Ding San usually didn't need to sleep.
After the meeting, she either had to continue working for Dreamless or search the city for signs of Mirages alongside the public security officers.
As she walked to the Bureau of Anomalies' basement, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.
Ordinary people facing the trolley problem could choose to do nothing and avoid the pangs of conscience.
But they couldn't.
They were the ones who had to pull the lever.
They had to kill one person with their own hands to save five others!
Of course, that person was going to die anyway...
All they had to do was make sure she died safely, peacefully, and without dragging more people down with her.
That was all.
"This time, it was my mistake."
Ding San's gaze grew hazy, as if she were recalling something.
Xishan City had been peaceful for too long. It had been so long that she'd nearly forgotten the weight of the words Reality Nightmare, and had instinctively treated Chu Siwen as an ordinary Past Nightmare carrier.
If it had been a Past Nightmare, they would have spared no resources to help her become a Walker, anchor her to that past, and keep her alive for as long as possible.
Even if she still eventually died and might become a Mirage afterward, the value she created over her entire career as an official Walker would be enough to outweigh the little trouble she might cause after death.
But...
Chu Siwen was a Reality Nightmare carrier.
There was no value in keeping her alive. On the contrary, she would bring about a massive disaster.
Once she became a Walker, the Nightmare's power would immediately use its Anchor Point in reality—
Subway Line 1—to begin invading the real world.
Monsters would crawl