Chapter 164: Setting Off
The look in Zhou Ziyu's eyes grew increasingly terrified as he stared at Nan Yu.
“Y-You... what are you going to do?”
Nan Yu looked at him in slight surprise.
“Hm? What's with that expression? Have you already guessed?”
“Well, I suppose that's understandable. After all, you're very familiar with this sort of method. It wouldn't be strange if you figured it out.”
“But you also know I'm a very suspicious person.”
“Without using a method like this, there's simply no way I can trust you.”
“The Marshal doesn't mind because he's incredibly powerful. There are very few people in this world who can threaten him, so he isn't afraid of you pulling any tricks.”
“But as for me... I don't think it'll work without some kind of guarantee.”
“After all, we both think your plan is quite good, so I'm going to have to trouble you a little.”
“Oh, right.”
“When the time comes, don't let your Mental Power act recklessly.”
“If I instinctively crush all of it... don't blame me if you end up becoming an idiot.”
He looked exactly like someone saying—
You've already handed over the list anyway.
Even if you accidentally become an idiot and can't carry out the rest of the plan, it won't really matter.
We won't lose anything.
That was exactly what Zhou Ziyu read from Nan Yu's eyes.
Combined with everything Nan Yu had just said...
It was pushing him right to the limits of his patience.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziyu still knew where he was.
He didn't dare lose his temper.
But...
Did he really have to accept this?
He thought about the fact that Nan Yu's Mental Power was roughly on the same level as his own.
Perhaps...
Maybe he could resist a little...
At that thought, his gaze shifted toward Yu Lanfeng standing beside them.
...
Wait.
What exactly had he just been thinking?
Resist?
Even if he managed to withstand Nan Yu's Mental Power...
Could he escape while Yu Lanfeng was standing right there?
That was Yu Lanfeng!
With someone like him present...
Even if he resisted Nan Yu successfully, there was no possibility of escaping.
He was trapped between a wolf in front and a tiger behind.
One way or another...
He had to accept it.
But what if something went wrong?
...
At that moment, only one thought remained in Zhou Ziyu's mind.
He didn't want to die.
He wanted to live.
Not only live—
He wanted to live comfortably for a very, very long time.
With the level of Mental Power he currently possessed, he could have easily spent his entire life inside the organization as one of its elite Mental Power Users.
So...
Why on earth had he suddenly decided to infiltrate this legion as a spy?
Back then...
Hadn't he simply thought it'd be fun?
Now what?
He personally [N O V E L I G H T] knew how terrifying this method was.
After all...
He'd used it on other people himself.
If Nan Yu took advantage of the opportunity to influence his Mental Sea...
Then gradually influence his thoughts...
His emotions...
His habits...
Even his personality...
Wouldn't he become an entirely different person?
And that wasn't even the most horrifying possibility.
The truly terrifying part was that afterward...
No matter what Nan Yu ordered...
He would obey.
If Nan Yu ordered him to die—
He would die.
If Nan Yu ordered him to do something—
He would do it.
Without the slightest resistance.
Panic filled Zhou Ziyu's heart.
He even thought...
If that really happened...
He might as well die instead.
Just as he was preparing to resist even at the cost of his life...
Yu Lanfeng's icy gaze landed on him.
A chill ran down his spine.
His head instantly cooled.
...
No.
He wanted to live.
Zhou Ziyu's expression changed over and over again, remaining extremely unpleasant the entire time.
Nan Yu naturally knew why.
Zhou Ziyu simply didn't want to accept these conditions.
Because he understood perfectly well...
If things really turned out that way...
Nan Yu could completely control him.
After struggling internally for a long time...
His expression finally relaxed a little.
He had obviously made his decision.
Just as he was about to speak—
Nan Yu suddenly smiled.
“Oh, right.”
“The method I'm talking about isn't the one you're thinking of.”
Zhou Ziyu froze.
He'd already prepared himself to accept it for the time being and figure something out after returning to the organization.
“What?”
Nan Yu smiled.
“I said...”
“My method isn't the one you imagined.”
“I don't use such vicious methods.”
“After all...”
“I'm a righteous person.”
“My method is simply to leave a small Mental Power sphere inside your Mental Sea.”
“Of course, this little sphere won't leak any of my Mental Power.”
“In other words...”
“As long as you honestly do everything you promised earlier...”
“This little sphere will never have any effect on you.”
“But if you pretend to cooperate while secretly betraying us...”
“Then don't blame me for being merciless.”
“Understand now?”
Listening to Nan Yu's words...
Zhou Ziyu instinctively thought of himself.
So...
Nan Yu was calling him vicious.
Evil.
A criminal.
...
Well...
That wasn't exactly wrong.
He really was a member of the organization.
And the organization itself...
Was an international criminal syndicate.
Fine.
He admitted it.
He wasn't a good person.
Still...
Ever since the organization had taken him in...
He actually hadn't done many bad things.
He had willingly participated in their drug experiments...
Eventually becoming the powerful Mental Power User he was today.
Perhaps the organization believed he had already reached his limit.
Continuing the experiments would have a 99.9% chance of failure.
So they stopped.
Afterward...
He remained within the organization as one of its senior members.
Although...
Being "senior" simply meant knowing slightly more than everyone else.
His main responsibility was helping members suffering from severe Mental Contamination dispel it.
The reason he volunteered to infiltrate this legion...
Was simply because life assigned to people like him inside the organization...
Was unbearably boring.
Everything there was luxurious.
Life was comfortable.
He could have whatever he wanted.
Even if they couldn't obtain the real thing...
They could provide an incredibly convincing imitation.
The only downside...
Was boredom.
So...
He accepted this mission simply to experience something different.
When he first arrived at the military base...
He'd been extremely cautious.
But after discovering that all the soldiers treated Mental Power Users very well...
He gradually let down his guard.
Later...
He met those five people.
Although they treated him politely...
Every single one of them looked at him the same way.
Distant.
Cold.
Looking down on him.
Two of them even appeared cheerful.
But Zhou Ziyu knew people like that were even less likely to genuinely care about others.
Their lives were already full of friends.
Because his Mental Power was exceptionally strong...
He could sense fragments of other people's emotions.
When he realized those five didn't take him seriously at all...
He decided to get revenge.
That was when he experimented with the new Mental Power technique he'd recently discovered.
Especially after having already succeeded once before.
Unfortunately...
He'd barely begun playing with his new toy.
Only five people in the entire base had fallen under his control...
Before everything suddenly collapsed.
Before Zhou Ziyu even understood what had happened...
He'd already been captured.
Ever since then...
He'd remained completely passive.
And now...
Other than accepting Nan Yu's conditions...
He had no other choice.
Because refusing Nan Yu...
Meant facing Yu Lanfeng's flames.
Those flames were said to burn through the strongest metallic mineral ever discovered.
His own fragile body...
Would probably be vaporized instantly.
Zhou Ziyu swallowed nervously.
“Really?”
Nan Yu blinked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean...”
“The Mental Power sphere you mentioned...”
“It really won't affect my way of thinking after it's inside my Mental Sea?”
Nan Yu blinked again.
“You mean...”
“Like what you did to those people before?”
Zhou Ziyu looked embarrassed.
Even so...
He forced himself to nod.
“Yes.”
Nan Yu smiled.
“Of course not.”
“And actually...”
“My explanation wasn't completely thorough.”
“Once I place one inside your Mental Sea...”
“You'll be able to feel it yourself.”
“Then you'll understand everything.”
Zhou Ziyu fell silent.
...
So asking had been pointless.
He still had to experience it personally.
Only now, with the moment finally approaching...
Did his heart begin pounding.
What if...
Nan Yu accidentally...
Turned him into an idiot?
...
Probably impossible.
His Mental Power was incredibly strong.
Surely...
That couldn't happen.
So...
Maybe...
He should just try it...
Seeing that Zhou Ziyu had finally made up his mind...
Nan Yu smiled.
The surveillance inside the room had already been disconnected.
Only after Yu Lanfeng personally confirmed there was nothing monitoring them did he nod.
He walked to the door...
Opened it...
And stepped outside.
Zhou Ziyu was momentarily stunned.
Yu Lanfeng had simply...
Left?
Then another thought struck him.
Perhaps Yu Lanfeng had only pretended to leave...
To lower his guard.
He absolutely couldn't fall for such a trick.
So while Nan Yu prepared to act...
Zhou Ziyu remained perfectly still.
This was Nan Yu's first time attempting something like this.
Everything he'd considered before...
Had merely been theory.
So in reality...
He was rather nervous himself.
Still...
Using Zhou Ziyu as the first test subject...
Was acceptable.
Even failure didn't matter.
Because Nan Yu trusted someone like Zhou Ziyu the least.
The list was already in their possession.
Even if Zhou Ziyu died immediately...
It wouldn't matter.
They would lose a potentially useful tool...
But they would also eliminate an unknown danger.
Nan Yu slowly released his Mental Power.
He warned him,
“Whatever you do...”
“Don't resist my Mental Power.”
“Because the battlefield...”
“Will be your Mental Sea.”
If two equally powerful Mental Powers clashed inside it...
Wouldn't his Mental Sea be blown apart completely?
Nan Yu carefully entered Zhou Ziyu's Mental Sea.
Only after entering did he finally understand.
At first glance...
It looked no different from the Mental Sea of an ordinary Mid-Tier Mental Power User.
The only difference...
Was that it had been packed to the brim with Zhou Ziyu's own Mental Power.
Very little empty space remained.
Fortunately...
It was still enough for today's purpose.
Nan Yu's own Mental Power had been cultivated naturally.
As it grew stronger...
His Mental Sea had evolved alongside it.
It became larger.
Far more resilient.
Extremely difficult for outsiders to breach.
Its Mental Power flowed freely throughout the entire space.
Unlike Zhou Ziyu's...
Where all the Mental Power had been squeezed into an extremely cramped area.
To a Mental Power User...
Mental Power and the Mental Sea reflected their personality.
Their character.
Their very nature.
Zhou Ziyu was extremely confident...
Until he met someone stronger.
Then...
He became exactly what he was now.
Retreating step by step.
Until he finally accepted every condition placed before him.
An ordinary person...
Upon learning they might be controlled forever...
Or even transformed into someone else entirely...
Would probably choose to self-destruct their own Mental Sea.
Rather than submit.
But Zhou Ziyu possessed two extreme personality traits.
First...
He viewed the lives of unrelated people as worthless.
Disposable test subjects.
Their deaths meant nothing to him.
As long as he enjoyed himself.
Second...
Whenever he encountered someone overwhelmingly stronger than himself...
He would retreat again...
And again...
And again...
Until there was nowhere left to retreat.
Then...
He accepted reality.
He didn't dare die.
He didn't want to die.
He wanted to live.
Nan Yu had recognized that fear of death from the very beginning.
That was why he'd been able to keep Zhou Ziyu firmly under control.
Especially now...
When he'd completely achieved his objective.
Half an hour later...
Nan Yu successfully left a tiny Mental Power sphere inside Zhou Ziyu's Mental Sea.
Compared to the enormous Mental Sea...
The little sphere occupied almost no space at all.
Nor did it actively come into contact with Zhou Ziyu's Mental Power.
It was as though the two would never interfere with one another.
Even Nan Yu hadn't expected his very first attempt...
To proceed so smoothly.
It seemed fate itself had spared Zhou Ziyu.
Perhaps Heaven had decided his life wasn't meant to end today.
Nan Yu withdrew his hands.
Then lightly patted Zhou Ziyu's shoulder.
“Done.”
Zhou Ziyu immediately jumped to his feet and began inspecting his Mental Sea.
Very quickly...
He discovered a tiny sphere hidden in an extremely secluded corner.
He cautiously prodded it twice with his own Mental Power.
Nothing happened.
Nan Yu smiled.
“So?”
“Quite a surprise, isn't it?”
Zhou Ziyu tried moving it.
It wouldn't budge.
Which meant...
He couldn't remove it from his Mental Sea.
Seeing exactly what he was thinking, Nan Yu explained with a smile,
“This little Mental Power sphere has already taken root inside your Mental Sea.”
“Other than me...”
“No one can remove it.”
“As everyone knows, removing Mental Contamination means crushing it into pieces before slowly expelling it.”
“If you want to remove my sphere...”
“You'll first have to crush it.”
“And then slowly extract every fragment.”
“But...”
“Why don't you try?”
“Can you do it?”
Zhou Ziyu immediately tried.
Moments later...
He discovered the sphere hadn't changed in the slightest.
Nan Yu smiled.
“Well?”
“Now do you understand?”
Zhou Ziyu hesitated.
“Then...”
“Could it suddenly turn back into Mental Power and wreak havoc inside my Mental Sea?”
“What if...”
Nan Yu shook his head.
“Of course not.”
“As long as you honestly keep your promises...”
“This thing will never affect you.”
“And once the proper time comes...”
“I'll personally remove it for you.”
“For free.”
“I'll give you your freedom back.”
Zhou Ziyu's eyes widened.
“When?”
Nan Yu only smiled.
Instead of answering...
He asked another question.
“What do you think?”
For perhaps the first time in his life...
Zhou Ziyu became clever at exactly the wrong moment.
In truth...
He wished he hadn't understood.
Because...
He believed he'd figured out Nan Yu's real intention.
His mission now...
Was to return to the organization as an undercover informant.
As long as the organization continued to exist...
His value remained.
Which meant...
Only after the organization was destroyed...
Would he regain his freedom.
But...
How was that even possible?
After joining the organization...
He had gradually learned its history.
Its scale.
It had already existed for several centuries.
Its branches were everywhere.
Deeply rooted across countless places.
Destroying it wasn't something one or two generations could accomplish.
So...
Didn't that mean...
He would never regain his freedom?
Seeing his pale face...
Nan Yu secretly found the situation hilarious.
He'd only asked casually.
Who knew what Zhou Ziyu had imagined...
To frighten himself this badly?
Nan Yu smiled.
“You've figured it out, haven't you?”
Zhou Ziyu looked at him.
“That's impossible.”
Nan Yu blinked.
...
Impossible?
What exactly was impossible?
“Why not try first?”
“How do you know I'm joking?”
Zhou Ziyu replied,
“Are you kidding me?”
“Do you even know how long this organization has existed?”
“Do you know how many bases it has?”
“How many members?”
“And do you know how many people around the world secretly buy those drugs behind the backs of their countries, the military, even their own families and lovers?”
Nan Yu finally realized what Zhou Ziyu had misunderstood.
...
That really was quite an imagination.
He hadn't thought that far at all.
Still...
Scaring him a little wasn't a bad thing.
“You'll never know unless you try.”
“Maybe...”
“Our generation really can bring it to an end.”
“Don't you think?”
Zhou Ziyu quietly sat there in silence.
He said nothing else.
Satisfied that his objective had been achieved, Nan Yu continued,
“Oh, right.”
“In two days we'll be leaving.”
“When that happens...”
“The organization will definitely work together with the infiltrators inside this military base to rescue you.”
“When they arrive...”
“Just go with them.”
“It'll be the perfect opportunity for us to clean out everyone inside this base.”
Zhou Ziyu subconsciously asked,
“What about all the other bases?”
Nan Yu hadn't decided yet.
But whether he had or not...
Made no difference.
Even if there were plans...
They certainly wouldn't tell Zhou Ziyu.
Although Zhou Ziyu could temporarily be considered one of their own...
He still couldn't be fully trusted.
After all...
No one knew whether the Mental Power sphere inside his Mental Sea would remain effective forever.
Everything eventually wore down.
That sphere would never again receive replenishment from Nan Yu's own Mental Power.
Over countless years...
It would gradually weaken...
And eventually disappear.
Still...
That process would probably take decades.
Nan Yu was more than confident.
Within those decades...
He would squeeze every bit of information possible about the organization out of Zhou Ziyu.
Yu Lanfeng looked at Nan Yu as he came out of the room.
“Finished?”
Nan Yu was in an excellent mood.
“Yes.”
“It's time for us to leave.”
“Let's head back to Region One first.”
“Once we've gone...”
“His accomplices will definitely come rescue him.”
“And after Zhou Ziyu is rescued...”
“It'll be time to completely clean out this military base.”
Since Lin Changyu was the commander of the base...
They informed him of the entire plan.
Nan Yu said,
“Once everything is over...”
“Just pin everything that happened during this period on those spies.”
“Whether they actually did it or not doesn't matter.”
“As long as every incident gets blamed on them.”
“Understood?”
Lin Changyu nodded solemnly.
“I understand.”
“Thank you.”
Nan Yu raised an eyebrow.
He hadn't expected such a sincere expression of gratitude.
Then again...
It wasn't surprising.
First...
He'd saved the person Lin Changyu cared about most—
Han Lu.
Then...
He'd saved Han Lu's closest friend.
Any normal person would naturally be grateful.
Forget it.
Whenever it came to people from his own legion...
He simply couldn't help softening.
Yu Lanfeng reached out and gently ruffled Nan Yu's hair.
“Alright.”
“Let's go.”
Yu Lanfeng's group packed extremely quickly.
Within only two hours...
Every necessary arrangement had been completed.
By the time the people at the military base heard the news...
They didn't even have time to come see them off.
Only after confirming that Yu Lanfeng and Nan Yu had truly departed...
Did the hidden infiltrators throughout the base slowly begin emerging from the shadows.
They secretly started making preparations.
After more than ten days of effort...
They finally forced open a path capable of rescuing Zhou Ziyu.
But if they really carried out this operation...
Many years of infiltration would be destroyed.
One of them...
Was the squad leader guarding Zhou Ziyu's prison.
He had been sent into the Empire as a child.
Successfully obtained Imperial citizenship.
Grew up as an Imperial citizen.
Yet...
He had never forgotten who he truly was.
Originally...
He believed he could continue living this double life forever.
Serving in the legion.
Fighting until he died on the front lines.
Then...
Having his name engraved upon the Hero Memorial.
If that happened...
He would never again have to choose between the two sides.
One side...
The organization.
His superiors.
The people who had controlled him his entire life.
The other...
The Empire.
The place where he'd spent decades living as a real human being.
Sometimes...
He had genuinely begun believing he was an Imperial citizen.
He'd even considered betraying the organization.
But...
He knew that wasn't realistic.
Most importantly...
He wasn't actually from the Empire.
He'd been planted there by the organization.
The organization undoubtedly possessed proof of that.
If he betrayed them...
Not only would the organization hunt him endlessly...
The Empire would issue a warrant for his arrest as well.
That was a future he simply couldn't accept.
The moment his superiors ordered him to prioritize rescuing Zhou Ziyu...
He knew...
His comfortable life inside the Empire...
Within this legion...
Had come to an end.
Meanwhile...
The Zhou Ziyu whom everyone was desperately preparing to rescue...
Sat alone with an exceptionally ugly expression.
He had absolutely no idea...
What awaited him...
After returning to the organization.