Chapter 76 — The Ship That Never Looks Back

Rift

Red warning lights flashed along the hallway as the Guard formation entered the regeneration station area at the scheduled time, three columns of troops converging from different directions like pincers closing in on the crowd still sleepy after a long, tense night. The loudspeaker resounded with an emotionless voice, repeating the request to disperse within thirty minutes, otherwise coercive measures would be taken.

Khe Lam stood near the sub-checkpoint, her heart beating rapidly as she saw the ranks of Guards appear from three sides, their flashlights sweeping through the crowd like white blades cutting through the darkness. Tram Ba Nguyen stood in the center, calling the nearest supporters to gather in a protective ring around the main valve area, not to attack, but to form a human barrier between the Guard and the most sensitive equipment.

Just a few hours ago, in the middle of the night, Bui Dac Sinh quietly appeared at the regeneration station area, relying on the wooden stick he used to travel long distances, making Khe Lam both happy and worried when she saw him in the crowd. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice filled with concern for his age in such a dangerous situation. "You should stay home, where it's much safer."

"I've been working near these pipes since before you were born, little girl." He replied, his eyes steady under the dim light. "I know every joint, every weakness of the old system in this area better than anyone alive today. If anything happens, I want to be there to help, not sit at home waiting for news through rumors." He stayed all night, sitting near the main valve area with Tram Ba Nguyen and others he trusted, his old hands occasionally reaching out to check a joint, a pressure gauge, with the proficiency of decades of experience indelible with age.

Than Bao Nghiem led the eastern advance at a much slower speed than the other two, deliberately stalling for time, ordering his team to keep their distance, only advancing in small steps while constantly reminding through a handheld loudspeaker that everyone should leave in peace. But the western tip, commanded by another captain—who had taken more direct and harsh instructions from Ton Khac Du—advanced much faster and more resolutely.

The first screams rang out from the west, when a young Guard, perhaps panicking at the larger-than-expected crowd, pushed a man standing in the way, causing him to fall onto the metal floor. The surrounding crowd reacted immediately, angry boos spread as quickly as fire with oil, and in that moment, the thin line between an orderly protest and an uncontrollable chaos was torn apart.

"Hold formation! No further advance!" Than Bao Nghiem shouted to his team as he heard chaos coming from the west, trying to keep his advance in place, but he knew, with the acumen of someone who had served twelve years in the Guard, that it was only a matter of time before the chaos spread throughout the entire area.

The crowd began to move, part trying to flee the area of conflict, another part, angrier, pushing forward to protect those being escorted by the Guard. In that chaotic flow of people, a small group, not led by Tram Ba Nguyen but individuals swept up in collective anger, crashed into one of the sub-checkpoints near the main valve area.

Khe Lam heard the violent sound of metal colliding, then a shrill screech — a sound she recognized immediately, with the professional instinct that had been ingrained in her over the years, as the sound of pressure suddenly released from a damaged pipe.

"Valve number four is broken!" She shouted, rushing towards the checkpoint, pushing through the chaotic crowd running in the opposite direction. "The emergency valve needs to be closed immediately, otherwise the pressure will continue to decrease throughout the system!"

One of the young engineers she had worked with all night ran after her, the two of them struggling through the jostling crowd to reach the emergency control panel. The orange warning light flashed violently on the control panel, the pressure indicators were dropping faster than the safe level allowed.

"We need to close the manual isolation valve!" Khe Lam shouted over the chaotic noise around her, her hands already starting to work on the control panel with the speed and precision of years of training. "Otherwise, we will lose all pressure in the main within ten minutes, and the regeneration system will have to be shut down urgently!"

Amid the screams, sirens, and chaotic footsteps of hundreds of people trying to find a way out of the conflict area, Khe Lam worked with absolute concentration, completely detached from the fear that surrounded her, leaving only the instinct of an engineer facing a system in danger, a system on which the lives of eleven thousand two hundred people depended.

Than Bao Nghiem, hearing the technical alarm ringing through the general communication system, immediately ordered his team to withdraw from the direct confrontation position, switching to the task of maintaining order to create space for the technical team to handle the incident. He ran towards the alarm area, pushing through the chaotic crowd, trying to find a way to calm everyone while still keeping a safe distance from the dangerous area.

"Everyone step back! This is a dangerous area, space is needed for the technical team to work!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the amplification device attached to his uniform, a command different from anything he was trained to say in a suppression situation, but the only command that made sense at the moment.

Gradually, amid the chaos, a new order began to form — not the order of submission to the Guardians, but the order of people who, despite their anger and fear, understood better than anyone else the seriousness of allowing the water and air regeneration system to fail. The crowd began to back away, forming a gap around the broken valve area, where Khe Lam and his colleagues were still struggling with the emergency control panel.

"Isolation valve closed!" The young engineer shouted, his voice filled with relief as the indicators on the control panel began to stabilize again. "The pressure is recovering!"

Khe Lam let out a long breath, a feeling of exhaustion filling her as the most urgent danger had passed. But when she raised her head and looked around the area that had just experienced the chaos, she saw a scene that made her heart cold - several people collapsed on the metal floor, injured in the panic of jostling, and in the middle of the gradually subsiding crowd, a familiar figure lay motionless near the main valve area, where Tram Ba Nguyen had said he would personally stand guard all night.

Not Tram Ba Nguyen, who was standing a few steps away, his face pale with shock, his hands shaking tremblingly holding his head as he looked down at the person who had fallen right before his eyes just a few seconds ago, while both of them were trying to repel a piece of broken metal thrown from the broken valve itself. A smaller, thinner figure, white hair smeared with grease and metal dust.

"No." Khe Lam whispered, feeling like the whole world collapsed under her feet when she realized who was lying there. "No, that's impossible."

She rushed towards the figure, pushing through the dazed crowd, her heart beating wildly with a fear greater than anything she had ever experienced on the long journey that had brought her here. Around her, the sound of sirens continued to sound, mixed with the cries, the calling of names, and the hurried footsteps of people trying to find loved ones in the chaotic crowd, creating a chaotic harmony of collective fear that Khe Lam knew she would never forget, no matter what happened next.

Than Bao Nghiem, seeing the scene from afar, immediately ordered his team to call the emergency medical team, completely abandoning the initial dispersal mission to focus on assisting the injured, a decision he knew would make Ton Khac Du angry but he no longer cared about the consequences for his career at that moment, only concerned with making sure no more people suffered in this chaotic night, even though he knew, deep down, that this night would forever changed the way he viewed the uniform he was wearing.