Chapter 206: The Opening
“This was our prey first!”
“What the hell are you talking about? We spotted them first!”
“We obviously did... You people had better get lost!”
“Heh! What a joke. Let’s settle this with our fists! If you don’t want to die, get the hell out of here. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”
“This is getting fun! Since when did people here care about mercy? Bring it on! Who’s afraid of you? Let’s see who’s stronger!”
By this point, Yu Lanfeng and Nan Yu had already entered the restaurant and asked for a private room. They were sitting inside ordering food, and through the window, they could even see some of what was happening outside.
In a very good mood, Nan Yu pointed toward a small dark alley across the street.
“Are they fighting in there?”
Yu Lanfeng said, “Ignore them. Just dogs biting each other.”
“I wonder who’ll win in the end... After all, whoever wins gets to have us. Hahaha...”
Nan Yu made a little joke of it.
He looked at Yu Lanfeng with a smile. Yu Lanfeng shook his head helplessly.
“Let’s order first. There are a few dishes here that taste pretty good.”
Of course, there was no way they could compare with Zhenxiu Pavilion on the Capital Star. Even many dishes served in the cafeteria at the Royal Military Academy tasted better than the food here.
But this was a completely different place.
Finding genuinely delicious food here was difficult, so being able to eat something of this quality was already quite good.
Nan Yu sighed helplessly.
“I can already imagine how much food of this quality costs here. At least several hundred times more than in the academy cafeteria...”
The moment he looked at the menu, he knew his guess had been right.
“Sure enough. It’s exactly like that. The money isn’t really a problem for us, but I still feel like we’re being ripped off.”
Yu Lanfeng said, “It’s fine. We can just rob the money back later.”
Nan Yu immediately thought of the people fighting outside.
Actually, perhaps losing that fight would be a good thing for them. After all, whoever won would only end up getting robbed by Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng afterward!
Nan Yu was already calculating how much money they would need to rob later to make sure this trip didn’t result in a loss.
Moreover, judging by Yu Lanfeng’s attitude, he still wanted to bid on the spatial device developed by that mysterious organization, the one supposedly capable of storing living creatures for several hours.
But what if the thing wasn’t actually worth that much?
Wouldn’t they suffer a massive loss?
Besides, in Nan Yu’s opinion, the device being put up for auction was almost certainly a defective product. The organization was probably only selling it to recover part of the money they had spent researching it.
Even so, plenty of people would still scramble for it despite knowing perfectly well that it was defective.
Nan Yu took a deep breath and looked at the dishes Yu Lanfeng had ordered.
“These don’t even look particularly delicious. But since we’re here, we’ll just have to make do. And they still cost several hundred times more than the food in the academy cafeteria.”
Yu Lanfeng said nothing.
He knew that although Nan Yu had money, he hated wasting it, especially when he felt he was getting a bad deal.
So Yu Lanfeng would definitely be paying for this meal himself.
As though seeing through his thoughts, Nan Yu said, “So what if you’re paying? We’ve already confirmed our relationship. Isn’t your money my money too?!”
Yu Lanfeng had absolutely no way to argue with that.
“Yes. Everything I have is yours.”
Nan Yu became slightly embarrassed and murmured, “Mine is yours too...”
Yu Lanfeng said, “What?”
Nan Yu expressionlessly continued eating.
He was a top-tier Ability User with extraordinarily sharp senses. How could he possibly not have heard what Nan Yu said?
Nan Yu turned his head away and refused to communicate with him.
Yu Lanfeng didn’t force him to answer. He simply continued looking at him quietly with a smile.
Making someone who normally had a poker face and was accustomed to showing no expression maintain a smile for so long really was asking a lot of him.
Once Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng had more or less finished eating, they left the restaurant.
As soon as they stepped outside, Nan Yu instinctively wanted to release his Mental Power to examine the places around them that he couldn’t see.
But then he remembered all the obscene scenes he had witnessed earlier and immediately reconsidered.
People had already been that uninhibited during the day, let alone at night.
So, to prevent his mind from being polluted, Nan Yu decided not to release his Mental Power and simply followed Yu Lanfeng back.
There were still people following them on the way back, although there were fewer than before.
Looking carefully, Nan Yu realized they were still divided into two groups.
He thought that the two groups probably hadn’t managed to determine a winner during their fight before realizing that Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng had already left the restaurant.
Not wanting their two fat sheep to escape, both groups had decided to act at the same time.
Unfortunately, both groups would ultimately only end up getting robbed instead.
Since Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng already had a plan, they didn’t continue straight down the main road toward the hotel.
Instead, they turned halfway there and headed toward one of the city’s most famous recreational areas—a lake located within the city.
To reach the lake from here, they had to take a relatively secluded road. However, because many people visited the lake, there were still plenty of people traveling back and forth along it.
Obviously, this wasn’t a good place to attack either.
But once they reached the lake, there would be plenty of opportunities.
A huge belt of greenery surrounded the lake. Once they arrived, the pursuers could casually choose any secluded place to put their plan into action.
There was no need to rush.
The group following them slowly trailed behind at a moderate distance, looking almost as though they were leisurely strolling through the city.
Of course, it wasn’t because they genuinely weren’t in a hurry.
The two people they had targeted were simply walking slowly.
If those two walked slowly, then naturally the pursuers had to walk slowly as well.
If they got too close, they would definitely be noticed.
One of those two was an Ability User, after all. They still had to exercise some caution.
Besides, patrol officers operated around the city center.
As long as the patrol didn’t catch them in the act, they could basically do whatever they wanted. Of course, afterward they had to clean up the scene themselves.
They couldn’t leave the mess for the patrol to clean up. Otherwise, they would still get beaten and have some of their property confiscated.
That meant their operation had to be fast.
From beginning to end, they couldn’t take more than ten minutes.
Otherwise, there was a good chance the patrol would catch them red-handed.
That would definitely be bad news.
Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng slowly made their way toward the lake.
By the time they reached the end of the road, ten minutes had passed.
Looking at the large expanse of greenery ahead, they could vaguely see a lake through the paths between the tall trees.
The lake didn’t appear particularly large, but even from this distance they could see the shimmering surface of the water. The water quality seemed quite good.
As they gradually approached the lake, they happened to enter one of the paths running through the greenery.
The people following them still didn’t attack.
The reason was the same as before.
This path was the shortest route to the best hotel in the city, so many people used it. Even after leaving the more secluded road, there were still plenty of people around.
However, after emerging from the passage, their pursuers reacted much more quickly. They spread their people out, secretly disguising themselves in various places while keeping watch on the two of them.
Nan Yu slowly followed Yu Lanfeng forward.
The two of them were in quite a good mood and intended to leisurely walk around the entire lake.
But halfway around, they reached the area with the fewest people. It was already rather late, and there was no one visible either ahead of or behind them.
Nan Yu quickly realized that they had been surrounded from both directions.
Within about ten seconds, the people lying in ambush nearby appeared one after another.
Yu Lanfeng and Nan Yu looked warily at the people surrounding them.
“Who are you?!”
Yu Lanfeng extended one arm and shielded Nan Yu behind him.
“Want to die?”
His tone was calm, as though he were asking about something utterly ordinary.
But to the people surrounding them, those three words sounded like a joke.
“Whoa, big talk! We’ve seen plenty of people like you. At first, they’re all arrogant bastards who think they’re above everyone else. But Daddy will teach you how to speak properly soon enough!”
“Everyone, attack! Finish this quickly. We’ll take them back and check their quality. If they’re good enough, we’ll sell them immediately. We should get plenty of money. How about splitting it evenly?”
“No problem!”
Right in front of Yu Lanfeng and Nan Yu, they settled how they would divide up their spoils in just a few sentences.
Unfortunately for them, their strength wasn’t going to allow it!
Yu Lanfeng was just about to move when Nan Yu, standing behind him, grabbed his wrist.
“Brother, I want to try. How about letting me handle this?”
Although he spoke quietly, everyone surrounding them was an Ability User, so they heard him perfectly clearly.
“Oh my, that voice sounds pretty good! That alone should be worth quite a bit of money. And this one must be a Mental Power User. Everyone be careful later! Don’t hurt him or damage him, or his price will drop.”
“Yes!”
They answered immediately.
In their eyes, Mental Power Users were inherently weak and fragile. As long as they didn’t attack him directly, the Mental Power User wouldn’t be harmed.
They might even have to protect him while fighting.
“Move! Two or three minutes have already passed. We’ve only got another five or six minutes to capture them.”
After those five or six minutes, they would still need time to clean up the scene. Then it would be time for the patrol officers to pass through the area.
They couldn’t waste any time!
“Remember, don’t casually use your abilities. Everyone attack together and capture them as quickly as possible!”
Their speed was naturally very fast.
But Yu Lanfeng’s evasive ability and combat strength were unexpectedly formidable.
There were more than a dozen of them, all experienced veterans, yet even after fighting him for two minutes, they still hadn’t managed to take him down.
That alone proved that the Ability User in front of them was far stronger than they had imagined.
What they didn’t know was that this was only because Nan Yu had asked Yu Lanfeng to hold back.
If Nan Yu hadn’t said that, all of them would already have been beaten to death.
After all, committing crimes here wasn’t permitted.
At least, officially.
Once a crime was exposed openly, no one on this planet’s patrol team would show favoritism!
The patrol team had been jointly established by the two most powerful organizations on the planet together with senior officials of the Empire. On this planet, they could practically be described as emotionless punishment machines!
Of course, that didn’t mean they literally had no emotions.
They simply showed no mercy and gave no one special treatment.
Even if members of the two major organizations that had jointly established the patrol team broke the rules, they would still be beaten to death. It didn’t matter who came forward to plead for mercy.
Naturally, members of those two organizations could only be furious without daring to say anything.
After all, one of the people responsible for establishing the patrol team was a senior Imperial official.
If anyone wanted to alter the rules already established on this planet, they first had to inform the Empire.
Otherwise, there was nothing to discuss.
From this alone, it was obvious that the patrol team held an extremely high position here.
Normally, however, they had no authority to participate in decisions concerning the planet’s internal affairs.
Nan Yu actually found this patrol system rather interesting.
Yu Lanfeng had never mentioned it before.
Yu Lanfeng said, “I’ll explain it to you when we get back.”
There had simply been too much miscellaneous information to cover before, and they had also had countless things to do. Nan Yu hadn’t had time to properly ask Yu Lanfeng about this planet.
“Okay.”
Standing behind Yu Lanfeng, Nan Yu narrowed his eyes slightly.
His gaze remained fixed on a man who was about to swing a blade down at Yu Lanfeng.
“Aaaaaagh!!!”
A heart-rending scream tore through the surrounding area.
People farther away immediately turned their attention in this direction.
More importantly, members of the patrol team who had already been nearby immediately rushed over.
“Fuck! Why the hell are you screaming?! You attracted the patrol! Shit, we missed our chance today! Hurry up, we need to get out of here!”
Nan Yu then watched as two people grabbed the man he had attacked with Mental Power, one on each side, and tried to drag him away.
Without saying a word, Yu Lanfeng rushed over and snatched the man back!
The others wanted to take him back, but then they spotted the patrol team’s aircraft approaching from the distance.
They immediately let go and ran.
Within seconds, everyone had vanished without a trace.
But the patrol team certainly wasn’t useless.
Even though they had arrived a little late, they were extremely fast and directly captured two people who hadn’t managed to escape far enough.
Then they quickly came over to Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng.
“Our apologies. We’re sorry you two had to experience this. May we take this man into custody?”
Yu Lanfeng had originally intended to hand him over to Nan Yu, but Nan Yu shook his head.
“Of course. We’ll trouble you with him. Oh, right... When he approached me just now, I accidentally invaded his Mental Sea with my Mental Power. I was too nervous at the time and couldn’t properly control how much force I used, so that scream just now was probably because he was seriously injured. If you need my help with anything, you can come find me. We’re staying at the hotel over there.”
The patrol team didn’t care in the slightest about the condition of the people they arrested.
Their only responsibility was to capture and punish them.
Once the allotted punishment was complete, if it was enough, they would release the offender.
If it wasn’t enough, the punishment continued.
And if even that still wasn’t enough, the offender could simply die.
Nan Yu watched them quickly take the man away.
The patrol team disappeared, and the surrounding people vanished just as quickly.
He couldn’t help sighing in admiration.
They really ran fast.
“Brother, let’s go back to the hotel too. It’s about time. We’re attending the auction tomorrow, so we should get some rest tonight.”
Yu Lanfeng said, “Then let’s go back.”
Nothing else happened on the way to the hotel.
Perhaps word had already spread that the patrol team had arrested people near the lake. Everyone was now keeping their heads down and behaving themselves.
Even when they spotted fat sheep who looked easy to rob, they pretended not to notice them.
Things would probably remain somewhat peaceful for the next couple of days.
It was actually rather strange.
The patrol team hadn’t caught anyone in a month or two, yet today they had suddenly caught two people at once!
Lying on the bed, Nan Yu slowly thought about tomorrow’s auction.
In the end, he decided that if possible, he didn’t want to waste money.
But...
Whoever successfully bid on that spatial device would definitely be either wealthy or powerful.
In that case, trying to rob them afterward would obviously be unrealistic.
There was a very real possibility they might end up robbing their own people.
That’s right.
Someone sent by the Empire might very well be the one to win the device.
Would they rob them then?
Nan Yu would never do such a thing.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
Not only Nan Yu—even Yu Lanfeng himself would never allow it.
Of course, perhaps afterward they could ask whoever from the Empire acquired the device to lend it to them briefly for research.
They slept very well that night.
Nothing troublesome happened this time.
In the morning, Nan Yu and the others made some preparations for what they would need at the auction.
Naturally, the most indispensable thing was money!
But money was precisely what they lacked least.
Nan Yu himself had already earned several hundred million credits.
After all, for a sufficiently powerful Mental Power User, making money was extremely easy!
Yu Lanfeng said, “Let’s go. It’s eleven now. We can eat at yesterday’s restaurant first, then enter the venue. By the time the auction opens, we’ll be able to go straight inside.”
Nan Yu said, “Let’s buy some tasty snacks later. If we get bored, we can eat them in the private room to pass the time.”
Nan Yu actually wasn’t particularly interested in this auction.
When he had looked at the item list earlier, almost nothing in the first two sessions interested him.
All the auction items were undeniably excellent, and the later the auction progressed, the more impressive they became.
But Nan Yu remained largely indifferent to them, so he wasn’t in any hurry about the first two sessions.
He leisurely put on his mask, then draped his cloak over himself and raised the hood.
Soon afterward, they left the hotel.
Of course, when they left, they didn’t say whether they would return to stay another night.
The hotel would thoughtfully keep their rooms reserved for one additional night. If they didn’t return, the rooms would simply be cleaned the following day and given to other guests.
When Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng arrived at the restaurant, there were considerably more people than yesterday.
Since practically everyone wore masks, every table in the main dining hall had screens and decorative arrangements designed to block other people’s lines of sight.
There were also plenty of private rooms.
Unfortunately, they had arrived at an inconvenient time.
Many people were attending the auction.
It would begin soon, and this restaurant happened to serve the best food in the surrounding area.
As a result, every private room was occupied.
There were even two groups waiting in line.
Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng exchanged glances before asking for a table in a corner of the main hall.
Screens and indoor greenery surrounded the table, blocking other people’s view, but no matter what, it still wasn’t as comfortable or private as having their own room.
Nan Yu said, “Brother, let’s just order something simple. Apparently, the auction venue also provides a food-ordering service. We can order food directly from our private room there.”
“And the food should definitely taste much better than what they serve here.”
Yu Lanfeng said, “Whatever you want.”
Nan Yu unceremoniously ordered several dishes.
Then he sat there feeling increasingly sleepy.
He was simply too bored.
He opened the Interstellar Network and found some videos he hadn’t finished watching the previous night, using them to pass the time.
But before long, Nan Yu thought about the current situation in the restaurant.
Everyone here had come either to eat or to wait for the auction to begin.
There shouldn’t be any of those obscene scenes happening here, right?
If he released his Mental Power here, he probably wouldn’t have to witness any of those filthy sights again.
And if he secretly looked around and sensed what was happening...
Maybe he would even discover something interesting?
Nan Yu cautiously began extending his Mental Power.
At first, he carefully used it to observe several nearby tables.
But the people there didn’t speak at all.
They either sat completely motionless or kept their heads lowered as they ate.
Everyone really was cautious.
However, with Nan Yu’s current Mental Power, covering the entire restaurant was no problem whatsoever.
After discovering nothing unusual nearby, he slowly extended his Mental Power farther outward.
As long as there was no one here capable of extending their Mental Power like he could—or someone who possessed that ability but currently wasn’t using their own Mental Power externally—then nobody would notice anything.
So Nan Yu felt quite confident about what he was doing.
He gradually expanded the area covered by his Mental Power.
Yu Lanfeng looked somewhat worried, but Nan Yu gave him a reassuring glance.
Yu Lanfeng’s gaze remained stern, as though warning him:
The moment anything feels wrong, immediately withdraw your Mental Power!
Nan Yu had no choice but to silently nod, indicating that he understood the risks.
His Mental Power continued expanding.
Soon, it covered the entire main hall.
But just as he had seen from the two nearby tables, everyone remained wary of the relatively open environment.
Nobody said anything.
Even those who did speak only exchanged meaningless small talk.
Nan Yu decided to extend his Mental Power toward the private rooms.
The rooms had excellent soundproofing, but Mental Power could still infiltrate them.
He could simply proceed slowly.
The restaurant had fifty-five private rooms in total, and every single one was currently occupied.
There should be plenty of information to uncover inside.
Especially since Nan Yu suspected that everyone currently eating in the private rooms would remain there until it was time for the auction to begin.
The people waiting outside for a room probably wouldn’t get one.
His Mental Power slowly stretched toward the private rooms.
Throughout the entire process, not a single person detected anything unusual.
Nan Yu’s Mental Power was practically running rampant through the restaurant completely unchecked.
When it reached the first private room, Nan Yu slowly infiltrated the interior.
He had barely extended his senses inside when the voices within startled him.
The people inside were arguing.
And they were arguing fiercely!
“Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you talk to me like that?”
“What? I’m not even allowed to say it now? Have you forgotten why we came here? You’re throwing money around like crazy already. What are we supposed to do if we run out? If we can’t win that item at the auction, do you even understand what the consequences will be? Neither of us will have a good ending when we go back!”
“What use is there in nagging me about it now? The money’s already spent! What do you expect me to do? Besides, tons of people came here specifically to bid on that thing. What are small fry like us supposed to do? We’ll only be able to sit there and watch!”
“Anyway, we only need to win the other item. As for that spatial device, there’s no point even thinking about it.”