Chapter 47 — The Last Seed Keeper

Dawn found the three of them nestled in a narrow rock crevice nearly a mile from the water outlet, where Khe Mien had led Diem Quynh and Kien after many hours of traveling in the dark, not daring to stop and rest until they were sure no one was chasing them.

The first light of the new day shined on the three people's faces, clearly revealing the level of exhaustion and panic remaining from last night - Kien's eyes were red and swollen from crying countless times while moving, Diem Quynh's hands still trembled slightly every time she tried to hold anything, and Khe Mien herself felt her whole body aching as if she had just gone through another sandstorm, although this time the wound was not on the skin but deeper, in a place that was not easy to bandage. bundle.

“We need to check what we still have,” she said, her voice hoarse from fatigue and from swallowing too many sobs during the night. "The sooner the better, before the sun rises and we have to find shelter."

Diem Quynh nodded and began rummaging through the small bag she had brought with her while running away - an extra bag that is always prepared for emergency situations, a habit that Bach Lam forged for the whole group right from the first days leaving the Green Dome. Inside, they found a water bottle that was more than half full, some dry food enough to last about two days if portioned carefully, a small knife, and a basic first aid kit.

Khe Mien checked the seed box on her chest, unzipping it to make sure the moisture-proof seal was still intact after being immersed in the water of the drainage tunnel. Inside, the small packets of seeds remained dry, safe — a small relief amid all the other losses of last night.

“Lai Ba Nguyen's documents,” she said, her voice choking as she realized what she had known all along but only now truly felt the weight of it. "The badge. Everything is in the hands of Han Dinh Sang."

"We still have our memories," Diem Quynh said, trying to find a small ray of light amid the darkness. "I took a lot of notes in my notebook during my time in the Sand Dome Archives. Not everything was lost."

Khe Mien pulled the small notebook from the inside pocket of her coat, where she always kept it close to her body, and felt a brief sense of relief when she saw that it was still intact, even though the pages were slightly damp at the edges. Not all of what Lai Ba Nguyen had painstakingly collected, but enough to retain the core — the symbol, the names, the vague connection between Vom Thuong and Thien Ho Group.

“Then all is not lost,” she said, feeling some strength return to her voice. "It's just that we'll have to rewrite it from memory, more carefully, when we have time."

Kien, sitting huddled in the corner of a rocky crevice, spoke up. His voice was still shaking but had begun to regain some composure. "Where are we going now?" he asked. "We don't know the way to Green Dome without Mr. Ngan The Binh leading the way, and we also don't know where Mr. Bach Lam and he are."

That question hung in the air, and Khe Mien realized this was the biggest challenge they would face — not just physical survival, but also the burden of having to make her own decisions without the experienced guidance she had grown accustomed to relying on throughout their journey.

"We're not going far from this area right away," she said, trying to think clearly even though her mind was still reeling with worry for the two people left behind. "The rendezvous point Bach Lam mentioned — the rocky arrow-shaped hillside, about two miles south of the main gate. If they manage to escape, that's where they'll go. We need to go there and wait, as far as safety allows."

"But what if Han Dinh Sang sends people to hunt around that area?" Diem Quynh asked, worry clearly visible on her face.

"Then we'll have to find a hiding place close enough to observe, but far enough away to not be detected," Khe Mien replied, surprised with herself at the sudden certainty in her voice, as if some part of her, tempered by everything she had experienced since leaving the Green Dome, was ready to step up to take on the role of guide she never thought she would have to take on.

She looked toward the gray mountains towering behind them, somewhere deep within the rocks, Bach Lam and Ngan The Binh were still fighting to survive, or worse, and she felt a new determination, as tough as the drought-resistant seeds she always carried, begin to grow in her chest.

"Let's go," she said, standing up, reaching out to pull Kien and Diem Quynh up with her. "Step by step, carefully, and never lose hope, not even for a moment."

The sun continued to rise above the gray mountain peaks, casting a harsh light on the jagged rocky land stretching out before the three people, and as they began to walk, heading south according to the vague memory of what Bach Lam had pointed out on the map, Khe Mien did not turn her head to look back at the mountain holding in its heart the two people she loved, afraid that if she did, she would no longer have the courage to continue moving forward.

The terrain around the foot of the mountain was different from the flat Dong Tro they had become accustomed to throughout the journey - steep cliffs interspersed with narrow valleys, forcing the three to carefully climb over large rocks, sometimes crawling through cracks just wide enough for one person. Diem Quynh, more accustomed to meticulous work in the workshop than climbing mountains, slipped several times, but each time she stood up quickly, gritting her teeth not to let a single moan escape that might reveal their position.

Near noon, when the three were walking along a low slope, Kien suddenly stopped walking and pulled the two women's hands to sit down behind a large rock. “There are people,” he whispered, pointing into the distance, where a group of four men wearing black leather armor—the colors of the Tunnel Watch—were moving along a trail cutting across the mountainside, no more than three hundred paces from their hiding place.

The three held their breath, pressed against the cold rock, as the patrol passed by, their voices echoing vaguely on the wind—not clear enough to hear the content, but enough to detect the tension in the way their eyes scanned the terrain. It took nearly fifteen minutes after the patrol group completely disappeared behind a distant cliff for Khe Mien to dare signal the group to continue moving, her heart still pounding from the fear she had just experienced.

"They're looking for us," Diem Quynh whispered, her voice shaking. "Not just regular guard."

"So we have to be more careful," Khe Mien replied, trying to keep her voice steady even though she felt fear clinging to every step. "Go slower, look more closely before each empty road."

When the sun stood still, burning the entire gray rock area into a giant furnace, the three people found a rock hole deep enough to shelter from the sun, where they sat, sharing small sips of water and a small portion of dry food, their eyes constantly scanning around to watch for any signs of pursuit. Far away to the south, a large block of rock with a strange shape, sharp as the tip of an arrow pointing towards the sky, began to appear more clearly through the air vibrating with heat - the rendezvous point they were looking for, still far away, but no longer a vague concept.

They reached the base of the arrow-shaped rock when the sunlight had begun to turn orange in the late afternoon, all three bodies exhausted from a day of non-stop climbing under the harsh heat of the rocky mountains. Khe Mien found a discreet crack behind the rock, enough for the group to hide while still having a panoramic view of the trails leading down from the Stone Arch.

“We'll wait here,” she said, sitting down, not taking her eyes off the trail in the distance. "When it's completely dark, and if there's no sign, we'll wait another day before deciding on our next move."

Kien sat curled up next to him, his eyes fixed on the trail with almost desperate hope. "Bach Lam will definitely know the way here," he said, half affirming, half reassuring himself. "He's never lost his way, since the day we left the Green Dome."

"That's right," Khe Mien replied, trying to borrow some confidence from the teenager's own words. "He'll find his way here."

The darkness gradually fell, dyeing the entire rocky mountain area into a dark purple and then pitch black, and the three people sat close together in the cold rock crack, sharing the little remaining warmth, their eyes still constantly watching every smallest movement in the darkness in the distance, waiting for a familiar figure that, even though the night was getting deeper and deeper, still never appeared.