April 30, 1986.
Nearly five days had passed since the reactor explosion.
Over the past few days, Zhang Heng and the others had been investigating the various parties involved in the disaster relief, trying to find the key people. Unfortunately, despite their very positive actions, even risking a huge risk by running back to the nuclear power plant twice, the main mission still did not get any better.
Not only that, but the health of the players was only becoming worse. After losing the doctor, no one knew exactly how much the radiation had affected them, but they could still feel the changes in their bodies.
The youth’s arm that had swelled up was now a full size bigger than before. It could not fit into his sleeve, and the only thing they could do was to open a hole in the clothes. Other than that, ulcers had appeared on his tongue and cheeks, and layers of mucous membranes fell off, making it difficult for him to speak.
Mouse wasn’t in too great of a condition either. One of his legs had turned bluish-purple. Not only was it swollen, but it was even a little shiny. It was very smooth to the touch, and there were blisters on the inside, causing excruciating pain upon every movement. On the fourth day, it was already difficult for him to move, and on the fifth, he could only sit in the car.
On the other hand, Master Kui was in a slightly better condition than the other two. Her face was swollen, and her eyes were somewhat bloodshot, and she also started shedding hair. It wasn’t only her hair that was falling off but her eyebrows as well.
In comparison, Zhang Heng’s condition was the best among the four. He only had dark brown patches of different shapes on his skin that would cause constant pain, but it basically didn’t affect movement.
In addition, the five of them, including Besnova, felt different levels of fatigue. The doctor had mentioned this—it was probably nuclear fatigue.
The five of them had just returned from the cement mixing plant. To be honest, they didn’t have much hope when they went there. Although the work there was also important, it was obviously not that important. The only reason they went there to investigate was that there was no other place to go.
At this point in the operation, even Kui, who had been the most determined, couldn’t help but waver. He started to wonder if he had made the wrong decision to stay in Pripyat. Even though there were many names on the list that hadn’t been investigated yet, that would be for the rescue work relatively later in time. Everyone knew that the most valuable thing was actually the committee chairman, Scherbina, who ranked first on the list.
Previously, the four of them had decided to postpone Scherbina’s investigation, worried that it would cause too much commotion. Zhang Heng had also managed to obtain the estimated duration of Scherbina’s stay in Pripyat from the DW’s office. The latter was prepared to wait until the reactor fire was completely extinguished and would only return to Moscow once the situation was under further control. The earliest they could do so would be in May, so the players were not in a hurry.
However, as time passed, the players seemed to have made an agreement. They started to talk less and less about the investigation of Scherbina. It was not because they were worried about stirring up any trouble, but simply because he was the players’ last hope. If they could not get any clues about the main mission from Scherbina, they wouldn’t know what to do next.
On the way back, the atmosphere in the car became very quiet.
Zhang Heng drove the military vehicle past one empty building after another. Occasionally, he could see some militia squads hunting animals. They flashed past the car window with guns in their hands. Initially, the crowd was worried that the militia would notice them, and they stopped their cars and allowed themselves to be interrogated. But now, in this empty city, seeing the same kind of people that happened to appear by chance gave the players a sense of kinship.
Zhang Heng parked the car outside the stadium.
He looked up at the sky. The sun was about to set, and it was almost dinner time. However, when Zhang Heng opened the stadium’s door and walked into the room where they had stored food and water, he found that it was a mess.
The glass bottles used to store water were broken, and the biscuits and sausages had been eaten. Only the packaging and residue were left on the ground. The only things that were still intact were the few bottles of canned fish.
“What happened? Did the militia discover this place?” Master Kui asked.
“No, it was another guest.”
Zhang Heng bent down and picked a box of canned food beside his feet. He saw the row of teeth marks on the metal box.
“Stray Dogs?” The youth in the uniform asked in a muffled voice.
Although the militia had started to clean up the pets left in the city on the day of the evacuation, there were still quite a few that escaped the net. During the past two days, the players had also encountered a few stray cats and dogs. Under normal circumstances, when they saw the animals from afar, they would use stones or something to drive them away. After all, there was quite a lot of radioactivity in these animals now.
And when the cats and dogs sensed the danger, they would immediately run away without waiting for the stones to hit them. However, there were occasional exceptions, especially when the cats and dogs would become hungrier. Some hungry dogs began to hunt down the stray cats in the city, swallowing them to satisfy their hunger.
However, the dogs would soon become agitated due to the increased radioactivity, and they would start attacking the humans in the city. Some of the militia teams responsible for hunting were bitten by the mad dogs.
The players had encountered them because they had been active in the city, but fortunately, they did not encounter any danger.
In terms of combat power, the mad dogs were not particularly strong. However, since they had run into the stadium, the players could not leave them alone. If the dogs sneaked in during the night, and anyone was bitten, there would be no shots here to fight tetanus.
Thus, when Zhang Heng saw this, he took out the Pestilence Bone Bow on his back. He pulled out another arrow from his quiver and ran along with the paw prints on the ground.
This level of pursuit wasn’t that difficult for Zhang Heng. The culprit obviously hadn’t thought about how to disguise himself. After feasting on the food, he swaggered out of the stadium. His trail was practically everywhere along the way.
Zhang Heng found the latter’s nest without much effort. Outside the changing room of the badminton hall on the top floor, there was a shepherd dog. Its health did not look good. Just like the humans, it had been severely affected by radiation and had lost a lot of fur. Its body looked like patches of alopecia, but what was worse was the wound on its backside.
It seemed to have fought with the teams responsible for hunting animals, but it miraculously survived after being shot. The bloodstains on its chest fur showed that it had swallowed some small animals to satisfy its hunger. It was unknown whether it was a stray cat, a mouse, or a dead bird nearby.
