Chapter 106: A Disappearing Act?

Yu Dazhang read through the case file again from the beginning, still feeling something was off.

There was a sense that something wouldn't smooth out, very awkward.

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

Before he knew it, he had read through every hospital-related case from the past two years.

Basically all of them were reported by the hospital side.

Besides the earlier one reported by the patient's family, there were two others.

In one of them, the patient's parents hadn't abandoned the child—they had gone to scrape together money.

At the time, their phone had run out of credit and been cut off, and by the time they came back, they found the child had already died.

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

After investigation, there was no actual evidence to prove the hospital's liability; after negotiation between both sides, the case was withdrawn.

The third case reported by a patient's family was what struck Yu Dazhang as the strangest—downright unbelievable, even.

The family reported that the child had gone missing during the resuscitation.

At first glance, Yu Dazhang thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Only after reading it through did he understand what had happened.

At the time, the child's mother, being too worried, took advantage of a gap when a nurse entered the resuscitation room and slipped in behind her.

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

But the doctors and nurses were all there; only the child was gone.

Before she could take a closer look, she was chased out by the nurse.

Then the door to the resuscitation room was locked from the inside.

Fearing something had happened to the child, she called the police right away.

When the police arrived at the scene, they immediately demanded an inspection of the resuscitation room.

The result was that, upon entering, they found the child lying flat on the bed, receiving treatment.

Even so, the child's mother still insisted she hadn't seen wrong.

The police gave the resuscitation room another careful check and found no other exits.

Moreover, the resuscitation room had no windows—this was to keep the indoor environment sterile and stable.

Since no evidence was found, this case was later withdrawn as well.

It's worth mentioning that the officer handling this case was very responsible.

At the very end of the file, he specifically noted: the child was discharged fully recovered twenty days later.

This shows that the officer in charge of the case, even after the case had been withdrawn, still kept an eye on the child's subsequent condition.

After reading through the full course of this case, Yu Dazhang suddenly felt like he was watching a sci-fi film.

If the child's mother hadn't seen wrong, then where had the child gone?

A disappearing act?

Suppose the medical staff had wheeled the child out of the resuscitation room while the family wasn't looking.

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

Once the child's mother realized the child was missing, even after being chased out, she would surely have planted herself at the door of the resuscitation room.

Trying to get back in through the door would have been impossible.

The resuscitation room was a sealed space, and the police had already inspected it—no other exits were found.

Could the child's mother really have seen wrong?

Otherwise, how to explain it.

Yu Dazhang also picked up one piece of information from it: that hospital's pediatrics department had its own dedicated resuscitation room.

In the end, he marked these two cases specially as well.

Just as he was about to keep reading, he suddenly felt his stomach was very hungry. Yu Dazhang looked up and around—at the detachment, only he was left.

Was it off-duty hours?

He took out his phone and checked the time.

It was already past eight in the evening.

Before he knew it, he had actually been reading for over four hours.

Because Yu Dazhang had been running around to hospitals lately and basically hadn't eaten dinner at home, Li Xuehe no longer asked him about it when mealtime came now.

Criminal investigation work was just like that—day and night, no rhyme or rhythm to speak of.

After organizing the case files and putting them in the detachment's filing cabinet, Yu Dazhang stretched, then called Seeing Qu Tuotuo.

The moment she picked up, he got straight to the point:

"Let me treat you to dinner." "Do you know what time it is? Only now you think of asking me to eat?" Seeing Qu Tuotuo's tone on the other end was very displeased: "I ate ages ago."

"I ate ages ago."

I also know you don't eat late-night snacks… Yu Dazhang deliberately said in a disappointed tone:

"Then there's nothing for it; don't say later that I'm not the one reaching out to you."

"Yu Dazhang!" Seeing Qu Tuotuo demanded loudly:

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?!"

She guessed right—Yu Dazhang was doing it on purpose.

Not calling in the middle of the night already counted as him having a conscience.

He had now caught on too: when courting a woman, you really had to play a few tricks.

You never knew when she'd throw a little tantrum your way.

So you need to occasionally use small tricks to prevent the other side from striking first.

Back home, Yu Dazhang reheated the dishes his mother had already prepared, then ate dinner under Li Xuehe's nagging.

Please... collect... 6... 9... Books...!

Right now, Li Xuehe wished her son would be transferred to another department immediately—even if it meant becoming a lowly police officer at a precinct.

In short, she didn't want Yu Dazhang to continue working as a detective.

First, it's dangerous.

Second, the schedule is irregular.

Her son had already gone missing once, and now he was this fat—she didn't want to endure the pain of losing him again.

"Mom, my job is actually very relaxed today—I just lost track of time myself."

Yu Dazhang knew his mother was worried about him, so he could only explain:

"Besides, I've been officially confirmed in my position now; the bureau leadership values me greatly."

Hearing this, Li Xuehe reluctantly eased her concerns:

"I think you've lost weight recently."

"Really?" Yu Dazhang patted his belly, feeling it was still the same—no change.

"How could you tell yourself?" Li Xuehe pointed to a scale in the corner of the living room:

"Go weigh yourself and you'll see."

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

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

One hundred forty-three point five.

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

Two hundred eighty-seven jin.

He really had lost weight!

Amazing doctor.

He truly felt the magic—he hadn't deliberately dieted, yet his weight had dropped without notice.

And he'd lost so much—it must be at least twenty jin.

Probably his appetite couldn't sustain a weight over three hundred jin; after his endocrine disorder healed, his body began regulating itself automatically.

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

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

One side effect of rapid weight loss was something he couldn't accept: loose skin.

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

Although at one meter eighty, Yu Dazhang wouldn't reach that extreme, he still preferred natural weight loss.

After washing up, he returned to his room.

Yu Dazhang first lay on the bed and emptied his mind for a while.

Four hours of reviewing over thirty case files—while analyzing each one—had already overloaded his brain.

He didn't want to go bald before his time.

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

He sat up, pulled out a small notebook used for recording from his bag.

Looking at the rows of case details, Yu Dazhang gently traced them with his finger, finally stopping at a triangular mark.

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

He muttered to himself, preparing for tomorrow's investigation.

I'll start with you.

(End of Chapter)