Chapter 81 — The Last Seed Keeper

The messenger usually arrived at dusk on the eighth day of each month, with no deviation of more than half a day for nearly a year since the secret communication channel with Doanh Ba Thong was established - and this time, when the sunset had completely disappeared on Vom Cat Square without a single stranger appearing at the gate, Khe Mien stood by the office window, counting the passing minutes with a restlessness she could not hide.

"Maybe it's just a delay on the way," Diem Quynh said, though her voice couldn't hide the same worry as she sat at the table, her eyes never leaving the far gate. "It's been raining continuously for three days in the east. The road through Dong Tro may have collapsed."

"Or," Bach Lam said, his voice deeper, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest, "Canh Ba Tuyen has finally found him."

No one in the room refuted that statement, because they had all been thinking about the same possibility for weeks, since the last time Doanh Ba Thong sent a warning message that the circle of suspicion around him was tightening more than ever. Kien, sitting in the corner of the room with a stack of maps of the Vom Thuong area that he had copied himself from Ngan The Binh's old notes, looked up, his face carrying a seriousness that had become permanent since the battle at Vom Soi.

“If he gets caught,” he said, “how much time do we have before they force him to reveal everything he knows about the alliance?”

That was exactly the question that hung in Khe Mien's mind all evening, and she had no answer that could comfort anyone, including herself. She left the window, sat down opposite Diem Quynh, opened the notebook that had grown significantly thicker than the day she left Green Dome many years ago, and turned to the last page of notes related to Doanh Ba Thong.

“He told me the last time we met, at the Base Level fire escape,” she said, rereading the words she had scribbled down that night, “that if one day he was no longer in contact, it could be for two reasons—either he had been discovered, or he was deliberately silent to protect a clue more important than anything he had ever sent us before.”

"What clue?" Diem Quynh asked.

"You didn't say clearly," Khe Mien replied, closing the notebook. "Just saying that if found, it will be the final evidence, strong enough that no one, even those most loyal to Loi Bach Dat, can continue to deny the truth."

Cau Bach Thinh and Diep Ba Nhan entered the room at that moment, followed by a young messenger from the Stone Dome carrying an encrypted telegram that had just been sent by Duong Thi Yen through the unofficial communication channel that Wei Ba Cuong had opened many months before. Diep Ba Nhan decoded the telegram in silence, his face gradually becoming tense as he read each line.

“Stone Dome just received news from a merchant passing through Upper Dome,” he said, looking up at the room. "There is an internal purge going on among the Central Council's observer team. At least three people have been 'summoned for questioning' in the past week. Their names have not been publicly revealed, but the merchant said that one of them is an older man who has worked in the Private Storage for a long time."

Silence filled the room as the meaning of that information penetrated everyone. Khe Mien felt a cold run down her spine, not because of surprise, but because the fear she had been carrying for weeks now seemed to be coming true.

“We can't be sure it's him,” Bach Lam said, though his voice didn't carry much conviction.

"No," Khe Mien replied, standing up, feeling a new determination forming in her heart, gradually replacing the initial panic. "But we also can't sit here waiting for more evidence, while every day that passes could be another day he has to endure what Canh Ba Tuyen is willing to do to get information."

"So what do you suggest?" Cau Bach Thinh asked, his eyes carrying a deep concern for both his secret friend and the young woman who had become the center of this entire alliance.

Khe Mien looked around the room, at every face that had come a long way with her since the day she left the Green Dome — Bach Lam with his cold reality but always absolute loyalty, Diem Quynh with her quiet perseverance who had grown into an excellent technician, Kien with her maturity beyond her years after all the losses he had witnessed, and now, Cau Bach Thinh and Diep Ba Nhan, who had bet on the future of the Dome. Sand Dome became part of the promise of a better world.

“I suggest we do two things at once,” she said. "The Alliance continues to consolidate its forces, preparing for the possibility of having to directly confront the Upper Dome, not just with words this time. But at the same time, a small group needs to go there immediately — not to declare war, but to find Doanh Ba Thong, and find the last clue he mentioned, before it disappears forever with him."

"I intend to lead that group," Bach Lam said, not as a question, but as a confirmation that he already knew the answer.

"I owe him that," Khe Mien replied, meeting his gaze without avoiding it. "He's risked his life many times for us, from the first night we met him in the library, to the night he helped us escape custody. If he's in danger for helping us, I won't let him face it alone."

Kien stood up from the corner of the room and approached the table with a decisive gait. “I'll come along,” he said.

"Kien—" Bach Lam began, his voice carrying an instinctive protest, but Kien interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"I know what you're afraid of," he said, his voice steadier than the teenager who had once tremblingly asked whether people could be lost forever in the heart of a mountain. "After what happened to Mr. Ngan The Binh. But I'm not a child who needs to be protected from all dangers anymore. I've learned enough from him to know how to take care of myself, and most of all, I want to use what I've learned to protect something meaningful, not just watch from afar."

Khe Mien exchanged a long look with Bach Lam, both understanding that the teenager they had sheltered throughout their journey had now become a young person with the right to decide his own path, even though it made their hearts heavy with worry.

"Okay," Bach Lam said finally, his voice hoarse with suppressed emotions. "But you will stay close to me throughout the entire trip, never leaving my sight, just like the promise you made to Ngan The Binh."

"I promise," Kien replied.

Diem Quynh, although not volunteering to go along, plays an equally important role — she will stay at Vom Cat, continue to coordinate communication with the entire network, ensure all Vom members are updated on the situation and ready to mobilize if necessary. "I'll keep in touch every night," she said, her voice carrying a toughness she had learned through months of relentless work. "If you don't respond in three days, I will alert the entire alliance."

That night, when the plan had been drafted and all the preparations were ready for the trip that would depart at dawn, Khe Mien sat alone in her room, opened the seed box that had accompanied her throughout the journey, and looked down at the seeds inside under the flickering light of an oil lamp. She thought about Doanh Ba Thong, about the strange calmness on his face when he refused to leave the Upper Dome with them, choosing to stay to continue being the "eyes and ears" of the alliance in the midst of the enemy, knowing full well that the price to pay could be his own life.

Bach Lam walked in, sat down next to her, was silent for a moment before speaking. "Do you think we'll find him alive?" he asked, the question they had both been avoiding all evening.

"I don't know," Khe Mien answered honestly, closing the lid of the seed box. "But I thought about what he told me the night we escaped—that the question wasn't whether they suspected you, but whether they had evidence. If he was captured, perhaps it was because they finally found it. Which means we're in a race against time, not just to save you, but to save the very clue you sacrificed so much to protect."

Bach Lam took her hand, clasping it in silence, and they both sat there for a long moment, listening to the night wind blowing through the cracks of the Sand Dome, each lost in their own thoughts about what lay ahead—not only the physical danger of sneaking into the center of power that had once banished them, but also the weight of knowing that, this time, they could no longer back down or wait for a better moment.

"Tomorrow," Khe Mien said finally, her voice carrying a determination that had been tempered by everything she had been through since the day she left the Green Dome, "we will bring with us more than just the hope of finding a friend. We will bring with us the last chance to complete what began with a vague, fleeting name in Co Diem Ninh's story, many years ago."

She turned off the oil lamp, and in the darkness, the two remained together for a while longer, mentally preparing for the journey that would take them back to the very place where all the greatest dangers of the journey had begun.