive cases related to families and businesses, that a college classmate of hers, who later became a lawyer, once mentioned when talking about a complicated inheritance dispute that he helped successfully collect evidence.

Ý Vy arranged to meet Biện Thanh Sơn at a quiet cafe hidden in a small alley, away from crowded places. He is a middle-aged man with a thin figure, sharp but calm eyes, and the discreet demeanor of someone who is accustomed to keeping customers' secrets.

"You want me to investigate your adopted sister?" Mr. Son asked again, his tone was non-judgmental, simply confirming the request.

"Yes." Ý Vy nodded, her voice firm even though her heart still felt a bit painful when she had to say this to outsiders. "I don't want to hurt her. I just need to know the truth, and need evidence to protect myself if things go too far."

She could not explain to Mr. Son that she had experienced another life, that she knew in advance what was about to happen. Instead, she only gave specific, well-founded details: anonymous posts with inside information known only to a few people, the suspicious fact that Tuệ Nghi won a media bid, and the unusual frequency of appearances at places related to Bách Nguyên.

"I will start by verifying the origin of the post on the forum first," Mr. Son said, taking careful notes in a small notebook. "We will then further monitor Ms. Tuệ Nghi's recent relationships and financial transactions, if you agree."

"I agree. But please keep everything a secret, even from my own sister," Ý Vy said, her voice serious. "And please, don't do anything illegal to get the information. I need usable evidence, not something that could come back to harm me." Mr. Son nodded, his eyes showing small appreciation for this young customer's prudence. "You are a rare careful person. Most of my clients just want quick results, not caring about the legality of the process."

Over the next three weeks, Mr. Son sent Ý Vy periodic, confidential reports via a private encrypted email box. The first clue confirmed that the account posting anonymous posts on the forum was created from an IP address that matched the office area where Tuệ Nghi worked, at the exact lunch break that day. This is not absolute proof — it is possible that many people use the office wifi network — but it is enough to strengthen the suspicion.

The second, much more important clue, concerns the media package bidding process for Chung Nguyên Group. Mr. Son discovered that the media company where Tuệ Nghi worked, despite having a higher bidding price than at least two other competitors, was still selected thanks to an unexpected additional proposal on the "inspirational character strategy" - the idea of exploiting Ý Vy's personal story that she promptly stopped before the board meeting. This shows that Tuệ Nghi intended to use her sister's story as a tool right from the bidding planning stage, even before Ý Vy officially cooperated with Chung Nguyên.

Ý Vy read this report in her private office, her hands clasped tightly on the edge of the table. These were no longer vague speculations based on memories of past lives, but real, concrete evidence that Tuệ Nghi had planned this long ago, not a temporary outburst of jealousy.

The third clue made Ý Vy's blood run cold. Mr. Son discovered that in the last two months, Tuệ Nghi had three private meetings with a man at a discreet suburban restaurant - this person, through verification, was a senior assistant of Vệ Đắc Thịnh, chairman of Hưng Thịnh Group, a long-time business rival of Chung Nguyên Group.

Memories of her past life immediately rushed back to Ý Vy's mind. She remembers, about a year after getting married, Chung Nguyên Group encountered a serious crisis due to an internal information leak, causing a large cooperation deal with a foreign partner to be snatched by Hưng Thịnh Group at the last minute. At that time, Bách Nguyên suspected an insider but never found specific clues, and the incident gradually sank into oblivion amid the other events that followed — including her own death.

Now, with this evidence in hand, Ý Vy understands that the information leak, and possibly her subsequent death, are not two separate events, but part of the same conspiracy much larger than she ever imagined.

She was not in a hurry to confront Tuệ Nghi, nor was she in a hurry to immediately inform Bách Nguyên, even though every instinct in her wanted to do so. She understands that if she acts too early when the evidence was not solid enough or comprehensive enough to expose the entire network, Tuệ Nghi can completely deny and erase the traces, and things will get worse when she had alerted the other person but had not achieved the ultimate goal.

Instead, she asked Mr. Son to continue closely monitoring the relationship between Tuệ Nghi and Vệ Đắc Thịnh's assistant, and at the same time began to quietly collect more information about Vệ Đắc Thịnh himself - business history, failed deals at Bách Nguyên's hands, possible motives for wanting to retaliate against Chung Nguyên Group.

She also made a backup of all relevant documents, photos, and messages, storing it in many different places — one in a safe at home, one sent to a private email box where only she knew the password, and one, most cautiously, she sent to her personal lawyer to keep for her in case of need.

That night, Ý Vy sat alone in her room, looking out the window, thinking about the distance between her in the present and her in her previous life. In her previous life, when faced with hurt and doubt, she chose to suffer in silence, reassuring herself that everything was just a misunderstanding, that the sacred love of sisters could never be betrayed. That naivety, even though it came from a pure heart, ultimately cost her life.

In this life, she will no longer allow herself to be so naive. She still held on to her feelings, still hoping that there was some way out that didn't require a complete breakdown, but she had learned that feelings and vigilance were not two contradictory things. People can absolutely love and be prepared to protect themselves from what their love can cause.

She closed the notebook, put it in the safe with other documents, then turned off the light and went to sleep, feeling a little more relieved because she knew that this time, she was no longer alone and blindly walking in the dark like in her previous life.

Before ending the meeting that day, Mr. Son also told her something that she later fully understood its value. "Miss Ý Vy, in my profession, I have encountered many cases where relatives harm each other because of money or status. But the most dangerous and unpredictable cases are always when the motive comes from an emotional wound that has been buried for too long. You should carefully dig into the root of the problem, not only stopping at collecting evidence of behavior, but also understanding why people go to that step. Understanding the root, you can predict the final limit. that people are willing to overcome."

That sentence stayed in Ý Vy's mind for many days afterward. She began to think, perhaps it was time for her to return to the place where it all started — Bình Minh Orphanage, where both she and Tuệ Nghi grew up, where there might still be clues about the past that both sisters had never really shared with each other, even though they had lived together for more than twenty years under the same roof.

But in the immediate future, there is something more important waiting for her: the wedding with Bách Nguyên, the event that in her previous life was the beginning of the happiest days of her life, and also the first milestone in a series of tragedies that later led to her death. Ý Vy understands that no matter how carefully she has prepared, she still cannot avoid that moment, and perhaps, instead of being afraid of it, she should see it as an opportunity to prove that this time, her happiness will not be as fragile as before.