The room gradually returned to silence, leaving only the sound of two people breathing heavily.
Two of the black-clad men lay motionless on the floor, while the third had been sent flying out the window, his fate unknown. Van Thien stood there, his gaze still cold and sharp from the heat of battle. After a moment, he exhaled, and his combat aura began to dissipate.
He turned to look at Bao Uyen. "Are you alright?"
The girl stood frozen, her hands clutching the hem of her shirt. Her eyes were still clouded with panic... but deep inside, there was something else. Something... that didn't belong to an ordinary girl.
"I... I'm okay..." she whispered.
Thien nodded and looked down at the floor. He knelt to check one of the fallen men. On the man's neck was a strange symbol—a black swirl.
Clang!
Suddenly, the necklace around Thien's neck vibrated violently, emitting a pale blue light. He froze. A wave of familiarity washed over him, far more intense than ever before. He reached up to grasp the pendant.
"...It's vibrating again."
A faint sound echoed in his mind. It wasn't clear, and it wasn't words. It was a rhythm.
Thump... Thump...
Like the beat of a drum coming from far away... echoing through the water. Bao Uyen saw the light, her eyes widening.
"You... you can feel it now?"
Thien turned to her. "You know about this?"
The girl fell silent. One second. Two seconds. Then she shook her head slowly. "I... I'm not sure..."
But her eyes said otherwise. Thien's gaze shifted to her own necklace. "That necklace of yours...?"
Bao Uyen flinched and gripped her pendant tightly. After a moment of hesitation, she began, "Actually, this necklace is..."
Before she could finish, his father's voice called from downstairs. "Thien! Where are you, son?"
"I'm up here, Dad!" Thien shouted back. He looked at Bao Uyen. "Let's talk about this later..."
She looked disappointed but nodded nonetheless.
Meanwhile, aboard the command ship, the Red-Eyed Black Dragon was surprised to learn that his scouts had been defeated.
"Fascinating. It seems you've grown even stronger since our first encounter," he smirked. He looked at Bao Uyen's image on the hologram. "And as for this girl... I'm starting to find her very interesting."
Back at the house, Thien, his father, Uncle Ut, and Bao Uyen were having dinner. The two elders were busy discussing the construction project.
Uncle Ut remarked, "I'm so lucky to have Brother Sau's help. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do."
Thien's father laughed. "You're exaggerating. I haven't done much yet."
After dinner, they retired to their rooms. Since Uncle Ut was wealthy, the house was large. Thien's father stayed downstairs, while Thien was given a room upstairs. To his surprise, his room was right next to Bao Uyen's. Seeing her door already closed, he assumed she was asleep and went inside to lie down.
"A lot has happened today," he thought as he drifted into a deep sleep.
During the night, his bedroom door creaked open. A small silhouette stood there, slowly approaching his bed. For some reason, Thien slept exceptionally deeply that night, as if lulled by an invisible force.
The next morning, bright sunlight streamed through the window, waking him. He felt a heavy numbness in his arm. Looking down, he was shocked to find Bao Uyen lying beside him, clutching his arm tightly.
He tried to gently slide his arm out so as not to wake her, but the moment he moved, she hugged it even tighter. After several failed attempts, he gave up and lay still. He looked at her sleeping face, then at her necklace. The memory of her knocking out a soldier with a pillow flashed through his mind. He still couldn't wrap his head around it.
Suddenly, she began to wake up. Seeing him, she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Bao Uyen... why are you in my room?" Thien asked, bewildered.
She continued to rub her eyes sleepily. "Because I was scared those men in black would come back to get me at night. I was too afraid to sleep alone, so I came here."
Thien's eyes softened. "Oh."
Before he could say anything else, his father called from downstairs. He got up and went down to meet them.
"Your Uncle Ut and I are heading out to the site for a bit," his father said. "Stay home and look after Bao Uyen, okay?"
Uncle Ut added, "If you two get hungry, go grab something to eat!"
Thien nodded as they left. Bao Uyen came downstairs shortly after, wearing a pale yellow nightgown. Thien looked up at her.
"My dad said we should go get breakfast ourselves."
Bao Uyen scratched her head. "Oh, okay."
Thien gestured toward the door. "Get ready, and I'll drive you."
Bao Uyen lowered her head slightly. "Yes... sir."
As she headed back to her room to change, Thien watched her go. She seems to be talking to me more than yesterday, he thought with a slight smile.
In the distance... where the ancient currents converged, the river's surface parted silently. No sound, no foam—only a dark void that opened and closed. A shadow glided beneath the surface, moving so fast that even light couldn't touch it. Then, the river returned to normal, as if nothing had ever existed.
Inside the black submarine beneath the Thuy Nguyen River, the Red-Eyed Black Dragon stared at his screen. He toyed with the hilt of his blade, his eyes glowing a fierce crimson.
"It's time... to hunt."
The screen displayed their destination: The Bach Dang River.