Chapter 81: Finding Someone
Nan Yu contacted several classmates and asked if they knew where Yang Zhou had gone, but none of them had any idea. However, one person did provide a useful clue.
"When I left the classroom, I was the last one out. I saw Yang Zhou walking ahead of me, and he went all the way toward the cafeteria. I think he planned to eat before leaving. I only saw him head into the school cafeteria though. After that, I don't know."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome!"
After ending the call, Nan Yu immediately contacted Nan Yun and Nan Zhen, then called Fu Yu'ang to help search for Yang Zhou.
Fu Yu'ang currently had permission to access a portion of the academy's surveillance system. After the four of them met up on campus, they quickly pulled up the cameras covering the front of the cafeteria.
About twenty minutes after school had ended, they saw Yang Zhou enter the cafeteria alone. He casually found a seat in a corner and ordered food. While eating, he appeared to check his optical computer.
Nan Yu frowned.
"He probably answered a communication request. I wonder who it was..."
Fu Yu'ang shook his head.
"That involves optical computer privacy, so I can't check it. Every optical computer has the Empire's highest-grade firewall installed according to national standards. Unless you have special authorization, there's no way to access the information inside. But while I was at it before, I installed the same tracking software on his optical computer that I put on yours. It should still be able to locate its position."
Strictly speaking, it only tracked the optical computer, not Yang Zhou himself. If they were lucky, he was still carrying it.
Fu Yu'ang quickly pulled up the tracking signal.
To his surprise, the optical computer was still in the cafeteria!
Could Yang Zhou have been imprisoned there the entire time?
Night had already fallen, and there were far fewer people walking around campus.
They had already checked every other camera around the cafeteria. They had never seen anyone take Yang Zhou away, nor had they seen anything capable of secretly transporting a person without attracting attention.
That meant there was a very real possibility that Yang Zhou was still inside.
Fu Yu'ang's tracker could narrow a target's position down to within a hundred-meter radius, including above and below.
Compared to the time he had tracked Nan Yu before, this was vastly more accurate. Only after receiving special training from military personnel had he managed to refine the tracking precision to this level.
The four of them entered the cafeteria together and searched the area indicated by the tracker.
Naturally, there was no way they would let Nan Yu search alone, so Nan Yu stayed with Nan Yun, while Nan Zhen teamed up with Fu Yu'ang.
At this moment, they had clearly forgotten that numerous people were secretly protecting Nan Yu at all times. Especially in a situation like this, those hidden guards would be even more vigilant, making it virtually impossible for Nan Yu to encounter danger again.
Yet after thoroughly searching the entire one-hundred-meter radius, they still found no trace of Yang Zhou.
If the person providing the coordinates hadn't been Fu Yu'ang, they might have thought someone was deliberately misleading them.
Nan Yu sighed.
"We can't find him... Is he really here? Maybe we should just look for the optical computer instead? Perhaps whoever took him removed it and threw it somewhere."
"Let's keep looking."
Just as they were about to continue searching, a cafeteria employee walked over.
"Hey, you students. Why are you wandering around here? Don't disturb the other people eating."
Although it was already evening, customers were still arriving one after another. Two hours later there would even be people coming for late-night meals, so the staff member had every reason to stop them from roaming around.
Nan Yu immediately asked,
"Uncle, my classmate came here for dinner tonight, and then I couldn't find him anymore. It seems like he never left the cafeteria. We've searched twice already without finding him. Do you know anything?"
He pointed toward the corner where Yang Zhou had been sitting—a place where almost nobody ever chose to eat.
The man hadn't remembered anything at first.
But as soon as Nan Yu pointed to that spot, recognition flashed across his face.
"Oh, that student? Yes, he did eat dinner here. But I noticed he didn't leave through the front entrance. It looked like he received a communication request, then headed toward the back door. I didn't follow him, so I don't know whether he actually left. I only know he walked in that direction."
"Thank you."
They immediately headed for the back entrance.
Sure enough, beside the doorway, hidden inside a crack in the wall, something caught the corner of Fu Yu'ang's eye.
He walked over to inspect it.
It was an optical computer wristband.
Nan Yu twitched the corner of his mouth.
"It really is an optical computer wristband... and it definitely belongs to Yang Zhou. His initials are engraved on it."
So Yang Zhou had been taken from this spot.
Either the wristband had fallen off during a struggle, or the kidnappers had deliberately removed it and thrown it here to prevent anyone from tracking his actual location.
"Elder Brother, what do we do now? Didn't we already check the surveillance covering the back entrance? There was no footage of Yang Zhou being taken away, nor any vehicle or container large enough to secretly transport someone."
For example, no vehicles at all.
Fu Yu'ang reviewed the footage again before speaking.
"I think Yang Zhou was never taken out of the cafeteria. If my guess is correct, he's still hidden somewhere inside, temporarily locked up while they wait for the right opportunity to move him. Throwing the optical computer here was obviously meant to mislead us into thinking he'd already been taken away. Once we gave up and left, they'd make their next move."
Nan Yu thought about it and nodded.
"That makes sense. But what do we do now? This cafeteria is huge. There are countless private dining rooms, lounges, and staff rooms. Some employees even live here."
"There are also basements... vegetable storage cellars... cold storage rooms..."
He suddenly paused.
Without another word, they all turned and hurried toward the cold storage area.
If someone wanted to quietly kill a person without anyone noticing for a while—or simply delay the discovery of the body to give themselves time to escape—wasn't a freezer one of the best places?
Nan Yun immediately found the cafeteria manager, explained the situation, and requested access to the cold storage rooms.
The manager looked troubled.
"There are ten cold storage rooms, and each stores different ingredients. Every one is kept at a different temperature and located on different floors."
The cafeteria served many categories of food. Meat and seafood, for example, were prepared on different floors, so each corresponding cold storage room had been built nearby for convenience.
"Only a few people have permission to open them. Besides me, there are three cafeteria employees. The chefs regularly come to retrieve ingredients."
He couldn't personally unlock every freezer every single time, so after evaluations he had selected three assistants.
Apart from those four people, only a handful of senior academy administrators also had authorization.
At this hour, however, none of the administrators would be here.
In other words...
If Yang Zhou really was inside one of the cold storage rooms, the culprit had to be one of those four cafeteria employees.
Nan Yu asked,
"Can we check them now?"
He expected the manager to agree.
Instead, the man shook his head.
"No. If there's going to be an inspection, I'll do it myself. You're all students—you don't understand these things. The ingredients stored inside are all top-grade. What if you damage them through carelessness?"
"If that happens, they'll definitely demand compensation from me, because I'd be the one who let you in."
Nan Yu blinked.
"It's fine. If anything happens, I'll buy every single ingredient inside. Will that do?"
The moment those words left his mouth, not only was the manager speechless—even Nan Zhen and the others stared at him in disbelief.
When had their little brother become so rich?
Then they remembered.
Ever since Nan Yu had started accepting commissions, he'd been making astonishing amounts of money.
Every commission paid an outrageous fee.
Since Nan Yu had already put it that way, refusing any longer would only make the manager seem unreasonable.
"In that case, I'll take you there. But we'll inspect them one by one. We'll start with the first floor."
There were four cold storage rooms on the first floor.
They searched every single one.
Nothing.
Then they inspected every remaining cold storage room.
Still nothing.
Their previous theory had been wrong.
Yang Zhou wasn't there.
Nan Yu let out a long sigh.
"Uncle, is there anything here that can leave the cafeteria without inspection?"
The manager answered casually,
"Garbage."
The four of them blinked simultaneously.
They instantly realized they might have found the crucial clue.
"Uncle, can you take us there? Is all the garbage collected in one place, or separated?"
The manager twitched his lips.
"Of course it's all gathered together. There are multiple garbage disposal points throughout the cafeteria, but they all lead to the same location. I can show you, but... it's not exactly a pleasant sight."
"That's alright."
The manager led them behind the cafeteria.
He unlocked a door.
After walking inside, they were greeted by an unbelievably filthy scene.
Of course, the nauseating piles of mixed garbage were below them. The walkway they stood on was heavily protected, and through the thick transparent glass beneath their feet, they could see everything underneath.
Garbage from every part of the cafeteria was dumped here.
Through several openings in the wall, it was transferred into garbage trucks, which then hauled it away.
But...
Could Yang Zhou really be here?
Nan Yu turned toward Fu Yu'ang.
"Is there any way to detect whether there's a living person inside?"
Fu Yu'ang took out a device from his spatial button and attached it to the glass.
"Wait about ten minutes."
Because the glass prevented direct access, the scan would take around ten minutes.
If they could enter directly, it would probably need less than three.
The wait was longer.
But the results would be extremely accurate.
Time slowly passed.
About seven or eight minutes later, the small device suddenly beeped.
Fu Yu'ang looked at the display.
"It detected living life signs inside."
That didn't necessarily mean it was Yang Zhou.
Everyone instinctively turned toward the manager.
The poor man looked utterly miserable.
"I'll say this first—I can open the door for you, but you're going in yourselves. I'm absolutely not going inside."
Nan Yun nodded.
"Understood. Thank you. And Little Brother, you're staying here."
The place looked filthy beyond belief, and they could already imagine the unbearable stench.
There was no way they would let Nan Yu suffer through that.
Nan Yu frowned slightly.
He honestly wanted to go.
But under the stern gazes of his two... no, three older brothers, he reluctantly gave up.
He sighed.
"Fine. I'll stay here. That's okay, right?"
Only then did they feel reassured enough to follow the manager over.
But the instant the door opened...
All of them froze.
Even the manager stood rooted to the spot, completely stunned.
Fu Yu'ang's vision went black.
He nearly fainted, barely managing to support himself against the wall.
The manager wasn't nearly as fortunate.
After holding on for only a few seconds, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious.
Only then did Nan Yun and the others recover.
They hurriedly covered their noses, put on odor-filtering masks and protective goggles, and finally managed to steady themselves.
As for the manager, they carried him to an open window farther away so he could get some fresh air. He would wake up on his own soon enough.
The three of them then carried the detector inside.
Every step they took sank into the garbage.
It was an indescribably unpleasant sensation.
But they had to find the living target as quickly as possible.
Following the detector's guidance, they reached a corner and began digging through the garbage with tools.
About two minutes later, they uncovered a battered cardboard box.
It had been sealed, though rather carelessly.
Opening it, they found...
A rabbit.
Still alive.
Barely.
Its body convulsed weakly as it struggled to survive.
One minute after they found it, its legs stiffened.
It died.
The three exchanged glances.
Fu Yu'ang activated the detector again.
Now that the tiny flying device could move freely through the garbage, the search speed increased dramatically.
Less than a minute later, it identified another living target.
They dug it out.
It was a fish that was still barely alive.
Then came the third target.
The fourth.
They continued all the way until the tenth.
Nothing they found was Yang Zhou.
Just as Nan Yu and the others began to think they had followed another false lead...
The detector found an eleventh target.
Fu Yu'ang said,
"No matter what, we've already come this far. Let's finish checking everything before we leave."
The worst thing to do was abandon the search halfway.
What if Yang Zhou really was here?
What if the detector simply happened to identify him last?
If they quit now...
Wouldn't they be abandoning Yang Zhou to die alone?
This time, when they dug out another tattered cardboard box, they assumed it contained another animal that hadn't quite died yet.
But something immediately felt wrong.
The box was...
Too heavy.
If their estimate was correct, it weighed about the same as their little brother Nan Yu.
The problem was...
The box itself was far too small.
If someone wanted to force a human body inside...
They would have needed to use some very unconventional methods.
They carefully opened the box.
Inside...
It really was Yang Zhou.
The sight before them made every one of them suck in a cold breath.
Whoever had stuffed Yang Zhou into that tiny box had broken all four of his limbs first, folding his body into an impossible shape before forcing him inside.
Both his arms and legs were grotesquely twisted.
His bones had undoubtedly been shattered into multiple pieces.
The three men frowned deeply before exchanging silent looks.
"Have Little Brother contact the military hospital. Tell them to send people immediately."
"He can't be taken to an ordinary hospital."
Meanwhile, Nan Yu noticed that the three of them had stopped moving and were all gathered around a single small box.
Growing anxious, he knocked on the glass.
Realizing they couldn't hear him through it, he immediately initiated a communication call.
Nan Yun answered the call.
"Little Brother?"
"Elder Brother... did you find Yang Zhou? How is he?"
Although they were subtly blocking the box from view, Nan Yu wasn't blind. He could still make out the general situation.
That box...
"Elder Brother... that box..."
Nan Yun let out a long sigh.
"We'll carry him out first. You'll see for yourself in a moment. Right now, contact the hospital immediately and have someone come. Yang Zhou's condition is very bad."
Nan Yu froze for a second.
"I... I understand..."
With trembling hands, he opened his contact list and called the hospital director, briefly explaining the situation.
"Director, when you send people over, please keep a low profile. This can't become public yet."
The director frowned deeply.
"I understand."
After ending the call, Nan Yu headed downstairs and happened to run into the cafeteria manager, who had just come back inside.
"Uncle, you're awake?"
The man looked rather embarrassed.
He had actually been knocked unconscious by the smell.
Fortunately, after lying outside in the fresh air for a while, he had regained consciousness. If he had fainted again, it would have been far too humiliating.
Following the manager's advice, Nan Yu put on some basic protective gear before walking inside.
By then, Nan Yun and the others had already carried the box out and were standing near the doorway.
The moment Nan Yu saw Yang Zhou inside that tiny box, with his arms and legs twisted into grotesque angles, tears immediately streamed down his face.
"How could this..."
"They actually dared to do something like this..."
Yang Zhou was a Mental Power User.
Not only that, he was a student in the Mental Power User Department of the Royal Military Academy of the Capital Star.
As long as he graduated, his future would undoubtedly be bright. Entering the military would be effortless.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of graduates from the academy eventually joined the military.
Furthermore, Imperial law explicitly prohibited harming Mental Power Users.
Anyone found guilty would be punished without mercy.
But then Nan Yu remembered his previous life.
Even he—a High-Tier Mental Power User—had been murdered.
So...
No matter the era or the world, there would always be people willing to exploit loopholes.
Nan Yu slowly crouched beside the box.
His voice trembled with barely restrained sobs.
"Elder Brother... can you take him out first? He can't... stay like this..."
Nan Yun nodded.
Instead of pulling Yang Zhou directly out of the cramped space, they carefully dismantled the cardboard box piece by piece.
Only then were they finally able to lay Yang Zhou flat on the ground.
The cafeteria manager was equally horrified.
Seeing a student reduced to such a state filled him not only with shock but also with rage.
Considering everything that had happened, it was obvious this student had been tortured inside the cafeteria.
Furious, he secretly contacted the academy president—the same vice president who had flown into a rage over the complaints department incident not long ago.
The other academy presidents were still traveling and hadn't yet returned, so he could only reach the only senior administrator currently on the Capital Star.
At that very moment, the vice president had been preparing to leave the Capital Star to inspect one of the academy's branch campuses on a nearby planet.
Then his communicator rang.
"President!"
After listening to the manager's brief explanation, the president's expression changed dramatically.
He immediately realized how serious the matter was.
"How many people know about this?"
The manager listed everyone involved.
The president let out a sigh of relief.
"That's good. Keep them there. Wait until I—"
Before he could finish, the manager interrupted him.
"But Student Nan Yu already contacted a hospital. He spoke directly with the director. I have no idea which hospital director he's close to."
The manager didn't know.
But the president certainly did.
What other hospital could it possibly be besides the military hospital?
If the military hospital knew...
Then Yu Lanfeng's military unit would know.
Which meant Yu Lanfeng himself would know.
Which meant the Imperial Family would know.
And once that happened...
The entire Empire would soon know.
A Mental Power User student brutally tortured inside the cafeteria of the Royal Military Academy of the Capital Star.
He had practically already imagined the headline every news outlet would use.
The manager spoke again.
"Ah, the medical team has arrived. They came in very discreetly through the back entrance. They've already taken the injured student away without attracting anyone else's attention."
Although the president still felt uneasy, he asked,
"So... does that mean you're the only person left who knows about this? Everyone else went with them?"
The manager nodded.
The president finally relaxed slightly.
"Very good. Listen carefully. Until I return, you are absolutely not allowed to reveal a single word about this. If anyone asks you anything, tell them you don't know."
"Yes, President! I guarantee I'll complete the task!"
After ending the call, the president turned to the person beside him.
"You go instead. Something urgent has come up, so I can't make the trip."
This inspection hadn't required his personal attendance in the first place.
He had simply decided to go on a whim.
But under the current circumstances, he could only return to the academy immediately.
Nan Yu and the others rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible.
Yang Zhou was soon wheeled directly into the operating room.
Meanwhile, Nan Yu and the others went to the hospital changing area, where they showered, changed into clean clothes, disinfected themselves, and completely removed the odor before returning to wait outside the operating room.
After all, this was a hospital.
They couldn't stand there covered in filth and bacteria.
Cleaning themselves up was a matter of respect—not only for the hospital, but also for every patient being treated there.