"Konrad Halstadt, and Captain Dmitry Bandera. The Hero of Kyiv in the flesh," Yuri greeted them with a firm handshake. "Who would have thought I'd get to see you one day?"
That last part was more to the Captain, of course, but he didn't envy his fame.
Konrad preferred to blend in, stay unseen, and be quiet anyway.
He also got used to seeing tall, menacing leaders and mountains of muscles, but this guy—
The leader of the Wolves was tiny.
Not to the same degree as Lily or Yuki-san, but way below five feet, even if he was generous with his estimate. Carrying his AK with the stock folded, it still looked huge in his arms.
"Sidorovich told us you'd be coming, but to think you'd kick some bandit ass before that?"
Yeah, that was a compliment—
But Konrad kept shuddering whenever someone brought it up.
"That's the Hero of Kyiv for ya," some of the men said, gathering around.
But of course, Dmitry had to make things worse.
"It was all him, Commander. I'd only pepper the corpses to make sure they stayed down."
Ugh. Why couldn't he take the compliment?
"Anyway," Konrad stepped up before they took it any further. "Did Sidorovich say anything else? Like, do you even know Strelok, or where he went? Or why did we have to talk to you?"
Not that it was difficult to get here.
At least, the route back from the rail depot to the Garbage was uneventful.
Walther escorted them halfway before turning back, but the distance wasn't great anyway.
And oh, boy, the name was sure fitting.
From what he understood, anything they used during the '86 evacuation got piled up here.
Military vehicles, buses, tools, and even the soil they removed from the immediate area.
They formed pyramid-like hills around a valley of vehicles.
And his eyes were already swimming from the strong radiation.
Rite of passage? This was more of a deathtrap.
"Of course, I know Strelok," Yuri scoffed. "Everyone here knows him. He's, like, our local hero."
And shoving his rifle onto his back, he pulled out a bottle of vodka from somewhere.
"And about where he went, well—he must be exploring the Zone deeper than any of us had ever gotten. We saw him, like, two to three weeks ago. Right, guys? But he was alone this time."
Huh. Right. Because Lily killed his only friends in Tokyo.
Sigh. If they celebrated them as heroes, he'd rather not share that info here.
"So that's it?" Konrad asked. "We already knew this much, to be honest."
The leader scoffed, offering him the bottle.
"But do you also know how to catch up with him?" he asked with a grin. "Anomalies and radiation are one thing. The center of the Zone has some other nasty surprises for you."
Even more than they had met so far?!
They already dealt with blind dogs and illusions, bandits, and—
"Here, drink it," the leader shoved the bottle against his chest after Konrad didn't take it right away. "It'll slow down radiation poisoning to a degree. You've no protection as far as I can tell."
"The vodka does?" He narrowed his brows.
Not that he was an expert on radiation, but it sounded like an alcoholic's dream placebo.
"At least you won't pass out that fast," Yuri nodded. "Take a swig, then pass it on to our military friend. After that, I recommend you find an anti-rad artifact before we get down to business."
Yeah. This place was far from ideal for holding a tea party or having a nice chat.
But since all those Stalkers seemed fine—
He counted a dozen. Most of them returned to search the nearby wrecks or patrolled the area.
Meaning, they must have all found a Sponge or a Crystal of their own by now.
"Fine," Konrad gave in, chugging some vodka and letting it scrape his throat on its way down.
It was stronger than he thought.
He couldn't stop his head from shaking, passing it on to Dmitry as fast as he could.
The Captain took it with a grin, looking a lot more experienced in dealing with strong booze.
"So," Konrad asked, feeling the alcohol warming him from the inside. "Any pointers where we could find one, or is this like a test? If we prove ourselves worthy, you'll finally talk, or what?"
Yuri watched both their reactions to the drink before taking his own turn.
Only then did he bother answering.
"I'm not testing you, kid. It's for your own good to survive. And as for where to find 'em? They like to appear on top of those hills for some reason. The Corporal found one there today."
He pointed at the closest garbage pile, and Konrad activated his search magic on instinct.
"Nothing's there," he blurted out before he could think. "I mean, I assume if he took one from that mound, it would be empty now, correct?"
Did the vodka hit him harder than expected?
The tiny leader grinned.
"Good thinking," he said. "Like a seasoned Stalker. But there's a lot of randomness to how they appear. That hill," he pointed at the furthest one, "never spawned anything so far. This one—"
He held up a Crystal, the same as he had seen at Sidorovich.
Konrad extended his search radius, checking the Crystal's signature as well.
"Hmm," he mumbled, feeling light-headed already. "What's the highest grade version of that?"
"I don't know," Yuri hollered. "But you sure are ambitious, kid. All we ever found were Sponges and Crystals. But if you believe Strelok, he found one that's even stronger. He called it Bubble."
"Bubble, huh?" Konrad nodded, staring at the garbage pile in the distance. "Bubble it is, then."
The leader chugged a little more vodka before his face turned serious.
"Didn't you hear me? We never found anything on that pile."
Huh? Right. He was already walking. He didn't even realize.
But, well, the others didn't share Konrad's senses, either.
He recognized plenty of Sponges nearby, most of them on the Stalkers walking around. He found the signature of two Crystals, too. But there was one, much stronger, on that last pile.
One that behaved like a true black hole, bending and sucking all the radiation towards itself.
"So, uh, do I climb that hill and pick it up?" Konrad asked, his steps becoming unsteady.
Come on, he only took a sip. But compared to that sake in Tokyo—
"Um, if you're close enough to decloak it, sure," Yuri noted. "But, like, you'd have to be almost touching it. Use a detector for the final approach—or you die before you reach the bottom."
"No need," he waved him off. "This'll be a piece of cake."
Except, untangling his guitar case, the AK, and the rest of his gear seemed much harder now.
He shoved them at Dmitry, stumbling twice in the process.
"I'll bring something for you too, mate, on my way back," Konrad offered, confident but slurring. "You hold my beer—I mean gear—until then, Captain Mister Hero of Whatever."
"Giving him booze might have been a bad idea," Dmitry noted, trying to steady him.
But the drunken Duke of Halaima had none of that.
"I'm fine. Braver than usual. But I'll be right back."
And once he took a confident step towards the pile furthest away—
He fell on his face.