Chapter 44 — The Last Seed Keeper

Diem Quynh opened the door as soon as she heard the agreed-upon knock — two short, one long — but her face turned pale when she saw the group of people behind Khe Mien and Bach Lam, not just the two of them but also Wei Ba Cuong, Han Dinh Sang, and four soldiers in black leather armor carrying oil lamps.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice shaking, while Kien, standing behind her, clenched his hands on the bed as a defensive reflex.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Khe Mien said quickly, stepping in first, trying to convey a calmness that she herself couldn't quite feel. "This is a routine inspection, due to Stone Arch's regulations for overnight guests."

Han Dinh Sang signaled his men to begin, and they entered the room with Wei Ba Cuong standing in the doorway, holding a small notebook in his hand to record each item inspected, just as he had promised to be fair.

Each bag was opened, each layer of fabric was turned over, in a tense silence broken only by the rustle of fabric and the sound of metal clashing as the soldiers carefully inspected every smallest compartment. Khe Mien stood still, her hands clasped behind her back, trying not to show her rising anxiety as a soldier approached her private luggage — where the seed box was kept, and below it, the document compartment.

“Here,” the soldier said, his voice changing as his hand touched the thick stack of papers tied with hemp rope, pulling it out along with a small metal badge carefully wrapped in a separate piece of cloth.

Han Dinh Sang stepped forward, picked up the badge, turned it under the light of the oil lamp, and Khe Mien clearly saw the moment his face changed — not surprise, but a cold confirmation, as if he had known he would find exactly this.

“The Heavenly Protection Symbol,” he said, his voice dropping to a bare accusation. "The same symbol engraved on the wall of the monitoring station above Well Seven."

“We found it from a survivor, many weeks ago, far from the Stone Arch,” Khe Mien said, her voice rising with urgency. "It has nothing to do with your collapse. We're trying to learn about an ancient organization, not sabotage anything."

"An ancient organization has a monitoring station right above the mine that just collapsed," Han Dinh Sang replied, flipping through a few pages of Lai Ba Nguyen's documents with a roughness that made Khe Mien suppress the anger welling up in his chest. "And you brought documents about that organization, along with careful inquiries about its history, just a few days before appearing at our gates. I need no further proof."

"This is not evidence of sabotage," Bach Lam said, stepping up to partially block Han Dinh Sang and Khe Mien, his voice as hard as stone. "This is evidence of historical curiosity. You are trying to put two unrelated things together because you need an answer, any answer, to bring home to the grieving families."

A heavy silence covered the room, with only the sound of Kien's rapid breathing, the teenager was trying not to let his panic show out loud.

Wei Baqiang, standing in the doorway, finally spoke, his voice carrying the tension of someone trying to keep his balance on a thin rope. "Han Dinh Sang, what you found were just documents and an old piece of metal. There were no explosives, no sabotage tools, nothing that directly proved a connection to the tunnel collapse."

"Not yet," Han Dinh Sang replied, closing the document and holding it tightly in his hand like a trophy. "But the motive is clear, and I have the authority, under emergency regulations issued after the collapse, to detain anyone suspected until the investigation is complete."

"Those emergency regulations are for Stone Arch residents, not commercial guests from a partner Arch," Wei Baqiang protested, his voice louder now, no longer trying to maintain diplomatic composure.

"In a state of emergency, I have the right to interpret the scope of application of the regulations," Han Dinh Sang replied, unfazed. “And I interpret that anyone present within this mountain, regardless of background, is under my protection — and my investigative responsibility.”

He gestured to the soldiers, his voice ringing with the full weight of official authority. "Confiscate all documents and badges as evidence. This group will be kept in the guest house under surveillance until the Mining Council meets the morning after tomorrow to consider the matter."

"Two days," Bach Lam said, his voice choked with suppressed anger. "You intend to keep us here for two days based on a piece of metal and a few old pages?"

"I intend to ensure the safety of the Stone Dome with every tool I have at hand," Han Dinh Sang replied, turning and walking out of the room, the soldiers following him, carrying the precious documents that Lai Ba Nguyen had handed over with deep trust just a few weeks ago.

Wei Ba Cuong lingered for a while after the door closed, his face carrying a truly guilty look. “I'm sorry,” he said, his voice quiet. "This is not how I want Stone Dome to treat its guests. I will do my best to ensure the Mining Council considers the matter fairly, but I can make no promises, as fear has been ingrained in all of us since the collapse."

When he also left, leaving two soldiers standing guard outside the door, the whole group stood in silence for a long time, only the flickering oil lamplight illuminating their tense faces.

"Two days," Diem Quynh whispered at last, her voice trembling. "We cannot wait two days for some council to decide our fate based on the fears of a man who has already decided in advance the answer he wants."

Khe Mien looked around the small room, at the worried faces of the people who had become her family along the long journey, and in her heart, a decision began to form that she knew would carry greater risks than anything they had faced since the day they left the Green Dome.

“The Stone Dome Mining Council may or may not be fair,” Ngan The Binh said, sitting on the edge of the bed, his voice low and matter-of-fact as usual even though the whole room could sense the tension beneath the calm. "But I've lived long enough to know that when someone like Han Dinh Sang has decided in advance the answer he wants, no council has the courage to go against him completely, especially when the whole Vom is scared and needs a name to blame."

"So what do you think we should do?" Bach Lam asked, although his tone showed that he already had the answer in mind, just waiting for confirmation from his long-time partner.

"I think we cannot wait for justice from a place of panic," Ngan The Binh replied. “If the Mining Council finds us guilty, even on suspicion, we will never leave this mountainside intact. And if they find us innocent, we will still have lost two precious days, along with our documents and badges — things we cannot afford to fall into the hands of anyone but ourselves.”

Kien, sitting curled up on the bed, spoke up, his voice smaller but more determined than Khe Mien had ever heard from him before. "Shall we hide?" he asked. "But there are two guards right outside the door."

"That's something we need to consider carefully," Bach Lam said, his voice dropping to a whisper even though the door was closed. "Not tonight — we need time to observe the watch, find out if there are any escape routes in this mountain that aren't strictly controlled. But it must be before the Mining Council meets."

Diem Quynh, who had been sitting silently throughout the conversation, her eyes lowered to look at her hands, suddenly looked up with a flash of an idea. “I noticed the underground water system as we passed through the administration area,” she said. "Those gutters must lead to some outlet outside the mountain, wide enough for water to flow through continuously. If you can review the diagram, or find out the direction of flow, it may be an unguarded passage like the main gate."

Bach Lam looked at her with clear appreciation, a thin smile flickering on his lips for the first time since they were led into the middle of the night interrogation. “That could be our chance,” he said. "But we need to be sure before venturing into a flooded tunnel we've never been through."

Khe Mien looked at each person in her small group — Bach Lam with his cold determination that had saved them countless times, Ngan The Binh with his vast experience who was never in a hurry, Diem Quynh with his sharp technical mind who was finding solutions in the midst of fear, and Kien, the teenager who was trying to be brave beyond his years — and she felt a new determination creep into her chest, replacing the initial panic.

“Then we have a day to prepare,” she said, her voice steadier now. "One day to find a way out, get the documents back if possible, and get out of here before anyone has a chance to decide our fate for us."