[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-chasing-the-criminal-case":3,"chapter-chasing-the-criminal-case-chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-259":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},2329027,4554,"Chapter 259: The Old House","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-259",259,"\u003Cp>This was an old house nestled among many self-built homes; compared to the surrounding two- or three-story buildings, it appeared low and dilapidated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A seal from the Qinghe Branch was pasted on the dark wooden door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei peeled off the seal; the door creaked open with a grating “squeak.” Though it was broad daylight, the self-built house had poor lighting, and this old house was especially dark and damp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Gu Changzheng stood at the threshold, a chill mixed with a strange odor rushed out and struck his face; he couldn’t help shuddering, thinking: This place is steeped in yin energy!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The corpse had already been removed by the forensic team; aside from the police markings, the interior was no different from an ordinary home—only far older and darker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng frowned slightly, standing at the door and scanning inside; such a house was rare in today’s Zizhen City—it was far too old!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This also indirectly indicated the owner’s poor financial condition. Moreover, signs of daily life were barely noticeable—yet this matched the case file’s description of Jiang Feiyang as a left-behind child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng carefully examined the wear marks on the ceiling beams with the help of Luo Fei’s flashlight; they were left by the rope that hanged Jiang Feiyang. Aside from the rope marks, the rest of the beam was covered in thick dust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An empty, peeling square table stood inside; one end of a power cord hung beneath it, the plug still inserted into the wall socket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet two spots on the tabletop were spotlessly clean, starkly different from the dusty surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng walked to the table, crouched halfway down, and after a moment said: “If someone else was here, they were short. Could they be a minor, like the victim?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spoke as if to himself, yet as if asking Luo Fei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei, seeing how Gu Changzheng placed his arms on the table, immediately understood: the two clean spots were where someone had operated a computer; the marks suggested a person with slender arms, barely tall enough to reach the surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who found the body? The victim’s uncle?” Gu Changzheng asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. The victim Jiang Feiyang’s father, Jiang Dahong, and his wife Yu Guizhi have worked away for years. Their only son, Jiang Feiyang, attends a boarding middle school and rarely comes home. The Jiang family are outsiders here; they have no relatives or friends in Zizhen. Jiang Dahong has a distant cousin who lives in this community (Qinghe District was formed after Qinghe County was dissolved—these neighborhoods were once villages). Jiang Dahong entrusted this cousin to look after Jiang Feiyang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei continued: “But Jiang Feiyang’s uncle isn’t in good health. Since Jiang Feiyang lives at school, he only comes over on weekends for a meal—he still sleeps alone here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This past weekend, when he returned home, the school noticed he didn’t return on time. After contacting Jiang Dahong, Jiang Dahong called his cousin. When the old man broke in, Jiang Feiyang had been dead for hours!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mm.” Gu Changzheng hummed softly, crouching on the ground, his eyes scanning the floor like radar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly his gaze halted; beneath the table leg, a dot-sized mark appeared in his line of sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Luo Fei!” he called without looking up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei hurried over, bending down. “There’s something odd here,” Gu Changzheng pointed to the mark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Looks like a liquid residue?” Luo Fei observed closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get an evidence bag, collect it, and send it for testing. If I’m right, it’s semen.” Gu Changzheng said calmly. “So the one operating the computer was male. Go get Jiang Feiyang’s uncle. I know how that person vanished.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei stared at Gu Changzheng in disbelief: “Master, you don’t mean that old man, do you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you thinking?” Gu Changzheng shot him a glance. “Go fetch the old man. You’ll understand soon. Go!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Fei replied and, though puzzled, glanced at Gu Changzheng once before heading off to Jiang Feiyang’s uncle’s house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng stood up and rubbed his lower back. Luo Fei had called him at 10:07 this morning; the body was found yesterday at 9 a.m. It was now 11:45—over a day had passed since the old man discovered the corpse. Yet when Gu Changzheng first entered, he’d sensed a strange odor—he’d assumed it was just the mustiness of an old house. Now he understood: the smell wasn’t just mold—it carried a faint stench of blood and a trace of alcohol!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He deduced Jiang Feiyang’s uncle must be a heavy drinker, likely a chronic alcoholic—otherwise, he wouldn’t have failed to notice someone slipping past him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a bold hypothesis, but without it, he had no reasonable explanation for how the other boy—present at Jiang Feiyang’s death scene—had vanished from this sealed-off old house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, Luo Fei led in a tall, dark-complexioned man, roughly sixty years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, this is Jiang Dajun, the victim’s uncle,” Luo Fei said, turning to Jiang Dajun. “Mr. Jiang, this is Deputy Chief Gu from the city bureau.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the director, Luo Fei and others who worked closely with him still preferred calling him “Deputy Chief.” As Luo Fei introduced Jiang Dajun, Gu Changzheng swiftly assessed him—just as he’d predicted: Jiang Dajun’s cloudy eyes, unsteady gait, and trembling hands confirmed a lifelong drinker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, though it wasn’t yet lunchtime, Jiang Dajun reeked of alcohol.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng appeared to notice nothing, speaking gently: “Mr. Jiang, thank you for coming. I’d like you to recall the moment you discovered Jiang Feiyang’s body.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s cloudy eyes revealed fear and grief; his nostrils flared rapidly as he rasped: “Ah… this boy was always quiet, never talked much. The day before yesterday, he had dinner here, then hurried back to this old house. He’s used to living alone, so I didn’t think anything of it…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man launched into a stream of irrelevant details. Luo Fei, seeing he was digressing, was about to interrupt and steer him back to the discovery of the body—but Gu Changzheng silenced him with a glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng listened, seemingly intrigued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the official smile warmly at him, the old man felt encouraged and began recounting everything about Jiang Feiyang’s daily life.\u003C\u002Fp>",1037,"2026-06-20T19:35:31.675Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f2493f5b8f0ee2934aee73cbd34cf631f6f9aca92966030b526de65630eab73e","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-260","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-258",276,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fchasing-the-criminal-case-cover.jpg"]