Chapter 1 — Guide to Judgment

The case had been pending for three years and no one could solve it. I lit three incense sticks and the murderer immediately appeared. Captain Giang of the criminal investigation team specially recruited me. My colleagues all thought I was someone who relied on connections. Especially Mr. Truong from the forensic team, always targets me. Faced with a case that had been pending for three years, he was completely at a loss. I leisurely took out three sticks of incense: "Mr. Truong, do you dare to bet?" He sneered: "Aren't you very good? Investigate!" I smiled coldly, took three incense sticks out of my bag and lit them: "Don't regret it." “If you can find the culprit, I will call you my ancestor!” Blue smoke hovered, next to the body, a vague figure gradually appeared. 1 The air in the city's criminal investigation team year-round carries a smell of a mixture of rust and nicotine that never goes away. The first day I arrived, team leader Giang Phong introduced me to everyone. “Lin To, the specially recruited advisor, will be our colleague from now on.” His voice was loud, but still could not drown out the whispers below. I could clearly hear those discussions, and could also feel the eyes falling on me, mixed with scrutiny, disdain, and undisguised rejection. “The son of the father and the son of the father.” “What can such a young person do?” "I don't know what Captain Giang thinks, where can I find a little girl like this?" I didn't change my face at all, as if I didn't hear those discussions. Team leader Giang led me to familiarize myself with the environment, finally stopping in front of the forensic department door. As soon as the door opened, a strong smell of formalin immediately came. A tall man wearing a white blouse stepped out, he wore gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were as sharp as two surgical knives. “Captain Giang.” He nodded, then his eyes fell on me, his eyebrows immediately furrowed. “Truong Sieu, head of our forensic team.” Team leader Giang introduced: "This is Lam To." Truong Sieu didn't even look at me, just said to Captain Giang: "Captain Giang, we are a criminal investigation team, not a charity house, and not a place where anyone can come to have their records gilded." His voice was not loud, but each word was like a steel needle, piercing other people's ears with pain. Captain Giang's face darkened. I laughed again. “Is that Mr. Truong?” I spoke up, my voice very soft: "I didn't come here to gild my records, but to work." "Work?" Truong Sieu sneered, his eyes behind the glasses were full of contempt: "What are you doing? Burning incense to pray, praying to gods and worshiping Buddha?" It seems that team leader Giang has already mentioned me to him. A few colleagues standing around watching the excitement let out some suppressed laughter. My existence, to staunch materialists like them, is nothing more than a big joke. Captain Giang was about to get angry, I gently pulled the corner of his shirt, signaling that it was unnecessary. I said to Truong Sieu: "I heard that in the team there is a case that has been pending for three years, called 'the case of the headless female body', and up to now there is still no clue." Mentioning this case, Truong Sieu's face immediately became extremely unsightly. It was a milestone of humiliation for him, and at the same time the pain of the entire criminal investigation team. Over the past three years, he had dissected the headless female body no less than ten times, using all scientific methods but could not even determine the identity of the deceased. “Why are you mentioning this?” His voice was cold. “I can break it.” I calmly looked at him. The surroundings immediately became quiet. Everyone looked at me like I was looking at a crazy person. Truong Sieu was stunned first, then burst into laughter, laughing so much that he leaned forward and back. "Just like you? A brat?" He pointed at me: “If you can solve this case, I will call you my ancestor right in front of the whole team!” "Okay." I nodded, as if completely unaware of the insult in his words: “A given word.” I turned to Captain Giang: “Captain Giang, you can give it

Shall I go see that body?” Captain Giang looked at me deeply, with worry in his eyes, but more with confidence as if he was betting everything. “Maybe.” 2 In the morgue, the air conditioner was turned on very coldly, the white light shone on everything in a pale color. On the operating table in the middle, the line under the white cloth looked extremely lonely. Truong Sieu crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall, with a look on his face waiting to see a good show. A few brave young policemen also followed in, standing in front of the door, whispering to each other. Captain Giang stood next to me, his face serious. I walked to the front of the operating table but did not immediately lift the white cloth. I took out an ancient-looking red sandalwood box from the cloth bag on my side. Opening the box, inside are neatly arranged rows of incense sticks of different light and dark colors, and next to it is a beautiful small bronze incense burner. Truong Sieu pouted and sarcastically said: "Oh, the tools are complete." I didn't pay attention to him and took out three dark brown incense sticks. “This type of incense is called ‘Three Births Lead’.” I put incense into the incense burner and calmly explained: "Use agarwood as the main ingredient, add rosemary, ebony wood, then mix with the powder of seven types of soul-guiding herbs to create." “It's not a feudal superstition at all, it can only temporarily gather strong enough attachment information left in space.” My voice echoed in the quiet morgue, clear and calm. Truong Sieu coldly snorted, took out his notebook and pen: "Okay, today I will be a field recorder for once, recording without missing a word the entire process of your 'pretending to be a god and pretending to be a ghost', which will also be considered as providing the scientific community with a valuable sample of pseudoscientific research." He deliberately emphasized the words "fake gods and ghosts" and "fake science". I didn't say more, a small flame appeared at the tip of my finger, lighting three incense sticks. Without the usual pungent scent of incense smoke, an extremely cold and distant scent immediately spread. Blue smoke hovered, flying straight up, not spreading out at all. A strange scene appeared. The already white light in the morgue began to flash violently, emitting a buzzing sound of electricity. The temperature in the room seemed to immediately drop a few degrees, a cold air rising from the soles of the feet, making people shiver. The young policemen standing in front of the door were so scared that their faces turned white and they unconsciously took a step back. The sarcasm on Truong Sieu's face also stiffened. He pushed his glasses away, for the first time surprise and doubt appeared in his eyes. “Quiet!” Team leader Giang shouted softly, stabilizing the situation. Right at the top of the rising blue smoke, above the headless female body, a white mist began to gather. The fog became darker and darker, gradually outlining the outline of a vague human figure. It was a semi-transparent silhouette of a woman, her face could not be seen clearly. She has no head, her neck is just a void of nothingness, exactly like the body on the table. “Oh my god…” Someone standing in front of the door couldn't help but let out a suppressed cry. Truong Sieu's breathing also became heavy, he stared at that figure, his knuckles holding the pen turned white from the force. I raised my head to look at that suffering figure, my heart filled with pity. I spoke softly, my voice extremely gentle: "Who are you?" “About the person who harmed you, what do you remember?” The figure seemed unable to speak, she just struggled painfully on the spot. She slowly raised her illusory hand, pointing to her empty neck. Then, she waved her hands in the air with great difficulty. A vague shape. Like a… ring. The next second, the blue smoke dissipated and the figure immediately disappeared. The light in the morgue returned to normal, and the cold, gloomy air completely receded, as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion. Everyone was still immersed in terrible shock, unable to recover. Truong Sieu tried to stay calm and cleared his throat, but his voice was somewhat dry: "There is... an optical phenomenon! Could be phosphorescence, or…

collective hallucination!” Even he himself couldn't believe that excuse. I turned my head and looked at him coldly. "Mr. Truong, do you still think I'm pretending to be a ghost?" 3 Truong Sieu's face was sometimes blue, sometimes white, his lips moved a few times but could not say a word. The scientific worldview that he had always been proud of had been shattered in just a few short minutes. Captain Giang broke the silence, his voice trembling but even more decisive. “Truong Sieu, immediately check my neck!” “Also, take out the list of evidence from three years ago and see if there are any records related to the ring!” Truong Sieu's body shook, as if he was ordered to wake up. He took a deep breath, looked at me with complicated eyes, then put on rubber gloves and quickly walked to the front of the operating table. He lifted the white cloth. The woman's body without a head under the light becomes even more miserable. I also saw the autopsy report three years ago. The conclusion was drowning. Although the body's neck may have had a slight strangulation mark, forensics concluded that it was not fatal, most likely just a mark of being cut by moss or a foreign object when the deceased struggled in the water. “The squeeze mark belongs to the first crime scene.” I stood next to him, my voice was not loud but loud enough for everyone present to hear clearly: "Drowning is the second scene. The perpetrator made her unconscious or strangled her to death first, then threw her into the water, pretending to be a drowning scene. Truong Sieu's movements stopped. He did not object, but picked up the magnifying glass and probe, bent down, and began to very carefully examine the tightening mark that was no longer so obvious. Time passed quietly. In the morgue there was only soft noise when he used the tools. Everyone was nervously waiting for the results. Suddenly, Truong Sieu stood up straight, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes forcefully, with an unprecedented expression of surprise and regret on his face. “The fourth cervical vertebra has slight bone fractures… The deep muscle tissues show signs of being crushed.” His voice was hoarse: "That year... the technical equipment that year was not as advanced as it is now, the external damage was not obvious, I... I missed it." He admitted. This arrogant man to the bone admitted his mistake right in front of everyone. For the first time, his insides were violently shaken because of my existence. Another policeman ran in with a list of evidence, panting: "Captain Giang, Mr. Truong, in the evidence list three years ago there was no record of rings! Whether it was on the victim or at the crime scene, it couldn't be detected! The clues once again matched what I had “seen”. Team leader Giang looked at me with hot eyes: "Lam To, what should we do next?" From this moment on, the object of his consultation changed from Truong Sieu to me. “Determining the identity of the deceased.” I said: