Chapter 254: They Are Deliberately Giving Money Away

This was the connection point, wasn't it.

Now it could basically be confirmed that Li Yong had known one of the victims sixteen years ago.

And both had joined that small group.

Yu Dazhang had met all nine of these wrongfully convicted people once before, when he was working to overturn their cases.

But at that time his focus had been mainly on the wrongfully convicted people's social connections.

He wanted to use that to find someone who fit the suspect's profile.

In Yu Dazhang's view, this was a shortcut.

Since the suspect's motive had already been determined to be revenge, these wrongfully convicted people were very likely to have some special relationship with the suspect.

Unfortunately.

All the social connections of the nine wrongfully convicted people had been investigated, and not a single one fit.

First of all.

The suspect had a record of military service.

Just this one point alone had already screened out the vast majority of people.

Moreover, the branch of service during enlistment could not be that of an ordinary soldier in the army.

At this step, not one was left — none of them met the conditions.

In other words, among the people known to these nine wrongfully convicted, not one had the ability to carry out the revenge.

Yu Dazhang then discussed the case with Ma Jian for a while longer, but still could not deduce the connection between that small group and the suspect.

That very evening, Liu Miao called.

"Dazhang, what city are you in now? I'll come find you tomorrow."

"I'm in Xicheng." The moment Yu Dazhang heard Liu Miao was coming, he immediately perked up:

"Everything checked out?"

"The whereabouts of Li Yong's funds have all been traced." Liu Miao's voice was steady and composed:

"I've organized all the materials. I'll report to you in person tomorrow."

Yu Dazhang recognized his work attitude.

The fact that Liu Miao wanted to report in person meant he considered this matter no simple thing.

He had very likely discovered an important lead within it… Yu Dazhang replied in a heavy, solemn tone:

"Good. Call me when you arrive in Xicheng tomorrow, I'll come pick you up."

The next day.

Yu Dazhang met Liu Miao at the station.

Back at the hotel, he cancelled Ma Jian's single room and booked a new double room.

Once in the room, Yu Dazhang handed Liu Miao a bottle of water:

"No rush, rest a bit first."

After sitting down, Liu Miao first took a sip of water, then took out a document from his bag.

"These are Li Yong's investment records and expenditure flows from the past two years. The expenditure records on the supplementary card belong to his wife."

After handing the document to Yu Dazhang, he continued:

"You don't need to look at the expenditure flows — I've carefully verified them all. There's nothing worth suspecting; it's basically all daily expenses."

"What's really worth noting is that Li Yong has made five investments in the past two years, and without exception, every single one lost everything."

"And all five of these investments were domestic, in completely different industries — you could say all over the map."

Yu Dazhang was a layman when it came to investments, but hearing Liu Miao's briefing, he understood these investments definitely had problems.

Under normal circumstances, those investors would only put money into fields they were familiar with.

It would be impossible to invest in so many unfamiliar areas like Li Yong did.

What was most strange was that even though every single one lost everything, Li Yong still pressed on without hesitation.

By all rights, after two consecutive failed investments, he should have known to quit while he was ahead.

That was the reaction a normal person should have.

Opening the document, Yu Dazhang flipped through a few pages.

The contents matched what Liu Miao had said — Li Yong's investment projects were indeed a hodgepodge.

Aquatic flower cultivation, mobile car-washing machines, self-service milk tea chains…

Not only were they a hodgepodge, they were all absurd.

Take that self-service milk tea project, for instance. If people were willing to brew their own milk tea, those milk tea shops would have gone under long ago.

Just from the name alone, anyone could tell this project was unreliable — yet Li Yong actually put real money into it.

Then looking at the investment amounts…

The smallest was a few hundred thousand, the largest over a million.

Judging by Li Yong's net worth, it wasn't that much.

In other words: he could afford to lose it.

"There really is a problem."

After reading the last investment, Yu Dazhang looked up at Liu Miao:

"If you look at these investments individually, nothing seems amiss. Given Li Yong's net worth, an investment of around a million isn't much to him."

"But if you look at them together, something is clearly off — it seems like he's deliberately losing money."

"No — he's deliberately giving money away!"

!

A single failed investment is just losing money.

But consecutive investment failures — the nature of it changes.

In Yu Dazhang's view, Li Yong's investment behavior was far too deliberate.

If not for this case, no one would have noticed these few investments of Li Yong's.

After all, whether losing money or making money, it's all just personal gain.

"That's right. He was giving money away."

Liu Miao said, then took out another document from the bag he carried with him. After handing it to Yu Dazhang, he continued:

"I conducted a detailed investigation into the projects Li Yong invested in."

"I found that it wasn't just him giving money away — there were several other people giving money away together with him."

"And most of these people, you know them all."

Hearing this, Yu Dazhang was momentarily stunned.

"I know them all?" he muttered, then quickly caught on:

"The other victims in the Severed Finger case!"

That was the only possibility… anyone else who could be connected to Li Yong, Yu Dazhang couldn't think of.

"That's right." Liu Miao nodded:

"And the group of people changes each time — the number of investors in a single project is usually five to seven."

"By the next project, the people are swapped out for another batch, but not entirely replaced."

"When you put all the projects together, you'll find that the investors, back and forth, are just those ten-odd people."

Ten-odd people? This vague number caught Yu Dazhang's attention.

He immediately asked:

"Be specific. I want the actual number."

"Eleven." Liu Miao pointed at the document in Yu Dazhang's hand:

"I've recorded every project's investors. Removing the duplicate names, it's exactly eleven people."

Eleven… this was a number Yu Dazhang hadn't expected.

He had previously estimated that the small group's headcount was at least twelve.

Who was the missing person?

Without a doubt, the contents Liu Miao had uncovered wouldn't be wrong.

Not only did it confirm that the nine victims were connected, it also turned up two additional people.

And those two extra people were very likely the suspect's next targets.

Could it be that planner?

Once this thought surfaced in Yu Dazhang's mind, he couldn't shake it.

That's right.

As the organizer, there was indeed no need to take part in this investment scheme.

Because he was the one collecting the money.

If that were the case, the numbers would line up.

Only, this chain of clues was still missing one person.

"You two set out immediately. Go investigate these two people."

Yu Dazhang pointed at the two names on the document and said to Ma Jian and Liu Miao:

"They may very well become the next victims."

(End of chapter)