Chapter 137: Border
Nan Yu watched as the man spilled everything he knew in one breath, as though he couldn't wait to save his own life.
"I'm telling the truth! I wasn't the one who attacked anyone! I just brought my daughter to visit my son. My son works here. We followed all the proper procedures—we specifically applied for a visitation permit before coming in! Please don't arrest us!"
The little girl was currently resting in an office outside, happily eating snacks and drinking fruit juice. At least nothing had happened to her.
"Do you know who attacked Professor Liu?"
Nan Yu had already seen the attacker's video footage and photographs. He could tell that although the man in front of him didn't look exactly the same, there was definitely a resemblance.
He didn't believe that was a coincidence.
The man fell silent for a moment.
Then he remembered he was already under interrogation. If he refused to cooperate honestly, things would probably end very badly for him.
Besides, he knew that even if he kept quiet, given enough time they would discover who had brought that person inside.
He might even drag his own son into this.
If he confessed now, at least it would count as voluntary cooperation. If they uncovered everything themselves before he spoke...
That would be a completely different matter.
"...Actually, he's my cousin. My cousin's entire family is gone now, and he's the only one left. When my son brought us to live in the family residential building outside, he brought him along as well."
"This time, when we came to visit my son, he said he wanted to see what this place was like, so I brought him with us. He's been living with us all this time, and even the guards at the residential building know him."
Nan Yu frowned.
"Since your son works here, your status isn't the same as yours. He can leave whenever he wants."
"If you wanted to see him, why not just contact him and have him come home? The medical building isn't that far from the family residential area."
"So why go through all the trouble of applying for a visitation permit, waiting all that time, and then coming here in broad daylight to see your son?"
"You should know your son's work schedule and whether he's busy."
"So tell me the real reason."
"If you keep lying, I won't have anything else to ask."
The man's lips twitched.
Nan Yu had hit the mark.
"...Sigh..."
"...Actually..."
"...We just wanted to come inside and have a look around."
"We wanted to broaden our horizons. That's all."
"This is the headquarters on the Capital Star of the strongest legion founded by the strongest Ability User in the Empire."
"Who wouldn't want to see a place like this?"
Nan Yu raised an eyebrow.
"In that case, explain something else."
"Why attack Professor Liu?"
"Professor Liu has spent his entire life on the Capital Star. Unless something special happens, he never leaves."
"Even when he visits other planets, he goes as part of a medical team."
"By all accounts, he shouldn't have anything to do with people like you."
"So what exactly happened?"
"And don't hide anything or lie."
"For us, discovering the truth is only a matter of time."
"I... I don't know either."
"After arriving at the medical building, I took my daughter and cousin around for a walk."
"Since our permit only allowed us to visit someone in the medical building, I didn't want to wander too far."
"I took my daughter downstairs for a lap around the building."
"But when we came back, I suddenly realized my cousin was gone."
"Not long afterward, I heard people shouting."
"Later I found out that some important person in the medical building had been attacked."
"And then..."
"I saw my cousin being taken away."
Nan Yu asked,
"You saw your cousin get arrested?"
"Yes."
"I was terrified."
"I wanted to take my daughter and leave immediately."
"I was panicking."
"Then I saw you leading people toward me."
"I got even more frightened and started running faster."
"...And then..."
He was still caught and brought here.
The man hurriedly pleaded,
"Everything I've said is true!"
"You can investigate my family's history."
"Go back as many generations as you like."
"My grandfather and great-grandfather were both soldiers."
"They served in other legions and contributed to the Empire."
"Our family would never do anything like this."
Nan Yu nodded slightly.
"In that case, you'll have to remain here for a while."
"Because one thing you said is absolutely correct."
"No matter how many generations your family goes back, we'll be conducting a complete investigation."
Nan Yu nodded to the soldier before leaving the room.
The interrogation room was clean.
There were no torture instruments inside.
So, for the time being, this man wouldn't suffer anything.
The attacker, however...
Wasn't receiving such generous treatment.
When Nan Yu arrived at the other interrogation room, he was briefly stopped.
The guards quickly realized his special status and immediately let him through.
Nan Yu couldn't help sighing inwardly.
The headquarters of this legion truly was on an entirely different level.
It was undoubtedly one of the safest places in the Empire.
Which only made him wonder...
Why had that man chosen to attack Professor Liu?
He had to find out.
Once he knew the reason, he wanted to tell Professor Liu.
After all, Professor Liu had taught him for quite some time and had withheld absolutely nothing from him.
The least Nan Yu could do was help with something within his own abilities.
Guided by one of the soldiers, Nan Yu arrived outside the interrogation room where the attacker was being held.
Just peering through the crack in the door was enough to make him realize how intimidating the room was.
He had only seen part of one wall.
Yet it was completely covered with torture instruments.
They all looked brand new.
But upon closer inspection, every single one showed signs of use.
The edges were worn from repeated handling.
The room itself was already placing invisible psychological pressure on the prisoner.
The only question was...
Was this man stubborn?
Or would he break easily?
To actually attack a medical professor who had served Yu Lanfeng's legion for nearly two hundred years...
Inside the headquarters of the Empire's strongest legion...
Who had given him the courage to do something like that?
Nan Yu didn't enter.
If he could learn what he wanted without interrupting the interrogation, there was no need to go inside.
So he simply stood outside and listened.
The two interrogators had already noticed who was standing outside.
They found it a little strange that Nan Yu wasn't coming in.
But since he had chosen to stay outside, they assumed he didn't want to interrupt their work.
The two exchanged a glance before continuing.
"Have you made up your mind yet?"
"Are you going to talk?"
"If you keep staying silent..."
"...then from now on, we'll stay silent with you."
The prisoner's face immediately filled with confusion.
He clearly didn't understand what that meant.
Noticing his puzzled expression, one of the soldiers smiled.
"Oh."
"What I mean by 'staying silent with you' is this."
"Right now, we're still willing to talk."
"You've already wasted that opportunity."
"When the time comes, we won't be talking to you anymore."
"And you..."
"...won't have any opportunity to talk to us either."
"Understand?"
The prisoner's face instantly changed.
So that meant...
If he refused to answer now...
Then later, even if he wanted to confess...
No one would listen?
"You..."
"You can't do that!"
"I have rights!"
The two soldiers looked at each other and laughed.
"Rights?"
"Do you even know where you are?"
"You committed a crime here and you're talking about rights?"
"Let me tell you something."
"You've already been classified as a spy."
"If you still want to stay alive, you'd better tell us everything."
"Otherwise..."
"We'll hand you over to the people downstairs."
"You don't actually think this is where the real interrogations happen, do you?"
He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice.
"The real interrogation rooms aren't here."
"They're in the underground basement."
"No matter how loudly you scream down there..."
"No one on the surface will hear a thing."
"Oh, right."
"Forget the surface."
"Once this room's door is closed..."
"Someone standing right outside won't hear anything either."
"What do you think?"
Listening from outside, Nan Yu felt the two soldiers were remarkably talented.
Since they were assigned to the first level, they were obviously the gentlest interrogators.
If the prisoner were actually transferred downstairs...
Things would be exactly as they described.
He wouldn't just face threats anymore.
The attacker sat frozen in the interrogation chair.
He was conflicted.
He regretted everything.
But...
Was regret useful now?
If regret actually accomplished anything...
He wouldn't be sitting here.
He hesitated because he knew his explanation would sound like a lie.
Even if he switched places with the interrogators...
He wouldn't believe it either.
But...
It really was the truth.
"So?"
"Are you talking or not?"
"We don't have much time."
"We'll give you five more minutes."
"If you're still this stubborn after that..."
"We'll have nothing left to discuss."
"Someone else is already waiting."
"We'll hand you over to the next level."
"Maybe over there you'll finally succeed in getting yourself an arm or a leg chopped off."
After saying that, the two soldiers actually stood up and began packing their things.
It genuinely looked as though they were about to leave.
The attacker finally panicked.
"Why are you leaving?!"
"I never said I refused to talk!"
"Wait!"
"Didn't you say I had five minutes?"
"Why are you packing already?!"
He shouted anxiously.
The two soldiers ignored him completely and calmly continued cleaning up.
They had nearly finished.
As soon as time ran out...
They really were going to leave.
The prisoner was terrified.
He imagined himself hanging inside a pitch-black underground torture chamber...
Surrounded on all four walls by torture instruments...
Forced to experience every single one of them.
"I'll talk!"
"I'll tell you everything!"
"Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Can't you slow down a little?!"
The two soldiers calmly sat back down.
One of them glanced at the timer.
"You have three minutes."
The attacker stared blankly.
"W-Wait..."
"I already said I'd confess."
"Why is the countdown still going?"
"If you want the countdown canceled..."
"Then use your remaining time to give us a truthful and useful motive."
"Otherwise..."
"It doesn't count."
Standing outside, Nan Yu couldn't help finding the whole scene rather amusing.
Of course...
The person being interrogated certainly wasn't amused.
Nan Yu continued waiting outside.
Since the man had already decided to talk, there was no need for him to go in.
"I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"Give me a little time!"
"My situation is complicated!"
"If you don't give me enough time, I won't be able to explain everything!"
"You have two minutes."
"Alright!"
"Alright!"
"I'm starting!"
"It's like this..."
"A couple of days ago..."
"A new neighbor moved into the empty apartment opposite the one where my brother, my niece, and I live."
"He became our neighbor."
"So that same day, we went over to introduce ourselves."
"I don't know who inside the legion headquarters brought him there."
"I only know he came alone."
"When we asked who had brought him..."
"He wouldn't answer."
"We asked what that person did."
"He wouldn't answer that either."
"We figured it was probably some confidential profession."
"So after asking once, we dropped the subject."
"That evening we invited him over for dinner."
"Since we'd be neighbors from now on."
"My brother went into the bedroom to put my niece to sleep."
"So only the two of us were left in the living room."
"I don't know what happened."
"Suddenly I felt dazed."
"To me..."
"It only felt like I'd blinked."
"I have no idea how much time actually passed."
"My brother eventually came out and slapped my shoulder."
"He said, 'If you're that sleepy, go sleep in your room.'"
"I woke up then."
"I thought I wasn't actually tired."
"So I didn't pay much attention."
"A few minutes later..."
"That man said he had something to do and left."
"My brother closed the door and immediately asked me why I'd been sitting there in a daze, completely ignoring our guest."
"I told him I'd been talking with the man the whole time."
"But my brother said I'd just been sitting there blankly for more than ten minutes."
"Only then did I realize something had been wrong."
"But afterward I didn't notice anything unusual about myself."
"So I assumed I simply hadn't slept well the night before."
"Then today..."
"When I saw Professor Liu..."
"I suddenly entered that dazed state again."
"When I came back to my senses..."
"Professor Liu was already injured."
"Everyone was staring at me in shock."
"I saw blood on my own hands."
"I panicked."
"I ran."
"And then you caught me."
He finished almost without pausing for breath before nervously looking at the two soldiers.
"I'm done."
"Do you believe me?"
"I'm telling the truth!"
"I honestly don't know what I did back then!"
"I only ran because I was scared!"
"I had a terrible feeling."
"I was terrified."
"That's why I ran!"
He repeatedly emphasized how frightened he had been.
If everything he said was true...
Nan Yu suspected the mysterious neighbor was probably no longer living in the family residential building.
At that moment, Nan Yu knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open.
"Gentlemen."
"Let me examine his Mental Sea."
"If he was truly being controlled..."
"Then no one here is more qualified than I am."
The two interrogators exchanged glances before nodding.
"Of course."
"We'll leave it to you."
They stood on either side of the prisoner.
Nan Yu walked behind him and raised both hands toward either side of the man's head.
The prisoner immediately grew nervous.
He had no idea what was about to happen.
His entire body tensed.
Nan Yu took a deep breath.
"Don't move."
The two soldiers effortlessly restrained him.
Within seconds...
He was completely immobilized.
Nan Yu placed both hands beside the man's head.
His mental power silently entered the man's Mental Sea.
The man was an ordinary civilian.
Neither a Mental Power User nor an Ability User.
His Mental Sea should have contained nothing more than an ordinary cluster of mental power.
However...
Almost immediately after entering...
Nan Yu discovered something abnormal.
Normally...
An ordinary person's Mental Sea was completely unremarkable.
But hidden inside this man's Mental Sea...
Was something resembling a bright pearl.
A separate cluster of mental power.
One that clearly didn't belong there.
Nan Yu immediately wrapped it with his own mental power.
He severed every surrounding connection before pulling it completely out of the man's Mental Sea.
Then...
He absorbed it into his own.
Normally, bringing someone else's mental power into one's own Mental Sea was an extremely dangerous act.
Nan Yu, however, wasn't worried in the slightest.
The reason was simple.
His own Mental Sea was unimaginably powerful.
Even if this tiny fragment exploded inside it...
He would probably do nothing more than feel dizzy for a moment.
So he wasn't concerned at all.
After conducting another thorough inspection, he found nothing else.
"It's done."
"I found a foreign mental power sphere hidden inside his Mental Sea."
"It's now sealed within my own Mental Sea."
"Send people immediately to arrest the man who lived opposite their apartment."
"He's very likely a spy."
"Or some other type of infiltrator."
"You're much more experienced than I am in matters like this."
"So I won't say anything else."
The two soldiers froze.
One immediately contacted the appropriate personnel.
The other escorted Nan Yu to the top floor of the medical building.
Specialized equipment for containing mental power was installed there.
Nan Yu slowly guided the foreign mental power sphere out of his own Mental Sea.
Completely unaware...
Yu Lanfeng was already standing outside the room.
He didn't dare interrupt.
What if barging in distracted Nan Yu?
Although Nan Yu appeared extremely cautious...
He was completely calm inside.
Something this simple wasn't enough to trouble him.
After successfully sealing the foreign mental power inside the special containment device...
He finally relaxed.
Mental power couldn't normally be seen or touched.
So even after being sealed inside the container...
No one could actually see anything.
However...
The surrounding instruments immediately detected its presence.
The equipment could analyze enormous amounts of data.
Just like fingerprints...
Every person's mental wavelength was unique.
Once recorded...
It might someday be matched to its owner.
When Nan Yu opened the door and walked out...
He immediately spotted Yu Lanfeng leaning against the wall, clearly waiting for him.
"Hm?"
"Why are you here?"
The next moment he realized the answer.
"Brother."
"Other people might not know."
"But you do."
"With my strength..."
"How could something happen to me?"
Yu Lanfeng looked distinctly displeased.
"If I'd known beforehand..."
"I would never have let you go."
Nan Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He realized Yu Lanfeng wasn't planning to pursue the matter of him acting on his own.
Immediately grinning, he stepped closer.
"By the way..."
"Did you catch that man?"
At the mention of that subject...
Yu Lanfeng's expression darkened even further.
"By the time our people arrived..."
"He had already been gone for an entire day."
"He'd already left the area under the legion's jurisdiction."
"His whereabouts are currently unknown."
"We've already sent people after him."
"But whether we'll find him..."
"I can't say."
What made matters even worse...
Yu Lanfeng couldn't remain here forever.
In at most one month...
He would depart for the border.
Nan Yu would accompany him.
If the culprit still hadn't been caught by then...
With Yu Lanfeng no longer guarding headquarters...
Would those people return and treat this place like their own backyard?
Yu Lanfeng looked at him.
"What are you thinking about?"
Nan Yu replied quietly,
"We need to catch that criminal as soon as possible."
"That man has crossed my bottom line."
"Professor Liu?"
"That's right."
"I haven't known him for very long."
"But I've already accepted him as my teacher."
"So..."
"I don't care what his motive was."
"Professor Liu was attacked."
"I won't let that man off lightly."
Nan Yu didn't ask what ultimately happened to the manipulated attacker.
In any case...
He would never appear here again.
Yu Lanfeng brought him back to their residence.
"Get some proper rest first."
Since Professor Liu needed time to recover...
He could no longer teach Nan Yu.
So Nan Yu could only find recordings of Professor Liu's old lectures and continue studying on his own.
Fortunately...
His self-study ability was actually quite good.
Meanwhile, Yu Lanfeng returned to his study and resumed work.
A holographic conference room materialized.
Several people sat around a virtual conference table.
Yu Lanfeng occupied the seat at the head.
"Well?"
"Did you find him?"
"You should know..."
"We've already failed many times."
"If you fail again this time..."
"Don't blame me for showing you no mercy."
"I hope all of you understand exactly what I mean."
"You're outstanding during special training."
"Your rehearsal performances are excellent."
"But the moment a real mission begins..."
"You become dead weight."
"I'm giving your squad one last chance."
"If you still can't capture the suspect..."
"Then there's no reason for this independently assigned unit to continue existing."
So...
He was reprimanding one of the special combat squads directly under his command.
"Marshal!"
"This time we'll definitely succeed!"
Yu Lanfeng didn't answer.
He simply ended the holographic conference.
The moment he blinked...
He sensed Nan Yu approaching his office.
He quietly closed the interface on his communicator.
When Nan Yu called him to dinner, he closed the office door and followed him to the cafeteria.
Naturally...
They ate in the officers' dining hall with the highest prices.
Most personnel ate elsewhere.
Very few people came here.
While eating, Nan Yu asked,
"Brother..."
"When are we leaving for the border?"
"I have a feeling this incident was aimed at me again."
"After all..."
"Professor Liu is currently my teacher."
"And practically everyone at headquarters already knows that, don't they?"