48 Hours a Day

In fact, Coconut was not the only one in the party who vomited. The maintenance guy and Mouse had vomited twice, but their condition wasn’t as severe as Coconut.

The wound on her hand, which had been bandaged by the Doctor, seemed to be unable to heal. Fresh blood kept oozing out, and she needed to change the bandage every once in a while. Even under the effect of the tranquilizer, Coconut did not seem to be feeling very well. Her lips also seemed to be on the verge of cracking.

All that and not to mention the lingering nausea: the players could basically feel it, but the degree of severity was different. There was also a faint sour smell in the air, but it was not that obvious.

The players had already left the bookstore and got back into the jeep.

Zhang Heng walked behind them and said to Coconut, “Help me tell her that she can call her boyfriend and ask him to stay at home for the day. But don’t say anything unnecessary. If she tries anything funny, I’ll find out.”

Coconut rinsed her mouth with the water from the old bookstore’s canteen. She glanced at Zhang Heng and asked, “Do you want to tell her the reason?”

“Yes, tell her the truth about the nuclear power plant explosion.”

Coconut nodded.

A moment later, a look of surprise appeared on Besnova’s face. She seemed to be in disbelief, but there was not much fear in her eyes. Zhang Heng guessed that she did not know the severity of the situation at all, just like the night anglers they saw on the road.

Zhang Heng did not explain, though. Firstly, Coconut, who was the middleman, looked very tired. Zhang Heng did not want to trouble her with any more words. Secondly, Zhang Heng had already done his best by asking Besnova to call her boyfriend. If she was unwilling or did not believe him, Zhang Heng would let her be.

However, after thinking for a moment, Besnova actually used the bookstore’s phone to call her boyfriend. In fact, she was very obedient the whole time. Not long after, she seemed to get a little angry and slammed the receiver on the phone.

“She said that her boyfriend didn’t listen to her and insisted on going to work at the train station. He also told her not to say anything. He said that a colleague of his had received the news, that there was an explosion at a water tank at the nuclear power plant, and the accident was under control,” Coconut said.

“…”

Anyone who had been to the scene and had any sense wouldn’t have thought it was just a water tank explosion. However, Zhang Heng didn’t say anything and just got into the car with Besnova and Coconut.

Because the maintenance man was feeling a little dizzy, the driver was now Master Kui. After everyone had arrived, she asked, “Do any of you know where Katarov is now?”

“I think that guy has already run. He’s the deputy chief engineer of reactor No.4, and unlike the ordinary people in town, he should know a lot about the reactor. Therefore, he must know that the reactor has already exploded. If he stays there, he will be exposed to even more radiation.”

“Don’t let him get caught already,” the maintenance man said with a frown. “Then we’ll have to think of a way to get him out of the police station.”

Zhang Heng was not in a hurry to come to a conclusion. “Let’s go to his place first,” was all he said.

Although Besnova did not know where Katarov lived, the man wasn’t a nobody in Pripyat, so it wasn’t that difficult to find out. She got out of the car and made two phone calls; a friend married to a gas line operator at the power plant. Hence, she quickly got the address.

Under Besnova’s human navigation, Kuei drove the car to Katarov’s door. However, to his disappointment, Katarov did not come back after the explosion.

“He didn’t come home… Did he just run away?” Mouse asked.

Zhang Heng thought about it and turned to look at Coconut, who looked a little pained. “Ask her if she knows any of the family and workers of reactor No.4. See if you can get any information about Katarov’s whereabouts from them.”

Coconut took two deep breaths and closed her eyes.

Then, she saw Besnova shake her head. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded again. She got out of the car again and walked to the public phone booth. This time, it took her a long time, but Zhang Heng was watching her from the side, and during that time, she did not feel any change in the Vow Ring she was wearing.

After about half an hour, the public phone rang again. Basonova only said two sentences before hanging up.

“She asked someone to contact Victor Grigorievich Smagin, the shift leader of the No.4 reactor unit. Smagin is the shift leader of the No.2 reactor unit. He was in charge of the day’s work and went home at night. In the end, he was picked up by a van not long ago. Apparently, he went back to the nuclear power plant to help. According to Smagin, Katarov left the nuclear power plant about three hours ago. According to the people at the administrative building, he went to the civil defense headquarters,” Coconut said.

“Three hours ago? In other words, he stayed there for at least two hours after we left the plant. Why? Does he want to die?” the maintenance man asked in confusion.

“The three-hour civil defense meeting should be over. Katarov was in the control room when the accident happened. He was not far from the reactor, so he should have been exposed to a lot of radiation,” the young man said. “If he really stayed there for another two hours, the radiation dose would have increased. He should probably be feeling very unwell by now.”

“The hospital!” Mouse and the maintenance man said in unison. “Katarov is probably in the hospital now.”

“It’s not just him. The people in the control room that night are probably in the medical center as well,” Zhang Heng said. “We should be able to meet a lot of people on this trip.”

Zhang Heng was right. When they returned to the medical center, they realized that it was completely different from the first time they came.

The number of patients had increased by at least fivefold, most being firefighters and employees at the power plant that night. Not only were there people from reactor No.4, but there were also people on duty from reactor No.3 next door. The other night anglers also noticed that they were not feeling well when the sun rose. Their breathing was rapid, and their lungs looked as if they had been burned by fire. Their skin was sunburned and had turned dark, caused by the nuclear fire.

The sound of coughing rose and fell in the ward. There was also a radiation detector. The alarm was constantly beeping, so the cleaner had to disinfect the corridor and the ward. He threw away all the clothes of the wounded, all to no avail to the beeps of the Geiger counter. No one realized that it was actually because of the radioactive dust floating in the air.

At this moment, there was no place without radiation in Pripyat.

Some of the patients seemed to be in a serious condition, but most of them could still bear it. At least for now, it seemed that their physical and mental conditions were still normal.. Some of them were still chatting, and little did they realize that their bodies might rot bit by bit in a few days.