Elements: The Ancient Tomb

"Time's up?!"- part 2- End: "Last words before going"

Then Thedus's face brightened, touched his chin with his hand, and replied:

"You're so brilliant. I admire your reasoning skills. For a moment, I can see Michael's silhouette on you through your every word and gesture."

"I've lived and worked there long enough to know these things, it's like my third home. Not to mention that Michael's presence in my life made me learn many things, three of which are the ability to observe, ask questions and find clues to answer questions which help me improve my logical thinking."

"So what's the real reason he's doing this? If he wants to kill you, he doesn't need to lure you there but can let the Iron Head kill you right here. The only person he wants to capture alive to get the information he wants is Michael."

"I think so. But I don't think the reason he wants to separate me from Michael is just so that Iron Head can easily deal with Michael."

"Yes. Iron Head must have told Arthur that he was aiming for me and Linh, but I believe he wouldn't do it just for that reason. As we know, Arthur is Iron Head's partner, and we both also know that he isn't so kind guy to do that, though that could make it easier for Iron Head to finish Michael and Linh. Most of all, he was aware that his supreme position in the leadership of the Institute of Archeology would not allow him to do something so risky because it could threaten his position as director, ruining his reputation if it was revealed. In general, he won't take action by himself unless he feels so necessary. There must be some really important reason that he lets you stay alive and lures you to him by doing those things…"

Victor looked at the Elemental Card, and at that moment, his face darkened. He asked Thedus:

"Thedus, does Arthur know that I am 'Yellow Lightning'? He lured me there to kill me and take the Elemental Card, didn't he?"

As soon as Thedus heard Victor say that, he quickly waved his hand and denied:

"Impossible. He needs to go through Iron Head to know the movements of the warriors. But Iron Head doesn't know your identity yet, right? Most of all, Arthur's information network won't help him figure that out, I think."

"Then why?..."- Speaking of that, Victor suddenly said with a calm voice- "Hmm, let's stop there, it is not the time for us to think about it now. More important, I need to go there quietly without letting anyone know."

"Even Michael? Why?"- Thedus asked.

"Just a simple reason."- Victor replied- "I don't want to drag him into this. Let him stay here to watch Linh to make sure she is safe. Let's stop there, for now, I have to go..."

Victor's eyes looked to the left while speaking softly with a calm demeanor. All of a sudden, Thedus said loudly with annoyance when Victor went to the door:

"Stop! Don't lie to me. I know that when you lie, you will never look me in the eye. Speak up, is there any other reason?"

Realizing his lie was discovered by Thedus despite his efforts to make it real, Victor sighed, taking a few seconds to stand still to think about Thedus' earlier words. A few seconds later, realizing that he couldn't lie anymore, he turned to Thedus and looked him straight in the eye. Victor showed a rather worried expression on his face, but keeping his voice low and soft, said:

"Arthur told Uncle Denvy to tell me not to tell Michael. Actually, I didn't dare to say it out loud in front of him because I was afraid that Arthur has put a wiretapping device on my body."

"Are you crazy? You better tell him, let him discuss the rescue plan with you and then you two need to go there together to save Mr. Karatini, I think."

"That is not possible. Michael would disagree. He decided to stay here to protect Linh, trust me, I would do the same if I were him. Not to mention, I'm not sure if Arthur's agents have put the tracking device on Michael. Let's assume my hypothesis is true. In that case, if he listened to our conversation, it's like we'd be losers from start."

"Although I don't like him, I believe Michael will give you the best advice and solutions to deal with this."- said Thedus- "At least talk to him about it. Time is running out, listen to me once."

"Hmm…In general, I'll call him later, since there's not much time left right now. Listen, Thedus, I won't risk my life anymore. For now, I should leave here quietly and safely to avoid suspicion from Iron Head and Arthur."

"And then, huh?"- Thedus with a serious face asked.

"There is a big rock 50 meters away from Moonlight cafe, the view from that place to the cafe is very good, besides, that place is discreet and also quite far from the cafe, allowing me to observe from afar without being detected."

"Got it."- Thedus nodded to express his agreement- "I knew that big rock. As you said, it's so hard to be detected if you observe at that distance."

"After understanding the situation, I will immediately call Michael via video call."- Victor continued to say- "Maybe after looking at my screen through video call, he will help me assess the situation, then we will consider all possibilities carefully before coming up with a final plan."

"But if you are unable to contact Michael at the time of your arrival at the observation site due to some rare incidents such as loss of internet connection, etc. or there's not even time to do it, what are you going to do?"

"I've been wondering about that too."- replied Victor- "In my mind, there would have two most possible options if that happened: one is to negotiate directly with them, and if they agree, I will make a deal with them by accepting myself as an exchange to get them to release uncle Denvy, or else I will decide to fight against them to death if they refuse to negotiate. Maybe I'll catch Arthur there, and even if I don't catch him, I'll at least have a chance to get uncle Denvy out of there and run away from them for a while. I have some tricks for option 2."

"Think about it carefully, human. Those two options are not wise at all. I have a third option for you. Why don't you transform and surprise them to rescue Denvy Karatini?"

"No. Uncle Denvy's safety is paramount. Who knows if Arthur is there or not? If Arthur watched the raid through the camera, he might think: "'Yellow Lightning' was there right after Victor left the hospital, so I can conclude he is definitely 'Yellow Lightning'". Now that I know that, instead of keeping uncle Denvy alive as before, there's a good chance he'll kill him, not to mention the possibility that his agents will have enough time to do so when I start the raid. In case they really meant to do that, it's like I indirectly killed uncle Denvy, isn't it? I won't risk his life, or I'll regret it for the rest of my life, and most of all I want to meet them and ask them what they need me for."

"That's right. Not to mention, if you can't defeat Arthur, even if you can save Denvy Karatini from the control of his subordinates, the two of you may not be safe in the future."

"I know, right? Our lives would still be at stake in that case."

"I wonder what would happen to you if you got caught by them…"

"Hmm... You asked what would happen to me if that happened?..."- said Victor- "I don't really know, Thedus. Maybe they would question me about my identity or something, and force me to give them my Elemental Card... But no matter what, I'm sure they won't kill me until Arthur achieves his goal. We're out of time, I have to get out of here before Michael gets the doctor here."

"So what do you want me to do when you get there?"

"I need you to tell Michael the specific situation and advise him to get Linh out of here as soon as possible, then tell him to keep his phone ready to receive calls from me. Maybe I'll lure Iron Head away from there until the two of them can escape. I'll leave your Elemental Card where it was. Please help me pass my word on to him."

"Are you going there alone without me? Get a hold of yourself, alright? What you're about to do like kicking against the pricks."

"I told you, I'll take care of it on my own, don't worry. I would rather die than leave your Elemental Card in their hands."

"Wait, take me there, Vic…"

Before he could finish speaking, Thedus' soul was sucked into the Elemental Card by the effect of the spell "Elemental God Withdraw Incantation– Activate!" emitted from Victor's mouth. The part when Victor left in a sad, moody way. His face was a bit wistful. He was so busy thinking about what would happen to him when he arrived at that cafe that he didn't hear Thedus screaming in the drawer after his Elemental Card was placed there. Standing in a corner with a view towards Linh's treatment room, Victor planned to wait for Michael to be there before he left with peace of mind. After a while, Victor saw the appearance of a group of people. At first, he thought those were Michael, some doctors, and nurses, but the reality was completely different. There was no appearance of Michael, only the doctors and nurses hastily entered room 1316 to do their job. Victor was too shocked to exclaim after he saw that scene despite the crowd around him who were watching him with confusion:

"What the heck?! Why are only the doctors and nurses coming? Where's Michael?"

No longer maintaining the usual calm and manners that a human being needs when in a hospital, Victor full of worry and panic on his pale face, hurried down the corridors of the ward in search of Michael. As he walked, he called out Michael's name, making the surrounding crowd all uncomfortable. All of a sudden, when approaching the men's WC area, he was suddenly pulled inside by someone hiding behind the entrance to the men's WC. Victor showed fear and confusion, intending to fight back because he thought he was the bad guy, but calmed down when he realized it was Michael. Michael pulled Victor inside, closed the door, then grabbed his shirt and dragged him into one of the inner rooms, holding his index finger over his mouth as if to signal Victor not to scream. Three-minute of silence passed from the moment the two entered the toilet, which was a sign to Michael that they weren't attracting the attention of the crowd outside. When he saw that everything was fine, he removed his hand from Victor's shirt, sighed, and put one hand on the doorpost. Victor was shocked to see Michael's very strange actions, could not keep his composure, and blurted out:

"Michael! Have you been here all this time? Why drag me in here?"

"Shh, don't shout or we'll get everyone's attention."- Michael said- "Take a breath to calm down, Victor. Don't be afraid, everything is fine right now."

Victor suddenly covered his mouth as if he remembered something. Now even he held up his index finger in front of Michael's mouth as if telling him to keep quiet. It turned out that Victor remembered that he could not speak when he was still in front of Michael because that would reach Arthur's ears in case the two of them had a listening device on their bodies.

Michael understood the reason for this action Victor, immediately dropped Victor's hand, and said with a calm, slightly scowling face as if to reassure Victor:

"I told you, there are no listening devices on us. Now take a deep breath and talk to me calmly."

"Really?!"

Michael then raised his right hand above his head and swore:

"My right hand to God that what I said and am saying is true."

Hearing Michael say that, Victor took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while his right hand lightly touched his left chest. A minute later, he spoke up:

"Listen, Michael. Have you known Iron Head was sent here by Arthur to harm Linh and you before? After knowing that, I went looking for you right away. Now, please do the procedures for Linh's hospital discharge and then leave here with her. As long as you two can survive after leaving here, we can change the game. Then I, you, Linh, and Uncle Denvy will gather in a safe place when we escape from Arthur's pursuit and discuss how to get away with this."

"No, I can't"- Michael replied.

"Why? Denvy, Linh, and the two of us's lives are at stake, you know."- Victor said.

"Now that doesn't solve the problem."- said Michael

"What?! I don't understand. Explain better, Michael."

"Alright, you better listen well to what I'm about to say."- Michael started to explain- "There are two reasons: First, even if I did the procedure to discharge Linh and leave here, we would not escape being assassinated by Iron Head because he can know our whereabouts through Arthur. Second, how long do you think I have to run Linh in vain when Arthur will still find us no matter where we are? Fact is, he has a very good network of information and unpredictable tricks, we can use the way he kidnapped Uncle Denvy to lure him in as an example. In short, he'll find out where the four of us are, whatever it takes."

"So... are we just standing here and waiting to die helplessly?" - Victor hugged his head and sat down.

"No! I don't mean that."- said Michael- "But what you are about to do is like surrendering your life to Arthur, and putting Linh and me into a difficult situation, I think. Don't be hasty, we still have time to think of a way to end this. Listen to me, stay with me for a while. OK?"

"So what do we do now?" Victor said. "I couldn't think of anything else but to go there and negotiate with them after learning that Uncle Denvy's life was in danger.

"What if they won't negotiate and harm him?"

"Until then, I'll risk my life on them."

"Calm down. The more you lose your temper, the more serious the situation becomes, you should know that you can't fight him alone. He wants to tear apart us..."

"I don't give a shit about it. I couldn't keep my composure anymore. Uncle Denvy was the one who carried me when I lost my memory and had nowhere to go. Get outta here with Linh, don't worry about me."

"Listen to me. If you get caught, he can use you to lure me in to tell him things he wants to know, then there's no point in us hiding. That would also harm Linh already."

"Damn it! So tell me what we should do now. If we don't hurry, Arthur will get suspicious and let Iron Head handle the three of us in this place."

"The only way to end this is to put an end to their cooperation, either kill Iron Head and Arthur both or gather evidence against Arthur and give it to the police, then they can get him arrested."

All of a sudden, Victor realized that there was something unusual behind the appearance of Iron Head here, although Michael had confirmed that there was no wiretapping device on his body. He asked:

"As I calmed down, I suddenly wondered: 'How does Iron Head know where we are?' He came here as soon as we got here, and you just said that there was no wiretapping device on our bodies, right? So, don't you find it strange?"

"An effective subordinate of Arthur that we encountered in front of Linh's mansion- George quickly attached a wiretapping device to his car when we were about to flee in that car. And what Iron Head needs to do is get to our next stop- the Potter hospital- based on the signal of the navigation device attached to the car, which you can verify yourself when you go to the parking lot. The navigation device is located somewhere around the rear of the car."

"Really?"- Victor was a little bit shocked- "Damn… Wait, how did you know about that? You haven't gone out to check the car yet."

"Thanks to Thedus."- replied Michael- "He was standing there watching the fight between us and two of Arthur's subordinates. From the moment we got inside his car to prepare to escape, Thedus discovered the moment George attached the navigation device and was annoyed by it the whole trip. He told me about it and made a deal with me that I had to remove the navigation device from the car soon, in return, he would tell me specifically about the location of the navigation device on the car and promised to help me with anything I asked."

"Oh, got it."- said Victor- "It's a win-win deal, he won't help you with anything you ask if it's not in his favor. He is that kind of god."

"Correct. Now don't let anxiety affect your judgment and decision-making. Be quiet for a few minutes to regain your composure."

After a few minutes of steady breathing to regain his composure, Victor finally calmed down. He looked Michael in the eye and asked:

"I know this is a silly question, but will you go there with me?"

"No, you will go there alone, but after hearing about my plan."

"Do you have the plan to deal with it?" Victor looked at him with surprised eyes and a look of admiration.

"When I said I would stay here, it means the answer is yes. I had anticipated this before you, so obviously I planned it from the start, after analyzing everything thoroughly, of course. Now time is running out, focus on listening to what I'm about to tell you before you go."

When Victor heard that, he immediately raised his head to look at Michael, put his hands on his knees, stood up even though his face was a bit bewildered, trembling with fear, and said:

"O..OK! You're the smartest person I've ever met. You can give all of us a glimmer of hope for survival. I'm ready to hear your plan"...

...After a while of listening to Michael talk about the plan that both of them need to implement, Victor was surprised and asked:

"Hey, why does it have to be that way? Explain to me slowly, my brain hasn't followed your plan yet."

"Time is running out. You must do what I tell you to make sure the plan is successful. I believe when it's all over, you'll figure out the answer yourself."

"Okay. I trust you"- said Victor- "Let's kick their fucking ass."

As soon as he left the men's WC, Victor turned to look at Michael standing behind the door of the WC looking at mines. Victor could clearly see Michael nodding and smiling with him, which reassured him a bit. Seconds later, Victor confidently approached the door of the treatment ward. When he got out of the treatment area, he kept going straight to the parking lot. Not far away from there, Iron Head was watching him. Seeing that Victor did not have any suspicious gestures or actions, Iron Head picked up his phone and dialed Arthur's number. As soon as you hear the phrase "Yeah, what's up?" by Arthur, Iron Head gets straight to the point:

"He has already started moving. Keep an eye on the GPS on his car to see if he gets to the rendezvous point on time."

When Victor's car was out of the hospital, Iron Head was just out of the bushes, his sharp eyes darting to the treatment ward, his hand pulled out a sword from the scabbard slung over his shoulder as if he was ready for the next step in his and Arthur's plan...