48 Hours a Day

At that moment, the room became exceptionally quiet.

Everyone knew all too well that tonight’s mission was a gamble. Scherbina was their last hope of completing the main mission.

If there were no results even after they investigated him, they could still choose to leave Pripyat and wait for the official investigation.

However, considering everyone’s current physical condition, only Zhang Heng, who was in the best shape, could still wait until then. Thus, for the other three players, tonight’s actions would be equivalent to the final verdict.

Probably because no one had spoken for too long, Mouse could not stand the silence, and he took the initiative to start the conversation. “I wonder how Coconut is doing now.”

It would be all fine if he didn’t speak, but when he opened his mouth, the atmosphere became even more solemn.

After a moment, the youth in the uniform waved his arm that was almost unable to be raised. “Good question. I’ll help you take a look after I go in too.”

“…”

“Sorry, I’m just a little nervous,” Mouse apologized.

“Who isn’t? I feel like I’m now back to the day of the college entrance exam.”

“This dungeon is too strange,” Mouse said. “I’ve never encountered a dungeon with such a vague main storyline quest. It’s like…”

“It’s like the dungeon’s designer deliberately doesn’t want the players to find the answer,” Master Kui said.

“Is that really okay? I feel like the difficulty of this dungeon is far higher than that of a normal dungeon,” the youth in the uniform frowned.

“There’s no need to feel anything. I just participated in the proxy war dungeon.” Master Kui’s eyes flashed. “I can very responsibly say that the difficulty of this dungeon has far surpassed the proxy war dungeon.”

“Is there a bug in the game?” Mouse asked. “But it seems that up until now, no player has encountered any bugs.”

“Whether it’s a bug or not, we have no choice now. We only have the path of completing the mission,” Master Kui said. After saying that, she looked at the watch on the wall. The time was now 11:37 pm.

When they arrived at Pripyat Hotel, it should be almost midnight. Scherbina should have returned to his room, which meant that they could start to move.

“Bring your things. If everything goes well, we probably won’t have to come back,” Master Kui said.

“Even if it doesn’t go well, we probably won’t have to come back too.” The uniformed boy still maintained the attitude of making the best out of a bad situation.

“I’ll put the rest of the food and water into the traveling bag by the wall,” Mouse reminded.

“I’ll take it,” Zhang Heng said lightly. He was the only one in good health among the four of them. The young man’s arms, Mouse’s legs, and even Master Kui had vomited a few times not too long ago; therefore, the task of moving things fell to Zhang Heng.

“You guys go downstairs first. I’ll be right behind you,” Zhang Heng said.

Five minutes later, the four of them gathered in front of the Volga. Zhang Heng threw the bag and his Pestilence Bone Bow into the trunk. Then, he sat in the driver’s seat and started the car, the seal hanging on the rearview mirror swaying along with it.

Then, Zhang Heng drove the car onto the road.

During the day, the entire Pripyat looked empty and desolate, but at night, the loneliness became even more apparent. All the buildings were pitch black, and there was almost no light on the streets except for the headlights. In addition, it was a moonless night, so everyone’s line of sight was limited to the headlights.

This feeling was very similar to a horror movie where they were sweeping around with a flashlight, not knowing what would appear in front of them in the next moment.

They did not know if it was to fulfill the players’ ominous premonition, but then they saw something really appear in front of the headlights.

It was a white mare with not a single hair on its body. It was as beautiful as a statue, standing quietly in the middle of the road with its neck raised.

No one knew when it appeared there. When they found it, the car was less than 10 meters away from the white mare. It was already too late to step on the brakes. The Volga was about to hit the white mare, and what awaited them was the destruction of the car.

Mouse, in the passenger seat, had his eyes go from shock to confusion to fear. He reached out to prepare for the impact, but the expression on Zhang Heng’s face did not change.

He did not slow down immediately. As if he did not see the white mare in front of him, he turned the steering, and at the same time, waiting for an opportunity to pull the handbrake. He held the rear wheel tightly to reduce the lateral grip of the car.

The Volga’s body drew an arc, almost brushing past the white mare’s body. In the end, it came to a safe stop on the road ahead.

When Zhang Heng got out of the car and turned on the flashlight, he saw that the white mare had disappeared just like last time.

“Is… is that thing a horse?” Mouse asked, still in shock.

“That’s right, but I’ve never seen a horse like that before. It’s looking at us like it’s a human,” Master Kui said.

“Think that horse is the god behind this dungeon?” The boy asked. “Is it a horse god? But why would it appear in the Chernobyl dungeon to protest against human destruction of the environment? It’s quite environmentally friendly.”

While everyone was discussing the scene before them, Zhang Heng had already returned to the car. He did not say anything. He just switched off the flashlight and started the car again.

After he drove the Volga back on the road, the other three people’s expressions became a little strange.

“Uh… Don’t you want to say something?”

“Say what?” Zhang Heng asked.

“That horse, that’s a supernatural phenomenon, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it should be. A normal horse wouldn’t appear and leave so suddenly, and it didn’t react much when we were about to hit it. This isn’t in line with biological instincts.”

Mouse really wanted to say, “You don’t fit with biological instincts either.” Then, when they were about to hit, he glanced at Zhang Heng and realized that the latter’s expression was almost as calm as the horse’s. However, he held himself back in the end and said, “Don’t you think that the horse’s appearance might mean something?”

Zhang Heng shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, but since it can appear in front of us when we’re completely unaware, then we won’t be able to find it when it doesn’t want to appear in front of us.”

“Hmm, I just think that it might be related to the main storyline mission that we haven’t made any progress on yet.”

“That’s not ruled out,” Zhang Heng said with a nod.

“So…”

“I can promise you that even if we turn back now and do a thorough search, you won’t be able to find any trace of the white horse.”