Chapter 187: Charges
Shuang Qingyue's complete lack of cooperation surprised Nan Yu. Not only did he seem to believe that he had done nothing wrong, he even seemed to think that the two of them should not be coming after him at all. They should be going after Yao Anyang, the true culprit. He had merely been threatened and used. He had done nothing wrong.
Nan Yu truly did not know what to say anymore. The moment Shuang Qingyue first became involved in this matter had already marked the beginning of his crimes. Moreover, those Mental Power Users had indeed died by his hand afterward. However, Nan Yu still needed to ask him exactly what had happened.
Nan Yu said, "We'll leave everything else aside for now. First, tell me how Yao Anyang taught you and exactly how you carried it out. Remember, tell me everything without leaving out a single word."
"I think you should know that this is the most crucial part. If anything you tell me is wrong, then I'll test it on you myself to see whether that's really how it was done. After all, judging from the situation, you couldn't have killed those Mental Power Users in a single attempt. They must have been tortured by you over and over again before they finally died. Just imagining it while standing here makes me think the two of you are truly despicable."
Shuang Qingyue paused slightly. He had just been thinking that when he described the process, he could simplify it a little and omit some of the more... unpleasant steps. But now it seemed that if what he said was wrong and Nan Yu later experimented on him personally, the lie would immediately be exposed.
Even Shuang Qingyue himself did not know what the final result would be if certain steps were omitted, so he could only choose to tell the entire truth. At the very least, he was familiar with the process and the resulting condition. If he only had to endure it once, he could still slowly recover afterward through his own self-healing ability. If Nan Yu tried something else... then he could not guarantee anything at all.
Nan Yu took a deep breath. "Start. Remember what I just said. I wasn't joking."
Shuang Qingyue knew that he was not joking. He understood Nan Yu's current emotions exceptionally well, because he could clearly sense the rage Nan Yu was suppressing inside himself, rage that was on the verge of exploding.
He no longer dared harbor any little schemes and began describing in detail the process Yao Anyang had taught him, without leaving out a single word.
"Actually, the process is very simple. There are only a few steps in total. You just need to get the timing right and seize the right opportunity. Once you're familiar with it, a single attempt might only take around five minutes. If you're even more practiced, two or three minutes is possible."
"The first thing is to make sure the Mental Power User is in a state of deep unconsciousness. If they're merely unconscious, their Mental Sea will still be in a self-protective state. If you try to attack and invade it at that point, there's a good chance their subconscious will resist and counterattack."
"Only after they're deeply unconscious will their Mental Sea's counterattack and defenses be reduced to their lowest point. There's still a certain amount of danger, but the Mental Power Users Yao Anyang brought back were all weaker than me, so my success rate was still very high."
"Once they're definitely deeply unconscious, you tie them to the bed so they won't struggle wildly from the pain afterward. Then the actual process begins."
Shuang Qingyue lowered his eyes slightly. "It's just like treating an Ability User's Mental Contamination normally. You place both hands on either side of their head, then carefully use your own mental power to invade."
"Throughout the process, you have to make sure the other person's mental power doesn't counterattack. So you absolutely can't have any intention of attacking them. The moment they sense it, the mental power you've sent inside will quickly be attacked."
"The first few times, I wasn't familiar with it and kept getting attacked, but after I became more practiced, it got much easier. Once my mental power had invaded their Mental Sea, I had to quietly make contact with a cluster of mental power near the Mental Sea barrier, wrap it in my own mental power, then withdraw through the point I'd entered as quickly as possible."
"If you're not fast enough, you can easily be intercepted and attacked. If that happens and the attempt fails, I have to sever the connection with my own mental power, leaving it trapped inside the other person's Mental Sea. I can only wait until their Mental Sea barrier is no longer defending itself so tightly before entering again and retrieving my mental power."
Nan Yu said, "That's what happens if you fail. What if you succeed?"
Shuang Qingyue said, "If I successfully bring that cluster of mental power out, then comes the next step. As everyone knows, a Mental Power User's mental power is extremely powerful, far stronger than an Ability User's. So Yao Anyang came up with a bold idea. He wanted to use a Mental Power User's mental power to gradually replace the mental power originally inside his own Mental Sea. That way, he would possess an Ability User's strength while also possessing the mental power of a Mental Power User. Wouldn't that be an incredible thing?"
The corner of Nan Yu's mouth twitched. "I have to admit, that's quite an idea."
Shuang Qingyue continued, "I was shocked at the time too. He asked me to damage his originally intact Mental Sea. After that, I took out the mental power I'd extracted from the other Mental Power Users and asked him what I was supposed to do with it. He said it was simple. I only had to erase all of the other person's mental intent contained within it. The stronger that mental intent was, the more difficult it would be to absorb."
Nan Yu said, "Of course I know that."
Back then, the tiny sphere of mental power Nan Yu had left inside Zhou Ziyu's Mental Sea contained Nan Yu's own mental intent. Without it, that sphere of mental power could have been directly assimilated by Zhou Ziyu's mental power, eventually devoured and transformed into Zhou Ziyu's own mental power, strengthening him.
So...
"Erasing mental intent is extremely difficult. You were actually able to do it? And judging by the sound of it, quite easily?"
Shuang Qingyue looked a little embarrassed. "I did do it, but I wasn't the only one doing it."
Nan Yu frowned. "Don't tell me the two of you had another accomplice? Fine. Tell me who it is right now."
Shuang Qingyue shook his head. "There wasn't anyone else. Besides, you've already purged this military base once. I'm sure the two of you know better than anyone whether there are any spies left."
Nan Yu thought about it and realized that was true. They had already dealt with all the spies, apart from Shuang Qingyue standing before them.
As for Yao Anyang? Yao Anyang was an Imperial citizen, so he could not be counted as an enemy infiltrator or spy. That meant that later, they would simply execute Yao Anyang directly!
Nan Yu said, "Then explain it. Even I wouldn't dare boast that I could erase all of someone else's mental intent from a cluster of mental power by myself within a short period of time."
Shuang Qingyue said, "Actually, Yao Anyang brought back some kind of device from somewhere. As long as I placed the small box containing the mental power inside that machine, the machine would subtly and indirectly draw on a portion of the mental power of every Mental Power User nearby during the night to disperse the mental intent inside."
Nan Yu said, "So that's why Yao Anyang gave the device to you and had you handle this?"
Shuang Qingyue said, "Yes. I'm a Mental Power User, so I live together with the other Mental Power Users. Yao Anyang is the commander here. There's no way he could stay in an area where Mental Power Users gather at all times. I'm the only one who could. During the day, we treated Ability Users together, and at night, everyone slept nearby."
"The device was kept in my room. Its effective range was just large enough to cover all the surrounding rooms where the Mental Power Users lived."
Nan Yu suddenly thought of something. "Are the Mental Power Users here so irritable and short-tempered because of this?"
Shuang Qingyue paused slightly.
It seemed... that really might be the case?
"I think so. Before we started using the machine, they were all fairly mild-tempered and easy to talk to. But after that, they seemed to gradually become more irritable."
Nan Yu thought that was only natural. During the day, they expended enormous amounts of physical strength and mental power treating Ability Users. At night, even while sleeping, their mental power could not recover fully. Instead, a little thief would slowly steal a bit from them, then steal a little more later. Anyone subjected to that would feel awful.
Mental Power Users were extremely sensitive to their own mental power. They might not know that their mental power was being stolen, but they could sense that something felt wrong with their Mental Sea. After enough time passed, even the gentlest saint would develop a bad temper.
So the Mental Power Users at this military base had not been irritable specifically toward Nan Yu. This was the main reason behind their behavior.
"Then after doing this once, how long did it take to completely erase the mental intent from that small cluster of mental power?"
Shuang Qingyue thought for a moment. "I think it took three to five days. The exact amount of time depended on how much mental power I'd extracted beforehand."
"Good. That device is still in your room, right?"
Shuang Qingyue nodded. "Yes. If no one has touched my room yet, it should still be there. I kept it on the table every day."
Nan Yu said, "In that case, have you ever considered that you're also within the machine's range when it steals mental power? Weren't you afraid?"
Unexpectedly, Shuang Qingyue blinked before revealing a shocked expression. Apparently, it was only after Nan Yu pointed it out that he realized this really did seem to be the case!
But he had never felt much of anything. It was probably because after the experimental drug modifications, the amount of mental power he possessed had increased while his Mental Sea had not grown larger. Losing a small amount of mental power every day actually reduced the burden on him, which was why he had never noticed anything until now.
"Is that really what happened? I genuinely never felt uncomfortable, but..."
But it seemed to be true.
Shuang Qingyue suddenly realized that perhaps Yao Anyang had never treated him as well or trusted him as much as he had thought. Maybe Yao Anyang had intended to use this method to slowly wear him down as well. What Yao Anyang had not expected was that instead of wearing down Shuang Qingyue's mental power, it actually relieved the pressure on him.
No wonder he had been sleeping so well recently.
Nan Yu said, "Keep going."
Shuang Qingyue said, "All right. Anyway, once the mental power inside the device had been cleansed through that method, it would be placed into Yao Anyang's Mental Sea."
"But if an Ability User's Mental Sea is intact, it can't fuse with external mental power. So he had me damage his Mental Sea first and then let it slowly repair itself. While repairing itself, the Mental Sea would gradually assimilate and fuse with the mental power stolen from Mental Power Users. That really could strengthen his own mental power."
Nan Yu said, "So Yao Anyang's Mental Sea was left in such a battered state because he demanded it himself. And the reason I couldn't find a matching Mental Power User for the mental power I previously extracted from his Mental Sea was actually because that person was already dead?"
Shuang Qingyue said, "Yes. It was about a month before you arrived at this military base. He told me that person couldn't still be alive after you arrived here. Otherwise, if you discovered him, it would cause enormous trouble. So he ordered me to extract all the remaining mental power from that person's Mental Sea as quickly as possible."
"At that point, he was already on the verge of death, and his Mental Sea's defenses were extremely weak. I only had to do it a few times before there was absolutely no saving him. After he died, Yao Anyang took the corpse away. I don't know where he took it. I only needed to help him make that mental power clean."
"After that, it was the same process as before. Damage Yao Anyang's Mental Sea, then put the cleansed mental power inside and let his Mental Sea repair itself while absorbing and fusing with it."
"It's just..."
Nan Yu finished the thought for him. "It's just that he never expected us to arrive several days early, which allowed us to see his abnormal body shape. To keep himself from being exposed, he fabricated that story and those lies. What he expected even less was that I would actually have the ability to extract every trace of mental power that didn't belong to him from his Mental Sea!"
Shuang Qingyue said, "Yes. He was extremely shocked at the time."
Nan Yu said, "No wonder he became so agitated when he learned I could do it. It wasn't because he was finally about to be saved. It was because he was about to lose so much mental power that had been incredibly difficult to obtain, mental power that was already in the process of fusing with his own."
Nan Yu fell silent for a moment. He felt as though he could no longer find any words to describe this.
What they had done truly violated all common sense and human decency.
Shuang Qingyue was soon escorted back to his cell on Yu Lanfeng's orders. Meanwhile, the people who had gone to Shuang Qingyue's room to search for the device returned as well, bringing back an extremely strange object.
Nan Yu stared at it. "What's this?"
After setting the object down, the soldiers quickly turned around and left, not remaining there to get in the way.
Yu Lanfeng picked up the oddly shaped object. All four corners protruded into sharp points, while the center contained a recessed slot, just large enough to hold the small box containing mental power.
There was also a place on the base where the device could be activated.
The device appeared to be switched on right now. Nan Yu pressed it once, turning it off immediately. The faintly uncomfortable sensation he had felt just moments ago disappeared.
Nan Yu said, "Brother, how do you think we should handle this?"
Yu Lanfeng said, "This matter is extremely serious. First, we need to find the corpses Yao Anyang disposed of, or identify the Mental Power Users who have already died."
"After all, if they disappeared from within the Empire, this matter will become even more troublesome."
Nan Yu suddenly thought of something. "Brother, if those Mental Power Users weren't from within the Empire, then let's handle this ourselves."
If this matter became public, Shuang Qingyue and Yao Anyang would not be the only ones severely punished. Their entire legion would be unable to escape responsibility, because Yao Anyang was a member of Yu Lanfeng's legion. Yu Lanfeng had even personally promoted him to become the commander of a military base in a border region.
Everyone had their own selfish interests, and Nan Yu had his own bottom line as well.
As long as this matter did not involve Imperial citizens, he was willing to protect his lover, his partner, and their legion to a certain extent.
Nan Yu said, "Besides, Shuang Qingyue just said that this was kept extremely secret. Even though they were doing something like this inside such a huge military base, it seems only the two of them knew about it."
And when he thought about it, that made sense. If unnecessary people learned about this, Yao Anyang would undoubtedly become restless and uneasy until he eliminated them. Naturally, he would not want more people knowing what he was doing.
Shuang Qingyue, meanwhile, had been sent here by the other side and was himself an infiltrator, so trusting him to some extent was understandable. Moreover, judging from what Shuang Qingyue had just said, Yao Anyang had not trusted him completely either. Yao Anyang had still kept many things hidden from him.
For example, who exactly had Yao Anyang been contacting? Where had he obtained those Mental Power Users? And how had he managed to keep anyone at the base from becoming suspicious of them?
Most importantly, who were those Mental Power Users, and where had their corpses gone after they were tortured to death?
If the bodies had been burned or chopped into pieces and thrown into the sea, then there truly would be no way to recover them.
Nan Yu said, "Brother, this matter really is important, but we also have to deal with the spies at the other bases as quickly as possible. We don't know when they might find a way to contact the outside world. If everything gets leaked, it'll cause major problems for our current plan. After all, that thing is still a secret."
Yu Lanfeng said, "You're right. We need to come up with a good solution."
Nan Yu said, "How about this?"
Yu Lanfeng said, "Tell me."
Nan Yu briefly explained his idea. His method was extremely simple, and Yu Lanfeng understood it after only a few sentences, but he felt that it might not work.
"Are you sure there won't be a problem? You won't be harmed?"
Nan Yu said, "What could happen to me? I did the same thing when I controlled Zhou Ziyu before. The sphere of mental power inside Zhou Ziyu can't be retrieved anymore, which is why I suffered a little damage. But here, Yao Anyang is right here. Once we're finished using it, I'll just retrieve it. I won't suffer any loss at all."
Yu Lanfeng said, "I'll stay right beside you. If anything goes wrong, I'll stop you immediately."
Nan Yu felt that these words had become extremely familiar. Every time he was about to do something, Yu Lanfeng would always say something like this.
But that was fine.
He liked seeing Yu Lanfeng worry about him.
Nan Yu said, "Then let's go see Yao Anyang. But we should ask him first. If he's willing to tell us himself, it'll save me all this trouble."
Yu Lanfeng nodded. "It would be best if he tells us himself."
But things might not go nearly that smoothly.
When they opened the cell where Yao Anyang was being held, they saw him sitting silently in a corner with his head lowered.
All of his former high spirits had disappeared. He looked as though he had fallen into profound despair and self-reproach. The lifelessness in his eyes could not be concealed even by the hair hanging over them, nor could it hide the overwhelming grief in his expression.
Even Nan Yu was somewhat affected by the intensity of his emotions, but he quickly broke free from their influence. His eyes narrowed slightly.
So it seemed that the method Yao Anyang had described really could strengthen an Ability User's mental power.
If some relatively weak Mental Power Users had just walked in, they might have remained affected by these emotions for much longer.
And if they were even weaker, the sort who ranked among the weakest Low-Tier Mental Power Users, the effect could be much more severe. They might even be completely overwhelmed by it.
Nan Yu could not tell whether Yao Anyang was deliberately projecting these emotions or whether he genuinely believed that there was no longer any hope of saving himself.
Standing outside the cell, Nan Yu looked at the deathly still Yao Anyang and wanted to speak, but he was not sure whether Yao Anyang would respond at all.
Only after Yu Lanfeng nodded to him did Nan Yu ask, "Yao Anyang, the Marshal has questions for you."
Yao Anyang did not move. There was not even the slightest fluctuation in his gaze. He looked like a lifeless doll. If he had not still been breathing, if his heart had not still been beating, and if Nan Yu had not been able to sense his mental power and some of his emotions, Nan Yu would have assumed that Yao Anyang had somehow been switched with someone else and escaped.
Nan Yu called Yao Anyang's name again, this time adding the pressure of his mental power to jolt him.
"Yao Anyang!!"
Yao Anyang abruptly raised his head, his eyes staring directly at Nan Yu.
Nan Yu's scalp instantly went numb.
No matter how powerful Nan Yu became, his strength still belonged to the realm of Mental Power Users.
When facing an Ability User, a Mental Power User generally had very little ability to resist physically. Unless they could attack with mental power before the other party used their ability or killed them, turning the opponent into an idiot or completely destroying their Mental Sea and plunging them into endless sleep, they would remain at an enormous disadvantage.
Once a Mental Sea was destroyed, there was no way to reconstruct another one. Anyone who lost their Mental Sea, whether an Ability User or a Mental Power User, would fall into permanent sleep, like someone in a vegetative state, and remain asleep until their body eventually died naturally.
Yu Lanfeng immediately stepped forward and shielded Nan Yu behind him.
Only then did Nan Yu recover from his sudden fear.
It seemed Yu Lanfeng had protected him far too well before this, leaving Nan Yu with little understanding of what it truly felt like to be completely targeted by a powerful Ability User.
Fortunately, now he had experienced it.
And having experienced it, he also understood that in his current state, there was absolutely no possibility of fighting shoulder to shoulder with Yu Lanfeng.
His first priority still had to be becoming a High-Tier Mental Power User.
Yu Lanfeng stared at Yao Anyang inside the cell. "You're very capable."
Yao Anyang had spent so many years right under his nose without even Yu Lanfeng seeing through him. Yu Lanfeng had even thought highly of him, promoting him to general of this military base and placing him in command here.
Yet he had never imagined that such trust would be repaid with such an enormous betrayal.
Yao Anyang seemed somewhat ashamed. He turned his head away, refusing to look at him, and merely called out in a low voice, "Marshal..."
Yu Lanfeng said, "I'm asking you: where did those Mental Power Users come from? Who have you been in contact with all this time? And where did you dispose of the bodies of the Mental Power Users who died?"
Yao Anyang paused slightly.
From the moment he and Shuang Qingyue had been arrested together, he had known that this day would inevitably come.
He simply had not expected it to come so soon.