The Devil’s Cage

The person fell to the ground after staggering for a bit.

The jacket and T-shirt were cut a while ago and the wound on the back had blood gushing out ceaselessly. As the person fell to the ground, the light from the street lamp shone on the face for a fraction of a second, revealing slightly stout features with very short hair. Even with a nose ring on, it did very little to conceal the person’s gender.

Whether was it the bulging part at the chest or the petite physique, all signs were telling Kieran the person who had just passed out on the ground was a lady.

However, as long as the target was a stranger to Kieran, regardless of man or woman, he or she would not get any kindness from him.

A gentleman would give appropriate care once the fallen person was identified as a lady, Kieran admired those gentlemen quite a bit but would never become one of them.

Just like the so called heroes, they were praised by people because they became famous after their death.

Therefore, Kieran was cautious about the situation, he didn’t want to die without knowing why and more so, the little incident happened too coincidentally.

He just found a body in the alley and at the next moment, someone barged in uninvited.

Kieran’s SSS+ Intuition clearly told him the lady was running towards the alley from a dozen meters away.

Aside from the alley being a special place that could provide sanctuary for the lady, what else could drive a heavily wounded lady here?

The answers were a hand full and Kieran chose the worst of all choices: discovering “his” body.

Of course Kieran wouldn’t spare checking the surroundings when he was searching the body but nothing of interest was around.

Therefore, there was a high chance the lady came for “his” body but it didn’t discard the possibility that it wasn’t her own intentions but a skillful arrangement.

So who arranged the lady to come here and discover “his” body?

It should be the killer who killed “him”.

However, as the speculation formed, more doubts and question popped up in Kieran’s heart.

“The killer wished for someone to find the body?”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“Is the killer showing off? An egocentric person?”

In normal situation, after killing a person, the killer would not want others to discover the body out of self-protection and if the situation permits, the killer might very well destroy the evidence and the body altogether.

Only a minority of twisted people would act the exact opposite but these minority couldn’t have committed such a crude act.

The sick-minded killer had their own persistence and sought after specific things, their act should be meticulous and flawless. They also wouldn’t have chosen a careless and useless assistant.

After a glance at the fainted woman, Kieran looked towards the direction of the street, there stood a man with a dagger without the slightest intention of concealing it as he chased after her in the bright day.

When the man saw Kieran, he smirked viciously and shouted, “I knew it, this bitch has an accomplice! You are also a dead meat!”

The threats subsided and the man jumped towards Kieran.

The man’s physique was tall and big and his jump was quite ferocious for a common man, but for Kieran it was filled with flaws.

The man didn’t only lack technique, he didn’t even utilize the advantage of his strength; he was like a raging bull crashing around blindly.

So, how could an extraordinary human that could kill “him” pick an “assistant” as reckless as this man?

No, no, perhaps the reckless man was the most suitable to lead the attention to the body; he was reckless and stupid.

When a reckless stupid person killed the unconscious lady and discovered a body in the deeper part of the alley, what would he do?

He might simply deal with it, leaving behind more flaws to lead more people to discover the body.

Thoughts were spinning rapidly in Kieran’s mind and while he was in deep thought, his look struck the man as he was astonished by the sudden strike.

The man grew bold and raised the dagger higher up, readying to deliver a fatal blow to Kieran.

However, it was natural the dagger missed its target.

Kieran moved his steps to the left and swung his hand towards the jumping man.

Pak!

A clear sound later, the man fell to the ground after suffering a chop to the back of his neck.

Even though Kieran knew the value of the information he might get from this man would be extremely slim, it didn’t stop him from trying.

After another glance at the two unconscious people before him, Kieran went over to the lady and simply patched her up, making sure she wouldn’t die because of excessive bleeding before grabbing the two of them, vanishing into the shadows.

…

99th Smorewill Street.

A small building located at the edge of the wealthy district and compared to the big houses in the central wealthy district, the building wasn’t just old to the point that its exterior has bricks falling off, its garden was messy and dirty as well. It couldn’t even compare to the civilian apartments that were connected to the wealthy district.

Thanks to the many road signs and map boards around the street, Kieran returned to “his” accomodation after a mere 15 minutes.

Similar to the broken exterior, the two storey interior was just as broken.

Wooden floorings that would produce squeaks when one stepped on it, stair handles that would shake after one slightly gripping it, the loose and torn carpet, the chairs and tables that were missing arms and legs respectively plus the sofa which had its springs poking out of the leather.

Fortunately, the only thing worth celebrating was the refrigerator being filled with food and the medical box in the bathroom having sufficient necessary medicinal supplies as well.

After using bandages and alcohol to properly treat the lady’s wound, Kieran took out some instant oats, milk, and bread in addition to throwing a few pieces of ham into the microwave oven.

He didn’t really do any complicated cooking with the ingredients though, the milk was poured into the bowl with the instant oats while the bread and ham formed the most simple sandwich ever without cheese and vegetables.

Simple cooking meant faster speed.

Two minutes later, Kieran brought the instant food to the living room.

The wounded lady was lying on the sofa because of Kieran’s generosity, while the reckless man was thrown on the floor.

Kieran was slowly eating his bowl of oats as he stirred it with a spoon and took bite after bite of the crude sandwich.

The oats that was soaked in the milk became very soft, Kieran took a big scoop of the oats and milk, the richness of the milk and the earthiness of the oat instantly filled his taste buds. Seizing the moment, he quickly took a bite of the crude sandwich and even without the freshness of lettuce or tomatoes, the savoury taste of the ham was enough to make Kieran satisfy.

Amongst the meal, the most surprising one was the bread which he didn’t re-toast.

The soft bread absorbed the milk in his mouth and instantly turned into a substantial texture, allowing Kieran to have a perfect chewing sensation.

After gobbling down his self-made dinner with speed that would render one speechless, Kieran looked at both his captives.

The reckless pursuer was still unconscious while the injured lady’s breath suddenly turned fast.

Finally, the lady opened her eyes and supported herself up to have a proper look at Kieran in the chair.

“Did you save me?”

“I’ll repay you for this! If you can help me once more, I can repay you with an even more luxurious reward!”

After asking the obvious, the lady started to tempt Kieran by giving effort in sticking her huge chest up but her attempt to tempt Kieran didn’t do any good except hurting her wound even more.

When she saw Kieran’s calm to cold eyes, the lady slightly leaned back to the sofa; she didn’t give up.

“I don’t have money now but I will soon! I will get a huge amount of money soon, as long as you promise to help me, half of it will be yours…”

“Question. Why did you go there? The alley.”

The lady who leaned back still wanted to bargain with her offers but was interrupted by Kieran before she finished.

“That is a private matter!” The lady emphasized.

Kieran however didn’t buy it and just as he wanted to teach her a lesson about how cruel reality was, his face suddenly changed.