The pizza night was a surprising success. Under the influence of melted cheese and Quynh Nhu's relentless teasing, even Pham Tuan emerged from his shell, talking tentatively about his Awakened abilities—the power to harden his skin to near-rock-like density.
The four of them, three in person and one as a disembodied, hyper-logical text bot, began to feel less like a randomly assigned squad and more like a very strange, dysfunctional team.
Their brief peace was shattered two days later. An urgent mission alert blared through their barracks.
MISSION ALERT // PRIORITY ALPHA // TASK FORCE CHIMERA, REPORT TO BRIEFING ROOM 1 IMMEDIATELY.
They found Agent Hien waiting for them, her face grim. "Change of plans," she said, skipping all pleasantries. "Your 'settling in' period is over. We have a situation."
She brought up a satellite map of Hanoi, with a red circle pulsing over the National Library. "Fifteen minutes ago, a localized energy pulse, consistent with Madakaros teleportation tech, was detected inside the National Library of Vietnam. All communications with the facility have been cut."
"The library?" Quynh Nhu scoffed. "What do they want there? Overdue book fees?"
"We don't know," Hien replied sternly. "And that's what's worrying us. It's not a military target. It's not a strategic resource. It's a civilian building full of old paper. Minerva," she said, turning to the comms screen where Minh Thu's icon was glowing, "what have you got?"
Minerva: The library's internal security network is down. I cannot get visuals. However, I have access to the city's exterior CCTV. No sign of forced entry. This was a stealth insertion. Based on the energy signature, I estimate a small team, three to five individuals. Their objective is illogical, which suggests either a high-value, non-obvious target is inside, or it's a trap.
"My thoughts exactly," Hien agreed. "A standard assault team would cause too much panic and collateral damage. This is a surgical mission. Chimera, you're up."
She laid out the plan. "Quynh Nhu, you'll take an overwatch position on the roof of the adjacent ASEAN Tower. Pham Tuan, you and Lin Ming will be the entry team. Your primary objective is to ascertain the Madakaros's goal and neutralize them with minimal damage to the building and its contents. This is a hostage situation until proven otherwise; lethal force is authorized only if civilian lives are at risk. Minerva will be your eyes and ears, feeding you tactical data as she regains control of the building's systems. Go."
The mission was a stark reminder of their new reality. Within minutes, they were geared up and en route. Quynh Nhu separated, heading for her sniper's nest. Lin Ming and Pham Tuan arrived at the library's imposing facade. The place was eerily silent, the usual flow of students and scholars completely absent.
"Ready?" Lin Ming asked, his voice calm. On his back, Thuan Thien felt like a steady, reassuring presence.
Pham Tuan took a deep breath, his skin taking on a faint, greyish sheen as he activated his ability. "Ready."
Minerva (comms): I have managed to bypass the main security lockdown. The front doors are unlocked. I still have no internal sensors. You'll be going in blind. Be careful. I detect... faint energy trails inside. They're not Madakaros tech. They're old. Like the readings from the Hung Kings' Temple.
Old energy. Lin Ming's instincts screamed that this mission was directly connected to what Su Quyen had discovered. This wasn't random.
They pushed the heavy doors open and stepped into the grand foyer. The library was deathly still. The air was thick with the smell of old books and something else—the faint, metallic tang of alien energy.
"They've been here," Pham Tuan whispered.
Lin Ming closed his eyes, extending his [Spiritual Sense]. The mental map of the foyer filled his mind. Empty. But he could feel the trails Minerva mentioned. Faint whispers of dormant power emanated from the books themselves, from the very walls of the building, which was constructed on ancient, historically significant ground. The library wasn't just a building; it was a massive, unintentional capacitor for centuries of spiritual and historical energy.
"This way," Lin Ming said, heading for the main staircase that led to the archives. "The energy trails are stronger upstairs."
They moved silently through the labyrinthine aisles of bookshelves. The silence was more unnerving than any firefight. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like a gunshot.
Minerva (comms): I'm in. I've got access to the motion sensors in the main archival vault on the third floor. I'm reading four signatures. Three are Madakaros. The fourth... is human. But the signature is strange. It's... fluctuating wildly.
As they reached the third floor, they heard a voice. It was a Madakaros, speaking its harsh, guttural language.
Lin Ming pressed himself against a bookshelf, motioning for Pham Tuan to do the same. He peered through a gap.
In the center of the main vault stood three Madakaros warriors. But they weren't ransacking the place. Two of them stood guard while the third, who seemed to be their leader, held a strange, tripod-mounted device. The device was pointed at a terrified-looking old man—the library's head archivist—who was bound to a chair. The device was firing a pulsing beam of sickly green light at the old man's head. The man was not being physically harmed, but he was screaming in mental agony.
"What are they doing to him?" Pham Tuan hissed.
The Madakaros leader spoke again, but this time, a translation device on its wrist converted its words into crude, robotic Vietnamese. "TELL US, HUMAN. WHERE IS IT? OUR SCOUTS DETECTED A FOCAL POINT. AN ANCIENT KEY. THIS BUILDING IS ITS SHELL. YOUR MIND CONTAINS THE INDEX. GIVE US THE LOCATION OF THE 'TU THU DIEN'."
Tu Thu Dien? Lin Ming had never heard the term.
Minerva (comms): 'Tứ Thư Điện'. I'm searching... It's an archaic term. It translates to 'Hall of the Four Books'. It's not in any official library index. It sounds like a legend. A hidden chamber.
The Madakaros leader, frustrated by the archivist's resistance, increased the power of the device. The old man screamed louder.
"He's being mentally tortured," Lin Ming realized. "They're trying to extract information."
He looked at Pham Tuan. "We can't wait. We have to go now. I'll take the two guards. You go for the leader and get that device off the archivist."
Pham Tuan nodded, his face set with determination.
"Hawkeye, you have a clear shot?" Lin Ming whispered into his comms.
Quynh Nhu (comms): Negative. I can see the leader, but the guards are obscured by the bookshelves. It's all on you, boys. Make it clean.
"Let's go," Lin Ming breathed.
He burst from cover. The two guards reacted instantly, raising their energy rifles. But Lin Ming was already a blur. He drew Thuan Thien, its blade humming softly. He didn't aim to kill; he aimed to disarm.
Two swift, elegant arcs. The barrels of the two energy rifles were sliced clean off, clattering uselessly to the floor. The two guards stared at their ruined weapons in disbelief for a critical second. It was all the time Lin Ming needed. He followed up with two precise kicks, sending them crashing into the bookshelves.
At the same time, Pham Tuan, acting as the 'Juggernaut' his codename implied, charged straight at the leader, his body taking on the full, rocky hardness of his Awakened power.
The Madakaros leader, shocked by the sudden assault, tried to turn its device on Pham Tuan, but it was too late. Pham Tuan slammed into it like a runaway truck, sending the alien and its machine flying.
The green beam fizzled out. The archivist slumped in his chair, unconscious.
The leader snarled and drew a blade, preparing to fight. But then its three eyes fell upon Thuan Thien in Lin Ming's hand. Its eyes widened, not just with fear, but with something else: greedy recognition.
"THE HEAVEN'S WILL," the alien screeched in its own tongue, the name of the sword a hiss of pure avarice. "THE RELIC EXISTS! THE OFFERING WILL BE MAGNIFICENT!"
It completely ignored Pham Tuan. With a manic fervor, it abandoned the fight and lunged... not at them, but towards a solid brick wall at the back of the vault, slamming its palm against a specific brick.
There was a low grinding sound. The entire section of wall began to retract, revealing a dark, dusty staircase leading down into the foundations of the library.
The Madakaros leader threw a small, metallic sphere to the ground, which erupted in a blinding flash of light and thick smoke. "The key is ours!" its voice echoed, as it and its disarmed guards retreated into the smoke and down the hidden staircase.
By the time the smoke cleared, they were gone.
Minerva (comms): What happened?! I've lost their signatures! It's like they've entered a dead zone!
Lin Ming stood before the dark, hidden passage, his grip tight on Thuan Thien. This mission had just escalated. They hadn't come for books. They had come for a legend. And they had just found the door.