[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-chasing-the-criminal-case":3,"chapter-chasing-the-criminal-case-chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-251":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Chasing the Criminal Case",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2329019,4554,"Chapter 251","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-251",251,"\u003Cp>Sorry, everyone, the chapter release order was messed up! Skip this chapter, read the next one first, then come back to this one! Sorry! Sorry!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cooling towers of Huasheng Chemical Plant spewed plumes of white mist into the night, like the gills of a monstrous beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng signaled the police car to stop beneath the sycamores three hundred meters away; the red factory sign reading “Established 1984” flashed briefly in the headlights.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhou Shichang’s office is in the southeast corner of the plant.” Luo Fei pulled up the drone aerial image; thermal imaging showed the wastewater treatment workshop blazing bright, “Six surveillance cameras, two of them pointed at the hazardous chemical warehouse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng switched the walkie-talkie to an encrypted channel: “Little Sun, cut the surveillance signal. Gao Ye, seal off the western exit.” As he grabbed his tactical flashlight, his knuckles clicked faintly, “Remember, we only need the sample bottles.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, the guard booth by the iron gate echoed with dialogue from a TV drama; Luo Fei crouched low and slipped through the shrubbery, his military dagger slicing a half-meter gap in the barbed wire. The night wind carried a pungent acidic stench; in the distance, the low hum of a centrifuge reverberated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The iron door to the wastewater treatment workshop was slightly ajar; Ye Lin scanned the gap with a laser thermometer: “43.6 degrees—there’s a continuous heat source inside.” Gu Changzheng donned his gas mask; his fingers brushed a slick, oily substance on the door handle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fluorescent lights flared suddenly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A twenty-meter production line was swallowing and expelling dark green liquid; the pressure gauge on the reactor trembled violently. No one stood before the control panel, yet the computer screen displayed real-time data streams; an open document was named “Complexation Reaction-7.12.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re remotely controlling it!” Gao Ye lunged for the main control computer; the moment he plugged in the USB drive, the alarm shrieked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reactor’s discharge port burst open, spewing steaming wastewater into the emergency diversion channel—where the pipe should have led to the treatment pond, it now extended toward Longhu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei kicked open the ventilation duct cover and shouted, “After them!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dark red liquid surged through the buried pipeline like a waking vein. Gu Changzheng’s flashlight beam swept across the pipe’s label; beside the faded “DN300” stamp lay fresh weld marks. Ye Lin caught the dripping liquid in a sample bottle; the test strip turned instantly indigo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“pH 1.8—highly acidic wastewater,” she said, voice tight, “with massive suspended metal particles.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ahead, the iron ladder vibrated; three shadows were climbing toward the ground-level access hatch. Luo Fei kicked off a protrusion on the pipe wall and leapt upward, his tactical boot soles sparking against the cast iron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man in the coverall was about to push open the manhole cover when a chill breeze struck the back of his neck—Luo Fei’s thumb locked onto his throat; as he glanced at the man’s chest badge, he saw the words “Technical Director Wang Zhen”...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>———\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fluorescent tubes in the interrogation room hummed. Wang Zhen’s work pants still bore crystals of sodium hydroxide; this was his thirteenth time adjusting his glasses: “We were only testing the newly installed wastewater treatment system.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng slid the Longhu water quality report toward him: “Last week, aluminum ion concentration spiked to 2.8 mg\u002FL, while your declared discharge standard is 0.5 mg\u002FL.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His finger tapped a point on the data table: “Do you know what that means? Longhu is now steeped in thirty tons of alum!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhen’s pupils contracted sharply; this micro-expression was precisely captured by Lao Zheng behind the one-way glass. The forensic expert tapped the microphone; a hiss crackled in Gu Changzheng’s earpiece: “Lao Gu, ask him about the complexation reaction.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We found an EDTA disodium salt procurement slip in the remnants of your document shredder,” Gu Changzheng abruptly changed topic. “This chelating agent is typically used to...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Treat heavy metal wastewater!” Wang Zhen blurted out, then clamped his lips shut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>———\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 3 a.m., the Technical Department sent an urgent report. Little Sun, eyes shadowed, burst into the meeting room: “Wang Zhen’s cloud backup!” A projection screen filled with dense molecular formulas; Ye Lin suddenly stood up: “This is an aluminum ion complexation reaction model!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Zheng circled a chemical formula in red: “When EDTA forms a stable complex with aluminum ions, it releases a large number of hydrogen ions.” He sketched the reaction equation on the whiteboard: “In an acidic environment at a specific temperature, this reactivates industrial waste buried at the lake bottom for thirty years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Ye suddenly understood: “So the victim didn’t just enter water—he entered a highly acidic solution!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Gu Changzheng stared at the annotation at the end of the equation, where bold text read “Phase Transfer Catalyst.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, his phone vibrated—a new forensic report from the Evidence Division: the pink substance under the victim’s fingernails was tetraphenylporphyrin cobalt!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As dawn pierced the mist, Gu Changzheng stood atop the Longhu spillway. Dark currents churned beneath his feet; his shoe edges were smeared with dark brown algae.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei approached with diving gear: “Master, sonar detected a metal object beneath the gate.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the diver surfaced for the sixth time, holding a twisted titanium alloy canister. Etched on its surface were German letters; the pressure valve interface retained blue-green crystals—identical to the substance on the chocolate foil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Temperature-sensitive release device,” Lao Zheng, wearing double gloves, turned the valve core. “When water temperature exceeds 15 degrees, the valve opens automatically.” He suddenly used tweezers to lift a transparent film from the valve opening: “A hydrogel protective layer—exactly four hours to dissolve.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng gazed across Longhu Reservoir at Huasheng Tower, its glass façade refracting the morning sun into cold, golden light. He pulled out the victim’s phone; the mysterious call from that early morning replayed in his mind: 2 minutes 19 seconds—enough time to remotely activate a device.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Zhou Shichang’s Rolls-Royce entered the plant, the broken police tape still fluttered in the wind. The chemical group chairman stroked his gold-plated lighter, his smile like a greased gear: “Heard there was a misunderstanding last night?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng placed the titanium alloy canister on the coffee table; metal met marble with a clear chime. “At the 2014 Hannover Chemical Expo, Company M displayed a similar container.” He flipped open entry-exit records: “You were an invited guest—you must have seen this timed poisoning device.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Shichang’s motion to light his cigar hesitated by 0.3 seconds; smoke drifted past his platinum ring: “Inspector Gu has a keen interest in chemistry?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not as much as you do,” Gu Changzheng suddenly spread out the crime scene photos; the victim’s pink skin glowed in the dawn like fresh shrimp meat. “When tetraphenylporphyrin cobalt meets acidic wastewater, it produces an oxygen-deprivation effect similar to carbon monoxide poisoning—that’s why Professor Chen gasped desperately after entering the water, isn’t it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei stepped in at the right moment and slapped a sealed bag onto the desk; inside, extracted from the chocolate crystals, was barium chloride, shimmering with the iridescent sheen of a peacock’s tail under sunlight.\u003C\u002Fp>",1192,"2026-06-20T19:35:31.675Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","cc6db49c90c5bfaac574a83b203294ce57771fc50eefe8409996853fcb821fc7","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-252","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-250",276,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fchasing-the-criminal-case-cover.jpg"]