Controlled Experiment Chapter 27

Game of Death – 3

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Two hours later, Du Yusheng arrived at the hospital.

He had originally planned to return to the bureau first to interrogate Luo Yang, but halfway there, seeing how composed and unbothered Luo Yang appeared, Du Yusheng changed his mind and had someone divert the car to Huan Island Hospital. Luo Yang was sent back to the bureau under close escort, he wanted to give him a bit of time to cool off. Once he was tired, worn out, and had shed that calm, in-control demeanour, then they'd talk.

Besides, he already had all the evidence in hand. If it weren't for some lingering doubts, Du Yusheng wouldn't even bother with this psychopath again.

Huan Island Hospital was one of the top hospitals in the city, crowded with patients and people coming and going. To avoid causing a stir at the hospital, Du Yusheng switched to an unmarked private car midway.

But when he got to the ward, Du Yusheng felt his decision had been utterly foolish. The hospital room where the incident had taken place was already cordoned off with yellow and black police tape by colleagues who'd arrived earlier. Surrounding the tape was a solid crowd of curious patients and bystanders from nearby wards, all rushing over to gawk.

Du Yusheng, thoroughly annoyed by the scene, called over a few people and instructed them to disperse the crowd.

Fortunately, there was an iron gate at the end of the corridor separating that ward section from the rest, which helped keep people out. The corridor quickly quietened down.

Satisfied, Du Yusheng put on gloves and shoe covers at the door of the hospital room, preparing to go in and have a look.

"Brother Yu, we've got the story," Xiao Bai flipped through the few sheets of paper in his hands as he spoke. "The deceased is Chen Xin, the most well-known car dealer on the island. This morning, a nurse came to deliver his medication, called out to him several times with no response, and then discovered he was already dead."

Du Yusheng thought for a moment.

"Medical malpractice?"

Xiao Bai shook his head. "Apparently not. The nurses were just asked, and during the night rounds, someone actually saw Chen Xin get up to use the washroom. Because he's a wealthy businessman, the hospital didn't dare neglect him, they even checked on his room a few times during the night, nothing seemed off."

Du Yusheng nodded and glanced into the room.

Chen Xin had been staying in a VIP ward. There were only two beds inside, his, and the other one intended for family members keeping him company overnight.

The deceased, Chen Xin, was lying on his hospital bed. His eyes were closed, and he looked as if he were simply asleep, dressed in the hospital's blue-and-white patient gown. The room was filled with gift baskets of flowers and fruit from others. At his bedside was a book, Du Yusheng flipped through it and saw it contained notes on hospital precautions and dietary advice for the ill. Tucked inside were the lunch menus from the past few days. Beneath the bed were several boxes of health supplements, and there were still more unopened crates of bottled mineral water stacked on the balcony. The room was quite warm. Du Yusheng looked up, the air conditioner was switched off. The vent, located just inside the entrance, was also shut. There was no draft coming through at all.

At the doorway hung the nurse's log sheet, which recorded the patient's relevant information.

At Chen Xin's bedside was a cup of plain water, next to a plate of half-eaten pastries.

Du Yusheng picked up the water and brought it to his nose for a sniff.

"I already smelled it," Qin Yan straightened up and looked at Du Yusheng. "There's nothing wrong with it."

Du Yusheng then pointed to the leftover pastries beside it.

Qin Yan shook his head. "I know what you're going to ask, why would a sick man still be eating those?"

Du Yusheng nodded and yawned.

"Cause of death?"

Qin Yan sighed, removed his gloves, and tossed them aside.

"Let's wait for the autopsy results, I can't tell for now. There's not a single mark on his body, not even a bruise. I've checked his mouth and nose too, no signs of obstruction. It doesn't look like poisoning, nor like homicide. Judging by the scene, it's as if he just fell asleep and never woke up." Qin Yan added, "But the time of death is clear, sometime between ten and midnight last night."

Du Yusheng lowered his head and lifted Chen Xin's mattress to have a look.

Perhaps finding the hospital bed too hard, Chen Xin had added an extra layer underneath, it felt very soft to the touch.

Finding it odd, Du Yusheng straightened up and opened the wardrobe in the room. Inside were not just daily necessities but also his everyday clothes, everything from thick down jackets and woollen overcoats to pyjamas and underwear. The wardrobe was packed to the brim. Even the drawer below was crammed, housing three bottles of shampoo and a hefty stack of towels.

Du Yusheng frowned, something felt off. This Chen Xin didn't look like someone who came to stay in a hospital, he looked like he was checking into a hotel, or perhaps a guesthouse. He seemed to be in for a long stay.

"Why was he hospitalised?" Du Yusheng asked.

Xiao Bai glanced at the few sheets of paper in his hand and replied, "Heart disease."

"Another heart condition?" Du Yusheng stood with his hands on his hips, scratching his chin. "The last one was a wealthy businessman with a heart problem, and now this one's exactly the same, another rich man with heart disease..."

Mid-sentence, Du Yusheng's expression changed.

He noticed the look on Qin Yan's face mirrored his own, it was clear they were thinking the same thing.

"... Don't tell me he's also got a little note in his stomach that says ‘controlled experiment'?" Du Yusheng cursed under his breath and covered his face with a hand.

But logically, that shouldn't be the case. Du Yusheng reasoned that Luo Yang had already been arrested and his twisted little prank should have ended with that. The culprit was in custody, there shouldn't be any more of those ridiculous notes. Du Yusheng patted his chest, trying to convince himself he was overthinking it.

"Is there a high possibility of medical malpractice?" Du Yusheng asked.

Qin Yan smiled. "What does the crime scene look like to you? I can't say anything for sure just yet, you'll have to wait for my autopsy report. But I do find it odd, he really does look like he just fell asleep. The bed linen was perfectly neat, and after the body was removed, there were no signs of anything out of place, apart from the impression left by the body itself."

Du Yusheng nodded with pursed lips. He understood what Qin Yan was getting at.

No one sleeps an entire night without shifting position at all, not even a little, unless they're dead.

Moreover, judging by the way the sheets were arranged, it looked more like someone else had done it. Chen Xin couldn't have made an indentation on the mattress, then got up to straighten the bedding, and finally laid back down with everything perfectly aligned.

Du Yusheng scratched his cheek and looked over at Xiao Bai. "Who reported it?"

"Chen Xin's family," Xiao Bai sighed. "They're claiming medical malpractice, arguing with the hospital director as we speak. They're saying he was perfectly fine when they brought him in a few days ago, and now he's dead. I overheard some of it just now, they're even threatening to sue the hospital."

Du Yusheng nodded. The family's agitation was understandable, especially considering Chen Xin was a wealthy businessman.

"Let them finish shouting, then bring them back to the bureau."

After a brief word with the colleagues from trace inspection, Du Yusheng stepped out of the ward. He removed his shoe covers and gloves, leaned against the windowsill outside the room, and looked at the area outside the ward.

There were doors on both sides of the hallway in this ward. To the left was the emergency exit, and to the right were the other patient rooms. There was also an elevator outside. Three access points in total where someone could come in. The hospital had its own regulations: no one was allowed in outside of designated visiting hours at midday and in the evening. Besides, the doors were access-controlled, and entry required a swipe card. The people who could have easily reached Chen Xin, Du Yusheng's first thoughts were the doctors and nurses.

"Has the corridor surveillance footage been pulled?"

Xiao Bai picked up his phone and waved it in front of Du Yusheng's eyes. "Just came through."

Du Yusheng walked over and took the phone for a look.

During the time frame of the incident, the corridor showed nothing out of the ordinary, just nurses coming and going. Not a single other person appeared near Chen Xin's room. Not even a passing figure outside the door. Du Yusheng scratched his brow and continued watching patiently. Halfway through the video, a doctor in a white coat appeared at the entrance of Chen Xin's room. The angle only showed the person from behind. From the way he walked and his build, one could tell he was male, but his face was not visible.

The doctor entered Chen Xin's room and came out less than five minutes later.

After that, no one else appeared in the footage.

Du Yusheng blinked a few times. "During the time of the incident, the only person who passed by and entered this room was the one on this footage."

Xiao Bai nodded. "But we can't see his face."

Du Yusheng rewatched the footage, then paused it at a particular frame and zoomed in on the image.

In the image, the person was standing at the doorway, just about to enter. He wore the same white coat as the others, hands tucked into the pockets, and he had short hair. From the back and his height, something about the silhouette struck Du Yusheng as familiar. The collar of the coat looked untidy, one side folded properly, the other slightly curled up.

Du Yusheng zoomed in further. Even though the collar was bunched up, he could still just about make out what looked like two black letters written with a marker.

They appeared to be L and Y.

"Two letters," Xiao Bai said. "What's that mean? Writing on a collar?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Du Yusheng smiled. "Doctors have this habit of writing their names on the inside of the collar. That way, when it's folded down, it's hidden. But when they send their coats off to be laundered, there's no mix-up. Makes it easier to tell whose is whose."

Xiao Bai nodded, beginning to understand.

"So that must be a name," he murmured. "L and Y..."

Du Yusheng's mind buzzed, and the expression on his face froze.

He suddenly realised that Li Yao's initials were exactly those two letters.

Surely not, could it really be connected to him again...

"Xiao Bai, go check, ask the nurses at the station."

Five minutes later, Xiao Bai handed over the duty roster he had just obtained from the nurses' station.

"I've confirmed it, the initials on the coat stand for Li Yao. The nurses explained that Dr Li finds his full name too cumbersome to write, so he usually just uses the two letters. But apparently, it wasn't even his shift last night. They don't know why he turned up either, and no one even noticed he'd been there." Xiao Bai blinked as he watched the expression on Du Yusheng's face gradually change, then went on, "Also, I found out that Chen Xin’s attending doctor is Li Yao, Dr Li. He was admitted a few days ago, and the admission form was signed by Li Yao. Every prescription and treatment order since he was admitted has also been written by him. No one else has been involved."

Du Yusheng leaned against the window and let out a long sigh. He looked at Xiao Bai, then down at the image on his phone.

Why the fuck is it connected to Li Yao again? Du Yusheng didn't understand, What on earth kind of person have I fallen for?

And now that the owner of the coat had been confirmed, Du Yusheng couldn't help but feel that the person in the surveillance footage looked like him.

He'd obviously had dinner with him last night, then gone back to his place to sleep, so how had he ended up sneaking out in the middle of the night to commit a crime?

Du Yusheng couldn't understand.

"Where is Li Yao?" Du Yusheng asked Xiao Bai, his eyes reddening.

Xiao Bai froze for a moment before quickly replying, "The nurses said Dr Li is in the operating room, he's got two surgeries this morning."

Du Yusheng nodded, frowning as he watched Xiao Bai's retreating figure.

The connection between Mu Bai and Li Yao still wasn't clear. Though the wiretap had revealed some clues, Du Yusheng was being cautious. He pretended not to know what was going on between the two of them, he wanted to see for himself what secrets were hidden in that box.

"Come on, let's wait for him outside the operating room. I want to hear what he's got to say."

‿︵‿︵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 30, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 17, 2025 by Angel