Vorobyov, too, noticed that Besonova was the only one who spoke to him in that strange little group of workers. The others were silent, or whispered to each other at a distance.
Usually, Vorobyov would be suspicious of the four's identity, but now his mind was not on it. He had no time to care about the origin of the four. All he could think about was how to solve this matter quickly, and then go to the DW office to warn the others. Pripyat might have already been exposed to radiation at this time, and the townspeople might not even know about it yet.
When Vorobyov thought of this, he was also annoyed. Brihanov was simply lying through his teeth. He turned a blind eye to the numbers on the radiometer. For a factory director like him, it was better that he did not have a factory director.
The five of them were all preoccupied at this moment, so they didn't talk much on the way.
The director of the Civil Defense Department took the four to the No. 1 administrative building and said, "Briuhanov is in the underground bunker of the administrative building. Go straight down the stairs, and you will find him soon."
Vorobyov's words meant that he planned to part ways with the four of them here. It seemed that he didn't want to see Briuhanov's face again.
At this moment, a figure walked out of the administration building in a wobbly manner.
The man's skin was red, and he was coughing violently. It seemed that he had just been exposed to a high dose of radiation. But compared to his physical condition, what was worse was his mental condition. He seemed to be in a trance. When he walked to the steps, his legs turned to jelly, and he sat directly on it. At the same time, he muttered, "It's over, it's all over."
"Anatoly!" Vorobyov recognized the man and was surprised. "Why are you here?"
Anatoly looked up when he heard the words. His eyes seemed to be a little hesitant. After a moment, he recognized the person in front of him, and squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying. "Vorobyov, you haven't left yet?"
"Yes, I just measured the radiation values in various places again, and I'm going to the DW office to warn the townspeople. You look very uncomfortable. Did something happen?"
Anatoly sighed. "Alas, you reported to Briuhanov that the radiometer exploded and warned him that there was a serious nuclear leakage accident, but Briuhanov didn't believe it. So he found me. He told me that I was one of the most experienced physicists in the nuclear power plant, and I was the deputy chief engineer of the first phase of the construction project. I was also a neutral outsider in this accident. He asked me to climb to the roof of Area V to see what was going on in the central hall."
"You agreed?" Vorobyov was shocked. "The radiation value near the reactor was too high. I couldn't get close at all. Just a little bit closer, and the measuring instrument kept ringing."
"I couldn't refuse. After all, he is the factory director. And most importantly, I also wanted to know what happened and whether there was a problem with our current response plan," Anatoly said. "I passed through the unit and went to the central hall. I knew the reactor was doomed. But in order to further confirm this, I climbed to the roof of Area V according to Briuhanov's request. I saw that the reactor cover had been blown away by the explosion. It probably flew to the roof and smashed the concrete wall.
"Now only half of the cover is still on the reactor. The reactor is still burning below, and the nuclear fission reaction is still happening. Vorobyov, I can feel it in my bones," Anatoly smiled sadly. "It's terrible. I saw graphite blown everywhere on the roof. The graphite came from the reactor core. It's not the water tank, it's the core that exploded."
"Did you tell Briuhanov what you saw?"
"Of course, I reported what I saw to him truthfully, but he was very angry. He just … just refused to believe that the nuclear core had been destroyed. He and Fumin are still asking people to fill the reactor with water, but in my opinion, all the low-level water supply lines have been blown up. In order to restore the water supply, Akimov and Toptunov worked below for a few hours. Their courage is commendable, but unfortunately, the water all flowed to the underground compartment, submerging the cable room and high-voltage switch equipment. It may even cause the other three reactors to lose power."
"Briuhanov and Fumin are no longer reliable. We should inform the others immediately," Vorobyov said solemnly.
"Baldassarov has shut down the No. 3 reactor. Although Fumin didn't allow him to do so, when he noticed that the water level in the degassing water tank was getting lower and lower, he did it himself. Fumin is probably furious about this, but one day he will thank Baldassarov. If Baldassarov didn't shut down the No. 3 reactor, the core of the No. 3 reactor would have melted by now, "Anatoly said, coughing violently.
Anatoly said as he coughed violently again, "It's really uncomfortable. I feel like my lungs are on fire. Vorobyov, I don't think I can survive."
"Hang in there, man. I'll take you to the medical center now." Vorobyov couldn't care less about the four of them at this time. He stepped forward and helped Anatoly up, letting the latter lean on his shoulder. After that, he quickly walked toward the parking lot.
The players looked at each other. Although they had more or less realized that Briuhanov and Fumin had neglected their duties, this was still beyond everyone's expectations. Briuhanov had sent a top nuclear physicist to explore the reactor at the risk of his life. However, once the results were different from what he had imagined, he refused to believe the facts in front of him.
On the other hand, Besonova was even more shocked by Vorobyov and Anatoly's words. Although Zhang Heng told her that the reactor had exploded when they first met, she had no knowledge of nuclear physics at that time. So, she didn't realize how serious the situation was.
As she came into contact with more and more nuclear power plant staff, from Dyatlov to Anatoly, her understanding of the reactor became deeper and deeper. Although she was far from those nuclear physicists, she had surpassed most ordinary people living in Pripyat. Because of this, she could understand what she was facing now after hearing Anatoly's words.
This was a disaster through and through!
And now, she was following the players, trying to piece together the causes of this disaster bit by bit like a puzzle.
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