Chapter 594 - 495: Like a Burglary Scene

Chapter 594: Chapter 495: Like a Burglary Scene

After the number one whale, there’s the number two whale.

And there are the top whales from previous years.

This was an important line of inquiry.

Who got carried away, lost themselves in the chorus of "Thank you, boss!" and then regretted it afterward?

As was just mentioned, there were 26 people who had tipped over five thousand.

Of course, no one would kill someone over five thousand yuan.

Besides, the vast majority of these 26 people were from out of province, scattered all over the country.

They certainly wouldn’t travel a thousand miles to kill someone over a few thousand bucks.

So Zhang Hancheng cut to the chase and asked which of them were in Nanjiang or nearby.

As all eyes turned to him, Zhang Yaxin explained, "Of those who tipped over five thousand, a total of 11 are local to us here in Nanjiang."

"That’s a very high proportion. I asked someone at her company, and they explained there are two reasons for this."

"First, the streaming platform the victim was focusing on allows for localized traffic pushing. And her company’s specific strategy also focused on local users."

"As for the purpose, their operations director claimed it was company strategy. But I think they were probably hoping the female streamers could meet these so-called ’whales’ offline, since they’re nearby, interact with them, and entice them to spend more."

A colleague chimed in, "Isn’t that just like pimping?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

’Shen Xin thought so, too. Viewers from out of province could only watch, but the local ones could have real, offline interactions. That was a much stronger incentive to spend.’

Zhang Yaxin shrugged. "Whether that’s the case or not, I can’t say. But there’s another reason: they also take on so-called ’sponsorship deals.’"

"This is when a ’whale’ showers them with gifts in the stream, and in return, the streamer promotes their shop to all their fans. It’s basically a form of advertising."

"These people also spend lavishly on gifts to help the streamer climb the rankings, but according to their business manager, most of that money is rebated back to the client."

"So, of those 11 people, seven accounts fall into this category. The amounts they ’spent’ were also very high, generally around forty to fifty thousand."

Cui Xuesong leaned forward, interrupting Zhang Yaxin. "Eleven, minus seven... that leaves four."

"Are there any who spent a lot on gifts, met her offline thinking they had a chance to date her, and then became resentful when they realized it was hopeless?"

’That was exactly what Shen Xin was thinking.’

’Imagine someone living a hard life, finally scraping some money together, only to spend it all on gifts for Li Siyu. They meet offline, thinking they have a shot with her. Then they realize she was just stringing them along for the gifts. After this rude awakening, they try to get their money back, but Li Siyu refuses. Resentment builds, they get angrier and angrier, and then they kill her. That was a plausible scenario.’

Zhang Yaxin said, "Actually, there is someone like that."

As he spoke, he projected a file onto the screen.

"Luo Xiaoguang, a native of Xinyun, 29 years old, unmarried."

"According to community registration records, he’s a migrant worker in Nanjiang, employed at the Huaya Electric Vehicle Factory in Tingyang."

Shen Xin had never heard of this factory.

But as soon as electric vehicle factories were mentioned, he knew what that entailed.

Nanjiang was one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturing hubs in the country. It had a huge number of manufacturers, including industry leaders like Yadea.

And while these electric vehicle factories weren’t quite like the frantic, high-speed assembly lines at many electronics plants...

...most of them operated on piece-rate wages—the more you work, the more you earn. Overtime was also the norm, with shifts often lasting twelve hours or more.

Assembling electric vehicles was not easy work to begin with.

So while the pay wasn’t low, it was truly hard-earned money.

Zhang Yaxin continued his presentation. "The platform’s registration data shows that from the moment he signed up, Luo Xiaoguang frequently spent money tipping various streamers."

"Then, starting this May, he began tipping the victim. The amounts were significant, totaling over twenty-eight thousand to date."

"We also pulled his call records, which show that in mid-June, he started calling the victim’s work number."

"That was likely around the time his total gift amount surpassed five thousand."

"The entire month of July was the peak period of him contacting Li Siyu. In that month alone, he called her 106 times."

The number startled everyone in the room.

That’s an average of three calls a day!

Zhang Yaxin, perhaps sensing the number was a bit much, added an explanation, "Of course, these were all one-sided attempts from Luo Xiaoguang. Only 8 of the calls actually connected."

Behind Shen Xin, Zhao Tianxing shook his head and sighed.

The situation must have struck a chord with him.

Shen Xin knew that guy was pretty much the same when he was chasing a girl—a barrage of messages, with ’good morning’ and ’good night’ texts being the bare minimum.

Liu Baoqing’s spirits lifted. "Then this guy is highly suspicious! When was the last time they were in contact?"

Over a hundred calls in one month, and she only picked up eight times.

Even a fool could see that Li Siyu couldn’t be bothered with Luo Xiaoguang.

And to be honest, Luo Xiaoguang’s looks were very average.

Those eight calls she answered were probably to ask him to spend money on gifts to boost her ranking.

Under those circumstances, after spending nearly thirty thousand and getting nothing in return, he was bound to become resentful.

Zhang Yaxin said, "Moving into August, they were still in contact, but it dropped off significantly. By the time we pulled the call logs, Luo Xiaoguang had called the victim a total of 14 times."

"None of them connected. Their only communication was a single call the victim made to Luo Xiaoguang."

"It was last Thursday, the 13th. The call was very short, just over four minutes. I’m guessing the victim wanted Luo Xiaoguang to send her more gifts."

"This August, Kuaishou, the platform the victim was focusing on, just launched a ’PK’ feature where streamers compete based on who receives more gifts."

Liu Baoqing’s mood brightened. He turned to Zhang Hancheng and said, "Zhang Zhi, this guy is a huge suspect."

They didn’t know the content of the call.

But the fact that Luo Xiaoguang’s calls decreased in August suggested he might have come to his senses.

For Li Siyu to then call him just to ask for more gifts would only have fueled his resentment.

Zhang Hancheng nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "Does this Luo Xiaoguang own a car?"

Zhang Yaxin replied, "I was just about to get to that. Logically, Luo Xiaoguang is a viable suspect, but he doesn’t own a car, and Xiaoshen..."

Zhang Yaxin glanced at Shen Xin and trailed off.

Just a moment ago, Shen Xin had stated with absolute certainty that the suspect left in a car, rather than crossing the nearby flowerbed to hail a taxi or ride away on an electric scooter.

From that perspective, Luo Xiaoguang didn’t fit the profile.

All eyes turned in unison to Shen Xin.

Cui Xuesong couldn’t help but ask Shen Xin again if there was any doubt about the suspect leaving in a car.

Shen Xin felt the pressure mount once more.

Although he firmly believed Celestial Skill wouldn’t be wrong, there was always that ’what if.’

’What if it was a mistake?’

Gritting his teeth, Shen Xin decided to stick to his guns. He was about to speak when Zhang Hancheng held up a hand to stop him.

"That doesn’t rule him out. We can’t judge based on that one point alone."

They at least had to check his alibi.

"By the way, what about this Hu Bin? Did he contact her often?" Zhang Hancheng asked.

Hu Bin was the true number one whale, spending even more than the businesses.

Zhang Yaxin shook his head. "Not often. Only twice. It’s a bit strange."

He pulled up the file.

The call logs showed only two successful connections, one in May and one in early June.

Other than that, Hu Bin had never proactively contacted Li Siyu.

It was Li Siyu, conversely, who had called him numerous times, though most of her calls went unanswered.

It was the complete opposite of the situation with Luo Xiaoguang.

Zhang Hancheng offered no opinion and had Zhang Yaxin brief them on the remaining two individuals.

Compared to Luo Xiaoguang, the other two didn’t have many points of interest.

After some discussion, Zhang Hancheng waved his hand to quiet everyone down and motioned to move on to the next item.

The crime scene.

For this part, Zhang Hancheng had brought in personnel from the municipal bureau to help.

The two team leads exchanged a look, and Old Zheng from the precinct’s technical division spoke up. "Generally speaking, if fingerprints are left before a fire on certain heat-resistant materials, like ceramic tiles, and aren’t directly exposed to the flames, there’s a chance they can be recovered."

"Given the situation at the scene, we believe the tiled bathroom met those conditions."

"But strangely, we didn’t lift any fingerprints from the bathroom. This is unusual, and it leads us to suspect the perpetrator cleaned up after the crime."

"As for the other areas, when the fire department entered and hit it with their high-pressure hoses... to be honest, nothing was left."

Not only was it blasted with water, but people were also walking all over the place, causing severe contamination.

This outcome was within everyone’s expectations.

Old Zheng continued, "There are signs of the place being rummaged through. We didn’t find a phone, laptop, or any other high-value electronics."

"Additionally, her friend reported there was a jewelry box on the vanity table, and its contents are now missing."

"Then, in order to start the fire, the suspect significantly altered the layout of the scene. Taking everything into account..."

He hesitated for a moment. "...it looks a lot like a burglary scene."

He quickly added that this was just based on the condition of the scene itself.

High-value items were missing, so it was, without a doubt, a theft scene.

Of course, it was also possible the suspect deliberately staged the scene.

The officers in the room began to murmur amongst themselves.

Liu Baoqing turned to confer with Zhang Hancheng.

Yang Zeran nudged Shen Xin with his elbow, giving him a look that asked what he thought.

Shen Xin continued to flip through the forensic evidence report and shook his head slightly.

Yang Zeran had previously analyzed that it was likely someone she knew. He argued that if it were a burglary-turned-murder, the suspect was far too calm, and the entire behavioral logic was abnormal and irrational.

Shen Xin actually had similar thoughts.

This wasn’t a case of a burglar, an adult male, being caught red-handed with no way to escape and accidentally killing the resident during a struggle.

Li Siyu was a girl with little ability to fight back. If a burglar was discovered, all they’d have to do is run.

’After thinking it over, if it really was a burglary-turned-murder, there was only one other possibility.’

’He was sexually motivated.’

Compared to the average person, Li Siyu was very pretty.

She’d had work done on her face, took great care of her skin, and was fair and beautiful.

She also had a great figure with an impressive bust.

She owed a good part of her popularity to her risqué videos.

The lingerie she was wearing at the time of death had been incinerated, but they could surmise it had been very sexy.

This might have aroused the suspect’s desire, turning the crime from burglary to rape, and then to murder.

But the autopsy revealed nothing.

The exterior was burned, but the fire hadn’t penetrated deep inside. The medical examiner had explained in detail that it was possible for evidence to have been left behind.

Since there was none, the only explanation was that the perpetrator used protection.

Wang Liang had been there before; it would be normal for him to use protection.

But a common burglar wouldn’t be carrying protection around with them, would they?

Or did that mean the suspect had been targeting Li Siyu for a long time? Was it highly premeditated, a plan to both rape and rob her?

But if that were the case, it still didn’t add up.

Because with long-term premeditation, he certainly would have considered how to evade the security cameras.

He could have just worn a mask and a hat as a disguise.

But instead, he was forced to start a fire and then took advantage of the chaos to steal the surveillance recorder afterward.

It felt more like a choice made under duress.