The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 224

The snow fell relentlessly for a week, finally stopping on the seventh day.

The wind died down and the blizzard ceased, but beneath The Polar Night, the sky remained a suffocating pitch black. The frozen surface of The White Lake looked like a massive obsidian mirror, reflecting the harsh, biting white glint of their headlamps.

Sloane took a deep breath as she stood at the edge of the ice hole, her fins crunching satisfyingly against the frozen surface.

She was fully suited up in her black wetsuit, which clung tightly to her frame, the zipper pulled all the way up from her back to the base of her skull. Oxygen tank, weight belt, depth gauge, headlamp—she had triple-checked every single piece of gear.

She was preparing for her third dive into The White Lake.

At that moment, Professor Harrison walked over, clutching a freshly hand-drawn map—the culmination of his sonar surveys over the past week.

The paper was heavily smudged with erased pencil marks. Right in the middle of a dense cluster of contour lines sat a star, circled heavily in red ink.

"I've determined that just northeast of the thermal vents, there's a miniature volcanic crater. Within a three-hundred-foot radius of that crater is the most likely gathering spot for the colonies."

He carefully folded the map and tucked it into the inner pocket of Sloane's wetsuit, his expression dead serious.

"Sloane, remember, once you reach that perimeter, don't blindly search. Look strictly in the rock crevices. Anywhere you see a white biofilm, that's your target."

Sloane nodded firmly. "Understood."

"And another thing. Don't push yourself like the last two times. If you hear the order to return, you turn back immediately."

Sloane offered a helpless nod. "Yes, sir."

Next came Josh. He held a brand-new, silver underwater transceiver, slightly smaller than the previous one, with a sleek matte black casing.

He meticulously clipped it onto Sloane's shoulder strap, double-checking the wiring, giving it a solid tug to ensure it was securely fastened.

"I've calibrated it. Both the frequency and power output are perfectly optimized. As long as you stay within a mile and a half underwater, the signal won't drop." He paused, his gaze intense.

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