Controlled Experiment Chapter 14

Controlled Experiment – 14

---

The address came through quickly, and Du Yusheng glanced at it on his phone, pursing his lips slightly.

The casino was in the northern part of the city, not quite urban, but not exactly suburban either. Du Yusheng had only spent a short stint there when he first started out in the field. He'd handled a few minor cases in the area but wasn't particularly familiar with it. The place was a bit chaotic, crowded and messy.

Back in the old car, Du Yusheng leaned against the back of the seat, staring at the message on his phone. His eyes were on the words, but his mind was elsewhere.

Luo Yang's home felt strange, almost like a hotel. Everything in it, apart from his own belongings, was brand new. If you said Luo Yang had renovated it, well, he'd left the country right after that night and hadn't even been in China, how could he have possibly done any renovations? But if it wasn't him, then how had the place been renovated? Renovating a house wasn't something that happened overnight, so where had Luo Yang been staying during that period?

And besides, why did Luo Yang's home need renovating?

Renovations were common at crime scenes, but Luo Daheng's death hadn't been confined to any specific location, so why had Luo Yang felt the need to renovate?

Du Yusheng felt his head buzzing.

But speaking of renovations, he suddenly thought of the unfinished apartment across from Li Yao's place.

Scrolling through his phone contacts, he found someone whose name started with an "S".

It had been a long time since Du Yusheng had contacted that number. In fact, just the thought of calling made him feel a bit hesitant.

He dialled. The call was answered almost immediately, right after the dial tone started. It startled Du Yusheng, he hadn't expected it. He held the phone, mouth agape, unable to speak for a long moment.

Eventually, he managed to squeeze out two words.

"... Se-second Uncle."

"I fucking thought you'd gone mute."

The words rang out with such force that Du Yusheng sniffed and felt as though his Second Uncle's presence was about to burst through the phone.

The Du family had split long ago, Old Master Du and Second Uncle each taking half and living their own lives. One dealt in real estate, the other in interior design. The two old men rarely had contact. Second Uncle's hair had gone half white already. He'd been rebellious in his youth, and that streak had stayed with him well into old age. He had no children of his own, so despite the distance between him and Old Master Du, he'd always doted on Du Yusheng. It was just that he always spoke with such booming intensity that it was impossible to tell whether he was angry or not.

Smacking his lips a couple of times, Du Yusheng said, "Second Uncle, I've just bought a new place, it's a bare shell."

"A bare shell?" Second Uncle chuckled on the other end of the line. "You can live in a bare shell. I'm hanging up now..."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Du Yusheng quickly stopped him.

"Du Yusheng, for fuck's sake, if you've got something to say, just say it, what's with all the beating around the bush and dithering?" Second Uncle clearly didn't think he'd scolded him hard enough and tacked on, "Just like your bloody father."

This time, Du Yusheng didn't dare drag things out any further and got straight to the point.

"I want your help with the place. I don't know the first thing about this sort of stuff, what's eco-friendly, what isn't. I just don't want to end up picking some defective furniture and end up with cancer or something..."

"What the hell are you on about?" Second Uncle cut him off. "Your dad's still waiting to hold grandchildren."

Du Yusheng pursed his lips, thinking to himself, He won't get a grandchild, but maybe he'll get a son.

"Go on then, what are the requirements?"

"Nothing too specific," Du Yusheng scratched his nose uneasily. "Just, the renovation has to wait until the person across from me is gone. If he comes back, all work has to stop. Basically, he can't know I'm renovating at all."

"You're fucking insane, Du Yusheng."

Second Uncle hurled a few more insults his way, and Du Yusheng didn't dare talk back, he just took it quietly.

Once Second Uncle had scolded him enough, Du Yusheng pressed his lips together and brought up the second matter.

"Second Uncle," Du Yusheng gave him the address of Luo Yang's housing estate. "Do you have the monopoly on the renovations in that area?"

Second Uncle grunted. "Most of the materials there are sourced from me."

"Could you help me check something?" Du Yusheng gave him the exact unit number for Luo Yang's apartment. "When was that unit renovated? Who handled it?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for a good ten seconds before Second Uncle spoke. "Xiao Yu, have you gotten yourself into trouble?"

Though the question was somewhat disapproving, it still warmed Du Yusheng's heart.

Second Uncle and Old Master Du, both over a hundred years old combined, have ignored each other since the moment they split up. They don't even greet each other during the holidays. However, Second Uncle has always kept Du Yusheng in his thoughts. He didn't realise it before, but after that incident, Du Yusheng suddenly became precious to him.

"No," said Du Yusheng. "I just want to check."

"I'll ask around for you, but you're casting a wide net, I might not be able to get precise details," Second Uncle said. "But I'll see what I can find."

"All right, thanks, Second Uncle."

Second Uncle called him a little brat before hanging up.

Staring at the now-dark phone screen, Du Yusheng suddenly smiled.

After hanging up the phone, Du Yusheng glanced at the watch on his wrist. There was still a bit of time left. After all, a casino wasn't a teahouse, you couldn't exactly go there in broad daylight and expect to sip tea.

So, Du Yusheng drove the car to a street adjacent to the casino and ordered a plate of egg fried rice at a nearby restaurant. The fried rice looked rather greasy, but the gutter oil tasted surprisingly fragrant to Du Yusheng. He even ordered a glass of Coke, eating and drinking as he went, thinking that he ought to fill up today.

After finishing his meal, he stepped out of the restaurant and checked the time on his watch again, it felt about right.

He drove into a narrow alley across from the casino, turned off the engine, and lit a cigarette while sitting in the car, his eyes fixed on the casino through the window.

The ground floor of the casino was just for show, with the large characters "Clothing" flashing in cheap, multicoloured neon lights. The real casino was likely in the basement. From the outside, the casino didn't look particularly grand, and the people coming and going weren't exactly high-class either. Du Yusheng found it odd. Luo Yang, a second-generation rich kid, could've easily gone to a posh casino in Macau, so why insist on this kind of underground casino?

It was like being worth hundreds of millions but still living in a leaky basement.

By the time he lit his second cigarette, he spotted a familiar figure behind the flashing "Clothing" sign.

Li Sidian looked noticeably fatter than he used to. Back then, he'd done time for theft and robbery, courtesy of Du Yusheng. Judging by Li Sidian's current figure, Du Yusheng figured he must've been out for a while already. From a distance, he seemed bloated and pig-faced.

Before getting out of the car, Du Yusheng sent a text to Qin Yan.

Stepping out of the car, Du Yusheng lit another cigarette and clamped it between his lips. A bit of wind had picked up, so Du Yusheng wrapped his coat tighter around himself and lifted the green cotton door curtain to go inside. Li Sidian didn't notice anyone had come in, still smoking away. Without ceremony, Du Yusheng slapped a cold hand down hard on the rolls of fat at the back of Li Sidian's neck.

Cold fingers meeting warm flesh, it was a brutal kind of satisfaction.

Li Sidian immediately snapped, "Are you fucking blind or what, you mother..."

Before the "fucker" could leave his mouth, Li Sidian caught sight of Du Yusheng's face and choked the rest of it back down.

"Officer Du..."

"Yo, Master Li Si, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Du Yusheng didn't give him a chance to finish that last word. Pressing down on Li Sidian's pudgy face, he locked his other hand firmly onto the man's shoulder and practically dragged him outside.

"I haven't done anything illegal, you can't just..."

Li Sidian struggled as he walked, but Du Yusheng had a firm grip on him, pressing down so hard he could barely breathe.

"See my car?" Du Yusheng leaned in close to Li Sidian's ear, glancing around as he spoke. "Get in on your own, don't make me repeat myself."

Li Sidian didn't know what Du Yusheng was up to, but he didn't dare make a scene. Under Du Yusheng's watchful gaze, he could only step into the old car one foot at a time. Once he saw the man get into the back seat, Du Yusheng didn't rush to follow, he stayed outside the clothes shop, finished his cigarette, and only after confirming nothing seemed out of place did he return to the old car.

Li Sidian sat silently in the back seat, not daring to utter a word. Head lowered, he kept sneaking glances at Du Yusheng's face.

"I haven't done anything... You can't arrest me again..."

"Haven't done anything?" Du Yusheng nudged him with his foot. "Seems like life's treating you well, already back to gambling, are we? Changed professions and fancy another round of reform, is that it?"

"No, no, no!"

Li Sidian forced a smile. "Since when did you start handling gambling cases..."

The gambling scene around there was a murky mess, one tug could unravel everything. Truthfully, Du Yusheng had no intention of getting involved.

"I just want to ask you something. If I like what I hear, I'll let you go." Du Yusheng lit a cigarette. "If I don't, then we'll have our little chat somewhere else."

There was hope. Li Sidian quickly nodded.

"I'll tell you everything I know."

Du Yusheng lifted his eyelids and gave him a look of disdain.

"Seemed pretty busy inside that casino, business must be booming."

Li Sidian nodded and chuckled. "Don't let the shabby shopfront and rough setup fool you, some of those rich boys like slumming it here for a few hands."

Li Sidian was a clever man, one prod from Du Yusheng and he understood. There was no need for long-winded probing; he already knew why Du Yusheng had come. Rather than waste time tangling with a police officer, Li Sidian figured it was better to just spill what the man wanted. Du Yusheng's temper came in waves, if he missed a single word and ended up getting hit with some trumped-up charge, he'd really be out of luck.

"So which young masters are so down-to-earth? Tell me."

Li Sidian thought for a moment and said, "Luo Yang, the one whose family's in real estate, the son. He came here often for a while, spent big, played big, but his luck was awful. Out of ten rounds, he'd be lucky to win one, sometimes he even owed money."

"Owed money?" Du Yusheng laughed. "I've never heard of anyone daring to owe money in a casino."

"It's true," Li Sidian said. "Every time he owed money, someone had to come and bail him out. Most of the time it was his dad bringing the cash. Sometimes his old man wanted to teach him a lesson, so he'd deliberately take a few days before turning up. Luo Yang's got status, the people inside couldn't lay a finger on him, so they'd just find him a room out the back and let him stay there for a few nights. His dad always showed up in the end. After a while, the backyard nearly became his second home."

Second home?

It seemed Du Yusheng had caught onto something.

"Who owns that casino?"

The ever-talkative and sharp Li Sidian suddenly fell silent, blinking at Du Yusheng.

"That... that's a bit tricky to say."

Du Yusheng knew he was in a tough spot. He pulled a coin from his pocket and placed it on his palm.

"Alright then, I'll give you a chance to keep quiet, guess whether it's heads or tails."

Du Yusheng clenched the coin tightly in his hand, not leaving the slightest gap.

Li Sidian swallowed hard and stared at the fist, then muttered, "Heads."

Opening his hand, the coin lay heads-up in Du Yusheng's palm. Li Sidian looked at the gleaming coin and let out a small sigh of relief.

Then Du Yusheng suddenly smiled, grabbed him by the collar, yanked him in, and whispered, "Then speak like someone who guessed right."

The smile vanished from Li Sidian's face.

Du Yusheng repeated himself.

Li Sidian sniffed.

"I don't know who runs it now, but before..." Li Sidian paused and licked his lips. "It used to belong to someone with the surname Jing."

"Jing?" Something stirred in Du Yusheng's memory. "I've heard of a pretty well-known arms dealer with that surname. Wasn't he supposed to be dead?"

"You know him?" Li Sidian exhaled, relieved. "Then I don't feel quite so guilty. Yes, it was him. This area used to be his, but after he died, I've no idea who took over. I'm just a gambler, how could I know that much?" Li Sidian spotted Du Yusheng's foot about to swing and quickly added a line in self-defence.

If the casino can still operate normally after the person died, it proves that there are successors.

"Did that Jing guy have any children?"

Li Sidian thought for a moment and said, "He had a son, but the boy was timid by nature. His father thought he was useless and wouldn't amount to anything, so he dumped him on an isolated island for four years. In the final year, the son jumped into the sea and died. His father was furious, he didn't even bother to put up a gravestone."

Dumped his son on an island for being timid, Du Yusheng didn't know what to say to that.

He could only feel grateful that he'd been born into a normal family.

"Are there any photos of his son?"

Li Sidian shook his head. "He's dead, where would you find a photo? Not to mention a photo, hardly anyone even saw him in person."

Du Yusheng slowly blew out a smoke ring.

He'd asked everything that needed asking, it felt like enough. Du Yusheng stubbed out the cigarette.

"You know what to say when you get back, yeah?" Du Yusheng raised his chin.

Li Sidian nodded like a bobblehead.

"I know, I know. I won't say a word. Once I get out of the car, I'll forget everything."

That answer pleased Du Yusheng. He nodded and let him out of the car.

According to what Li Sidian had said, Luo Daheng would deliberately wait a few days, sometimes even weeks, before bringing the money, which meant Luo Yang would've had plenty of chances to spend long stretches of time in that back room of the casino Li Sidian spoke of. People who worked in casinos weren't exactly known for their kindness. Normally, if you owed money, you'd leave without an arm or a leg. But Luo Yang was a rich man's son, even if no one came for him for days or weeks, he'd never be maimed. After all, blood was blood, his father wasn't about to throw him away over a bit of cash. So Du Yusheng figured that even if Luo Yang had been locked in some dark little room, the treatment wouldn't have been all that bad. But then a question crept into Du Yusheng's mind. What would Luo Yang be doing in there all that time?

Would he be thinking about how to kill someone?

The idea made Du Yusheng break out into a cold sweat.

It was about an hour before Du Yusheng finally stepped out of the car. As luck would have it, just as he did, he saw someone getting out of a car parked at the corner of the street.

Du Yusheng was stunned and pointed at the handsome figure.

"Dr Li, what are you doing here?"

Oddly enough, Li Yao looked even more surprised than he did. He pulled out his phone and double-checked something.

Then he looked up at Du Yusheng and smiled, "Wasn't it you who messaged me to come over?"

Du Yusheng's head buzzed, and he cursed under his breath. Damn it. Had I been in such a rush earlier that I messaged the wrong person?

=========

Author's Note:

I can't be lazy QWQ, these few chapters are probably just transitional ones. The next chapter will have the main character back in action. This chapter briefly introduced the identity of the twin brother.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: May 19, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 5, 2025 by Angel