Novels like Case Files of Unusual Investigations
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Case Files of Unusual Investigations, best match first.
- 1 Secrets of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau: The Dragon Scale Files 异调处秘闻：龙鳞档案 An old man from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau tells the story of Research Institute 507 and Bureau 749, the dragon-fall incident in Yingkou before Liberation, China's qigong craze in the 1980s and 1990s, extraordinary human abilities, and the secret files behind human survival. 23Reads—Score—14d adds
- 2 Heavenly Wife 天妻 I was born burdened by heavy sins. My parents died because of me as soon as I was born. To repay my karmic debt, I was forced to marry that snake and take over Granny Wang’s shrine. But from then on, the demon god Hou Qing hunted me down, while the Lord of War, Chi You, wanted to sacrifice me. Then I discovered a shocking conspiracy... —Reads6.4Score—14d adds
- 3 The Jiuzhou Investigation Bureau 九州调查局 I’ll use the eyes I have now to tell you stories from the past. From the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, all the way to the present, countless secrets lie hidden in the gaps of history. They wander between reality and illusion, concealed from the world. They are legends who have transcended reincarnation and blended into the mortal realm. A flower blooms with five petals, and the fruit comes naturally. The story of the Jiuzhou Investigation Bureau 304Reads—Score—14d adds
- 4 Strange Tales from the Civil Affairs Bureau: Extra Stories 民调局异闻录番外 My new work is here! You’re welcome to check it out on Tomato Novel. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Your support keeps me writing, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well! 342Reads—Score—14d adds
- 5 Case Files of the Unusual: New Century 异案调查录2：新世纪 A century marks one hundred years. In this new century, technology and information are advancing at breakneck speed, and all kinds of bizarre cases are springing up everywhere. News of them spreads faster than ever before. A boy who can only walk by hopping, another person's face appearing in the village well, a human shadow appearing on a factory warehouse wall in the middle of the night, and more... Only the Unusual Cases Investigation Bureau can handle this series of bizarre incidents... 50Reads—Score—14d adds
- 6 Strange Case Investigations 3: The Torrent of Time 异案调查录3：时光洪流 Bizarre, inexplicable incidents keep happening: buses that claim lives, people who have vanished from history, urban legends from all over the country, and more... Perhaps these stories will slowly fade from people’s memories over the years and disappear into the flood of time. But there is a group of people who remain steadfast in their quest to uncover the truth behind the legends! 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 7 The Secret Wilds 秘野奇域 In 2035, the global archaeological community was rocked to its foundations. Mysterious bronze solar wheels, unearthed one after another across the world, linked humanity's ancient civilizations together. To solve the astonishing mystery behind the bronze solar wheels, a secret field unit was urgently called into action... 173Reads—Score—14d adds
- 8 Yin-Devouring Incense 噬阴香 I was born on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, when the gates of hell swung wide open. My fate was cursed, and before long my family members began dying one after another, each with a bizarre death. My mother had no choice but to move with me to the city, and that was how we escaped disaster. But I never expected him to appear in my life when I turned eighteen, taking me with him to slay demons and exorcise evil spirits, and helping people with their troubles. Just when I thought we 24Reads—Score—14d adds
- 9 Special Affairs Bureau: I Recruited Gifted Folk from Among the People! 特事局：我招募了民间异人！ After transmigrating into a world where the paranormal has returned, he unexpectedly becomes the director of the Bureau of Special Affairs! Yellow River Corpse Retriever: Once you enter the rivers, you become a traveler in a straw raincoat, wielding inscrutable powers to transform into a jiao dragon. Yin-Yang Master: Between yin and yang, he reads life and death, commands spirits, drives out ghosts, and establishes feng shui. Knife Peddler: The Ghost Valley formations turn eight thousand times, 85Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 10 Deduction: Murder Game 推理：杀人游戏 Have you ever witnessed a murder with your own eyes? Do you know how the killer escaped after a crime unfolded right in front of you? Do you want to know who was really pulling the strings? You saw the crime scene, but not the layers of seemingly simple riddles behind the case. With her meticulous mind, she will take you on a journey to uncover the astonishing twists and turns hidden behind each case... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 11 Interstellar Affairs Investigation Bureau 异星事务调查局 A Chinese take on Men in Black meets The X-Files, focused on dealing with extraterrestrial affairs on Earth. [No harem, no System, no formulaic tropes, no invincible protagonist, no mindless plot, and no wish-fulfillment. Please read with care if these bother you.] [Urban + aliens + parasites + light horror] Chen Le never imagined... that when he went to the teachers' office to hand in his homework, he would see tentacles emerging from beneath his homeroom teacher's pant leg! As more and more bi 2Reads—Score114d adds
- 12 Paranormal Affairs Office 灵异管理处 My name is Yin Yu. I'm a Taoist priest. I used to be just an ordinary person among the masses. By a twist of fate, I joined a special department called the Paranormal Administration. The five arts of mountain, medicine, destiny, physiognomy, and divination; the shamanic spirit mediums of the Northeast; the Hunan and western Hunan arts of gu poison and the Flower-Falling Cave Maidens; reincarnated tulkus of Tibetan Buddhism; protecting a flood dragon as it enters the sea and transforms into a dra 75Reads—Score—14d adds
- 13 749 Bureau: Classified Files 749局秘闻 Have you heard of Bureau 749? Some say it’s a classified agency. Others say it’s a mysterious organization that researches supernatural phenomena. Still others believe Bureau 749 investigates and covers up cases involving extraterrestrial life forms appearing within the country. Which of these rumors is true? I didn’t know either, until I got caught up in a bizarre murder case and became a member of Bureau 749. That’s when I discovered that the bureau was far more complicated than anyone could i 328Reads7.7Score10314d adds
- 14 Bureau of Paranormal Investigations 特异事物调查局 [Mystery + horror + sci-fi + adventure + wild imagination] Before graduating, forensic science student Ren Lin dissects a beautiful female corpse. Not long afterward, he meets a woman who looks exactly like the corpse, with a horrifying scar beneath her neck. A voice keeps echoing in his ear: “Did the corpse you dissect feel pain?” This is only the beginning, just the tip of the iceberg! Ren Lin joins the Bureau of Special Affairs and rises from a low-ranking agent to a legend! 44Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 15 Bureau Zero-One 零一局 The Zero-One Bureau handles paranormal incidents. After the protagonist, Liang Yuzhang, was born, an old Daoist recognized his exceptional nature and took him in as an apprentice to learn Daoist arts. Starting in kindergarten, he helped people deal with paranormal incidents, becoming a minor celebrity in the surrounding villages. He joined the Zero-One Bureau in middle school, and after joining, handled all sorts of supernatural cases involving ghosts, demons, and monsters. These events also dre 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 16 Special Incident Investigation Bureau 特殊事件调查局 Heaven has its yin and yang, and the earth has two sides. Our society is no different. Joining the Special Investigations Bureau means living alongside the dark side of this world. Murderous curses, midnight phone calls, Meng Po’s soup... Behind these chilling cases, are we dealing with supernatural forces, or is there a mastermind pulling the strings? The Special Investigations Bureau exists to stir up the turbulent currents of this shadowy world and uncover the black hand reaching out beneath 11Reads7.5Score—14d adds
- 17 The Living Ghost King 活诡王 A mysterious fragment of a map, a strange jade gourd, a grandfather who vanished nineteen years ago, and a person dying mysteriously after every QQ message I receive. Together, they set off one bizarre and eerie event after another... To uncover the truth, I have no choice but to embark on a series of strange and perilous investigations. It seems as though I’m merely reacting to events, yet everything seems fated to happen. From a haunted dormitory to a ghost village deep in the mountains, and t 160Reads—Score—14d adds
- 18 Urban Mountain Guides: The Mystery of the Wu Clan 都市赶山人之巫族谜团 After a hundred years cut off from the world, Guan Zhaoming is forced to descend from the mountains when his master passes away. But China has changed beyond recognition in the century since he left. The mystery of his own bloodline, a string of serial murders, a woman found dead in a refrigerator, a mummified corpse in an apartment... A series of vicious crimes targeting Chinese women, shikigami from Japan, a crisis threatening China's dragon veins! These bizarre cases all conceal a shocking co —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 19 Eerie Descent: I Rise from Death Row 诡异降临：我从死刑犯开始崛起 The supernatural descended. The Heavenly Court vanished, the lineages were severed, the underworld was corrupted, the Ten Kings of Hell became monsters, and the King of the Underworld became the greatest terror. With no gods left to protect humanity, the world was like an isolated island. When night fell, eerie energy seeped up through cracks in the earth. Those tainted by it went mad, died suddenly and turned into ghosts, or mutated until they no longer recognized their own family. In this worl 195Reads—Score—14d adds
- 20 Listening to Dashua Tell Terrifying Ghost Stories 听大耍讲恐怖鬼故事 [Horror + supernatural + folk tales + stories submitted by readers + plainspoken prose + episodic stories + based on real events] Note: The stories above are adapted from material the author gathered from various sources. All character names are pseudonyms. Believe in science and reject superstition. These stories are for entertainment only. Do not take them seriously!!! 424Reads—Score2514d adds
- 21 Strange Records of Bureau 749 749局异闻录 Have you ever wondered whether, beneath the modern city’s towering skyscrapers, ancient and unsolved mysteries still lie in wait? Xiao Lang, a rookie investigator and former ordinary patrol officer, is pulled into a “haunted building murder case” and forced to join National Bureau 749, a secret agency hidden within the government that specializes in supernatural incidents. Carrying half of his family’s inherited Book of Yin Talismans and bearing the mysterious “spirit-splitting” constitution, 136Reads6.6Score—14d adds
- 22 What Happened That Night 那一个晚上的事 A former couple reunites ten years after they separated. That day, the man's wife has gone back to her hometown, and the woman's husband is away on a business trip in Beijing. The man takes the woman home, but just as the bedroom light goes out, her husband knocks on the door... The next day, the woman's husband is stabbed to death with the fruit knife he brought himself. The man turns himself in, but the woman claims she killed her husband. Xu Changsheng, a young criminal investigator, joins th 270Reads—Score—14d adds
- 23 The Living Dead 活死人 A coffin from a hundred years ago was unearthed in our village. I warned everyone not to take the antiques inside, or disaster would strike. They agreed to my face, but the next day someone came to tell me that a person had died the night before... 70Reads—Score—14d adds
- 24 A Record of Strange Tales and Eerie Events 奇闻诡事录 How many ghost stories have you heard? Or how many have your elders told you? We should remain skeptical of the unknown. What makes you think that everyone you've met in your life was human? There are things you haven't seen for yourself, things you've only heard about secondhand. This book tells the story of how I, an ordinary person who knew nothing, met a fortune-teller from my village at my second granduncle's funeral, setting the wheels of fate in motion. Why has an ancient emperor come bac 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 25 Bureau 749? Report on the Spatial Disappearance Phenomenon 749局？空间消亡现象报告 Bureau 749? Report on the Spatial Annihilation Phenomenon —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 26 The Maoshan Celestial Master 茅山天师 Maoshan secret arts, supreme beneath the heavens; a sacred mountain paradise, the orthodox school of Daoism! The Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song bestowed eight treasures upon Maoshan to protect the region, banish demons, uphold the Dao, and bring blessings to the people. Yet the internal power struggles within the Daoist sects, including the Maoshan School, have continued for centuries. This story unfolds through the strange tales of spirits and the supernatural that happen all around me. D 35Reads7.6Score—14d adds
- 27 Rural Taboos 乡村禁忌 I always thought I was my father’s son. Then, on the day I came of age, he told me that the weasel spirits had given me to them... 157Reads8.2Score—14d adds
- 28 Tales of the Demon Trafficker 贩妖记 If I told you all of this was true, would you believe me? A bizarre walking marriage among the Mosuo people set me on an extraordinary path that would shape half my life. A thousand-year-old cosmic box. A river where the dead never die. Inspired by numerous supernatural events that really happened and drawing on little-known local customs and traditions, this story reveals a hidden world of spirits and strange creatures! 121Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 29 Entangled with Another Dimension 与另一维度的纠缠 After I ran into a crazy woman, everything became unbelievable. A madwoman barged into my life. I don’t know who she is, where she came from, or what she wants. She’s so strange. Is she human, or a ghost? But she’s already taken up part of my life. Without her, I’d go crazy! —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 30 Demon-Slaying Journal 除魔手记 Are you sure that everything you see is real? Do you believe that people who live forever really exist? Can everything you've encountered be explained by science? Fortune tellers, Taoist masters, monks who cultivate in temples: they all appear in the mysterious cases of history... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 31 Paranormal Investigation Notes 探灵笔录 A fortune-teller said I was a child sent by a hundred ghosts, and that I was destined to deal with the dead all my life. So I chose to become a forensic pathologist, working at the boundary between life and death. In ancient times, people called this profession a coroner’s. We were considered ill-omened and ranked among the lowest of occupations. Over the years, I’ve handled all kinds of bizarre and uncanny cases. I’ve recorded these terrifying incidents, which no living person should get involv 31Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 32 The Bureau of Foreign Affairs' Strange Tales 外事局诡闻录 All the petty affairs of the world are interactions between people. Whether good or bad, they belong to the realm of internal affairs. Anything beyond ordinary human life, anything ordinary people cannot accept, belongs to external affairs. That is the meaning behind the name of the External Affairs Bureau. Skin-Human Ravine, the Five Barbarians' Ghost Cave, a thousand corpses vying to steal fortune, a mother and daughter possessed by yin spirits, a ghostly yang infant... I experienced all kinds 3kReads8.7Score24914d adds
- 33 I Run a Pawnshop at the Border Between Yin and Yang 我在阴阳交界开典当行 City Life + Making Money + The Supernatural + Bureau 749 The rating has only just come in, so it will gradually rise. The living pawn their possessions to buy more years of life; the dead pawn theirs to make wishes come true. Whether in the underworld or the world of the living, desire is always endless. At a pawnshop on the boundary between yin and yang, the living come by day, and the dead arrive at night. 5Reads6.2Score—14d adds
- 34 I Can Join the Paranormal Investigation Bureau Too 我也能加入神秘调查局 My new work is here! You’re welcome to read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Your support motivates me to write, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well! 49Reads—Score—14d adds
- 35 The Yin-Yang Ghost Hunter 阴阳捉鬼道神 (Supernatural + suspense + urban + wildly satisfying power fantasy) Heaven and earth shatter as one man, like a demon god, cleaves the sky and splits the land. In the age of declining magic, Ye Yi, an orphan, is taken in by Tianjizi. He steps into the bustling city carrying a jade pendant as his token. Spiritual qi revives like a rising tide, and fortune gathers like a raging flood. He seizes opportunities, battles the demons and monsters of the mortal world, subdues the fiends of the immortal r 26Reads—Score—14d adds
- 36 Folk Horror Stories from Across China 中国全国各地民间恐怖故事 Adapted from folk tales told by colleagues and friends. This story contains frightening scenes, so please read with care. If it involves any sensitive information, please contact the author to request revisions. Thank you. 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 37 The Singing Serpent in the Sky 鸣蛇在天 [Paranormal + fantasy + myth and legend + mysterious organizations + cultivation; not a wish-fulfillment story, no immortal cultivation] A cataclysmic war in the age of myth, and the mysterious disappearance of a race of giants. After an ordinary soldier completes what seems like a simple mission, he joins the mysterious Mingshe Unit. Amid a thousand-year feud between ancient gods and demons, a war among the gods is about to erupt once more. 751Reads8.1Score10314d adds
- 38 China's Mysterious UMA Files 中国UMA神秘档案 UMA, or Unidentified Mysterious Animal, refers to unknown life forms. My name is Su Lie, and I'm a forest ranger in the Greater Khingan Range. By a twist of fate, I met Wu Xianzhang, a biology professor, who asked me to guide his team into an uncharted region. I thought this was my chance to strike it rich, but I never expected to stumble upon the secrets of my own body. The eerie apparition in the Kunlun Mountains, the Xi in Hubei's Shennongjia, the monster of Tianchi Lake, the mysterious flyin 541Reads6.7Score10314d adds
- 39 I Open a Paper Effigy Shop in the City 我在都市开纸扎店 Li Xiaofan, the owner of a joss-paper shop in Jiangzhou, appears to be an ordinary young man, but is actually a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Age of the Decline of the Dharma. Hidden among the common people, he crafts paper offerings to guide the dead into the afterlife. But after a bizarre incident at a funeral home, where a paper figure swallowed someone's heart, he draws the attention of the secret government agency Dragon Hidden. Dragon Hidden is a mysterious organization that has existed —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 40 My Great-Grandfather Is a Vicious Spirit 我的太爷爷是凶煞 The male lead isn't invincible. He's just a pathetic rideshare driver, and if his great-grandfather hadn't shown up to protect him, he'd have died a thousand times over. You can pay respects to a thousand or so ancestors and not know who most of them are. But the ancestors you worship may choose to share their spirit with you based on how you treat them. Zhou Qingliang ended up worshipping a vicious great-grandfather. “Would you look at that, you came to me to build up your virtue in the afterli —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 41 King of Destiny Arts 命术之王 The year I was born, a fire took my parents’ lives. A black-furred weasel rescued me from the flames. My grandfather said I was born under a deadly curse, with three calamities following close behind. So I devoted myself to mastering the arts of fate and divination, overcoming the three calamities, severing the Heavenly Dao, and defying heaven to change my fate. 175Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 42 The Forbidden Zone Code: My Years on the Scientific Expedition Team 禁地密码：我在科考队那些年 Li Xian, 35, is the top operative on the national rescue team. In recent years, there have been repeated accidents involving hikers who went missing or died while exploring. To reduce such incidents, he begins livestreaming his rescue missions and expeditions, explaining how to handle emergencies along the way. He also wants to remind everyone to respect nature and value life. Personality: decisive and meticulous Abilities: a walking encyclopedia, capable of anything. 39Reads—Score—14d adds
- 43 My Years of Catching Demons 我捉妖那些年 “Jinqu of Jinling is a blessed sanctuary for cultivating the truth, a sacred realm where one may become divine. Paper effigies guarding temples, corpses and ghosts possessing the living, using a grandmaster’s name as a pretext to suppress ghosts and drive out evil spirits: during my years hunting demons, I witnessed the true secret arts of Taoism, passed down only to a select few! The rise and fall, secrets, and scandals of Taoist sects such as the Maoshan Sect, the Zhengyi Sect, the Shenxiao Se 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 44 Forbidden Livestream 禁忌直播间 When you open this book, The Forbidden Livestream, you may not believe that its story is based on real events! An allegedly unsolvable horror forum, a hapless programmer crushed by the 996 work schedule, and a third-rate female student detective who considers herself first-rate. What dazzling sparks will fly when all of them come together? Thriller or mystery? Human or supernatural? Be careful! Because from this point on, every step you take will keep you on the edge of your seat! 33Reads—Score—14d adds
- 45 Heavenly Strategy: The Return of the Immortal 天策：长生者的归途 [Mystery + Feng Shui + Ancient Tombs + Group Exploration] In the nineteenth year of the Republic of China, at Deshun Teahouse in Beiping. A young man in his early twenties sat alone by the window. Two cups of tea stood before him: one for himself, and the other for someone who had been waiting for two thousand years. His name was Zhou Ce, heir to the Zhou family of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. On the surface, he was simply a young man skilled in feng shui. But no one knew that he was the ve —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 46 Top Secret 749 绝密749 [Fiery battles with a touch of humor + romance without the wish-fulfillment feel] [A story full of twists and turns] Who would have thought an ordinary mountain was actually a coffin mountain shrouded in sinister energy... and that a Mo Demon and a Yaksha would appear there! Who would have heard that a roadside barbecue joint, full of everyday bustle... hid a dried corpse glowing with an eerie green light! Who would have guessed a mysterious bone mound lay beneath a dry well... guarded by a Hair 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 47 The Mysterious Department Jiuding: The Power of the Five Elements 神秘部门九鼎：五行之力 (This story is entirely fictional. If anything seems familiar, trust in science.) By chance, I joined Jiuding, a mysterious national agency. There, I met a group of old monsters: Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng, Zuo Ci, Yuan Tiangang, Li Chunfeng, and Zhang Sanfeng. I also learned that other countries have their own mysterious agencies. For example, America’s S.H.I.E.L.D., Britain’s Knights of the Round Table, Russia’s Society of Nature, Japan’s Onmyoryo, and so on. I thought my future would be spent d 202Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 48 Bureau of Supernatural Investigations 超自然事件调查局 A bizarre murder case draws me into the investigation of mysterious supernatural events: crew members on a deep-sea fishing vessel inexplicably slaughtering one another, immortals hiding in the city, legendary vampires, Nazi doomsday troops of a godlike race and their Aryan holy city, and a gigantic human-face structure on Mars. We are not alone in the universe, and human society is just as complicated. 334Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 49 507: Top Secret Files 507绝密档案 I had only just graduated from police academy when I witnessed a bizarre car crash with my own eyes and came into contact with the legendary Bureau 507. From then on, my career as a police officer changed forever... 924Reads6.8Score13414d adds
- 50 I'm Broke, Why Should I Be Afraid of Ghosts? 我穷鬼，岂会怕鬼？ [Goofy] [Funny] [Irreverent] [Mystery] [Supernatural] [Hop in] [No System] [A fish that slipped through nine years of compulsory education] Wang Ling landed a job paying 18,000 yuan a month as a security guard at a private hospital. On his first day, he was left completely stunned! Each floor of the hospital's inpatient wing had a special passage enshrining one of the underworld's yin deities. The morgue even had butcher's knives inexplicably lying around. Wang Ling put up with all of that. Then 3Reads—Score—14d adds
