Chapter 73 — The Ship That Never Looks Back

Return Intact

Vu Khac Dang walked out of the gate of the Guard's temporary detention area in the middle of the night, with no prior notice, no ceremony marking the end of four days of detention, just a door opening and a cold voice telling him to leave. He stood there for a moment, blinking in the hallway light after days of only getting used to the monotonous white light of the interrogation room, feeling a strange, almost unreal sense of freedom.

No one was waiting for him at the gate — the decision to release him was made so suddenly that the news had not yet reached his family or the Tuan Re Group. He walked alone through the deserted corridors of the Root Layer in the middle of the night, each step carrying a new heaviness, different from the familiar steadfastness everyone was used to seeing in him.

Khe Lam received the news through Bach Van at nearly 1:00 a.m. He heard from a source in the Department of Education as soon as the decision was approved. She quickly dressed and ran to Vu Khac Dang's house, arriving just in time for him to cross the threshold, his wife hugging him in tears.

"Uncle Dang." Khe Lam called, standing in the doorway, not daring to step in right away because he felt this was a private moment for his family. "I heard the news and ran over immediately. Are you okay?"

He looked at her over his wife's shoulder, and in his eyes, Khe Lam saw something that made her heart clench — not anger, not blame, but an emptiness she had never seen in this man who was always so steadfast and confident.

"I'm fine." He spoke, his voice hoarse from not speaking for many days. "Come in, Khe Lam. Sit down."

She walked in and sat down in the chair opposite him in the small room, while his wife made tea with still shaking hands. Vu Khac Dang sat silently for a long time before starting to speak, his voice was monotonous as if he were telling a story that did not belong to him.

"Four days, they asked me the same questions, over and over again, in different ways." he said. "Do I know who is behind the gatherings? Have I noticed anything unusual about the team members? Why did I approve you to go check alone near the Primeval Core?" He stopped and looked straight at Khe Lam. "I told them the truth, that I didn't know anything. But they didn't believe me, Khe Lam. They kept asking, as if my truth wasn't good enough, as if they needed me to make up something so they could close the case the way they wanted."

Khe Lam felt tears welling up in her eyes, the feeling of guilt was now heavier than ever. "I'm sorry, Uncle Dang. I'm sorry for everything you had to endure."

"What are you sorry for, Khe Lam?" He asked, his eyes examining her with a new sharpness, different from the unconditional trust he once had for her. "What have you done to make me apologize to you?"

That question hung in the air, and Khe Lam realized, in that moment, that Vu Khac Dang, without knowing the specifics, had begun to suspect that there was something she was hiding from him, something much bigger than he had ever imagined.

"I just..." She hesitated, trying to find an answer that wasn't a direct lie but wasn't the full truth either. "I just feel responsible, because I'm part of the team you manage, and whatever happens to the team is something I care deeply about."

Vu Khac Dang looked at her for a long time, then sighed, a sigh that carried the fatigue of four days without sleep and of something deeper, a crack in the faith he had carried for nearly fifty years of his life.

"I have believed in this system my whole life, Khe Lam." He said, his voice low. "I believed that if I worked hard, if I followed the rules, if I protected the people under my command, the system would be fair to me. The last four days, I sat in that room, and I realized I was wrong. Fairness is not what this system cares about. It only cares about control, and anyone, no matter how innocent, can be crushed if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He looked out the small door leading to the dark hallway, his eyes distant. "I don't know what you're hiding from me, Khe Lam. But I'm starting to think, maybe, whatever it is, maybe it's more important than I once thought. Maybe it's time I stopped closing my eyes to questions I never dared to ask."

Khe Lam sat silently, not knowing what to say about this change in the man she always considered a solid pillar of stability and faith in the system. She realized, with a new pain, that her own journey had, unintentionally, contributed to shaking one of the last foundations of old faith on this ship.

"I'll tell you, Uncle Dang." She said finally, a decision formed within her. "Not now, not when you just went through four days like this. But I promise, when the right time comes, I will tell you everything."

He nodded slowly, accepting the promise even though he was not completely satisfied. "I'll wait, Khe Lam. But don't make me wait too long. I think I deserve to know, after everything that just happened."

When Khe Lam left his house to return to her own at dawn, she passed by Giao Ca Hall, where a few people were still gathered, staying up all night waiting for news. When they saw her, one of them asked if Vu Khac Dang had been released, and when she confirmed, a cheer quickly spread through the crowd, a rare moment of relief amid days of constant tension.

But Khe Lam could not fully share that joy. She thought of Vu Khac Dang's empty eyes, of the new rift in his trust, and continued home with chaotic thoughts, sleeping fitfully for only a few hours before having to get up for the morning shift.

When Vu Khac Dang entered the maintenance workshop for the first time after four days of absence, the whole team stopped work and surrounded him with hugs and greetings. Phung Bao Nhan squeezed his hand, his voice choked. "We're worried to death, leader. You don't know how many times we've prayed."

"I'm fine." Vu Khac Dang said, trying to smile even though it didn't reach his eyes. "Thank you everyone for your concern."

Ha Dinh Khiem, still retaining the impetuosity of youth, couldn't help but ask a question. "Did they beat you? Did they—"

"Dinh Khiem." Trinh Yen My interrupted, glancing at him with a reproachful look.

"No problem." Vu Khac Dang said, raising his hand to signal. "No, they didn't beat me. Just asked, a lot of questions, day after day. Sometimes questions can wear on a person just as much as fists, son." He looked around the workshop, his eyes stopping for a moment on each member's face, as if trying to remember the peace of this moment, knowing that it could be more fragile than he had thought. "I need a few days to regain my strength before returning to full work. But I want everyone to know, I'm grateful to have a party like this to return to."

That afternoon, when Khe Lam stayed late after her shift to complete a maintenance report, Vu Khac Dang came to her again, this time there were only two people in the workshop. He sat down next to her, silent for a moment before speaking.

"I thought a lot about what I told you last night." he said. "I don't want you to feel forced to tell me everything before you're ready. But I want you to know, no matter what your secret is, I won't turn my back on you, Khe Lam. I've known you since you first entered the profession, skinny, timid, always arriving half an hour earlier than the appointment time for fear of being considered late. I don't believe you could do anything really wrong."

Khe Lam felt her throat constrict, once again having to suppress the urge to say everything right now. "Thank you, Uncle Dang. That means more to me than you thought."

He nodded, stood up, and placed a hand on her shoulder before leaving. "Just remember, when the time comes, I will be here."

Khe Lam sat alone in the empty workshop after he left, thinking of his empty eyes last night, of the new crack in his trust, and wondering if his release was truly a victory, or just a moment of lull before a much bigger storm continued to come, carrying costs that none of them, not even Tram Ba Nguyen with all his fierceness, could fully foresee.