Li Xiangqian had Ding San stay at the police station a while longer. The two of them buried themselves in piles of paper, combing through case files and pulling up surveillance footage from every route.
After hastily finishing breakfast in the cafeteria that morning, he drove Ding San back in a police car on his way.
On the road, Li Xiangqian still could not help himself and brought up the Shen again.
“In ancient texts, Shen were said to be fourth-realm martial artists of the ancient pictographic martial path who suffered qi deviation…”
Ding San waved her hand and said, “Oh, spare me. Fourth realm? Across all of Red Star now, you couldn’t even find a few handfuls of third-realm martial artists. The emergence of enhanced humans has long since squeezed the martial path’s living space to almost nothing.”
“And yet incidents involving Shen sightings and Shen influence are increasing year by year, both domestically and abroad. Are all of those the corpses of fourth-realm martial artists? Impossible.”
Li Xiangqian shifted down a gear, and the police car accelerated onto the intercity expressway. He chimed in, “So that thing is more likely to be what you people call… the dead body of a Nightmare Walker?”
Ding San nodded. “More or less.”
“The process of a Nightmare patient struggling to survive is also the process of becoming increasingly tightly fused with the Nightmare… Their flesh and their mind will gradually distort, becoming a bridge between Nightmare and reality.”
“So the dead bodies of those missing Walkers will display certain traits that are difficult to explain with common sense.”
At this point, Ding San paused. “Any more than that, and it touches on confidentiality regulations.”
“In short, you only need to understand one thing.”
“That thing is extremely dangerous! Expanding Nightmares? That’s only an unverified guess. The most direct disaster caused by Shen… is that they kill those poor devils who inadvertently trigger their killing rules.”
Li Xiangqian’s throat bobbed, and he shivered subconsciously. “Killing rules? What are those?”
Ding San’s phone suddenly vibrated. As she answered the call, she said, “Who knows? Every Shen has different rules.”
“Most likely, they’re related to the nightmares they had in life…”
Ding San swiped the screen open. The call was from Yezi.
“Sister San, she’s a ‘Reality Nightmare.’”
A Reality Nightmare?
Ding San’s expression instantly turned extremely ugly.
“I understand.”
The call was cut off cleanly.
Ding San hung up, her eyes flickering as though she were making a difficult choice.
The police car sped along the expressway. Up ahead, a fork in the road appeared.
Continue straight… or signal, take the ramp, and get off the expressway.
“Xiangqian, have you heard of the trolley problem?”
Ding San suddenly spoke.
Li Xiangqian subconsciously slowed the car and frowned.
Of course he knew.
An out-of-control trolley was about to crash into five people on the track.
Beside your hand was a lever. As long as you pulled it, the trolley would switch to another track, but on that track, there was also one person tied down.
Pull it, and you actively killed one person to save five.
Don’t pull it, and you watched five people die before your eyes, preserving the life of one innocent person.
No matter how you chose, your hands would be stained with blood.
“I know. What about it?”
“How would you choose?”
Li Xiangqian answered almost without thinking. “I’d lean toward pulling it. Even though that person is innocent, it’s still better than five people dying.”
“But if I really had to choose.” Li Xiangqian laughed self-mockingly. “I wouldn’t choose. Once I take off this uniform, I’m nothing. I’m not qualified to decide who lives and who dies.”
“I’m curious, though, Sister San. How would you choose?”
Hearing this, Ding San shook her head and did not answer directly.
She merely turned her head to look at the guardrails rushing backward outside the window, her voice calm.
“It’s time to get off the expressway.”
“Okay.”
The police car switched on its turn signal, smoothly merged into the left lane, slowed down, and entered the ramp.
……
“Xiao Kai, why have you suddenly taken an interest 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 these things too.”
“When she lived with me before, the living room was full of potted plants… Now she’s been abducted by that bad woman, and I’m the one who has to take care of all those flowers and plants.”
“What a pain.”
Her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had found a savior to dump the burden on. “Why don’t you help me? I’ll pay you a salary!”
Zhou Kai gave an “Mm,” pretending to consider it seriously.
After a moment, he nodded. “Sure. Forget the salary.”
Perfect. That saved him from having to haul flowerpots and nutrient soil back to his shabby little rental room. He could just use the ready-made stuff at Sister Yan’s place.
The nursery in the basement had a lightless environment. Although there was now faint light, it was still harsh.
Zhou Kai had deliberately chosen several types of plants that could thrive in such an environment.
One kind of orchid, and two kinds of ferns.
They were all varieties openly sold in the botanical garden, available for paid picking.
‘I just don’t know whether planting these will bring me any bonuses… I’ll find out when I go back tonight.’
Before long, Zhou Kai followed Lu Yan home.
He moved several flowerpots into the bathroom. After confirming that the environment was humid enough, he carefully planted the three plants.
After settling the plants, Zhou Kai turned and left, his movements crisp and efficient.
As for the lace underwear Lu Yan had casually hung on the bathroom door handle, Zhou Kai’s gaze swept over it without lingering for more than a tenth of a second.
“Sis, I’m leaving.”
He called out to Lu Yan, who was watching TV in the living room, then pushed open the door and left.
It was almost three in the afternoon. There was not much time left before the appointment with Ma Yifan.
If he went now, the timing would be just right.
……
Ma Yifan came from a well-off family. The place he had arranged to meet Zhou Kai this time was his suburban villa, nestled against mountains and water.
The villa was a full three stories tall, and it even had two large courtyards, front and back… Who could withstand that?
“He really hides it well.”
Zhou Kai shook his head, entered the password Ma Yifan had sent him, and pushed open the heavy wrought-iron gate.
When it came to major matters that could resolve his financial crisis, Zhou Kai had always been serious.
Before going out today, he had deliberately put on the boxing gym’s other training uniform underneath his coat.
Now, he took off his coat, revealing the loose training uniform beneath. Just like that, the image of a proper martial artist took shape.
There was an auntie in the villa responsible for cleaning and cooking. Ma Yifan had probably instructed her in advance, because when she saw Zhou Kai, her attitude was almost excessively polite.
“Mr. Zhou, have you had lunch? The young master will be a while yet.”
Zhou Kai shook his head. “No need.”
If people arrived later and he was in the middle of shoveling food into his mouth, that scene would look far too unprofessional.
Better to avoid unnecessary complications. Keep everything simple.
“You’re… that Zhou Kai Ma Yifan mentioned?”
He did not wait long before Ma Yifan led several people inside.
At the front—or rather, surrounded in the middle—was a foreign girl with features so exquisite she looked like a doll.
But completely opposite to that lovely face was the arrogance seeping from her very bones.
She was practically examining Zhou Kai with her chin raised, as if sizing up a commodity. “Is he reliable? Has he competed before? What were his results?”
Zhou Kai exchanged a glance with Ma Yifan. The latter’s face showed an unconcealable panic; clearly, he had not expected the opening to be this stiff either.
“No competitions, no results.” Zhou Kai narrowed his eyes, neither servile nor overbearing.
The blond girl frowned. “You have nothing at all, so what makes you think you can teach us?”
“A little cleverness won’t let you squeeze into a circle that doesn’t belong to you.”
She spoke bluntly, without the slightest scruple.
The other two young men also folded their arms and shook their heads, their expressions full of disappointment.