Zhang Heng slept until about eight o 'clock in the evening. The sky outside the window had darkened, and the number of vehicles on the street downstairs had increased significantly. Almost all of them were heading out of the city, forming a long line that blocked the road. At the same time, more and more vehicles were joining the line.
Although the officials had not issued an official evacuation notice, more and more people chose to leave Pripyat. In fact, the school had already announced that classes would be suspended in the afternoon, and students were asked to stay indoors when they returned home. However, the hotel had just sent someone to inform all the guest rooms that all hotel services, including the restaurant, would continue as usual.
The seven players, however, did not dare to eat the freshly baked bread and sausages. Although they looked delicious, Zhang Heng and the others chose to nibble on the portable food in the packaging. They used the hotel's kettle to boil two bottles of mineral water to drink.
It was eight forty.
Zhang Heng took over the previous doctor's shift and sat in the lobby of the Pripyat Hotel. He picked up a newspaper, but in fact, he was observing the people coming in and out of the hotel.
According to the hotel's front desk, the occupancy rate of the Pripyat Hotel was now more than half. Most of the guests were traveling or on business. There were also a small number of foreign guests who came to admire the modern Atomic City.
It could be seen that the guests were a little worried about the current situation. Some were already considering leaving early, but some decided to stay.
At around 10: 15, Zhang Heng saw a group of people walking in from outside. There were more than twenty of them, and each of them was dressed in suits and leather shoes. Some of them were even in military uniforms. They were escorting a short but vigorous man into the hotel.
The waiter quickly went up to greet them when he saw them, but he was interrupted by the short man in the middle before he could say anything. He waved his hand impatiently, and the waiter immediately became silent. He did not dare to say anything, and he quickly led them to the restaurant on the side.
The chef seemed to have been notified in advance and had already prepared the meal. However, the temperature had dropped for some time, and the most important thing was that a lot of radiation dust had fallen on the table. The group of people, however, did not seem to notice this. They each took their own food, found a place to sit, and began wolfing down the food. There was almost no conversation throughout the whole process. It was obvious that they were worried, and many of them looked tired.
Zhang Heng knew that he had finally found the right person.
Although he had not seen the committee members before, judging from the way they dressed and behaved, they could hardly be anyone other than the committee members and experts who had just arrived at Pripyat. The short man in the middle was probably the chairman of the accident committee, Shelbina.
According to Brekhanov, this little man was a serious and old-fashioned man with a strong sense of control. There was no room for bargaining when he gave an order. This was why Brekhanov was so afraid of him. Until now, the director of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant still insisted that the water tank exploded.
However, the experts who arrived first had already realized how serious the situation was. After dinner, they split up. Shelbina and two other experts took the elevator, while the rest did not return to their rooms. Instead, they turned around and left the hotel.
Zhang Heng hesitated for half a second, then stood up from his seat and followed the Shelbina with the newspaper.
If Zhang Heng's guess was right, the people who left would go back to work, and Shelbina and the other two would take a break. When they entered the elevator, Zhang Heng saw Shelbina press the button for the top floor.
After that, Zhang Heng chose the floor below. When the elevator arrived, Zhang Heng left the elevator with the newspaper in his hand. He took three steps to make sure that the people in the elevator could no longer see him. After that, he sped up and ran to the safety passage, going up the stairs to the top floor of the hotel.
Zhang Heng looked in the direction of the corridor and saw Shelbina and the other two walking out of the building. However, they did not go to any of the rooms. Instead, they went up the fire escape to the rooftop of the hotel, where a helicopter was waiting for them.
Although Shelbina had been persuaded by the experts at the previous meeting and agreed to evacuate the building, he still wanted to go to the site to see the reactor's condition for himself.
Zhang Heng did not expect that the committee would only have a quick dinner after returning to the hotel. They did not even return to their rooms to rest. However, Zhang Heng was not in a hurry. He knew that those people would come back to sleep sooner or later, and they had gotten their room keys when they had dinner. He then asked the waiter to transport their carry-on luggage to their rooms. In other words, he could find Kong Weitz's room from the waiter.
So Zhang Heng went to Coconut's room, ready to ask her to continue translating and discuss with Besonova how to get the room number. He did not expect to knock on the door, but there was no response.
Zhang Heng frowned. Among the players, only Coconut and the repairman lived alone. He could not rule out the possibility that she was sleeping and did not hear the knock on the door. So, Zhang Heng increased the force of his knock. However, the door next door opened first, and the repairman poked his head out and asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's no movement in Coconut's room," Zhang Heng said.
"What a troublesome woman. Should I ask Zhansu to open the door?" the repairman muttered. He had a deep impression of Zhansu's lively and energetic iron wire.
"No, this kind of lock is very simple. I can open it too," Zhang Heng said. He had checked the door lock as soon as he checked it, and it was a piece of cake for him to unlock it now. However, before he entered the room, Zhang Heng shouted, "We are coming in."
After that, he pushed the door open. As soon as he stepped in, he smelled the sour stench of vomit.
After that, Zhang Heng took out a mask and put it on. When he walked into the room, he saw Coconut lying on the ground. Her entire face was now red. Zhang Heng touched her forehead and found that it was shockingly hot. She must have a high fever, and the fever must have knocked her out. Perhaps she was lucky that she didn't eat much before this, which saved her from choking on her own vomit and suffocating her.
Zhang Heng looked back at the repairman, who was stunned. "What are you waiting for? Go and get the doctor."
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