Chapter 679 - 564: The End of the Ten Days

Chapter 679: Chapter 564: The End of the Ten Days

Seeing Yang Guofa was about to continue, Zheng Chengbao cut him off at the right moment to ask a question.

After they found the giant panda, they just brought it back to the cabin, just like that?

Because the case involved a giant panda, Zheng Chengbao had done his research. He knew that wild giant pandas are highly aggressive.

Especially a nursing female with a cub.

During this period, a giant panda won’t let anything—be it a natural predator or one of its own kind—get near it.

The moment it senses danger, it will flee.

And humans were clearly on the panda’s list of "natural predators."

Before this, the task force’s assessment had been that Wang Shulin found a lone giant panda, had malicious intentions, and decided to poach it.

Yang Guofa nodded and explained, "I know what you’re getting at. I even asked Liu Baoli about it. He told me they had probably rescued this panda before."

"Our reserve has rescued a lot of giant pandas. And you wouldn’t believe it, but many of them are actually very smart. Sometimes, they’ll even seek out people for help on their own."

"So when this giant panda saw the two of them, it didn’t run or attack. Liu Baoli told me that when they met, the panda even cried out at them. It felt like it was asking them for help."

Zheng Chengbao nodded slightly. If that was the case, it would be a reasonable explanation.

The research materials he’d looked up had mentioned similar cases.

Stories of pandas remembering their rescuers even after many years.

Unfortunately, this female panda that had actively sought human help had the misfortune of running into the wrong kind of people, and ultimately paid with its life.

Zheng Chengbao then asked if Wang Shulin had intended to kill it when they found the giant panda.

"No."

Yang Guofa shook his head. "He’s not stupid. Everyone knows you don’t mess with giant pandas. Killing one means jail time, a long sentence."

"At the time, it must have been Liu Baoli who suggested bringing the panda back to the cabin. Said they couldn’t just leave it. That guy was just a bleeding heart."

Yang Guofa complained again.

"We didn’t even know if we were going to live or die, and he had the mind to worry about a panda."

"Anyway, he checked the panda over. Its leg seemed to be broken and a little infected. It had other wounds on its body, looked like it was scratched by some animal. It probably got attacked by another animal after it fell."

"The cub was fine, though. Perfectly fine. In the end, they cut down some bamboo to feed it and used that to lure it back to the cabin."

"Li Suhua and Lu Weihong were so excited. They asked Wang Shulin for the camera he’d taken so they could take pictures of the panda. Seriously, those two had something wrong with their heads. They were too naive, too innocent. They didn’t know how cruel people can be."

Off-camera, Yang Zeran let out a soft sneer.

The way Yang Guofa told it, it sounded like everyone else was an idiot, and he was the only smart one who understood the situation.

The problem was, this was a conclusion he’d slowly come to years later, with the benefit of hindsight.

Looking at his reaction at the time—agreeing with Liu Baoli while also snitching on him, then pretending to be asleep out of fear when things actually went down...

If Liu Baoli were still alive, he’d probably complain afterward that Yang Guofa was an idiot, a useless teammate who was nothing but dead weight.

Zheng Chengbao ignored this point, organized the timeline, and said, "So, on the fifth day of being trapped, December 8th, you found the giant panda."

"You tied up the female panda, fed it anti-inflammatory medicine, and cut bamboo for it."

"So on what date did the food start running short?"

Yang Guofa had said earlier that he believed hunger was a major reason for Wang Shulin’s evil turn.

Yang Guofa thought for a moment. "That same evening, I think."

"At the time, the cabin only had a bag with about a couple pounds of eggs."

"Two packs of sausages, a little over half a box of instant noodles... and there were several of us. Plus, Wang Shulin and his buddy didn’t have any food on them, so we’d pretty much eaten everything on the day he made his move."

"After he tied us up, he didn’t give us any food. By the time we found the panda, I’d already been starving for a day."

"It must have been the sixth day, the night of the 9th, that we completely ran out of food."

"And on the 9th, the snow started coming down even harder. We couldn’t even go outside. Anyway, I was starving and even begged him for something to eat. I guess he was afraid we’d die there, so he stewed up whatever was left and gave us a little. Basically, after the 9th, we had nothing left to eat."

Zheng Chengbao did a quick mental calculation.

The 9th was the sixth day they were trapped, and the four of them finally reached the reserve station on December 15th. There were several days in between.

But with snow on the mountain and a stove, water shouldn’t have been a problem.

A few days without food wouldn’t be enough to starve to death.

A person could become irritable when starving, but Zheng Chengbao didn’t think it would be enough to cause someone to unleash their violent nature.

If they were truly on the verge of starvation, and he felt he had nothing to lose, wanting to indulge his primal urges and have one last thrill before dying... that was a possibility.

So Zheng Chengbao asked if something else had happened.

Did something else occur that led to Wang Shulin’s brutal actions?

There was. Yang Guofa nodded. "Yes. It must have been on the eighth day, the night of the 11th."

"We were all starving for those two days. Wang Erpeng even went out hunting, but with that much snow, he couldn’t catch anything."

"We could only drink water, so we had to pee a lot. I remember it was after dark that day. Everyone was weak from hunger, and then Li Suhua said she needed to go to the bathroom."

"For us guys, we could just pee right outside the door. But since she’s a woman, she had to go a little farther away."

"At first, Wang Shulin watched us really closely and kept us tied up. But then one person needed the bathroom, then another, and he had to follow each of us. He got tired of the hassle and became less strict."

"Especially with Li Suhua. She was a woman, it was snowing heavily outside... where could she possibly run? So he let her go by herself."

"But not long after she went out, Wang Shulin discovered that Li Suhua had secretly taken the satellite phone at some point."

"I guess Li Suhua was planning to secretly use the phone to call the police. So stupid."

Yang Guofa complained yet again.

Off-camera, Shen Xin shook his head slightly.

’There he goes again.’

It seemed Yang Guofa had spent a lot of time over the years reflecting on what happened back then.

As for Li Suhua’s actions, from her perspective in that situation, she was probably terrified that Wang Shulin would actually kill them all, so she seized the opportunity to try and steal the satellite phone to call for help.

Yang Guofa continued, "Wang Shulin grabbed his gun and chased after her. About ten minutes later? I’m not sure. Anyway, we heard a gunshot."

"I was stunned. I thought Wang Shulin had killed Li Suhua. Lu Weihong got frantic and tried to run outside. Wang Erpeng went to grab him, and the two of them started fighting."

"At that moment, Liu Baoli, like a fool, went up to help. He even called out to me, telling me to help too."

"Like I was going to help. The guy had a gun!"

Yang Guofa’s tone suggested he thought he was the smart one.

Zheng Chengbao’s eyes narrowed slightly. "And then?" he asked.

Yang Guofa said, "Those two were tied up, so they were no match for Wang Erpeng. Right as they were fighting, Wang Shulin came back."

"Li Suhua wasn’t dead. Nothing happened to her. But Wang Shulin’s head was bleeding again. I saw blood on the satellite phone. I guess Li Suhua must have hit him with it when he was trying to catch her."

"Seriously, Wang Shulin was furious. He pressed the gun to Liu Baoli’s head and almost killed him."

"Later, Li Suhua begged him, just kept pleading with him to let them go. He probably got annoyed by her nagging, because he got so angry he jumped on top of her and started choking her."

"While he was choking her, I don’t know what got into him, but he suddenly started taking off her clothes."

Shen Xin’s brow furrowed.

It seemed that Wang Shulin really didn’t have any perverse intentions at first. He gradually lost his sanity through one incident after another, and that’s when he made his move.

Because from the moment he pulled out that gun, Wang Shulin had to face the problem of how this was all going to end.

And that feeling had been tormenting him until he finally lost control.

Of course, this didn’t mean Wang Shulin was an innocent man forced into a corner.

He was rotten to the core.

In that instant, his evil impulses probably took over. He wanted to kill, to do something terrible. He gave in to despair and wanted to vent, to punish Li Suhua.

Recalling this part, Yang Guofa’s voice trembled. "I was just... stunned. Li Suhua was dazed too, and then she started screaming bloody murder, begging for her life."

"Lu Weihong went crazy too, screaming that he was going to kill Wang Shulin. Wang Shulin, like a madman, grabbed Li Suhua’s head and slammed it against the bed a few times. She went limp right away."

"Then he turned and tied Lu Weihong to a pillar. Seriously, right in front of Lu Weihong, he stripped Li Suhua naked."

Zheng Chengbao frowned slightly, raising a hand to stop Yang Guofa. He signaled that there was no need for such graphic detail and asked, "So, after Wang Shulin assaulted Li Suhua, he then forced you all to assault her as well?"

Yang Guofa nodded, then quickly shook his head. "I didn’t want to! I didn’t dare do anything. I mean, think about it! In that situation, with Lu Weihong screaming bloody murder next to me, I was scared to death. I couldn’t even get hard if I wanted to."

"But Wang Shulin had a gun to my head! What could I do? He forced me to strip naked and get on top of Li Suhua, and then he filmed us. Seriously, he still had blood on his face then. He was like a total madman."

"Right, I have proof! Wang Shulin filmed it and used the video to threaten us into keeping quiet."

"After Liu Baoli died, I went to find Wang Shulin. At the time, we both guessed that Lu Weihong must have come for revenge. So he gave me a copy of that video. He said that if he got killed, I should post the video online to ruin Li Suhua’s reputation."

"I’ve kept it all this time. I just want to prove that I was really forced back then. I didn’t even... go in."

Shen Xin’s heart skipped a beat, and he frowned.

Yang Guofa had mentioned he had proof before, but Shen Xin never expected that the "proof" he was talking about was the video of Li Suhua’s assault.

If they only obtained this video, it would only prove that Lu Weihong was a victim; it wouldn’t prove he was the murderer who had killed six people.

Zheng Chengbao didn’t ask about the video and continued his questioning.

The events that followed were, in fact, more or less what the task force had already deduced.

That night, Wang Shulin assaulted Li Suhua multiple times in front of Lu Weihong.

The next day, he came up with a new idea. He forced the four of them to kill the giant panda together, and likewise filmed it to blackmail them into silence.

"After killing the panda, he... ate it. Really, I didn’t eat a single bite, I swear."

Yang Guofa looked guiltily at Zheng Chengbao and quickly continued, "Then the next day, it must have been the 13th, the snow had stopped the day before, so those two ran off."

"Lu Weihong wanted to call the police, but Li Suhua stopped him. She said they couldn’t, since we had killed the panda."

"It was me and Liu Baoli who buried the panda’s body, and then we hurried down the mountain."

"After that, I never saw those two again."

"Honestly, those ten days were like a nightmare for me. I still have nightmares about it sometimes."