Controlled Experiment Chapter 36

Game of Death – 12

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Du Yusheng scratched his brow, feeling unusually irritable.

Putting the shoe covers back on and re-entering the crime scene, Du Yusheng began to inspect the apartment once more.

He'd already noticed earlier that the furniture in the old man's room was rather worn and didn't match the modern appearance of the newly developed residential complex. Although Du Yusheng wasn't involved in Old Master Du's business dealings, he had picked up a fair bit over time. He'd heard that this particular area had originally been the site of a derelict factory, later bought up by a property developer. Eventually, it had been marketed as a school district property and the prices skyrocketed. Parents these days are more than willing to spend on their children, especially when it comes to education.

The old man's apartment was a two-bedroom apartment, and the second bedroom appeared to be rarely used and was completely bare. The old man's clothing and daily necessities were also few in number, the seasonal clothes and bedding didn't even fill up a single wardrobe. Almost involuntarily, Du Yusheng walked over and touched the man's mattress, it was very thin. Even though the building had decent central heating, for someone of the old man's age, that kind of thickness was far from adequate.

Du Yusheng frowned, silently cursing the man's useless children.

There was a cell phone left on the desk. It wasn't a smartphone, didn't even have a touchscreen, and it bore no visible brand, it looked like some knock-off product. The red and green buttons for calling had been worn down to the point that the paint had peeled off, exposing the cheap, soft plastic underneath.

The buttons didn't seem to work properly either, Du Yusheng had to press around for a while before he finally pulled up the old man's call records.

In the past two months, the old man had dialled three numbers dozens of times, but not once had any of them been answered.

Frowning, Du Yusheng dropped the phone into an evidence bag and tossed it to Xiao Bai.

"Look into those three numbers."

Xiao Bai nodded, glanced down at the phone in his hand, and then blinked. "People still use these?"

"He was an old man," Du Yusheng replied. "Didn't really know how to use the ones we do."

Xiao Bai sighed. "There are phones made especially for the elderly, with extra-large buttons. Don't you think the buttons on this thing are tiny? Can someone his age even read them?"

Du Yusheng took a closer look. The buttons really were tiny.

"Xiao Bai." Du Yusheng opened the window and pointed down at the small fountain below. "Look downstairs, the furniture in this apartment is pretty much from the same era as the deceased, he lived frugally, so why buy such an expensive property? This is a school district apartment."

At first, Xiao Bai wanted to suggest the man might've bought it to help with picking up a grandchild, or perhaps it had been purchased by his children.

But then he thought better of it. That family barely visited the old man once every few months, what grandchildren would he be picking up?

Seeing Du Yusheng's expression, Xiao Bai thought, Fine, I'll just go ask the neighbours myself.

Du Yusheng stood at the side, watching the old man's body being carried away, and a pang of bitterness hit his chest.

He had raised his children his whole life, and in the end, not one of them knew when he died.

The milk delivery man who'd reported it was still giving his statement nearby. Du Yusheng called him over.

The delivery man was a middle-aged man, on the shorter side, slightly hunched, and wearing his company's uniform vest and a baseball cap with their logo on it. His green milk cart was parked downstairs, Du Yusheng had seen it when he entered.

The man looked like someone who spent a lot of time outdoors, his skin was coarse, not quite matching the age on his ID.

"What was your relationship with the deceased?" Du Yusheng asked.

"I deliver milk in this complex every morning between eight and nine." The man wasn't timid at all and didn't seem particularly shaken by the death.

Du Yusheng checked his watch. "Eight to nine in the morning? It's already afternoon, why are you only reporting this now?"

The man shook his head and handed Du Yusheng his milk delivery log for inspection.

"I had something to deal with this morning. I was going to have a colleague take my shift, but no one was available so I had to come myself, even if it was late. A few customers were already unhappy just now, ai, I don't even know if they'll file complaints."

As he spoke, the man frowned slightly, glancing down repeatedly at his phone and nervously scrolling through reviews, worried someone might have left negative feedback.

It wasn't easy making a living in this line of work. Du Yusheng understood that, and his tone softened a little.

"I heard you only became suspicious because the milk bottles in the box outside had been left untouched for three days," Du Yusheng said with a slight smile. "Didn't you find it odd on the first day?"

The delivery man shook his head. "It wasn't just that the bottles were sitting there for three days, it's that my milk had been left untouched for three days straight. A few days earlier, Old Qian mentioned it to me, he said he'd put aside some of his pension and wanted to take his children on a little trip while he was still able to move around. I thought he'd gone on holiday with them and just hadn't come back yet. I checked every day when I delivered the milk, but the bottles were never touched. Later I felt something wasn't right, so I asked Old Qian's neighbours, and they told me no one had seen him leave for any trip. That's when I thought something might've happened."

The more Du Yusheng listened, the heavier his heart grew.

Other families had children taking their elderly parents on holiday, but here was a father chasing after his children, hoping to take them out instead.

At this point, Du Yusheng also figured out who the owners of the few phone numbers in the old man's cell phone were, they should be the old man's three unfilial children.

Du Yusheng could just imagine the man's thoughts, trying to use the excuse of a family holiday and spending a bit of money, just to see his children. Yet after three months of calls, not a single one of them had picked up.

Ironic.

So fucking ironic.

Du Yusheng took a long drag on his cigarette.

While he smoked, Xiao Bai came running back from outside.

"You got the full picture?"

Xiao Bai nodded, but his expression didn't look good.

"Brother Yu, you know what the neighbour told me?" said Xiao Bai. "They said Old Qian had been living here for about seven or eight years. Before that, he lived in a retirement home in a more remote area. Even back then, his children hardly visited or called. Old Qian thought maybe it was just the location that made it inconvenient for them, so when house prices weren't as high, he used up most of his savings to buy this school district apartment, hoping it'd make things easier for his children and that he could leave them the apartment when the time came. It actually worked for a bit. His children didn't come often, but they'd show up maybe once a month. Then, after he transferred the ownership of the apartment to them, they pretty much stopped coming altogether. I mean, what do you even call that?"

"What did Old Qian do before he retired?"

Xiao Bai replied, "The neighbours said he was an intellectual, probably a teacher or something. We'll have to wait for the family to come by for the details."

The old man had spent most of his life educating others, nurturing countless students across the country. Who would have thought that the children he raised at home would turn out to be such thankless ingrates? Just from the books on his shelves, it was clear that Old Qian was a man of high ideals and integrity. Even if his children had been unfilial, someone like him probably wouldn't have held much resentment, at least, that's what Du Yusheng thought.

After a long silence, Du Yusheng sighed and said, "It's not really about how far apart they are. If the children cared, even if they lived at opposite ends of the earth, they'd still hold him in their hearts."

Du Yusheng took a few steps outside, shaking his head.

Pointing at the apartment, he said, "They didn't cherish him."

Du Yusheng also liked bickering with Old Master Du and the old man would curse him when he didn't like what he saw. Now, thinking back on it, those spats had been an irreplaceable part of their life as father and son. Even their arguments, in hindsight, felt warm. But that kind of thing would never happen to him again.

When parents are alive, life still feels like it has a beginning to return to. Once they're gone, all that's left is the journey to the end.

As for Old Qian's ungrateful children, they'd probably never understand that. Du Yusheng exhaled a smoke ring, itching to curse those three ingrates to their faces.

When Xiao Bai came out and saw Du Yusheng smoking again, he walked over a couple of steps.

He tried to persuade gently, "Brother Yu, what's up with you today? Maybe go easy on the cigarettes."

Du Yusheng waved him off. "I'm fine. Go pull the surveillance footage, take statements, and ask the neighbourhood security if they've seen anyone suspicious. This neighbourhood should have pretty comprehensive surveillance. As for the body, hand it over to Qin Yan, he'll know what to do. My instinct says Chen Xin and this man were both killed by the same person, I just haven't figured out the connection yet. If anything comes up, inform me at once, I'm on call twenty-four hours."

Twenty-four hours.

Xiao Bai was stunned. In his eyes, Du Yusheng had never shown this kind of dedication before.

He was genuinely surprised.

"All right, if it really happened four nights ago, I think the night's surveillance review will show it. If what you say is true, Chen Xin's case will be solved easily as well. But I guess we'll have to wait for Brother Qin's report."

Du Yusheng nodded.

"Oh, by the way, Gu Qingyu faked it, take him back to the station for questioning. What about Chen Xin's place?"

Xiao Bai clicked his tongue. "No matter what his wife says tomorrow morning, we have to go in. At first, we tried to be considerate of their family's feelings, but his wife is pushing her luck. If we keep letting her block us, I'll start thinking she killed Chen Xin herself. All this fuss over some compensation? And he's supposed to be a wealthy businessman?"

Du Yusheng shook his head helplessly.

He thought to himself that with Chen Xin's current financial situation, ‘wealthy businessman' was quite a stretch.

"Maybe we'll have to merge the cases. I'll go out and take a walk, you wrap things up."

Du Yusheng nodded towards the crime scene.

This time, Xiao Bai readily agreed, saying nothing and just nodding.

Walking out of the estate, Du Yusheng felt an unbearable tightness in his chest, not even a cigarette could ease the bitterness inside.

He felt depressed.

When he came in, it was still daylight; it felt like no time had passed, yet it was already dark. Instinctively, Du Yusheng glanced at his watch, it was half past eight at night.

He wasn't sure if Old Qian's death had struck a chord within him, but Du Yusheng's mood weighed heavily on his chest and refused to lift.

He unlocked his phone and scrolled through his contacts.

Du Yusheng had a few drinking buddies, all quite wayward types, but after joining the police, he rarely kept in touch.

Right now, Du Yusheng didn't feel like drinking. He just wanted to quietly find someone to keep him company, have an ordinary meal.

He found Li Yao's number.

He dialled it.

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Author's Note:

These scenes have a slow pace and might feel a bit dull and tedious, but please hang in there, we're about to get to the main plot soon!

‿︵‿︵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: June 6, 2025 by Angel

Edited: June 26, 2025 by Angel