Night was black as ink, and the steel train screamed madly down the tracks.
Zhu Yuan steadied herself atop the violently rocking roof, the K22 Pacifier spitting out a curtain of blue rounds—yet every shot was blocked just before impact by the Nightmare's bizarre bomb defenses.
"You don't actually think stopping the trains from colliding means everything's fine now, do you?" the Nightmare's electronic voice crackled and warped in the night wind.
"What do you mean by that?" Zhu Yuan rolled to the side, barely dodging a string of suddenly incoming micro-bombs. Even so, her gun never stopped tracking the target.
"That," the Nightmare said with a shrill mechanical laugh, "is something our Peace Officer will have to think through herself. Because the real nightmare—only starts now!"
Before the words had even finished falling, a blinding red light erupted from beneath the roof plating.
The hidden bomb exploded.
The shockwave hurled Zhu Yuan hard off the outer side of the train. She reached out uselessly in midair as her body dropped toward the rapidly retreating tracks below.
"This is bad!"
At the last possible moment, a set of headlights tore open the darkness. The Code Zero-Eroder roared forward, matching the train's speed. ZZZ yanked up the front end of the bike, the front wheel lifting off the ground as red flames streamed from behind, and launched himself into the air—
"Grab on!"
He caught the falling Zhu Yuan with perfect precision, his reinforced armored arm wrapping securely around her waist. While still descending, the bike engaged a second burst of propulsion, carrying both of them in a red arc before landing steadily back on the train roof.
The black armor gleamed under the moonlight with a cold metallic sheen, while the red energy lines pulsing through it looked like blood vessels running beneath a body of steel.
"You..." Zhu Yuan was still shaken, her fingers unconsciously clutching at one of the red glowing seams in the armor.
"We meet again, Miss Officer." Beneath the faceplate came that familiar voice, tinged with electronic static. "Code name ZZZ—looks like the moon tonight is just right for a hero saving a beauty."
"Another nuisance shows up!" The Nightmare's mechanical eyes flared with dangerous red light.
ZZZ gently set Zhu Yuan back on her feet, his crimson compound eyes locking onto the target.
"If it's filth like you, I'll show up as many times as it takes."
He shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, his red figure trailing a brilliant streak through the dark. Zhu Yuan instantly understood the cue, swiftly switching magazines and laying down ether fire to seal off the Nightmare's escape paths. At the same time, ZZZ's punches and kicks came down like a typhoon, each strike leaving a crimson afterimage as it hammered into the Nightmare's mechanical frame.
"Too slow!"
ZZZ drove the Nightmare into the air with a spinning kick, jets of superheated vapor blasting from the seams in his armor.
Zhu Yuan moved on instinct.
The K22 Pacifier completed its final charge and switched into annihilation mode. The fully charged ether beam screamed out, carving a bright blue trail through the air and hitting the Nightmare cleanly while its body was exposed.
Under their perfect coordination, sparks burst from every joint in the Nightmare's mechanical body. With a harsh metallic scream, it finally crashed down onto one knee.
"Not bad. Just what I'd expect from Miss Zhu Yuan."
"Save the jokes for later." Zhu Yuan jammed her gun against the Nightmare's head. "Tell us where the bomb is. Right now. Or else—"
"Hehehe... don't you think it's already too late for that?"
Before the sentence had even settled, a blinding blaze erupted from the rear of the train.
BOOM—!
One carriage, then two, then three—
the explosions advanced like falling dominoes, flames racing forward with terrifying speed.
And Zhu Yuan's parents were in the third carriage ahead.
"No—!!!"
Her scream ripped through the night sky.
She watched helplessly as the blasts surged toward the carriage holding her parents. The sheer force of the shock made her whole body shake so badly she could barely hold onto her gun.
"Damn it!"
Zhe lunged forward, ready to finish off the Nightmare—but at that very moment the entire dream began to convulse.
The sky cracked. The scenery peeled away.
The intensity of Zhu Yuan's near-awakening emotions was tearing the dream apart.
"Hahahaha! This was only to say hello. We'll continue our game next time!" the Nightmare laughed wildly amid the collapsing space-time. "Goodbye, Miss Officer—"
"Dad! Mom!"
Zhu Yuan jolted awake at her desk, cold sweat soaking her sleepwear. Morning light filtered through the blinds, files scattered all over the floor, but the only thing in her mind was that sea of fire swallowing her parents in the dream.
Her trembling hand seized her phone.
She dialed home again and again.
Each ring that sounded tightened her heart a little more.
"Pick up... please... please pick up..."
Just when despair was about to overtake her, the line connected.
"Hello? Xiao Yuan?" Her father's sleepy voice came through. "Calling this early—did something happen?"
"Dad! Are you and Mom okay?" Her voice shook, fingertips digging hard into her palm.
"We're fine. We were just about to get up. What's wrong with you? Your voice sounds strange..."
"Thank goodness..." Zhu Yuan slumped back into her chair, tears slipping free uncontrollably. "Thank goodness..."
"Xiao Yuan? What happened exactly? Hello?"
She listened to her parents' worried voices on the other end of the line, but could not force out a single word.
Outside, New Eridu was welcoming a brand-new morning.
And somewhere, a threat born deep within a dream had only just begun to unfold.
That morning—
Zhu Yuan went to work at the Public Security Bureau as usual.
But it was obvious at once that something was wrong with her today.
The files on her desk had piled into a small mountain, yet she had spent ten whole minutes staring blankly at the same page. The tip of her pen traced circles on the paper without her noticing. Her eyelids drooped again and again. The third time her head nearly hit the desk, she jolted awake, shook herself hard, and took a huge gulp from a mug of coffee that had already gone cold.
"Didn't sleep well last night? Had a nightmare?" Qingyi had somehow appeared beside her desk, looking at the dark circles beneath her eyes with open concern.
Rubbing her temples, Zhu Yuan gave a tired little smile.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Very." Qingyi pulled over a chair and sat down. "You're normally the kind of person who can process three reports at the same time."
"Yeah... I had a nightmare that felt far too real." Zhu Yuan let out a bitter little laugh and opened the file lying next to her. "And I think... I dreamed about a Nightmare."
Qingyi's gaze sharpened instantly.
"Tell me everything."
At that exact moment, the office door was shoved open with force. A young officer came rushing in, breathless, holding up a tablet.
"Emergency incident! One of the trains parked at New Eridu Station exploded last night!"
The entire office fell silent.
"Any casualties?" Qingyi rose to her feet immediately.
"Fortunately, it was an empty train and it happened late at night. But the strange part is..." The young officer pulled up the surveillance footage. "None of the cameras caught anyone approaching it. The explosion just... happened by itself."
As soon as the tablet displayed a clear image of the destroyed train, the coffee cup in Zhu Yuan's hand slipped and shattered on the floor.
Brown liquid spread out across the tiles—
just like the chain of exploding carriages in her dream.
"The train number..." Her voice was trembling. "Was it... C19?"
The younger officer blinked in surprise and nodded.
"How did Zhu Yuan-senior know that?"
Qingyi turned sharply toward Zhu Yuan's pale face.
"You saw this train in your dream?"
Zhu Yuan clenched the hem of her clothes so tightly her nails bit into her palm. The image of her parents vanishing into the flames in the dream overlapped with the wreckage on the tablet screen.
"Not just saw it," she said hoarsely. "In my dream... it was destroyed exactly like this. One carriage after another, starting from the rear..."
The office fell into dead silence.
Everyone understood that this was no longer an ordinary case.
It was something beyond anything they had ever dealt with.
Qingyi placed a steady hand on Zhu Yuan's trembling shoulder.
"Tell me everything you remember. Every last detail."
Outside, the skies over New Eridu were still bright and clear.
But Zhu Yuan realized, all at once, that a threat from within a dream had already begun to seep into reality.
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 119)
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?" (Chapter79)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter125)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 73
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 55
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 66
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 63
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 55
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 31
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 31
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 31
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