8
Everyone thought Trần Triết was just trying to scare people.
But I stayed silent, because a strange suspicion had taken root in my mind.
What if… Cao Mẫn really was taking revenge?
Using the identity of a “dead person” to kill someone wouldn’t be considered a crime.
While he was alive, Cao Mẫn couldn’t stand up to Trần Triết. But now that he was dead, he had the moral high ground. The reputation Trần Triết valued most had been destroyed overnight.
And this… was only the beginning.
That night, after I showered, I saw a line of writing appear on the fogged-up bathroom mirror:
“Vãn Vãn, thank you for cooperating.”
The words gradually appeared, then vanished one by one.
“April 28, 8:00 p.m. The gods are about to fall.”
Trần Triết’s upcoming performance was called “War Between the Gods.”
Cao Mẫn was hinting that I could turn him in, or choose to become an accomplice.
If I simply pretended not to know anything, then if Trần Triết died during the show, it would be nothing more than an accident.
I was caught in an impossible bind. If I told Captain Phương what I knew, I might ruin Cao Mẫn’s next plan.
A magic trick needed a magician, an audience, an assistant…
And props, too.
As his lover, did I have to become his accomplice?
Did I have the right… to judge someone else?
A fine misty rain drifted across the world, blurring the line between earth and sky until it was impossible to tell white from black. The rain and fog shrouded everything, making my face look even paler.
After work, Captain Phương politely offered to take me home.
I was about to refuse, but he tilted his umbrella toward me. “Come on. It’s on my way, anyway.”
When we reached my door, Captain Phương showed no sign of leaving.
“Ms. Trang, could I use your bathroom for a moment?”
My heart lurched, and instinctively I wanted to refuse.
What if… a bowl of noodles appeared on the table again? How would I explain that?
But I could feel his gaze quietly studying me.
The streetlight shone through the car window and reflected in his eyes. The light was exactly like the one in my dream.
Did he suspect me? What had I done to make him suspicious?
My mind was in turmoil, but I forced myself to agree.
As I rummaged through my bag for my keys, I deliberately dropped a few things on the ground, making a little noise to distract him.
Captain Phương bent down, picked up the keys, and handed them to me.
The lock turned. Click!
The door opened.
Just then, the man behind me suddenly spoke. “Ms. Trang, you sent a DNA sample to the testing center, didn’t you?”
I froze.
“Cao Mẫn is clearly dead. So why… did you still need to get a test done?”
9
I turned around stiffly.
The light above the entrance fell directly on the man, leaving half his angular face in shadow and the other half exposed to the light.
He raised the document envelope in his hand.
“I had another case today and stopped by the testing center. I happened to see the report you’d requested.”
It was true. I’d secretly sent in a few strands of hair I’d found by the pillow for DNA testing.
But Captain Phương didn’t tell me the result outright. Instead, he walked straight into the house.
He switched on the lights, and warm light immediately filled the living room.
I hardly dared to breathe as I looked straight at the table.
Luckily, there was nothing on it.
I let out a small sigh of relief.
“A private house with a garden right in the city is really valuable. Did your parents leave it to you?”
Captain Phương glanced around and remarked casually, “This living room is spacious.”
I forced myself to act natural. “Cao Mẫn liked magic and often practiced at home, so we tore down the partition to the next room to make more space.”
Suddenly, Captain Phương stared at the red refrigerator in the corner of the living room.
A chill ran down my spine.
It was a huge refrigerator, bigger than an ordinary household model.
Everything… was exactly like in my dream.
With every step he took toward it, the cold sweat on my back grew heavier.
Had he discovered that Cao Mẫn wasn’t dead? Or did he suspect I was hiding something?
I hurriedly came up with an excuse. “Trần Triết came to see me several times, insisting that Cao Mẫn wasn’t dead. The neighbors also said someone suspicious had been hanging around lately. I was worried a stranger had broken into the house, so I sent in a few strands of hair I found on the floor for testing.”
The excuse was barely plausible.
Captain Phương didn’t press me for more. He simply stated the DNA test results. “Some of those hairs did belong to Cao Mẫn.”
My thoughts were a mess.
He really had come back.
But if he was still alive… then who was the person who died?
Wait. Some of them? What did that mean?
Captain Phương’s next words turned my whole body ice-cold…
“The DNA test shows that among those hairs… there was also another woman’s.”
10
Another woman?
I didn’t have a housekeeper, and I’d never hired a cleaner by the hour. So where had this other woman come from?
Captain Phương said, “Don’t you find it strange? Trần Triết blacklisted Cao Mẫn, and yet he was still able to put on his first performance at the Lệ Đô Theater?”
Lệ Đô was the city’s leading theater.
I hesitated before answering. “He said the theater’s owner thought very highly of him and was willing to give him a chance.”
Captain Phương gave a slight shake of his head, his eyes full of unspoken meaning.
“Cao Mẫn got to perform because Phương Minh Châu, the heiress of Lệ Đô, liked him. The two of them were involved, secretly dating. He even mocked you backstage, saying you were stiff and boring, and always smelled like a corpse.”
“Once he became famous overnight, he was going to break up with you. Did you know about that?”
“…”
I heard my soul shatter.
“Among those hairs was DNA belonging to Phương Minh Châu.”
“He brought another woman back to your house and slept with her in this very bed.”
“Ms. Trang, is the love between you two really as unshakable as you think?”
11
Phương Minh Châu. I’d heard that name before.
She was as beautiful as her name. Cao Mẫn had mentioned her to me once……but according to him, she was just an arrogant, overbearing, obnoxious heiress.
But in the candid photos Captain Phương showed me, Cao Mẫn had his arm around her waist, kissing her passionately. He looked like a young man experiencing love for the first time.
I stared at the evidence in front of me, my voice unconsciously turning sharp. “What are you implying? That I killed Cao Mẫn out of jealousy?”
Captain Phương shook his head. “On the day of the crime, you attended a conference and were gone for an hour. You have an alibi.”
I gave a bitter laugh, feeling as if my soul had been completely drained.
If he had someone new, why had he kept clinging to me?
Because I was a mortician, and it was convenient to have me help hide his secrets?
Outside, the rain poured harder and harder, its mournful sound like funeral wails, roaring as if it would flatten everything in its path.
Cao Mẫn still didn’t understand women.
Jealousy was the strongest sulfuric acid of all, capable of eating away at everything.
Before the rain let up, I made a decision.
I asked Captain Phương to search my apartment.
“I suspect Trần Triết really did send someone to break in here. Is there any way to check for footprints in the apartment?”
12
In the end, the police discovered three secret rooms in my home.
I’d left Cao Mẫn in complete charge of renovating the place, and he’d used the opportunity to alter the apartment.
The three secret rooms were cleverly interconnected. One of them… had an exit right beneath the rug in my bedroom.
Inside the rooms, the police found not only signs that someone had been living there, but also a large collection of magic props and mechanism schematics.
I reminded Captain Phương, “Today’s the 28th—the day Trần Triết is debuting his new illusion. He’ll definitely be there.”
After the theater blacklisted him, Trần Triết had chosen to perform outdoors.
It was completely free, and he was even giving away gifts.
That drew countless spectators.
The crowd packed in below the stage. Compared with a well-equipped, upscale theater, the outdoor venue made crowd control many times harder for the police.
I slipped into the crowd with the plainclothes officers, searching for anyone suspicious.
Where was he? Where would he show up…?
Trần Triết, dressed in his performance costume, strode gracefully onto the stage.
He warmed up the crowd with a trick that made a dove appear from his hat.
White wings fluttered through the air, getting the crowd even more excited.
“Next, I’ll perform the ancient illusion ‘Tam Tiên Quy Động’ for the very first time.”
Before he went onstage, the police had warned Trần Triết.
But he didn’t care. He insisted on stepping onto the stage.
“You want me to go down? Go ahead! I’d rather die onstage.”
The crowd surged, people pushing forward one after another.
I stumbled and fell, nearly trampled underfoot.
Just then, someone caught me.
Before I could thank them, they quietly disappeared into the crowd.
From behind, they looked like a limping old man.
But I’d handled countless corpses, so I knew the muscular structure of people at every age all too well.
The strength behind that catch…
It definitely hadn’t come from an old man.
I shoved everything else aside and fought my way frantically forward, shouting at the top of my lungs, “He’s over there! Get him!”