Chapter 4 — Mist Peak Rescue Team

"Mr. Dac Lam, I need you to decide now." Ho Thien Kien stood in the middle of the station yard, still holding the helmet, his eyes never leaving the station chief. "Team B was ready five minutes ago. We can't let time slip by waiting for a weather window that may never open."

Khanh Van walked over from the map table, still holding the red marker in her hand. "The weather window is always open, Kien. The problem is whether I realize when it opens or not."

"While I was calculating, those three people were getting colder on the mountain."

"And while you rush in without planning, your team could become the next three missing people." Khanh Van put the pen on the table, trying to keep her voice calm even though inside she was as tense as a string. "I'm not saying don't go. I'm saying go the right way."

Dac Lam stood between the two people, looking back and forth, his face wrinkled because he had to consider a decision that he knew clearly that there was no completely safe solution. After the Ham Rong incident two years ago, it was he who signed the report, it was he who sat for hours with Khanh Van in the office, listening to her recount every detail over and over as if repeating it enough times would make the outcome different. He did not want to have to write such a report again.

"Okay," he said finally, his voice slow as if he were convincing himself. "Kien, you lead a small reconnaissance team, no more than three people, going first according to the plan around the western flank - not going through the narrowest part of the spine. Your task is to determine the location, mark the route, do not approach directly if visibility is less than ten meters. Is that clear?"

"Clear." Kien nodded immediately, without any hesitation.

"Van, you prepare the main team, closely monitor the weather, depart as soon as there is confirmation of a safe window or when Kien's team needs reinforcements." Dac Lam looked at both of them. "The two teams maintain constant radio contact on channel four. Anyone who encounters a situation beyond their ability to handle, report immediately, do not make decisions alone. I don't want anyone to act alone on the mountain today."

The last sentence he looked straight at Kien as he spoke, and Kien understood what he meant. He tightened the strap of his helmet in his hand, did not respond to that look, just turned to call the two members of Team B who were waiting nearby.

"Bao Khang, Long, prepare to leave."

Doan Bao Khang - the youngest member of Team B, only twenty-three years old but already famous for being the most agile climber in the station - nodded and put his backpack back on his shoulder. The other person, a more experienced guy, just nodded slightly, said nothing, his eyes focused on the trail ahead.

Khanh Van walked closer to Kien before he could turn away, lowering his voice so only the two of them could hear. "Kien, I didn't stop you because I didn't trust you. I stopped because I once stood in the same position as you are now, and I know that feeling - the feeling of believing that my speed is enough to overcome the weather. Please, go carefully."

Kien looked at her for a moment, his eyes softened a bit, although the familiar toughness remained intact. "I know you're worried. But I also know how I work, Ms. Van. Last year, because I didn't wait, I was able to get a man with hypothermia out of Vong Phong ravine before dark — if I had waited another half hour as usual procedure, he wouldn't have survived that night."

"I know that," Khanh Van said. "And I don't deny it. But one success doesn't mean the formula is always right."

"One failure doesn't mean my formula is always right." Kien replied, not harshly, just stating the truth frankly. Then he turned away, signaled the two remaining members, and all three disappeared behind the low trees at the beginning of the trail, heading toward the western slope of Sa Mu peak.

Khanh Van stood and watched until the shadows of their orange jackets disappeared, then turned back to the map table. Kien's words still echoed in her head — not because it was wrong, but because it was partly true, and that partly true was something she had asked herself countless times over the past two years.

"Are you okay?" Uyen Nhi asked softly, standing next to her without realizing it.

"Fine." Khanh Van took a deep breath. "Check the handheld radios for your team, make sure the batteries are full, have extra batteries for each device. Uncle Tong, review the number of anchors and ropes, calculate enough for the case of having to lower an injured person with a pulley through the steep slope near T7."

"Clear." Uncle Tong started moving towards the equipment warehouse.

Dieu Han, standing nearby tying her shoelaces, looked up at Khanh Van with unconcealed curiosity. "Miss Van, will we start at the same time as Mr. Kien's team?"

"No." Khanh Van shook her head, her eyes still glued to the sky above Sa Mu peak, where the gray clouds were still rolling slowly, showing no signs of dissipating. "I wait. But it's not like waiting and doing nothing — I prepare every single detail, so that when the window opens, I don't have to waste another second preparing. Everything has to be ready before the opportunity comes, not after."

She looked down at her watch. Nine hours forty-five minutes. The three missing people had been on the mountain for more than two and a half hours since their last check-in, and if Uyen Nhi's estimate of Bao Anh's possible heart condition was correct, each passing minute now carried a weight that no one in the team dared to put into words.

While waiting, Khanh Van walked around the station yard, checking each bag of equipment stacked in a row: Uyen Nhi's emergency bag, uncle Tong's rope coil and anchor set, the folding stretcher and insulating blanket that Dieu Han had just prepared. She opened each bag, counted the quantity, and compared it with the handwritten list in the notebook — not because she didn't trust her teammates, but because it was a habit she'd taught herself since Ham Rong: everything had to be checked twice by two different people, no exceptions, whether it was a normal training session or an emergency.

"Is the handheld GPS locator pre-loaded with T7 coordinates and landmarks along the Cloud Dragon's spine?" she asked Dieu Han.

"Okay, I loaded it from the morning, including the coordinates of Ham Rong area to avoid going in the wrong direction when visibility is poor." Dieu Han hesitated for a second before adding: "I also marked the western detour in case we have to go that direction."

Khanh Van nodded, not commenting on the fact that Dieu Han had voluntarily prepared a backup plan - that was a sign that this young girl learned faster than she thought.

Vu A Tua, still standing nearby, looked towards Sa Mu peak, muttered something in Mong language and then turned to Khanh Van. "Miss Van, I think I should go with your team when we start. I know some shortcuts through the eastern rocky slope, which can shorten half an hour compared to the main trail, if the situation requires it quickly."

"Thank you. I'll need you." Khanh Van looked at him, truly grateful. No one knows the terrain of the Pu Nhu mountains better than those who have grown up there their entire lives, and in a situation like today, that knowledge is as valuable as any modern equipment they carry.

At that moment, the walkie-talkie on Khanh Van's belt crackled, then Bao Khang's voice rang out, slightly broken due to the weak signal in the mountain terrain: "Heaven's Gate, this is Team B. We have arrived at the western flank observation point. The fog... the fog here is much thicker than expected. Looking for guidance."

Khanh Van picked up the walkie-talkie, her fingers tightening around the body. "Team B, this is Heaven's Gate — Team A. Explain the current visibility status to me."

A few seconds of silence passed, only the characteristic hum of radio waves in the middle of the mountain. Then Kien's voice rang out, replacing Bao Khang: "Visibility is about thirty meters, we can still go. The wind is level four, not dangerous yet. We continue to follow the plan around the west flank as agreed, keeping in contact every fifteen minutes."

"Understood. Thirty meters is still within the safe threshold, but if it drops below ten, stop immediately, find shelter, don't try to continue." Khanh Van said, trying to suppress the worry from her voice. "Team A is preparing, will depart as soon as there is a weather window signal or when you need reinforcements."

"Okay. Team B is out." The buzzing sound stopped completely.

Khanh Van lowered the walkie-talkie and stood still for a moment in the middle of the station yard, looking towards the western slope even though he could see nothing but the trees and gray clouds rolling in the distance. Thirty meters of visibility sounded good, but she knew better than anyone the speed at which that number could collapse — as Vu A Tua had said, it only took three or four minutes for an opaque white curtain to collapse over the entire mountain.

"Mr. Kien has experience," Dieu Han said softly, as if he was reassuring himself more than telling anyone. "It'll probably be okay."

"His experience helps him react quickly when something happens." Khanh Van turned back to look at the young girl. "But experience can't prevent things from happening in the first place. That's the difference between reaction and prevention, Dieu Han. Both are necessary, you just have to know when to use which one."

She turned back to the map table, her eyes glued to the red line along the Cloud Dragon's spine, her fingers unconsciously stopped at the area near Ham Rong area again, as if her eyes were being drawn there irresistibly.