rslcontracting Chapter 328: The Truth is Far More Terrifying Than Lies
Chapter 328: The Truth is Far More Terrifying Than Lies
Chapter 328: The Truth is Far More Terrifying Than Lies
In the apartment, the classic score of *Tom and Jerry* was still playing cheerfully.
Jerry Mouse was standing triumphantly on Tom Cat, who had been flattened into a pancake, hands on his hips.
But this cheerfulness could no longer penetrate the ears of anyone in the living room.
Sun Zhou's fingers holding the phone trembled uncontrollably.
"Report? Prohibited substances? Who the hell did this! Are they out of their minds!"
Jiang Ci didn't speak.
He merely lowered his gaze, looking at the chicken nugget that had fallen back into the family bucket.
It had a bite mark from him on it.
Lin Wan's instructions came through the receiver.
"Stay in the apartment, don't go anywhere. I'm bringing people over."
The call ended.
Sun Zhou kept cursing under his breath.
Jiang Ci finally moved.
He bent down.
Picked up the fallen chicken nugget.
Looked at it.
Then, with precision, threw it into the trash bin.
"It's dirty," he said, his voice steady.
Sun Zhou stopped pacing and turned to look at him.
"Bro! What time is it, and you're still worried about whether a piece of chicken is dirty or not!"
"After thirty minutes, the texture plummets off a cliff."
Jiang Ci pulled out a tissue, meticulously wiping the grease from his fingers. "This is the most basic respect for an excellent piece of fried chicken."
Sun Zhou's mouth hung open, unable to utter a single word.
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang.
Lin Wan stood outside the door, her expression stern.
Behind her were three men in white lab coats, wearing masks and goggles,
carrying silver metal cases printed with the words "National Anti-Doping Center, General Administration of Sport of China."
Further behind were two men in suits, badges of the Golden Rooster Awards organizing committee pinned to their chests.
Lin Wan stepped aside to let them pass, and the group filed in one by one.
The originally spacious living room became crowded and oppressive.
The lead testing expert's gaze swept the room, finally landing on Jiang Ci.
"Mr. Jiang Ci, we are commissioned by the Golden Rooster Awards organizing committee to collect samples from you," he said, his tone official.
Sun Zhou instinctively tried to step in front of Jiang Ci but was stopped by a look from Lin Wan.
Lin Wan walked to the center of the living room.
"Begin," she said to the experts. "But I have one request."
"From this moment on, the entire process must be recorded on video." Lin Wan pointed to the home security camera in the corner.
"I want to ensure every single step is absolutely open and transparent."
The lead expert nodded and signaled his assistant to turn on the equipment.
"In addition," Lin Wan continued, her tone steady,
"besides all the items mentioned in the report letter, I request adding one more test."
She paused for a moment.
"Test Mr. Jiang Ci's hormone levels, including cortisol."
The expert adjusted his glasses, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, but he nodded in agreement.
By this time, within the industry's private small groups, news of Jiang Ci being reported had already exploded.
Parts of the leaked report letter depicted his "madness" on the *Icebreaker* film set in a horrifying light.
"...the physiological state during his portrayal of withdrawal symptoms has completely exceeded the normal scope of performance,"
"strongly suspecting that in pursuit of the effect, he used some kind of potent neurological prohibited substance..."
In the living room, the testing procedure proceeded in an orderly, silent manner.
Jiang Ci sat on the sofa, cooperating extremely well with the collection of all samples.
He remained quiet throughout, until everything was finished and the tense atmosphere eased slightly.
Jiang Ci suddenly moved.
He reached out, groping in the crevice of the sofa cushion.
Under everyone's puzzled gazes, he pulled out a lollipop.
Alps brand, strawberry milk flavor.
He deftly tore off the wrapper and popped the candy into his mouth.
The crisp *shh-la* sound was amplified infinitely in the silence.
Several seasoned testing experts, used to major scenes, were momentarily stunned.
They watched this young man, just suspected of being involved with drugs,
now with a small bulge in his cheek from the candy.
The scene was so absurd it left them speechless.
The wait for the preliminary results felt excruciatingly long, every second stretching out.
The person in charge, surnamed Li, was a meticulous middle-aged man.
His gaze inadvertently fell on Jiang Ci's wrist.
The section of wrist that slipped out from the wide sleeve of the hospital gown had blue veins protruding beneath skin utterly devoid of blood color.
Mr. Li's brow furrowed.
People who use those substances long-term have their bodies drained,
but usually not this kind of emaciation caused by hunger and nutritional deficiency.
An hour later.
The portable testing device spat out a long string of data sheets.
Mr. Li picked up the report, reading it carefully from top to bottom, twice.
He lifted his head, looking at Lin Wan and Jiang Ci, his expression unusually complex.
"The preliminary screening results are out."
Sun Zhou's heart leaped into his throat.
"72 routine tests for prohibited substances and psychoactive drug components..." Mr. Li paused.
"All negative."
Sun Zhou's legs went weak, almost collapsing to the floor.
"Not only that," Mr. Li added,
"Mr. Jiang Ci's body... is excessively clean. We didn't even detect any metabolic residues of alcohol or nicotine."
This meant that during the filming of that movie, this man had lived a life comparable to an ascetic monk's.
The living room fell silent.
Lin Wan's face still showed no emotion; she merely asked calmly, "What about the hormone level report?"
"Needs to be sent back to the lab for analysis. About two hours."
Two hours later.
An electronic version of a supplementary report was sent to Mr. Li's tablet.
He opened it, scrolling through the screen.
When he saw one particular indicator highlighted in red, his finger abruptly stopped.
After confirming it several times, he finally looked up, his voice dry as he spoke.
"Mr. Jiang Ci indeed did not use any prohibited substances."
"But..."
His turn of phrase made Sun Zhou's heart, which had just settled, get yanked back up into mid-air.
"His physical condition is worse than if he had used those things..."
Mr. Li turned the tablet towards everyone.
On the screen, one indicator was marked in bright red, the following value alarmingly high.
"Cortisol, also known as the stress hormone," he explained with difficulty, stating a medical paradox.
"A normal person's resting level is between 5 to 25 micrograms per deciliter. Mr. Jiang Ci's value..." He pointed at the number.
"98."
"Nearly four times the peak level."
"We usually only detect cortisol levels like this in two types of people."
Mr. Li adjusted his glasses, trying to hide his loss of composure.
"One, soldiers who have experienced brutal warfare and suffer from severe PTSD."
"The other, top athletes pushing the limits of human physiology in extreme environments."
"He wasn't acting,"
Mr. Li looked at the young man who was still intently licking his lollipop,
his Adam's apple bobbing, voice strained,
"All the symptoms mentioned in the report letter weren't because he took something, but because he took nothing."
Mr. Li finally delivered a conclusion, his voice filled with awe.
"The conclusion is... the report is unfounded."
"But we recommend he undergo comprehensive psychological intervention and physiological treatment,"
"Otherwise... his body will collapse completely before his mind does."
The truth was far more terrifying than lies.
Lin Wan took the report and directly forwarded it to the official email of the Golden Rooster Awards organizing committee.
Then, she opened Weibo and logged into Spark Media's official account.
Edited, sent.
Done in one go.
At the same time, in a certain secret chat group, the agent of a certain traffic star frantically tagged everyone.
"Are the results out? Is he finished?"
The next second, a news alert popped up.
"Drug test report for *Icebreaker* lead actor Jiang Ci released, all negative."
The agent's smile froze on his face.
Immediately after, another message extinguished all his remaining hope.
"Supplementary report shows Jiang Ci has been in a state of chronically elevated stress hormone levels; experts say his physical condition has reached 'battlefield stress' levels."
The agent scrambled to start deleting chat records, trying to destroy all traces.
Cold sweat soaked through his back.
And now, the entire internet's attention was firmly captured by that Weibo post just released by Spark Media.
A screenshot of the test report, and an extremely brief caption.
The words on the screen struck everyone in the face.
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown. — He can bear it."