The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 72

Looking at the boy's painfully thin wrists poking out of his hospital gown, Sloane understood. He was a cancer patient.

Just like her.

But this young boy clearly couldn't accept such a tragic end to his life. Deep in his eyes, Sloane saw a flash of absolute terror mixed with a desperate, almost greedy clinging to life.

Sloane let out a soft sigh.

"It won't stop." Her voice naturally softened into a comforting tone. "The trial will continue. Dr. Foster's team is brilliant. They'll find a way."

"What way could there be?" The boy shook his head as fresh tears spilled over. "I looked it up. That microbe is only found in Antarctica, and it's incredibly hard to harvest. Even our country's top teams have never managed to collect it... Even if they send someone now, a round trip would take months... I-I might only have less than half a year left..." He covered his face, whispering in absolute devastation. "I just want to... even if it's just one more year... I just want to see the spring flowers bloom one last time..."

Sloane's heart violently twisted in her chest.

Yes, even just one more year... But she didn't even know if she would live to see the spring flowers herself.

She remained silent for a few seconds before making a decision in her heart.

"Look at this." Sloane pulled out her phone, unlocked it, quickly swiped through her gallery, and held the screen in front of him.

The screen displayed the official introduction page for the Deep Ice Exploration project. The next photo was her project ID badge, clearly showing her face and her name under the project title. The photo after that showed her doing diving drills at the training center, clad in a professional drysuit by a massive deep-water pool.

"I'm a member of the team heading to Antarctica to find The White Microbe," Sloane said, meeting his eyes with a calm, earnest gaze. "We leave in a month. Our mission is to bring it back."

The boy's crying stopped. His eyes widened as he stared at the phone screen in disbelief before looking back up at Sloane.

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