Chapter 9 — Forest Keeper

Three days after the encounter in the forest, Khue still has not received any specific response from the district police about the report that Ma Van Loc sent. She impatiently asked, but the answers she received each time were just general reassurances: "processing", "need more time to verify", "not enough grounds to establish a special case".

"Not enough evidence?" Khue repeated to May while the two of them were feeding Brown, her voice filled with frustration. "We have photos of the scene, the company logo on the truck, and the exact coordinates of the mining site. What else is missing?"

Cloud sighed, looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot before lowering his voice. "I've vaguely heard that the guys at the District People's Committee have close relationships with some large forestry products businesses in the area. I don't know if it has anything to do with this case, but every time there's a report on those companies, the processing progress is slow."

May's words made Khue even more worried. She remembered the blurred logo on the truck door, the letters K and P that she asked May to look up for help. This morning, May got the results.

"I can look it up," May said, took out her phone, and opened a saved business information page. "Kim Phat Forest Products Company Limited, registered for business in Da Vach town, specializes in purchasing, processing and trading wood, established six years ago. The owner is a man named Ta Quoc Bao."

Khue looked intently at the phone screen, reading each line of information carefully. "Six years ago. So this company was founded two years after my father passed away."

"Do you think it has anything to do with it?" May asked, her voice cautious.

"Can't confirm yet," Khue replied, but in her heart, all the disparate pieces seemed to be starting to form a bigger, scarier picture than she had ever imagined. "But this company operates legally on paper, and there are trucks carrying timber appearing right in the illegal mining area that I discovered. This cannot be a coincidence."

That afternoon, Khue decided to drive his motorbike to Da Vach town, under the pretext of buying more veterinary medicine for the rescue area, but in fact it was to directly observe the headquarters of Kim Phat Company. Nguyen, after hearing her explain the plan, insisted on going with him, citing the need to buy some specialized medical supplies that were not available at the station.

The company's headquarters is located on a large plot of land on the outskirts of town, surrounded by a high fence and a solid iron gate with two uniformed guards standing guard — something quite unusual for a mid-sized forest products company in a mountainous district. Inside, through the gate, Khue can see a large wood storage yard, dozens of trucks parked close together, and a row of solid warehouses.

"The scale is much bigger than I thought," Nguyen whispered, as the two pretended to stop their motorbikes on the opposite side of the road, pretending to be checking the wheels. "A normal forest products company doesn't need armed guards guarding it like this."

"And look at the amount of wood in that yard," Khue said quietly, without taking his eyes off the scene inside the fence, "it's much more than what a company can legally purchase from licensed logging sources in the area. The legal wood output of the entire Da Vach district per year is probably not equal to the amount stacked in that yard."

At that moment, a luxury car with a green license plate belonging to a state agency drove into the company's gate and was opened by security guards in an unusually respectful way. Khue squinted his eyes to observe the person getting out of the car - a middle-aged man, wearing a white shirt, looking like an official, being warmly shaken at the gate by another man, probably a company representative.

"Did you see that person's face clearly?" Khue asked Nguyen, his voice tense.

"Not very clear, a bit far," Nguyen replied, trying to squint his eyes to follow. "But looking at the reception, it's probably a pretty high-ranking official."

Khue pulled out her phone and tried to zoom the camera to take a picture of the car and license plate, even though she knew the shooting angle was not ideal. She quickly wrote down the license plate number in her head, mumbling it so she wouldn't forget it before she could write it down on paper. Her feeling of insecurity is growing stronger - if state officials have a close relationship, perhaps even a protector for this company, then relying on official reporting channels to handle the case will become extremely difficult, even dangerous if the information is leaked back to those being investigated.

The two left before anyone noticed their presence, returning to the station with a heavier mood than when they left. On the way home, Khue stopped by Mr. Hoang Van Chinh's house, hoping this time he could learn something more from his father's old teammate, especially after having more specific clues about Kim Phat Company.

Mr. Chinh opened the door, his expression slightly surprised when he saw Khue arriving with a stranger. After briefly introducing Nguyen, the three sat down at a small wooden table on the front porch. Mr. Chinh poured water for the guests but his hands were shaking more than usual.

"Uncle Chinh, have you heard of Kim Phat Forest Products Company? The owner is Mr. Ta Quoc Bao?" Khue asked directly, without beating around the bush like last time, because she felt that there was not much time left to wait for him to voluntarily open up.

Mr. Chinh's face changed dramatically when he heard that name. He put the kettle on the table a little too hard, causing a few drops of water to splash out. "How... how far are you with your investigation?"

That counter question, instead of an answer, made Khue certain that Mr. Chinh knew more than he had ever revealed. "Do you know Mr. Bao?"

Mr. Chinh was silent for a long time, his hands clasped together on the table, his eyes looking far away at the road in front of the house as if he were considering something serious. "Ta Quoc Bao... in the past, he was just a small wood trader, purchasing from villagers, without any name. But about ten years ago, he started to do a bigger business, with capital and connections. No one knows exactly where the money came from."

"Do you think it has something to do with my father?" Khue asked, her voice shaking with excitement.

Mr. Chinh looked at her, then looked at Nguyen who was sitting quietly listening, as if considering the level of trust he could give to this stranger. Finally, he sighed, his voice low and heavy. "I don't dare confirm anything, Khue. But I remember, some time before your father passed away, he mentioned discovering a large illegal timber yard, and he suspected that someone in the local government was helping. He intended to collect enough evidence and report straight to the province, without going to the district, for fear of the information being leaked."

This is the first time Mr. Chinh has revealed such a specific and important detail. Khue felt her heart pounding, both from excitement at the important step in the investigation and from fear at what this information implied.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" she asked, unable to hide the frustration in her voice.

Mr. Chinh bowed his head, his thin shoulders seemed to sag under an invisible burden that had followed him for many years. "Because I'm scared, Khue. I'm scared for myself, and I'm scared for you too. If what your father suspects is true, then this can't be a joke. I've already lost my best friend because of this, I don't want to lose anyone else."

Those words made the air on the small porch sag, as heavy as a dark cloud coming from the mountain. Khue looked at Mr. Chinh, seeing in those old eyes not only fear, but also the torment of a person who had carried a secret for too long, too heavy to be able to carry it anymore on his own.

"I promise to be careful," Khue said, her voice soft, placing her hand on his shaking hand. "But I need to know the truth, uncle. I can't live with unanswered questions anymore."

Mr. Chinh nodded and did not say anything more, but the look in his eyes as he saw the two of them leave brought a small but clear change - as if sharing a part of the secret had relieved some of the burden he had been carrying in his heart for the past eight years, even though the road ahead was still very long and full of uncertainties.

On the way back to the station, Nguyen sat on the back of the motorbike, quietly saying nothing, giving her private space to process what she had just heard. Only when the afternoon light had completely turned dark orange, covering the terraced fields on both sides of the road with a layer of warm light, did he speak.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice gentle.

"I don't know," Khue answered honestly, eyes still looking straight ahead. "On the one hand, I'm glad that finally someone has confirmed that my suspicions are not just imagination. But on the other hand..." she hesitated, "...I'm scared. If there really are government officials protecting this ring, finding the truth will be much more difficult than I thought. We are not just facing a group of loggers, but an entire system that is protected from the top down."

"But at least now I'm no longer groping alone in the dark," Nguyen said, her voice firm. "You have Mr. Chinh, you have May, you have me. One by one, we will put together enough pieces to bring the truth to light, no matter how long it takes."

Khue turned to look at him. His eyes in the late afternoon exuded a steadfastness that made her feel more confident. She didn't say anything more, just nodded slightly, then the two continued on their way in silence, a silence that was no longer as heavy as when they left Mr. Chinh's house, but gradually transformed into a silent, warm companionship in the midst of the sunset falling on the Thousand Cloud mountains.