The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 171

Diego slammed on the brakes. Before the vehicle even came to a complete stop, Professor Harrison threw the door open and rushed out. Josh followed close behind, and Sloane jumped out after them. Freezing wind rushed in, carrying the acrid stench of scorched metal and burning fuel.

The next second—boom!

A deafening explosion shattered the silence of the Polar Night.

A gas tank had detonated. Flames shot into the pitch-black sky, and a wave of blistering heat washed over them. Josh grabbed Sloane and yanked her behind him, using his arm to shield her as the scorching air burned against their skin.

"Step back!" Professor Harrison yelled. "There's gasoline in there. It might trigger a secondary explosion!"

The four of them supported each other as they backed away, their shocked eyes reflecting the roaring inferno.

However, the fire didn't rage for long. It slowly began to die out.

It wasn't extinguished by water; it was frozen to death.

The negative forty-degree cold was like a giant hand choking the life out of the flames. The orange glow faded bit by bit. Thick smoke still billowed upward, but it was quickly torn apart by the freezing air, scattering into a gray mist. In just a few minutes, the blazing inferno was reduced to a pile of smoking ruins.

They stood frozen in place, staring at the charred wreckage. No one spoke.

"I'm going in to check."

Professor Harrison was the first to move. Stepping over the smoking, splintered wood, he walked into the blast zone.

The others followed cautiously. The ground was littered with twisted metal, scorched timber, and shattered glass. An oil drum had been blown wide open, the black crude still quietly burning. The supply crates were reduced to skeletal frames, the canned food and protein bars inside melted into unrecognizable, grotesque lumps.

"Is... is that..." Diego's voice trembled. Everyone followed the direction of his pointing finger.

There was a person lying on the ground.

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