Chapter 30 — Shrimp Street Without Name

The next morning, as planned, Mr. Duc presented a preliminary technical report to the Center's board of directors, with a clear conclusion: the DH-0417 shipment had chloramphenicol residue exceeding the allowable threshold, a significant difference from the official result sheet that Dai Duong had submitted, and there were signs that the official sample had been replaced before being sent for analysis. The report is based entirely on independently verifiable technical evidence, without mentioning any factors related to personal history or allegations about the Cua Bien Project.

The Board of Directors, after careful consideration, approved the announcement of this conclusion in accordance with the official process, and at the same time sent an official document requesting Dai Duong to explain and take corrective measures within fifteen days, otherwise it will face revocation of the traceability certificate, a consequence that could seriously affect the company's entire export activities.

This news, although limited to direct stakeholders in accordance with corporate information security regulations, still created a small earthquake within Ocean. Mrs. Hong called Hai Yen that afternoon. Her voice was both worried and somewhat relieved.

“Miss Yen, the whole company is in an uproar,” she said. "Mr. Bao convened an emergency meeting as soon as he received the document, closing the meeting room all afternoon. I vaguely heard that there seemed to be a big argument between Mr. Bao and a few people on the board of directors, with someone mentioning the need to 'resolve it completely' before things go too far."

“What does ‘complete resolution’ mean?” Hai Yen asked, a cold feeling spreading in her heart.

“I don't know exactly,” Ms. Hong replied, her voice shaking. "But I heard Mr. Son's name mentioned, and your name too. I'm very scared, Ms. Yen. I think you should be more careful than ever in the coming days."

The call ended, leaving Hai Yen with a deep sense of insecurity. She immediately called Kien and the police lieutenant, informing them of the new developments, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.

That night, when Hai Yen was at her mother's house, preparing to have dinner, she received a call from the lieutenant on her phone, his voice was serious and different from before.

"Miss Yen, we have just verified the information about the suspected location you reported yesterday," he said. "The provincial investigation team sent people to inspect that villa according to proper procedures. They confirmed that Mr. Nguyen Hoang Son was there, but when asked, he confirmed that he voluntarily stayed to rest, with no obvious signs of being forced to make a record."

“So nothing has changed?” Hai Yen asked, her voice mixed with disappointment and worry.

“Not really,” the lieutenant replied. "The investigation team noted some unusual signs: Mr. Son seemed tired, scared, avoided eye contact, and there were up to four security guards stationed around the area, a quite high ratio compared to a normal resort villa. We will continue to closely monitor the situation, but there is not enough legal basis to intervene more strongly at this time."

Hai Yen hung up the phone and sat silently in front of the cold dinner tray, her heart heavy with helplessness. Mr. Son is right there, probably in need of help, but all the efforts of her and her companions They all stopped before an invisible wall of legal procedures, of a tight protection system that Ocean's side had built around what they wanted to hide.

Mrs. Sau, sitting opposite, looked at her daughter with worried eyes. “What's the matter, child?”

"Nothing, mom," Hai Yen replied, trying to give her a forced smile to reassure her mother, even though she was in turmoil inside. “It's just that work is a little difficult.”

That night, after her mother fell asleep, Hai Yen sat alone in her old room, reopened all the files she had collected over the past month, spread them all over the bed: her father's notebook, Ms. Ut Phuong's notebook, Ms. Tuyet's audio recording, the audit record reconciliation table, information about the Cua Bien Project. Each individual puzzle piece, when placed next to each other, painted a much larger and scarier picture than what she imagined when she first stepped into the Nam Can port container yard.

She looks back on her entire past journey: from an auditor who quietly hid under a name, she has now become the center of an investigation that could overthrow a large-scale investment consortium, entailing the safety of many people she loves and even strangers she has just met. A man was being held under house arrest not far from where she sat. A woman is still missing and her whereabouts are unknown. And ahead, she knows, there will be many more sleepless nights, many more difficult choices waiting, before this path to find the truth can come to an end, whatever that end is.

Near midnight, her phone vibrated slightly, a text message from Kien: "Are you still awake? I can't sleep either." She called back immediately, both of their voices carrying the fatigue of a long day but still trying to reassure each other.

“I keep thinking about Mr. Son,” she said. “Sitting here with these documents, I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, letting things go this far.”

“You're doing the right thing,” Kien replied, his voice firm even though it was tired. "I know things seem to be spiraling out of control right now, but remember, a month ago, none of us knew about the existence of the Cua Bien Project, no one knew Mr. Son had been coerced, no one knew Ms. Ut Phuong had kept important evidence for ten years. Every piece of truth you find makes the whole picture clearer, even though it also makes things more dangerous."

“I just hope,” Hai Yen said, her voice choking, “that the price for that clarity won't be someone else's life.”

“I hope so too,” Kien replied, silent for a moment before continuing, his voice softer. "Go to sleep, Yen. Tomorrow we will continue, together, as we have been doing for over a month. You are not alone in this, no matter what happens next."

Before hanging up, Kien said one more thing that made Hai Yen pause. "There's something I didn't have time to tell you this afternoon. My friend at the car rental company, after receiving an official request from the investigation agency, finally provided information about the person who rented the car the day Ms. Ut Phuong went missing. The name on the rental contract is fake, but the registered phone number matches a phone number that appeared in the internal contact list of the Dai Duong factory security guard that I got from before."

“So there is evidence of a direct connection,” Hai Yen said, her voice both relieved and tense. “Have you informed the lieutenant?”

“Okay, I sent it as soon as I received the information,” Kien replied. “He said this could be a strong enough basis to request an official summons for Ocean's security team related to the incident, possibly in the next few days.”

This was the first good news after a long day filled with bad news, and Hai Yen clung to it like a small life buoy in the middle of the storm. She thanked Kien again, told him to take care of his health, and then actually hung up.

Hai Yen thanked him, hung up, looked out the small window where the crescent moon shined a faint streak of light on the floor. She packed up the documents, put them in the briefcase she always carried with her, then lay down, trying to sleep even though she knew that sleeping tonight, like every other night since she set foot back in this land, would not be easy, when ahead there were still too many unanswered questions, and behind, a price was being silently calculated by those who had no other choice but to take more drastic action to protect what they had worked so hard to hide for a decade. year.

Outside, Nam Can night was still as quiet as any other night, the offshore fishing boats still lit their sparkling lights in the dark sea, no one knew that, right in the heart of this small town, a silent but fierce confrontation was entering a stage of no return.

Hai Yen closed her eyes, trying to calm her mind, but the last image that flashed through her mind before falling into a fitful sleep was not Mr. Son or Mrs. Ut Phuong, but her father's face in the old photo on the altar, his eyes as if he were following his daughter's every step on the road that he himself did not have time to walk ten years ago. She silently promised him, in the silence of the night, that no matter how difficult the road ahead was, she would not stop until she found out the whole truth, complete and complete, without missing a single piece.