479 Hopelessness

Edward Snow took a deep breath and said, "You are Coach Li who runs a fitness training center, right? Many excellent athletes have come from your training center."

"Have we met before?" Dai Li looked at Snow carefully, but he could not remember where he might've met Snow.

"I know you, but you certainly don't know me," Snow said, "because I went to your training center and investigated something."

"What did you investigate at my training center?" Dai Li sensed that Snow wasn't telling him something.

"I went there to investigate performance-enhancing drugs," Snow admitted.

"Why the performance-enhancing drugs again!" Performance-enhancing drugs were now the last words Dai Li wanted to hear. Because of performance-enhancing drugs, he had been kidnapped and imprisoned in this room, and his life was in danger. But most importantly, the so-called performance-enhancing drugs were non-existent.

Dai Li thought it would be very unjust to lose his life for something that didn't exist.

Snow, standing opposite Dai Li, said, "I was doing an article recently about performance-enhancing drug use by athletes. The Olympics is coming, and I thought this topic would be interesting to readers. I thought only a few athletes would take performance-enhancing drugs, but the results surprised me."

"A lot of athletes use them, right?" asked Dai Li.

"Yes, the results were far beyond my expectations. I almost couldn't even believe my findings," Snow said, nodding. "Many athletes, even well-known athletes, are using performance-enhancing drugs. Take track and field sports, for example. This Olympics, nearly half of the players of the US team are using illicit drugs, and this is only a survey I have evidence to prove; there is still a lot I didn't get enough evidence to support."

"Their coaches are also involved, and there are many so-called renowned coaches, including this year's head coach of the US track and field team, Sebastian. In addition, I found that some coaches colluded with doctors to give athletes false diagnostic certificates and prescriptions they didn't actually need. The athletes weren't sick at all."

"I also secretly went into many training centers to investigate. Some of them actively advised their athletes to use illicit drugs containing stimulants in their training, while some training centers directly provided illicit drugs for their athletes," Snow said and looked at Dai Li. "Your training center is one of the few training centers that I haven't found using any illicit drugs."

"I've never provided illicit drugs for my athletes," said Dai Li.

"I know. I came to a little while ago, and I heard them questioning you. They seem to think you have a new performance-enhancing drug," Snow said. "I found that the vast majority of illicit drugs are very advanced. They can't be detected by the technology of the Anti-Doping Commission. Therefore, I carried out a thorough investigation, and I found some biological laboratories secretly providing these advanced illicit drugs for athletes. Some of them are well-known biological laboratories, whose scientific research level is at the forefront of the world. Their technology is far ahead of the Anti-Doping Commission."

"I also secretly investigated several representative biological laboratories, and finally found the person behind them. Blecher! So I sneaked into Blecher's company, hoping to get more evidence, but he caught me. He didn't call the police, though. He just thought I was a business spy, so he brought me here and locked me in this room."

"I was also kidnapped by Blecher." Dai Li paused and the added, "There are a lot of rich people on the block where I live, so the security there is very good, and I never thought I would be kidnapped by others in my house. They are too bold."

There was a hard-won smile on Snow's face, and he said, "It seems that you don't know who Blecher is. But you may have heard his nickname 'the father of prohormone.'"

"The father of prohormone, I seem to have heard it." Dai Li thought carefully and immediately asked, "Was the stimulant scandal of more than ten years ago related to him?"

"Yes, it was him—Blecher, 'the father of prohormone'! He killed a dozen athletes indirectly by giving untested enhancers to them. He was a villain and a criminal. He was responsible for everything, and you can't expect a man like that to have any sense of morality," said Snow.

"So, our lives are really in danger. We need to find a way to get out of here quickly." Dai Li pointed to the steel door. "That door is strong enough, but it won't keep them out forever. They'll find a way to open the door. What's more, even if they don't open the door, there's no water and food in here, so sooner or later the dehydration will get to us."

Looking around and frowning, Snow said, "There are no windows in this room, and that door is the only exit. It is impossible for us to get out of the room. Do you have a mobile phone? We can call the police."

"I tried that, but there's no signal in the room," Dai Li said and threw a mobile phone to Snow.

Snow caught the phone and tried to dial 911, but he didn't get through.

"We have a gun. We can rush out." Snow pointed to the rifle.

"There are several men with guns out there. If we rush out, we will die," Dai Li said, rejecting Snow's advice. He looked around, and eventually focused his attention on the ventilation duct.

"I have to open it." Dai Li pointed to the iron pipe on the ventilation duct, then moved one of the chairs under the ventilation duct.

Standing on his toes on the chair, Dai Li held the air-ventilation pipe with both hands. He pulled the pipe with all his might, and then, after a big cracking noise, the whole pipe ripped loose and fell down, scattering rust and dust all over the place.

As the ventilation grate removed, an exhaust fan was exposed on the wall. The air vent of the exhaust fan was not very big, only large enough to allow someone to reach his head out, not his whole body.

"It's supposed to be an air vent that connects to the outside. I need another chair," said Dai Li.

Snow got another chair at once and stacked it on top of the other chair, then Dai Li climbed upon the chair with his face next to the air vent of the exhaust fan.

The exhaust fan was also rusted. Dai Li grabbed the blades with his hands and gave them a jerk. When they shifted down, Dai Li finally saw the situation outside.

"We are probably on the third floor, and it's empty all around," said Dai Li.

"Can you make sure where we are?" Snow asked.

Dai Li shook his head. "I can't see the road, and I can't see any signs. Maybe the road is on the other side of this building, and this room is on the other end of the building."

"Is there anyone outside?" Snow continued to ask.

"No, wait a minute. Someone seems to be coming." Dai Li immediately shouted as loud as he could, "Help, help!"

The man, however, didn't hear Dai Li's cry for help at all and disappeared from Dai Li's view.

"It didn't work. It was too far, and he couldn't hear my cry for help at all," Dai Li said helplessly.

"Help me stand on the chair to have a look," said Snow

Dai Li stepped down from the chair and helped Snow get up. Perhaps because of the effect of the morphine, Snow didn't seem to show much pain. He climbed up the two-tier chair and looked outside through the air vent of the exhaust fan.

"It's so empty around here that few people will pass by. Unless someone happens to pass under us, our cry for help won't be heard." There was a look of despair on Snow's face. "What bad luck. It looks like we are going to die here."