48 Hours a Day

Zhang Heng was looking for something with a flashlight. For reasons unknown, a cloud of mist mysteriously appeared on the river surface, blurring Zhang Heng’s vision. It prompted him to instantly pull out his Filter Lens from his pocket.

However, the reliable Filter Lens that had offered so much help to Zhang Heng in his previous quests had unexpectedly failed this time.

In other words, he couldn’t see through this thick fog.

After realizing the threats he might be facing, he backed up and walked towards his car. When he looked up, he saw a group of densely packed “people” standing on the embankment. They were bowing their heads together and grinning at him with silent smiles, smiling as if they were looking at food on a plate.

At that time, Zhang Heng opened his eyes and saw the alarm clock on the table. The time was 00:36. Two hours ago, he finished copying his homework and lay on a chair to take a break. Unexpectedly, he instantly fell asleep and dreamt of getting surrounded by those things.

Maybe the dream was due to Bai Qing talking about her family that noon. Zhang Heng began to realize that those things might have infiltrated human society deeper than he thought. If left unresolved, they might secretly take control of the entire society after a while. And in the end, the entire human race would be wiped out. Fortunately, it was something that only happened in this quest. Zhang Heng got up, went to the bathroom to wash his face, and brushed his teeth. Initially, he planned to head to the river again tonight. Due to the nightmare, however, he hesitated and gave up on the idea. He had searched the river continuously for two nights without any gains, and it was time to consider changing the direction of his investigation. Besides, he had to look for a way to earn more money. If he relied on his grandpa’s weekly pocket money, Bai Qing might have to buy him a burger again next time. In this modern society, money could solve most issues, and with sufficient funds, Zhang Heng could quickly speed up the investigation.

In this quest, Zhang Heng was given a chance to relive his past life. Zhang Heng then started to think about how a ‘time traveler’ like him could make more money. It turned out that the tricks commonly used in novels and movies didn’t work on him, and he could forget about buying lottery tickets since he had never paid attention to such matters. And he had neither the energy nor the time to start a business. It was the same for buying stocks. Even if Zhang Heng remembered the market trend, he would need a lot of patience and enough capital to start-up.

After looking around, Zhang Heng realized that he could only return to what he did best.

He changed into a set of clothes he rarely wore and borrowed his grandpa’s car again.

Zhang Heng was cautious when he drove out late at night. When he returned, he had to park the car back at its original position and carefully arrange the cushions and footpads. There was also a need to clean up the mud that he brought into the car. One thing, though, consumption of fuel was the only problem that he could not solve.

His grandfather might not notice it if he only drove out one or two times. Over time, however, the latter would definitely find an abnormality in the fuel gauge. If Zhang Heng had enough money, he could have easily solved this problem, where all he needed to do was buy two cans of gasoline and refuel the car every time he was done with it.

Zhang Heng drove the Volkswagen to the overpass, the continued southward until he arrived at a new district.

It could be considered a new district on the surface, but in reality, it was actually a ghost town. The new city’s mayor announced with great pride that he wanted to turn it into an Oriental Manhattan, but just when work started on the grand blueprint, he was transferred away by his higher-ups. For some reason, the new mayor had lost all intention to continue with the grand project. Hence, the new district was vacant; its occupancy rate very low.

Zhang Heng could feel that once he got off the overpass. Almost no other vehicles were nearby, and the high-rise apartments surrounded by residential areas were devoid of light. He slowed down the car.

According to the description in the news, he finally found his target after circling the area halfway. As compared to other deserted areas, this street was actually quite lively. It was now midnight, but many still gathered around the area. There were also no fewer than ten customized luxury cars parked there. Zhang Heng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the scene. What he worried most was that this group of people never appeared in this dungeon or that they did not come out to party tonight.

These were the members of a car modification club, its members mostly consisting of wealthy businessmen’s children. When the abundance of material pleasure could no longer satisfy their lust, they naturally turned to the pursuit of excitement.

Every week, they would gather at this spot to drag race. This had been going on for a year and a half. During this period, some had gone overseas to study, and some quit due to a deteriorating financial situation for their families. Fresh blood constantly joined the exclusive club reserved for society’s upper echelons.

Since very few lived in this new settlement, and because of some families’ ties to the authorities, no one cared about them until two of them got into a car accident. During the race, a Porsche and a Mercedes rammed each other, the collision so bad that it caused the Porsche driver’s death. The whole thing was exposed after that.

Zhang Heng was not too bothered by the news. After all, it was their own people who died in the end, and they did not hurt passers-by. Moreover, they chose to race in a new, sparsely populated township. In other words, whatever they were doing wasn’t considered a nuisance. Compared to some who made a racket on the streets, these were a much better lot. Despite all that, street racing was still an illegal endeavor.

They became nervous when they saw a Volkswagen appearing on the other side of the street.

One guy who looked very young, probably the most arrogant among them, said to Zhang Heng, “What are you looking at? Get lost now!”

Although the others did not say anything about Zhang Heng, it was obvious that they wanted him to get lost as well. Instead of leaving, Zhang Heng stopped the Volkswagen next to them. As the windows wound down, the crowd saw the person in the driver’s seat.

They were surprised to see that the driver was a millennial. Zhang Heng was no stranger to such a situation. Although everyone was giving him hostile stares, he showed no fear like an ordinary man would, asking instead, “Drag racing?” “It’s none of your business,” snapped a young man who was sitting on his Porsche 911’s hood while puffing a cigarette. He was the only racer tonight that came without a female companion and seemed to be the group leader.

“It’s boring to race among yourselves. Let me join in,” Zhang Heng said. The moment Zhang Heng said that, everyone started to laugh at him.

One of the girls who wore a cap and a plaid suspender dress laughed the loudest. Laughing and clutching her belly at the same time, she almost burst into tears. “You’re a funny one, aren’t you? Are you planning to race with this piece of junk?”