[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-chasing-the-criminal-case":3,"chapter-chasing-the-criminal-case-chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-5":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},2328773,4554,"Chapter 5: Suspicious Person Appears","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-5",5,"\u003Cp>Guo Hao and Li Hai, along with four team members, stared intently at the computer screens, scanning the video footage frame by frame—footage copied from the front and rear gates and underground parking entrances of Fenglin Garden Community over the past week, as well as surveillance footage from the past week along Qingjiang Road, Mingjing Alley, Changjin Road, and Yinxing Road, the four roads leading to the community; the group had already been viewing footage for four straight hours!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng slipped quietly behind them and stood silently watching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This man!” Gu Changzheng suddenly spoke. Guo Hao blinked his bloodshot eyes, turned, and saw Gu Changzheng; he immediately tried to stand, but Gu Changzheng pressed him back down. “Little Guo, did you notice this man?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pointed at a man wearing a baseball cap in the video, the only one among a group of early risers eating noodles who wore a hat, and pulled the brim unusually low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Hao said: “Captain Gu, we just noticed this guy seemed odd too. We’re currently checking how often he appears in the footage. Opposite Fenglin Garden is a breakfast shop—we’ve confirmed that Ge Manli and her husband go there almost every morning for noodles. This cap-wearing man has shown up at the shop every morning since the 17th. We’re now tracing his movements along all the key routes around Fenglin Garden. I expect we’ll find something soon!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good! Keep following this lead!” Gu Changzheng had already formed a plan in his mind. The fingerprint match results were in; if they could now identify any other suspicious individuals near Fenglin Garden recently, would the truth finally come to light?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Gu Changzheng couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off—he just couldn’t pinpoint what. The investigation direction was sound. The complainant had no opportunity or motive. The victim’s husband was over two hundred kilometers away, with a dozen witnesses confirming his alibi. The victim was gentle, well-liked, had no enemies, no financial troubles. That left only one possibility—crime of passion or burglary gone wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the timing was too coincidental. And the suspect’s strange sexual preference—was he impotent? Or a fetishist? Otherwise, why not assault Ge Manli, who was both beautiful and well-built?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then why kill her? Logically, he should have fled after obtaining the property or satisfying his desire. Why risk entering the bathroom to kill the female owner who hadn’t even noticed him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A string of unsolved mysteries confused him—he couldn’t understand the killer’s purpose at all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, find him and arrest him—then perhaps all answers would emerge!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 4 a.m. on the 22nd, the cap-wearing man appeared five times at the breakfast shop across from the community’s front gate, starting from 7:30 a.m. on the 17th until the day of the murder; he appeared ten times at the intersection of Qingjiang Road and Mingjing Alley to the west of the community; on the day of the murder, he was captured on camera entering the front gate of Fenglin Garden at 3:40 p.m. and leaving at 4:15 p.m., then vanished after passing the Mingjing Alley intersection heading west.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Hao rubbed his bloodshot eyes and said: “Captain Gu, take a look at the breakfast shop footage from the morning of the 21st.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He fast-forwarded the video to 7:40 a.m. on the 21st. Ge Manli appeared on screen—not unusual, since the community gate camera had already recorded Ren Jia leaving by taxi with a suitcase at 5:30 a.m. that day. The key point: Ge Manli was alone at the shop, speaking at length with the owner—far more than usual. At that moment, the cap-wearing man was standing in line directly behind her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Changzheng didn’t need to investigate—he already guessed what Ge Manli had told the shop owner. That conversation was what made the cap-wearing man realize Ren Jia was away on a business trip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Combined with the video from the afternoon of the 21st, everything now fit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Gao Ye! Go to that shop and ask the owner exactly what Ge Manli said to him on the morning of the 21st—not one word missing! Haozi, recheck the cap-wearing man’s gait and physique—no room for error. Must confirm it’s the same person. Print out his image and take it with this photo to the shop owner for identification. He ate noodles there five days straight—he can’t possibly not remember him!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shu Jiaqing!” Gu Changzheng held the suspect’s file—a thief who had been released only six months ago. Was he the killer?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 7 a.m. on the 22nd, Gao Ye’s team had completed their visit to the breakfast shop. On the morning of the 21st, Ge Manli came alone to buy breakfast. The shop owner casually asked why Ren Jia wasn’t there. Ge Manli replied that Ren Jia had gone on a business trip to Yiling and would be away for several days. The owner then joked with her a bit. The cap-wearing man Gao Ye showed the owner was indeed remembered—he always ordered without speaking, kept his hat brim pulled low, and the owner had no clear memory of his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shu Jiaqing had a criminal record and had been imprisoned—he naturally possessed some anti-investigation skills. Gu Changzheng thought it over and felt the evidence chain was solid. He dialed Gao Jianjun’s number to report the case and proposed immediately formulating an arrest plan for Shu Jiaqing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 7:30 a.m. on the 22nd, in Unit 2, Building 3, Apartment 401 of Fenglin Garden Community, a thin, bald man picked up his phone and dialed a number: “Boss He, I’ve taken care of it. When will the rest of the money be paid? I can’t stay here long!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment, the voice on the other end said something. The bald man replied coldly: “How was I supposed to know a petty thief would show up at that exact time? My job is done! I’m getting paid today—or you think about the consequences yourself!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hung up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten minutes later, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, picked it up, and said: “Well? Decided?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps the voice on the other end soothed him—he chuckled: “Boss He, now that’s how you handle big things! If you’re still worried, I’ll take care of that petty thief too—I’ll give you a discount, hahaha!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other side apparently refused his offer. He continued: “We’re professionals. You said make it look like an accident—I left that gorgeous girl untouched. Doesn’t that prove my professionalism? Hahaha!” The bald man grinned with a lewd expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 8:10 a.m., in Fenglin Garden Community, a short woman wearing a loose dress, with frizzy curly hair and slippers on her feet, stepped out of Building 3 and walked past the rear gate along Yinxing Road toward Yinzuo Plaza.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 10 a.m., in an abandoned sand quarry in Shadao District, Xin District of Zizhen City, the bald man hid inside a pit dug from sand extraction, his fierce eyes fixed on the cement road leading into the quarry. A scooter lay discarded in the pit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a while, a black Toyota sedan pulled up. A tall man stepped out, wearing a baseball cap and a mask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced around, then pulled out his phone and dialed a number.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the bald man’s phone vibrated. He answered quietly: “Boss He, you’re here?” After receiving confirmation, he said: “Good. I’m on the way. Ten minutes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hanging up, he continued to watch the masked man cautiously. When the man re-entered the car, the bald man cursed under his breath, quickly pulled out a monocular telescope from the scooter, studied him for a moment, then smiled satisfied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When ten minutes passed, the man in the Toyota opened his door, took a blue shoulder bag from the trunk, and was about to call—when the bald man leapt from the pit and shouted: “Boss He! No need to call—I’m right here!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two were about a hundred meters apart. The bald man stood at the edge of the pit and waved: “Bring the bag over. Walk here. Don’t drive!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man remained silent, picked up the bag, and walked toward the bald man as instructed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the distance narrowed to less than ten meters, the bald man suddenly raised a hand to stop: “Enough, Boss He. Open the bag. Let me see the cash.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man froze. Slowly, he unzipped the bag and pulled out a stack of hundred-yuan notes, tossing them at the bald man. The bald man, caught off guard, instinctively stared at the flying bills and reached out both hands to catch them—when suddenly, the man dropped into a sprinting crouch and charged toward him at full speed, covering five meters before the bald man even registered the movement!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bald man, seeing the man suddenly charge at him, spun around—only to forget the pit was behind him. He stumbled and fell backward into the hole!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man had already reached the bald man’s original position. Seeing him tumble into the pit, he pulled a half-meter-long wrench from the bag, swung it, and leapt down into the hole!\u003C\u002Fp>",1515,"2026-06-20T19:35:30.807Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5fec59773c846c88d78ae41980f92d305c95fa4a7855cd755f5628927d5d53c1","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-6","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-4",276,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fchasing-the-criminal-case-cover.jpg"]