Chapter 87 — The Last Seed Keeper

The Upper Dome appeared on the horizon at dawn, a giant sphere sparkling with artificial light in the gray land of Dong Tro, and as Khe Mien stood on a high cliff with Bach Lam observing the entire coalition army lined up behind her, she felt a solemnity different from the fear she had carried when she first came to this place as a lone diplomatic representative.

"This is no longer a young girl standing in front of a conference table," Bach Lam said, looking at her with a deep sense of pride. "This is a true coalition, coming to reclaim the truth."

The plan was meticulously drawn up in the final three days of operations — the main force of the alliance, led by Wei Ba Cuong and the Stone Dome's team of tunneling engineers, would approach the main gate from the south, putting pressure on Vom Thuong's security forces to concentrate their defense there, while a smaller group, led by Khe Mien and Bach Lam along with Doanh Ba Thong, Kien and Son Ba Dat, would use the old drainage pipe to sneak in. The Base Level once again, pushed deeper inside with two goals in mind — to open the door leading down to the Root Storage, and to capture the Full Dome Broadcast Station long enough to broadcast the truth.

"Jingboxuan will not let us get close to the main gate without reacting," Wei Baqiang said through a handheld communicator as the army began to separate into groups as planned. "We'll keep them busy for as long as possible, but don't expect more than a few hours before they realize this is just part of a larger plan."

"A few hours will be enough," Khe Mien replied, her voice carrying a determination that had been tempered by everything she had been through. "We're not going to waste a minute of it."

The main force of the alliance, more than one hundred and fifty men carrying the banners of each Dome member fluttering in the morning wind, marched towards the main gate of the Upper Arch with an almost ceremonial solemnity, making no secret of their presence, as a public declaration that the time of silence had passed. Alarm bells rang out from the watchtowers of the Upper Dome almost immediately, and Khe Mien, watching from afar through binoculars before his small group split off in the other direction, saw security troops begin pouring out of the main gate, just as the plan had predicted.

“Now,” Bach Lam said, and the small group crept across the rough terrain, around to the southern side gate where the old drainage pipe was still hidden behind a pile of rubble.

The second time they entered the tight darkness of the pipe, Khe Mien felt a strange familiarity mixed with new anxiety — this time, they were not just looking for a friend, but carrying the responsibility of an entire alliance, of all the Arches who had placed their trust in them. Doanh Ba Thong led the way most of the time, his memory of the Base Floor layout and technical passageways proving invaluable as they weaved through the dark alleys, staying away from areas where patrols were being urgently dispatched towards the main gate.

"The entrance to the Private Storage is on the east side of the central administration area," Doanh Ba Thong whispered as they approached a narrow staircase leading up from the Base Level, "but to get there, we have to go through the area near the Full Dome Broadcasting Tower first. Perhaps this is the opportunity to split up the group."

The plan was quickly adjusted in silence — Bach Lam and Son Ba Dat would head towards Dai Phat Toan Vom to try to capture it, while Khe Mien, Kien, and Doanh Ba Thong continued down to the Private Storage to open the door leading to the Original Seed Warehouse with the small key that Khe Mien had kept carefully the whole way.

"Be careful," Khe Mien said to Bach Lam before they separated, holding his hand tightly for a brief but meaningful moment.

"Always," he replied, a thin smile flickering across his tense face before turning around, leading Son Ba Dat to disappear into another side hallway.

Bach Lam and Son Ba Dat moved quickly through the narrow technical passageways leading upward, where the towering cylindrical broadcast tower of Radio Phat Toan Vom stood in the middle of an open courtyard, guarded by a much smaller squad of soldiers than Bach Lam had expected, the majority of the security forces having been dispatched towards the main gate to deal with the main force of the alliance.

"Just four people," Son Ba Dat whispered, watching from behind a low wall. "But the control room inside the tower is probably locked with a code that only senior technicians know."

"Then we need one of them to cooperate," Bach Lam said, his eyes scanning the four soldiers lazily standing guard, clearly not expecting anyone to dare attack right at this center of power. "Or we need to be fast enough to not need codes."

He signaled Son Ba Dat around to the other side of the yard, and when the soldier closest to the tower gate turned his back to talk to his comrades, Bach Lam rushed out of the darkness with the speed and precision of many years of survival on Dong Tro, knocking him down with a strong blow to the back of the head before the man could sound any warning. Son Ba Dat, although hesitant for a moment, quickly controlled the second soldier, while the remaining two, realizing the situation, hastily pulled out their weapons.

"Stop!" one of them shouted, but before he could pull the trigger, Son Ba Dat stepped out of the shadows, raising his bare hand.

“It's me,” he said, his voice ringing with urgency. "Son Ba Dat, served under General Kich Ba Hoanh. You don't need to die over a door. Think about what's really going on here, about what you've been taught versus what you've actually witnessed."

The two soldiers hesitated, their gazes exchanged for a long, uncertain moment, before the leader, his voice trembling, lowered his weapon. "We don't want to die because of Jingboxuan," he said. "But we also can't let you in without having anything to back up what you just said."

"You will soon have proof," Bach Lam said, pulling the restrained soldier up to get the control room code. "In a few minutes, this entire region will hear the truth, and you will get to choose which side of history you stand on."

Khe Mien's group continued moving, and as they approached the Private Archives, hurried footsteps and shouts rang out from behind — not from the distant main gate, but from within the administrative area itself, signaling that their presence had been detected.

"Canh Ba Tuyen," Doanh Ba Thong said, his voice tense as he recognized the familiar figure of security chief Vom Thuong appearing at the beginning of the hallway, leading a team of fully armed soldiers.

“I was wondering when you would come back,” Canh Ba Tuyen said, his voice cold and smug as he approached, his eyes scanning Khe Mien and Kien with undisguised contempt. "I didn't expect you to be so foolish as to bring along the Green Dome's Seed Keeper, as if offering me a gift."

"We didn't come here to get arrested again," Khe Mien said, standing up straight, not showing any fear even though her heart was pounding.

"You think you have another choice?" Canh Ba Tuyen asked, signaling his team of soldiers to line up to block the path ahead, cutting off all paths to the Private Archives.

Kien, standing next to Khe Mien with a surprising calmness for his age, lowered his voice just enough for her to hear. “I remember what Uncle Ngan The Binh taught me about reading the terrain,” he said. "This hallway has a side turn behind us, leading around the maintenance area. If we can last long enough..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud explosion rang out in the distance, shaking the entire hallway, and the ceiling lights flickered out for a moment before settling back down. Canh Ba Tuyen turned his head toward the sound in a moment of distraction, and Doanh Ba Thong, faster than Khe Mien imagined someone just recovering from an injury could do, rushed forward and pushed one of the nearest soldiers, creating enough chaos for the group to rush through the gap that had just opened.

"Run!" Doanh Ba Thong shouted, and the three rushed into the side entrance that Kien had recognized, bullets and shouts echoing behind them as Canh Ba Tuyen's soldiers reacted.

They ran through the dark maintenance corridors, hearts pounding, until Doanh Ba Thong, panting, signaled a stop in front of a heavy, old metal door, almost forgotten among the surrounding water pipes and electrical wires.

“There it is,” he said, his voice shaking with both exhaustion and emotion. "The door leads down to the Root Store."

Khe Mien pulled the small key out of her pocket, her hands trembling as she guided it toward the ancient lock on the door, clearly sensing that this moment, more than any other in her entire long journey, would forever reshape what the post-Great Change world believed about its own history.

The sound of pursuing footsteps still echoed somewhere behind, getting closer and closer, but Khe Mien didn't let that slow him down, put the key in the lock, and in a moment of breathless tension, turned it.