Chapter 98
Just four short words, yet they rang out like a thunderclap, instantly elevating the entire realm of the interrogation.
Everyone present heard it loud and clear, and the way they looked at Yu Zhi completely changed.
Their shock and astonishment were mixed with a touch of deep respect—respect for his devotion to the nation and its people. At the same time, it was laced with pity and sympathy. How could such a fine, upright young man have ended up with a father like Minister Yu?
As their perception of Yu Zhi shifted, their eyes turned toward Fu Suxi with a new light: a glare of apprehension laced with a hint of condemnation.
While the minds of the people on-site were thrown into turmoil, the viewers in Fu Suxi’s livestream channel converted their excitement into a frenzy of bullet comments.
[User “Big Yellow Girl” praised your wasted effort and tipped you 100 General Coins.]
[User “Greener Than Ever” appreciated your self-inflicted defeat after a hundred battles and tipped you 50 General Coins.]
[User “Patching Things Up” mocked your fruitless scheming and tipped you 444 General Coins.]
Fu Suxi: “…”
He glanced at Yu Zhi’s unfocused, dilated pupils, then turned a expressionless gaze toward He Hanhai.
He Hanhai continued to channel his ability on Yu Zhi. In the blink of an eye, his face drained of color, and the veins on his temples throbbed.
Before he could even force out the next question, cold sweat was already trickling down his forehead onto his neck.
Noticing his state of severe ability exhaustion, Fu Suxi narrowed his eyes and cut him off. “That’s enough.”
He Hanhai immediately ceased his ability, his body swaying unsteadily. Two ability userr officers standing beside him caught him just in time, supporting him over to the side to rest.
As He Hanhai sat down, only one thought filled his exhausted mind: Team Leader Fu truly is a pervert who loves playing flirtatious roleplay in front of everyone!
“A-ranks interrogate A-ranks; B-ranks interrogate B-ranks.” “Rotate every hour.”
As Fu Suxi issued his orders, Yu Zhi snapped back to reality. Recalling what had just transpired felt like waking from a brief dream—hazy, fragmented, and surreal.
Yu Zhi only knew he had been asked a few questions. As for what was asked or how he had answered, he didn’t retain a single clear memory.
He blinked, noticing quite a few people stealing secretive glances at him—glances that quickly darted away the moment he looked back.
The livestream bullet comments were refreshing wildly:
[User “Dominant Young Master” appreciated your overall vision and tipped you 0.1 General Coins.] [User “World’s #1 Cute Girl” enjoyed you leaving your temporary lover speechless and tipped you 20 General Coins.]
[User “Pure Heart” lamented that your answer forcibly purified their desires.]
[User “The Strongest King” questioned whether you were actually under mental control.]
Yu Zhi skimmed the chat. Seeing that no one had bothered to tell him what he actually said, he turned his head toward the person beside him.
He looked at Xiao Ming, who still seemed out of it, and then turned to Dr. Qi on his other side, whose eyes were clear.
“What did they ask me just now?”
Dr. Qi replied truthfully, “Minister Yu asked whose man you were.”
Yu Zhi’s eyebrows twitched, not the least bit surprised by the question. “And what did I say?”
Dr. Qi instinctively cast a glance at Fu Suxi, paused in silence for a brief moment, and then lowered his voice. “You said you were his father’s man.”
Yu Zhi let out a quiet “Oh.”
Seeing his lack of reaction, Dr. Qi couldn’t help but ask, “Did you mean that literally, or…”
Yu Zhi remained utterly calm, his expression unchanged. “I was cursing him.” “He deserved it. Cursing him was doing him a favor.”
Dr. Qi: “…”
“Then Team Leader He asked you who you worked for. You said… for the country and the people…”
Lu Liming, who had just regained his senses, caught the end of that sentence. He slapped his thigh hard and gave Yu Zhi a massive thumbs-up. “Now that’s vision! That’s depth!”
This time, it was Yu Zhi’s turn to fall silent. Even he was somewhat stunned. Was that really something he could say in an unconscious state?
He felt a bit unfamiliar with his own righteous side.
Then again, acting for the people meant acting for himself; acting for the country meant acting for his own freedom within it. Rounded off, it still meant acting for himself. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with that logic.
Yu Zhi blinked, then heard Lu Liming asking Dr. Qi, “Master Qi, what about me? What did I say just now?”
Dr. Qi offered a complex look. “You said you were Brother Yu’s man.”
Lu Liming didn’t see any issue with the answer. He chuckled happily. “Well, that counts as working for the country and the people too.”
Dr. Qi: “…”
Yu Zhi: “…”
Yu Zhi glanced at He Hanhai. Seeing that he hadn’t resumed the interrogation, he asked Dr. Qi hesitantly, “What is He Hanhai’s ability?”
Dr. Qi explained, “It’s related to dreams. I’m not entirely clear on the details, but his interrogation technique draws people into a dreamlike state to guide out their subconscious thoughts.” “Summarizing the other mental-type ability users, their abilities are fairly similar. During interrogations, they can only guide and induce—they cannot forcibly override a person’s conscious thoughts.”
Yu Zhi had a moment of realization; no wonder it felt like dreaming.
He pondered Dr. Qi’s words once more, catching the key point. “So this interrogation method isn’t a hundred percent effective at catching moles.”
Dr. Qi froze slightly, looking at him in surprise. “Right, the interrogation can’t catch every single mole. But anyone caught and exposed through it is definitely a mole.”
Hearing this, Yu Zhi turned his gaze to Fu Suxi diagonally across the room.
Fu Suxi was leaning casually against the wall, looking down at He Hanhai, who was resting on a chair.
His sunglasses obscured his eyes, leaving only the faint, almost unnoticeable curl at the corner of his mouth visible—a smile devoid of any warmth.
Yu Zhi murmured under his breath, “I see…”
If even Dr. Qi knew that those exposed were guaranteed to be moles without knowing the full mechanics of He Hanhai’s ability, Fu Suxi knew it even better. He was certain that those who exposed themselves were undoubtedly members of Meteorite Biotechnology.
Instead of following the clues to meticulously flush out every last mole and continue the interrogation, Fu Suxi had executed them on the spot without a shred of hesitation the moment he confirmed their connection…
Fu Suxi had done it on purpose. He definitely knew about Meteorite Biotechnology’s contamination plan.
In that case, making such a grand scene to alert the entire Bureau wasn’t just to use mental abilities on him—it was aimed directly at Meteorite Biotechnology.
Yu Zhi’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he couldn’t help taking another look at Fu Suxi.
Did he deliberately leave no survivors because he wanted to force Meteorite Biotechnology to act?
Did Fu Suxi already know what their next move would be?
His gaze was far too direct, and Fu Suxi noticed it almost immediately, turning his head over.
Seeing Yu Zhi looking lost in thought, looking as though he were plotting some kind of mischief, Fu Suxi shifted his eyes away to look at He Hanhai, who had recovered slightly.
“What happened?”
He Hanhai explained in a low, raspy voice, “It was my oversight. Snare-capturing Mr. Yu’s dream consumed far more mental energy than I could have imagined.”
In just those few minutes of using his ability on Yu Zhi, the mental energy drained was greater than an entire day’s worth of interrogating the Research Department yesterday.
He Hanhai felt as though his mental reservoir had been drained dry.
He took a sip of water, stole a glance at Yu Zhi’s clean, fair face, and said with lingering apprehension, “Perhaps… this is what an S-rank ability userr is really like.”
Fu Suxi: “…”
He didn’t deny that Yu Zhi was an S-rank ability user, nor did he feel like explaining that he had tampered with Yu Zhi’s mental measurement device.
He lit a cigarette, taking mental stock of Yu Zhi’s physical condition.
He was clearly an ability user, yet his physical stamina was no different from a normal person’s, and his measured mental output registered low.
He usually acted like an ordinary civilian, yet using mental abilities against him was absurdly taxing, and his body harbored a massive demand for healing abilities.
At this thought, Fu Suxi took a drag of his cigarette and asked He Hanhai, “What did you see in his dream?”
“Just some scenery in S-City, including the Operations Bureau building. Nothing special or anomalous,” He Hanhai paused, then added, “His mental dreamscape isn’t like an ability userr’s at all. It resembles a normal person’s.”
Fu Suxi narrowed his eyes. There it was again.
He wasn’t an ordinary person, yet in certain aspects, he resembled one far too closely.
Yu You probably isn’t acting.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be this riddled with contradictions. It was more as if… he himself didn’t fully understand his own body.
Fu Suxi tilted his head, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke. Through the thin, drifting wisps, he casually observed Yu Zhi’s every movement.
He Hanhai waited for a while. Seeing that Fu Suxi had no intention of asking him anything further, he immediately used the excuse of taking a bathroom break to distance himself from the man.
He washed his face in the restroom and specifically picked a spot to rest that was neither too close nor too far from Fu Suxi.
Just as he sat down, a clear, pleasant voice echoed from above his head. “If I have to be interrogated, doesn’t Team Leader Fu need to be as well?”
He Hanhai looked up toward the source of the voice, meeting a pair of jet-black, lucid eyes.
Facing Yu Zhi’s direct stare, he said dryly, “Mr. Yu, I would quite like to live a few days longer.”
“If I use my ability on him right now, the one to die won’t be him—it’ll be me.”
He Hanhai glanced at the perfectly composed Yu Zhi, then at Fu Suxi, who was practically radiating a deadly chill. After a moment’s hesitation, he whispered a low warning to Yu Zhi, “In Team Leader Fu’s current state, we’d better lay low, steer clear, and avoid provoking him any further.”
Hearing this, Yu Zhi realized He Hanhai had some understanding of Fu Suxi’s mental state. He followed the thread and asked, “How long will it take for him to recover from this condition?”
Stumped by the question, He Hanhai shook his head. “I don’t know.” “Team Leader Fu only returns to headquarters occasionally. Even before the apocalypse, we rarely had the chance to see him. Most of what we knew came from rumors about what he’d done…”
Yu Zhi asked casually, “And what were the rumors at headquarters saying about him?”
The rumors circulating at headquarters were almost entirely negative, and He Hanhai hesitated, not daring to speak. Telling Yu Zhi was fine, but he was terrified that Fu Suxi might find out the words came from his mouth.
Suddenly, Yu Zhi noticed Fu Suxi moving not far away.
Fu Suxi raised his right hand, a gun appearing out of thin air in his palm, and aimed directly at one of the ability users undergoing interrogation.
BANG—
The bullet left the barrel and punched a bloody hole right between the ability user’s eyebrows. Blood gushed out from the wound in a steady stream.
The entire first-floor lobby fell dead silent for a brief second as everyone turned to look at Fu Suxi, who had pulled the trigger.
Fu Suxi acted completely unbothered, flicked off the cigarette ash, and continued smoking.
Yu Zhi withdrew his gaze, thinking to himself that the mad dog seemed to have recovered slightly today.
At least he wasn’t using his hands anymore and had switched to a gun.
The ability users of the Operations Department had numerous duties to handle, most of which involved field missions.
Batch after batch of ability users finished their interrogations. The dead were packed into body bags, while the living, walking on weak knees, filed out of the Operations Department building and boarded armored vehicles to head out on their assignments.
The interrogations continued.
BANG— BANG— BANG—
Gunshots rang out time and time again as the cold wind dispersed the thick scent of blood hanging in the air.
“Brother Yu,” Lu Liming murmured, his face pale as he leaned toward Yu Zhi’s ear, whispering, “Isn’t there way too many moles in this Bureau?”
“At first, I thought it was just Nie Yue. But now so many have been rooted out. There are some in the Research Department, some in the Operations Department… so there are definitely more in the other departments too. And these are just the ones exposed. Who knows how many big tigers are still hiding in the shadows…”
He babbled on for a moment before whispering, “Isn’t this company a bit too capable? How could they plant so many people here?”
Yu Zhi’s eyes paused slightly, and he spoke slowly, “It’s possible some of them defected halfway through.”
If clearing out the pollution source wasn’t a viable path…
Lu Liming reacted quickly, recalling Meteorite Biotechnology’s slogan: Everything for the future of humanity.
“What on earth are they trying to do? Brother Yu, do you know?”
Yu Zhi raised his eyes to look at him, meeting his sparkling gaze. Hesitating for a moment, he swallowed his own deductions and asked instead, “What do you think?”
Lu Liming scratched his head, thought about it, and said as if it were obvious, “Going by the villain setups in novels and movies, they aren’t trying to destroy the world—they’re trying to save it in their own self-righteous way.”
The corners of Yu Zhi’s lips twitched slightly. “That is indeed the case.”
Upon receiving a confirming answer, Lu Liming’s eyes widened. Reviewing all of Yu Zhi’s words and actions over this recent period, he stammered out a sentence, “Th-Then are we actually about to start saving the world for real?!”
Yu Zhi: “?”
Seeing that he didn’t deny it, Lu Liming took it as tacit agreement.
He took a deep breath and pressed on, “Brother Yu, tell me—how are we going to save it?”
Yu Zhi thought for a moment. “By standing by and doing nothing.”
Lu Liming: “…”
