Chapter 666 - 553: Everyone’s a Villain, Who Is the Killer?

Chapter 666: Chapter 553: Everyone’s a Villain, Who Is the Killer?

"The incident in ’08 was eleven years ago," Zhou Huayong said, taking a moment to think it over carefully before continuing. "I remember now. It was the Green Times."

"It used to be the Forestry Press. It was sponsored by the Forestry Bureau, so I remember the leadership took it pretty seriously. The head of our administration’s propaganda department brought them over personally. Our station chief even treated them to a proper ’Ten Great Bowls’ feast."

"It was just two people, a man and a woman—a reporter and a photographer. I can’t remember their names, but anyway, the girl was really pretty. She wore a red down jacket and had fair skin."

Shen Xin was comforting Walnut nearby, listening in as well.

’He can’t remember their names after all these years, but he has a vivid memory of her looks. That must mean the female reporter was genuinely beautiful.’

Traditional newspapers are on the decline now and have limited influence, but back then, a reporter for an industry paper like that could be quite influential.

Amid the wind and snow, Zhou Huayong rubbed his face and said, "I remember they came to do a story because, around that time, our management station had established a three-tiered co-management system involving the sub-bureau, the protection station, and the villages below."

"That’s when we started to recruit non-staff Patrol Officers from the local villages on a large scale."

"They were here to do a feature on that. At the same time, they were also covering the daily work of us Patrol Officers. I remember it was because of that story that they asked to come into the mountains with us to experience our daily patrols."

"What date was that?"

Zhou Huayong scratched his head. After so many years, his memory was truly getting a bit fuzzy. "I think it was early December. Lao Liu took them into the mountains. Yang Guofa went along, too. Just the four of them, and they took this route, Route Four."

"Then the temperature suddenly dropped, a blizzard hit the mountains, and they got trapped over here."

Chang Zhigang interjected, asking if they hadn’t arranged a rescue party.

Being trapped deep in the mountains was very dangerous. Logically, a rescue should have been organized.

Zhou Huayong shook his head. "No. The day after the snow started, Lao Liu contacted us with a satellite phone and said they were trapped here."

"Back then, this place was an important supply station on Route Four. It was stocked with food and water, and they had brought their own provisions too. Even if they were trapped for a few days, they had food, a cabin for shelter from the wind, and firewood to burn. It wasn’t really a problem."

"Trying to head down the mountain in a blizzard would have been even more dangerous. So Lao Liu himself told us not to worry about them. They’d come back on their own once the path was clear."

"But the snow kept stopping and starting again. They were trapped for about ten days in total before they finally made it down."

"I remember asking Lao Liu about it afterward. He didn’t say much, just that they were stuck in the cabin and nothing happened."

"As for the two reporters, they left right after their story was published. I even saw the article later. It was about how hard our patrols were and all that."

"Anyway, if you’re asking about Lao Liu and Yang Guofa taking Route Four together, this seems to be the most recent time going back from April."

Chang Zhigang’s eyebrows furrowed. "So because we didn’t ask, you didn’t say anything."

During the initial investigation after the case broke, everyone at the protection station was interviewed, but no one mentioned this.

Zhou Huayong nodded and explained a bit guiltily, "You didn’t ask, so we didn’t know to say. Besides, didn’t Lao Liu die in ’09? This was a whole year earlier. Who would’ve thought there was a connection?"

Chang Zhigang waved his hand, saying he didn’t mean to complain.

He knew you couldn’t blame the people at the protection station for this.

The crime occurred on November 2nd, 2009.

The reporters came at the end of November 2008. There was indeed a year-long gap.

Besides, during the original investigation, they hadn’t focused on the issue of the reported panda, nor had they pushed the time of the incident back to April 2009.

Even if they had pushed it to April 2009, this incident with the reporters was still several months before that.

So it was perfectly normal that no one at the protection station mentioned it.

He asked Zhou Huayong to think again if there was anything unusual at the time.

Zhou Huayong thought for a good while but couldn’t come up with anything else.

He only remembered anything because the female reporter was so pretty, and he recalled that her surname was Li.

They’d have to check the records, ask around.

For instance, the station chief and the head of the propaganda department from back then should remember something.

As for what Chang Zhigang said earlier—about not finding any records of Liu Baoli and Yang Guofa patrolling Route 4 together—that was because this trip into the mountains wasn’t a planned full-route patrol.

They chose Route Four partly because they wanted to go deeper into Motianling to see if they could get photos of a giant panda.

So it wasn’t considered an official patrol, and since it was a task assigned directly by the administration, it wasn’t recorded in the patrol logs.

Chang Zhigang nodded, told Zhou Huayong to keep thinking, and went to check on the examination of the cabin.

They had brought technicians and forensic equipment with them this time.

He didn’t go inside, just peered in from the doorway.

Walnut had calmed down a bit. Shen Xin had him sit down, then walked over to Chang Zhigang and glanced inside the cabin.

"Captain Chang, these four people were trapped in the mountains for about ten days. Could something have happened during that time?"

As he spoke, Shen Xin voiced a possibility that had just occurred to him. "And then there’s Wang Shulin and Wang Erpeng. Old Zhou just said the temperature suddenly dropped and a blizzard hit."

"Do you think it’s possible that Wang Shulin and his partner were also in the mountains, poaching? After the snow started, they might have known about this place and come here for shelter."

"And that’s where the panda and the four people would have crossed paths."

Walnut was with his mother, and his mother died.

From his perspective, we can confirm the presence of four people, all of them bad.

So in terms of time and space, all these factors had to converge.

Since we can also confirm this is where Walnut’s mother died, it’s a reasonable assumption that Wang Shulin and his partner showed up unexpectedly when the blizzard sealed off the mountain.

Otherwise, there’s no connection.

"They were trapped for over ten days. If we ask Wang Shulin and his partner’s families whether the two of them were home during that period, we should be able to confirm it."

If Wang Shulin and the other guy weren’t home during the time the others were trapped, then we can be sure they were probably stuck in the mountains, too.

"Now there are two more people involved, and their identities should be easy to check."

Zhou Huayong can’t remember, but since those two came here on an official assignment, it should be easy to find out who they were.

"Those two should know what happened back then. As for why they never said anything, maybe they were threatened, or..."

Shen Xin had a nagging feeling that something was still wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

But finding those two was the right first step.

Yang Zeran was also peeking in from the side. He picked up where Shen Xin left off, "Or maybe all six of them killed the panda together. They were trapped for so long, ran out of food, and killed the panda to eat as a last resort?"

In a survival situation, you’ll eat anything.

"You’re full of it."

Shen Xin said irritably, "What are you thinking? This is a primeval forest, there are animals everywhere. Liu Baoli was even a hunter before. If they really ran out of food, they had to eat a giant panda?"

"Besides, you think a giant panda is easy to deal with?"

It’s a bear.

A wild giant panda, especially one with a cub, is extremely aggressive.

Yang Zeran had just been spitballing. He retorted, "Well, what then? Shen Xin, you’re missing a key point."

"According to your theory, six people and two pandas were all in the same place. The question is, who killed the panda, and who killed Liu Baoli and the other two?"

"They might have been bad people, but they were also victims. If everyone was a villain, then who was the killer?"

Shen Xin fell silent, lost in thought.

That was a good question.

Chang Zhigang spoke, as if talking to himself. "Six people. Three dead, one ran away... so who could the killer be?"

He said no more and took out his satellite phone.

They had limited technical personnel; the scene definitely needed a wider-scale examination.

He had to call for backup.

At the same time, they had to start investigating the identities of those two reporters.

He tried to make a call, but it wouldn’t connect.

He only had one weak bar of signal.

The mountains were full of firs, spruces, and other conifers. While they might not have blocked out the sky, they definitely interfered with the satellite phone’s signal.

Plus, it was still snowing.

Also, the cabin wasn’t on a summit or a ridgeline. It was on a slope, flanked by high mountains, which caused even more signal interference.

Chang Zhigang took out a GPS navigator. It only needed a weak satellite signal for one-way reception to get a location.

He checked the nearby topography and asked Zhou Huayong if there was an open area nearby.

Zhou Huayong nodded, saying there was an open high ground nearby where the call would go through.

Yang Zeran suddenly nudged Shen Xin and whispered, "Didn’t Liu Baoli have a satellite phone? He even contacted the protection station. If something had gone wrong in the mountains, why didn’t he call?"

"So whatever happened, Liu Baoli must have been involved. But their trip into the mountains was impromptu. What on earth do you think they ran into?"

Shen Xin shook his head. ’Who could possibly know?’

And speaking of the satellite phone.

Technology is so advanced now, with the sky full of communication satellites, and even today’s satellite phones with their stronger signals still have trouble here.

The signal in ’08 would have been even worse.

But Yang Zeran had a point. Something happened, they had a way to contact the outside world, but they didn’t call.

That could only mean Liu Baoli was involved, too, and didn’t dare to make the call.

Shen Xin turned his head to look at Walnut.

He had to ask him. Walnut was the only one who had been there.

Snow was falling and a cold wind was whipping around, but Walnut wasn’t bothered at all.

Shen Xin took Walnut aside, calming him while slowly questioning him.

For instance, how many people were there?

For instance, did he remember who killed his mother?

He really did have some flashes of memory.

And Shen Xin noticed there were not only images from inside the cabin, but also from the forest outside.

Shen Xin saw a scene.

It seemed to be inside a tree hollow. Walnut was huddled in a corner, looking up at the sky.

The image was brief, gone in a flash.

Shen Xin also saw Walnut’s mother—a grimy-looking giant panda.

He saw her paws, scrambling frantically through the snow. She was probably carrying Walnut in her mouth as she ran.

He also saw a dizzying, spinning view, as if they were tumbling down together.

He also saw human figures, blurry ones, that felt like they were in pursuit.

But the images were few. A fleeting glimpse looked like Liu Baoli.

Most of the time, Walnut was hidden in his mother’s embrace, protected.

As for the part where Walnut’s mother was killed, there was indeed a memory of it.

From Walnut’s perspective, he only saw a blurry human figure.

It felt like his mother had been taken aside and then killed.

Walnut was struggling. He must have heard his mother’s agonizing cries and was frantic with anxiety.

A giant panda’s eyesight really is a huge problem. He couldn’t see clearly.

Many of the memory-images were blurry, leaving Shen Xin to try and make sense of them.

It felt like there were indeed several people at the scene—more than four.

’Then my guess that Wang Shulin and his partner were also trapped in the mountains might be true.’

There were also some clear, close-up images.

In these images, Shen Xin saw a woman.

She was squatting down, seemingly murmuring something to Walnut.

She had a delicate, oval face and fair skin. She was indeed very pretty.

It had to be that female reporter with the surname Li.