Chapter 13 — The Thirteenth Landmark

Dang Quoc Duy disappeared from the contact list after the flood. Tan Giang issued a statement that a group of "irresponsible individuals" broke the sewer lock, causing damage to the construction site and putting people in danger. Bich's video was labeled with an "unverified content" warning, but was downloaded tens of thousands of times.

An, Khoi and Nam brought the order to a small law office on Cau Da Street. Lawyer Thuan read each page, using a pencil to mark areas that could be objected to.

“This version proves intent, but does not prove damage,” he said.

“There are photos of chemical water, sensor logs and lab samples.”

“The sample does not have a search warrant.”

“We took it before we knew about the incident.”

“Then they will say the sample is invalid.”

Bich put down the laptop. “If they release the entire log, they can't say everything is fake.”

“They could say the system was compromised.”

“Because it was hacked.”

Thuan looked at An. “Do you want to sue Tan Giang or save the neighborhood?”

"Both."

"No. She wants honor for her father, saving the people and keeping no one from getting hurt. There is no one procedure that can do it all."

An looked at Lam Quang Vu's signature. "I know."

Hoang Nam sat in the corner of the room, not speaking since arriving. Thuan turned to him.

“Did you sign this addendum?”

"Correct."

“In what capacity?”

“Technician confirms data.”

“Do you know what the note ‘controlled flooding’ means?”

Nam nodded. “I think it's a simulation.”

“You signed without reading?”

"I read it. But Duy said it was just a software simulation model."

“You believe?”

“I want to believe.”

Close the file. “Wanting to believe is not a defense.”

Nam received that sentence as a slap. He stood up and went to the balcony. An followed.

“Duy said you were the last to sign,” she said.

“He wanted to push me out first.”

“Are you the one who sent me the video?”

"Are not."

“So who?”

Nam looked at the traffic down the street. “The person who kept the order in the old server.”

“Name N?”

"It's not a name. It's the signature of an intermediary company: Water Source."

An remembers the letter N on Loc's profile. “Whose company does that belong to?”

“Hai Duy's mother.”

“Is she alive?”

“No. But the property is in the name of a charitable foundation.”

“So the real signer?”

Nam turned back, his voice low. "I don't know. But that person once met your father at the hospital after the flood."

An wanted to continue asking when the phone vibrated. Mrs. Hanh called.

“An, go back to the shop now.”

"What is up?"

“Someone brought a letter from your father.”

An and Khoi returned. Mrs. Hanh left an envelope on the table, the paper had turned yellow. The person who brought it was an old lady selling fruit, who said Mr. Vu had asked her to keep it many years ago.

In the letter there was only one sentence: "If you see my signature under the recall map, go find the blue file."

“The blue file is with Phan Loc,” An said.

“Not that file,” Ms. Hanh replied. “There's one more set.”

She opened the old tea maker and removed the bottom with a blade. A small film fell out, wrapped in foil.

“Mom said she didn't know.”

“Mom lied.”

“I kept it because your father said to only give it to you when you understood he was at fault.”

An holds the film roll. “He thinks I will forgive him?”

"He doesn't need your forgiveness. He needs you to not make him look innocent."

Bich arrived later, carrying an old projector. They turned off the shop lights and pulled the white cloth up on the wall. The film reel has only seven minutes of images.

The first frame is the old Operations Center on the morning of September 12. Father An stood in front of the control desk. Next to him is a younger Nam, holding a phone in his hand. Outside the glass window, the water level is rising.

Another man stands behind, facing away from the camera. Arc-shaped silver ring on hand.

“Duy,” Khoi said.

In the movie, Duy puts a file on the table. Mr. Vu opened it and shook his head. The sound was muted, but the mouthpiece was clear enough to make out the argument.

Duy then pointed to a screen showing the hospital. A red line approaches the generator area. Mr. Vu looked at Nam, then looked at the window. Finally he signed.

Frame shifting. An ambulance drove through the flooded street, carrying a little girl wrapped in a blanket. An recognized herself, her hair was longer, her face was pale. Mrs. Hanh sat next to him.

“Your father took you away before the release,” she said. “He knows if I stay, I'll be stuck.”

The film ends with Mr. Vu standing alone in the room. He said directly into the camera:

"I opened the drain. But it wasn't me who chose the flooded area."

An sat motionless. The statement does not erase the signature. It just opens up a gap between guilt and responsibility.

Khoi put his hand on her shoulder, very gently. “You don't need to decide today.”

“I have to decide before they reopen the sewer.”

Flange checks the end frame. In the corner of the screen, a time appears dimly: 04:59.

“Same time as signature DQD-01,” she said.

Nam watched the video again and his face changed. "The person behind Duy is not Hai Duy's mother."

“Who do you know?” An asked.

Men's silhouettes reflect on the glass. A fourth person stood behind the door, holding an atlas. The face is unknown, but on the wrist is a silver square watch.

“Hoang Nam?” Khoi asked.

Nam shook his head. “I wasn't there that day.”

“So who?”

An enlarges the frame. Bich uses color restoration software. The other person's face gradually appeared: a middle-aged woman, short-cut hair, wearing a Department of Planning nametag.

“Nguyen Dieu Trang,” Bich said. “Currently the director of urban development of the province.”

I know the name. Ms. Trang is the person who just signed the decision to put Bo Bac into reconstruction after natural disasters.

In the file bag, Thuan found another appendix. Trang's signature is below the line: "The area must have confirmation of flooding before recovery."

Khoi stood up. “Then let's bring it out.”

“No,” Bich said. "She's at the provincial meeting. If it's announced tonight, they'll lock all the files."

An looked at the film roll. “We have to let them think we don't know.”

Nam walked to the door. "Duy will open the next cycle when the water recedes. They need a second flood to validate the damage."

"How long?"

“Thirteen o'clock.”

An turned to everyone. “We have thirteen hours to find enough evidence that they can't say this was an accident.”

Outside the shop, the water began to recede from the street. But in the heart of the city, another door has just been opened.

An returned to the temporary motel room and opened his father's notebook on the table. The pages of records about the old flood had many cut-outs, but the edges of the paper still had pencil marks. She used a tilt lamp to look and read a sentence: "Vinh was not standing in the room, but someone listened to Vinh's orders."

Dang Quoc Duy looked for her the next morning. He was not accompanied by a security guard, only carrying a bottle of water and a tired look on his face.

“I want to talk,” he said.

"Say it here. There's a camera."

"I know."

Duy sat down in the chair opposite. He looked at the photos of Milestone 13 on the wall, then said: "Your father asked me a question on the last day. He asked if I succeeded. The street must be flooded, who gets to choose?

“What do you answer?”

“I say the one with the best data.”

“And you think you are that person?”

“I think I can balance. I was wrong.”

An does not believe in easy confessions. “You came to reduce the crime?”

“I came because the person using the code DQD-01 was not me.”

“But the code is named after you.”

“Page created it. Vinh gave the right. I just operate.”

“You can refuse.”

“I refused once. They showed me the company's debt records, saying if the project stops, thousands of workers will lose their jobs."

“You believe them?”

“I want to believe. People often do bad things by giving themselves a reason that sounds good.”

An wrote down that sentence. Duy looked at the notebook.

“Your father received money to leave An from the North Bank,” he said. “But he also gave most of it back. The rest was used to buy the Milestone 13 transmitter.”

“You know?”

“I'm the one delivering the money.”

“So why didn't you speak at the trial?”

Duy bowed his head. “I'm afraid.”

“He was afraid of losing the project, and my father lost his life.”

"I know."

Duy gave An a memory card. “In here are the money delivery logs and messages with Trang. I don't know if it saved me or made me die faster.”

An did not accept it immediately. “Why give it to me?”

“Because I want at least one person to read the bad part of me.”

An holds the card. “Are you going to testify?”

“If protected.”

“No one protects the person who chooses to stand still.”

“But I can start talking.”

Duy left. Khoi walked in later and heard the last part.

“You believe him?”

"Are not."

“So why did you receive the card?”

“Because the truth doesn't need someone to clean it up.”

Khoi looked at her, then placed a stack of papers from Thao's old house on the table. There is an original receipt, Thao's mother's signature and a completely different payment receipt time in the file.

“Her father paid after the sewer closed,” Khoi said. “Not before.”

An looked at the signature. Part of her father's story changed, but not into a more beautiful story. He still receives money in advance. He still hides. He only tried to correct his mistakes afterward.

“I'll give you both copies,” Bich said from the door. “Don't cut the disadvantages.”

"YES."

“Are you sure?”

“If we only publish the favorable portion, we are doing exactly what they did.”

Bich was silent, then nodded.

On the street, a group of protesters demanded to open public records. They brought homemade water rulers and photos of houses marked in red.

An looked at the crowd. She understood that the story had gone far away from her family. It is no longer a fight for her father to be called innocent, but a fight so that no one has the right to rewrite the country with a beautiful report.