48 Hours a Day

“You’ve read Norse mythology, so you must know something about my deeds,” Loki said as he dodged Zhang Heng’s arrows, “I do like to cause trouble everywhere, so when the gods encounter a problem, their first reaction is to wonder if it was me. But after they’ve ruled out this possibility, they still come to me. Do you know why?”

Zhang Heng didn’t answer. He continued to draw his bow and shot two arrows at Loki. The latter snapped his fingers helplessly and dodged them again. At the same time, he answered his own question. “Because they know I can solve their problems. I helped Thor get his hammer back. Sifo lost her golden hair. I asked the dwarves to use gold to create more beautiful hair for her. They would be even more beautiful than her original hair. So, you see, I’m not always busy destroying things. I can solve problems, but only difficult questions others can’t solve…”

Before Loki could finish, he was forced to leave by Zhang Heng’s arrows.

“Hey, why do you keep shooting when you know you can’t hit me?” Loki was speechless. “Do you expect me to break my fingers accidentally when I snap them?”

Zhang Heng finally stopped what he was doing. In just two minutes, he had finished shooting three quivers. The high-intensity shooting made his arms a little sore, and he needed to rest for a while. But just as Loki said, none of the arrows hit the target. He had simply snapped his fingers and dodged all of them.

It looked like he was wasting his energy. It was as if he was doing it purely to disgust Loki. But Zhang Heng was not a boring person. He was actually trying to test Loki—his ability to teleport to save his life was too much of a bug.

If Zhang Heng wanted to kill Loki, he had to find a way to break his ability or find its limitations. The three arrows Zhang Heng used up weren’t completely useless; the good news was that Zhang Heng had already calculated that Loki’s maximum teleportation distance was around 20 meters based on his constantly changing position. This wasn’t too much of an exaggerated distance, and it would be difficult to lose him if he was in an open space. The bad news was that there didn’t seem to be a limit to how many times Loki could use this ability.

This meant that he could snap his fingers all the time and even do some Dan Brown exercises here if he wanted to. Other than that, Zhang Heng still had not figured out whether Loki’s teleportation ability was something he possessed or was he actually replying on some game item? If this was his original skill, Zhang Heng could think of no other way to kill Loki other than sneak attacks and large-scale AOE damage.

Furthermore, he had already made sneak attacks once at the Pripyat Hotel. With Loki’s cunning, it was almost impossible for him to give him a second chance. As for AOE damage… There was a ready-made opportunity right now because the engineers of the three nuclear power plants had not yet infiltrated reactor No. 4’s basement to open the drainage valve, and theoretically, they could destroy the basement roof and allow the radioactive magma to flow down. This would trigger a steam explosion.

According to the scientists’ estimates, an explosion of such magnitude could destroy entire Ukraine and Belarus, so destroying Pripyat, which was next to the nuclear power plant, was not a problem. However, if that happened, someone would have to sacrifice themselves. Unless absolutely necessary, Zhang Heng did not want to choose this path.

Furthermore, when Zhang Heng recalled how Loki was described in Norse mythology and Marvel Comics, he did not remember seeing his teleportation ability in them. Thus, Zhang Heng was more inclined to believe that Loki’s teleportation ability originated from a certain item. This could also explain why Loki could still use teleportation without scruples even after his strength was reduced by 60%.

Therefore, what Zhang Heng needed to do next was find this item, then think of a way to destroy or take it away from Loki. That way, Loki could only choose to face him head-on.

He took out two new quivers from his travel bag and replaced the emptied quivers. At the same time, he casually said, “What, are you planning to help me solve my problem?”

“Since I’m here to look for you, of course, I’ve thought about how to solve your problem,” Loki said slowly. A sly smile appeared on his face. “But not now.”

“Hmm?”

Loki removed a coin from his pocket and tossed it. Zhang Heng saw Lenin’s head on its front and the national emblem on its back as it gleamed in the sunlight.

“This contact is just a self-introduction and an initial exchange of intentions. I know you don’t believe what I say, so of course, you won’t accept any of my offers now. Even if this seems sincere enough an offer to me, you’ll probably still think that Loki is a bastard who only knows how to take advantage of the situation. So why don’t we wait a little longer? “When you’re at your wit’s end, and all options have been weighed, you’ll suddenly realize that the honest Loki is the kinder one.”

“How are you brazenly associating your name with the honest one?” Zhang Heng asked. He glanced at the coin in Loki’s hand before shifting his gaze away as if he hadn’t noticed it at all.

Loki continued tossing the coin in his hand, grinning as he said, “You think you’re smart enough to know who’s the enemy or friend, but it’s sometimes better to be a little less confident.”

After Loki tossed the coin again, Zhang Heng suddenly shot two more arrows without warning. This time, Loki didn’t snap his fingers. Instead, he contorted in a somewhat awkward angle, dodging an arrow while reaching out to grab another.

But before he could catch his breath, he saw a third arrow coming. This time around, Loki discovered that Zhang Heng’s target wasn’t him but the coin in the air.

The third arrow accurately hit the coin in the air and sent it flying. At the same time, Zhang Heng threw away the bone bow in his hand, pulled out the [Hidden Scabbard] on his waist, and charged at Loki.

A hint of panic appeared on Loki’s face. He never expected this to happen. He turned to run, but Zhang Heng was too fast, having He taken only one step when he felt a chill coming from behind. However, when he saw that he was about to die under Zhang Heng’s knife, the fear and panic on his face disappeared.

He grinned instead, snapped his fingers, and disappeared on the spot.