Chapter 30: Bone Soup

Youzhou Road is about three kilometers away from the Criminal Investigation Detachment.

When it comes to treating a beautiful woman to dinner, Lu Chuan wasn't about to settle for a shared bike; he wasn't a blockhead and had long since made preparations.

"Is... is this your car?"

Shen Yan stared at the Bentley parked in a corner of the detachment's parking lot, her small mouth slightly agape to reveal white teeth, her mind a bit dazed.

"It's my dad's. I usually ride shared bikes to and from work."

Shen Yan gave Lu Chuan a deep look before settling into the already-opened passenger seat.

"I heard that you did something great at the outlet pedestrian street last time."

As he started the car and slowly drove out of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, Lu Chuan gave a nonchalant smile. "It was just a coincidence. I didn't expect there to be three of them at the time."

Lu Chuan extended his arm. "My wound only healed last week."

Among colleagues, there are endless topics to discuss.

And among criminal investigators, topics never stray far from cases.

Chatting and laughing, the two arrived at Youzhou Road.

Back at the Criminal Investigation Detachment, many people watched Lu Chuan pick up Shen Yan in a Bentley, their expressions unreadable.

"The Qiangsheng Group..."

"Reincarnation really is a skill."

It was no secret that Lu Chuan's family came from the Qiangsheng Group. It had been leaked after the last gathering of the veterans in the forensic identification office.

Lu Chuan hadn't intentionally hidden it. Being wealthy wasn't a crime.

Moreover, his own pursuits had arguably moved beyond a dependence on material things.

Compared to money, Lu Chuan's parents cared more about him having a stable government job, and the prestige of him being driven home in a Land Cruiser police car last time.

Even though a Bentley was much more expensive than a Land Cruiser.

The hotpot restaurant had nice decor; this type of hotpot had been very popular in Haizhou City over the last two years.

The base was a rich bone broth, and meat was poached in clear water—a test of the quality and freshness of the ingredients.

This was the complete opposite of the trend from a few years ago.

Back then, "science and heavy additives" reigned supreme; now, people were afraid of dying.

The pot of fragrant, large-bone broth made one's mouth water.

Lu Chuan and Shen Yan had graduated from the same school, and Lu Chuan had been involved in—and even the primary hero of—the most recent cases.

The two chatted with increasing fervor. Watching Shen Yan laugh so vibrantly, the heat of their conversation was on par with the boiling broth.

"A couple of months ago, I heard you arrested a groom at a classmate's ex-girlfriend's wedding?"

This was big news. Shen Yan adjusted the induction cooker to the highest temperature, her face full of gossipy curiosity.

Speaking of which, Lu Chuan felt a strong urge to communicate: "It was a coincidence. Speaking of that day..."

Everyone has a desire to express themselves.

Especially in front of a high-quality, beautiful member of the opposite sex.

Lu Chuan was handsome and wealthy, which made Shen Yan very happy.

Shen Yan was beautiful and loved to laugh, which made Lu Chuan very happy.

Bubbling in the pot were two large bones. There wasn't much meat, but the sight of them rolling in the broth was appetizing, and the flavor was excellent.

Shen Yan grabbed her chopsticks and looked at the dishes on the table with a grin. "Detective Lu, shall we dig in?"

Lu Chuan nodded. "I'm hungry. I haven't eaten all day. Today, I'm going to feast..."

Hmm?

Lu Chuan, who had just picked up a plate of mutton to put into the pot, frowned, his movement pausing slightly.

Shen Yan, holding her chopsticks and waiting for him to cook the meat, froze. "What's wrong?"

Lu Chuan put down the plate and waved his hand. "Wait a moment. It seems... there's a problem."

Shen Yan didn't suspect anything, assuming Lu Chuan had spotted something unhygienic.

Lu Chuan picked up his chopsticks, reached into the pot, and fished out a rolling large bone to examine it closely.

"Is there... something wrong with this bone?"

Watching Lu Chuan's actions, Shen Yan didn't quite understand and leaned in closer.

Lu Chuan put the bone down, reached into the pot again, and picked up another bone.

This time, after just one look, Lu Chuan's expression turned extremely grim.

Shen Yan focused her gaze. At first, she was confused, but immediately after, her face turned deathly pale.

"Ugh..."

Having worked for two years, Shen Yan, as a forensic pathologist, had already dissected four corpses.

If you included the two she had participated in dissecting during university, she had already cut through six people.

While she couldn't be called a veteran forensic pathologist yet, she at least had a certain foundation.

In most situations involving corpses, she wouldn't feel nauseous or vomit.

But right now, facing the bone Lu Chuan had pulled from the hotpot broth, Shen Yan felt her stomach churning.

Dissecting a corpse and eating soup made from boiled human bones...

The sensation was entirely different.

That's right. What Lu Chuan held in his chopsticks was a human bone.

To be precise, it was a small segment of an ulna, near the elbow joint.

Although the bone looked no different from a common piece of broken pork bone, as a forensic pathologist, Shen Yan recognized it after careful observation.

Half an hour later.

Qin Yong had already arrived with dozens of people, taking control of the entire restaurant.

It was 6:30 PM, the peak dinner hour, and the hotpot restaurant was packed.

Many diners were initially angry; no one is happy when their dining pleasure is interrupted.

However, seeing dozens of police officers in uniform, everyone chose silence.

Following the on-site commander, they left the restaurant in an orderly fashion.

A few curious people asked what happened, but they received no answers.

What could they answer? That the rich bone broth you just ate was made from human bones?

If that got out, no—by tonight, the entire Haizhou City would descend into madness.

Qin Yong's face was as grim as it could possibly be.

The reservoir body-dumping case at the detachment wasn't even over yet, and they were at their busiest, only for this to happen here.

Not only was it an incident, but the nature of it was heinous.

Using human bones to make soup—was the owner of this restaurant insane?

If this leaked, the entire catering industry of Haizhou City would suffer a massive blow.

Just thinking about it made Qin Yong's scalp tingle.

His gaze toward Lu Chuan was a mix of love and hate.

You mean, you just come out to eat, but how do you end up finding human bone soup while eating?

However, Qin Yong was very satisfied with Lu Chuan's emergency handling.

Qin Yong walked up to Lu Chuan and looked at him and Shen Yan. "What are the specifics?"

"Captain Qin, the moment the problem was discovered, I reported it to the team immediately. We didn't alert the suspect."

At this moment, without Qin Yong even having to order it, all the staff of the hotpot restaurant had already been detained.

"Is it this?"

Qin Yong's gaze turned toward the table next to Lu Chuan.

On a dish there lay the bare bone.

"A small segment of the ulna near the elbow joint. After boiling, it's impossible to tell if there was flesh or blood on the bone."

Lu Chuan hadn't expected to encounter something like this right after obtaining the "Intermediate Skeletal Identification and Analysis" skill from his last advancement task.

Of course, it was also a stroke of luck.

After all, regardless of what skill Lu Chuan had received from his last advancement reward, he would have come to eat today.

There were two possibilities: they could have finished eating and left, acting as if nothing had happened.

But the other possibility...

Shen Yan was a forensic pathologist. If she had recognized it halfway through the meal...

Just thinking about that made Lu Chuan's stomach turn with acid.