Controlled Experiment Chapter 69

Two Missing One – 19

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After bidding farewell to He Shen, Li Yao brought Wang Zhe, who had virtually no contact with the outside world, into his car.

In fact, He Shen couldn't wait to part ways with him, he didn't want to be involved with this mess any more.

As he watched Li Yao drive off into the distance, He Shen sniffed and wondered whether he would ever see that idiot Du Yusheng again.

What if I really never see him again?

I kinda miss him.

Not long after disappearing from He Shen's view, Li Yao stopped the car at the end of a narrow alley. He opened the door and looked at the person writhing and struggling in the back seat. Frowning, Li Yao was thinking about what to do.

If Wang Zhe is taken over, there is a high chance he'll end up dead. If he dies, Du Yusheng will go to prison.

If he doesn't die, Du Yusheng might.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and lit a cigarette.

He dialled someone's number.

Jing Mo was his own younger brother, capable of anything. Reaching this point, he needed to leave a way out.

Not for himself.

But for Du Yusheng.

It was a long time before Zhuang Hao finally answered the call.

The last time, he nearly had both his hands crippled by Du Yusheng. Now, just hearing those two names made him nervous. He hesitated even before picking up the call when he saw the number.

But he didn't dare ignore a call from Li Yao.

He knew exactly what Li Yao was capable of.

He hesitated for ages, only answering just as the call was about to disconnect.

Holding the phone nervously, Zhuang Hao said, "... Cough... Hello, Mr Li... Looking for me? Something wrong?"

"There's something," Li Yao said. "Something you need to get done properly."

"... Alright, go ahead," Zhuang Hao replied. "I'll try my best..."

"You can't just try, you must get it done." Li Yao continued. "I've parked the car in an alley near the junction at XX road. There's someone in the back seat, Wang Zhe, the businessman from the news a few days ago. In a bit, you're going to come and take him home. However you do it, you're going to tell him that he went to that truck willingly. No one kidnapped him, no one threatened him. He never met Du Yusheng, and he doesn't know who that is. There are some things he must never speak of in this lifetime. Whatever it takes, you must make it happen."

After hanging up, Zhuang Hao blinked at his phone. If he were only thinking about self-preservation, he really ought to stay out of this nonsense. Sitting on the sofa, Zhuang Hao looked at the bandages still wrapped around his hands. He thought for a moment, then finally got up to leave.

In the end, Zhuang Hao valued his life and feared death.

He'd rather die than go back to Africa.

Nothing compared to being back in his own country.

But what he hadn't expected was that, just a few minutes later, Zhuang Hao received another call from "Li Yao".

And like an idiot, he believed it.

=========

Once everything was dealt with, Li Yao returned to the driver's seat. He glanced at the man lying in the back seat through the rearview mirror and sighed deeply.

Li Yao's hands gripped the steering wheel. He could feel himself growing tense, just like during that time.

Li Yao didn't have a very happy childhood.

When his own father lost him in a bet, he had still been a child, his age still in single digits. After being passed from one hand to another, he had travelled using nearly every mode of transport, train, plane, horse cart, ox cart, and boat. Li Yao thought he would never forget the image of dozens of people crammed into a space of just a few square metres in the hold of a ship. Because they were stowaways, they were all trembling with fear, huddled together, not for fear of being caught by the authorities, but of pirates. Li Yao had seen with his own eyes how those pirates dragged out anyone they didn't like the look of and threw them overboard, one by one.

When they reached the shore, the soles of his feet touched the ground. 

 Li Yao felt like a century had passed.

Later, Li Yao came to think it might have been better if he'd been thrown into the sea.

He was young, delicate-looking, and quiet. It didn't take long for a local drug lord to set his sights on Li Yao. Compared to adults, children were more convenient for transporting small batches. Moreover, their minds were undeveloped, easier to tame, easier to control, so the benefits far outweighed the risks.

On his first day there, Li Yao saw boys barely in their teens doing drugs and gambling like the adults.

Many of the tricks Li Yao later learned for cheating had all come from that place.

The drug lord in charge was a mixed-blood man with "Lee" in his name, so Li Yao was given the surname "Li", to the point where, for a long time, Li Yao forgot what his real surname even was.

The drug lord crouched down and patted Li Yao's head, hesitating as he asked, "Chinese?"

Li Yao didn't know how to answer, so he simply blinked and nodded.

"Only Chinese? Know anything else?"

The drug lord spoke in English, heavily tinged with a strong Russian accent. Whether that was intentional or not, Li Yao couldn't tell.

Li Yao blinked and looked at the drug lord.

It wasn't that he couldn't understand, Li Yao could, but he had to pretend he couldn't.

Several seconds passed before the drug lord gave a slow smile, picked up a cigar from the woven bamboo chair, and took a deep drag. He exhaled the smoke right into Li Yao's small face.

Then the drug lord turned to one of his underlings and said, "In the northernmost town in the mountains, those Russian smugglers are short a courier."

And with that one sentence, the next seven or eight years of Li Yao's life were decided.

Before reaching adulthood, Li Yao had basically only ever held that one "job".

They sent him addresses, and he delivered the goods, collected the money, and handed it over. Then he would sit by the entrance of the village, watching children his own age take drugs.

After watching them for a few years, Lai Yao almost felt numb.

The drug lord was strict with his men, with clearly defined roles. He never allowed useless people around him, not even the sick. Anyone who fell ill would be sent to the depths of the mountain, where food and water would be delivered daily. The time limit was four days. If they recovered, they would walk out on their own, if not, they would be gifted a sharp knife.

Unfortunately, Li Yao fell ill on the very day he turned eighteen.

According to custom, he was sent to the deepest part of the mountain.

It rained continuously for several days, and not only did his condition not improve, but his fever worsened. Li Yao thought he might not survive through three days.

Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad to die like this. At least he wouldn't end up like those other children.

On the brink of death, the just-turned-eighteen Li Yao found himself unsure of who to hate most.

His father?

Or those men who gambled?

That was when he met Han Yuan.

Han Yuan was the fourth eldest in the drug lord's family, everyone called him Fourth Han.

Han Yuan tossed the food and bottled water heavily to the ground next to Li Yao, then found a clean stone and sat down.

He looked at Li Yao and snickered, "Not bad, it's impressive you've made it this far. Among the boss's batch of kids, you're practically ancient."

Li Yao leaned against a tree trunk, barely able to muster any strength. His lips were extremely dry, and he managed a weak smile, counting on his fingers and saying, "Eighteen counts as ancient?"

Han Yuan nodded with his back still facing him. "In here it does. Outside, you'd be considered to have died young."

Li Yao smiled, picked up the bottled water beside him, and took a sip to moisten his throat. "Someone like me only needs a lackey to deliver things, why did Fourth Uncle come in person?"

Han Yuan didn't answer, his back still to Li Yao.

Hurting a child wasn't something anyone could do.

Li Yao poked the dirt with his finger. He had already guessed Han Yuan's purpose, but what came from his dry throat was unusually calm. He said, "Fourth Uncle wants to know something from me, doesn't he?"

"You're very clever," Han Yuan turned to look at the boy who had only just come of age.

Li Yao smiled faintly and said, "Then do me a favour, Fourth Uncle, help me up, I'll take you somewhere."

Han Yuan looked at Li Yao, a little hesitant. After a moment's silence, he finally walked over and gently supported Li Yao's body.

His body was even more fragile than expected.

The place Li Yao led Han Yuan to wasn't far.

That area had once been overgrown with shrubs, but later, when they needed a large quantity of timber for construction, they felled much of it from there. Now, the entire place was bare, there wasn't even a single leaf to be seen.

Li Yao had no strength left and could only lean against the trunk of a nearby tree, pointing to the soil at his feet.

The soil was loose, having been recently disturbed.

Han Yuan bent down and began clearing the earth beneath him.

He saw neatly packaged bags of powder, the kind Li Yao was supposed to have delivered.

Bag after bag appeared. It was impossible to tell how many more lay buried below.

Han Yuan froze and asked, "You didn't deliver any of this?"

Li Yao coughed for a moment and smiled, "I did, but to the wrong place."

"And the money?" Han Yuan asked. "How did you pay it?"

"I know where he hides all his money, I just need to sneak in and take a little each time. He has so much, he won't even notice if some is missing.

Li Yao watched Han Yuan's expression and continued, "I don't know exactly what Fourth Uncle wants to learn from me. I'm about to die, so you need to ask quickly or I won't be able to answer. If you start asking a corpse, I'll have to come to you in a dream."

Han Yuan looked into Li Yao's eighteen-year-old eyes.

He suddenly found it difficult to believe this boy, who was always so quiet and reserved.

 His thoughts were far more numerous than his words.

"I want to know where my brother's goods were delivered, I want all the addresses of the receiving houses," Han Yuan said, then added, "I already know where they are."

"Fourth Uncle wants the list of drug dealers and users in the northern town?"

Li Yao suddenly smiled, sensing he had guessed correctly.

Lifting his head, Li Yao met Han Yuan's gaze and said with a grin, "Fourth Uncle, you're a police officer, aren't you?"

Under the sunlight, Li Yao's eyes were exceptionally bright, showing no signs of being sick at all.

Han Yuan froze.

Then, realising a moment too late, he rushed over and yanked the malnourished Li Yao up by the collar and cursed, "You're fucking talking shit... Want to die faster, is that it? Trying to slander me before you go? Do you have any idea what kind of consequences your nonsense will bring?"

Li Yao shook his head and said, "I already told you I know where he hides his money, yet you don't ask me about that. Instead, you want this list of receiving houses. Fourth Uncle... between those two, you tell me, which is more valuable?"

Gradually, Han Yuan loosened his grip on Li Yao's collar.

He slowly stepped aside.

Li Yao took a deep breath and, summoning all his remaining strength, shouted, "Take me home and I'll help you. I'll tell you anything you want to know, but you have to make sure he never walks out of prison for the rest of his life."

Later on, Han Yuan did manage to make that happen.

But it wasn't until afterwards that Han Yuan discovered those bags buried in the soil were nothing but flour, and that Li Yao hadn't been ill at all. It had all been a trap, laid out for Han Yuan to walk into himself.

Before returning to the country, he called Li Yao over.

By then, everyone had already been captured through the coordinated effort between him and Li Yao. The drug lord was also on his way back to the country to be executed by firing squad.

Han Yuan threw a slip of paper to Li Yao.

He said, "That thing you care about, I found something."

On the paper was a photograph of a person.

It was a photo of Li Yao.

But the background was a plaza somewhere in the country.

The appearance, the age, everything was identical to Li Yao.

Holding the photo, Li Yao froze for a moment. "This isn't me."

"Of course it's not you," Han Yuan said. "That guy called Zhuang Hao sent someone to deliver a message to you. He said he saw your younger brother and attached this photo. That Qi Lei also said he saw someone who looked exactly like you. Just like you suspected, your brother is probably still alive."

Li Yao put the photo back down and asked, "Is there any information on him?"

Han Yuan shook his head. "I've asked someone to look into it, there's no such person. Li Yao, this is someone who doesn't exist. And Zhuang Hao's meaning is quite clear, there's something off about your brother."

Li Yao rubbed his fingers together.

He said, "I was planning to go back anyway, now I'll go sooner."

Han Yuan chuckled. "Zhuang Hao's not the sort to pass you a message unless his life's at stake, is he? Just as well, the team's been urging me to return too, but I can't leave for a while. They offered me a team leader position, it's mostly trivial cases, petty nonsense. Once you get used to villas, how can you go back to a thatched hut?"

Li Yao more or less guessed what he was about to say and simply looked at Han Yuan in silence.

After years of working together, he had long figured out Han Yuan's temperament.

Han Yuan continued, "I can't go back yet, there are still things I need to deal with here. You go back and find a vice captain to take my place. He doesn't need to be too skilled at handling cases, just don't mess them up. It'll make it easier for you to keep an eye on what your brother is really up to. I've told Er Zhuofan about your situation, he'll find someone to assist you. If your brother turns out to be clean, it's fine. But if there's really something going on, Li Yao, you two look exactly the same and he has no identity, you know what I'm saying. Keep an eye on him, and you'll be fine too."

Li Yao nodded, squinting towards where the sea met the sky in the distance, and said, "Sending me to study medicine was the right call, I won't starve when I return home."

Han Yuan smiled and patted Li Yao's shoulder.

And then, Li Yao chose Du Yusheng.

In truth, Du Yusheng should have realised it long ago. He was of average ability, even if Old Master Du had some shallow ties with Director Er and even if the old man had been in trouble, there was no way a low-ranking grassroots officer like him would suddenly be transferred into the role of vice captain.

That day at the door, Li Yao had immediately spotted Du Yusheng, the man crying into his hands in front of Er Zhuofan.

A very good-looking face.

Du Yusheng was always saying how much he liked Li Yao and whatnot, but in fact, it had been Li Yao who saw him first.

It's just that Du Yusheng ended up falling for Li Yao.

For Li Yao himself, that had come as the real surprise.

=========

At eight-thirty in the morning, right in the middle of peak rush hour, the roads were packed.

Following the navigation system, Li Yao drove all the way to the outskirts.

Knowing that Du Yusheng was currently in Jing Mo's hands made the road feel especially long.

Just as Er Zhuofan had said, this setup was one that Li Yao had dragged Du Yusheng into, so he had to ensure Du Yusheng got out of it unscathed.

At exactly nine in the morning, Li Yao reached his destination.

The place had originally been a railway station.

After a new station was built, the old one was converted into a storage yard for decommissioned locomotives.

Even without traffic, it took over an hour to get there from the city centre. The long journey and the inconvenience had turned it into an abandoned warehouse that few people ever visited.

No one knew where Jing Mo had found such a place.

Li Yao parked the car outside. He looked around, and aside from a few birds, there wasn't a single living soul.

Slowly, he pushed open the warehouse doors.

It was a windowless room.

The first thing he saw was a few scattered locomotives along with several rusted bits of scrap metal.

And then, right in the centre, Li Yao saw a face exactly like his own.

Whether it was the connection between twins or just a coincidence, the two of them were somehow wearing the exact same outfit today. From head to toe, they were completely identical.

"Brother?"

Jing Mo had taken off his glasses by now and squinted with a slight smile.

It had been a while since Li Yao had last seen Jing Mo.

He had lost weight.

His face was pale, so pale it lacked all traces of blood.

His eyes were smiling softly, a pure, untainted sort of smile, just like the way he remembered him from childhood.

Innocent and timid.

Li Yao seemed to recall something from their childhood and his chest tightened faintly with a dull ache. He frowned and turned his gaze away.

He said, "Where's Du Yusheng?"

Jing Mo's smile gradually chilled.

He really hated that his brother's first words were to ask about someone else.

"Brother, I'm actually sick." Jing Mo took two steps forward and continued, "I went to register and see a doctor once, and the doctor said I need dialysis. But, Brother, I don't have any identification, and I was afraid going to the hospital would expose me, so I've been enduring it all this time. Now, I don't think I have long left."

Li Yao clenched his fists as he looked at his younger brother.

"Actually, it doesn't matter how long life is, even if I were to die tomorrow," Jing Mo said, "I still want to finish what I've set out to do. Not a single person will be left behind."

"Where is Du Yusheng?"

Li Yao asked.

Jing Mo sighed. He had wanted to speak a bit more with Li Yao. After all, there isn't much time left.

Shaking his head, he asked, "Did you bring Wang Zhe?"

"Let him go, and I'll tell you where he is. I'll take you there."

"You're so funny" Jing Mo put his glasses back on and smiled. "I won't engage in a losing deal. If you don't tell me, that's fine. I'll kill Du Yusheng and then go look for him."

"You can do that," Li Yao nodded and said, "If you have the ability to kill him, I'll make sure you never find Wang Zhe for the rest of your life. You're dying anyway, might as well spend your last days in confused, bitter regret."

"Is this your version of sacrificing family for justice?" Jing Mo smiled faintly.

Jing Mo's legs felt a little weak, and he moved forward another two steps.

Then he said, "Actually, I didn't mean to rush things at the beginning, I thought killing one a year would do."

Jing Mo drew closer to Li Yao, looking him in the eye.

"But I won't live that long."

As he said this, the tip of Jing Mo's nose turned slightly red.

He also thought of their childhood.

When he was young, Jing Mo had been timid and cowardly. If it hadn't been for Li Yao, the older brother protecting him, he wouldn't have known how to survive.

His brother had been the great tree, and Jing Mo was the traveller who took shelter beneath it. He loved relying on that big tree, believing that no matter how big the trouble, as long as Li Yao was there, Jing Mo wouldn't have to think about anything at all.

And then that tree disappeared.

His life, which hadn't even properly begun, was simply over. There probably wouldn't even be a headstone left for him in the end.

The first person he killed was their father.

That arms dealer, Jing Wen.

The father who had contributed nothing but a bit of sperm.

"Actually, I didn't really do anything at that time," Jing Mo explained. "You can't really say I killed him. He slipped and fell into the big freezer at our house, I just shut the freezer door. I was scared he'd try to force his way out from inside, so I had no choice but to sit on top of the freezer for the rest of the night. Later, Jing Wen died. The time of death was hard to determine because he'd been frozen for so long. They said that when they pulled him out, his body was covered in frost, and the moment he came into contact with the cold air, droplets of water started forming on his body bit by bit."

Jing Mo was starting to feel tired. He sat down, leaning against the locomotive, and looked at his brother.

He was deeply envious of Li Yao.

Envious of his life.

Li Yao could survive and live well under any circumstances, unlike him. Jing Mo lowered his head and looked at himself, shaking his head helplessly.

Why is it like this? 

 Twins are the best controlled experiment. 

 Now the results are out. 

 One survives, one dies. 

 Two missing one.

Jing Mo rubbed at his aching calves.

Raising his head, he looked at Li Yao and said, "I killed them one by one, following the people in that photo. It was very satisfying. Tell me, don't you think they deserved to die? Brother, I often wonder, if you were me, what would you have done? Would you be like me too?"

"... I don't know," Li Yao replied, shaking his head. "I might not have done any better than you."

Just as Li Yao had thought, if he had been Jing Mo, perhaps he would have killed those people even earlier.

That answer struck a chord with Jing Mo.

He smiled.

Slowly, Jing Mo used the locomotive for support and stood up.

He walked into the carriage and pressed a switch.

Du Yusheng was inside. His wrists were tightly bound to the metal railing in the carriage.

He was facing Li Yao.

He first looked around Li Yao, and when he saw that Wang Zhe hadn't been brought along, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jing Mo. You say that, but you two brothers, how come one is in heaven and the other is underground?"

Du Yusheng quipped.

Jing Mo clicked his tongue.

He said, "You really think you can tell us apart? Think back carefully, how many times did you think you were with my brother, when actually it was me? After all the things you've been through since you met my brother, don't you need to think it over carefully?"

Li Yao slowly stepped closer to the two of them and said, "Let him go, and I'll take you to find Wang Zhe. Otherwise, even if you kill him, I'll make sure you never find..."

"Brother..." Jing Mo slowly raised his head and interrupted Li Yao.

He lowered his head and looked at Du Yusheng, then at Li Yao, and said, "Actually, my brother is very smart. Du Yusheng, do you know that? The moment something happens to Wang Zhe, you'll be the one to take the fall. My brother wouldn't let anything happen to you, so he'd never hand Wang Zhe over, but if he doesn't hand him over, someone else will have to."

Jing Mo scratched his head and, with some effort, dragged out a man bound tightly like a zongzi from another carriage.

He said, "Brother, I called Zhuang Hao and told him to bring the man over, and he actually did." Jing Mo smiled faintly and continued, "Because he thought I was you."

Li Yao looked at Wang Zhe, but there were so many curses on the tip of his tongue that for a moment, he didn't know which one to spit out first.

"He should've died a long time ago." Jing Mo pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and pointed at Wang Zhe. "But I don't want to kill anyone today. In fact, there are only a handful of people I've actually killed with my own hands."

Du Yusheng froze for a moment, then cursed, "Fuck." He had guessed what Jing Mo was planning.

A moment later, a gun appeared against Du Yusheng's temple.

Jing Mo pressed the gun tightly to Du Yusheng's head and pointed with his other hand at Wang Zhe on the ground. Looking at Li Yao, he said, "Brother, go kill him."

"It's not fair for him to live," Jing Mo added with an odd little smile.

Li Yao didn't look at Wang Zhe, or at anyone else in the warehouse.

His eyes were locked on the gun pressed against Du Yusheng's temple.

"I actually had a rough idea," Jing Mo said. "You've got connections with the police, so those carefully doctored pieces of evidence I sent over might not really hold up, that's why I want you to kill him. I've got a video, once you kill him, all of them will have been killed by you. That evidence in the bureau? It might just be enough to nail it down."

Jing Mo smiled. "There are two roads ahead of you. Du Yusheng dies, I go kill Wang Zhe, then you kill me, or you kill Wang Zhe and Du Yusheng lives."

Li Yao clenched his fists and stared at Jing Mo.

Maybe before coming, he still had the tiniest shred of hope for his brother, but now, Li Yao knew that there was no turning back.

Jing Mo saw the hesitation in Li Yao's eyes and added one more line.

He said, "Actually, it's not all a dead end. I bet you've thought of it too," Jing Mo said. "Kill him, kill me, become me."

It might've sounded strange.

Jing Mo often thought that having come this far, he still hoped to die like everyone else.

Li Yao could kill Wang Zhe, kill me, and then live on using my name.

That way, maybe the one who goes to hell won't be me.

That thought lingered in Jing Mo's mind, so much so that he didn't notice what Du Yusheng was doing with his hands.

All he sensed was a figure suddenly darting forward.

And then, the warehouse, with no windows and the doors shut tight, was plunged into darkness.

Jing Mo smiled and shook his head.

Facing forward, he chuckled, "Du Yusheng, doing this... do you really think you know the difference between the two of us?"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Angel: Wow... Okay... Did not see Li Yao's connection to the captain of the team coming...

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 27, 2025 by Angel

Edited: August 7, 2025 by Angel