Chap­ter 11 — “I am Com­ing!” opens in the after­math of chaos, where urgency eclipses rea­son. Vir­ginia Maxon’s dis­ap­pear­ance becomes the sin­gu­lar focus for Pro­fes­sor Max­on, von Horn, Sing Lee, and the sole las­car sur­vivor from the Itha­ca. With lim­it­ed time and unknown threats ahead, they board a ser­vice­able boat to fol­low what lit­tle trail remains. They soon spot the Itha­ca, adrift and over­tak­en by native Dyaks whom they res­cue from a storm. This moment of uneasy alliance shifts the momen­tum. In return for help nav­i­gat­ing the dam­aged ship, the Dyaks are per­suad­ed to guide them toward Rajah Muda Saffir’s pre­sumed loca­tion. Ten­sion runs high, but des­per­a­tion keeps the crew togeth­er, even as trust wanes with every pad­dled mile. Von Horn’s mind churns with strategies—he manip­u­lates facts to keep Pro­fes­sor Max­on unaware of truths that could derail the mis­sion. The pro­fes­sor, anx­ious yet deter­mined, remains focused on his daughter’s fate.

The group’s arrival at a ruined bat­tle site con­firms what they feared—Virginia was like­ly caught between rival fac­tions. Signs of strug­gle are every­where: bro­ken weapons, dis­card­ed fab­ric, and faint foot­prints lead­ing away from the con­flict. Max­on clings to hope that Vir­ginia has not fall­en to Num­ber Thir­teen, whose strength and mys­tery spark both fear and fas­ci­na­tion. Von Horn feeds this fear sub­tly, twist­ing details to rein­force the idea that the mon­ster they cre­at­ed now hunts them. They aban­don the search for a miss­ing trea­sure chest aboard the Itha­ca and set out in a war prahu, track­ing whis­pers in the wind. Each deci­sion they make is weighed not only against the dan­ger ahead but also against what each man knows and choos­es not to share. Muda Saf­fir, feign­ing loy­al­ty, joins their mis­sion under false pre­tense, mask­ing his desire to reclaim what was tak­en from him. In the back­ground, Sing Lee watch­es every­thing, stor­ing sus­pi­cions in silence.

Mean­while, deep in the untamed jun­gle, Bulan and his few sur­viv­ing broth­ers-in-cre­ation make their own jour­ney. Once bound by shared pur­pose, they now frag­ment under stress and doubt. Bulan, though weary and wound­ed, remains com­mit­ted to find­ing Vir­ginia. His path leads to a riv­er, which he believes con­nects with the place she was tak­en. The jun­gle chal­lenges them constantly—savage weath­er, elu­sive food, and unseen preda­tors. They press on, not only through the wild but through the ten­sion grow­ing with­in them­selves. Encoun­ters with orang­utan-like crea­tures stir a painful real­iza­tion among them. Num­bers Three, Ten, and Twelve begin to see them­selves reflect­ed in the beasts’ eyes. Their bod­ies are strong, but their minds are cloud­ed with the fear that they are no more than wild things in human skin.

An argu­ment breaks out as the trio voic­es their desire to remain behind and live as beasts in the jun­gle. Bulan’s heart aches as he hears this. He speaks with con­vic­tion, assert­ing that being born of sci­ence does not make one soul­less or less than human. His words are firm but com­pas­sion­ate. He pleads for them to choose dig­ni­ty, to strive for a high­er exis­tence. But the pull of instinct and iso­la­tion proves too great for some. One by one, they turn away, van­ish­ing into the trees like shad­ows retreat­ing at sun­rise. Bulan, though left with few­er allies, press­es for­ward, car­ry­ing not just the hope of res­cu­ing Vir­ginia but also the bur­den of prov­ing his worth—of prov­ing that what he feels inside tru­ly defines who he is.

The sep­a­ra­tion marks a turn­ing point. Bulan’s quest evolves from mere res­cue to self-dis­cov­ery. He now knows that to win Virginia’s trust and love, he must not only find her but stand before her as some­one who choos­es to be more than the sum of his parts. His deter­mi­na­tion sharp­ens. Every step brings pain, but also clar­i­ty. In the dis­tance, echoes of pur­suit grow louder—others are near­ing. Time tight­ens around them all, draw­ing the searchers and the sought into one inevitable inter­sec­tion. Fate, forged by sci­ence and emo­tion, pre­pares to test the lim­its of loy­al­ty, truth, and iden­ti­ty in the chap­ters to come.