Chapter 15 — I Built an Empire in the Wasteland

After a breathtaking night of rescue, Bạt Phong decided he could no longer delay opening the locked chest any longer. The encounter with Ứng Thị Lụa and the open question about Yên Nhi's father made both of them realize that the truth is within reach, they just need enough courage and tools to unlock it.

Diệp Thanh Sơn and Tư Rỗ spent two whole days rummaging through the remaining equipment warehouses in the bunker, finally finding an old military tablet in the corner of the technical room that no one had noticed before, still able to connect to the old electronic systems of the Black Eagle thanks to a special compatibility protocol. After charging the battery with the shelter's backup power source, Thanh Sơn connected the device to the chest's digital lock.

"Seems okay," he said, his eyes glued to the screen as lines of code began to run by, trying to find the correct code through a basic jailbreak program still stored in the tablet's memory.

Yên Nhi stood next to her, holding Bạt Phong's hand tightly, both of them waiting nervously. After nearly half an hour, a dry "click" sounded, the digital lock opened, and the trunk lid slowly lifted.

Inside is a stack of paper documents that have yellowed over time but are still readable, along with a small data storage drive carefully wrapped in a moisture-proof bag. At the top is an old photo, faded but still clearly recognizable as a man wearing glasses, wearing a white blouse, holding a small girl in his arms, both smiling brightly at the camera.

Yên Nhi trembled as she held the photo, tears immediately flowed uncontrollably. "This... this is him. My father," she said, her voice choked up. "And this is me, as a child."

Bạt Phong stood quietly next to her, allowing her to have her own space in this emotional moment, just gently placing his hand on her shoulder as a silent support. After a while, Yên Nhi wiped her tears, took a deep breath, and then began to look through the remaining documents in the chest.

Most of the documents are complex scientific research notes, full of biochemical formulas that only Yên Nhi, with the strange hidden knowledge in her mind, can partly understand. She skimmed through each page, occasionally pausing, her eyes widening as the pieces of knowledge in her head gradually matched what was appearing before her eyes.

"Here it is," she said, her voice shaking with excitement and emotion. "The full formula for the radiation immunity serum. My father has perfected it, not just as a treatment that requires drawing blood from a single person, but as a process that can be synthesized, given the right ingredients and equipment."

Diễm Thư, who was also present at this important discovery, bent down to look over Yên Nhi's shoulder, her eyes shining with surprise. "Does this mean... we don't need to take blood from you anymore? Can this serum be made for anyone who needs it?"

"That's right." Yên Nhi nodded, her voice gradually becoming more certain as she understood the meaning of this discovery. "Your father must have tried to perfect this formula so that it no longer depends on a single living specimen. Perhaps that is the reason why Doanh Chính Nam - if that is the name of the leader of the Black Eagle organization - had to eliminate him, because he intended to announce it to the public, breaking the monopoly that the organization wanted to keep," she continued to flip through the pages of documents, finding a handwritten letter near the bottom of the stack of papers, the handwriting was shaky but still legible. She read it out loud for everyone to hear, her voice choking with each word.

"Dear my dear daughter, if one day you read these lines, I might no longer be with you. I'm sorry for not having the courage to protect you from what they made you endure. I completed the formula for synthesizing the serum, storing it here, hoping that one day it will reach the people who truly need it — not just those who think they have the right to choose who deserves to survive. You have always been my greatest pride. my life. Live well, my child." No one in the room said a word for a moment, only Yên Nhi's light sobs crept into the quiet space. Bạt Phong hugged her, letting her lean on his shoulder to cry out the pain that had been suppressed for seven years of memory loss.

After calming down, Yên Nhi wiped her tears, her eyes now filled with new determination. "We must fulfill your father's wish. Not only to protect Camp Dawn from the Dark Eagle, but also to make this formula a reality, sharing it with all who need it, just as he wished."

"We will need the right equipment to synthesize the serum according to this formula," Diễm Thư said, her voice full of thought. "Perhaps there is some laboratory left in the bunker that hasn't been fully discovered yet." Bạt Phong nodded, his eyes looked around the circular room, thinking of other doors in the bunker that they had not had a chance to explore thoroughly. "We will find out more. But for now, the most important thing is to protect these documents carefully, and prepare mentally for what Doanh Chính Nam will do when he learns that his alliance with Gray Wolf has failed." Yên Nhi nodded, carefully put the old photo of her father in her pocket, holding it close to her heart like a talisman. She looked at Bạt Phong, her eyes were no longer the bewildered eyes of an amnesiac girl, but the steadfast eyes of someone who had rediscovered an important part of herself, and was ready to fight to protect the legacy her father left behind.

"Thank you, Bạt Phong," she said softly. "For not giving up, for helping me find my father, even if only through these old pages."

"We're just getting started," Bạt Phong replied, squeezing her hand. "But I believe, together, we will fulfill his wish." News of the failed rescue was reported to Black Eagle's main base that night. Doanh Chính Nam stood in the command room, his face darkened as he listened to Ứng Thị Lụa narrate the entire incident through the encrypted communication channel - about the man wearing powered armor who single-handedly broke in to save Model 07, defeating both the commando team and the Gray Wolf's army without losing any lives on his part.

"A single individual, with no formal training, could defeat our entire commando team?" Doanh Chính Nam shouted, his hand slammed on the table, causing some paper documents to fall everywhere. "What kind of technology in the Thunder Dragon Shelter would fall into the hands of someone like that?"

"I observed him personally, Colonel," Ứng Thị Lụa replied through the communication device, her voice remained calm even though her heart was still shaken by what she witnessed. "He used a second-generation powered suit and the organization's standard energy weapons. But what was more remarkable was the way he fought — not with the reckless instincts of an amateur, but with calculation, with clear tactics. And he didn't kill a single one of the troops we captured, even though he was fully capable of doing so."

"I don't care if he's humane or not," Doanh Chính Nam interrupted, his voice cold. "I only care that he is hindering the organization's plans. If Prototype 07 falls into the hands of someone strong enough to protect it for a long time, our twenty years of research will be lost."

He stood up, walked to the map on the wall, his finger pressed firmly on the area of Tàn Đô circled in red. "It's time to end this cat and mouse game. Prepare the main force. I will personally lead the army there, and this time there will be no room for any mistakes."

"Yes, Colonel," Ứng Thị Lụa replied, although a new sense of uneasiness rippled in her heart, thinking about the scale of the upcoming attack, and also the image of the people at Camp Dawn that she had accidentally witnessed on a previous trip - people who were simply trying to survive, not knowing they were about to face the full remaining power of an old military empire.

She turned off the communication, standing alone in the cold stone corridor of the base, wondering if she still had the courage to continue serving an ideal whose leader was willing to kill her best friend for just a little remaining conscience. That question, she knew, would persistently haunt her until everything was over.