Linh couldn't move.
The voice echoed through the hidden passage again.
Soft.
Gentle.
Filled with the same warmth she had carried in her memories since childhood.
"Linh..."
Her knees nearly gave way.
"No..."
Her voice broke.
"It can't be..."
Behind her, gunfire still thundered through the vault, but it sounded impossibly distant.
The world had narrowed to a single voice.
Her mother's voice.
Khang reached her side first.
"Linh!"
He grabbed her shoulder.
"It's dangerous."
She slowly turned toward him, tears streaming down her face.
"Did you hear it?"
Khang hesitated.
"...No."
She stared at him.
"You... didn't?"
He shook his head.
"I only heard the machinery."
A chill ran down her spine.
She looked at Quoc An.
"You heard her."
The old guardian smiled sadly.
"Yes."
