48 Hours a Day

Zhang Heng put on his clothes and followed the doctor to where Ah Ji’s residence. When he opened the door, Ah Ji was sitting on the table with a small knife while trimming the tip of a cigar.

“Welcome! Friend of Finland! Freedom fighter! My yellow-skinned friend!” he exclaimed with his arms open.

Zhang Heng was invited to sit in front of Ah Ji. He had little contact with the guerilla commander for the past two months. The last time he walked into this cottage was during his first arrival. He still remembered that the commander left after speaking a few sentences, and Maji was the one who talked to him after that. Zhang Heng had no idea why the commander would want to talk to him now.

Ah Ji put his cigar aside and produced a bottle of vodka under his table. It had been confiscated from one of the Soviet troops with only half a bottle left. Maji then took out three glasses and filled them up.

“Actually, I want to thank you for what you have done for us. Thank you for everything that you have done for the past two months. During our darkest, most harrowing moments, you have graciously picked up arms, and fought by our side. I want you to know that you have helped us protect our country. It’s just too bad you’re not Finnish, or our country would have decorated you with medals.”

Zhang Heng simply nodded as he bottomed up the cup of vodka, allowing the commander to finish.

“You should know that the war is coming to an end soon. What do you plan to do when the war is over?”

Zhang Heng calculated that he had about a month left before the war ended. Right until now, he had accumulated a total of 23 points. These were all the result of spotting a guerilla base camp, killing an enemy, using a Molotov cocktail to destroy a tank, successfully killing a commander, and acquiring ten bullet-shaped lighters. Indeed, some of these milestones were a bit on the weird side.

Based on his primary mission, all he needed to do was to survive Finland for 20 days. Technically speaking, he wasn’t required to stay here any longer. If possible, Zhang Heng wanted to travel to England or America. These two countries were considered some of the safest countries to be in during World War II.

Although they did send throngs of troops to fight in other countries, their homelands were free from attacks. For Zhang Heng to be travel to these two countries, the guerilla commander had to first release him. Besides, the war was coming to an end. It was pointless keeping a foreigner here.

Zhang Heng had been telling everyone how much he wanted to return to his hometown but had never told anyone about his intentions of going to England or America.

The commander and Maji looked at each other, placing down their glasses at the same time.

“We pointed our guns at the same enemy. I’m going to be honest with you here. We will always believe in you no matter what happens since you are one of us. However, some of them do not think in the same way.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You were spotted by the soldier that provides our ammunition. They are worried you might leak out information about us to others.”

“For example?”

“For example, the way we deal with our war prisoners. You know… we do what we have to do. However, when such matters spread, I’m afraid it might affect us in a bad way. Considering that foreign affairs are negotiating with the Soviet Union, this is a very sensitive time. Such information must be top-secret, by hook or by crook,” answered Maji while taking over the cigar handed by the commander.

In a surprising turn of events, the commander then drew a pistol from his pocket and pointed at Zhang Heng!

Immediately, the atmosphere in the room tensed. After a short while, the commander put down the gun on the table.

“Good news is we know what kind of person you are. For me, I know in my heart that you will not leak such intel to others. What we are about to do next is going to be very simple. We just need to figure out a way to change the minds of those who distrust you.”

“What do you guys want me to do, huh? Assassinate Semyon Timoshenko?”

Zhang Heng’s steady control of his emotions managed to impress Maji and Ah Ji. Considering that a gun had just been pointed to him point-blank, they expected him to have an outburst by now.

He had contributed a lot to the guerilla base camp with Simone, undeniably presenting impeccable performance through the trenches of war. Right now, the commander had just turned on him, and Zhang Heng could still control his anger. His character was truly impressive.

In actual fact, Zhang Heng wasn’t as calm as he looked. He just realized that he had made a huge mistake.

It was not as simple as a video game. The moment he chose to become part of the guerilla force, he knew that no one would fully trust him, mainly because of his ethnicity and their inability to check his background. The guerilla team had simply made use of him to deal with the Soviets. However, during that critical period, he was forced to join a side to survive the war. Technically speaking, both sides were taking advantage of each other.

As the circumstances changed, the relationship between him and the guerilla troops changed as well. At first, he was needed by the base camp to defeat their enemies. Now, they had turned around and made him a threat. Deep inside his heart, he knew that they would not let him off the hook so easily even though helped in eliminating tons of enemies, also spending some good, quality time with them.

It seemed like everything had reached a moot point.

“Don’t worry. We are all reasonable folks. We will not send you to do a suicide mission. What I want you to do is fairly simple. Once you complete it, all debt between us will be no more. When that time comes, you are free to go wherever you want,” said Ah Ji.

Maji blew out a smoke circle; her eyes gave out a certain hesitation in her. After some time, Maji barged in.

“Did you know that the girl wasn’t originally called Simone?”

Zhang Heng frowned, having no idea why she would bring out Simone all of a sudden.

“The country is not in a critical state, but we will need a hero to unite everyone. We can wait for the hero to appear, or we can create on!.”

Maji’s expression was slightly weird. She looked like she was taunting him, but with respect.

“The real Simone came from a small town called Rautjarvi. No one cared about that place, and no one cares what he did there as well. All we know is that he’s just a farmer, and he would hunt occasionally. He is the most ordinary bloke that you will ever meet. That means you can alter his past to your liking!”