Zhang Heng slowed down the car according to Vitas's instructions, and the gray Lada slowly drove past Sauk's house. Fortunately, what everyone was worried about didn't happen. The house was very quiet, and there was almost no movement.
Although it wasn't night yet, the sky was starting to darken. Zhang Heng looked at the window, and it was pitch black. The curtains were covering the inside of the house, and no one knew what the strange old woman named Sauk was doing inside.
Zhang Heng looked at the house for a while, and Snerena's voice came from behind, "Let's go. We should go back early for barbecue."
Zhang Heng nodded, retracted his gaze, and stepped on the accelerator. The car began to speed up, and the house on the hillside was left behind.
…
Zhang Heng and the receptionist stayed in the countryside for a total of two days. Other than hunting, the two also went fishing by the river.
Initially, Snerena wanted to show off in front of Zhang Heng. After all, hunting was a men's sport, and she used to fish with her grandfather when she was very young. So, she was pretty good at it.
However, she didn't expect that she couldn't beat Zhang Heng in fishing.
Zhang Heng seemed to have picked a place at random, threw the bait, and soon, a fish would bite the bait. After a whole morning, Snerena looked at the fish in Zhang Heng's bucket, and then looked at the fish in her bucket. The Kiev meat pie prepared by her grandmother in her hand instantly lost its taste.
"This is so unfair," Snerena threw away the fishing rod and protested. "You can learn the language so fast, but why are you so good at hunting and fishing as well?"
"There's no trick. I just practice a lot." Zhang Heng picked up the fishing rod, took the newly caught fish from the hook, and put it into his wooden bucket. If his fishing skills weren't good enough, he would have starved to death on the island.
He had to admit that life in the countryside was very pleasant.
Other than the white mare he encountered by the stream, and the old woman named Sauk who lived alone in the west of the village, Zhang Heng didn't encounter anything strange.
Everything here seemed very beautiful. The people were simple and the air was fresh. It was no wonder that many residents of Pripyat were willing to go to the nearby villages to relax on weekends and holidays.
Unfortunately, in less than two years, this place would be contaminated by nuclear radiation and become desolate. Even the wild animals would be cleaned up by the militia as a mobile radiation source. It would not be until a few decades later that the animals would return here and settle down. The trees and vegetation would also grow back. Even some people who loved their homeland would ignore the warnings and secretly return here to settle down.
It was just that the radiation had been left on this land for a long time, like a curse.
Carrying the bread and sausages made by Snellana's grandmother, Zhang Heng and Snellana embarked on their return journey.
There were about four hundred days left in this parallel quest, and Zhang Heng had basically learned everything he could in the nuclear power plant. Because of his excellent skills and interpersonal skills, Zhang Heng even became the director of the steam turbine department.
After that, Brihanov also talked to him, hinting that after he accumulated three to five years of experience, he would promote him to the operations department as the deputy chief engineer. At that time, Zhang Heng would only be in his early thirties. This speed of progress could be said to be skyrocketing. He would also be the youngest deputy chief engineer in the history of the nuclear power plant.
However, Zhang Heng himself wasn't too interested in this appointment. He entered this parallel quest to find a solution to the main quest, not to play around and get promoted. The reason why he became the director of the steam turbine department was to become a senior executive of the nuclear power plant. This way, it would be easier for him to get access to some of the more important documents.
Now that his work in the nuclear power plant was basically completed, he naturally didn't care about getting promoted. According to Brihanov, the parallel quest had already ended, and he was no longer here.
So in the following days, Zhang Heng announced that he had become a salted fish. He still did his job well, but he didn't care much about other things.
The receptionist was pleasantly surprised to find that Zhang Heng seemed to have a lot more free time since he returned from the countryside. When the two had nothing to do, they would wander around the town, from shopping malls to restaurants, and even the newly built amusement park. Zhang Heng took her to visit them all.
And when it came to shopping, the receptionist found that she was no match for Zhang Heng at all. He often walked around the city for the whole day, even visiting the most remote places. Besides, Zhang Heng seemed to be particularly concerned about the city's construction. When he heard that a construction project had started, he would run over to check it out.
Snellana found it difficult to understand the innate passion men had for excavators. But overall, she was quite satisfied with her current life. Even though Zhang Heng had completed his language studies, he still paid Snellana's salary on time. This made Snellana a little embarrassed, so she took the initiative to buy groceries and do the housework.
Occasionally, she would see Zhang Heng standing in front of the window late at night, looking at the city beneath his feet. She had no idea what he was thinking.
Once Zhang Heng stopped deliberately calculating the time, time would fly by.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Heng had stayed in the parallel quest for 1,440th day. This morning, Snellana and her friends went to the stadium to watch the game, leaving Zhang Heng alone at home. He looked at the clock on the wall.
Then, he looked at the starfish in his hand. There was only one second left before it reached 24. Zhang Heng adjusted his breathing and lay on the sofa.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the hammock, and his body immediately felt weak.
It was the long-lost nuclear fatigue.
Zhang Heng knew that his physical condition had been reset to before he entered the parallel quest. The good news was that he now knew his current physical condition, including the timetable for its deterioration. The bad news was that he would have to experience the pain of his body being destroyed by nuclear radiation again.
Zhang Heng did not want to experience what he experienced in the ward again. Even if he could endure and deal with pain better than ordinary people, he could not be sure if the treatment this time would be as smooth as the last time. No, Zhang Heng was almost certain that it would not be as smooth as the last time. So, he needed to quickly clear this quest before his body deteriorated to the point where he could no longer move.
However, Zhang Heng knew that this would not be an easy task. Fortunately, after four years of parallel quests, he was prepared.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
