Xiao Daidzhao

Growing up with eccentric materialistic parents who left him in the care of his grandfather for a job overseas, Zhang Heng had learned to adapt and be unfettered by the oddities and challenges in life. But he would soon learn the baffling truth about the world he thought he knew when one day at midnight time froze and he found himself in a world so quiet and still it was deafening. That night, he discovered that he had 24 hours more than everybody else and thus, marked the beginning of his adventures. The mysteries surrounding his newfound ability only deepened when a strange old man claimed to have given Zhang Heng that ‘gift of time’ and recruited the young man to participate in a cryptic ‘life-changing’ game on his behalf. Little did Zhang Heng know that accepting those terms meant embroiling himself in many versions of reality and exposing himself to the hidden secrets of the world—a decision he could never undo.

48 Hours a Day

A tall, thin man with grizzled hair sat on the third bed in the ward.

He had his back to the door and was looking out the window at a pine tree. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but when the head nurse called his name, he paused for a few seconds before slowly turning his head around.

This was also the first time Zhang Heng had seen Katarov (he had only glanced at him from the corridor outside the ward.) This was a name that would be inescapable once Chernobyl was mentioned in the future, with many news editorials regarding him as the first person responsible for the accident at the nuclear power plant. In those articles, he was described as an arrogant, greedy, and stupid leader.

However, Zhang Heng could not see much from Katarov for the time being. The man in front of him had a well-defined face, deep-set eyes, and a dull gaze.

Deputy Chief Engineer