Chapter 4 — The One Who Keeps The Venom Saves People

"I'm sure." Du said, after a silence long enough for Thanh to understand that she was truly considering, not answering based on inertia. "It's not because I want to face that place. Because it's the place with the highest probability of finding living individuals, closest to the camp, and we don't have time to go further."

Thanh tapped his fingers on the table three times, a familiar rhythm when he was about to make a decision. "I won't pretend this was an easy decision. The water in that section is flowing fast, and the water level is forecast to rise further in the next six hours. Who should I send with you?"

"Khiem." Du said without hesitation. "He needs to learn how to work in harsh field conditions sooner or later, and tonight I'll come along to tutor him."

"He's only been in the job for eight months and has never been in a flooded area."

"That's why I want him to go with me the first time, not alone next time." Du folded the file and put it in the waterproof bag hanging on the back of the chair - a habit of preparation that had become a reflex before each field trip. "Can you take care of contacting the rescue team in Bau Nghe commune? We need someone who knows the water flow and knows where the boat can pass and where it can't."

"I'll call Nguyen from the rescue team right away." Thanh stood up and pulled out his phone. "Co Ba Nguyen, captain of the motorboat team in Bau Nghe commune. He is more familiar with the water flow in that area than anyone else, having brought the relief team back and forth during last year's flood season."

While Thanh was calling, Du walked out into the hallway and woke Khiem up even though she knew he wasn't asleep yet - the staff lounge light was still shining through the door.

"Prepare your things, leave in fifteen minutes." She said when Khiem opened the door, his eyes were still awake, holding in his hand the snake notebook he often brought with him to study after work.

"Where are we going?"

"Go to the flooded area near the bank of Lam Tri river, old Bau Nghe section. That is the place with the highest possibility of finding live Vy Suong. We need to catch at least two or three more individuals to extract additional venom for Kieu horses and temporarily increase the amount of serum."

Khiem swallowed his saliva, but nodded immediately. "I'm preparing a snake hook, tongs, a double-layer cloth bag, and a red flashlight, right?"

"Yes. With extra life jackets, ropes, and separate snakebite first aid kits for both of us—in case the worst happens." Du spoke frankly, not avoiding that possibility. She wanted Khiem to understand the risks before stepping out of the camp gate, not to scare him, but so he could properly prepare mentally.

"Have you ever been bitten by a snake?" Khiem asked, his voice hesitant as if he had just regretted asking.

Du stopped for a second at the door frame. "Once. A long time ago." She didn't say more, and Khiem — perhaps realizing that her tone had changed — didn't ask again.

They met again at the farmyard ten minutes later, each wearing a thick rain suit, a flashlight on his head, and a tool bag slung across his chest to avoid getting caught in the water. Thanh stood waiting next to the camp's second pickup truck. Next to him was a laminated paper map, marked with a red marker on the accessible route.

"Nguyen agreed to lead the way by motorboat from the meeting point at the beginning of the commune." Thanh said, pointing at the map. "The road can only go this far, the rest is flooded, you have to use a boat. He said the current water level is still about half a meter lower than the predicted flood peak, we still have a relatively safe period, but don't linger."

"How long until I have to come back out?" Khiem asked.

"Nguyen said you must leave that area before four o'clock in the morning, because at that time the water will rise fastest according to the tidal cycle combined with flooding of the upstream lake." Thanh looked at his watch. "It's twelve thirty. You have about three and a half hours."

Du nodded, folded the map and stuffed it into his raincoat pocket. "Enough time if there are no problems."

"What about the serum for baby Nhi?" She asked further, before getting in the car.

"The first vial Khiem sent just now has arrived at the district hospital. That side has just reported the injection and is monitoring the reaction." Thanh said. "Son Trach Hospital is preparing a request for plasma transfer to be sent to the provincial hospital. It is expected to be completed in an hour. Just focus on your work, I and Thu will take care of that part."

Du climbed into the driver's seat, Khiem sat next to him, clutching his tool bag in his lap as if afraid that if he left it loose, it would fly away. She started the engine, the headlights pierced the thick rain, clearly illuminating the red dirt road that had begun to turn into mud on both sides of the ditch.

"Miss Du." Khiem spoke up when the car had driven a short distance, his voice softer than the sound of rain hitting the windshield. "I'm not afraid of snakes. I'm just afraid... if I don't make it in time."

Du glanced at him for a second then looked back at the road. "I'm afraid of that too." She spoke the truth, not trying to appear braver than she was. "But I'm afraid I won't be able to make it in time. If I stand still, I definitely won't be able to make it in time. If I go, at least I have a chance."

The car drove through the farm gate, the automatic sensor light turned on, illuminating the wooden sign engraved with words that had faded over the years: Khe Lanh Snake Farm — Serum Research and Production Center. Behind the sign, darkness and rain swallowed everything in just a few seconds.

In Du's breast pocket, her phone vibrated with a text message from Thu: "Baby just vomited blood. Processing. I'll go soon to help you."

She read the message in the dim light from the dashboard, then put the phone in the waterproof compartment, held the steering wheel more firmly, and stepped on the accelerator a little faster on the last dry stretch of road before the flood started.

Twenty minutes later, headlights swept across a concrete yard in front of the commune headquarters, where three motorboats had been pulled ashore and tied tightly to a tree with large ropes. A stocky man with a worn old army raincoat was checking the engine of the nearest boat under the light of a headlamp. He looked up when he heard the sound of a car and waved.

"Miss Du, right? Mr. Thanh called first." He walked over and shook Du's hand with a firm squeeze, his hand still stained with motor oil. "I'm Nguyen, the commune rescue team. I heard you need to go to the old Bau Nghe area to catch snakes in the middle of a flood like this?"

"Yes, Mr. Nguyen. We need to go to the rocky shore near the river bend and look for the Mist-Scaled Viper." Du pointed upstream on the laminated map. "There's a baby in an emergency at the district hospital who needs serum urgently."

Nguyen looked at the map and nodded. "I know that part like the back of my hand, I grew up nearby as a child. But you must know, the water is flowing much faster now than during the day, because upstream they just overflowed the reservoir two hours ago, that's the news. My boat can go, but I have to stay close to the shore, avoiding the main current in the middle of the river."

"How long will it take to get there?"

"About forty-five minutes if the water doesn't change erratically. You and me—" Nguyen glanced at Khiem, standing motionless next to the car, "—put on your life jackets before getting on the boat, tie both layers of rope tightly, I'm not kidding, tonight is not the night to dress casually."

Khiem nodded vigorously, his hands fumbling to find the strap of his life jacket.

While waiting for Nguyen to refill the fuel, Du stood looking out at the dark water flowing under the old bridge, the flashlights of the other rescue team scanning back and forth like stray streaks of light in the rain. She remembered the afternoons her grandfather took her to this riverbank, when the water was still gentle, only gently rippling through each flat rock. He often squatted next to a large rock, showing her how to distinguish the slithering marks of a green snake from the slithering marks of a regular water snake - Mist-Scaled Viper's slithering tracks were narrower, more regular, because it moves slowly, not panicking like a water snake that was startled and ran away.

"You have to understand it before you catch it." He once spoke, his voice hoarse from pipe tobacco. "Not to love it. To not be afraid of it being in the wrong place."

That sentence echoed in Du's head at this moment, amidst the roar of the water and the crisp sound of the boat engine behind her.

"Done, let's get on the boat." Nguyen called out loudly, his voice having to be much higher than normal to drown out the sound of the rain and the engine. "Miss Du sits in the middle, the other boy sits behind me, the furniture is securely tied to the horizontal bar, don't let it fall."

Du stepped down onto the slippery shore, one hand clinging to the side of the boat, the other holding the tool bag tightly to her chest. When she put her foot in the boat, the water at the bottom shook her whole body - just one beat, but enough to make her heart ache as if someone was squeezing it, and in that split second, she was no longer sure whether she was thirty-three years old or nine years old.

"Are you okay?" Khiem asked, already noticing the pause on her face even if it was only fleeting.

"Fine." Du replied, sitting down completely, both hands holding tightly to the side of the boat. "Let's go."

Nguyen turned on the throttle, the boat's nose pointed out into the black water, leaving behind the glimmering yellow light of the commune headquarters that was fading behind the thick rain.