Chapter 940: The Beginning and End of the Ziliu Case

“This is the sketched map of the scene from that year…” After Zhao Yu had raised his question, Miao Ying showed a plan of the rural branch’s blueprints and introduced it in detail to the others.

“Look… Here… The internal structure of the branch was just like any other regular bank at that time. The outside part is the customer area, and here… Inside the counter… Is where staff work,” she said.

Miao Ying then explained, “For security reasons, the entrance to the counter had two doors. You have to open both of them before you can go into the counter area.”

She continued, “When the police came to the scene to investigate, they found Wang Xuejun, the director of the branch, laying between the two doors, both of which were open.”

She shook her head, then said, “Wang Xuejun was shot in the head and died on the spot, but after the forensic examination was conducted, ether residues were found in his mouth and nose. This led the police to suspect that he had been in a comatose state before he died.”

Ran Tao thought about this for a while, then said, “That’s strange! If Yang Zebiao got the money and Wang Xuejun was already unconscious, then why did Yang Zebiao still shoot Wang Xuejun? Were they enemies?”

Miao Ying answered firmly, “They were not enemies, but were actually casual friends. Wang Xuejun had even recommended Yang Zebiao to work for the municipal units before.”

“I understand what you were getting at, though!” Gao Facai nodded as he said, “Leader Wu was already in a comatose state before she was brutally murdered, and it doesn’t make sense why the killer would do that!”

Wu Xiumin then chimed in and said, “But this shows that the two cases are of great relevance and directly tied to one another! Since Yang Zebiao’s DNA was found under Wu Fangfang’s fingernails, Yang Zebiao has to be our biggest suspect!”

“Wu, let me finish with the Ziliu case first!” Miao Ying said.

Zhao Yu nodded at Miao Ying, and Miao Ying continued her introduction about the branch, “According to the branch employees, their daily duties were not rigorous, and they had very few access privileges with their limited statuses. Basically, the staff on duty could open those two doors, but the safe needed both the password and the key in order to be opened.”

She continued, “These were each kept by one of the two staff members on duty. It just so happened that Yang Zebiao knew the password, so he only needed to knock out Wang Xuejun and get his key in order to open the safe that day!”

Miao Ying then pointed to the screen and said, “Now that that’s settled, we need to go through and organize chronologically what happened on the day of the case. We can use the footage before the system was shut down in order to help up establish a clear timeline.”

She then said, “First of all, we must remember that, just like ordinary banks, this cooperative branch did not keep money on hand. Thus, every morning, the armed escort team would deliver the money, and at night, the money would be sent to the treasury.”

Miao Ying paused for a breath, then said, “According to the escort team that was responsible for delivering the money that day, they delivered the 800,000 yuan in cash to the cooperative at 8:45 a.m. Upon their arrival, Wang Xuejun and Yang Zebiao were there to receive the money.”

She then said, “Because Ziliu Town is located quite a distance from the treasury, it is often the last stop on the delivery route. So, the money arrives later there than it does at the other stops. By the time the money arrived, it was almost time for the bank to open, so the customers were already waiting outside the entrance. They were the victims!”

Miao Ying shook her head, then said, “From the monitoring footage, we can see that Wang Xuejun and Yang Zebiao did put the cash into the safe. Then, they began carrying out their daily duties.”

She then said, “However, when Wang Xuejun went out to open the door, Yang Zebiao suddenly went over to the monitor controller, and then, a complete blank! There is no footage after that! The monitoring system has a standby power supply, but Yang Zebiao must have disconnected it!”

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Miao Ying explained, “The monitoring systems back then were not as developed as ours today. So, this one was controlled by the bank staff members themselves, which means that it could not have been controlled remotely.”

She paused to catch her breath, then continued, “And… There was no security alarm, so nobody knew that Yang Zebiao had shut down the monitoring at that time. And… No one knew what happened inside the branch after that!”

Miao Ying then said, “Later, when the police received the report and rushed to the branch, they saw a tragic scene, where five victims had been shot dead! And… The 800,000 yuan in cash from the safe had disappeared!”

At this point, Miao Ying projected some of the crime scene photos on the screen and said, “Except for Wang Xuejun, who died between the two doors, the other four died inside the counter area. Among them, Zhao Meng, a 38-year-old dairy farm owner, was the customer who made an appointment with the cooperative to withdraw the money.”

Miao Ying then introduced two of the other victims, “One other victim, 32-year-old Xie Mengqin, was the owner of a local private agricultural company. She had gone to the branch that day to make a big transfer with her daughter, who wasn’t even 6 years old. As you all know, that little one was also killed.”

Miao Ying shook her head, then said, “The last victim was a security guard named Wang Zhongcai, who died at the entrance of the branch. Strictly speaking, none of the branches in Ziliu Town were equipped with professional security teams. As such, Wang Zhongcai, who was 54, was more like a cleaner than a guard in terms of what he did at the branch.

Miao Ying then added, “All of these victims, except for the little girl, who was shot in the chest, were shot in the head and killed in one shot! This means that the killer is skilled, quick, and extremely fierce!”

After Miao Ying finished giving her introduction, the entire office fell silent. They were all thinking about that awful, bloody scene. Such a tragedy was horrible, and obviously, many doubts remained in their hearts and minds regarding all of its details.

Miao Ying then said, “The 03 group thought that since Yang Zebiao’s social circle was very limited, the probability of him being able to get his hands on a gun was not very high. Moreover, from how the victims were shot, it was clear the murderer must have used guns before. However, Yang Zebiao had not been a soldier, nor did he have any chances to use a gun before that time. This is why they thought that Yang Zebiao must have had at least one accomplice!”

She then added, “This would mean that the reason that he shut down the monitoring system was that he didn’t want to expose his accomplice. After he shut down the monitoring system, his accomplice would then be able to join him in committing this terrible crime! So, the real shooter may not be Yang Zebiao at all! And, since Yang Zebiao has been missing for so many years, they thought that, after the crime was committed, he might have been killed!”

Ran Tao shook his head as he said, “But, it now seems that Yang Zebiao is not dead at all. Moreover, he appears to have killed again!”

“I’ve talked to Captain Jin about this case before…” Zhao Yu said slowly, “He thinks that the key point in this case lies in the fifth question, which is… Why on earth did the murderer kill in the first place?”

He then said, “Just think about it… Yang Zebiao knocked out the director inside the counter area, then opened the safe and took out the 800,000 yuan in cash. Whether or not he had an accomplice, since he had already gotten the money, why would he have still killed those people? If his motive was just the money, he could have simply run away right then and there and not hurting a soul!”

He then added, “If he was worried that the several customers would call the police, he could have just tied them up and taken their phones. He didn’t have to kill them, right?”

Wu Xiumin thought about this for a moment, then made a guess, “Is it possible that the killer was coming specifically for the victims? That, perhaps, his main purpose was not to get the money, but to kill a particular victim?”

Zhao Yu pondered this for a moment, then said, “The 03 Special Investigation Group has already investigated all of the victims. Although they had several suspects at first, finally, all of them were cleared from any foul play! Hence, this line of thinking just doesn’t make sense.”

Ran Tao then guessed, “Those customers might have noticed Yang Zebiao’s strange behavior and tried to stop him, which would then explain Yang Zebiao’s feeling as if he had to kill them, right?”

Miao Ying quickly chimed in in reply, “There were no signs of a struggle or fighting at the scene! Judging from the death scene evidence alone, the murderer was very decisive, as if he had made a detailed plan to murder the victims in advance!”

Ran Tao shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly, while wearing a bitter face, “That’s interesting. Now, I finally understand why this case was listed among the five big cases!”