magic high school

Chapter 3: Chernobyl

Radiation, pollution, a headless monster carrying a lantern...

Chernobyl, military uniform, blood-stained Medal of Honor...

All the clues came together.

Li Ge admitted that there was an element of gambling involved, but at this moment, he made the right bet.

At the same time, he instantly understood why the headless man with the lantern was only chasing him and not anyone else.

Because it was truly a burst of extraordinary wisdom that led him to flee towards Chernobyl, while the others either fled towards the wilderness or along the edge of the city, he was the only one who charged straight towards Chernobyl.

The Lamplighter wasn't actually hunting him down; he was trying to stop him and drive him out of Cherokee!

Images formed in his mind: after the accident, countless people went against the flow into the radiation zone, trying to control the disaster; many of them never came out again. If their obsession remained on this land, they would have become monsters guarding it...

"I'm gradually understanding everything." Li Ge stood up, her eyes hardening. "Fatty, we might have misunderstood them."

"misunderstanding?"

"They probably don't want to kill us." Li Ge looked towards the building entrance. "They're driving us away from the danger zone. Because this is their home, they're protecting it, protecting outsiders, and keeping them away from the source of pollution."

The fat man paused for a few seconds, then suddenly realized: "So this thing chased you because you showed any intention of going deeper into the ruins? And when we escaped into the building... it was still warning us?"

"Yes, he may have been a great warrior in his lifetime, but he did not die at the hands of Sitler, but on this land instead." Li Ge looked at the medal for defending the country on his body and fell silent.

Fatty's way of thinking and his history are clearly from a different world than Li Ge's. Perhaps in Fatty's world, there was no Great Patriotic War or Chernobyl incident, so he always had some doubts about what Li Ge said.

He glanced at the futuristic-looking watch.

Current pollution level: 5%

Sure enough, once inside Chernobyl, the pollution levels rose significantly.

The lantern bearer seemed to make a few more sounds with difficulty, but this left Li Ge completely baffled, since his Russian was utterly broken, and he only knew the words "Sukabr" and "Davarishi".

"Fatty, what is Comrade saying?" Li Ge continued to ask, since he was the only one here who didn't understand Russian.

"He said, danger... leave..." the fat man immediately chimed in.

"Fatty, just say we're brothers from the International Brigade, here to help."

After the fat man translated Li Ge's words, the lantern bearer stopped driving Li Ge away in the next instant. He even seemed to be bowing his head, whether out of shame or pain, if he still had a head.

In 1986, the Soviet Union still possessed the last glories and honors of this Slavic giant. This was the end of its period of strength. At this time, the Soviet people still believed that they were the saviors of the world, the heroes who would lead all mankind to break free from the control of capital, and the big brother of the world.

Despite the fact that many problems had been exposed, the Soviets at that time still believed that they had the ability to overcome any difficulties, and they were not afraid of sacrifice. No matter how many sacrifices and difficulties there were, they believed that they could grit their teeth and get through them.

However, when Li Ge pretended to be a member of the International Brigades, the lantern bearer fell silent, and Li Ge could even see a trace of shame in his headless body.

However, he did not refuse this kindness. He slowly raised the hand holding the lantern and placed it on his chest, near his heart, while his other hand, which was holding a shovel, gently lifted and pointed in a certain direction.

That direction leads into the depths of the city.

"It's the direction of the pollution source."

Li Ge and the fat man exchanged a glance.

"Is he... giving us directions?" the fat man whispered.

Li Ge nodded, turned to the lantern bearer, and solemnly said, "Thank you."

He didn't respond, but simply turned and began to slowly walk down the corridor. After a few steps, he stopped, turned his body as if to glance at them, as if to say, "Follow me."

Li Ge followed without hesitation, and the fat man hesitated for a moment before chasing after him as well.

This is the bizarre Chernobyl. The so-called pollution is nuclear radiation, and the source of the pollution is the nuclear reactor. These twisted and grotesque monsters are actually Soviet soldiers who blocked the nuclear reaction. Even after they died, they continue to prevent outsiders from entering Chernobyl.

In reality, there was no danger in this world. Even if captured by these Soviet soldiers, at most they would just be knocked unconscious and thrown out of Chernobyl.

The greatest danger here is actually nuclear radiation.

They followed the lantern bearer through the ruins filled with radioactive dust. Along the way, they saw more monsters, some patrolling, some clearing rubble, and some simply standing quietly in front of the ruins, as if in remembrance.

Li Ge even saw a blood-soaked corpse whose skin seemed to have dissolved. He frantically swung his shovel, trying to shovel the soil into the passage. However, the passage had already collapsed, and the inside was like a bottomless abyss. It seemed that no matter how much soil he shoveled, he could not fill the abyss.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side, the female knight seemed to have reunited with the man in black robes. They hid in an abandoned high-rise building and looked towards the city center.

"That newsboy must be dead. I saw him get knocked unconscious and dragged away by a monster," said the female knight, still clad in heavy armor. Her armor glowed with the light of runes, so the weight of the armor seemed to have no effect on her movements.

"I saw it too. There are too many monsters here. Even though I didn't flee towards the city center, I still saw countless monsters covered in blood along the way," the man in black robes continued. From beginning to end, he seemed to have never shown his face, completely hiding himself in his black robes, which also seemed to be a magical artifact.

"As for the mission, we should only have 72 hours to survive. The watches the school gave us show the time." The man in black robes raised his watch and looked into the distance. "As for dealing with the source of the pollution, that's beyond our capabilities. And those monsters—how many do you think you can handle?"

"One at most, I can only handle one," the female knight said. "And that's only for a short time. These monsters are far stronger than I imagined."

She stretched out her hand, and on the exquisite and gorgeous armor, a part of the arm guard was strangely dented, clearly indicating that she had fought with the Lanternman and was almost killed along with his armor by a shovel.

Even this exquisite set of magical knight armor couldn't withstand a single shovel strike from the shovel-wielding warrior.

"I'm in a similar situation, so we can only hide. My family has passed down some walkthroughs. The school won't set tasks that are impossible to complete. There must be a way out in this world," he said. "I think as long as we can hide for 72 hours, we can leave smoothly and complete the entrance exam."

"I agree, for the glory of our ancestors," the female knight replied.

However, as they continued to look into the distance, their pupils suddenly contracted, because they saw Li Ge and the fat man, surrounded by what they perceived as "monsters," heading towards the other side of the city.

"This is... how is this possible!" the female knight exclaimed in surprise.

"That innocent yet foolish student, I don't know how he gained the trust of these monsters, actually wants to solve the source of pollution!" The man in black robes also looked in this direction with great surprise.