48 Hours a Day

The two militiamen did not expect that the drunkard in front of them would suddenly attack someone. However, seeing their companion fall to the ground did not raise their vigilance. They still treated the young man in front of them like an ordinary drunkard, a man out of his mind and lawless. There were several such people in Pripyat. A bottle of vodka in one’s stomach would make one oblivious to the enormity of Heaven and earth.

The two militiamen felt that it was necessary for them to help the drunkard change his habits. They placed the disinfection equipment on the ground and charged towards the young man in the uniform. However, the latter’s movements were much faster. Before the two militia could finish surrounding him, the young man in the uniform had already ducked and bent his legs. Then, like a hunting dog, he dashed in front of one of the militia.

The beheading youth should have used a move similar to Muay Thai in close combat. No one knew if he had practiced it in a dungeon or in real life, but it was obvious that he had spent a lot of effort on it.

Although the militiamen in front of him had received some military training, it was clear that they could not withstand such storm-like fists. If it were not for his sturdy physique, he would’ve probably failed to withstand the first round of attacks. However, he did not last much longer than his companion, who had his head shot by a bottle. He was kicked in the abdomen and fell backward.

At this time, the third militia had just charged forward.

The uniformed youth did not expect his luck to be so good this time. He had succeeded in his first sneak attack. After that, the two of them did not react quickly enough. Like how the Gourd Doll had saved his grandfather, they lined up one by one to deliver vegetables, allowing the youth to exceed his level’s performance and complete a one versus three feat.

The first two people had already been knocked to the ground by him, and after losing the risk of being surrounded, the third person was no longer a difficulty, though the latter had finally become vigilant after seeing his companions fall one after another.

On the other side, the driver on the sprinkler truck had also noticed the situation behind him. He jumped out to help, but when he saw his companions struggling under the uniformed young man’s series of attacks, he thought about his own fighting strength. He realized that even if he rushed up now, there was an 80% chance that he would not change the final outcome.

Thus, he decisively turned around, running to a car preparing to drive away for help. Unfortunately, he had just turned around to the front of the car when the door unexpectedly opened itself. Unable to stop his footsteps, he hurriedly got in but hit his head against the door before he knew it.

Before he lost consciousness, he vaguely saw a figure appear in the driver’s seat. However, he had no recollection of when the figure had got in.

When the driver fainted on the ground, Zhang Heng also jumped out of the car. Moreover, unlike when he came, there was an extra item in his pocket. Clothes and other items were indeed needed for later operations, but it was not necessary to snatch them now. There was still some time before the official evacuation announcement.

Zhang Heng had actually set his eyes on this group of militia because of the things in the car.

At this time, the battle on the other side was nearing its end. As expected, the remaining militia was no match for subjugator. They might still be ordinary people when they first entered the game, but now, after its baptism, even the most ordinary people would continue to evolve.

Furthermore, Zhang Heng could see that the young man’s combat level surpassed normal players. His Muay Thai was probably level 2.

The young man did not rush forward. He dragged on until the opponent in front of him revealed a flaw due to overexertion. Only then did he use a perfect strike to end the not-very-intense battle. Looking at the three enemies besides his feet, a look of pride appeared on his face.

Following that, the young man and Zhang Heng removed the uniforms and boots from the four of them and dragged them into the sprinkler truck. Zhang Heng then drove the truck into a relatively remote alley. It would be at least a few hours before the four woke up or were discovered. By then, the players should have already left the hotel.

After all that was done, Zhang Heng and the young man knocked on Master Kui’s room.

The latter hadn’t been idle for a long time. After packing up his things, he started to plan his next move, including drawing up a new target list and a timetable.

Master Kui didn’t waste any time. As soon as Zhang Heng and the young man entered the room, she stuffed a letter into their hands, “Our current course of action has changed. We’ve gone from looking for the culprit to finding the person who solved the crisis. Of course, if you guys have any better ideas in the future investigation, you can bring them up. I’ve made a rough list. If any of you know more about the Chernobyl accident, I’ll have to trouble you to help me improve the list.”

Zhang Heng glanced at the names on the list. The person in the first place had changed from Dyatlov to Scherbina. He was the chairman of the Committee and the person Moscow had sent to deal with the accident. He was also the one who gave all the orders and decisions for disaster relief, so there was no problem for him to be in this position. However, the second person after him was much more difficult to choose.

The firefighters who put out the fire outside the reactor in time, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Beldorf, and his militia, or the first group of experts who arrived, the Air Force pilots who were busy transporting sand to put out the fire… these were all important figures to the disaster relief, but their contributions were difficult to quantify.

“I remember in the original history that in order to prevent the core from burning through the floor and coming into contact with the water in the basement which would cause a steam explosion, a few nuclear power plant engineers risked breathing in lethal radiation to open the water valve to drain the water. If not for them, Ukraine and Belarus would probably have been finished, and the whole of Europe would have been affected. So I think they should be in second place.”

Master Kui nodded and made a note on the paper. “And?”

“And the miners,” Zhang Heng said. “In order to prevent the reactor’s lava from sinking and contaminating the groundwater, even the nearby rivers, the Soviets dug a tunnel to inject liquid nitrogen to cool the reactor. In addition, the work of collecting the graphite ejected from the explosion back into the reactor was also very important. It was done by the Soviet military, but now we have a problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

“A lot of work wasn’t done by one person, so how are we going to find the key person? Are we going to see who is the leader or whose contribution is more prominent?

“This also brings us back to the original question. How do we quantify everyone’s contribution?” Zhang Heng asked. “Furthermore, the disaster relief has only just begun, and many things have yet to happen. I’m afraid we’ll have to continue waiting to find those on the list.”