Chapter 61: Methods
Yu Lanfeng carefully examined everyone. Only the situations of those two women remained unclear. As for the others, it was more or less obvious that they had nothing to do with this matter.
Judging from the physiques, movements, and reactions of those eight people, they didn't look like people with much strength at all. But to be safe, all of them were brought to the military interrogation rooms.
One room per person. Not a single one could be casually released.
If even one person slipped through, and that person happened to be the one they were looking for, wouldn't that be a catastrophic mistake?
While everything here was proceeding at full speed, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the search for Nan Yu's whereabouts became increasingly tense.
At least one thing could be confirmed—Nan Yu was still on the Capital Star and was safe.
Nan Yu frowned slightly, then quickly returned to his previous state.
He could feel himself lying on a cold, hard floor. There wasn't any sound around him, and there should only be himself inside this room. However, that didn't rule out the possibility that something was monitoring him.
Therefore, he didn't open his eyes immediately and didn't act rashly.
He didn't know what had happened before. Everyone, including his eldest and second brothers, had collapsed to the ground. He himself hadn't lasted much longer. Perhaps because his mental power was the strongest, he had held on the longest.
But...
Even if he lasted longer, it was useless. He had still passed out in the end.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but he didn't feel too hungry, so it probably wasn't evening yet.
After lying motionless for over ten minutes, Nan Yu still didn't discover anything unusual, so he slowly opened his eyes.
Only then did he realize that he had been tied up facing the wall.
The place was pitch-black and seemed deserted. It also felt like a basement.
However, perhaps because they didn't have much vigilance against a Mental Power User, they had only tied his hands and feet. His hands were even tied in front of him.
And the bindings were loose.
In other words, with a little struggle, he might be able to break free directly.
Still, Nan Yu didn't act recklessly.
He didn't know who had kidnapped him, what they wanted, or what they planned to do with him.
Most likely, they had set their sights on his potential and future value.
High-Tier Mental Power Users were treasures of the Empire. In other countries, they were even more precious.
Directly kidnapping a High-Tier Mental Power User was unrealistic. Every country protected them so thoroughly that not even the slightest opening existed.
But someone like him—someone with the potential to become a High-Tier Mental Power User but who wasn't one yet—was the easiest target.
Even though they had acted early, Yu Lanfeng's legion had still assigned some personnel to stay around Nan Yu.
Fortunately, they still had ways to deal with that.
Nan Yu lay there for more than an hour.
Keeping one posture without moving was exhausting.
If he had still been unconscious, he wouldn't have felt anything. But remaining in one position while fully awake for so long was extremely difficult.
After waiting all this time without anyone coming, it wasn't that he couldn't continue enduring it.
He was simply too hungry and thirsty.
Yet no one had appeared.
After thinking for a while, Nan Yu decided to sit up.
He first turned his body over.
As a result, half his body had gone numb.
He rolled onto his back and lay there stiffly, waiting for the tingling sensation to pass.
A few minutes later, he gradually relaxed.
Good. He had recovered.
He slowly sat up and casually fiddled with the ropes around his hands and feet, removing them and throwing them aside.
Then he began observing the pitch-black room.
The room was only a little over ten square meters in size, with a height of around three or four meters.
Everything inside was dark, but directly overhead, in the middle, there was a light opening about the size of a palm.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything outside through it.
So he still had no idea where he was.
The optical computer on his wrist was gone.
It had probably been taken away, leaving him with no means of contacting the outside world.
The only thing that reassured him was that his spatial button was still there.
Because he had hidden it well, the other party hadn't found it.
If it had been taken away, wouldn't the Nianshen Grass inside be exposed?
Compared with him, a Mid-Tier Mental Power User, the Nianshen Grass was far more precious.
At that point, the other party might think he no longer mattered after obtaining the Nianshen Grass and might kill him directly.
After all, if they believed his current strength came solely because of the Nianshen Grass, such thinking would be completely possible.
In his previous life, even a waste like Yun Feiyu, who hadn't even been a Low-Tier Mental Power User, had become a High-Tier Mental Power User.
That alone showed just how heaven-defying the Nianshen Grass was.
However, Yun Feiyu's method in his previous life had been to squeeze out the Nianshen Grass's value repeatedly.
Thus, he became a High-Tier Mental Power User as quickly as possible, but the Nianshen Grass itself declined from then on and eventually died.
If he had taken things slowly, it would have taken Yun Feiyu decades or even hundreds of years.
But he couldn't wait that long.
So he had resorted to such a method, killing the chicken to get the eggs, ruthlessly exploiting the Nianshen Grass.
When Yun Feiyu returned it to him, Nan Yu had merely noticed that it had become much more wilted and hadn't thought too much about it. He had only thought that raising it carefully would be enough.
By the time he discovered that the Nianshen Grass was beyond saving, Bai Zhouyun and Yun Feiyu had already begun persecuting him.
At that point, what difference would one more crime make?
It would only make the person they were destined to kill hate them even more.
By then, they simply didn't care anymore.
Nan Yu leaned against the wall and sat down quietly.
He didn't shout or demand to be released.
He merely sat there in silence.
Waiting for someone outside to come talk to him.
But after waiting for a very long time, no one came.
He touched his shriveled stomach and then his dry, cracked lips.
Were these kidnappers planning to starve and dehydrate him to death?
He already felt dizzy from hunger.
With no other choice, Nan Yu stood up and groped around.
The walls were seamless and solid, and the floor was equally smooth...
Hm?
At first, he had found nothing.
But because he was starving so badly, his mental power accidentally spread outward.
Only then did he discover an inconspicuous crack in the floor.
Perhaps because it fit together too tightly, he hadn't noticed it before.
But what shocked Nan Yu the most was that he had actually managed to project his mental power outward!
Although Mental Power Users were all Mental Power Users, up until now only High-Tier Mental Power Users had been capable of projecting their mental power outward.
He had only managed it in his previous life after becoming a High-Tier Mental Power User.
But in this life...
Helping Ability Users dispel mental contamination from their Mental Seas could technically be considered a kind of mental power projection, but only over a short distance.
For example, he needed to place both hands beside the Ability User's head.
But now, if he wanted to remove mental contamination, he only needed to stand within a certain range.
There was no need to stand beside the bed with his hands on either side of their head.
Even better, projecting his mental power made him much more sensitive to his surroundings.
Just like now.
He had found nothing with ordinary inspection.
But after using his mental power, he discovered the crack.
Unfortunately, the gap was too tight. He couldn't open it.
Still, Nan Yu had another method.
He could send his mental power through the crack and into the space beyond.
Anywhere his mental power could reach—
He could "see."
Of course, what appeared in his mind were images formed from whatever his mental power touched.
Thinking of it, he immediately acted.
He slowly sat down and then lay on the floor, closing his eyes as he controlled his mental power.
Bit by bit, it slipped through the crack.
Eventually, he actually succeeded.
Unfortunately, although he had managed to project his mental power, that didn't change the fact that he wasn't yet a High-Tier Mental Power User.
His mental power couldn't extend very far.
At present, the maximum range was around two meters.
In his previous life, even after becoming a High-Tier Mental Power User, his maximum projection distance had only exceeded five meters.
Two meters now was already very good.
Unfortunately, it wasn't much help in his current situation.
After passing through the crack, his mental power touched nothing but walls.
He "saw" nothing.
Still, after feeling discouraged for only a short while, Nan Yu continued.
Because he discovered that if he concentrated his mental power enough, it seemed capable of forcing the crack wider.
The crack was actually a door that opened upward from below.
Pushing upward from beneath was simple.
The problem was that the door was extremely heavy and had no handle.
Opening it from above was practically impossible.
Unless a very powerful Ability User was present.
Nan Yu tried concentrating his mental power inside the crack, seeing if he could force the door upward little by little.
If he succeeded, he could escape.
He didn't know whether someone was secretly watching him.
Nor did he know whether someone might be beneath the door, in places his mental power couldn't reach.
But regardless, he had to try.
If he gave up without even trying, then he'd really be too useless.
After more than an hour of exhausting effort, just before collapsing from fatigue, Nan Yu finally pried the door open.
Fortunately, he still had some strength left.
Otherwise, if he waited any longer, he might not even have had the strength to open it.
Now, with both hands gripping the edges, he slowly lifted the door.
Thankfully, it wasn't very large.
Before his remaining strength completely ran out, he finally managed to open it.
Panting heavily, Nan Yu looked down.
Below was actually a bright bedroom with a spacious balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows.
And no one was there.
Nan Yu hesitated.
If he jumped down directly, it would be fine.
There was a bed directly below.
Soft enough that even falling onto it wouldn't hurt.
After hesitating briefly, he jumped.
He landed on the soft mattress without injury.
But the troublesome part had only just begun.
First, he needed to determine where he was.
Second, he needed to recover his optical computer as quickly as possible.
Hm?
His eyes fell upon a cabinet by the bedroom door.
Wasn't that his optical computer that had been removed earlier?
It had actually been left out in plain sight?
Weren't they afraid something would go wrong?
Nan Yu had assumed they would destroy it immediately after taking it.
After all, there might be tracking devices inside.
After turning it on, he found that he couldn't contact the outside world.
Well, that was expected.
Or rather, that was normal.
But after checking the time, he discovered that it was already noon of the following day.
In other words, more than a full day had passed since he was taken away and regained consciousness.
No wonder his stomach felt like it was dying from hunger.
Nan Yu's first thought wasn't escaping.
He wanted food and water first.
Otherwise, he felt he might faint from hunger.
Opening the bedroom door went smoothly.
Outside was a long corridor.
Following it, he soon found a staircase leading downward.
After descending into a spacious living room, he saw a dining table and steaming dishes emitting delicious aromas.
The food was still hot.
Clearly, it had just been prepared.
Yet he saw no one.
Who had cooked it?
He soon found the answer.
Because a rather oddly-shaped robot walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of steaming soup.
Ignoring the robot, Nan Yu searched the entire floor.
Still, no one was there.
Unable to do anything else, he sat down to eat.
The dishes were ordinary.
Then again, how delicious could food made by a robot be?
After filling his stomach, he searched for a way out.
Only after exploring thoroughly did he realize that the house had no exits.
There were floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs, but unfortunately they couldn't be opened.
Even the rooftop terrace was inaccessible.
He had been completely imprisoned inside.
Furthermore, there were plenty of supplies and even a robot.
Living here for several years wouldn't be a problem.
What a joke.
Would he, Nan Yu, really remain trapped here for years?
Unwilling to give up, he searched every corner of the house for flaws or possible exits.
But after two days, he still found nothing.
At night he slept in the living room.
During the day he searched endlessly.
Exhausted physically and mentally, Nan Yu stood before a window.
The scenery outside was perfectly visible.
But he had tried every window.
None could be opened.
Smashing the walls might actually be easier.
Of course, he couldn't do that either.
Taking a deep breath, Nan Yu muttered,
"What exactly am I supposed to do?"
Meanwhile, Nan Ming sat anxiously in a hospital conference room.
Yu Lanfeng was practically nowhere to be seen.
The entire Capital Star was in turmoil.
Although several suspects had been arrested, being suspects didn't mean they were truly spies who had infiltrated the Empire.
After several days of investigation, six out of the ten had been proven completely innocent and released.
They were even compensated with credits.
Of the remaining four, two originally hadn't seemed suspicious either.
However, during questioning, they accidentally let slip one or two secrets.
But when asked for details, they glossed over them and refused to elaborate.
They constantly changed the subject.
In short, they had become uncooperative.
Yet whenever other topics came up, they cooperated fully.
And when asked about the previous matter again, they simply claimed they had forgotten mentioning it.
Everyone found them suspicious.
But they couldn't be labeled spies.
After all, their identities as Imperial citizens had been verified.
Yu Lanfeng had also sent people to investigate their backgrounds.
Everything checked out.
Still, as long as doubts remained, they couldn't be released.
No matter how much they shouted and protested, it didn't matter.
Everything the legion did now was for the Empire.
Since those two were being uncooperative, there was no problem with keeping them imprisoned.
Days passed one after another.
Nan Yun and the others gradually regained consciousness.
Yet the legion still had no news of Nan Yu.
Although Nan Yun and the others had awakened, they couldn't provide any valuable clues.
The attackers had never actually entered.
They had somehow caused everyone inside the hovercraft to lose consciousness directly.
That meant they had used an unknown method to introduce Purple-Blue Poison into the hovercraft, knock everyone unconscious, and then transfer Nan Yu away.
There was one thing Yu Lanfeng couldn't understand.
"They took Nan Yu away, so why didn't they simply kill everyone else?"
"Wouldn't that have been safer?"
Not only Yu Lanfeng—everyone had wondered the same thing.
But no one could think of an answer.
Perhaps they had spared Yu Lanfeng's legion personnel because they feared he would pursue the matter to the bitter end.
But members of the Nan family were another matter.
Moreover, there were two completely ordinary people among them.
Yet they hadn't harmed anyone.
It was almost as if they had some sort of scruple.
Yu Lanfeng had already been delayed here for many days because of this matter.
Originally, he should have been aboard a space carrier heading for the border.
There were still countless matters waiting for him there.
But because of this incident, he couldn't leave.
Every day, he could only command battles through the legion's internal network.
Although that worked, there were times when personally being there was better.
After all, he could fight on the front lines himself.
That alone could significantly reduce casualties.
But now...