The Trolley Problem

Li Xiangqian had kept Ding San at the police station a while longer. The two of them had buried themselves in stacks of papers, poring over case files and pulling footage from security cameras around the city.

After grabbing breakfast in the cafeteria that morning, he had driven Ding San back in the police car on his way.

On the road, Li Xiangqian couldn't help bringing up Mirage again.

"In ancient texts, Mirage was said to be a Fourth Realm martial artist who'd gone mad while practicing the ancient Zoomorphic Martial Arts..."

Ding San waved a hand. "Come on. Fourth Realm? You can count all the Third Realm martial artists in the whole Red Star on one hand. Enhanced Humans appeared ages ago and squeezed the martial arts out of almost every space to survive."

"Yet Mirage sightings and incidents involving Mirage have been happening more often every year, both at home and abroad. Are all these Fourth Realm martial artists' corpses? That's impossible."

Li Xiangqian downshifted, and the police car accelerated onto the intercity highway. He picked up the thread. "So it's more likely that the things you call... the corpses of Nightmare Walkers?"

Ding San nodded. "Almost certainly."

"The process of a Nightmare patient fighting to survive is also the process of becoming more and more closely bound to the Nightmare... Their bodies and minds gradually twist, becoming bridges between the Nightmare and reality."

"That's why the corpses of those missing Walkers have traits that defy common sense."

Ding San paused. "Anything more would touch on classified information."

"In short, you only need to understand one thing."

"That thing is extremely dangerous! Expanding the Nightmare? That's just an unverified guess. The most direct danger posed by Mirage... is killing the poor fools who accidentally trigger their killing rules."

Li Xiangqian swallowed and shuddered despite himself. "Killing rules? What are those?"

Ding San's phone suddenly vibrated. She answered as she spoke. "Who knows? Every Mirage has different rules."

"Most likely, they're related to the nightmares those people had when they were alive..."

Ding San swiped the screen. The call was from Ye Zi.

"Third Sister, she's a Reality Nightmare."

Reality Nightmare?

Ding San's face turned instantly grim.

"I understand."

She ended the call without another word.

Ding San put away her phone, her eyes flickering as if she were making a difficult choice.

The police car raced down the highway. Up ahead, the road forked.

They could keep going straight... or signal, take the ramp, and leave the highway.

"Xiangqian, have you heard of the trolley problem?"

Ding San suddenly spoke.

Li Xiangqian instinctively slowed down and furrowed his brow.

Of course he had.

An out-of-control trolley was about to hit five people tied to the tracks.

There was a lever beside you. Pull it, and you could divert the trolley onto another track—but someone was tied up there, too.

Pull it, and you'd actively kill one person to save five.

Don't pull it, and you'd watch five people die while sparing one innocent person.

Either way, your hands would be stained with blood.

"I have. Why?"

"What would you choose?"

Li Xiangqian answered without thinking. "I'd lean toward pulling it. That person's innocent, but it's still better than letting five people die."

"But if I really had to choose..." Li Xiangqian gave a self-deprecating smile. "I wouldn't choose. Without this uniform, I'm nobody. I have no right to decide who lives and who dies."

"I'm curious, though, Third Sister. What would you choose?"

Ding San shook her head, not answering directly.

She only turned to look out at the guardrails rushing past, her voice calm.

"We should get off the highway."

"Okay."

The police car signaled, smoothly moved into the left lane, slowed down, and took the ramp.

"Xiao Kai, what made you suddenly interested in all these flowers and plants?"

Lu Yan looked at Zhou Kai's bulging pockets and asked curiously, "Come to think of it, your sister used to like this stuff, too."

"When she lived with me, the living room was full of potted plants... Now that some bad woman's lured her away, I'm stuck taking care of all those flowers and plants."

"What a pain."

Her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she'd found a savior who could take the burden off her hands. "Why don't you help me? I'll pay you!"

"Mm," Zhou Kai said, pretending to give it serious thought.

A moment later, he nodded. "Sure. You don't have to pay me, though."

That worked out perfectly. He wouldn't have to haul flowerpots and potting soil into his cramped rental anymore. He could just use the stuff already at Yan Zi's place. Perfect.

The nursery in the basement had no natural light. It had some weak artificial light now, but the conditions were still harsh.

Zhou Kai had deliberately picked out several plants that could thrive in an environment like that.

An orchid and two kinds of ferns.

They were all varieties sold openly at the botanical garden, where visitors could pay to pick them.

"I just don't know if planting these will give me any buffs... I'll find out when I get back tonight."

Before long, Zhou Kai followed Lu Yan home.

He carried the flowerpots into the bathroom and, after making sure it was humid enough, carefully planted the three plants.

Once he'd settled them in, Zhou Kai turned and left without hesitation.

As for the lace underwear Lu Yan had casually draped over the bathroom doorknob, Zhou Kai's gaze passed over it without lingering for even a tenth of a second.

"See you, sis."

He called out to Lu Yan, who was watching TV in the living room, then opened the door and left.

It was almost three in the afternoon, and his appointment with Ma Yifan was coming up soon.

If he left now, he'd arrive right on time.

Ma Yifan came from a well-off family. This time, he'd arranged to meet Zhou Kai at his family's villa in the suburbs, nestled against the hills and beside the water.

The villa had three whole floors, plus a front and back yard... How could anyone handle that?

"You've been keeping a low profile."

Zhou Kai shook his head, entered the code Ma Yifan had sent him, and pushed open the heavy wrought-iron gate.

When it came to something as important as solving his financial troubles, Zhou Kai always took things seriously.

Before leaving that day, he'd made a point of putting on another training uniform from the boxing gym beneath his jacket.

Now he took off his jacket, revealing the loose training uniform underneath, and instantly looked the part of a martial artist.

A woman who handled the cooking and cleaning was inside the villa. Ma Yifan must have given her a heads-up, because she was almost excessively polite when she saw Zhou Kai.

"Mr. Zhou, have you had lunch? The young master will be here in a little while."

Zhou Kai shook his head. "No, thanks."

It wouldn't look very professional if he were hunched over a meal when the others arrived.

Better to keep things simple and avoid unnecessary trouble.

"So you're... the Zhou Kai Ma Yifan mentioned?"

Zhou Kai hadn't waited long before Ma Yifan came in with several people.

At the front—or rather, at the center of the group—was a foreign girl with features as delicate as a doll's.

But in stark contrast to her lovely face was the arrogance that seemed to seep from her very bones.

She practically lifted her chin as she scrutinized Zhou Kai, sizing him up like a product. "Can you be trusted? Have you competed? What results have you had?"

Zhou Kai exchanged a glance with Ma Yifan. The latter looked visibly flustered, clearly not expecting the meeting to get off to such a tense start.

"No competitions, no results," Zhou Kai said, narrowing his eyes but remaining composed.

The blonde girl frowned. "You've got nothing to show for yourself, so what makes you think you can teach us?"

"A little cleverness won't get you into a circle you don't belong in."

She spoke bluntly, without the slightest restraint.

The other two young men folded their arms and shook their heads, their disappointment plain on their faces.