[Zhe, we've confirmed it—Miss Zhu Yuan's parents have boarded the A03 train. Departure is at 12:00 noon.]
Zero's electronic voice came coldly through the communicator screen.
Zhe stared at the flashing timetable on the display, his fist tightening on its own.
If the Nightmare intended to act, this would be the perfect moment.
[Your mission: stop Bomb Nightmare and prevent any train from exploding.]
"Understood."
Zhe returned to his room and lay down on the bed.
"Mission commencing."
[Good luck.]
At noon, sunlight filtered through the windows of the Public Security Bureau, casting shifting patterns across Zhu Yuan's exhausted face. A whole morning of investigation had yielded nothing. The files in front of her had piled up into a small mountain.
"It's lunch break. Get some rest." Qingyi placed a warm cup of calming tea at her side. "Sometimes stopping for a moment is the only way to move forward properly."
Zhu Yuan nodded gratefully. Wrapped in the drifting aroma of the tea and overcome by heavy drowsiness, she finally allowed herself to sink into sleep.
The dream came over her like a tide.
When Zhu Yuan opened her eyes, she found herself standing on a vast, empty platform. On either side, two trains stood waiting in silence: A03 and Z01. Their metal bodies reflected the dream's strange light, gleaming with an unreal sheen.
As Zhu Yuan scanned her surroundings, trying to understand what was happening—
"Hey, hey, can you hear me?"
The distorted voice of the Nightmare came through the station broadcast.
Zhu Yuan drew her gun instantly. "Nightmare! Where are you?!"
"Don't be so tense. Today we're not playing hide-and-seek." Its laughter echoed across the platform. "I'm only here to continue the little game we didn't finish last night."
Zhu Yuan tightened her grip on her weapon. "Last night's dream—and the C19 train explosion this morning. That was all your doing, wasn't it?"
"Correct." Bomb Nightmare lowered its voice dramatically. "And as a reward, I'll let you in on a little secret—explosions in dreams happen in reality too. It's daytime now. If I blow up a train, what do you think will happen to the passengers on board?"
A chill crept up Zhu Yuan's spine.
"Today's rules are very simple," the Nightmare announced cheerfully. "There's a train on your left, and another on your right. In a moment, they'll both depart at the same time. I've planted a bomb in each driver's cabin. Of course, defusing bombs should be child's play for an experienced Peace Officer like you, so I've linked them together. Defuse one, and the other detonates instantly."
"You bastard!"
"Why, thank you." The Nightmare sounded delighted. "And here's an extra bit of information: the Z01 train in reality is packed with passengers. Quite a few VIPs and dignitaries among them. As for A03..." It gave a soft laugh. "There aren't even half as many people on that one. Such an easy multiple-choice question. I'm sure you know which answer a proper Peace Officer ought to choose."
Zhu Yuan's heart sank heavily.
As a Peace Officer, she was supposed to save the greater number. If a perfect resolution was impossible, then she was obligated to minimize casualties and preserve as many lives as she could.
"I don't believe you'd be kind enough to make the choice that easy," she said through clenched teeth.
"Ah, you saw through me." The Nightmare sounded almost impressed. "Then let me reveal the final grand twist. One last piece of information: your parents are currently on the A03 train. They're on their way to New Eridu to see you."
For an instant, time seemed to stop.
"You... you're lying." Zhu Yuan's voice trembled.
"Believe me or don't." The Nightmare's tone stayed light and playful. "But as a friendly reminder, you have thirty seconds left to decide."
The broadcast switched back to normal. A mechanical female voice began the countdown:
"A03 and Z01 trains are preparing to depart. Passengers, please remain seated and hold on. Any passengers not yet on board, please hurry—"
Zhu Yuan stood motionless.
To her left was the train carrying hundreds of people.
To her right was the train carrying her parents.
28...
The gun in her hand suddenly felt too heavy to lift.
At the far end of the platform, the station clock's second hand ticked forward.
26...
Which side was she supposed to choose?
Or rather—did she truly have the right to choose either one?
The air on the platform had gone still.
The hand holding her gun trembled ever so slightly—something that had never happened since she became a Peace Officer. In her left ear came the low hum of the A03 train's engine starting up. In her right ear, the faint murmur of conversation from the passengers aboard Z01. The two sounds tore through her mind like opposing blades.
(Choose the one with more people. That is the duty of a Peace Officer.)
A memory flashed before her eyes: her mother in an apron, standing in the kitchen, tending a pot of soup.
"Xiao Yuan, soup should be drunk while it's hot."
Those same hands had once gently soothed every scraped knee of her childhood.
(Save as many lives as possible. That's what you were taught at the academy.)
Then her father's face at her graduation ceremony, furtively wiping his tears.
The man who had always told people, My daughter is the finest Peace Officer there is, was now sitting on the train that might have to be sacrificed.
The countdown in the station broadcast struck her heart like hammer blows:
23...
Sweat slid down from her temples.
Her vision began to blur. Through the veil of tears, the trains on either side dissolved into streaks of color.
She remembered the day she took her oath upon graduating from the academy—her right hand pressed to the constitution, swearing to protect every citizen equally.
(But nowhere in that oath did it teach her how to choose between her parents and hundreds of strangers.)
"Passengers, please remain seated and hold on—"
The mechanical voice now sounded like the tolling of a funeral bell.
20...
Zhu Yuan's breathing became ragged. She tried to lift her gun toward one train or the other, but her arm felt as if it had been cast in lead. Her trained tactical mind screamed: Assess the option that minimizes total casualties! But another voice was sobbing: Those are your father and mother!
17...
Fragments of memory stabbed through her mind like shards of glass—her father carrying her to the hospital through the night when she burned with fever in middle school; her mother's reluctant smile when she sent her off to the academy; the countless times they had said over the phone, We just wanted to hear your voice...
(I'm a failure as a daughter.)
(I'm a derelict Peace Officer.)
The two voices exploded inside her skull.
Nausea surged through her. She nearly collapsed to her knees.
14...
The lights on the platform suddenly became unbearably harsh. Zhu Yuan saw her shadow split in two: one version of herself in uniform, aiming at Z01; the other in ordinary clothes, running desperately toward A03.
(Save Mom and Dad.)
(Save the passengers.)
(Save Mom and Dad.)
(Save the passengers.)
Her nails bit deep into her palms, until blood began to bead between her fingers.
The faces of every casualty from her entire career flashed before her eyes, only to stop—at the worried expressions her parents had worn during yesterday's phone call.
12...
"I'm sorry..." she heard herself whimper brokenly. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
9...
Her right hand slowly began to rise—
pointing toward A03.
But her left hand clamped down hard on her right wrist, so hard the knuckles turned white.
6...
Zhu Yuan moved.
She boarded one of the trains.
3...
At last, the tears broke free completely. Through her blurred vision, both train doors slid shut at the same time, like the lids of two coffins closing.
0...
"Departing—"
The cold electronic voice rang out like a death knell.
Both A03 and Z01 shuddered as their metal wheels began to turn.
And in that instant, every last trace of hesitation, struggle, and reason inside Zhu Yuan shattered.
"No—!!!"
Like a lioness driven mad, she hurled herself at the sealed train doors, only to watch helplessly as the other train accelerated away and vanished farther and farther from sight.
"Open! Open the door!!"
She pounded on the shut door until her knuckles bruised dark. Through the window, she thought she could see her mother sitting by the glass, and beside her, her father still holding the bamboo cage with the old hen inside.
"Dad—! Mom—!"
Her cries of utter despair were swallowed by the roar of the train.
Meanwhile, inside the A03 train's driver's cabin—
Bomb Nightmare lounged leisurely against the control panel. In its electronic eyes flickered multiple surveillance feeds: on the left, Zhu Yuan's collapse as she desperately tried to chase down A03; on the right, the unaware passengers in the real A03 train—some reading newspapers, some soothing children, some dozing lightly, and among them an elderly couple quietly worrying about their daughter.
"Perfect... absolutely perfect..." The Nightmare tapped the console with mechanical fingers, clearly delighted. "Miss Peace Officer, do you understand now? True despair isn't death—"
On one of the screens, Zhu Yuan finally gave out and dropped to her knees beside the train door, fingers still stretched helplessly toward the departing A03.
"—it is having the power to choose, only to realize that no matter what choice you make, you will lose everything you wanted to protect."
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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