The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 182

"They set out five days ago."

Vivienne pulled out a map of Antarctica and spread it across the table. She tapped a red dot with her index finger. "They started here, at Endurance Station. Their destination is The White Lake."

Her finger traced a path south, stopping at a blue circle. "It's a straight-line distance of over five hundred miles. At their projected pace, they should have arrived by now."

"And they haven't sent any updates during this time?" Garrison asked.

Vivienne withdrew her hand, falling silent for a heavy second.

"No. They haven't made contact since they left. I assumed it was just a dead zone for the signal. But they were supposed to pass a UN supply outpost halfway through the route, which has a working satellite phone. They never called from there, either." She paused, glancing nervously at Garrison. "To be honest, I'm getting extremely worried."

"How many people are in the group?"

"Six."

"Six? I thought the Deep Ice Expedition only consisted of five members."

"There's another girl named Lilah Lane. They supposedly met her on The Oceanic Glory. She's in her early twenties, a college student."

"A college student?" Wyatt stroked his chin, his expression darkening. "The entire expedition team went through rigorous confidentiality training. Why would they agree to let a random college kid tag along?"

Garrison, however, had no patience for dissecting those details. His tone carried a sharp edge of urgency.

"Manager Hayes, can we contact that UN supply outpost directly right now?"

"Yes, of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Vivienne slapped her thigh in realization. "Give me a moment, I'll go grab the satellite phone."

She hurried back into the conference room with the heavy device and dialed the number in front of everyone.

Beep—

The line rang for half a second before immediately disconnecting. Vivienne dialed again, but the result was exactly the same.

"What's wrong?" Garrison's face was etched with anxiety.

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