Nightmare Despair

Chapter 58 Points
Chu Siwen struggled to sit up, hastily crumpled the quilt into a ball, and hugged it to her chest, trying to squeeze out any warmth from the cotton.

But blankets are only for keeping warm. If the body has no temperature, how can the blanket be warm?

cold.

It's so cold.

Chu Siwen sighed softly, and a white mist spilled from her lips before quickly dissipating.

She leaned against the cold wall, her skin barely touching the surface in terms of temperature.

She felt like she had become an inanimate object.

"I want to live... I don't want to die."

Her voice was as soft as a dream as she curled up and buried her face deep in her knees.

My parents died in a car accident four years ago.

They were left with a house whose mortgage was still outstanding.

He dropped out of university and went back to Xishan to work.

Living a mediocre life, never having enough money, and living in darkness as if the lights were never on.

A long time ago, she really thought about dying.

Sell ​​your house, travel the world, and then die in some obscure, unknown corner—how romantic!

The results of it?
With housing prices plummeting, a house that was bought for over 1.1 million yuan back then might not even attract any inquiries even if listed for 700,000 yuan now.

After paying off the loan, I received 150,000 yuan.

There's no guarantee that anyone will be willing to take over.

So I had to give up this unrealistic idea and keep going, like a pot of fish soup left unattended, letting the days evaporate the last bit of moisture from my life.

Then, as if fate thought she was dying too slowly, it dealt her another blow.

A few days ago, she was diagnosed with nightmares.

Chu Siwen didn't understand, why was it always me who was unlucky?
How can a person's life repeatedly hit rock bottom without ever rebounding? And just when you think you've reached the lowest point, you never expect there to be an even lower trough.

Maybe we should just let it go and die in our dreams...

That's it, all done in one go, clean and efficient.

"But I don't want to die, I really don't want to die."

Tears welled up without warning, large drops falling onto the blanket and leaving a small, dark stain.

These past few days, Park Hyo-yoon and Ye Zi have been keeping me company.

Their laughter still echoes in my ears, warm and comforting.

Damn it, I don't want to die anymore.

I used to think that dying was just dying, nothing more than a sudden darkness.

Once the light has come, who the hell would willingly want to roll back into the mud?

That glimmer of light, visible and tangible, will eventually drift away. This is more cruel than never having seen light at all.

"I must survive!"

She wiped her face haphazardly, tears mingling with her resolute determination.

Everyone who said "no dreams" is right, she still has a few days left, she still has a chance to turn things around!
She threw back the covers, stepped barefoot onto the cold floor, and put on the hoodie that had been washed until it was stiff.

On the desk, the ballpoint pen, almost out of ink, twirled twice between my fingertips.

The people without dreams have already helped her too much, but nightmares are a battlefield she fights alone.

Ultimately, you can only rely on yourself.

"Find the node and the safe zone..."

"My nightmare is the subway station, so what are the nodes and safe zones, and where are they hidden..."

Chu Siwen pondered for a long time before finally putting pen to paper.

[Public transport card]

[Potentially existing safe carriages/platforms]

During the day, she would go to Line 1 for on-site inspection, memorizing every detail.

That night, I worked tirelessly towards these two goals.

She will definitely survive.

She firmly believes it.

……

"Number 11 must die."

Xishan City Abnormal Affairs Handling Bureau, second floor conference room.

A man in a leather trench coat raised his hand and tapped the electronic whiteboard. Ding San sat below, his gaze sweeping over Zhou Kai's information card on the whiteboard.

Someone marked Zhou Kai in red font: "[Number 7, no suspicion, released from observation]".

Her gaze continued downwards, sweeping over a row of gray data cards labeled "Past Nightmare, Deceased".

Finally, Ding San frowned and fixed his gaze on number 11, Chu Siwen's label.

[High-risk real-life nightmares require ensuring a natural death]

"Ding San, you are the discoverer, what are your thoughts?" the man said succinctly, looking at Ding San.

Ding San was silent for a moment, then uttered two words: "Agreed."

A few faint sighs echoed in the conference room, but no one raised any objections.

These sighs seemed to displease the deputy director.

He slammed one hand heavily on the table and sternly reminded them, "Stop your inappropriate pity!"

"A real-life nightmare! This isn't some mirage; it's the highest level alert—a nightmare invasion!"

"The problem with Metro Line 1 affects thousands of people and the entire economy of Xishan City... If only one person on Line 11 dies, that's the optimal solution. This isn't a multiple-choice question; it's a fill-in-the-blank question with a standard answer."

The man placed his hands on the table, looking down at the crowd.

The obscured nameplate was revealed—Zheng Wen, Deputy Director of the Xishan Bureau of Strange Events.

He continued to use cold, hard numbers to pressure his subordinates.

"Several million people live in Xishan City, and we must consider the overall situation."

"I believe that Number Eleven himself can understand our decision."

The dozen or so people in the meeting room all simultaneously chose to remain silent.

At times like this, anything you say will be wrong.

The existence of nightmares dates back hundreds of years to the legendary tales of the strange.

But two centuries ago, nightmare invasions erupted globally.

Nightmares were the norm at the time.

Every time this happens, if it is not handled properly, the end result is that the entire real area is dragged into a nightmare abyss, with hundreds or thousands, or even tens of thousands, of people dying or being injured.

These real-world areas dragged into nightmares may disappear forever, or they may become "past nightmares" in someone's nightmares hundreds or even thousands of years later.

Fortunately, countries at the time had realized the horror of the nightmare and established special response organizations.

The management methods at that time were crude and barbaric, but extremely effective.

Once infected with the Nightmare Reality, they are immediately and secretly executed.

Therefore, in the new era, the proportion of real-life nightmares has decreased rather than increased.

Instead, there are relatively less threatening nightmares from the past.

The nightmares of the past had no anchor in reality, and their power could not merge with the real world a second time...

Even if the attempt to resolve the issue fails, according to the latest research, the worst outcome would only be the creation of secondary disasters such as mirages.

The threat of the mirage is nothing compared to real-life nightmares; it's practically kindergarten level.

Moreover, the "past nightmares" can even be exploited to some extent.

A past nightmare can only infect one person at a time.

Once the infected person successfully advances to the rank of "Walker," the nightmare is indirectly anchored by the Walker himself.

This brings up an exciting possibility.

In the past, the number of nightmares was finite, while the number of humans was infinite.

As long as we continue to cultivate those infected by past nightmares into travelers, in the distant future, nightmares might be completely suppressed by humanity.

Of course, this is just a beautiful vision... there are too many variables that are preventing this outcome.

For example, the nightmare itself can escalate into a crisis, and there are also life-limiting factors for the traveler.

Etc., etc.

Zheng Wen frowned, his expression becoming even more serious. "The work ahead will be very difficult. It's not just the nightmares of reality. According to reports from the public security system and Team One, there are at least three more suspected cases of mirage monsters wreaking havoc in Xishan City and the surrounding areas."

"For the sake of the greater good, and for the safety of more lives, put away your superfluous sympathy!"

"Do what we're supposed to do."

Zheng Wen's voice was resolute.

"Ding San, proceed according to Section 7-B of the 'Regulations for the Handling of Nightmare Infected Individuals.' Humane treatment."

"The meeting is dismissed!"

He slammed his hand on the table again, announcing the end of the meeting and also sentencing a girl to death.

(End of this chapter)