Chapter 1176: White Mare

Zhang Heng changed his clothes, got off work from the power plant, and returned to his residence.

When he opened the door, he saw that the receptionist was busy killing some fish, preparing to make a Squirrel Mandarin dish. She had learned this dish from Zhang Heng. Of course, there was no Mandarin fish in Ukraine, so she could only replace it with other fish caught in the Pripyat River.

"How was work today?" the receptionist asked Zhang Heng in Ukrainian while scraping the fish scales.

"Well, it's still the same." Zhang Heng placed the paper bag in his hand on the table. "The pickles and jam you wanted. I got them for you on my way home from work."

"That's great! Just in time," the receptionist chirped happily.

When Zhang Heng bought the pickled cucumber, he unexpectedly gained another 2 points. Up until now, he had already gained 192 points in the parallel dungeon, and the skills that needed to be upgraded were almost all upgraded. As for the Chernobyl accident, even though Zhang Heng was not in the central control room at the time, with the conversation he had with the person involved, he could basically reconstruct the events of that night. However, the strange thing was that there was still no movement from the main storyline mission.

During this period, none of the system notifications Zhang Heng received had anything to do with finding the key person for the main mission. It was as if the system had completely forgotten about it.

"Are you resting tomorrow?" The receptionist poked her head out from the kitchen. "Can you drive me to my grandmother's house? They live in the countryside, so it's quite a distance from here."

"Okay," Zhang Heng said.

He had almost finished investigating the reactor, so there was nothing else he could do for the time being. Zhang Heng didn't mind being the receptionist chauffeur, and he thought of it as a way to relax in the countryside. At the same time, he also thanked the waitress for her hard work throughout this time.

The following day, the two of them woke up early. After breakfast, Zhang Heng drove the second-hand Lada to meet the grandparents of the pretty receptionist.

In fact, this area had been inhabited long before constructing the nuclear power plant and Pripyat.

More than 10,000 people lived in the central city of Chernobyl, while the remaining 40,000 people lived in various villages. At that time, the population density was very low, and not a single family could be seen for dozens of kilometers. The farmers in the vicinity mainly relied on farming for a living, but some hunters and fishermen were also there.

The gray Lada plodded along a muddy dirt road. The surroundings were filled with short pines. It was already winter, and it had just snowed heavily three days ago. There was still a lot of white snow on the pines, and the temperature had already dropped below zero. The air outside the window, however, was very fresh.

Unlike the town, everything here was still natural and primitive. The forest was filled with mud and moss, and Zhang Heng could see small animals foraging for food from time to time. Along the way, he saw two wild deer.

They didn't need to hibernate. By autumn, they had shed their thin coverings and changed into long coats of thick fur. In addition, they had accumulated enough fat under their skin to help them withstand the cold and harsh winter. Typically, these wild deer would hide in the depths of the forest, but perhaps the heavy snowfall made them bolder, causing them to run to the edge of the forest.

Zhang Heng got out of the car and washed his face with cold water when they passed a small stream. When he looked up, he saw that a mare had appeared across the creek.

Its fur was snow-white, without a trace of impurities. Its slender body and strong muscles were filled with power and elegance. If not for the lack of sharp horns on its head, it could have easily passed off as a unicorn from the legends.

The beautiful beast was standing quietly by the river, looking at Zhang Heng.

When the latter was about to stand up, the white mare raised its hooves and turned to run into the forest.

"Did you see it?"

Zhang Heng walked back to the car and asked the receptionist in the passenger seat. The latter was confused.

"What did you see?"

"That white horse? It was standing by the river just now."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I woke up too early this morning, so I'm still a little sleepy."The receptionist yawned. "I think I took a nap just now, but I didn't see anything. Is it a white horse? It's probably from a nearby village."

"It doesn't look like one. It should be a wild horse," Zhang Heng said.

"A wild horse? That's impossible. I grew up here, and since I was a kid, I've never seen any wild horses around here."The receptionist shook her head. "Perhaps you were mistaken?"

"It's possible."

Zhang Heng didn't bother to differentiate. He sat back in the driver's seat, started the car, and drove past the stream in front of him. When he washed his face, Zhang Heng took a look around. The water level here was very shallow, so he didn't have to worry about it flooding the intakes.

After crossing the river, Zhang Heng even took a look at the spot where the white mare had stood earlier. In the end, he realized that there were no hoofprints there. It was as if the previous scene had never happened before. The white mare had appeared and disappeared without a trace like a ghost.

Around 10:30 am, Zhang Heng and the receptionist arrived at their destination.

The latter's grandfather, grandmother, sister, and brother-in-law warmly welcomed them. At noon, they were served red cabbage soup and pork sausages. After lunch, the receptionist's brother-in-law proposed to go hunting in the forest.

"We can hunt rabbits and wild deer. That way, we can have barbecued meat for dinner," the receptionist's brother-in-law said. "By the way, Ivan, do you know how to use a gun?"

"What were you thinking? Svetlana said that Ivan works in a nuclear power plant and is cultured, but it doesn't matter. You can teach him when the time comes. Maybe he will like hunting too," Svetlana's sister said enthusiastically.

"We have to find a shotgun for Ivan."

"I remember my grandfather has a double-barrel shotgun," the receptionist said.

"That was the gun my father gave me. I used this in World War II fighting Germans. But about six years ago, I wasn't in such good health, and when I was repairing the roof, I stepped on a piece of broken wood and fell down, breaking my leg. After that, I put the gun away," the old man said. "But I take it out for maintenance every month. You can bring it with you if you want to go hunting. It probably misses the days when it was outside."

"Great, let's hurry up and leave now," Svetlana urged. When they returned to the place where she had lived in the countryside, the receptionist was also very excited. She had long abandoned the reserved atmosphere in the city and wanted to run out for some wild hooliganism right away.