Tom, seated behind his desk, froze when he heard Roger's words. He slowly raised his head, seeming not to have heard clearly what Roger had just said. In disbelief, he dug at his ear and asked Roger:
"What did you say happened to you?!"
Seeing Tom's incredulous expression, Roger grinned openly and said:
"I've got a terminal illness. I'm going to die soon."
"I can feel my life force fading rapidly. I probably only have a little over a year left."
As Roger spoke, he picked up another bottle of red wine from the coffee table. After pulling out the cork himself, he gulped down several mouthfuls. A little red wine trickled from the corner of his mouth.
After taking several heavy swigs, Roger set down the bottle, wiped his mouth, stood up, and walked over to Tom. He plopped down on the desk in front of him. Seeing Tom's stunned, disbelieving face, he instead began comforting Tom:
"Hey! Tom, don't make that face when old friends reunite!"
"Cheer up! This is our last time together!"
"Don't pull such a long face."
Roger had a remarkably good attitude. As he spoke, he patted Tom on the shoulder, then his gaze instinctively fell on the blueprint in front of Tom.
When he saw a seagull emblem on the hull in the blueprint, he gave a soft cry of surprise. Like a child who had found a new toy, he immediately became deeply interested and asked curiously:
"Huh?!"
"Is this ship you designed a warship?!"
"A Marine warship?!"
"The Marines actually came to you to design a warship?!"
Hearing Roger's question, Tom snapped out of his shock. Instead of answering, he sprang up from his chair, grabbed Roger by the arms, and roared:
"Hey! Is this the time to care about something