Lan Li's written account detailed the reasons and some specifics. The reason Lan Li appeared in the suburbs of the capital with the young soldier that night was because he had been trailing the young soldier to that location. The young soldier had applied for leave in the afternoon and left the training base for several hours. He later returned to the dormitory, and in the evening claimed he had urgent business to attend to for two hours. Lan Li agreed, and the young soldier left with some belongings. Only then did Lan Li follow the young soldier all the way to the suburban area of the capital.
The young soldier took a taxi to the suburbs. After reaching a narrow intersection where the car could not proceed further, he got out and walked. The entrance led to a road heading into a mountain village in the capital's suburbs, lined with residential houses along the way. It was on this road that the young soldier was murdered.
