Chapter 35 — The Last Seed Keeper

Two days after leaving Dai Van Cuong's area, the group stopped and set up camp next to a rock large enough to block the wind, and for the first time since the night by the old man's fire, the five of them had enough time and relative peace to discuss carefully what they had discovered.

Ve Diem Quynh, sitting with an open metal box in front of her, was examining the piece of badge closely in broad daylight, using a small magnifying glass she carried in her technical kit.

“I think this isn't just any ordinary piece of metal,” she said, her voice filled with concentration. "Look closely at its edge — there's a thin coating, almost transparent when light shines through at the right angle. I think it once had some sort of electronic identification function, not just a badge with a name on it."

"You mean it was used to unlock something?" Khe Mien asked.

"Maybe," Diem Quynh replied, still not taking her eyes off the piece of metal. "Technology such as this is far beyond anything the Green Dome currently has, even in the most modern equipment of the Respiratory Station. If this is common Guardian technology, then they are far more advanced than what one could imagine of the world before the Great Cataclysm."

Ngan The Binh, sitting and sharpening his knife while listening, contributed, his voice thoughtful. “That fits with what I once heard, many years ago, from an old merchant in another Arch—about the ‘old families,’ as he called them, families whose power and wealth seemed far beyond what was reasonable for anyone who had survived the Great Cataclysm by mere effort and luck.”

"Do you remember what he said specifically?" Bach Lam asked, sitting up straight, his attention completely focused on the story.

"Not much," Ngan The Binh admitted. "He just said that there were families, in some of the most powerful Arches, that held technical knowledge and resources far beyond what they should have had based solely on what was left after the disaster. He said it in a half-joking tone, more as a joke than a serious accusation. I didn't think much of it at the time."

Khe Mien felt the disparate pieces of the puzzle begin to gradually connect together in her mind—Co Diem Ninh's words about the Original Grain Warehouse possibly being located at Vom Thuong, rumors about "old families" holding superior power, documents found in Dai Van Cuong's box about classifying shelter areas by priority level.

“If the Upper Dome is indeed where the Root Store is kept,” she said slowly, “and if its founders were connected to the Guardian, as the documents we found suggest, then perhaps the Central Council of today is not simply an inter-Dome coordination body established after the disaster. Perhaps it is a continuation, under a different name, of the same organization that helped cause the Great Cataclysm.”

A long silence fell over the group, the weight of that hypothesis too great for anyone to react immediately.

"That is a very serious allegation," Bach Lam said finally, his tone cautious though clearly not denying the possibility. "We have no direct evidence linking the Central Council to the Heavenly Guardian. We have a name mentioned in passing, a symbol, a fragment of a document about the classification of the refuge area. Those are disturbing pieces of the puzzle, but not a complete picture."

"I know," Khe Mien said, nodding. "I'm not saying we should go around proclaiming this as a confirmed fact. But I think we need to continue to investigate, be careful, and remember every clue we come across, so that one day, when there is enough evidence, the truth can be irrefutably brought to light."

Kien, who sat listening from the beginning of the discussion with an increasingly worried expression, finally spoke, his voice trembling slightly. “If this is true,” he said, “and if the people who rule the Upper Dome are truly descendants of the Guardian Angel, then… are they dangerous? I mean, if they know we're learning about their past?”

That question made the group silent for a moment, and Khe Mien realized that Kien had asked something that they were all thinking about but no one dared to say out loud.

"Maybe," Bach Lam said honestly, not wanting to downplay the severity of the situation to artificially reassure him. "That's why we need to be careful about what we share, and with whom. Not because we should be too scared to learn more, but because we should be wise enough not to put ourselves in unnecessary danger before we are ready, or strong enough, to face what that truth might entail."

“That's why we need to go to Vom Cat first,” Ngan The Binh added, his tone matter-of-fact. "Not just because of the seeds. The Sand Dome has existed and traded with many other Domes for many generations. If anyone knows more about the true history of the world before the Great Change, other than an old man living in seclusion in the Ashes, perhaps it will be those who have witnessed and remembered more through generations of trade."

Khe Mien nodded, feeling a new determination forming within her, mixed with a worry she couldn't completely dispel. She looked down at the metal box, then looked at the shockproof box containing the seeds, two objects with two different missions but now tied together in the same journey.

“We're going to Sand Dome,” she said, her voice steady. "We will complete our initial task—negotiation for spare parts and new seeds for the Green Dome. But we will also inquire, carefully and tactfully, about anything they may know about the Guardian, about the Root Store, about what really happened before the Great Cataclysm."

"And if we find out more of the truth," Bach Lam said, looking at her with a look that was both worried and determined, "we will decide together what the next step is. None of us has to face this alone."

"I think we should keep this a tighter secret than we did with the seed," Diem Quynh said, carefully wrapping the badge in the old moisture-proof cloth that Dai Van Cuong had used to preserve it for many years. "If someone really is protecting the area near the Dome of the Rock like he says, then there's a good chance someone is also keeping an eye on anyone who starts asking the right questions."

"You're right," Khe Mien agreed. "From now on, when we come to Vom Cat, we will ask questions indirectly — maybe starting with questions about the general history of the Arches, about the ancient stories they still tell, instead of directly asking about Thien Ho. I don't want to alarm anyone before we understand what we are facing."

Ngan The Binh nodded in agreement, then stood up to prepare for the first night watch, but before leaving the circle of fire, he stopped and looked at the group. “I want to say one more thing,” he said, his voice deeper and more serious than usual. "Over the course of my career, I have learned that truth, once begun to be sought, rarely stops just when one feels safe enough to stop. If we continue on this path, we need to be prepared that it may lead us further, and more dangerously, than any of us can now anticipate."

“I understand that,” Khe Mien said, her voice never wavering. "But I think about Phu Thi Doan, about her feverish grandchild, about the young soldier who lost his sister to an unjust system. If there is a larger truth that explains why the world is the way it is, I don't think I can turn my back on finding it, just because it could be dangerous."

That night, while writing in her notebook under the small light, Khe Mien paused for a long time before putting pen to paper, trying to arrange her chaotic thoughts into meaningful lines:

*I used to think this journey was just to find spare parts, find new varieties, and save Green Dome's Seed Warehouse. Now I understand, perhaps it was always something much bigger, from the moment Ms. Diem Ninh whispered the name Thien Ho in my ear years ago. I don't know where the road ahead will lead, or whether I will have the courage to get to the bottom of the truth when I find it. But I know, I can't go back and pretend I never knew what I know now. Perhaps it is also a kind of seed — once planted, there is no way to get it out of the soil.*