Controlled Experiment Chapter 17

Controlled Experiment – 17

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Watching Du Yusheng's figure gradually disappear from sight, watching him being taken away by someone else, Li Yao scratched his cheek, feeling slightly uneasy.

The kind of discomfort was like when, as a child, someone took a toy away from you. Even if the toy wasn't all that fun, even if you barely touched it after buying it, it was still yours, and having it taken from you was bound to feel unpleasant.

Li Yao let out an almost inaudible sigh and sat properly on the chair again, looking at the playing cards on the gambling table.

He left the house in a rush today, hadn't even had time to fasten the few buttons on his cuff. Li Yao bent his arm across his chest and began tidying up the two buttons.

Although Du Yusheng had been taken away, he hadn't looked the least bit anxious. The slightly overweight boss shifted his ass backwards and looked at Li Yao.

Sizing him up, the boss asked, "You're not here to pay off your friend's debt, are you?"

Once the buttons were done, Li Yao neatly tucked in his cuffs, raised his head and looked at the boss. "Do I not look the part?"

The boss snorted.

Li Yao smiled and placed both hands on the table.

"I really did come in here for him at first." Who he meant was obvious. Then Li Yao went on, "But now, there's something else I want to do."

The boss's eyebrows twitched slightly. With one leg crossed over the other, he looked somewhat impatient. His whole posture radiated the kind of energy that said I'm waiting to hear what nonsense you're about to spout. This entire underground casino belonged to him, he really didn't need to be afraid of what Li Yao might try. And besides, he'd seen far too many of these bluffing types before.

"Trying to stir things up again?" The boss was all set to mock him.

Li Yao smiled and shook his head. "Do you know Zhuang Hao?"

The boss could no longer laugh. The name Zhuang Hao landed on him like a stone crashing down onto his skull, buzzing in his ears.

"... What are you trying to say?" The boss sniffed, lifted his eyelids and looked at Li Yao. "I don't know any Zhuang..."

"Stop."

Li Yao suddenly stood up and walked to the boss's side, raising a single finger and gently placing it on the back of the boss's hand, like a gesture to silence him.

The boss looked up and met Li Yao's eyes directly. He was smiling, but his eyes were not.

"Let's save the talking for later," Li Yao lowered his head and smiled politely. "Let's play a couple of rounds first. If you win, you don't need to say a word. But if you lose, even one round, you answer whatever I ask and you don't miss a word." With that, Li Yao patted the boss' shoulder, telling him to relax.

Li Yao pulled the chair out and sat back down. From the moment the boss heard Zhuang Hao's name, the expression on his face had been off, and even now, Li Yao could almost see the hairs on his arms standing on end.

Li Yao had seen this slightly overweight boss once before, in a photo. His father had said the man had a very close relationship with Zhuang Hao, the kind close enough to share a prison cell. That photo was from a few years ago, back when Jing Mo hadn't yet returned. After so many years, the boss had put on quite a bit of weight, so much so that when Li Yao first walked in, he hadn't recognised him at all. It was only when he saw the tattoo on the man's arm that he remembered.

Li Yao figured he was a few years younger than the boss, so naturally, shuffling the cards was the junior's job.

He stacked the cards neatly, shuffled them three times, and then spread them out in a straight row in front of the boss.

"You first."

The boss looked at Li Yao's face and pursed his lips. His fingers moved instinctively from front to back across the cards and finally stopped in the middle.

A five of hearts.

Li Yao wasn't in any rush and picked the card right next to the one the boss had chosen.

Six of hearts.

"Have you seen Zhuang Hao?" Li Yao added a word. "Recently."

The sudden question caught the boss off guard. He looked at Li Yao, then glanced at the two cards on the table.

"You said it's ten cards per round."

"I suddenly feel like ten's a bit slow."

Li Yao scratched his head, as if slightly troubled, and repeated the question.

The boss held the five of hearts tightly in his palm. Of course he didn't want to answer, but when he looked at the table, and at Li Yao who had somehow silently replaced the dealer, the boss suddenly felt like he was that very five of hearts: plucked from the deck and now surrounded, under scrutiny from the entire deck.

"I... I have seen Zhuang Hao recently."

"That means Zhuang Hao isn't actually dead," Li Yao picked up the thread.

The boss's jaw visibly twitched a few times.

Perhaps sensing his luck wasn't good, the boss drew the next card.

Seven of spades.

Li Yao calmly picked the card next to it.

Eight of spades.

"If Zhuang Hao isn't dead, then who died in his house?"

The boss shook his head. "I don't know."

Ten of spades.

Jack of spades.

"Why did Zhuang Hao fake his death?"

"I don't know."

Three of hearts.

Four of hearts.

"Did Zhuang Hao see anyone else before he came to you? Do you know why I'm looking for him?"

"I don't know."

The boss shook his head with a hint of helplessness. It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, he truly didn't know. He wasn't sure whether his face showed any trace of sincerity; he only hoped that Li Yao would believe what he said. What was uncanny, though, was that no matter which card he picked, Li Yao always chose the one right next to it, and it was always just slightly higher than his. This wasn't a game at all, it was an interrogation.

Li Yao sighed.

"Have you ever played Memory?"

The boss looked completely baffled by the question.

"I played it a few times back in school," Li Yao tilted his head and glanced down at his shoes. "Usually, when three of the same line up, they explode."

As he spoke, the boss suddenly felt that the crowd surrounding the gambling table had closed in all at once, pinning him firmly to the cold chair. Li Yao rested both elbows on the table, propping up his upper body as he stared across at the man, who had now hunched forward, holding his breath.

"Why don't you change your answer to just one of those three questions?"

He posed the suggestion politely, but to the boss's ears, it sent chills down his spine.

The man in front of him looked proper and well-behaved, but there was nothing proper about the aura he gave off.

"I really don't know," the boss exhaled deeply, his shoulders slumping. "But I can tell you where he is, you can go and ask him yourself. He only came to see me and didn't say anything else. I didn't ask, not a single word."

The boss explained himself in a panic, both hands waving frantically in front of his chest.

Li Yao nodded, as if he believed him. He waved a hand, signalling the people around the table to move back slightly, and the boss let out a faint breath of relief.

The gambling table was littered with cards. They'd only played three rounds, but the boss felt as if it had gone on for three hours.

Li Yao didn't seem in any hurry to leave. His eyes flicked over the cards, then towards the back courtyard.

He reminded himself not to forget what he'd come for in the first place.

It felt like a bit of a waste to stop after just three rounds.

Li Yao turned over all the remaining cards one by one on the table.

No wonder the boss couldn't win. The cards had been perfectly arranged in numerical order, five next to six, six next to seven. Li Yao had shuffled the deck. The boss glanced at him from beneath lowered lids but didn't dare say a single word.

"This time, you shuffle," Li Yao stacked the cards neatly and pushed them across with a smile. "Enjoy."

The boss held the cards in his hands but didn't dare move.

"Do you still have something you want to ask?"

Li Yao shook his head with a smile. "Not this time, we're acting."

=========

By the time Du Yusheng returned to the casino, it was already the early hours of the morning. The place was still bustling with noise and voices; no one paid attention to who arrived, and no one cared who left.

It was as if nothing had ever happened. Du Yusheng was suddenly struck by a strange illusion, an illusion that in this space and time, only he had come and gone, while everything else remained exactly the same. Even the air didn't seem to have changed.

Li Yao was still seated in the same spot, his back perfectly straight, sitting there with proper posture.

From the moment Du Yusheng entered his line of sight to the moment he reached Li Yao's side, Li Yao's eyes never left him. He sized him up from head to toe, as if trying to confirm something. Only once Du Yusheng stood beside him did he finally turn his face away. Du Yusheng didn't know why, he could only lower his head, his ears burning red.

"Your turn."

The playing cards in Li Yao's hand tapped lightly against the worn gambling table as he prompted the boss, "Your turn," he repeated. "We still have two cards in hand, are you going to swap?"

A few visible beads of sweat had formed on the boss's patchy scalp. Du Yusheng reckoned the man wasn't in a great position.

"You've got some skill," the boss muttered, slapping his cards face-down on the table. "I've only won two rounds tonight, and now you've gone and ruined my mood."

As he spoke, the boss stood up and pushed his chair aside.

"Alright then, everything before this doesn't count, just this round. If you win, you take the man and we're square. If you lose, you pay me back double."

"You've got a system like that?"

Li Yao frowned slightly, troubled, and rubbed his fingers together.

Seemingly unwilling, he said, "I can afford to lose the money, but that's not the rule we agreed on earlier."

The boss placed one foot on the chair he'd just vacated and began rapping loudly on the table with one hand. His voice turned harsh, "This is my place, I make the rules! Either keep playing, pay up, or leave the man behind."

Li Yao brushed his fingers along the edge of his coat, as if thinking.

Du Yusheng watched from the side and sniffed. It was obvious the boss couldn't handle losing and was trying to weasel out of it. Plainly put, he'd seen that Li Yao had money and had come alone, and now wanted to swindle him. Originally, this had nothing to do with Li Yao, but for whatever reason, he'd gotten involved. Now the matter had something to do with Li Yao, and the root of it all was Du Yusheng himself. Du Yusheng was beginning to feel uneasy.

Seeing a slight flicker of panic cross Li Yao's face, Du Yusheng clenched his fists tightly.

Originally, he had been holding back just to investigate Luo Yang's matter. Now that it was settled, Du Yusheng felt there was no need to keep holding back any longer.

But something still didn't feel right to Du Yusheng. When Li Yao had first come in, he'd been so confident, almost certain to win, his entire demeanour calm and steady like a battle-hardened general. Yet now, that aura was nowhere to be seen on him. Either he simply didn't have the skill and was bluffing, or else he was deliberately hiding that presence, pretending to be weak.

Pretending to be weak?

Du Yusheng was startled by this thought.

He glanced at the boss. "Hey," Du Yusheng bumped him with his shoulder. "Is that really how you run your business?"

Without drawing attention, Du Yusheng unclasped the handcuffs on his own wrists but, seeing nowhere to hide them, slipped the cuffs onto the wrist of the man who'd just locked him in the little black room. Du Yusheng's movements were quick. By the time the man realised, Du Yusheng tilted his head back, smiled at him, and raised his middle finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

He flung the chair back carelessly and sat down opposite the boss.

"How about this, I'll watch right here, and you play one more round. If we win this one, we win. If we lose, it's still our win."

Du Yusheng unzipped the top of his jacket casually, letting the muzzle of the gun in his pocket peek out into the boss's line of sight, aimed at his head.

"Still want to play?" Du Yusheng scratched his nose and asked.

The boss rubbed his fingers on the corner of the table. Though his eyes were fixed on Du Yusheng, he was really watching Li Yao behind him. Fortunately, Li Yao's face showed little expression.

"... If you walk away like this, I won't be able to do business here any more."

Du Yusheng stood up and laughed, "If I walk away, what can you do to me?"

Suddenly, several men appeared in front of them, blocking their path.

Li Yao glanced back at the boss, then walked over and lowered his head to block the boss's shoulder, whispering something into his ear.

Then, with Du Yusheng, who was already prepared for a confrontation, he bowed slightly and they left the casino.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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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 20, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 12, 2025 by Angel