Chapter 488: The Hunter

"Name."

In the dimly lit interrogation room, two police officers sat at a table. One held a pen, ready to take notes, while the other coldly stared at Nie Yu in the cell. After a brief silence, one officer tapped the table twice with his pen, his voice authoritative: "Name!"

"Don't you have my file already? Why are you asking?" Nie Yu said calmly.

"A file is a file, an interrogation is an interrogation. Regardless of who you were, please cooperate with us now," the officer paused. "Name!"

"...Nie Yu."

"Nie Yu, former member of the Thorns Special Forces, defected six years ago... Where have you been during these past six years? What have you been doing?"

"In the Golden Triangle, working as a mercenary."

"Why did you defect?"

Hearing the question, Nie Yu's brows furrowed deeply. He gazed coldly at the two men outside his cell, seemingly losing patience.

"I don't want to repeat what's already written in the file."

The interrogating officer's expression darkened slightly, but he didn't react further. His gaze fell to the next page of the file, and he became silent.

After a long pause, he spoke again, "This file states that your wife and mother disappeared while traveling in Thailand. You left the special forces without notice and illegally crossed the border to find them? Why didn't you request intervention from international police?"

"International police?" Nie Yu scoffed.

"Do you think they didn't get involved? And was it helpful? That's Thailand! That's the Golden Triangle! In such a lawless and chaotic place, if the local gangs target you, even a three-headed, six-armed god would be dismembered on the spot and sold overseas the next day... How many people who disappear there are ever found? They searched for a whole week and didn't find a trace... Since they couldn't find them, I had no choice but to go find them myself. To others, they might just be two more names among countless missing persons, but to me? One was my wife, who endured loneliness for my special forces career, and the other was my mother, who raised me with her own hands!"

Nie Yu, his hands still in shackles, slammed them heavily onto the metal table, producing a dull thud. His eyes were filled with fury and murderous intent.

"So no matter the cost, I had to bring them back... alive or dead."

After an indeterminate amount of time, the officer spoke again, his voice slightly softer than before: "It says here that after you defected, you spent fifteen sleepless days hunting them in the Golden Triangle, just you and your gun... Did you find them?"

"...Yes, I found them."

Nie Yu's emotions gradually calmed. He spoke as if devoid of feeling, "One was stuffed into a vase, the other thrown into an underground brothel. They were both dead when I found them."

The air fell into a brief silence.

"So, for these past few years..."

"I've been killing," Nie Yu stated flatly. "As long as someone hired me, and as long as they were from the Golden Triangle, I would kill anyone—regardless of their faction, their allegiance, or their skin color..."

"What's the point of that?"

"The Golden Triangle shouldn't exist... No, 'national borders' shouldn't exist at all. Humanity should follow a single order; if a mistake is made, there should be a unified punishment, not a reset of everything once someone crosses a border."

"Are you saying, a unified world?"

The officer shook his head. "That's too futuristic. You should know that's not how this world works..."

Nie Yu remained silent, simply sitting in his cell with a dismissive, cold smile.

"Let's get back to the point... Why did you hijack the plane?"

"Damn it, I told you I didn't hijack the plane!"

Instantly, the image of the mysterious young man from the adjacent seat on the plane flashed in Nie Yu's mind... He remembered clearly that the only person who went to the restroom mid-flight and didn't return until just before landing was that man. If anyone had hijacked the plane, it could only have been him. In his years as a mercenary, Nie Yu had encountered others with extraordinary abilities like himself, but this person could not only transform into him but also tamper with video surveillance and put a pistol into his pocket remotely... Such bizarre methods were simply unheard of to him.

"It seems you're still unwilling to cooperate."

The two officers checked the time, picked up their papers and pens, and walked toward the door. "Think it over carefully. Higher-ranking officials will continue to interrogate you later... until you reveal everything."

Bang—

As the interrogation room door closed, a deathly silence enveloped the cell once more.

Nie Yu, still shackled, sat on the chair wrapped in chains, his gaze fixed on the clock on the wall, his eyes narrowing slightly... He let out a cold snort, and with a gentle exertion of his hands, the sturdy, heavy shackles snapped as if they were made of paper, falling to the floor with a dull thud.

"I don't have time to waste here."

Nie Yu tore all the chains apart with his bare hands and walked slowly to the cell wall, cracking his knuckles... His eyes gleamed with a wolf-like sharpness and coldness. The next moment, he balled his right hand into a fist and swung it, whistling, towards the heavy wall!

Boom—!!

With a single punch, a massive hole was effortlessly blasted through the thick wall. The building's exterior was breached, and a fierce, chilling wind from the fifth floor swept into the interrogation room through the opening, making Nie Yu's clothes flutter.

The sudden loud noise immediately drew the attention of other police officers within the building. Commotion erupted in the corridor outside, as if a group of people were approaching. Nie Yu remained completely unfazed, standing before the shattered hole. In his cold, wolf-like eyes, the pale dawn light spreading across the sky was reflected, along with the young face smiling brilliantly on the airplane.

"Don't let me see you again," Nie Yu said menacingly. "Otherwise, I will hunt you... until death."

Nie Yu tapped his toes lightly, and in his black attire, he leaped from the fifth floor.

Seconds later, numerous police officers burst through the interrogation room door. They froze in place, their eyes wide with disbelief, as they saw the massive hole blasted through the wall.

"How... how was this done? Explosives?"

"Impossible, we already searched him. He couldn't have had any explosives on him."

"And this is the fifth floor; he just jumped down?"

"Quick, issue an arrest warrant! Mobilize everyone in the bureau, seal off all checkpoints in and out of Jingnan City. We must find him!"

"And... request heavy armed response from higher authorities. This Nie Yu is not simple."

"Old Chen, help me hire a few people near Gusu." In a dimly lit alley, Nie Yu took a phone from a passerby lying unconscious on the ground and dialed a number.

"Yes, I need to kill someone in Gusu, but I've run into a bit of trouble... I need you to keep an eye on her."

"The more people, the better; the better the weapons, the better. I'm worried someone might interfere midway."

Nie Yu said calmly, "Don't worry, you'll be well paid... I have plenty of money now."