Chapter 25 — Wind Village Robot Team

"Invite team representatives to gather at the main stage area to prepare for the awards ceremony." The loudspeaker sounded at four o'clock in the afternoon, after all thirty-two teams had completed their competition.

Team Mountain Wind sat in the last row, not because they were poorly placed, but because the group was so exhausted that they just wanted to find a quiet corner to rest after an eventful morning. The robot, now carefully placed back in the cardboard box, lay at Phong's feet like a warrior who had just returned from battle, covered in wounds but still mentally intact.

On stage, the organizers in turn announced the previous sub-prizes: Best Design Award, Fastest Speed Award - both of which belonged to teams with modern equipment from big schools in the city, no surprise there.

"Next, Most Impressive Technical Innovation Award." The host spoke, his voice a bit low, different from the usual excitement when announcing previous awards. "This is a special award that the jury decided to award this year, based on the evaluation of the main technical advisor of the competition."

Khanh Dan sat up straight, her heart beating faster. She glanced at the four students and saw that they were all holding their breath, not daring to hope but also unable not to hope.

"The award goes to the Gio Nui team, Long Phong Secondary School — with a homemade color sensor solution called 'Mat Gio', and especially, with the extraordinary spirit of improvisation when fixing a serious malfunction in just ninety minutes before the competition."

There was a short silence, then applause erupted throughout the auditorium, much louder than previous awards. Uyen Nhi burst into tears immediately, Gia Han hugged her, Nam stood up and screamed uncontrollably, and Phong stood still, both hands clutching the cardboard box containing the robot as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Invite representatives of the Mountain Wind team to come on stage to receive the award." The host said.

All four children stepped up together, no one wanted to be the only representative, and the organizers, perhaps realizing that, did not stop them when they saw all four standing on the stage together, holding a certificate of merit and a small trophy engraved with the words "Most Impressive Technical Innovation — School Creative Robot Competition in the Northern Mountainous Region."

The applause did not stop when the man wearing the technical advisor badge stepped onto the stage, held the microphone, and prepared to say a few words about this special award.

"I'm Cao Gia Thinh, the technical advisor of this year's competition." He introduced, his voice deep and warm. "I want to say one more thing about the Mountain Wind team, not only because of their technical solutions, but because of something I realized while watching them compete this morning."

Khanh Dan stopped. As soon as that name - Cao Gia Thinh - rang out, an old memory rushed back to her mind, a name she had heard in project meetings many years ago, even though she had never met it in person.

"I worked in industrial robotics for many years before switching to teaching and consulting for competitions like this." Mr. Thinh continued. "I once knew an ambitious autonomous transportation robot project that was closed midway due to commercial pressure, even though its engineering team was really talented. I always wondered where those people would go, what they would do, after their years of effort were put aside."

He looked down, his eyes stopped right where Khanh Dan was standing next to the stage, and in that moment, she realized he recognized her.

"Today, I found part of the answer." He said, his voice somewhat undisguisedly emotional. "One of the engineers I admired from that project is now standing here, teaching four kids in a mountain commune how to turn electronic waste into a robot capable of standing on this stage. I think, that's what a really good engineer should do when the company no longer gives them the opportunity — find another place to continue creating value."

Khanh Dan felt a lump in her throat, not because she was suddenly called by her name in front of a crowd, but because for the first time, a complete stranger had just called the correct name of what she had been silently looking for all year without daring to say it out loud.

After the ceremony, Mr. Thinh came to meet the whole team directly, shook hands with each person, and stopped the longest at Uyen Nhi, who was clutching a small trophy in her arms.

"Are you the one who came up with the idea of Windy Eyes?" he asked.

"Yes, but the whole team works together." Uyen Nhi replied, her voice was completely confident, there was no longer any trace of the girl who ran out of the room in panic in front of a stranger not long ago.

Mr. Thinh smiled, turned to Khanh Dan, and gave her a business card. "Bac Nguyen STEM Center is implementing a long-term incubation program for robotics teams in difficult areas, supporting components, connecting volunteer engineer mentors. I think your team should be one of the first teams to participate."

Khanh Dan held the business card, her hands shaking slightly, not because of the fatigue of a long day, but because of a feeling she had never had since the day she left NovaTech - the feeling that the work she was doing was not only meaningful to these four children, but was starting to be recognized by the people in the industry she thought she had left behind forever.

At that moment, Trinh Anh Khoa also approached, holding a bottle of water, giving it to Phong with a friendly smile. "Congratulations to your team. Honestly, when we saw your robot running this morning, we were more nervous than when we competed in our own competition."

"Thank." Phong replied, accepting the bottle of water, a bit embarrassed but unable to hide his smile.

"Next time we meet again, I hope we can compete in the same group for real, not just stand outside and watch each other." Mr. Khoa said, holding out his hand to shake.

Phong shook his hand, a firm handshake between two kids from two completely different worlds, but in that moment, there was no distance between them other than respect for each other as people who were passionate about the same thing.

Previously, when the organizers announced the First Prize, the title belonged to the Kim Long team with an almost perfect score - a result that did not surprise anyone, including the Gio Nui team itself. Trinh Anh Khoa received the trophy in the loudest applause of the ceremony, but when he stepped off the stage, the first thing he said to his teammates was not a word of celebration, but "let's watch the part where the robot Long Phong competed earlier, their gripper has a great idea of force feedback" - a detail Khanh Dan only overheard while standing nearby, but enough for her to understand why such a strong team still maintains true humility.

That evening, when the whole team had returned to the motel, showered and finished eating, Khanh Dan sat alone on the small balcony and called teacher Nghia to tell the news. His voice on the other end of the line, always calm, could not hide his excitement this time.

"Most Impressive Technical Innovation Award? Really?" He asked again twice, as if he wanted to make sure he hadn't heard wrong.

"Really, teacher." Khanh Dan replied, his voice still shaking with emotion. "With a technical advisor from the competition inviting us to participate in a long-term STEM incubation program."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment, then Mr. Nghia spoke, his voice low but full of sincerity. "Miss Dan, I'm sorry for being so suspicious at the beginning of the year."

"You don't need to apologize." Khanh Dan said. "Your worries have good reasons. Because you set those conditions, we can learn how to work responsibly, not just follow our passion and forget everything else."

Teacher Nghia did not answer immediately, but Khanh Dan could imagine the rare smile appearing on his face on the other end of the line, more than a hundred kilometers away, in a mountainous commune where this news would certainly spread faster than any flickering internet connection.

After hanging up the phone, Khanh Dan sat quietly for a moment, looking at the sparkling lights of Yen Binh city in the distance, then opened her phone and texted Hanh, the person who pulled her back to Long Phong with a short sentence nearly a year ago. "My team just won the Most Impressive Technical Innovation award, not first place, but I think I'm happier than when the Falcon project first got budget approval back then. Thanks for the question three months ago, I wanted to do something else."

She pressed send, then sat still, watching the phone screen light up with the words "Sent", a rare feeling of peace arose in her heart that she couldn't remember the last time she had it. The night breeze in the city blew much lighter than the wind at Gio Long Pass, but still cool enough for her to sit a while longer on the balcony before returning to her room to rest for the day of return that lay ahead.