Controlled Experiment Chapter 51

Two Missing One – 1

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"Get changed."

The man repeated himself before releasing his grip on Du Yusheng's wrist.

With the restraint gone, the first thing Du Yusheng did was reach to remove the hood from over his head. But just as his hand touched the edge of it, the man yanked his arm back with force. The grip was so strong that Du Yusheng's fingers ached from the pull, and he had no choice but to take his hand away and give up the idea of taking off the hood.

"Get changed."

The man repeated it a third time, this time with a note of impatience in his voice.

Du Yusheng felt something cylindrical press against the back of his head. It felt like the barrel of a gun.

"... Seriously?" Du Yusheng weighed the clothes in his hand, it seemed to be a jacket, and he joked, "You guys are into this sort of thing?"

The gun muzzle pressed harder against the back of the head.

Du Yusheng had no choice. Compared to his life, a piece of clothing really wasn't worth much.

He'd gone out today wearing a grey jacket, one Madam Du had bought for him, which had a subtle pattern on it. At first, Du Yusheng thought it was too flashy and didn't want to wear it, but right now, he felt a little reluctant to take it off. Firstly, Du Yusheng had no idea what kind of jacket this one was, or whether it would suit him. Secondly, he genuinely couldn't figure out what the other party was trying to do.

He took off his own jacket and put on the one in his hand.

Du Yusheng shrugged. The gun that had been pressed to the back of his head seemed to move away.

"Alright then," Du Yusheng said with a smile, still wearing the hood. "You guys got any taste or not? I'd really like to know what I've got on now."

No one replied.

Du Yusheng seemed to have grown accustomed to their silence and added, "So after all that running around, this was just to try on clothes?"

Still no reply.

Even the sound of breathing that had been beside him a moment ago had vanished.

Du Yusheng started to panic a little.

He rubbed his fingers together and instinctively took a step back. Then, in one swift motion, he raised his hands and pulled off the hood.

His eyes didn't seem adjusted to the light yet. Du Yusheng rubbed them, looking around.

Compared to an abandoned factory, Du Yusheng felt more like he was in a building that a developer had put on hold due to a lack of funds. Clearly, this building was only half-constructed, with no windows, no doors, and nothing but concrete and a frame.

Du Yusheng quickly ran to where a window should have been, crouched down and looked out.

He was on a very high floor, and with no actual windows, only the frame, he had to grip the wall beside him tightly just to keep himself from falling.

The building was very tall, and Du Yusheng couldn't see clearly. He could only vaguely make out a few figures walking out from below, getting into a white car and driving off.

Fuck. Du Yusheng felt like he'd been played.

Du Yusheng cursed, So they blindfold me, bring me to a place I don't even know, change me into some fucking jacket, and then just leave? Isn't this just playing with me like I'm some circus animal?

Du Yusheng tugged at the collar of his jacket.

The moment he touched the collar, he paused.

The jacket.

Yes, the jacket he was wearing.

Du Yusheng was just thinking about checking what was special about this jacket when his phone in his pants started vibrating. It was probably because there'd been some sort of signal jammer in the car earlier, he hadn't had any reception the whole time. Now that he'd been out of the car for a while, messages had started trickling in.

Five notifications from public WeChat accounts.

Eight push alerts from different apps.

Du Yusheng had installed all these apps without a second thought, just kept clicking "Allow", which meant now his phone had more push alerts than actual messages.

Staring at the pop-ups, Du Yusheng ground his teeth.

There seemed to be one actual message.

Du Yusheng frowned.

It was an anonymous text.

Just a single line, written in simple level four English:

"Please enter room 6."

Du Yusheng clenched his phone and cursed aloud.

In a place this vast, the buzzing of his phone echoed tenfold, as if it had been wired directly to his nervous system. Du Yusheng felt like the vibration was pounding through his skull.

Then he heard a strange whimper.

Or perhaps he'd imagined it.

Du Yusheng's hand froze.

There was another whimper.

It was like someone trying desperately to speak with something stuffed in their mouth.

The sound seemed to come from another room.

Du Yusheng licked his lips. He had a feeling things weren't that simple.

He crouched low and moved into the adjacent room. Out of caution, Du Yusheng stayed pressed against the wall, tilting his head to get a view of the interior.

The layout of the opposite room was nearly identical to this one, just concrete frames and nothing else.

His eyes first landed on the opposite wall, then spotted the figure bound against it.

Du Yusheng froze.

Gagged and tied in a half-kneeling position, the person wasn't a stranger, it was Zhao Liang, whom he'd been certain was already dead.

"... Zhao Liang?" Du Yusheng stepped inside with large strides, almost in disbelief, bent down to look at the other person's face, and exclaimed in surprise, "You're actually still alive?"

Zhao Liang didn't look like he was in very good shape. Though his body appeared uninjured, the dark circles under his eyes spoke of long-term exhaustion. He stared directly at Du Yusheng, his bloodshot eyes brimming with tears. His mouth was forced open, tightly stuffed with a towel, and he couldn't stop whimpering.

His hands were bound tightly behind his back, rendering him completely immobile. The only sound he could make came from his gagged mouth.

Du Yusheng took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his own face.

He yanked the towel out of Zhao Liang's mouth with force.

"... I really didn't expect you to still be alive. Why are you here? You weren't the one who really killed Chen Xin, were you? Someone made you do it, didn't they?" Du Yusheng continued, "Where have you been hiding all these days? You've had us running around in circles looking for you. Once we're back, I've got loads of questions for you."

Zhao Liang was still alive, which was undoubtedly good news for Du Yusheng.

There were many things that only Zhao Liang could tell him.

Du Yusheng stood up and exhaled in relief, the colour slowly returning to his face.

He reached for his phone, intending to call the bureau, but before he could dial, Zhao Liang seemed to say something.

His voice was very faint, and Du Yusheng didn't catch it.

He crouched down again and leaned in. "Speak the fuck up, I'm old and can't hear well."

Zhao Liang raised his head and looked at Du Yusheng, and at last, a tear fell from those bloodshot eyes.

"... Run."

Du Yusheng was stunned.

"Run."

Zhao Liang repeated it.

Du Yusheng heard it, Du Yusheng had already heard what Zhao Liang said the first time.

More than that, Du Yusheng heard a second sound as well. A soft ticking, coming from Zhao Liang's body.

His instincts kicked in as he reached into the jacket pocket.

Du Yusheng felt as though every drop of blood in his body had turned to ice. It was a makeshift bomb timer, and it was counting down.

"Run!"

A deafening boom exploded around him. For an instant, Du Yusheng felt as though the blast had ruptured his brain and spine. His nostrils were filled with the smell of burning flesh, and Du Yusheng almost watched in disbelief as a living person was blown apart right in front of him. The visual impact was so overwhelming that Du Yusheng touched his own face, unable to distinguish whether it was Zhao Liang's flesh or his own blood.

A living, breathing person had been blown to pieces right before his eyes.

Du Yusheng stared unblinkingly at the source of the explosion. For several seconds, his mind went completely blank.

He no longer knew where he was.

Didn't know what he was doing.

There was nothing left but the timer in his pocket.

The piercing sound of police sirens drilled into his ears. Using every ounce of strength he had left, Du Yusheng crawled to the edge of the window. He had no energy at all, his head slumped outside the frame, and his right hand dangled limply over the edge. He felt like his head might be bleeding, or maybe it wasn't.

He could no longer tell whose blood it was.

Du Yusheng saw many people gradually getting out of the police cars downstairs, and then, Du Yusheng knew nothing more.

Just before blacking out, one question occurred to him:

Who called the police?

=========

Qin Yan was the first to arrive on scene, followed closely by Xiao Bai, with the rest of the team trailing behind.

For a few seconds, everyone at the scene stood still and didn't move.

The sight was simply too shocking.

Blood spatter of all sizes covered the scene, reaching nearly every corner, the dark grey walls dotted with large, blotchy stains. Scattered on the floor were charred chunks of flesh, some large, some small, some recognisably human, others impossible to identify. The visual impact made people retch instinctively, and the stench of burnt meat filling their nostrils only made it worse.

Du Yusheng was slumped against the window, clutching a timer in his hand with a death grip. He appeared completely lifeless.

Xiao Bai was the first to react. He rushed forward and dragged Du Yusheng into the safe zone. The ground beneath Du Yusheng was soaked with blood, staining the entire path they moved along. Xiao Bai was terrified, he dropped to his knees beside Du Yusheng, licking his dry lips and on the verge of tears.

"... Brother Qin." Xiao Bai looked back at Qin Yan, his voice helpless. "Brother Yu can't be..."

"Don't fucking talk nonsense."

That was probably the first time Xiao Bai had ever heard Qin Yan swear.

"Du Yusheng could live to be two hundred." Qin Yan took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. "Get a stretcher, take him to the hospital immediately. He has a strong life, and he will survive this disaster."

Xiao Bai wiped his face. Qin Yan had trained in medicine, so he understood the severity of things. This statement undoubtedly reassured Xiao Bai.

When they heard Du Yusheng let out a faint groan of pain while being carried away, everyone on site finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"He still knows what pain feels like," Qin Yan shook his head. "He'll be fine."

Once the most important person had been taken away, the rest of the team began processing the scene.

The first item handed to Xiao Bai was an ID card.

It had been scorched by fire, the surface blackened, but Xiao Bai could just about make out the name on it.

Zhao Liang.

Xiao Bai paused, stunned. "The person who died was Zhao Liang?"

Suddenly recalling the timer that Du Yusheng had been gripping so tightly, Xiao Bai hesitated. "... Could it be that Brother Yu blew Zhao Liang up?"

He looked over at Qin Yan.

Qin Yan's expression remained cold and unreadable. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, "What did the emergency call say?"

"The man said a murder had been discovered here," Xiao Bai replied, rubbing his hands together. "It really is a murder."

Qin Yan frowned and didn't say anything else.

Wearing gloves, Xiao Bai paced back and forth at the crime scene, then suddenly let out a helpless laugh.

"I don't want to say this," he said, "but judging by what's here, unless there's a damn good reason, I have no choice but to think that Brother Yu did it."

=========

Li Yao's leg was still swollen after finishing surgery.

Today had been relatively easy, with just one operation. Once it was done, he gave a few instructions and was more or less ready to go home.

Coming out of the operating room, Li Yao yawned.

The patient had a history of hypertension and heart disease. The hours following surgery would be critical, so he exchanged a few words with the anaesthetist before heading back to the changing room.

Just as he walked into the corridor, he happened to run into two colleagues. Judging by their expression, it looked like an emergency case.

Li Yao poked his head over for a look. "What's going on?"

"Sigh, don't even mention it. I've reheated my meal three times already," the colleague said, shaking his head. He looked utterly exhausted. "They said he was brought in from the scene of an explosion. Fractures, internal injuries, not sure if there's head trauma or bleeding. He's unconscious, but responsive."

It sounded like a complicated case.

Li Yao gave a helpless smile.

Just as he was about to leave, the colleague seemed to remember something and grabbed Li Yao.

"Oh, right, you might know the guy," the colleague thought for a moment before saying, "It's the one who came to your department last time to ask for your cooperation in the investigation, name's... Du Yusheng."

Li Yao froze, the expression on his face turning rigid in an instant.

Just then, he felt his phone vibrate.

He opened it in a daze, and inside was a single line of English, very similar to the one before:

"Next round is about to begin..."

‿︵‿︵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 16, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 29, 2025 by Angel