Chapter 8 — Midnight Snake Knocks On The Door

I used gauze to wrap around the wound. Clumsy movements like wrapping banh chung. When it reached the last turn, the snake stuck out its tongue and gently touched the back of my hand. The snake's tongue is cold and feels a bit itchy. My tears fell onto its scales.

“What should you do next?”

I asked it, just like I was asking myself. The armed police did not open fire, but did not leave either. They are waiting for orders from above. The fate of the snake is not in my hands, not in the captain's hands, nor in the hands of anyone here. It is in a document called "Handling plan when test subject No. 7 escapes from the detention area". In that brochure, it's just a number. One data. A failed experiment needs to be destroyed. The snake did not answer my question. It moved its bandaged body towards me, placing its head on my leg. The tip of the tail began to gently tap the ground again. Bang. Bang. Bang.

“Are you coaxing me?”

It closed its eyes. From afar came the sound of a helicopter engine. A large transport helicopter painted in green military camouflage flew in from the other side of the mountain, then landed at the research institute's landing zone. There was a symbol printed on the fuselage that I didn't recognize. The captain received a phone call and his expression immediately changed. He walked in front of me, his tone was very complicated.

“The superior's decision has been made.”

My heart immediately sank.

“Experiment No. 7 will not be destroyed on the spot. The military will take over, transporting it to a designated facility for further evaluation.”

I opened my eyes wide, almost not daring to believe what I just heard.

“What?”

“Someone saw the scene video we sent and thought the value of this thing far outweighed the danger.”

The captain stopped and lowered his voice.

“Or to be more precise, the value of the technology behind it far exceeds seven human lives.”

My mind is blank. It doesn't need to die anymore. But what do “military takeover” and “taken to designated facility” mean? Is it a different place to detain, or a different place to continue experimenting? I lowered my head to look at the snake. He still maintained that position, his head resting on my leg, his eyes closed, his side wrapped in gauze. It doesn't know what's going on. I don't know what those people in uniform are discussing. Not sure what “military takeover” means. It only knows that it has been fed, the wound is no longer bleeding, and the person it is leaning on has not run away.

“Lam Vi, you also have to come with us on a trip.”

The armed police captain said:

“Take statements, explain the situation. Then... then move on.”

Two armed police came and signaled me to get in the car. Professional military personnel locked the snake in a custom-made cage. The cage is made of metal, very sturdy, and has a soft cushion inside. When brought inside, the snake did not struggle. It just opened its eyes, looking at me through the bars. Those eyes reminded me of the children in the orphanage waiting for someone to adopt them. They looked at each person passing by, not knowing who would take them, nor knowing where they would be taken.

“I will come find you.”

I spoke to it through the bars. It tilt your head.

“Lam Vi.”

It said. This is the word it pronounces most clearly. PART 18 The testimony lasted eight hours. I tell everything from beginning to end. From the first time I saw it in the third basement, to me secretly feeding it fish, to everything that happened tonight. The female police officer who took my statement was very young. She cried twice in the middle.

“So it's really just because of hunger?”

Finally, she asked me with red eyes.

“Not completely.”

I shook my head.

"Hunger is only part of the reason. Then I understood, it didn't just come to me because it was hungry."

“So why?”

I remember the time it gently touched the back of my hand with its tongue, remember when it moved its tail to the side to make room for me, remember the way it tilted its head.

“Because he remembers that I used to treat him well.”

“Is it that simple?”

“It's as simple as that.”

The young female police officer closed her notebook and stood up. She hesitated for a moment, then said something unrelated to work.

“I hope it can live well.”

Me too. But what happened next exceeded everyone's expectations. PART 19 The Army did not submit the snake to an evaluation facility. Or we can say, the so-called “designated facility” is actually a larger laboratory. It wasn't until three months later that I learned the truth. That day, Vice Principal Tran came to find me at my new residence. I have moved house. I can't continue living in the old dormitory. Every time I close my eyes, I see Tieu Chau's face. The new house is located in an old residential area. Cheap rent, close to the market, and very far from the research institute. Vice Principal Tran looks a lot older. The gray hair on both temples is clearly visible, it can no longer be hidden. He sat on my old sofa, his hands clasped on his knees, like someone coming to confess.

“They took it to the base in the Northwest.”

He got straight to the point.

“The mouth says it's an evaluation, but actually they want to copy No. 7's gene fusion technology.”

“They tested for three months but there was no success.”

“All new test subjects died within the first week.”

“After that, they started taking samples from body number 7.”

My fingers dug deep into my palm.

“Initially, news spread that they only took biological samples such as scales, blood, muscle tissue and bone marrow.”

Vice Principal Tran's voice was very calm, but his hands were shaking.

“I asked someone to get part of the internal records, then discovered that things are not that simple.”

“What they're aiming for could be the eggs developing in its body.”

I jumped up from the chair.

“Eggs?”

“I'm not sure. The file was encrypted, I can only read a few paragraphs.”