Controlled Experiment Chapter 23

Controlled Experiment – 23

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The casino boss stared at the five fingers Du Yusheng held out, sweat pouring from his forehead like a waterfall.

Because he was hanging upside down, he could only look up at Du Yusheng from below, which made the man seem stretched and towering, like a mountain pressing down on him. The casino boss had heard Du Yusheng's name before but had never met him in person. A second-generation rich kid with a bit of cash, rumour had it he never considered the consequences of his actions. Du Yusheng had previously worked at the grassroots level, stirred up some trouble, been thrown into a black cell, and then, somehow, got transferred. At least that was the official story. In reality, it was a promotion. He'd handled a few cases, and thanks to his family's influence, had secured a solid position in the bureau. Of course, all this was hearsay. The official narrative was that Du Yusheng had climbed his way up from the bottom step by step.

"I'll ask one more time, what did Li Yao whisper in your ear that night?"

The casino boss's head was swollen with blood from being suspended upside down. All the blood in his body surged to one place, making it nearly impossible to think.

"Put me the fuck down and we'll talk," the boss cursed. "I can't remember a damn thing like this."

Du Yusheng hissed, unsatisfied, and crouched down until he was level with the man's eyes.

He had one cigarette left in his pocket. Du Yusheng pulled it out, lit it, exhaled a slow smoke ring, and held it between his fingers.

"If you can't remember, then think harder."

"Fuck you."

With the casino boss's curses ringing in his ears, Du Yusheng calmly pulled out his phone and sent a message to a colleague at the bureau. In short, he told them to send a few people to the backyard of the underground casino and bring back the car Luo Yang had used as collateral, they were to keep it at the bureau for now. Too many things could go wrong if they waited, Du Yusheng was afraid that something bad might happen. Just before putting the phone away, he added a warning to make sure they only took the car and didn't touch anything else. The casino was deep water, Du Yusheng didn't want to get involved, the rest could be left to the specialised team to deal with. He already had enough chaos on his plate and didn't want to add more mess.

Du Yusheng stubbed his cigarette out on the casino boss's beer belly.

Inhaling, he said, "Thought about how you're going to tell me?"

"Put me down first," the sweat on the boss's forehead kept flowing down, forming a small puddle on the ground.

Unsatisfied with the reply, Du Yusheng opened his phone and started playing Candy Crush.

A former colleague had recommended it, it was good for killing time, sharpening the mind, and keeping the brain active. Typical Du Yusheng, he stood right beside the boss's head, playing away, volume turned up to the max to make sure the man could see and hear his every move.

By the time he reached level two, the boss couldn't hold out any longer.

"I'll tell you everything, alright? Just let me down. I'm begging you."

Du Yusheng raised his eyebrows. "Oh, giving in now?" He laughed. "I thought you didn't respond to either threats or persuasion."

He rotated the man upright, and compared to just now, the boss felt much better, at least his head was up and his feet were down, and he could finally see things the right way up. The only problem was, just moments ago all the blood had rushed to his brain, and now his lower half was completely numb.

Du Yusheng seemed to know exactly how that felt and gave his thigh a couple of kicks.

"What did Li Yao say?"

The boss inhaled through his nose, as though summoning a great deal of courage. "He said, he said to tell Zhuang Hao to go find him."

"Zhuang Hao?" That was a name from long ago. Du Yusheng chuckled. "Tough bastard's still alive."

Just as he'd suspected, Zhuang Hao hadn't died at all. Du Yusheng scratched his head. If he wasn't dead, then whose body had been at the crime scene? The man might have faked his identity, but the body had been real. Unfortunately, the corpse had been too badly burned to yield any useful information. Still, if Zhuang Hao had used it as a decoy to escape, then odds were the poor bastard was one of his unlucky underlings. Even if they could identify the body, it likely wouldn't lead to any major breakthroughs.

"He wants to find Zhuang Hao, for what?"

The boss shook his body, signalling that he didn't know.

"Then let me change the question," Du Yusheng said. "Who is Zhuang Hao?"

"... This, don't you all know?" the boss replied. "He's the one in the circle who handles elec..."

"Tch. Tell me something I don't know."

Du Yusheng cut the boss off, then looked down at his shoes, now scuffed with dust. He bent over and brushed them off with his hand.

"I find one thing particularly strange," Du Yusheng lifted his head to look at the boss's round face, a smile playing on his lips. "Look at it this way, Li Yao wants to find Zhuang Hao, I want to have a word with him too. Zhuang Hao faked his death, clearly because someone else is after him as well. Why is it that everyone in the fucking world is looking for him? What for? Why don't you enlighten me."

The boss stared at Du Yusheng's face and suddenly went silent for a few seconds. Then he said, "... Then what are you looking for him for?"

Du Yusheng kicked him hard, swearing, "I'm the one asking questions, not you, cut the fucking nonsense."

It was a solid kick, hard enough that the boss let out a choked grunt and began coughing uncontrollably. The problem was he genuinely didn't know where to begin answering. With his head lowered, staring at the cigarette burn on his belly, the casino boss suddenly found himself craving a smoke.

"Zhuang Hao used to work for Boss Jing, you could say he was one of his most trusted men," the boss paused for a few seconds before continuing, "After Boss Jing got into trouble and died, Zhuang Hao had to put in a lot of effort just to protect himself and get out in one piece. Later on, he started doing electronic deals in the circle, bugging, tracking, remote systems, surveillance, he did it all. That much you already know."

"I know this Boss Jing. Back in the day, he was a formidable arms dealer," Du Yusheng stepped onto a nearby step and nodded, "I heard the casinos around here used to belong to him."

The boss smiled faintly. "At his peak, Boss Jing's casino business was even better than his main one. I never met him myself, but word was he was a gambling addict, he'd bet on anything and everything."

Du Yusheng rubbed his nose. He didn't know much about this arms dealer surnamed Jing. From what he'd heard, the man used to have the wind at his back, anything he wanted, he got. He had his hands in both legal and illegal circles, and no one could touch him, his empire kept growing. But later, someone found him dead in the freezer at his own home. When he was discovered, forensic analysis concluded he'd been dead for at least two weeks, frozen solid. Boss Jing had plenty of enemies, and questioning them one by one took ages. They were all slippery sorts, nothing could be gotten out of them, and in the end, the case was shelved.

But this gambling addiction, this was the first Du Yusheng had heard of it.

"What sort of things did he gamble on?"

"He had two sons once, and lost one," the casino boss sighed. "As for the remaining one... rumour has it that after he came of age, he was thrown onto a deserted island for a few years to fend for himself and couldn't make it, the poor kid drowned in a river. Two sons, and not even a photo left of either of them."

"And now?"

"Now?" The boss let out a bitter chuckle. "The smaller places have all been taken over. People like me, well, you've seen it, barely scraping by, just living day to day."

Du Yusheng froze for a moment, suddenly feeling something heavy settle in his chest.

Maybe lives meant little to men on the run. Maybe compared to their own survival, other people's lives weren't even worth mentioning. But Du Yusheng hadn't expected that even one's own sons could be used as gambling chips, lives discarded just like that. He felt sorrow for those two boys, but more than anything, there was a deep sadness. He didn't quite know what to say.

So, Boss Jing's unnatural death can also be seen as a form of retribution.

Du Yusheng licked his lips. "And all this is what Zhuang Hao told you himself?"

The casino boss nodded, then added, "Actually, there's someone looking for Zhuang Hao every single month, he's made plenty of enemies in the circle. As an electronics man, it's impossible not to. But he's clever, he's got dirt on half of them, so no one dares touch him. They hate him, but they're scared too. With that leverage, he's been able to scrape together a pretty comfortable living." Saying this, the boss smiled. "But this is the first time I've seen him that scared, desperate to hide. I don't know who he's provoked."

"You don't know?" Du Yusheng raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know?"

"I really don't."

Du Yusheng took a deep breath. Zhuang Hao had been in this line of work for some time, holding leverage over those people wasn't a recent thing, yet he'd never shown this kind of fear before. Now, all of a sudden, he was frightened and desperate to hide. That could only mean one thing: the people looking for him weren't from within their circle. Zhuang Hao didn't have anything on them, nothing he could use against them. Clearly, Li Yao was one of those people. For reasons he couldn't explain, the thought brought Du Yusheng a flicker of relief. At least it meant that Li Yao was a normal person.

"What about Li Yao?" Du Yusheng asked. "How do you know him?"

The boss was a heavyset man, and the rope had been pulling on him for a while. What had started as a few centimetres off the ground had now shifted to where he could just barely touch the floor with his toes. Du Yusheng noticed, but made no move to help.

"I don't know him," the boss twisted his bulk, trying to find a more comfortable position. "That day was the first time I'd seen him, a new face. But he didn't look like a good person, and his hands were pretty dirty, nearly tripping me up. What kind of fucking person is he?"

That last line irritated Du Yusheng. He kicked the man hard and snapped, "Watch your mouth."

"You just said Li Yao arranged to meet with Zhuang Hao? When?"

The boss nodded. "Tomorrow night, at Li Yao's place." After a brief pause, the boss added, "But don't ask me where Zhuang Hao is, I really don't know. I passed on the message, and that was it. Haven't heard from him since, can't get hold of him either. If you really want to find him, go see that Li Yao, you two seem pretty close, he even stood up for you."

Mm, that's right, he stood up for me.

That's what I thought too. But turns out the man was just using me as a means to get to Zhuang Hao.

A bitter taste rose in Du Yusheng's heart.

He'd long suspected Li Yao wasn't helping out of pure motives, but having it laid out before him made it all the more unpleasant.

Before leaving, Du Yusheng offered the boss a few words of advice, he told him to get out of this business and stay alive doing something else.

From what the casino boss had said, it seemed likely that not only had Li Yao been looking for Zhuang Hao, but the two of them might have known each other for some time. All that snooping Zhuang Hao had done into people's private affairs, perhaps it hadn't been for himself, but rather that Li Yao had used him to obtain information about others. And perhaps Zhuang Hao had attracted the attention of someone powerful, someone who left him no choice but to fake his own death. That powerful person, too, likely wanted something from Zhuang Hao. And suddenly, it occurred to Du Yusheng that perhaps Li Yao and that person were after the same thing.

What on earth had frightened Zhuang Hao to such an extent?

It was clear that Zhuang Hao and Li Yao knew each other. If they'd known each other for a long time, then back when Zhuang Hao had still been working under that arms dealer, it stood to reason that Du Yusheng's earlier speculation was correct, and whatever Li Yao wanted was most likely connected to that arms dealer. If they'd only met later, then things would be much simpler. Compared to matters involving the dead, the affairs of the living were far easier to investigate.

At the end of the day, the key was to find Zhuang Hao and get a proper explanation out of him.

Du Yusheng felt as though he were swimming through a tangle of ropes, entangled, with no way to reach the shore.

The Luo Yang case was all but wrapped up, just waiting on the last few reports to close the net. Du Yusheng glanced at his phone, but there was still no update from the bureau. He still had some case photos saved on the device. After flipping through a few, his eyes landed on the scrap of paper marked with the words 'Controlled Experiment'.

To be fair, investigating Zhuang Hao wasn't only about his connection to Li Yao, it was also about the two words on that paper. Du Yusheng had seen them once before at another crime scene. And near that crime scene, Zhuang Hao had once been spotted.

Lost in thought, it was only after the car had been on the road for quite some time that Du Yusheng began to feel cold. He sat there dazed for a long while before realising he hadn't even turned the heater on.

No wonder he felt frozen. Inside and out, the temperature was the same.

Switching on the heater, Du Yusheng parked the car outside a supermarket.

His hands and feet were numb from the cold, barely able to grip the steering wheel. Du Yusheng figured he'd head inside to grab a hot drink, at the very least, something to eat to warm himself up.

That was when he spotted a familiar face by the entrance to the supermarket.

That evening, Li Yao was wearing a dark-coloured coat, with a pale blue shirt underneath. The collar was open wide, the wind howling around him, but he didn't seem to feel the cold, if anything, he looked deliberately showy. He was holding a bottle of mineral water, half empty, the cap in his hand. It seemed he had already spotted Du Yusheng, and as the latter approached, Li Yao's gaze followed him. The corners of his mouth lifted in a slight smile.

Only when he got closer did Du Yusheng realise Li Yao was wearing glasses. Behind the clear lenses, his eyes were smiling.

For a moment, Du Yusheng found himself unsettled.

"Thirsty?" Li Yao shook the half-empty bottle and tilted his head at him.

Du Yusheng paused.

Coming from someone else, those words might have been flirtatious. But coming from Li Yao, they felt strangely off. Du Yusheng frowned, the line rubbing him the wrong way, as if it simply didn't belong in Li Yao's mouth.

"Thirsty?"

Li Yao asked again, and this time, the smile on his lips deepened.

What is that supposed to mean? Du Yusheng couldn't make sense of it. He took the half-full bottle of water from his hand in a daze and had a sip. The water soothed his throat, it was warm, though he couldn't say what kind it was, and the warmth spread through his whole body. He tossed the now-empty bottle into a nearby garbage bin.

Li Yao was still standing where he'd been, smiling, "I saw you turn on the heater in your car just now, forgot already?" He added with a grin, "Still cold now?"

Du Yusheng quickly shook his head.

Li Yao didn't appear to have a car with him. He stood by the roadside, eyes fixed on the corner across the street. Following his gaze, Du Yusheng saw the most popular Japanese restaurant on the island, the one that supposedly had a queue starting twenty minutes after opening and lasting until they ran out of ingredients for the day.

Du Yusheng couldn't get used to eating raw things, he'd always felt that nothing beat a proper, traditional meal.

"Are you waiting for a table?"

Li Yao nodded, his eyes still fixed in that direction as he pulled a small printed ticket from his pocket.

Glancing at it, Du Yusheng saw it was for two people, and there were five tables ahead of him.

Two people? Don't tell me...

Du Yusheng smacked his lips, "You came with a friend?"

Li Yao suddenly smiled, slipping the ticket back into his pocket. "This place doesn't offer single seating."

Du Yusheng's face flushed instantly. He regretted asking that question, his intention had been far too obvious, no class. Fortunately, Li Yao seemed not to notice. He stood straight at the edge of the pavement, watching the queue numbers change on the signboard.

His ears had gone red, something rather amusing to Li Yao, who looked quite pleased with himself, the smile never leaving his lips.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

Du Yusheng was caught off guard. "Ah?" He blinked, then quickly nodded. "No, just got off work."

Li Yao shook the slip of paper in his hand, "Then how about eating together? Is Japanese food okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine."

Even if I don't like Japanese food, even if all we're doing is drinking plain water, I'd still be delighted.

Satisfied with the response, Li Yao nodded and took out his phone. He snapped a picture and sent it to someone whose name began with the letter L. The background was dark, but he reckoned the recipient would be able to make out exactly who was in it.

Soon, the Li Yao who was at home received a message.

It came from an anonymous number.

A photo, accompanied by a line of text:

"Brother, how about I trade this for Zhuang Hao? Deal or no deal?"

Then came a second photo, the sender making a peace sign, the background still that same street.

The Li Yao in the bedroom stared at the image and, in his head, unleashed every curse word he had ever learned.

Just before ordering, Du Yusheng went to the restroom. He still remembered Qin Yan mentioning that the bloodshot veins in his eyes had frightened the interns, so he quickly put in two drops of eye drops while inside. He hadn't slept for a day and a half, nor had he showered, so Du Yusheng's appearance was rather unkempt. Fortunately, he had good features, delicate and attractive, so it didn't matter too much. Still, perhaps because he hadn't changed clothes once, when he looked in the mirror, Du Yusheng felt there was a bit of dustiness clinging to him. He tidied his hair, though his mind buzzed. This was the first time Li Yao had taken the initiative to invite him to a meal. That was quite unexpected. Could it be that what he said the other day, about Li Yao being too cold towards him, had actually worked? If he'd known that, he'd have said it earlier.

His mind teeming with thoughts, Du Yusheng walked back in a hurry.

Jing Mo was looking at the menu in his hands.

He had been to this place plenty of times before, but out of courtesy to Du Yusheng, he made a show of flipping through the menu back and forth.

"What do you want to eat?" Jing Mo smiled warmly. "Anything you're especially in the mood for?"

Nothing in particular, all of it tastes the same to me.

"Anything's fine," Du Yusheng smiled. "I'm the kind of person who likes all food."

Jing Mo nodded with a smile and looked up to gesture at one of the menu photos for the waiter.

There were already two cups of hot plain water on the table, steam still rising from them. Du Yusheng took a sip and felt his racing heart finally settle. He couldn't help but scan the person sitting opposite him from head to toe. Li Yao looked a little different today, if one had to use an unflattering word, he was a bit flashy. His collar was left open, and there was an ambiguous smile constantly playing on his lips. His shoes were polished, and his coat casually tossed onto the seat beside him. There was a piece of jewellery on his wrist that was made of metal, and it was hard to make out exactly, but it looked very good. It was a far cry from his usual prim and proper style.

Even the way he spoke didn't carry his usual steadiness. On the contrary, there was something slightly frivolous about it.

"So you're near-sighted too?"

Jing Mo handed the menu back to the waiter, then took off his glasses and waved them in front of Du Yusheng.

"No prescription, just for decoration."

Without the embellishment of glasses, there were a pair of smiling eyes. Without the transparent glass lenses, they looked more genuine. Du Yusheng felt a bit uncomfortable, even a little cold.

"Dr Li, are you... on call again today?"

When called "Dr Li", Jing Mo didn't react at first. It took him a moment, seeing the expectant look on Du Yusheng's face, to realise the question was aimed at him. He handed over a freshly poured cup of hot water.

"I just came out for dinner," Jing Mo said with a smile. "I really ran into you."

That remark sounded a little off, as if it implied he had been waiting around just to bump into him.

Like that idiom, waiting by the tree stump for a rabbit.

"And you?" Jing Mo asked. "Working overtime?"

Du Yusheng nodded and let out a long sigh.

"Don't mention it."

Japanese food was mostly cold dishes, so everything arrived quite quickly.

Looking at the whole table of chilled items, Du Yusheng felt a dull ache in his stomach. He hadn't slept in a day and a half, and now he was adding cold food on top of that, was he trying to kill himself?

"I heard the Luo Daheng case is nearly wrapped up?"

"Yes." Du Yusheng nodded and took a sip of water to wash down the wasabi in his mouth.

Before he had even swallowed the water, something clicked, and he blinked at Jing Mo.

"When did I ever say the Luo Daheng case was nearly wrapped up?"

They had only just found the key piece of evidence that morning, and the bureau hadn't even submitted the report yet.

Du Yusheng looked at Jing Mo in silence. The latter let out a sigh, shook his head and said, "You said it, you must have forgotten."

On this point, Du Yusheng could swear he hadn't told anyone a thing.

The person in front of him suddenly felt unfamiliar.

Du Yusheng took another sip of the steaming water. The little spark of excitement he had felt earlier was completely doused by that ambiguous statement. His inner doubts about Li Yao resurfaced and magnified once again. Du Yusheng didn't like this, if they were eating, they should just eat, no need for all this prodding.

Probing?

Du Yusheng suddenly realised something. In the past, it had always been him testing Li Yao. Why did it feel like today, the tables had turned?

Jing Mo continued, "So the killer is Luo Yang?"

"I said that too?"

Jing Mo smiled faintly.

"Have you ever felt like those cases are just scripts, and you're the lead character? Your movements, the course of the story, even the direction of the clues, are all arranged by the scriptwriter. You're just in charge of going through the motions, while the ending's already been written."

Unhurriedly, Jing Mo took off his glasses and set them aside, watching the expression on Du Yusheng's face.

"Not just cases," Du Yusheng replied. "Isn't life like that too?"

Jing Mo paused for a few seconds, then smiled and nodded.

He thought what Du Yusheng had just said made a lot of sense.

His own life was indeed a brilliant script, but Jing Mo didn't like it. Which was why he could only turn himself into the scriptwriter.

"You said you knew Zhuang Hao?"

Putting his glasses back on, Jing Mo asked, "Did I also say something like that?" 

Du Yusheng nodded without a change in expression, returning the words in kind, "You said it, you've just forgotten."

Jing Mo laughed.

He hadn't expected Du Yusheng to be such a prickly little creature.

It was truly quite amusing.

"Yes," Jing Mo nodded. "I do know Zhuang Hao."

"Then do you know what kind of person Zhuang Hao is?"

"No," Jing Mo replied calmly, shaking his head.

The admission was so straightforward that Du Yusheng was momentarily speechless.

He found an excuse to go to the restroom.

Du Yusheng turned on the tap and rinsed his hands.

This meal had been thoroughly disappointing, completely different from what he'd imagined. The whole dinner had turned into nothing more than mutual probing for motives and background. Whatever enthusiasm he'd had about dining with Li Yao had been entirely worn away.

Through the gap in the restroom door, Du Yusheng looked out at that man.

It was clearly Li Yao, so why did he feel uneasy from start to finish?

It was like someone had tuned into the wrong channel.

Du Yusheng rubbed his face in the mirror. He reckoned he wasn't quite right today either, most likely because he hadn't slept for a day and a half and was still stewing from that conversation with the casino boss.

After splashing water on his face, he felt more awake.

Jing Mo sat upright at the table, handing him a cup of freshly poured hot water. Du Yusheng took it and downed a large gulp.

And right after that gulp, Du Yusheng lost consciousness. The last image that passed through his eyes was Jing Mo leaning in, asking what was wrong. Du Yusheng desperately wanted to respond, but it was as if he were suddenly too exhausted to speak, too tired to keep his eyes open. He could only give in to the pull of unconsciousness and drift away.

Li Yao heard the knock at the door just after he'd finished his shower.

Holding a towel in his hand, still not having dried his wet hair, Li Yao looked at the door.

He could probably guess who it was.

Opening the drawer of the shoe cabinet by the entrance, he looked at the knife inside, held it in his hand, hesitated, then placed it back inside and shut the drawer properly.

With his hair still dripping, Lai Yao opened the door.

It was a strange feeling, as if upon opening the door, you were met with a mirror. Li Yao looked at the man standing opposite him, identical to himself. Draped over his shoulder was an unconscious Du Yusheng. Though Du Yusheng's arm weighed heavily against him, Jing Mo still lifted his head with effort and managed a smile.

"Brother," Jing Mo said. "Have you thought about it? Are we swapping or not? I've brought him right to you."

‿︵‿︵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 26, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 12, 2025 by Angel