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

Zhang Heng followed Vesta's instructions and slowed the car down. The gray Lada slowly rolled past Aunt Sauk's door. Fortunately, the thing that everyone was worried about didn't happen. The house was very quiet, and there was almost no movement.

Although it wasn't night yet, the sky had already started to darken. Zhang Heng looked in the direction of the window. It was pitch-black there, and the curtains were tightly drawn, covering the inside. No one knew what the weird old woman called Sauk was doing inside.

Zhang Heng took a look, and then he heard the voice of Svetlana behind him. "Let's go. We'll go back early to eat barbecue."

Zhang Heng nodded and looked away. Then he stepped on the accelerator, and the car started to speed up, leaving the hut on the hillside behind.

Zhang Heng and Svetlana, the receptionist, spent two days in the countryside. Other than hunting, they also went fishing by the river.

The Return Journey