Controlled Experiment Chapter 47

Game of Death – 22

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Li Yao snatched the empty water cup from Du Yusheng's hand, touched his forehead with his palm, then went to the side to fill it with hot water again and placed it back into Du Yusheng's hand.

It was a mild fever, nothing a grown man couldn't handle. Li Yao was a doctor, he knew all too well how common these illnesses were, but still, he couldn't help observing Du Yusheng's condition. It clearly wasn't anything serious. Li Yao looked down at his own slippers and gave a self-deprecating laugh.

When did I start to care about things like this?

How ridiculous.

Li Yao turned around and once again touched Du Yusheng's forehead.

Though he was cheerful and easy-going by nature, his hair was surprisingly soft, rubbing it felt like stroking some small animal. The texture was pleasant, and as Li Yao ran his fingers through his hair, he entirely forgot that his original intention was just to check his temperature.

Du Yusheng's face turned red. The gesture, seemingly intimate, left him too flustered to interrupt. It was only after quite a while that he could no longer endure it and coughed lightly a couple of times.

He had always imagined getting close to Li Yao in various ways, but even without anything real happening, just this simple physical contact, Du Yusheng already found himself overwhelmed. It was laughably overambitious.

Li Yao came back to his senses and awkwardly withdrew his hand.

"Get more rest," Li Yao turned his back to him. "The things you're concerned about, you'll get your answers sooner or later. Maybe it's not as bad as you think."

As he said that, Li Yao looked at the round head in front of him, resisted the urge to ruffle his hair again, and quickly turned away.

Du Yusheng, of course, had no idea what was going on in Li Yao's mind. He sat half-reclined on the soft sofa, watching Li Yao's back.

He pursed his lips and tentatively asked, "... Were you on your phone just now?"

Li Yao seemed slightly caught off guard by the question. He glanced down at the phone in his right hand with a look of mild surprise.

"Yes, there was a spam message."

You furrowed your brows for that long over a spam message?

Du Yusheng frowned but didn't press further, he merely replied awkwardly, "Haven't really seen you use your phone."

He'd been drinking water at Li Yao's place for half the day and had even received some inexplicable text message. Du Yusheng wasn't sure if it was just the water that had broken his fever, but sweat had been steadily pouring out of him, and his body now felt a bit more at ease. He stood up and glanced over at Li Yao, who was still sitting on the sofa reading. Du Yusheng was rather surprised that Li Yao hadn't come up with some half-baked excuse to send him away.

The fact that Li Yao had been raised by a drug lord was something Du Yusheng truly hadn't anticipated.

Even now, it still felt somewhat unreal to Du Yusheng.

So he knows Zhuang Hao, knows Mu Bai, and knows all sorts of strange people.

Then...

Only belatedly did Du Yusheng tighten his grip around his phone.

After much inner turmoil, he let out a heavy sigh and pulled up a photo on his phone.

Du Yusheng pushed an image, a group photo of seven people including Old Master Jing, in front of Li Yao.

"In the end, you still haven't answered me, do you know this man or not?"

Out of caution, everyone in the photo except Old Master Jing had been heavily pixelated.

Li Yao picked up the phone and studied it for a long while.

He shook his head and said, "Is his surname Jing? I never heard his name from my foster father."

It was a clever truth.

"He was a well-known arms dealer back then, you really don't..."

Du Yusheng's words were cut off by the sudden ring of his phone.

The irritating ringtone startled him enough to make Du Yusheng forget what he'd wanted to say.

The call was from He Shen. Du Yusheng glanced at Li Yao, then walked over to the wall with his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Young Master Du."

There was almost never a quiet moment during He Shen's calls, he was either in a club or on his way to a bar. Instinctively, Du Yusheng checked his watch, this was indeed around the time He Shen would be relatively sober.

"How's it going, did you get it done?"

"If I hadn't, why would I be calling?" He Shen quipped. "Would've been a waste of my time."

"Then cut the crap," said Du Yusheng.

"But this one's a bit tricky." He Shen paused for a few seconds, then continued, "I finally tracked someone down. This guy's been clean for years, scrubbed all traces of his past, and doesn't want to talk about anything that came before. I've spent favours, money, all sorts, took me ages to get a foot in the door. After going back and forth several times, he finally agreed to talk. But he'll only talk to one person, I think you'd better come in person. Sounds like the guy you're digging into was quite the figure back in the day."

Du Yusheng rubbed his nose and asked, "If he's that cautious, why would he agree to see me? I'm a police officer."

"Do you think I'm a fucking idiot?" He Shen swore into the phone. "If I'd told him you were a cop, he'd have had me executed on the spot. I made up a story, I told him you were Chen Xin's illegitimate son, that got him to agree. As for the rest of the details, make it up on the way."

"Tell me the place."

"He owns a bar now, and his surname is Lu. I'll send you the address in a bit, I'll be waiting there."

Du Yusheng nodded. "Good, I had something else I wanted to talk to you about anyway."

He Shen rolled his eyes after hanging up, thinking that the watch on his wrist really didn't cover the amount of work he was doing.

How many fucking messes is Du Yusheng tangled up in, treating me like some glorified fixer?

After the call, Du Yusheng let out a long breath. Li Yao was standing nearby, but he didn't seem to mind that he'd heard the whole thing.

"Looks like someone's helping you investigate him," Li Yao said, leaning against the wall with an amused look.

Du Yusheng nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, so much for an early night."

Du Yusheng put on his shoes, ready to head to the bar to meet the man. Just as he reached the door, Li Yao unexpectedly stretched out a hand to stop him.

"Wait for me," Li Yao said. "Let me change, I'll go with you."

Du Yusheng was surprised.

"... Why would you come?" Du Yusheng clearly thought Li Yao was being unrealistic and couldn't help but laugh. "Do you even know where I'm going, who I'm seeing, what I'm doing, and you want to come with me? Which one of us is running a fever here?"

"You said on the phone, didn't you, that we were going to a bar. And you also mentioned that the man is an arms dealer." Li Yao gave a faint, indifferent smile and said, "I'll wait for you outside, I don't feel at ease with you going alone."

Du Yusheng had to admit that the moment he hung up the call, he'd already thought that going alone to meet someone like this wasn't the wisest idea. He'd considered bringing someone along, but he hadn't expected Li Yao would think the same. From Du Yusheng's perspective, Li Yao didn't even know what he was going there to do, who he was going to meet, and yet he still said he "didn't feel at ease". It made Du Yusheng feel genuinely warm inside.

As the warmth rose in his chest, Du Yusheng watched Li Yao come out in a change of clothes and stand beside him to change his shoes.

Unable to resist, he bit his lower lip and teased, "You're just a delicate scholar, if something really happens, you won't be any help."

Li Yao finished putting on his shoes and gave him a cold look.

Du Yusheng immediately changed his words, "I'm just going to meet someone, there's no danger, I was just talking nonsense just now."

In the downtown area of Huan Island, there was a street lined with bars.

At night, this was the liveliest place around. Looking down it, you couldn't see the end, only a sea of glowing neon signs. Even back when he'd been a pampered young master, Du Yusheng hadn't come here often. He wasn't fond of drinking, and whenever he did come, he worried he'd be a killjoy, so he usually stayed away.

Parking was a nightmare inside, so Li Yao had no choice but to leave the car outside, and the two of them walked in.

Glancing at the navigation He Shen had sent him, Du Yusheng muttered under his breath, "Bit of a back-alley shop, isn't it?"

Even on a street full of bars, there were popular and quieter spots. The place He Shen had sent him was somewhere in the middle, neither booming nor deserted.

It wasn't at the loudest, most crowded end of the street, but tucked away in a quieter corner.

Du Yusheng looked up at the bar's sign, then turned to find Li Yao doing the same.

With a smile, Du Yusheng said, "Here we are, I'm telling you, you might as well head back, I can handle myself. What's the point..."

"I'll just wait here," Li Yao cut in, leaving no room for argument.

Du Yusheng smiled helplessly. Fine, let him wait if he wants to, I'm not about to complain about such rare treatment.

Before he went in, Li Yao glanced at his watch.

The truth was, it wasn't solely out of genuine concern for Du Yusheng that he'd come along, he wanted to see whether the person Du Yusheng was meeting was the same one he'd been searching for all this time. Li Yao looked at his reflection on the face of his watch and felt a pang of guilt.

Facing a person who treats you with sincerity, yet you can't respond in kind, that, to Li Yao, is shameful.

=========

When Du Yusheng entered, He Shen was at the bar drinking.

He'd clearly had a fair bit, as his gaze was slightly unfocused. When he spotted Du Yusheng at the entrance, he raised an arm to wave him over.

"Come, come, have a drink first." He Shen pushed over the cocktail he'd just ordered for him.

Du Yusheng rolled his eyes. "I'm here on serious business. Well, well, you're wearing the watch now, are you?"

He Shen immediately covered his wrist with the back of his hand, afraid Du Yusheng might try to take the watch back.

He pointed to the private room at the very back of the bar, the one with the closed door.

"Surname Lu," He Shen reminded him. "Remember, your surname's Chen. Chen Xin's illegitimate son."

Du Yusheng curled the corners of his lips into a smile, one that gave He Shen the creeps.

He Shen instantly understood Du Yusheng's meaning.

Fuck, if this guy could actually do what he says, it would be a miracle.

Then it wouldn't be Du Yusheng.

Although the bar wasn't particularly crowded, it was still noisy. But as Du Yusheng followed the path He Shen had pointed out, it grew quieter the further he went. Glancing at the walls around him, he figured they must be lined with soundproof material. By the time he reached the end, just as He Shen had described, not a trace of the clamour outside could be heard. Du Yusheng looked at the door before him instinctively and thought, Perhaps bringing Li Yao along had been the right move. In a place like this, even if someone killed me, no one outside would hear a thing.

The thought gave Du Yusheng goosebumps.

Gently knocking on the door, a deep male voice came from inside.

"Come in."

Du Yusheng pushed the door open and entered.

"Good evening, Boss Lu."

Unexpectedly, there was only one person in the room.

A middle-aged man was sitting on the sofa smoking, and although the TV in front of him was on, there was no sound at all. He wore a plain shirt, nothing fancy. Though he looked over forty, he was in excellent shape, with no sign of a paunch, he looked young and sharp.

With how at ease he seemed, it looked like he genuinely believed the story about him being an illegitimate son.

Boss Lu lit a cigarette, looking Du Yusheng up and down.

"Chen Xin's... illegitimate son?"

Du Yusheng smiled faintly.

After locking the door behind him, he pulled out a chair opposite Boss Lu and sat down.

"My surname's Du," Du Yusheng said with a slight grin. "Why would it be Chen?"

Boss Lu's fingers holding the cigarette froze mid-air. Frowning, as if still trying to process what he'd just heard, he asked, "Du? Which Du?"

Du Yusheng hissed then clicked his tongue.

The look on his face was too strange, nothing like the timid air one might expect from an illegitimate child. In fact, he looked more like...

Boss Lu only then began to realise he'd been played. The laid-back young man in front of him was clearly no bastard son of Chen Xin. He shot to his feet with a sudden movement, the cigarette still lit and flung onto the table, and strode towards the door, arm reaching out.

Du Yusheng stepped in his way.

He smiled and said, "I'd advise you not to try and find out who I am."

He gestured toward the sofa, indicating that Boss Lu should sit back down.

"No need to be on edge," Du Yusheng tried to make himself look as non-threatening as possible, giving a pleasant smile. "I'm just here to ask Boss Lu a few questions. Once I'm done, I'll be gone. After I walk out that door, we won't know each other."

The man's identity was unclear, and Boss Lu hesitated before slowly returning to his seat.

Lighting another cigarette, Boss Lu studied Du Yusheng through the swirling smoke. In truth, even without Du Yusheng saying it outright, he could more or less guess who the man was.

Anyone digging into the affairs of Boss Jing, Jing Wen,

could only be either a crook or a cop.

"Which part do you want to hear?"

Du Yusheng gave a small smile. As expected, Boss Lu had seen his fair share of things. "I'm not interested in tales of how Jing Wen once wielded power and influence, I only want to hear about his connection with this man."

He was cautious, after all. Du Yusheng didn't take out all the photos, only the one of Chen Xin. After all, the chances of Boss Lu opening up were higher when it came to a photo of a deceased person.

"Chen Xin?" Boss Lu slowly drew on his cigarette, looking at the photograph of Chen Xin. "Didn't he die?"

"The killer hasn't been found, he's still floating about out there," Du Yusheng tilted his head, feigning indifference, and joked, "Why are you asking so many questions? Thinking of becoming the killer yourself?"

Boss Lu smiled and, without any change in expression, shook his head. He stubbed out the barely-smoked cigarette in the ashtray.

"To be honest, I don't know much. Back then I was sort of Brother Wen's... what you'd call an accountant nowadays. In those years he was just getting started, his arms business wasn't anything major yet. He had a gambling problem, and he liked a thrill. As I recall, it wasn't just Chen Xin, there were a few others too, maybe six or seven? All just a bunch of young punks," Boss Lu frowned and thought for a moment, then continued, "Those bastards set him up, cheated him in a game, worked together to con him out of everything Brother Wen had on him at the time."

Du Yusheng froze.

Set up? What kind of set up?

Boss Lu sneered and jabbed a finger at Chen Xin's photo. "That's how Chen Xin made his fortune. Otherwise, with that level of intelligence, how else could he have ended up a businessman? In that game, Brother Wen didn't just lose all his money, he lost a son. Apart from the ones in that photo, the number of people still alive who know what happened, you could count them on one hand. If I hadn't been his accountant, I wouldn't know either."

Set up a trap, cheated.

The group Boss Lu mentioned was likely the one in the photo, the one with all of them together.

When it came to motive for murder, from the sound of it, one person stood out above the rest.

"Jing Wen lost a son?" Du Yusheng asked. "And that son?"

Boss Lu scratched his nose. "Tsk. Brother Wen had two sons, one died, the other he gambled away. At the time, Brother Wen ran out of money, so he borrowed from loan sharks and bet with those guys, trying to win back what he'd lost, and he put one of his sons up as collateral. Later, he managed to turn things around with a payment coming in from a shipment of arms, but even then, he never went back to redeem the boy."

Du Yusheng didn’t say anything, just stared at Boss Lu coldly.

Boss Lu gave an awkward chuckle under the pressure of that gaze. "Unbelievable, right? Who pawns their own son over a loan? But sons aren't worth as much as cash. In that world, things like this aren't even unusual."

Boss Lu lit another cigarette and held it between his fingers again.

"But to put it bluntly, the real bastards were those few sons of bitches, actually ganging up to rig the game. That Chen Xin dying was no less than he deserved. In fact, Brother Wen always thought he'd simply had bad luck and that's why he lost so much. Those few knew exactly how serious it was and kept their mouths shut for years. It was only by chance that Brother Wen found out he'd been played. By then, some of them had already become big-name businessmen, and others had gone abroad to polish up their image. Brother Wen wanted to take them out, but they weren't stupid, they still had a solid copy of the gambling footage in their hands. If one of them went down, they were all going down. Not long after that, I left. I've no idea what happened afterwards, I went into proper business. Later I heard that Brother Wen never figured out how to deal with it, and then he suddenly died in an accident."

Du Yusheng rubbed his fingers together and asked, "So you're saying it's possible one of Jing Wen's sons is still alive."

"That's what I'm saying," Boss Lu stroked his chin and said, "Back then I heard he was passed around several times overseas, but he probably wouldn't have lived this long. Even if he did survive by some miracle, he's probably missing half his organs."

The calm, matter-of-fact way Boss Lu spoke made Du Yusheng feel a chill run down his spine.

Trying to comprehend how people like this thought was, as expected, a fool's errand.

"Do you have a photo? Of the son?"

Boss Lu shook his head and, frowning with a hint of impatience, said, "No. You think a man like Jing Wen, who could use his own child as collateral, would keep a photo of him?"

The way a child looked when they were young often differed greatly from how they looked as an adult. Even if both of those children stood in front of Boss Lu now, so many years had passed, and back then they'd just been kids, Du Yusheng thought it would be very difficult for Boss Lu to recognise them.

Two sons.

One lost, one kept.

One dead, one possibly alive.

As the true and only victim of that gambling game.

Du Yusheng felt he had already figured out who had been manipulating this controlled experiment, who the killer was.

It was highly likely to be that possibly still-living child.

So,

what exactly is the controlled experiment?

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Author's Note:

So what was the meaning of that coordinate message? Du Du might just be joining this game after all.

‿︵‿︵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 15, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 15, 2025 by Angel