Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Captain Wang then said, “Leader Zhao, the technical team said that from the figure alone, it is impossible to confirm the sex.”
“Well… If it’s not a woman, then it must be a transsexual!” Zhao Yu said. “Look at the way the figure is riding the motorcycle. This says it all! And… Look at the chest! Obviously, there is a protuberance…”
Ran Tao then said to Zhao Yu, “Boss, this figure is not wearing a tight suit. And… That motorcycle seat is depressed. So, even if a man sits on it, his chest would also be raised!”
Zhao Yu shook his head, then asked, “Are you sure about that? I just don’t think that’s the reason…”
Miao Ying pretended to be curious and asked, “I don’t know… I just don’t think any of us can know for sure by just that…”
Miao Ying then turned to Captain Wang and said, “You should go and search the woods. If anyone parked a motorcycle in the woods, there must be tire marks!”
“Oh… Yes… I’ll arrange that!” Captain Wang nodded vigorously.
“Remember to visit the nearby residences and look for witnesses!” Miao Ying added.
She then turned to Zhao Yu and said, “Although what you said doesn’t make me feel good, I have to agree that this motorcyclist seems more likely to be a woman!”
Ran Tao shook his head, then asked, “If this is a woman, it’s definitely not Yang Zebiao! So… Are we looking for the wrong person?”
“Not necessarily…” Zhao Yu joked. “What if Yang Zebiao is a transsexual?”
“What the heck?” Ran Tao almost fell over when he heard this. “Boss, this is too much for me…”
Zhao Yu then asked earnestly, “So, what do you think is the reason that Yang Zebiao disappeared for 13 years? For a long while, the police even thought that he might be dead!”
Ran Tao bit his lip and said, “Well… I still can’t believe that the reason why the police couldn’t find him is that he changed his sex! If that’s true, it should be written in the Guinness Book of World Records!”
Zhao Yu then said, “In 2005, sex change surgeries were just really starting to get popular, but they were expensive! Yang Zebiao had just robbed 800,000 cash from a rural cooperative, and… Um…” Zhao Yu couldn’t proceed with the story, and he suddenly shook his head and said, “Yes, well… I guess that you have a point here. He had the money and could just go abroad to escape arrest. There would be no need for him to give up being a male…”
Miao Ying pretended to cough as she interrupted them. She then said, “Well… There is no need to waste more time on this. We need to think about how to catch this suspect!”
She then pointed to the motorcyclist on the big screen and said, “This figure… Whether male or female… Is under great suspicion now! This is because, during the time of the murder, he disappeared for an hour! Such a coincidence is not something that we can overlook.”
“Leaders!” Suddenly, the office door was pushed open, and Zeng Ke and Wu Xiumin, who looked travel-worn, came in from outside.
Ran Tao hugged Zeng Ke with excitement, but when he opened his arms to hug Wu Xiumin, she threw her baggage to him instead.
Zhao Yu noticed that after Zeng Ke put down the luggage, he waved at the door. Then, Zhang Peipei, Gao Facai’s student came in as well.
Zhao Yu laughed, but didn’t let the others see him. It seemed that Ran Tao was not lying, and Zeng Ke and Zhang Peipei really had hooked up with each other.
“Team leader,” Wu Xiumin said eagerly to Zhao Yu, while throwing her coat at Ran Tao’s head. “On the way here, Zeng Ke and I learned about the general situation of the case. Is there anything new since then?”
Zhao Yu nodded as he said, “We’ve been waiting for you to have a meeting about the current situation! Normally, we should go to the crime scene first. However, I feel that this case is unusually strange, so I decided to focus on the Ziliu case first! After all, the two cases might be closely related to one another.”
“Okay! Let’s start at once!” Zeng Ke quickly took out his computer and greeted Gao Facai. After all, if he wanted to be with Zhang Peipei, it was necessary for him to please Gao Facai and gain his favor.
Zhao Yu had made the investigation plan early on, so he already had prepared materials on hand. But, because of his long time habit, he still wrote all of the information on the white board carefully. Miao Ying, as deputy leader of the group, was going to tell the members in detail about the Ziliu case as Zhao Yu was writing the information on the board for all of them to see.
“Thirteen years ago, at about 9 a.m. on April 15 in a rural cooperative in Ziliu Town, a horrifying and bloody crime occurred. Five victims, including a 6-year-old girl, were brutally shot and killed!” Miao Ying said.
She then explained, “After the crime, the police found that the bank’s monitoring system had been forcibly shut down, sp there was no video footage during the time that the crime occurred. The two anti-theft doors that were behind the counter, as well as the door to the safe were opened, and more than 800,000 yuan in cash was stolen!”
She then added, “According to the employees, their branch seldom kept much cash in the safe. The only reason that they had so much in it that day was because a dairy factory had made an appointment to withdraw money and had just transferred 800,000 yuan from the treasury! The evidence showed that the thief must be the employee that worked in the rural branch. That suspect’s name was Yang Zebiao!” Miao Ying said.
When Miao Ying had finished giving her report of the facts, Zeng Ke set up the projector and put Yang Zebiao’s photo on the big screen.
Miao Ying then said, “Yang Zebiao was 26 years old when the case was first opened, which means that he is now 39 years old. He is from Wen Erhuqi in the Mengxiang Province. After graduating from Gaolanqi Finance and Accounting School, he had been working as a cashier in the rural branch in Ziliu Town.”
Miao Ying continued, “At the time when the case occurred, he had been working there for nearly five years, so he was very familiar with the internal operations of the branch. On the day of the incident, Yang Zebiao and Wang Xuejun, the director of the branch, were on duty. But, after the incident, Yang Zebiao disappeared.”
Miao Ying then said, “The hard drive of the cooperative’s monitoring system was not damaged, so this revealed to the police that the monitoring system must have been shut down by Yang Zebiao! Therefore, the police identified Yang Zebiao as the major suspect and issues an order for his arrest.”
Miao Ying paused to take a breath, then continued, “However, Yang Zebiao seemed to drop off the face of the earth, as he disappeared from that moment on and has never been seen since. The branch was located on the only concrete road in Ziliu Town, and at that time, there were many gatherings and markets taking place, yet nobody saw Yang Zebiao at all that day!”
Miao Ying then said, “The Criminal Division attached a great deal of importance to this case, so it assigned the 03 Special Investigation Group to investigate it. Almost all of the police force in Mengxiang participated in the investigation, but ultimately, they found nothing!”
At this point, Miao Ying paused for a moment before saying, “Actually, on top of not knowing the whereabouts of the suspect, there are many other questionable things in this case. That is why the Ziliu case was listed among the five major unsolved cases.”
Miao Ying continued, “Let’s review the five major doubts that the 03 group had pointed out before. First, up to now, although the police identified Yang Zebiao as the number one suspect, they still do not know whether he had an accomplice. Second, Yang Zebiao, despite his poor family background and financial constraints, had no debts or bad habits like gambling. So, he had no clear motive that we can see to have caused him to commit the crime!”
Miao Ying then said, “Third, according to what the other employees said, Yang Zebiao was an honest and loyal colleague, who had no psychological problems. Hence, it seems incomprehensible for him to commit such a terrible crime! Fourth, why did Yang Zebiao suddenly disappear for so many years? Could he have been killed by someone too? Last, and also the biggest doubtful point in this case, is the question as to why he killed these people?”
Miao Ying shook her head, then said, “As far as we can tell, Yang Zebiao had no grievances with the five victims. And… If he only wanted the money, even though he had a gun, there would be no reason for him to kill the people at the scene, especially a six-year-old child! By the way…”
Miao Ying wanted to continue, but Zhao Yu suddenly stopped writing and gasped inexplicably. In the past, when Zhao Yu made such a strange noise, it revealed to his team that he had thought of something important.
Apparently, this time was no exception, and Zhao Yu turned to Miao Ying and asked, “Do you remember when Jin wrote in the notebook that the forensic doctor had detected ether in the dead cooperative director’s mouth?”
“Yes!” Miao Ying nodded.
Zhao Yu frowned, then asked, “So… Why would he kill an unconscious man? And, do you think that this man’s death is somewhat similar to Wu Fangfang’s?”
