Novels like Binhai City Crime Files
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Binhai City Crime Files, best match first.
- 1 I Cultivate the Uncanny Path at the Mountain Lord's Temple 我在山君庙修诡道 There is a Mountain Lord Temple on Da'ao Mountain. Grandpa Mo has guarded it for decades and never let anyone touch the clay statue of the Mountain Lord. He says cultivation depends on incense, and if people grow greedy for it, they will turn into monsters. Bai Hu never believed him. That is, until the night the dead old hunter crawled back out of the river. And the clay statue in the Mountain Lord Temple seemed to move. 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 2 The Smiling Sleuth: A Brilliant Detective Who Plays by No Rules 笑面追凶：推理天才不着四六 [Classic deduction, no female lead, no System, no saccharine romance, hard-boiled suspense and mystery] A kidnapper demands a hundred million. Do they want the money, or the hostage's life? A playboy is murdered. How did the killer control the time of death, ensuring the victim died without ever realizing it? An arson case and a poisoning. How does the crime in the first case become the key clue that exposes the method used in the second? At 22, he is a criminal investigation specialist. He is a 18Reads—Score—Shelves
- 3 The Silent Clay Figure 沉默的泥塑 A Buddhist tooth from the Northern Wei, Ming Dynasty painted sculptures, and secrets a thousand years old hidden in a laboratory. An inexplicable foreign object lies sealed inside the chest of a statue of Weituo. Sculptors, archaeologists, antiquities dealers, and a mysterious family are all searching for answers. When the truth comes to light, they discover that some secrets, once opened, can never be closed again. 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 4 Memory Fragments: Hunting the Killer in a Frame-Up 记忆碎片：替罪追凶 “If you can’t even trust yourself, who can you trust?” Five years ago, criminal police captain Lu Chen went undercover in a criminal syndicate trafficking human organs. Five years later, he is gravely injured in an explosion while investigating a serial murder case. When he wakes up with no memory, he finds himself the prime suspect. Every piece of physical evidence points to him as the killer. The only things that could prove his innocence are a stranger’s fingernail clenched in his hand and th —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 5 My Family Vanished After the Car Crash 车祸后我的家人都消失了 My Family Disappeared After the Car Accident 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 6 The Zeroing Oath 归零誓约 (The rating just came in, so it'll go up later. Please go easy on me, dear readers.) The protagonist, Xu Yi, wakes up in a place he has never seen before. Everything here is strange: classmates behaving abnormally, teachers acting suspiciously, school facilities mysteriously damaged, and… bizarre rules for survival. The protagonist has no romance storyline, and all the scenarios are completely original. Every new scenario brings something different. A game, a trial. At one end of the scales is l 2Reads6.1Score—Shelves
- 7 The Two-Sided Mirror: Blossoming in Secret 双面镜：暗自生花 A crime story grounded in reality [Suspense + twists]. A carefully orchestrated game of murder begins in secret. Behind the mask, is someone hunter or prey? When the perfect facade falls away, what emerges is hidden evil and a cold reckoning. Some seek the truth, while others lay traps. At the edge of the abyss of desire and revenge, anyone could be a pawn, and anyone could be the one moving the pieces. One wrong step, and there is no coming back. 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 8 Mind-Reading Detective: The Killer Without a Trace 读心神探：无证之凶 A body without a wound, a crime scene splattered with someone else’s blood, and a wedding ring that appeared out of nowhere. The bizarre murder at the Feng family compound in Yuezhou leaves the police force’s two top investigators, Ren Jie and Song Zhun, at a dead end. With no other choice, they turn to Dong Yiting, a psychological analyst with an almost uncanny eye for detail. She can spot everything others overlook: the time hidden in footprints, the past etched into scars, and the cracks in h —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 9 I Pinched Myself Awake, Only to Enter an Even Deeper Dream 我掐醒了自己，却进了更深的梦 I pinched myself awake, only to fall into an even deeper dream —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 10 Who Is the One at the Door? 谁是开门的人 The night Jin Meng returned from North Bay, she came down with a high fever. When she woke up in the hospital, Jin Meng thought she had only been unconscious for a few nights. The inexplicable WeChat messages, her mother’s cold replies, and the news scrolling across the TV screen all reminded her that she, Jin Meng, had become a murder suspect. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 11 Proving Her Innocence 为她证无罪 When her closest family member becomes the prime suspect in a perfect crime, when every piece of evidence points to her sister’s already shattered soul, a younger sister who is a forensic pathologist decides to use science, faith, and unwavering love to fight through the fog for her sister’s chance to live. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 12 From the Start, I Explored Dreams for Three Hundred Years, and the Ascetic Imperial Preceptor Lost Control 开局探梦三百年，禁欲国师他失控 I woke up as a good-for-nothing female tutor, and from the start I was expected to bring good fortune through marriage to a seventy-year-old man. At my most desperate, I bound myself to the [Dream Tracing System]. Enter other people's dreams, uncover secrets from their past lives, solve a strange case, and earn three more days to live. I thought I was just solving cases to stay alive, until I entered the mute bodyguard's dream for the first time... A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, with 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 13 The Housewife Detective Case Files 名侦探主妇事件簿 After her husband cheats, a housewife unexpectedly discovers she has a talent for detective work? Join a famous Japanese high school detective and a certain compensated-dating girl detective to crack a baffling cold case!! Watch me turn my life around and rewrite my destiny against all odds! —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 14 Heartbeat Concerto 心跳协奏 There are two kinds of people heart surgeon nurse Lin Xue wants nothing to do with in this life: police officers, and people even more stubborn than police officers. When Lu Jun, deputy captain of the criminal investigation squad, bursts into her emergency room with a gunshot wound, the two become one. He investigates cases with decisive efficiency, yet cannot understand why she resents the badge. She stitches wounds with calm professionalism, yet cannot escape the truth closing in as he reopens —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 Forensic Examiner of Relics: Every Cursed Object I Autopsy Weeps 遗物法医：我解剖的凶物都在哭 Forensic pathologist specializing in haunted relics, rule-based horror, relics taking human form, two powerful male leads, criminal investigations, mystery and horror, supernatural tragic romance, episodic wish fulfillment, fated entanglements, the unattainable first love, unresolved regrets, a tragedy from ten years ago, life-and-death protection, heartbreaking angst, every character gets a moment to shine 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 16 The Night Shift Big Shot 夜班大佬 My mother died of a strange illness, leaving behind nothing but debt and an old bronze mirror. That night, Su Yue's eyes were opened. Beneath the city's neon lights, he could see the uncanny, and the "rules" each of them followed. He was terrified of dying, terrified to the point of trembling. Yet every time he solved a crisis, he did it too cleanly and too decisively. Survivors fell to their knees and worshipped him on the spot. Fake masters went out of their way to avoid him. Even the official —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 17 The Celadon Case: A Red-Dressed County Magistrate's Rise 青瓷案：红妆县令的逆袭之路 The Porcelain Case: A Red-Clad County Magistrate's Road to a Comeback —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 18 The Germaphobic Detective Is Dragged into a Mechanical Killing Trap by His Mad-Dog Deputy 洁癖探长被疯狗副手拽入机械杀阵 A fastidious detective is dragged into a mechanical killing trap by his rabid deputy. 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 19 Every Beginning Has a Cause, Every Rebirth Its Consequence 终始有因，轮回有果 This is a mystery novel. There is no paranormal content. The 1997 Asian financial crisis had a severe impact on every aspect of life for the people of Thailand. As the financial tycoon Soros plundered the economy, a series of stories that should never have happened began to unfold. Their effects can still be felt today. This novel follows two high school students whose misguided actions during the financial crisis set off a chain reaction, ultimately leading to a terrible catastrophe. Even twent 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 20 Yunhu Town 云湖镇 A death-row inmate whose sentence has been suspended opens a livestream with a hidden phone while on his way to receive medical treatment outside prison. Looking into the camera, he says, “I wasn’t the one who killed the little girl in Yunhu Town ten years ago.” The livestream is cut off, but the video has already spread across the internet. Investigative reporter He Zhiyuan recognizes the face in the video, as well as a name long forgotten: retired detective Lin Ge. Ten years ago, Lin Ge point 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 21 The Shackles of Misty Alley 雾巷枷锁 A corpse is found in an ancient well, reopening an old case. A butterfly jade pendant binds the fates of Chen Ci, a writer who has spent seven years pursuing the killer, and Lu Zheng, a detective hemmed in by the rules. Symbol-filled notes, torn field records, a second skeleton of unknown identity... Amid the fog of the narrow alleys, the two go from opposition to partnership, closing in step by step on the truth: a loan-sharking gang has colluded with senior figures at the police bureau. As sec —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 22 The Seventh Layer of Fiction 第七重虚构 My father disappeared twenty years ago, leaving me only half of a bronze mirror. Everyone said he had run away and abandoned me. I believed them for twenty years. Until the day the mirror cracked, when I saw someone kneeling in the darkness. Six hundred years had passed, and he was still alive. Blue-green patterns began to grow across the back of my hand, creeping upward a little farther each day. When they cover my whole body, I will vanish from this world completely. Not die. Be erased, as i —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 23 Night In, Day Out 夜入白出 [Thriller and Horror + Infinite-Flow + Mystery and Deduction + Exploring Strange Realms + Supernatural + Time Loops + The Emotions of Life] The night wind blows. Lie down and sleep. Don’t open your eyes, and no ghosts will appear. If you do open them, look beside the bed: a hand is among the books. Look by the window: a head with no eyes is staring at the bed. Lu Chen, Ye Xiaoqian, Wu Ziyu, Xu Zhuang, and Hu Yingying accidentally touched an old book filled with ghost stories about wronged souls. 10Reads—Score—Shelves
- 24 No Snow at Dawn 黎明没有雪 16Reads—Score—Shelves
- 25 The Mystery of the Silver Token 银令牌谜案 The Mystery of the Silver Token —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 26 The Book Behind the Veil 帷后之书 I hope to tell this story slowly to every listener. But when you hear it, the curtain will hear you too. I hope you enjoy my new work. I’m new to this, so please be kind. 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 27 Urban Legends Invade: I Slay Demons with Divine Blessings 怪谈入侵：我用神明祝福斩鬼 From Chapter 102 onward, the story enters dungeons, with people from other worlds joining the main cast in them. The world within a world includes science fiction. Also known as: Gods and Ghosts Run Rampant: I Wield the Power of the Gods to Slay Ghosts [Fairly satisfying] [A whole lot of killing] [Chinese-style supernatural tales] [Legendary monsters] [System-driven] [System] [Urban supernatural powers] [Mystery] [Some Infinite Flow dungeons] [Slay Ghosts] [Slay the Gods] Do you believe ghost —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 28 Ghost Story Livestream: Earning Points in Journey to the West 怪谈直播间：我在西游赚积分 [No national fate system + infinite-flow horror + rule-based mysteries + modern reimagining of Journey to the West + one heroine] Li Zhou is transported into an apocalyptic prophecy novel. On New Year’s Day, 2026, the supernatural arrives right on schedule. The homeroom teacher’s head spins 180 degrees on the lectern, and a classmate’s face grows out of their throat. He accidentally binds himself to a horror livestream System: the more frightened the viewers are, the more points he earns. So 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 29 Grading Essays, I Uncovered a Murder from Three Years Ago 批阅作文，我查出了三年前的人命 Chen Mo, a Chinese teacher, discovered a murder case in an essay. A student described in detail how a girl from the same school had been bullied to death three years ago. The victim was the older sister of Su Qing, the transfer student in his class. When he started investigating, the principal handed him a thick red envelope. “Mr. Chen, let the past lie quietly. This is the ‘rational good.’” His mother was gravely ill and urgently needed money. And the fate of whistleblowers? Shen Xiao, the form —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 30 Reading Memories 窥视记忆 Chen Yuan’s life followed a routine precise to the minute: he woke at the same time every morning, every object was placed with millimeter accuracy, and everything had adhered to the same order for five years. Until one morning, the routine began to go wrong. His cup was two centimeters out of place, the coffee machine’s settings had been altered, and the familiar cityscape was completely askew. In his orderly world, these tiny anomalies were cracks hinting at a far deeper collapse. At the cent —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 31 The Mirror-Crossing Record 渡镜录 [Historical political intrigue + mystery] The entire army was wiped out. I alone survived, only to be condemned for all eternity as a traitor who colluded with the enemy! Behind the Canglang Valley massacre lay a monstrous plot by the Marquis of Jing'an, who falsified military intelligence and trafficked in weapons. He goes undercover at the marquis’s manor under an assumed name, tearing apart, layer by layer, the outrageous lies woven by the powerful. Undercover agents, forensic examiners, vete —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 32 I Play an Extra in Eerie Movies 我在诡异电影里跑龙套 [Also known as: Quitting KFC to Brave the Supernatural Scenarios] Yan Jin worked like a dog at a fried chicken shop for three years, always conscientious and hardworking. At last, he finally stood up for himself and fired his boss. But right after quitting, he transmigrated into an Infinite Flow scenario where death was all but certain. Since he’d transmigrated, he might as well show the supernatural what his incredible golden finger could do: a psychiatric hospital for gods, an echo that never 1.6kReads6.3Score121Shelves
- 33 At the Crime Scene, a Prompt Appears Above the Victim’s Head 命案现场，死者头顶飘出提示框 [System-focused] [Crime solving] [Urban] Three months into the job, Gu Bei, a trainee forensic technician, was examining a hanging scene when a line of blood-red words appeared out of thin air above the victim’s head: [She didn’t tie the knot]. Using the bizarre clue, Gu Bei applied his forensic knowledge to reconstruct the scene and expose the truth behind the staged suicide. Then came [It fell twice] on the face of a car-crash victim, and [Died before the fire] on a charred body at a fire scen 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 34 The Flower Stall at Dusk 暮色花摊 The Twilight Flower Stall series delves into the desires and costs hidden in the bustling streets of the Ming Dynasty. Every dusk, a mysterious flower stall quietly appears beneath a centuries-old pagoda tree, selling Heart's Desire Blossoms that grant wishes in exchange for one's deepest obsession. The stallkeeper, Taoyao, feels neither sorrow nor joy. She watches each transaction with cool detachment, explaining the flowers' meanings and their price, but never interfering with anyone's choice. 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 35 The Da Vinci Code 达·芬奇密码 At midnight, the elderly curator of the Louvre is murdered. In his final moments, he strips naked and deliberately arranges his body in the pose of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting The Vitruvian Man. He collapses onto the parquet floor of the Grand Gallery, leaving behind a cryptic code beside his body. Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and codebreaking prodigy Sophie Neveu set to work deciphering a tangle of bizarre messages, only to discover that a series of clues is hidden in Leonardo da 18Reads9.3Score—Shelves
- 36 The Blue-Eroded Script 蓝蚀字 When art becomes a murder weapon, poison flows through the pigments. This is a manhunt spanning chemistry, art, and criminal investigation. Poison can be sealed inside ancient pigment recipes; crimes can be concealed in the brushwork of paintings handed down through generations. When the final piece falls into place, will you see the complete picture of the truth, or another carefully painted disguise? 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 37 The Silent Edge 无声的锋刃 Once the “brain” of the strongest special operations unit, he retired in bitter disappointment after a mission involving a high-level power struggle ended in failure. He became an ordinary police bomb-disposal expert in a major city. He thought he had left the storm behind, but it returned with even greater fury: undercurrents stirred in the city as international spies, financial predators, new forms of crime, and the shadows of his past converged. Forced to take up his “weapons” again, he now f 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 38 I Run a Lifestyle Channel in a Horror Game 我在惊悚游戏里当生活区UP主 With 1.2 million yuan in debt, Lin Bei gets dragged into a horror game. While others flee, I film; while others scream, I livestream. The head nurse is chasing me with a knife? Perfect footage! Zombies are closing in? Let's dance together. I edit terrifying scenarios into comedy shows, pay off my debts with tips, and clear stages by putting on a show. The ghosts become my cast, and the audience becomes my backup. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 39 A Dark Kiss Beneath the Deep Lake 深湖之下的暗吻 On the glittering annual gala night at Xingguang Group, senior finance executive Lin Wei “accidentally” falls into a lake and dies. While sorting through her belongings, her younger sister Lin Yue finds a bloodstained encrypted USB drive. On the night she died, her sister sent one last message: “They’re here.” Lin Yue’s investigation hits a hidden reef. Witnesses are silenced one after another, and every lead is cut off. Then Song Feng, just back from studying abroad, enters her life with perfe 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 40 I Used a Criminal Investigation System to Clear My Mother's Name 我用刑侦系统为母翻案 Twelve years after my mother was wrongly killed, I received the pocket watch she had mailed me. It lets me see every lie, and has made me the number-one target of an entire criminal organization. —Reads6.5Score—Shelves
- 41 Armor Hero: After Signing the Overlord Contract, I No Longer Believe in the Light 铠甲：签完霸王合同后，我不信光 [Armor Hero 1 + Behind-the-scenes power plays + Mystery and the supernatural] Lin Yu transmigrates as the son of D City's richest man. He doesn't wear armor or fight supernatural beasts. He sets the rules, draws the game board, and manages the ledgers. Relying on connections, information asymmetry, and analytical skill, he turns the battlefield into a chessboard. Someone in the morgue's cold storage refuses to wake. Something in the depths of an abandoned well has been painted over and concealed 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 42 Everyone Transmigrates! Where Are the Ghosts We Were Promised? Why Are They All Cases? 全员穿越！说好的鬼呢咋都是案子 Everyone Transmigrates: Where Are the Ghosts We Were Promised? Why Are They All Murder Cases? I had barely transmigrated before bandits dragged me up a mountain and demanded I become their captive bride? Top forensic pathologist Lin Qingge says: No problem. First, let's use science to humiliate you all. [Ding! Golden finger “Voices of All Things” activated. Three uses per day. Hear the final words of all things!] The bandit chief raised his blade. “You little brat, prepare to die!” I looked up a 12Reads—Score—Shelves
- 43 The Lost Antelope 迷失的羚羊 Also known as: The Divine Girl or the Hellish Killer? Beware, Judgment Is at Hand [Mystery + deduction + supernatural + adventure] [Strong male and female leads, both devoted and decisive, with hearts of gold. Earlier mysteries will be resolved later.] [Episodic stories + an overarching plot] An immortal girl? A young man who runs a guesthouse on the grasslands? And a student in glasses who wanders everywhere? What brought them together? A man-eating flower in a strange cave, the cries of a baby —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 44 I Refuse to Perform! 拒演！ Jiang Che, a lowly bit player, struggled for three years in Hengdian. With no connections or resources, he was on the brink of despair when he was unexpectedly pulled into the mysterious Fatebound Film Set. This is a live-streamed fight for survival, controlled by high-ranking deities. The real world and the inner world are completely bound together: injuries in the inner world are mirrored in reality, and death means the soul is truly annihilated. Everyone who enters is an actor, and must stri —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 The Midnight Photo Studio: I Take Portraits of the Dead 丑时照相馆：我拍亡魂照 [Use the living soul as a lure, and capture the lingering image of the dead] Hidden in the shadows of the city, the photo studio opens only during the Yin hours. Its owner wields a Republic-era camera, taking portraits of the dead’s fading silhouettes, but the price is a sliver of a living person’s soul. Every photograph is a prison for a departed soul’s obsession: if the obsession remains, the soul is trapped in the photo; if it is resolved, the lamp of rebirth is lit. When a young girl enters —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 46 The Wooden Beauty Exploits Bugs in Horror Films to Become a Legend 木头美人，惊悚片里卡BUG封神 Lu Yao, the “wooden beauty” mocked across the internet, is blacklisted for her terrible acting and forced to enter the deadly National Fate Cinema. Audiences worldwide bet she won’t last three minutes. Her teammates see her as useless dead weight. The life-taking evil spirit picks her as its first “easy target.” But when mental corruption sweeps the whole place and the actors scream in despair, Lu Yao tilts her expressionless face and asks the ghost, “You’re crying so fake. Haven’t you eaten 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 47 Sin Fetish I 罪癖I 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 48 The Logic Tuner of Fleeting Years 流年的逻辑调音师 The Logic of Passing Years: Book One, “The Tuner”; Book Two, “The Uncertainty Principle”; and Book Three, “Antarctica: Dome A” What if the constants of physics weren't eternal, but were chosen by the collective vote of eight billion people's “observations”? Chen Luoji, a PhD in theoretical physics, loses his academic career over a paper that was “too beautiful.” He returns to work as a physics teacher at a tutoring center while caring for his mother, who has Alzheimer's disease. One ordinary nig —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 49 The Rules Are Out of Control, and Only I Can Find the Loopholes 规则失控，只有我能找到漏洞 Make a mistake, and you die… Nine people are trapped in a hotel. They must identify the hidden nonhuman among them, or everyone will die. The cycle resets, wiping everyone's memories clean. Only Lin Che retains his memories. With no special abilities or plot armor, he relies solely on observation, searching for loopholes in the rules to survive. Escape the hotel, and they find themselves in an empty city caught in a seven-day time loop. Beyond it lie countless worlds that have been destroy —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 50 My Embalming Notes with the Agent 我和代行者的入殓手记 [Thrills + Heartwarming Moments + Redemption + Past and Present Lives] Do you believe someone could wait a hundred years for you? Bai Yan doesn’t. She’s just a junior makeup artist at a funeral home. Her only real skill is pretending she can’t see ghosts. But one early morning, she personally transfers a man’s seal onto herself. He lived to be 129, owes a life, and demands she repay him by doing ten things. This isn’t an evil spirit haunting her. It’s a madman who waited a hundred years for the —Reads—Score—Shelves
