Chapter 106: A Man Vanishes?

Yu Dazhang reread the case file from the beginning, still feeling something was off.

There was a sense of disarray, something deeply awkward.

He picked up his pen, recorded the case in his notebook, and drew a small triangle beside it as a marker.

Without realizing it, he had reviewed every hospital-related case from the past two years.

Almost all were reported by the hospital itself.

Besides the earlier case filed by the patient’s family, there were two others.

In one, the child’s parents hadn’t abandoned him—they’d gone to raise money.

Their phone had been shut off for unpaid bills; when they returned, they found their child dead.

The parents suspected the hospital was responsible, so they called the police.

After investigation, no concrete evidence proved hospital liability; the case was withdrawn after mutual negotiation.

The third case filed by the patient’s family struck Yu Dazhang as the strangest—even unbelievable.

The family claimed the child vanished during resuscitation.

When Yu Dazhang first read it, he thought he’d misread.

Only after finishing did he understand what had happened.

The child’s mother, overwhelmed with worry, slipped into the resuscitation room behind a nurse during a brief opening.

According to her, the bed in the resuscitation room was empty—no sign of the child.

The doctors and nurses were all present, yet the child was gone.

Before she could examine further, the nurse shoved her out.

Then the resuscitation room door was locked from inside.

Fearing for the child’s life, she immediately called the police.

Police arrived on scene and immediately demanded a search of the resuscitation room.

Inside, they found the child lying on the bed, receiving treatment.

Even so, the mother insisted she hadn’t been mistaken.

Police thoroughly inspected the resuscitation room again and found no other exits.

Moreover, the room had no windows—this was to maintain a sterile, stable environment.

Since no evidence was found, the case was eventually closed.

Notably, the officer handling this case was highly responsible.

He specifically noted at the end of the file: the child recovered and was discharged twenty days later.

This showed the officer, even after closing the case, still monitored the child’s subsequent condition.

After reading the full sequence of events, Yu Dazhang suddenly felt like he’d watched a sci-fi movie.

If the mother hadn’t been mistaken, where had the child gone?

A man vanishes?

Suppose the medical staff secretly pushed the child out of the resuscitation room while the family wasn’t looking.

Then, once discovered, how did they get the child back in?

The mother had seen the child vanish; even if pushed out, she would have blocked the resuscitation room door.

There was no way to re-enter from the entrance.

The resuscitation room was a sealed space, and police had already checked—it had no other exits.

Could the mother simply have been mistaken?

Otherwise, how to explain it?

Yu Dazhang also noticed another detail: that hospital’s pediatrics had its own dedicated resuscitation room.

He marked these two cases with special symbols.

Just as he was about to continue reading, he suddenly felt ravenous. Yu Dazhang looked up—his branch office was empty.

Off duty?

He checked his phone’s time.

It was already past eight p.m.

Without realizing it, he’d spent over four hours reading.

Because Yu Dazhang had been constantly visiting hospitals lately, he rarely ate at home at night, so Li Xuehe no longer asked him when mealtime came.

Criminal investigation work was like this—day and night, no routine at all.

He organized the case files and placed them in the branch’s archive cabinet, stretched, then called Qu Tuotuo.

As soon as it connected, he got straight to the point:

“I’ll buy you dinner.” “It’s already this late, and you’re only thinking to ask me to eat?” Qu Tuotuo’s tone was irritated:

“I already ate.”

I know you don’t eat late snacks… Yu Dazhang said with feigned disappointment:

“Then there’s nothing I can do—don’t complain later that I never invited you.”

“Yu Dazhang!” Qu Tuotuo shouted:

“Are you doing this on purpose?!”

She was right—he was doing it on purpose.

Not calling at midnight already counted as having a conscience.

He’d finally figured it out: dating the opposite sex required tactics.

At any moment, they might throw a tantrum.

So you had to sprinkle in small tricks now and then to prevent them from lashing out.

Back home, Yu Dazhang reheated the dishes his mother had already prepared, then ate while enduring Li Xuehe’s nagging.

Please... collect... 6...9...books...!

Li Xuehe now wished her son would transfer to another department—even a patrol officer at a police station would do.

In short, she didn’t want Yu Dazhang to remain a criminal investigator.

First, it was dangerous.

Second, his schedule was irregular.

Her son had already vanished once, and now he was this fat—she couldn’t bear to endure losing him again.

“Mom, my job’s actually quiet now. Today I just lost track of time.”

Yu Dazhang knew his mother worried, so he explained:

“Besides, I’ve been officially confirmed in my position—the bureau leadership values me.”

Hearing this, Li Xuehe reluctantly eased her mind:

“I think you’ve lost weight lately.”

“Have I?” Yu Dazhang patted his belly—it felt unchanged.

“How would you know?” Li Xuehe pointed to a scale in the corner of the living room:

“Step on it and see.”

Yu Dazhang was genuinely curious whether he’d lost weight; the doctor had said his weight would gradually return to normal after the hospital visit.

He stepped onto the scale and looked down at the digital display…

143.5.

Since the scale showed kilograms, Yu Dazhang mentally converted it.

He really had lost weight!

Amazing doctor.

He truly felt the miracle—he hadn’t dieted deliberately, yet his weight had dropped without effort.

And it had dropped this much—must be at least twenty jin.

Probably his appetite couldn’t sustain his 300-plus jin frame; after his endocrine disorder healed, his body began self-regulating.

Actually, Yu Dazhang didn’t want to lose weight too fast.

In his past life, he’d watched many weight-loss videos on short-form platforms.

One side effect of rapid weight loss he couldn’t accept was loose skin.

In severe cases, it looked like rags hanging off the body.

Though at 1.8 meters tall he wouldn’t look that bad, he still preferred natural weight loss.

After washing up, he returned to his room.

Yu Dazhang lay on the bed and let his mind go blank for a while.

Four hours of reading over thirty case files, all while analyzing them, had overloaded his brain.

He didn’t want to go bald before he was thirty.

After resting over ten minutes, he felt significantly more relaxed, his mind clearer.

He sat up, pulled out his small notebook from his bag.

Looking at the rows of case entries, he gently traced them with his finger, finally stopping at a triangular marker.

“All organs were intact, no external injuries—how did you know the child had been tampered with?”

He murmured to himself, preparing for tomorrow’s investigation.

I'll start with you.

(End of chapter)