Chapter 1766

The young man smiled faintly but then asked, “Do you know how old I am?”
Karina paused, caught off guard. Though unsure why he was asking, she played along. “Twenty?”
Looking no older than eighteen, she had deliberately guessed a little high. With his rapid cell division slowing his aging, she figured he might appear a couple of years younger than his actual age.
But his smile deepened. “I’m thirty-five. I might even be 10 years older than you.”
Karina’s eyes widened in shock.
He explained that he was the CEO of a publicly traded company. Because he was already in his thirties yet didn’t age, his family was pressuring him to seek treatment. He was also increasingly uneasy about his condition. “I can’t keep living like this forever. What if I end up becoming some kind of monster?”
Hearing this left Karina disoriented. She couldn’t believe it. He didn’t look a day over high school age.
For the first time, she truly grasped the saying: appearances can be deceiving.
*
After leaving the research facility, Karina felt a weight in her chest. The situation was far more severe than she’d anticipated.
“The surgery has been pushed back to two weeks from now,” Wilfred said, lowering his phone. His gaze was fixed straight ahead, his expression cold and his mood clearly sour.
Karina, having noticed him checking his phone earlier, asked, “Did you negotiate for that?”
Wilfred didn’t deny it.
But that was all the time he could buy.
Originally, the surgery had been scheduled just a few days away. On the surface, it was a critical medical procedure, but beneath it lay a high-stakes battle between Wilfred and the others involved.
If the surgery succeeded, the patient could go free. After all, the others wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
But if it failed, they would insist on keeping him under constant observation, claiming it was necessary to find a better solution.
After hearing this, Karina seethed with anger. “They can talk all they want about noble intentions, but it’s obvious they just want to keep him here!”
And that was the truth.
1.n
Because of his condition, the young man-no, the man-could no longer serve as his company’s CEO. Gossip swirled around him, and the relentless scrutiny only piled more pressure on someone who simply longed to live a normal life.
Karina didn’t say anything more but silently vowed to herself that she would find a way.
*
Back at the hospital, Karina threw herself into her work with even more intensity. She poured over medical records, lab results, and any case studies she could find, including one she uncovered from an online
archive.
The first known case was a young woman from abroad who had passed away years ago. Yet her cells and tissues continued to grow post-mortem, having been collected and preserved. The mere thought sent chills down Karina’s spine.
Compared to the woman’s case, the
young man’s condition seemed more manageable. His rate of cell division wasn’t nearly as extreme, and he had people like Wilfred and Karina advocating for him.
But in her fervor to solve the problem, Karina neglected her own health.
One day, after hours spent buried in research, she collapsed from low blood sugar and anemia.
When she regained consciousness, Wilfred stood at her bedside, his expression firm. Without a word, he gathered every file and document she had been working on.
“You’re taking two days off,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. “I didn’t give you this opportunity so you could work yourself to death.”
Search theFindNovel.netwebsite on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.