Chapter 16 — The Thirteenth Landmark

The fourteenth water mark is located under the model urban area, where water is rising around the unglazed steel frames. From the street level, they only saw a round steel cap rising in the middle of the underground parking lot.

Duy came first. He stood under the building's awning, his coat still dry, next to two security vehicles. Dang Quoc Duy no longer looks like someone who campaigns for people to sign land. His eyes were red and he held a black controller in his hand.

“I knew you would come,” he said.

“You know because you set the signal.”

“I set it as a warning.”

“Fourteenth landmark warning?”

“You don't know what it is.”

“So tell me.”

Duy looked at Khoi and Nam. "You two can leave. This matter involves you and your father."

Khoi stood in front of An. “The country does not recognize the Lam or Dang family names.”

“You always talk like you understand everything.”

“I understand that people who refuse to speak frankly often want someone else to die instead.”

Duy showed the controller to An. The screen shows the pressure on the lake bed, which is 18 percent higher than the safe level.

“Mile 14 is the sensor located in the old sewer line,” he said. "It indicates that the building's foundation is empty. If water is not released to the North Bank, the urban area will collapse."

“He intended to use the neighborhood as a septic tank.”

“I intend to save the structure that is holding back the water.”

An looked at the screen. Real data, not the same as Tan Giang's reports. Duy is partly correct.

“Is the building occupied?”

“Workers have evacuated.”

“Chemical lake?”

“Locked.”

Nam stepped forward. “No. Tank number two still has an open discharge line.”

Duy looked at him. “You think you can read a diagram older than the project?”

“I wrote that diagram.”

An saw Duy smiling faintly. "Yes, Hoang Nam. You were Mr. Vu's best student. You were also the one who told him that the North Bank area could withstand water overnight."

Nam turned pale. “I speak based on the model at the time.”

“And by whom was the model changed?”

Duy did not reply.

An walked to the steel lid. An electronic lock with code DQD-01. She used the Milestone 13 reader, but the system reported a lack of permissions.

“Milestone 14 cannot be opened with a mechanical key,” Duy said. “It opens with the first person to sign the order.”

“Who is that person?”

“Lam Quang Vu.”

An returned. “My father is dead.”

“He left a voice.”

“You have the record?”

Duy looked at her, his tiredness evident. “I have something he sent me after the flood.”

He took a tape recorder from his pocket. An recognized the same type as the machine in warehouse number 4. Duy turned on the file. Her father's voice rang out:

"Only, I signed it once. I won't sign it a second time. If you open street number fourteen, you won't have a city left to build."

Duy turned off the phone.

“He once warned me,” Duy said. “But he also knows that if he doesn't keep the project, the hospital won't have the money to fix the system.”

“Don't make my father your advocate.”

"I'm not making excuses. I'm saying he also compromised."

An looked at the steel lid. “What does mark 14 contain?”

"An empty lake under the old lake bed. If opened, water from the building would flow into it and then out to the river. But the door is stuck."

“Why don't you open it?”

"Because we need someone who understands the system. The last person who knows how to open it is your father."

Khoi looked at An. "You don't need to trust him. Just know if the door can be opened."

An knelt down on the lock. Next to it is an instruction board that has been painted over. She scraped off the paint, revealing a diagram of four gears and a sentence written in oil pen: "Do not turn with the arrow. Turn with the line."

That's my father's handwriting.

“The arrow points backwards,” she said.

“Your father did that on purpose?” Nam asked.

“He wants someone to show him reading instructions must stop.”

An used the semi-circular key to open the auxiliary cover. Inside is the crank. She turned the arrow around. The gears did not turn, but the ground echoed hollowly.

“It takes water power,” Nam said.

“The door jammed because there wasn't enough pressure.”

“So we have to bring back the water.”

Duy looked at the controller. “I can open a temporary valve.”

“And release water into the North Shore.”

“Just for three minutes.”

“Three minutes is enough to flood dozens of houses.”

“Otherwise, the building could collapse.”

Khoi holds the walkie-talkie. “Take the North Shore people to the second floor. Three minutes is bearable with advance notice.”

An looked at Duy. “You open the valve, but the entire log has to go live. If you cheat for one second, I will stop.”

Duy nodded. “Okay.”

Bich was in the car two hundred meters away, receiving the signal. An read clearly to the camera: "Every action of opening the valve from now on will be recorded. This is an emergency plan to open the Milestone 14 discharge road, not an order to reclaim land.”

Only activated the valve. Water rushed through the pipeline and flooded the North Bank. People moved to higher floors following Khoi's instructions. An turns the crank. Partial shift gear.

“More power!” Nam shouted.

Khoi and Phuc pulled together. The steel lid vibrates strongly. A stream of cold water gushed up around the edge.

“The door is open!” An said.

The entire urban area vibrates. Water from the basement drains into a deep hole, then follows the old sewer line to the river. The metallic sound below lasted as long as the sound of breathing.

Duy stepped back, looking at the still standing building. An did not ignore him.

“When did you know Milestone 14 existed?”

“Since I bought the blueprints.”

“And he still builds on it.”

“I think it can be reinforced.”

“Do you think or do you know?”

Duy did not answer.

Male indicates controller. “Cycle task 13 is still running on the secondary server.”

An took the reading device. The screen shows one last command: “When Marker 14 opens, block all discharge lines and assign responsibility to the rescue team.”

Khoi cursed. Duy looked at the command line, his face pale.

“I didn't create this column,” he said.

“But he gives power to the creator.”

Duy turned to the guards. No one dared to look at him.

An transferred the order to the public screen. Residents, press and officials all saw it. The line "assign responsibility to the rescue group" is clearly visible under the Tan Giang logo.

Bich asked over the radio: "Is it all announced?"

An looked at Duy. “It's over.”

Duy stood still, for the first time without a polite answer.

In the corner of the screen, Milestone 13 drops to 2.88. The water is receding.

But Milestone 14 still sends out a red signal.

An enlarged data. Below the empty lake is an unmarked pipe, leading straight to the North Shore.

“There's one more door,” she said.

Nam muttered: "Door number zero."

A new file appears on the machine, without a sender. Only text:

If you want to find the last signer, open door zero before dawn.

An did not enter the cellar immediately. She asked everyone to check rescue ropes, light batteries and gas meters. A fascinating truth is not worth exchanging for someone dying in the dark. Khoi wrapped more bandages around his shoulder, then grabbed the hook and pulled it.

“If I don't come back out in three minutes, pull the rope,” he said.

“What if I don't come back?” An asked.

“I will pull the whole tunnel.”

They go in. The water was cold to the waist, and there was an underground stream below. On the wall appear numbers written in chalk: 1, 2, 3... to 13. Each number comes with a turn.

“Your father marked this path,” Khoi said.

An touches the last number. The chalk is faded, but the handwriting resembles Mr. Vu's notebook. Under number 13 there is a sentence: "Don't follow big line. Find the forgotten line.”

They turned onto a small road, only one person wide. The sound of loud water behind gradually faded away. At the end of the road is a pressurized room, with the old manual valve and electrical panel intact.

On the board there are three buttons: hold, discharge, balance. The balance button has its cover removed.

Nam looked at the electric wire. “Someone disabled the third option.”

“Because it saves both sides,” An said. “They want to just keep it or let it go.”

Khoi picked up the button cover and saw a piece of paper stuck inside. Thao's writing: "If you have to choose, don't choose according to the whistle. Choose according to where there are people who cannot swim.”

An read that sentence and saw images of houses on the North Shore appear. The balance button does not create a large flood, but requires opening three valves simultaneously. If it's slow, the water will bounce back.

“Can the button be repaired?”

Nam took the copper wire. “It's possible, but it requires a source from Milestone 13.”

“The source is being cut off.”

“I have a spare battery.”

He connected the battery to the circuit. The power board lights up, displaying the number 0. The light on the balance button flashes.

A loudspeaker echoed from the tunnel: “Miss Lam, you are destroying public property.”

Trang went into the cellar.

An turned around and saw her standing at the intersection with Tran Vy and two security guards. Trang was not carrying a weapon, just holding a file.

“Are you following us?”

“I follow the system.”

“The system has been used by women to create flooding.”

Trang walked to the electrical panel. “I want to stop before there are casualties.”

“So why didn't you stop from the beginning?”

“Because Duy and Vinh pushed too far.”

“She still signed.”

“I think I have it under control.”

An smiled sadly. “Everyone says that.”

Page gives profile. “I have an urgent order. If you don't leave, the force will force you."

“You are standing in a bunker, where your orders have no meaning.”

Trang looked at the water. “If you open the balance button, the whole system will be overloaded.”

“This node is designed for controlled overload.”

“Your father didn't use it.”

“Because you were forced to choose overnight.”

Trang im. Tran Vy stepped up and whispered: "We don't have time anymore."

An looked at Vy. “Are you the one who sent the station video?”

Vy turned pale. “No.”

“The camera recorded you.”

Vy looked at Trang, then turned to An. “I sent it. I don't want Mrs. Trang to know."

Trang is back. “What are you doing?”

“I saw the list of land prices. My family lives on Reed Street.”

Vy handed over her phone, displaying hundreds of messages between Tan Giang and Ha Luu Moi fund. She copied them before being discovered.

Trang looked at the screen, her voice lowered. “Do you think going public will save the family?”

“At least they know they're being sold.”

An uses Vy's device to confirm the balance button. The system opens temporarily.

“Everyone back away,” she said.

Khoi and Nam entered the valve position. Trang stood and watched, not stopping. When An pulls the button, the three valves switch simultaneously. Water from the tunnel flows through the small tunnel, reducing pressure on both sides.

The wall shook, but did not collapse. The water level of the North Bank is decreasing inch by inch. In the distance, the siren changed from red to yellow.

Trang closed her eyes. “You chose.”

“I don't choose this area or that area. I chose to let the system not force us to sacrifice a district.”

Trang looked at An, for the first time no longer looking like she was in control of the consequences.

“I know Vinh won't leave it alone.”

"I know."

“He left town.”

“Then we'll start from his account.”

Outside the tunnel, Milestone 13 lit up again. The balance button emits a short beep, then displays the text: "real data restored".