On the other side of the city—
Zhe strode quickly through the hidden door inside his bedroom wardrobe and stepped into the secret base concealed beyond it. Zero was already waiting there, remotely controlling the Code Zero-Eroder.
"Zero, you saw last night's dream and this morning's news, right?"
[This is proving more troublesome than we expected.] Zero's electronic voice carried an unusual heaviness. [Miss Zhu Yuan is undoubtedly the 'dream host' of this nightmare.]
The large screen in the room switched to the morning news footage, along with a relationship map centered on Zhu Yuan.
"We have to stop the Nightmare from detonating the bomb inside the dream." Zhe stared at the wreckage of the exploded train on the screen. "We were lucky this time, because the train was empty. If it had happened during normal operation hours..."
[Then the real train in reality would have exploded at the same time,] Zero finished for him. [But that is not the Nightmare's true objective.]
Zhe fell silent in thought.
That was true. With the mental resilience Zhu Yuan had forged through years of service in the Public Security Bureau, an ordinary casualty incident would never be enough to make her collapse. She had long since learned how to remain professional and composed even in the face of tragedy.
"Then what exactly is the Nightmare plotting?" Zhe fixed his gaze on the image of Zhu Yuan's tightly clenched hands. "What kind of blow would it take to drive a strong Peace Officer into total despair?"
Zero pulled up Zhu Yuan's file. The family-relations section was specially highlighted. Next to her parents' names was a dense record of calls—almost all of them missed calls or very short conversations.
[Everyone has a weakness they cannot bear to have touched,] Zero said, his voice lowering. [And in Zhu Yuan's case, that weakness has long been painfully obvious.]
Zhe's head snapped up, and his eyes met Zero's virtual gaze.
Both of them landed on the same terrifying possibility at the exact same moment.
"If, in the next dream, the people sitting on that real train are..."
[Her parents.]
The base fell silent.
Only the hum of the machines vibrated through the air.
If that guess was correct, then the Nightmare had already found the cruelest possible way to strike—not by destroying the city Zhu Yuan had sworn to protect, but by destroying the softest, most vulnerable thing in her heart.
"We have to move faster." Zhe turned and walked toward the capsule machine lining the wall. He spun the handle, and when a brand-new capsule glowing with a pale red sheen rolled into his palm, his expression became resolute. "Before the Nightmare turns this dream into a reality we can't undo."
Just then, Zhe's phone rang—
it was his sister, Belle.
"Brother, can you come downstairs for a moment?" Belle's voice sounded tense. "There are two Peace Officers here to see you."
Zhe's heart tightened.
Peace Officers?
Did that mean Zhu Yuan?
Had she noticed something in last night's dream?
[Proceed carefully,] Zero warned in a low electronic voice. [Do not expose the base or my existence.]
Zhe quickly composed his expression, restored the wardrobe door to its normal state, grabbed a coat and threw it over his shoulders, deliberately ruffling his hair to make himself look a little messy.
By the time he came downstairs, he was once again the harmless-looking owner of a video store.
At the first-floor counter, Belle was nervously twisting her fingers together. Opposite her stood Qingyi and Zhu Yuan side by side, their Peace Officer uniforms standing out sharply beneath the warm light inside the shop.
"Hello, ladies. I'm the owner of this store." He put on an appropriately puzzled expression. "Is there something I can help you with?"
Qingyi slightly tilted her head toward the person beside her.
"Is it him, Zhu Yuan?"
Zhu Yuan let her gaze rest on Zhe's face for a long moment.
This casually dressed young man with his gentle smile looked worlds apart from the elegant, confident agent from her dream. And yet, there was still something in the depth of those eyes—that faint, hidden sharpness—that made her unable to dismiss the possibility outright.
"Yes, Senior," she said softly, though her gaze never left his face. He did not look like the man in the dream, and yet for some reason that gentle expression still made her heart beat just a little faster.
Qingyi gave a small nod of understanding, then turned back to Zhe with a professional smile.
"Hello, shop owner. We're investigating a case, and we'd like to ask for your cooperation in answering a few questions."
Beside them, Belle had become so tense that she was nearly holding her breath. As one half of the secretive Phaethon, she had always felt uneasy about New Eridu's prohibition against the Proxy profession. Now, sitting face-to-face with two real Peace Officers, she felt like she was perched on a bed of needles.
Without drawing attention to it, Zhe stepped half a pace forward, subtly shielding his sister behind him.
"Of course. I'm happy to cooperate. But it might not be very convenient to talk here. Why don't we sit over in the guest area?"
He gestured invitingly, his eyes meeting Zhu Yuan's probing stare without flinching.
What looked like an ordinary interview on the surface was, in truth, full of hidden tension.
Qingyi opened her notebook and began in an even tone.
"Please state your name and some basic information."
"My name is Zhe. I currently live with my younger sister, Belle, and we make our living by running this video store." Zhe answered naturally, though beneath the counter his fingers were tightening.
"And what were you doing last night?" Zhu Yuan asked immediately after, her eyes sharp as ever.
"I was in my room. After finishing a replay of Miss Jiayin's concert, I went straight to bed." Zhe wore a perfectly timed look of confusion. "Did something happen?"
When the questioning turned to the C19 train explosion, he shook his head and said he knew nothing about it.
"I've been sorting through a new shipment of videotapes these past few days, so I haven't really been paying much attention to the news."
"How much do you know about 'Nightmares'?" Qingyi suddenly cut straight to the crucial point.
Zhe lifted his glass and took a small sip of water.
"After the last incident, I looked into them a little. Just thinking that such terrifying monsters exist at all is enough to make anyone uneasy. If something like that happens again, I suppose we'll have to rely on officers like you to protect New Eridu."
Zhu Yuan suddenly leaned forward slightly.
"Shop owner, what kind of person do you think a Nightmare would choose as its target?"
"Well..." Zhe pretended to think it over. "Someone with deep attachments, maybe?"
Belle cut in at exactly the right moment, her voice full of the sort of contempt only a little sister could manage.
"My brother doesn't even go to the gym. Last time he moved a few boxes of tapes, he threw out his back. Why would a Nightmare ever target a weakling like him? There's no way he has anything to do with this."
Qingyi glanced thoughtfully at Zhe's rather slender frame, then closed her notebook.
"Thank you for your cooperation. If you hear anything regarding Nightmares, please contact the Public Security Bureau immediately."
After the two Peace Officers left, Zhe dropped onto the sofa and let out a long breath.
Belle leaned close and whispered, "Bro, your back was soaked through just now."
Outside, Zhu Yuan cast one last glance at the sign for the video store and murmured quietly to Qingyi,
"When he talked about Nightmare targets, he said 'attachment,' not 'fear'..."
Qingyi nodded.
"Yes. That stood out to me too."
The two of them gradually disappeared around the corner of Sixth Street.
Inside the shop, Zhe wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He had gotten through that round of probing for now—but he knew perfectly well that he had not erased their suspicions.
Far from the noise and bustle of New Eridu, in an old district, Zhu Yuan's parents were busily packing in the living room of an ivy-covered old house.
Her mother carefully packed dried medicinal herbs into cloth bags, while her father checked the train tickets again and again. Sunlight filtered through lace curtains, laying a soft glow across their graying hair.
"Shouldn't we call Xiao Yuan first, if we're going over so suddenly?" her mother asked, smoothing out a folded sweater, her voice carrying a trace of hesitation.
Her father gently shook his head and tucked another jar of pickled vegetables—his daughter's favorite—into the suitcase.
"You know what that child is like. If we tell her in advance, she'll definitely say, 'Don't come, I'm fine.'" His voice carried endless concern. "But that phone call this morning... her voice was shaking."
The mother's eyes reddened slightly. She turned toward the kitchen and came back carrying a bamboo cage containing an old hen they had just bought at the market the day before.
"We'll take this too. I'll make soup for her, let her build her strength back up. That child is all alone in New Eridu—she's definitely been throwing herself into work again and not eating properly..."
Her father took the cage, and the two shared a quiet smile.
That smile was full of the same unchanged love and worry they had carried for their daughter for more than twenty years.
What they did not know was that this sudden visit would become the key that set everything off.
As the two elderly parents, burdened with bags and bundles, boarded the A03 train bound for New Eridu, the gears of fate had already begun to turn in silence.
And in the shadows beyond their sight, the embers of the nightmare were beginning to burn again.
This time, the final act so carefully prepared by the Nightmare had at last received its most important players.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
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