[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-chasing-the-criminal-case":3,"chapter-chasing-the-criminal-case-chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-52":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},2328820,4554,"Chapter 52","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-52",52,"\u003Cp>At the reporting hall of the Jiangnan District Cross Street Police Station, a middle-aged woman in a mink coat, plump and affluent, wept uncontrollably as she told the duty officer something. Beside her, a tall, thin man in a crimson down jacket tried to calm her, occasionally adding a comment—his intermittent remarks mixed with her sobs left the officer utterly confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as he was at his wit’s end, Chief Gao Jianjun entered. He glanced at the pair, frowned, and walked over. “Xiao Zhang, what’s going on?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Officer Xiao Zhang stood up quickly. “Chief Gao, these two are the complainants. They say their husband, brother-in-law—something like that—hasn’t come home after going out. I… I couldn’t quite catch it all!” Xiao Zhang glanced helplessly at the middle-aged woman, nose and face streaked with snot and tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Comrade, come over here,” Gao Jianjun gestured to the man in the crimson down jacket, then instructed Xiao Zhang: “Xiao Zhang, help this lady sit down over there and rest.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man and woman were Wu Yuxian and Wu Yuhe, brother and sister. After Wu Yuhe’s remark jolted her, Wu Yuxian grew even more anxious. At home, the more she thought, the more terrified she became—so she dragged her brother to the police station near their house to file a report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now freed from his sister’s interference, Wu Yuhe told Gao Jianjun that his brother-in-law had been missing for two full days and nights, his phone turned off. He added that the two of them had checked every hotel, big and small, in Zizhen City—no trace of the brother-in-law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After listening, Gao Jianjun first asked whether Wang He Shan had shown any unusual behavior recently, whether he’d offended anyone in business, or if any personal items were missing from his home or shop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Wu Yuhe denied all of these, Gao Jianjun asked whether Wang’s relationships with the opposite sex had ever been complicated. Wu Yuhe hesitated. Gao Jianjun immediately smiled. “Does he have any close female friends? You could try contacting them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His words were phrased delicately, yet the meaning was clear: in his view, this Wang boss had probably gotten stuck in some romantic entanglement. Seeing Wu Yuhe’s expression, Gao sensed their relationship with the brother-in-law was unusually close—he was even more convinced of his theory—until Wu Yuhe’s next sentence made him rethink everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After sensing Gao Jianjun’s suspicion, Wu Yuhe continued: “Leader, my brother-in-law does like to have fun, but he’s never once stayed out overnight without telling anyone—not in all these years. That’s his boundary with my sister. And now his phone is off too. I feel something’s seriously wrong—he must have run into trouble.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Jianjun said: “Xiao Zhang, process the formal registration.” Then to Wu Yuhe: “Rest assured, we’ll launch a search immediately. Write down my number—call me right away if you find anything new or remember anything you forgot. Take good care of your sister, bring her home. Leave the rest to us police. Alright? Once you’re done registering, go home.” Gao remembered he had a meeting to attend. After instructing Xiao Zhang and reassuring the siblings, he turned and walked inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Officer Xiao Zhang completed the registration. Wu Yuhe led his sister out of the police station.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was January 16th. In just half a month, the Lunar New Year would arrive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two streets away from Cross Street Police Station, at the entrance of Limin Alley, a sewer-cleaning truck was parked, working at the intersection. The already narrow alleyway grew even more congested.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the evening rush hour. Crowds of pedestrians walked, biked, or rode motorcycles; a few cars passed by. The cacophony of voices, bicycle bells, and car horns blended into a symphony of winter twilight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the throng, sewer worker Li Yongjun endured the stench, plunging a long iron-handled scoop into the sewer grate. Clumps of black-and-gray sludge, reeking of sour decay, were hauled out and dumped into the trash truck. In the mid-1990s, Zizhen City still lacked professional sewer trucks—most cleaning was still done by hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, another large scoop of filth was pulled up. Li Yongjun noticed this time it was a tightly tied black plastic bag. He silently cursed: Who the hell dumps trash like this down the sewer? But as he tipped it into the truck, the bag slipped and hit the side, falling onto the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His coworker rushed over to pick it up, but when the bag split open on impact, a large chunk of pale white flesh tumbled out. Whether from prolonged soaking or decay, the smell of the exposed meat was overwhelmingly nauseating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The coworker gritted his teeth and reached for his iron shovel to scoop it into the truck—but as he bent down, he screamed: “Ah! It’s human flesh!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His scream pierced the air like thunder, drowning out all other noise. Time seemed to freeze. Everyone around stopped moving. Some bolder souls turned toward the trash truck: the black plastic bag had split wide open, and a short, chubby, wrinkled, pale white human hand lay on the asphalt road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In an instant, the first witnesses screamed in varying tones, spreading the horrifying sight: “Ah! There’s a dead person’s hand in the sewer!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Puke!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s dismembered body parts here!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Call the police!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As more people saw the severed hand, cries erupted in all directions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, someone remembered to call the police. At the corner of the alley, a small grocery store had a public phone. A man in his thirties grabbed it. Moments later, the call connected. He shouted: “Hurry! Someone’s dead here! No—wait—we found a human hand! A dead person’s hand! Where am I? Oh right—I’m at the entrance of Limin Alley, where it meets Wangjiang Road!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d finally made the location clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers of Cross Street Police Station, led by Chief Gao Jianjun, rushed to the scene.\u003C\u002Fp>",974,"2026-06-20T19:35:30.807Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","0dece0a9f71d5b76b2aec3792bb325c6c6be92c91fdc5265f701fc3140776dde","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-53","chasing-the-criminal-case-chapter-51",276,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fchasing-the-criminal-case-cover.jpg"]