Chapter 186: Truth
Shuang Qingyue's guilty expression, as though he were simply waiting to die, made Nan Yu's earlier suspicions seem almost certainly true.
Nan Yu said, "Shuang Qingyue, let me ask you something. Have you been working together with Yao Anyang?"
Shuang Qingyue trembled slightly, but he neither raised his head nor answered. It was as though he hadn't heard Nan Yu's question at all. Nan Yu knew he simply didn't want to speak.
Nan Yu continued, "What's wrong? If the answer is no, then say no. If it's yes, then say yes. Do you really think you can keep hiding it at this point? The Mental Power User we captured earlier will wake up sooner or later. Do you really think the two of you can escape before he regains consciousness?"
Only then did Shuang Qingyue raise his head to glance at him.
"How do you know this has something to do with that Mental Power User? Normally no one would make that connection..."
Nan Yu replied, "You're right. Normally no one would. But I always felt that person's appearance at the military base was extremely unusual. Even that Mental Power User who had been locked in the deepest underground prison before—why had he remained in a constant state of mental power rampage? That seemed suspicious too."
"So, are you going to tell us some inside information now? If you provide enough intelligence, I might even consider recommending a lighter sentence for you later."
Shuang Qingyue lowered his eyes, seemingly lost in thought.
A moment later, however, he curled back into the corner in silence as though he knew nothing at all.
It was obvious he had no intention of talking.
Nan Yu asked, "So you're planning to stay stubborn until the very end?"
Shuang Qingyue answered quietly, "Doctor Nan, I don't know what you're talking about. General Yao and I simply love each other. There was never any so-called cooperation, nor any plan like the one you described."
Nan Yu had expected that. If Shuang Qingyue admitted everything so easily, that would have been truly suspicious.
But it also made him think of an even worse possibility.
If Shuang Qingyue had confessed without resistance, it would have meant that what they had done might still have fallen within some tolerable limit.
But if he refused to admit anything no matter what...
Then it meant he knew that the moment he confessed, absolute destruction awaited them, because what they had done was utterly unforgivable.
Of course, it was also possible that he simply wanted to see whether he could deny everything and get away with it.
Which possibility was the truth, Nan Yu still couldn't determine.
In any case, the situation had become extremely complicated, and for the moment he had no good way to make Shuang Qingyue talk.
Should they resort to torture?
It might work, but that would require Yu Lanfeng's help.
Nan Yu understood interrogation techniques in theory, but he had never actually conducted torture himself.
Yu Lanfeng stepped forward.
"If you refuse to speak voluntarily, then we'll simply use other methods to question you."
"When that time comes, don't regret it."
"And don't beg us to stop."
The first thing that came to Shuang Qingyue's mind was the interrogation room they had previously used on captured spies.
His face immediately turned pale with panic.
"Y-you... What are you going to do...?"
Nan Yu smiled.
"Do what? Nothing much."
"I just find it rather unbelievable. We prepared that interrogation room specifically for spies, but none of the equipment inside was ever used."
"I thought all those specially prepared tools would never have a chance to serve their purpose."
"But who would have thought that, in the end, a Mental Power User would actually be the one to try them out?"
"There are even a few brand-new ones that were just made. I've never seen how they're used before."
"In a moment, Marshal Yu can demonstrate them for me."
"I'll learn something too."
He spoke so casually that it sounded like ordinary small talk.
But to Shuang Qingyue, that "small talk" was about his own life.
Even now, he still refused to believe they would truly torture him.
Yet when several people walked over to restrain him, he finally began to realize—
They were serious?
Perhaps he simply hadn't reacted yet.
Or perhaps he had been too confident in his identity as a Mental Power User.
Only after he was dragged into that familiar interrogation room did he finally understand.
They weren't bluffing.
The friendly relationship he'd thought he'd had with them before...
It had all been his own illusion.
Nan Yu glanced around at the equipment.
"Marshal Yu, do you think it'd be easier to work if we hang him up, or tie him to the frame?"
Yu Lanfeng answered coldly,
"Hang him."
"I've got a few new tools I'd like to try."
"They're not very suitable for someone tied to the rack."
Only then did Shuang Qingyue realize they were discussing him.
Not only were they discussing how to torture him—
They were even discussing which tools to use on him.
The corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
He cautiously glanced toward the items Yu Lanfeng was selecting.
There were countless instruments on the table that he'd never seen before—he'd never even heard of some of them.
But since they were sitting on the table inside an interrogation room...
They had to be torture devices.
He had never witnessed anyone being tortured before.
Nor had he ever experienced it himself.
Ever since arriving here, Yao Anyang had indulged him in everything, giving him only the best.
After being pampered for so long, how could he possibly have faced a scene like this?
Before long he was retreating step by step until his back hit the wall in the corner.
The interrogation room was only so large.
Even if he wanted to escape...
Where could he possibly run?
Did he really think he could flee right under Marshal Yu Lanfeng's nose?
His thoughts were in complete chaos.
He could barely think clearly anymore.
The only thing he knew was that he had to figure something out.
Should he really confess?
Even if he confessed, he felt there probably wasn't much chance he'd survive.
But perhaps...
That would still be better than being tortured here.
Just imagining torture was enough to make every inch of his body ache.
Just as he finally decided to speak...
Yu Lanfeng had already finished selecting his tools.
Meanwhile, Nan Yu walked over, stopping a short distance away with a smile.
"Are you ready?"
"Don't be surprised."
"This was your own choice."
As he spoke, he slowly approached Shuang Qingyue.
Only then did Shuang Qingyue notice that Nan Yu was holding a rope.
It looked completely ordinary, yet it was clearly made specifically for the interrogation room.
It was unbelievably tough.
Without special weapons or Ability powers, it was impossible to break.
So...
When they had said they were going to hang him...
They had really meant it?
Shuang Qingyue couldn't even imagine what kind of treatment awaited him.
"W-wait! Wait!"
"I'll talk!"
"I'll tell you everything!"
Nan Yu blinked.
"Why only now?"
"Why didn't you agree to confess earlier?"
Looking at Nan Yu's calm expression, Shuang Qingyue's heart skipped a beat.
Was it already too late to confess?
That couldn't be...
Surely they still wanted answers.
"You can ask me anything."
"I'll tell you everything I know."
"This matter... only Yao Anyang and I know the full truth."
"If you ask anyone else, they'll only know the orders Yao Anyang gave them."
"They won't know why they were doing those things or what any of it meant."
"So you..."
Nan Yu didn't even glance at Yu Lanfeng.
Still holding the rope, he quietly looked at Shuang Qingyue.
"You claim to know a great deal."
"Then start from the moment you arrived in the Empire."
"And tell us one thing clearly."
"Did you come here by yourself, or did someone help you?"
"Be specific."
"If we can't verify whether your story is true, we'll naturally doubt everything you say."
"And once we need to verify whether you're lying..."
"We'll have no choice but to use force."
"I hope you understand that."
Shuang Qingyue nodded repeatedly.
"I understand... I understand..."
Nan Yu said, "Begin."
"And remember."
"Don't leave out anything important."
"And don't add anything that never happened."
"Stick to the facts."
Still huddled in the corner, Shuang Qingyue kept stealing glances toward Yu Lanfeng.
Yu Lanfeng stood with his back to them, examining the tools hanging on the wall and lying on the tables, seemingly still choosing equipment.
As though...
If Shuang Qingyue lied later...
He could simply use them after all.
Shuang Qingyue cautiously looked between the two of them before finally beginning.
"In truth..."
"I was only a Mental Power User from the smallest nation within the Alliance."
"I wasn't one of the Mental Power Users who survived after a country's destruction."
"My mental power was originally only Mid-Tier, and even among Mid-Tier Mental Power Users I was on the weaker side."
"But in my homeland..."
"Even a Low-Tier Mental Power User was considered incredibly rare."
"Someone like me was treasured by everyone."
"They practically worshipped me."
"I thought my life would continue like that forever."
"But one day..."
"A group of people suddenly broke in."
"They didn't say a single word."
"They tied me up and took me away."
"They even killed many civilians who noticed the disturbance and rushed over to investigate."
"I knew every one of those people."
"They were the guards who took turns protecting my residence every single day."
"They all died."
"They died right in front of me."
"Then I was knocked unconscious and taken away."
"When I woke up, I was strapped to an operating table."
"Someone was holding a syringe, preparing to inject me."
"When he noticed I'd awakened, he laughed."
"'Hey, come take a look.'"
"'Looks like you didn't use enough anesthetic.'"
"'He's already awake.'"
"'That won't do.'"
"'What's coming next is going to be extremely painful.'"
"'It's better if he's unconscious.'"
"Then they injected me with more anesthetic."
"I lost consciousness again."
"When I woke up next..."
"I was already lying in a hospital room."
"I didn't know where I was."
"I didn't know what had happened to me."
"But I realized..."
"I seemed to have been rescued."
"After a day or two of treatment, I discovered I was indeed in a hospital."
"Every day police officers and military personnel came to ask me what had happened."
"At first I resisted."
"I thought they were all accomplices, just trying to test me."
"But little by little..."
"I realized I really had been rescued."
"However..."
"Just as I finally decided to tell them what had happened..."
"I noticed a completely unfamiliar communication number in my contacts."
"My social circle was very small."
"I could remember every single number in my contact list."
"But I'd never seen that number before."
"And less than two minutes after I noticed it..."
"It called me."
Shuang Qingyue paused for a moment before continuing.
"I was startled."
"I tried convincing myself I'd probably saved the number before and simply forgotten to add a note."
"But after answering..."
"I discovered it was the very same person who had injected me while I was strapped to the operating table."
"He smiled at me and said..."
"'I knew you'd wake up around now.'"
"'I didn't expect you to survive.'"
"'You're pretty impressive.'"
"'But that's fine.'"
"'It's actually better that you survived.'"
"'Don't worry.'"
"'I'm not contacting you for any special reason.'"
"'I only wanted to tell you one thing.'"
"'You're now a Mental Power User who has enhanced yourself using prohibited drugs.'"
"'If you don't want anyone to discover that...'"
"'Then hide it well.'"
"'From now on, I'll send you a mission every so often.'"
"'I hope you'll complete every one of them carefully.'"
"'If you don't do as I say...'"
"'You know what the consequences will be.'"
Nan Yu interrupted.
"Do you know who that person was?"
"If prohibited drugs were involved, then he should be connected to that organization."
"So no matter how you calculate it..."
"You were still a spy sent by the organization."
Shuang Qingyue frantically shook his head.
"No!"
"No!"
"I'm not one of them!"
"They kidnapped me!"
"They injected me!"
"I never wanted to use those drugs!"
Nan Yu nodded.
"Continue."
Shuang Qingyue took a deep breath to calm himself.
"After the call ended, I instinctively tried calling the number back."
"But it had already become an invalid number."
"I kept the number anyway."
"After that, it continued sending me missions."
"But every time I tried calling back..."
"It was always an invalid number."
"I knew it was another one of their methods."
"But I had no choice."
"I could only obey."
"At first the missions were very simple."
"Every time I completed one according to their instructions..."
"I received generous rewards."
"Until one day..."
"They assigned me a mission to approach someone."
"There had been similar missions before, so I didn't think much about it."
"But I never imagined that this single contact would lead to countless follow-up missions."
Nan Yu asked,
"The person the organization told you to approach..."
"Was it Yao Anyang?"
Shuang Qingyue nodded.
"I didn't know who he was back then."
"The first mission sounded very simple."
"I thought I only needed to speak with him briefly."
"So I exchanged a few words and left."
"But then there was a second meeting."
"And a third."
"By the sixth..."
"We'd become very familiar."
"We were even visiting each other's homes."
"Then, during the tenth mission..."
"They sent me a file."
"It contained everything."
"His experiences."
"His name."
"His gender."
"His age."
"Everything."
"I understood what they wanted."
"They wanted me to tell Yao Anyang that entire story exactly as it was written."
"I had no choice."
"I really had no choice."
"I could only secretly follow their instructions."
"I thought..."
"Even if I repeated everything exactly as they wanted, Yao Anyang would never believe me."
"But to my complete surprise..."
"After I stumbled through the whole story..."
"He didn't doubt me at all."
"He trusted me completely."
"He believed every single word."
"I even wondered whether I'd somehow cast a spell over him."
"I didn't know why."
"But I had completed the mission."
"Afterward I found an excuse to leave."
"I still remember the reward."
"It was hundreds of times larger than anything I'd ever received before."
"I was completely stunned by the amount."
Nan Yu asked,
"After that, you followed their instructions even more seriously and kept getting closer to Yao Anyang until now?"
Shuang Qingyue nodded.
"I knew that if Yao Anyang, as an Imperial soldier, fell in love with me..."
"He would stay with me for the rest of his life."
"In fact, once I discovered his identity..."
"I knew enormous trouble was coming."
"If he ever learned my true identity..."
"I'd be finished."
"But there was one thing..."
"That I never could have imagined."
A look of humiliation crossed his face.
"I always believed Yao Anyang didn't know who I really was."
"So during all that time I desperately hid my identity."
"But one day..."
"He suddenly said something to me."
"'Contact them.'"
"'Tell them it's time to deliver the item to me.'"
Even now, Shuang Qingyue's face was filled with resentment.
"I had absolutely no idea what he meant."
"But very quickly..."
"I realized things were far more complicated than I'd imagined."
Not only Shuang Qingyue...
Even Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng found it unbelievable.
If everything he said was true...
Then Yao Anyang hadn't been manipulated after meeting Shuang Qingyue.
He had already been connected to that organization before ever meeting him.
And they had already been cooperating in secret.
Nan Yu asked,
"And then?"
"What was this item?"
Shuang Qingyue sighed.
"You've seen it yourselves."
Nan Yu abruptly stood up.
"You mean..."
"The Mental Power User the Marshal captured before..."
"The one whose Mental Sea was already riddled with holes and on the verge of collapse?"
Shuang Qingyue nodded.
"That's right."
"He wasn't the first."
"The first was the Mental Power User imprisoned in the underground cells."
"And the one you captured wasn't the second either."
"The second."
"The third."
"The fourth."
"They all died."
"The one you captured..."
"Was the fifth."
"The first suffered a mental power rampage and couldn't be used."
"So Yao Anyang locked him underground."
"He knew a Mental Power User's Mental Sea possessed self-repair abilities."
"He believed he had enough time."
"So he intended to wait until that person recovered."
Nan Yu's expression turned cold.
"Very good."
"Now tell me."
"What exactly were you doing?"
"What kind of disgraceful thing required using Mental Power Users like this?"
Only now did Shuang Qingyue begin crying out.
"It wasn't me!"
"It had nothing to do with me!"
"They forced me!"
"I never wanted to do any of it!"
"I only wanted to survive..."
Nan Yu interrupted calmly.
"Don't get excited."
"Keep talking."
"What were you capturing so many Mental Power Users for?"
"And most importantly..."
"Where did they come from?"
Shuang Qingyue could clearly feel that Nan Yu's voice had become colder.
He knew that if he answered poorly...
His eyes instinctively drifted toward Yu Lanfeng.
Yu Lanfeng had stopped selecting tools and was now leaning against the wall with his eyes half closed, as though resting.
But Shuang Qingyue knew exactly how terrifying Yu Lanfeng truly was.
He didn't dare test their patience.
"The Mental Power Users..."
"Yao Anyang brought every one of them back himself."
"I... I don't know where they came from."
"But I do know one thing."
"He only started bringing them back after contacting someone."
"Maybe the organization prepared them for him."
"Maybe they simply told him where to collect them."
Nan Yu replied,
"So you're saying Yao Anyang personally brought them back."
"You don't know where they originated."
"You don't know who handed them over."
"The organization is merely your guess."
"For all we know..."
"He could have captured every one of them himself."
Shuang Qingyue's mouth twitched.
But he still nodded with difficulty.
"Yes."
Nan Yu's expression didn't change in the slightest.
It was almost as though Yao Anyang's actions had always been exactly what he expected.
Seeing this, Shuang Qingyue adjusted his attitude and continued.
"Everything after that..."
"He taught me."
"I never even knew something like this was possible."
"After bringing the Mental Power User back..."
"He handed the person over to me and told me to deal with it."
"I didn't understand what he meant."
"He probably noticed that."
"So he contacted someone."
"When he returned..."
"He looked impatient."
"He complained that I'd never been exposed to any of this before."
"Then he slowly taught me what to do."
Nan Yu asked,
"What did he teach you?"
He knew the next part would contain the crucial information.
Every detail needed to be remembered.
"At first..."
"He never explained why."
"He simply told me not to ask questions."
"He said I only needed to do exactly as instructed."
"I didn't think much about it."
"I only wanted to complete the mission and leave."
"He told me to send my own mental power into the unconscious Mental Power User's Mental Sea while they lay tied to the hospital bed."
"Then..."
"I was supposed to wrap my own mental power around a portion of the loose mental power inside their Mental Sea..."
"And forcibly pull it out."
"I was terrified."
"I never knew such a thing was even possible."
Nan Yu frowned slightly.
"If you do that..."
"It damages the victim's Mental Sea."
The moment he said those words, he remembered the captured Mental Power User.
Wasn't that person's Mental Sea riddled with holes?
He had almost certainly suffered exactly this treatment.
"Go on."
Shuang Qingyue continued,
"Only after I actually did it did I realize things weren't as simple as I'd imagined."
"I thought pulling out a little mental power would simply reduce their mental power for a while..."
"And that it would gradually recover afterward."
"But I never expected..."
"The moment I pulled out that clump of mental power..."
"A piece of the Mental Sea itself disappeared."
Nan Yu exchanged a glance with Yu Lanfeng.
Both of them immediately realized something was wrong.
If this was really how it happened...
Then someone must already have tampered with that kidnapped Mental Power User.
Either...
They had been injected with some special drug.
Or...
Someone had used some unique method to control them.
Completely unaware of the exchange between the two of them, Shuang Qingyue continued excitedly.
"I panicked."
"I really panicked."
"I screamed."
"And somehow..."
"The mental power I'd just pulled out suddenly shrank back inside."
"Immediately afterward..."
"That Mental Power User suffered a complete mental power rampage."
"After that..."
"He was locked underground all the way until now."
"Because of my mistake..."
"Yao Anyang had to bring back another Mental Power User."
"I thought I'd definitely be punished."
"But instead..."
"The messages from that communication number comforted me."
"They said I'd never done anything like this before."
"So making mistakes was understandable."
"They said it didn't matter."
"They told me to be more careful next time."
"They even said I should keep practicing."
"Once I became completely familiar with it..."
"I wouldn't be frightened anymore."
"And I..."
Nan Yu finished the sentence for him.
"And you really did become familiar with it."
"And gradually became proficient."
"If we hadn't discovered something was wrong this time..."
"You would've continued doing this indefinitely."
"Which means..."
"Countless more Mental Power Users might have died at your hands."
Shuang Qingyue lowered his head unwillingly.
He still didn't believe he was truly at fault.
He had only wanted to survive.
He'd been forced into it.
It wasn't as though he'd willingly chosen to commit those crimes.
So how could all the blame possibly fall on him?