Chapter 208: Hidden Circumstances
Nan Yu quickly learned that the man kneeling on the floor was Zhang An, the adjutant of General Liu Hanjiang, the person in charge of Border Region Thirty-Two Military Base. But these days, changing one's face was actually quite simple. Who knew whether he was real or fake?
Still, judging by how certain Yu Lanfeng seemed, he was probably genuine?
Nan Yu didn't rashly speak up. In any case, he would eventually learn the details of what had happened.
Zhang An was kneeling on the floor with his forehead pressed tightly against the ground, as though he had committed some unforgivable mistake. But judging by what he had just said, things didn't seem quite that simple.
Yu Lanfeng said, "First, explain exactly what happened."
Zhang An slowly straightened up, after which the two soldiers behind him pulled him to his feet. Their legion didn't practice things like kneeling and kowtowing.
Once Zhang An was standing, he began recounting everything he had experienced.
"Actually, I received a mission from the General. I was supposed to infiltrate this planet and investigate someone. It would be even better if I could determine that person's movements and current location. But after I arrived here, I started feeling that a lot of things weren't right.
"I've been to this place several times before because of missions. Every time I came here, certain people would keep an eye on me. That's understandable. The people here are extremely hostile toward outsiders, so the previous few times I was watched, I didn't panic. I simply went about my life as usual. Once they confirmed that I posed no threat to any organization here, they stopped watching me.
"That was when I would begin taking action. This time, I came to this planet using the same identity I'd used before. I even had a few acquaintances here, though I wasn't particularly close to them. Since this investigation was connected to the faction behind this organization's auction, I used some connections to come here and find a job."
So far, Nan Yu still thought everything sounded perfectly normal. It seemed that whatever unexpected incident had occurred must have happened after Zhang An found this job. He just didn't know exactly what had happened.
Zhang An continued, "When I first started working here, there wasn't anything unusual about it. I was just responsible for maintaining order. If someone came here looking for trouble, we'd go over and fight them. It didn't matter whether we beat them away or killed them. If we killed someone, we just had to dispose of the corpse cleanly."
There wasn't anything particularly wrong with that either. No one knew how many people died on this planet every single day. So if they killed a few troublemakers no one knew about and cleaned up afterward, nobody would ever find out. Zhang An had thought the same way.
But in the days after the auction date was officially confirmed, the number of people coming here to investigate rapidly increased. They hadn't stationed enough people here, which meant Zhang An and the others frequently had to work for long stretches without sleeping or resting.
"About five days ago, I was leading some people on the night shift. We happened to run into several people who were trying to force their way inside. When we couldn't stop them peacefully, we simply beat them up. Then several of us threw them at a garbage recycling site far away. But about two or three hours later, that group came back.
"They still looked completely drunk, and their faces and bodies still had the marks we'd left from beating them earlier. But they didn't seem to care at all. They just stood across the street and made some really childish provocative gestures at us, like pulling faces.
"I thought it was a little strange at the time, but the people working the night shift with me couldn't tolerate it. They hadn't rested properly for several days and were already extremely irritable. They immediately rushed over, grabbed those guys, and started beating them. During the fight, one of them accidentally shoved the most cowardly guy among them toward me. I instinctively reached out, grabbed his head, and twisted it."
Nan Yu figured that the person whose neck Zhang An had twisted was definitely dead. He could practically imagine the sound of that neck snapping.
"And then?" Nan Yu asked. "The person you killed had a special identity, right? The auction is currently underway, so they don't want to clash with the people organizing it. That's why they're waiting until the auction officially ends before coming after you?"
Zhang An said, "Yes. His identity actually wasn't that extraordinary. He was just one of the sons of the second-in-command of the third-largest organization in this city. Unfortunately, though, he happened to be that man's favorite son. On top of that, he was engaged to the youngest daughter of the leader of the largest organization. I heard they genuinely loved each other. Now that he's dead..."
Yu Lanfeng asked, "Do they know you did it?"
Zhang An said, "Yes. Several of my coworkers saw me do it. When other people questioned them, they told them everything. Originally, they intended to take me away immediately, but because the auction was about to begin, they decided to give the organizers some face and wait until it ended."
Yu Lanfeng asked, "Have you contacted Liu Hanjiang?"
"I've tried several times, but neither the General nor the military base has responded at all. It's as if the communication device has stopped working. I don't know whether there's something wrong with the signal, whether this thing is broken, or whether something else happened. In any case, I have absolutely no way of leaving this place right now... Once the auction ends, I'll..."
Nan Yu finally understood.
"If possible, could you let me see that communication device?"
Zhang An glanced at Nan Yu. Of course he knew about him. Supposedly, Nan Yu was an exceptionally powerful Mental Power User whom their Marshal had personally recruited into the legion!
"No problem. This is it."
He took a small box out of his pocket, roughly small enough to fit into one hand. Nan Yu took the box and was just about to open it when Yu Lanfeng took it away from him.
Nan Yu looked at him. "Hm? You want to see it too?"
Yu Lanfeng nodded. "I'll look first."
He slowly opened the box. Only after confirming there was nothing unusual inside did he relax somewhat.
He hadn't snatched it away because he wanted to look first. He had been worried that someone might have tampered with it.
After all, they couldn't say they trusted Zhang An one hundred percent. In fact, even Yu Lanfeng himself couldn't be certain that the person standing in front of them really was Zhang An.
He was already trying to contact Liu Hanjiang at Border Region Thirty-Two Military Base, hoping Liu Hanjiang would reply quickly. But even after waiting for about two minutes, there was still no response.
Yu Lanfeng was using his personal optical computer reserved specifically for internal legion communications, and the communication number belonged exclusively to him. Anyone in the legion would recognize it at a glance.
He carefully checked and confirmed that the message had indeed been sent.
In other words, for some unknown reason, it was highly possible that the other party hadn't received it at all. Or perhaps there would be a delay before they received it. Another possibility was that they had received the message but were unable to check it.
Or...
They were dead.
But Liu Hanjiang was extremely powerful. Yu Lanfeng had appointed him as the person in charge of Border Region Thirty-Two Military Base precisely because he believed Liu Hanjiang was both powerful and intelligent.
But...
The current situation was puzzling.
Many things were turning out very differently from what Yu Lanfeng and Nan Yu had expected.
Normally, their legion would never abandon any member who could still be saved.
Yet the current situation was riddled with suspicious points.
Nan Yu said, "Brother, try contacting someone else from Border Region Thirty-Two Military Base. There should be other people besides Liu Hanjiang and Zhang An. If you can't reach anyone through private channels, then switch methods. Brother, can't you use the legion's internal network to directly contact anyone who belongs to your legion? As long as they're carrying an optical computer, it should work."
Yu Lanfeng had indeed mentioned this before, and it was certainly a good method.
He just didn't know when Nan Yu had learned about it.
At the time, he'd merely let it slip by accident. He hadn't expected...
Yu Lanfeng, "..."
He said nothing else and decided to remain silent.
But Nan Yu sensed something strange in the atmosphere.
It was almost as if...
He slowly released his Mental Power, enveloping himself, Yu Lanfeng, and the two soldiers standing a short distance behind them.
Only then did he relax.
The faint sense of danger he'd felt just moments ago had disappeared.
It seemed that the barrier he'd constructed from Mental Power was quite useful. At the very least, whatever danger had been lurking in the shadows had been neutralized.
As for why he hadn't included Zhang An inside the barrier, there were plenty of reasons.
In short, the person Nan Yu found suspicious was precisely Zhang An, who was standing a short distance away.
Perhaps the previous Zhang An wasn't the Zhang An standing here now?
Maybe someone had recognized their true identities and temporarily created such a person to gain their initial trust.
As for their objective, it was actually quite obvious.
From earlier until now, the other party had been cautiously glancing at Nan Yu from time to time. His movements were subtle, but Yu Lanfeng and Nan Yu were hardly naïve little fools.
They were excellent partners who had already weathered countless dangers together. Now that someone who might pose a threat to Nan Yu had appeared, the anger inside Yu Lanfeng shot straight upward.
Of course, none of it showed on his face.
Just as Yu Lanfeng was considering how to deal with the situation, Nan Yu suddenly froze.
Yu Lanfeng had no idea what had happened.
But Zhang An, who had been quietly standing several steps away, suddenly charged straight at them.
His target was clearly Nan Yu.
Yu Lanfeng's gaze instantly became extraordinarily dangerous.
They couldn't directly use abilities here. If they were detected, it would cause trouble.
So Yu Lanfeng simply seized him with his bare hands.
It took only a second.
Zhang An, who had been lunging forward ferociously just a moment earlier, was already pinned to the floor.
His face was pressed tightly against the ground as Yu Lanfeng held him down with overwhelming force. The two soldiers quickly came over to help their Marshal restrain him.
Nan Yu said, "So is this person actually Zhang An or not? If Zhang An is the adjutant of a military base commander and was sent here on a mission, then he should definitely be an Ability User, right?"
"Brother, just now..."
Nan Yu stopped there instead of continuing aloud. He directly sent Yu Lanfeng a message.
Yu Lanfeng opened it.
"Brother, just now I released my Mental Power and constructed a Mental Power barrier around us. A moment ago, I felt an aggressive Mental Power attack my barrier!"
Yu Lanfeng abruptly turned toward him.
"Are you all right?"
Nan Yu shook his head. "I'm fine. The attack was fairly weak, nowhere near as strong as mine, so I wasn't hurt at all. Instead, he suffered backlash."
"So this person should be a Mental Power User. There's no way he's Zhang An. I knew there was something wrong!"
At that moment, Yu Lanfeng finally received a reply to the message he'd previously sent Liu Hanjiang.
Liu Hanjiang confirmed that he had indeed sent Zhang An to this planet on a mission, but Zhang An had lost contact with them three days ago. They had already dispatched people, who would arrive on the planet in approximately two days.
Over the past few days, they had also notified other operatives hidden elsewhere on this planet and ordered them to find excuses to come here and search for Zhang An.
Normally, that might have caused some trouble, but news of the auction was widespread now, and large numbers of people were converging on the planet's largest city.
So the arrival of additional people wouldn't attract much attention.
The rest of the message described the progress of their investigation.
And their progress was...
No progress whatsoever.
They had followed the clues and traces Zhang An had left behind, only to discover that they had absolutely no idea how Zhang An had disappeared or where he had gone.
He had simply vanished.
They couldn't find him.
The trail ended here.
Nan Yu leaned over and read the entire message.
"It doesn't mention why he didn't reply immediately at all. Should we ask him?"
Yu Lanfeng nodded and sent another message.
This time, Liu Hanjiang responded very quickly.
"Apologies, Marshal. This was my mistake! I was organizing training for the new recruits earlier and accidentally broke my optical computer while using my ability. I only just replaced it."
Nan Yu asked, "How does using an ability break an optical computer?"
Yu Lanfeng said, "His ability is rather unusual. I'll take you there sometime. You'll understand once you see it."
Nan Yu nodded. "Oh, okay. Then should we question this person now?"
Yu Lanfeng looked at the "Zhang An" being firmly pinned to the floor, able to make only small struggling movements.
"I don't think we'll get anything useful out of this person's mouth. We might as well kill him and destroy the corpse. Afterward, we'll investigate ourselves. We may have to take some detours, but that's still much better than going down the wrong path."
Nan Yu completely agreed.
In the past, he might have hesitated for a long time and eventually decided to interrogate the person first.
But ever since becoming a High-Tier Mental Power User, he felt as though he'd become a little too confident.
In any case, he simply felt that this matter shouldn't be particularly difficult for him.
If he released his Mental Power to its maximum range, he could encompass the entire auction venue, including the areas in front, behind, above, and below it.
So when the time came, he merely needed to walk around and he would be able to thoroughly grasp the situation here.
Finding one person certainly wouldn't be a problem.
Even if Zhang An wasn't here, someone would know where Zhang An was.
Nan Yu said, "It's your call, Brother. Do it. Though I wonder if anyone saw him follow us into the private room just now. If someone did, they'll probably come looking for him, right?"
Yu Lanfeng said, "I checked earlier. I didn't find any surveillance nearby. There's only one surveillance camera and several robots around the third-floor entrance and exit. There aren't any elsewhere."
If there was anything at all, it was merely the attendants walking back and forth outside, so that whenever someone inside opened the door and requested service, they could immediately hurry over.
Nan Yu said, "Then, Brother, you'd better hurry up and do it. I can sense someone approaching outside. I don't know whether they're coming for us, but it's better to be safe."
There was actually nowhere to hide anything inside this private room.
So if they didn't want anyone to discover the body, their only option was to kill the man and burn the corpse completely to ash.
That way, no one would find anything.
Yu Lanfeng slowly reached toward the person pinned to the floor and said, "Actually, there's no need to worry about whether we'll be discovered. Since they had this person disguise himself as Zhang An to approach us, they must already know Zhang An's identity. And they've also discovered our identities, especially yours..."
Nan Yu paused slightly.
"I knew it felt like I was overlooking something. Now that I think about it, our identities were exposed a long time ago. Then this food and these drinks... Were they drugged too?"
Yu Lanfeng shook his head. "No."
Nan Yu said, "Right. I'm studying pharmacology, after all. Although there are still plenty of medicinal herbs I'm unfamiliar with, I can still distinguish whether there's something wrong with the food."
"So what exactly do they want? Don't tell me they're planning to forcibly abduct me?"
A fierce glint flashed through Yu Lanfeng's eyes.
"Impossible."
Nan Yu said, "Then let's wait. Maybe they'll come knock on the door themselves in a moment."
The instant he finished speaking, someone knocked on the door of their private room.
The person pinned to the floor had still been struggling continuously just moments earlier, but now all strength suddenly left his body.
Like a robot whose power had been cut off, he instantly went limp.
Yu Lanfeng said, "Open the door."
One of the men restraining "Zhang An" got up and opened it.
The person who had knocked took a step backward and then moved aside, revealing the figure standing behind him.
An elderly man holding a cane slowly walked inside.
Someone behind him followed, carrying a chair into the room and setting it down. The old man with the cane calmly sat down as though no one else were there.
"I've heard so much about you, Marshal Yu. I never expected I'd actually have the chance to see you here."
Yu Lanfeng said, "Get to the point."
The newcomer genuinely didn't dare anger Yu Lanfeng.
If Yu Lanfeng truly became enraged, the entire city might be reduced to nothingness by his flames. Everyone here would be burned to ashes!
That was definitely not something the old man wanted to see.
Nan Yu glanced at the white-haired old man. Despite his advanced age, he seemed remarkably energetic.
Unexpectedly, the moment Nan Yu looked at him, the old man also shifted his gaze toward Nan Yu.
"I presume this must be Nan Yu, the third son of the Nan family whom Marshal Yu went to such great lengths to recruit into his legion? A pleasure to meet you."
Nan Yu frowned slightly but said nothing.
He obediently sat beside Yu Lanfeng, making it seem as though he would follow Yu Lanfeng's lead in everything.
Moreover, they were still wearing masks and cloaks, yet Nan Yu felt as though the other party couldn't even see those disguises. The old man spoke to them completely naturally.
Yu Lanfeng said, "Get to the point."
Good.
That was the second time he'd said the exact same thing.
Nan Yu blinked.
He couldn't remember ever seeing Yu Lanfeng repeat the same sentence twice within such a short period of time.
Judging by that...
Was Yu Lanfeng genuinely furious this time?
The old man was clearly stunned as well.
It seemed that targeting Nan Yu really had touched Yu Lanfeng's reverse scale.
The price he'd prepared to pay for this negotiation definitely wouldn't be enough.
Only then did the old man introduce himself.
"I'm the person organizing this auction. Everyone here is willing to give me a bit of face. Actually, this time, I've come because I need to ask something of you."
He said "you," but his gaze remained fixed on Nan Yu.
Presumably, he wanted Nan Yu to help purify someone's Mental Contamination?
After all, if he couldn't find a High-Tier Mental Power User, his only option was to seek out Nan Yu, who was at least someone he might actually be able to find and who could purify S-rank Mental Contamination.
But Nan Yu had remained inside the legion all this time and rarely ventured outside.
So they could only turn their attention toward soldiers from Yu Lanfeng's legion who came to this planet on infiltration missions.
They had actually captured a great many people.
But this time, they'd finally captured the right person—Zhang An.
And then they'd discovered that Zhang An was the adjutant of the general commanding one of the military bases!
That had delighted them.
They hadn't expected such a valuable gift to fall straight into their hands.
"As for Zhang An, he's still with us. Of course, he's been given plenty to eat and drink. We simply haven't allowed him to wander around freely. You don't need to worry about that.
"Originally, I intended to use him as an intermediary to establish contact with your legion and then send a message to Marshal Yu. I never expected to meet you personally. In that case, I can be more direct."
Nan Yu now knew that Zhang An was safe.
And apparently, this old man needed something from him.
Yu Lanfeng still said nothing, but Nan Yu was somewhat curious.
"What do you want?"
The old man's gaze settled on Nan Yu.
"This old man doesn't have many years left to live. And people in our line of work are always walking through darkness. Inevitably, our hands become stained with blood. There's simply no avoiding it. Perhaps it's divine punishment. I had only one child in my entire life, and he died when he was still young, only in his forties. His health was poor, and there was no way to cure him.
"I could only watch helplessly as he breathed his last in front of me. After he died, the only person he left me was a grandson. My grandson was very obedient and well-behaved. He was always a good child. But three years ago, something happened to him, and he's been asleep ever since..."
Nan Yu frowned slightly.
"It's not Mental Contamination?"
The old man shook his head.
"I'm not entirely sure myself. I've invited many Mental Power Users to examine him and determine the cause, but none of them could explain it."
Nan Yu immediately became interested.
If the old man had simply said it was Mental Contamination and asked him for help, Nan Yu definitely wouldn't have been interested.
The other party was obviously no good person.
Why should he save him?
But if the grandson had fallen unconscious for some unknown reason, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} that made Nan Yu somewhat eager to investigate.
Still, he intended to follow Yu Lanfeng's judgment.
So after asking his question, he stopped talking and obediently remained seated, watching the auction outside.
One bid after another rang out, and he listened as though the sounds were somehow pleasant.
The old man turned toward Yu Lanfeng again.
"You may name whatever conditions you want. As long as it's something we can provide, we'll definitely give it to you."
As for the person lying on the floor, both sides actually understood the situation.
If they had genuinely intended to harm Nan Yu, then knowing Yu Lanfeng's identity, they certainly would have chosen a moment when Yu Lanfeng wasn't beside Nan Yu to make their move.
They wouldn't have done it now.
Yu Lanfeng said, "You must have prepared something. Show me the list."
The old man waved his hand.
Someone standing behind him immediately handed over a list.
Yu Lanfeng took it and looked through it.
Curious, Nan Yu leaned closer as well.
Among the long string of items, only the one at the very bottom immediately caught his attention.
It was actually the spatial device capable of containing living creatures—the very device that mysterious organization had placed in this auction!
Was this what people meant when they said something had fallen straight into their lap?