Chapter 681 - 566: Bidding Farewell to the Past

Chapter 681: Chapter 566: Bidding Farewell to the Past

Even with an unlimited investment of manpower, investigating someone’s whereabouts from a decade ago was no easy task.

Back when he was taking care of Walnut, Shen Xin’s life had been quite leisurely.

Now, just like when he and Yang Zeran were searching the world for information on the deceased, he was so busy his feet barely touched the ground.

Yang Zeran even mocked himself, saying they were all like little ants who had found half a Steamed Bun, tirelessly and painstakingly carrying tiny crumbs back to the nest, trip after trip.

If it were just a matter of hard work, that would be one thing.

The real problem was the lack of any good news.

First, there were the backed-up cell tower access logs from that year.

After identifying Lu Weihong, the task force began checking every phone number to see if it had any connection to him.

After Yang Guofa’s interrogation concluded, the resources poured into this effort were increased.

This investigation continued until March 19th.

Every number that had connected to the towers was checked, but nothing was found.

The task force speculated that Lu Weihong might not have even carried a cell phone when he committed the crimes.

WeChat Pay had only launched in 2013.

The "Double 12" shopping festival in 2014 was the milestone event that led to the widespread adoption of mobile payments.

Therefore, during the period of the crimes, Lu Weihong could have accomplished many things, like shopping and taking taxis, using only cash.

And he wouldn’t have left any traces.

After so many years, it was nearly impossible to find who gave him a ride or sold him something back then.

That crucial line of evidence was a dead end.

Then there was the gun.

This line of inquiry was just as difficult.

The task force re-screened every single gun-related case from Anjing, Jizhou, and Longzhou.

They were trying to find the person who sold the gun to Lu Weihong.

But they came up empty.

Besides, whether Lu Weihong had even used a gun to control his victims was merely speculation by the task force.

This investigation also couldn’t proceed any further.

The core of the investigation—Lu Weihong’s travel itinerary—yielded some findings, but not many.

At the time of the first case, Lu Weihong had quit his job and was holed up alone in Anjing, with little contact with friends or family.

It was difficult to find any record of him going out through peripheral investigation when dealing with such a homebody.

However, there was the second case.

In 2011, Lu Weihong had already returned to his hometown of Shanggu.

Through meticulous investigation, they slowly pieced together his movements and actually found some evidence suggesting he had left Shanggu around the time of the crime.

For example, the crime occurred on April 16th.

At the time, Lu Weihong was working as an independent photographer and had rented an office as his studio.

On April 8th, the local fire department came for an inspection, and the report noted that Lu Weihong was not present.

The fire department got his cell number from the building management but couldn’t reach him.

The firefighters couldn’t quite recall if they had tried to contact him again later.

But since it wasn’t in the report, they probably never got ahold of him.

Corroborated with other evidence, it could be inferred that Lu Weihong was likely not in Shanggu during the time of the crime.

Where he went, they couldn’t find out.

The third case was a similar situation; there was some indirect evidence to support that he was not in Shanggu at the time.

June 22nd, 2014.

Lu Weihong had previously used a proxy to buy a camera from overseas. When it arrived at customs, they contacted him to pay the fees for clearance.

They tried contacting him on the 22nd, but his phone never connected.

It wasn’t until June 29th that Lu Weihong proactively contacted customs, cleared the package, and picked it up.

In other words, from the 22nd to the 29th, Lu Weihong was out of contact. No one knew where he was.

The crime happened on the 26th, and he only reappeared to contact customs on the 29th. The timing was very suspicious.

But it was only suspicious.

During this investigation into his travels, many of the leads were similar.

They could confirm that Lu Weihong had no clear alibi, but they couldn’t prove he had gone to commit the crime.

And that meant they couldn’t pin it on him.

The task force moved from Longzhou to Anjing. The Ministry had arranged a dedicated location for everyone to work on the case together and consolidate information from across the country.

"You guys think, after all this, we’ll only be able to convict him for killing the giant panda?"

During a break from checking leads, Zhao Tianxing stretched and grumbled in frustration.

From behind a mountain of case files, Yang Zeran popped his head out, rubbed his sore eyes, and said, "The key is he was just an accomplice. He wouldn’t get many years for it."

After speaking, he turned and held down Shen Xin’s mouse, pulling him away from the computer screen. "Shen Xin, it’s already the 27th. You have to realize, we’ve pretty much checked everything that can be checked."

"If we abandon the peripheral investigation, we might find something, but it’s very likely to tip him off. In a situation like this, you should be the one to use that brain of yours and give us a new idea."

It’s hard to find evidence in a cold case that’s years old.

That’s why the investigation was still peripheral; they didn’t dare directly question Lu Weihong’s friends and family, fearing they would alert the suspect and give him a chance to destroy any potential evidence.

Shen Xin also stretched, cracked his neck, and said, "Why don’t *you* use your brain?"

Yang Zeran replied, "I did. I just couldn’t think of anything."

Across from them, Zhao Tianxing said, "If all else fails, we can just have Walnut testify."

It was such nonsense that Shen Xin didn’t even bother to respond.

But Yang Zeran had a point. The investigation had reached a stage where it felt like it couldn’t go any further.

"What if we really do try to rattle him? With a pretext, for example."

Shen Xin sat up straight and continued, "Think about it. After they killed the giant panda back then, the body was handled by Liu Baoli and his partner. We already know the burial site."

"What if we claim to have accidentally excavated the bones of a giant panda and use that as a reason to investigate Lu Weihong? Do you think that would be enough to startle him?"

The pretext was very reasonable.

Lu Weihong might get scared that the police would uncover what happened back then, prompting him to rethink which pieces of evidence he hadn’t cleaned up properly.

By watching him, they might find a crucial clue.

But this approach was very risky, which was why Shen Xin had hesitated to bring it up.

Yang Zeran’s eyes lit up, but then his expression quickly dimmed.

Clearly, he understood the risks involved.

Just as they were speaking, Ding Yuwei, who was sitting on the other side, suddenly tapped Shen Xin.

"Shen Xin, I found something. It might be useless, but do you want to take a look?"

Shen Xin turned his head and asked what she had found.

She pulled Shen Xin over to her side and pointed at her laptop screen. "Look at this record."

Shen Xin glanced over; it was a Ctrip ticket purchase record.

"We were mainly looking at records from 2008 to 2014, right? I extended the search a bit further on my own. I was thinking, after the third case, could Lu Weihong have gone looking for Yang Guofa and left some kind of record?"

She spoke cautiously, lacking confidence.

Because Yang Guofa had fled in 2011. If Lu Weihong wanted to find him, he would have looked in 2012, not 2015.

So Ding Yuwei’s reasoning wasn’t very solid.

Ding Yuwei continued, "And then, I noticed a transaction record from August 9th, 2015, from Ctrip."

"I requested the records from Ctrip. Lu Weihong bought a high-speed rail ticket from Shanggu to Yi City in Ludong. Subsequent spending records show a hotel charge in Pingyi County."

"I haven’t called to check yet, but he bought a return ticket to Shanggu on August 12th."

Shen Xin nodded and asked her, "And?"

For a moment, he didn’t grasp what Ding Yuwei was trying to say.

Ding Yuwei said, "Shen Xin, what I’m saying is, Li Suhua was from Pingyi, Yi City, in Ludong. And August 11th is her birthday."

Shen Xin was startled by the realization and quickly reviewed the case file in his mind.

That’s right. Li Suhua’s hometown was Pingyi, and her birthday was August 11th.

"So he went there to...?" Shen Xin frowned slightly.

Li Suhua had committed suicide by jumping from a building in 2009. In 2015, six years later, Lu Weihong made a trip to her hometown.

’What for? To pay his respects?’

"Are there any records from 2014?" Shen Xin asked quickly.

If it was to pay his respects, it actually made some sense.

It was like the old saying about telling your ancestors of your triumphs. Lu Weihong was bent on revenge, killing three people in five years. Now that he had his vengeance, wouldn’t he go to his lover’s grave to share the "good news"?

If Li Suhua could know this in the afterlife, she would be able to rest in peace.

Besides, her birthday was in August. The third case was on June 26th. After the murder, the timing was just right for him to go pay his respects.

"No." Ding Yuwei shook her head. "Not only are there no records for 2014, but since Li Suhua’s suicide in 2009, Lu Weihong has never been to Ludong. At least, not according to any official records we could find."

Glancing at Yang Zeran, who had gathered around, Ding Yuwei said, "Shen Xin, my thought is that the timing of his trip to Ludong is very intriguing."

"Maybe after getting his revenge, he wanted to pay his respects to Li Suhua and bring psychological closure to the whole affair."

"Because, look. That very same year, in October, Lu Weihong sold his old three-bedroom apartment and bought a new place. And by the end of the year, he had even started a company. In other words, he started a stable, new life."

Once a company is launched, especially in the startup phase, a person definitely can’t get away.

"The next year, he got married, had a wife and child. I feel like his trip to Ludong was like a final farewell to his past, a way to start his life over."

Shen Xin nodded slightly.

He had to admit, Ding Yuwei’s speculation made a lot of sense.

Of his four revenge targets, three were dead. The last one had run off and couldn’t be found, so he probably just gave up looking.

From Lu Weihong’s perspective, Wang Shulin and Wang Erpeng had to be killed.

Then there was Liu Baoli, who suggested capturing Wang Shulin—he deserved to die too.

Yang Guofa, on the other hand, didn’t directly cause the tragedy.

Besides, he couldn’t be found anyway.

The reason he didn’t go in 2014 was probably because he was still thinking of finding Yang Guofa. When he completely failed to find him, he delayed it until 2015, making the trip to Ludong before Li Suhua’s birthday to say goodbye to his past.

Then, with a clear conscience, he started his new life.

It took a woman like Ding Yuwei, with her keen eye for detail, to notice such an emotional nuance.

"So what?" Yang Zeran craned his neck to ask.

He killed the people, got his revenge, and said goodbye to his past. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But now wasn’t the time to think about all that; it was time to think about how to convict him.

Therefore, he felt this discovery was meaningless.

Ding Yuwei obviously understood what Yang Zeran meant. She looked at Shen Xin and said, "Shen Xin, I know this discovery might not be useful, but I feel like it’s the endpoint of Lu Weihong’s entire series of crimes. So I was thinking, maybe we should investigate it in detail."

Shen Xin agreed with Ding Yuwei’s assessment of it being the "endpoint."

After that point, Lu Weihong had indeed started a new life.

But it felt like it was just him saying goodbye to his past, which wasn’t very helpful for solving the case or filling in the chain of evidence.

"Fine, you can take a trip. I’ll have Brother Xing go with you."

If Ding Yuwei wanted to investigate, let her investigate.

With so many people on the case, it wouldn’t affect anything.

As for himself, Shen Xin prepared to go find Xu Jinguang to discuss his own idea and see if it was feasible.

Since peripheral investigation was getting them nowhere, sometimes you just had to take a risk.

That same day, Shen Xin found Xu Jinguang and explained his idea.

As expected, Xu Jinguang was hesitant.

A nine-year-old cold case had been pushed this far; they were just at the final hurdle.

Rattling him might achieve their goal, but it could also backfire and leave them with nothing.

For a moment, Xu Jinguang really couldn’t make up his mind.