48 Hours a Day

00:04 pm.

Zhang Heng parked the Volga outside the entrance of the Pripyat Hotel. Other than the white mare that had appeared again, the group did not encounter any other strange incidents along the way and successfully arrived at their destination.

There were no security measures outside the hotel. Although many important people were inside, after Pripyat DW announced the evacuation, most of the chefs and service staff had boarded their cars and left, not to mention the guards and security guards.

In fact, even if there were still people there, they wouldn't be squatting on the streets to soak up the radiation. In addition, the entire city had been evacuated, and the only ones that remained were in charge of disaster relief. Thus, in the eyes of Scherbina and the others, their living quarters weren't in any danger.

However, tonight, Pripyat Hotel will be welcoming a group of uninvited guests.

Zhang Heng got out of the car, taking out the Pestilence Bone Bow from the trunk and slinging it over his back, followed by Master Kui and the young man in black. After that, Besnova held onto Mouse.

The five of them remained silent. They walked past the red carpet outside the door and entered the hotel lobby.

It was pitch black now, and there was no one around. Zhang Heng deliberately shone his flashlight at the front desk. The doctors and maintenance workers had already taken Svetlana away before they left. Even if she didn't leave, she wouldn't have remembered what had happened in the parallel dungeon.

Zhang Heng only took one look before turning away. He was about to continue forward when he suddenly stopped.

"What's Wrong?"Master Kui asked.

"There's something missing here."

"Something? What is it?"Mouse looked around, but he couldn't figure out what Zhang Heng was talking about, so he asked, "Could those people have taken it away when they left?"

"Impossible, that thing can't be taken with them."

Zhang Heng walked to the front desk as he spoke. He held the flashlight in front of his eyes and waved it inside. Soon, he found the target.

Then, he reached out and took out a phone receiver from behind the potted plant.

Mouse was still a little confused, but Master Kui and the young man changed their expressions when they saw this.

The earpiece was not attached to the base. In other words, if someone used a room's phone to call the front desk switchboard, then turned the switchboard's earpiece toward the outside, they could hear the commotion coming from the lobby.

"Looks like someone knew we're coming," Zhang Heng said calmly as he reattached the earpiece.

"Someone from the committee?" the uniformed teenager asked. "Is it because we've held Kovitz hostage before, so he was alerted?"

"Kovitz is just a technician. Even if he was alerted, he wouldn't be able to do that," Zhang Heng said. "For someone to be able to use the receiver to listen in, he has to possess investigative and anti-investigative abilities."

"Then who is targeting us?" Master Kui frowned. "Could it be that the people from that place are really here?"

Even though Master Kui didn't give a name, Zhang Heng and the others knew what she was talking about. The Soviet Intelligence Agency, better known as the KGB, was as famous as the CIA, MI6, and Mossad. Previously, Zhang Heng had used KGB's tiger flag to scare Bryuhanov and Dyatlov. Could the real KGB agents have really come to Chernobyl this time?

"If it's just to deal with us, isn't it making a big deal out of nothing?" Mouse asked hesitantly.

Even though the players weren't exactly law-abiding ever since they entered the dungeon—stealing, threatening, kidnapping., they had done it all—but so far, they had not caused too much commotion in the town. At most, it was a two-star bounty by GTA standards, so there was no reason for the KGB to take action.

"Since we can't figure it out, we might as well go up and take a look." Zhang Heng was still as calm as ever.

However, considering that their actions might have already been discovered by the higher-ups, Zhang Heng changed plans slightly. He split up with the other four and climbed up the third floor from the outer wall. After that, they would meet up at the entrance of the fire escape—if there was an ambush there, Zhang Heng would be able to kill them in advance.

After agreeing on the next step of their plan, Master Kui and the others waited for about two minutes before walking up the stairs. They didn't walk very fast, mainly because Mouse's thighs were swollen like carrots, and although he had Besnova's support and found a walking stick, he still walked with great difficulty.

If it wasn't for the fact that he still needed to be the interpreter, he would have been waiting in the car. And when he thought of the possibility that the legendary KGB was waiting for him above his head, Mouse became even more anxious. If the battle wasn't going well, he didn't know whether he would escape.

The four of them carefully explored the second floor with their flashlights. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any danger. Just as they wanted to continue climbing up, an accident happened.

Master Kui and the young man in the uniform had only taken two steps when they heard Mouse and Besnova behind them here breathing heavily.

The two of them turned around and saw a man tightly wrapped windbreaker and a hat. He held a TT-33 pistol in one hand and pointed it at Mouse's temple while his other covered Besnova's mouth. This stopped the latter from screaming.

The attacker should have been hiding behind the stairs on the second floor, and it wasn't until the four had passed him that he quietly jumped out and held two hostages.

When Master Kui saw this, she was about to ask the other party about his intentions when he unexpectedly spoke up. He said in a low and hoarse voice, "Don't speak loudly. It's me!"

Master Kui felt that the voice was a little familiar. Then, Mouse reacted first, exclaiming in joy and surprise.

"Doctor?!"

"That's right."

"Didn't you leave Pripyat? Why are you back? You're here. Where's the maintenance man? Is He back too?" the young man asked.

"He's in the hospital and didn't come back. In fact, if you see him, you'll know why he didn't come back," the Doctor said.

The Doctor put away the pistol in his hand and took off his hat as he spoke. When they saw the face under the hat, they couldn't help but gasp.

It couldn't even be called a face anymore because it had swelled to 1.5 times its normal size. Moreover, the skin had begun to fester, hanging on it one by one, as if it was severely burned.

It was only then that the others noticed that the Doctor's two hands were also wrapped in bandages. Obviously, his face wasn't the only part festering.

"Didn't you and the maintenance worker leave Pripyat? How did you end up like this?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask Simon about this." Anger and pain flashed in the doctor's eyes.