The Devil’s Cage

What did Lyn Amie see?

A bomb! A bomb defused by the bomb disposal unit of the police!

Out of instinct, Lyn Amie turned to Kieran.

“How did you know? Are you really able to predict things?” Lyn Amie asked.

Kieran kept quiet after a single glance at him.

Of course Kieran hadn’t known; otherwise, he wouldn’t have used ‘death’ to replace it.

But sometimes, the vaguer things were, the more people would try to make something out of it, especially when the things had already happened.

[Energy absorbed. Rewards turnaround authentication started…]

[Energy reached the mark. Authentication passed…]

[Unable to detect corresponding skills. Energy saved!]

…

Kieran looked at the spam notifications and nodded quietly.

Similar to what he had guessed before, which was that ‘reverse energy’ could release his skills from their sealed state, there was also another condition for the release: using the skills in the process.

However, new problems arose.

“Energy saved, which means I can unlock my skills after using the skills of a similar level during the next authentication. Then… my core skills.”

The differences in skill levels that determined the unlocking of Basic, Magic and Rare skills would be different from each other. Otherwise, the expensive Points and Skill Points spent on leveling the skill would be a joke.

However, Kieran was more concerned about his core skills, or rather, the extended skills from his core powers.

Once he thought about [Cardinal Sins Force], [Devil Force], [Dawn Force], [Plague Force] and [Saint Thorn Force], he couldn’t help but frown.

The sealed Origin Forces was the reason his body was constantly exhausted. He also knew the reason that the five Origin Forces could co-exist together was because of the balance achieved.

But if he unlocked one of the Origin Forces and the others didn’t follow…

The consequences were too dire for him to even think about.

A higher possibility was that when the other core skills were released from the sealed state one after another, even if he had another heart, he would die right away in a very bad way.

“So just in case, I have to unlock all the skills together?” Kieran squinted his eyes.

He knew how hard it would be to unlock all five of the Origin Forces together, but since it was related to the matter of his life or death, no matter how hard, he must do it.

Kieran closed his eyes. He had to gather enough energy to think about the upcoming plan.

Lyn Amie lowered his phone’s volume when he saw Kieran close his eyes. He didn’t want to suffer through Kieran’s lousy treatment anymore.

Eckart?

After the conversation with Kieran, the director fell into deep thought.

He knew what Kieran was asking about.

In fact, just like he said, he had already prepared for it.

His enemies brought such a big ‘present’ to his face, if he didn’t use it, he would be embarrassed.

But he knew it would be hard to force his enemies to make a move with only a few troublesome thugs; at most, a scapegoat would be in place to block the damage.

It would be enough! It would be enough to prove that he still had grounds for a counterattack.

It would be enough to show those bastards who tried to exploit him and bring him down to reconsider their actions.

Messages were sent out one after another. Eckart then smiled at the replies he got on the phone.

He knew he was safe for the time being.

Now?

He would start to charge his power to counterattack.

Eckart looked up and glanced at Kieran. The director knew it was mostly through Kieran’s efforts that he could escape the desperate situation.

Kieran shall not be forgotten!

In order to tighten their future working relationship, Eckart had to distribute the benefits reasonably.

Inequality rather than one is the cause of all trouble.

Eckart knew that saying, but once he thought about Kieran’s personality, he frowned.

Benefits given should be catered to one’s wishes; otherwise, it would cause the opposite effect.

While the director was pondering upon the matter—

Ring, Ring!

The phone in his hand rang, the row of asterisks on the caller id exceptionally eye-catching.

Eckart’s face changed as he immediately thought of something. He quickly showed his phone to Kieran.

Kieran had already opened his eyes when the phone rang, and when he saw the asterisks on the caller id, he grinned.

The mastermind was much crazier than he expected.

Or rather, the mastermind had not achieved their initial goal, so they wanted to use Kieran one more time.

Being used wasn’t exactly the best feeling.

Kieran answered the phone without a second thought.

“I’m looking for 2567.”

The person obviously spoke through a voice-altering device on the other side.

“Speaking,” Kieran said calmly.

“Oh, the shaman, the hero of the city! Let’s play a game, shall we? Hehe.” The voice laughed softly in a weird way.

“Don’t want to,” Kieran rejected.

The voice obviously had not expected such a clean-cut answer from Kieran. It was stunned for a second before continuing.

“Too bad, I am the one calling the shots here. I’ve hidden three bombs throughout Rain City. As long as you can find the three bodies of the dead soldiers, I will tell you where the bombs are—one body for one location.”

The voice paused for a while after stating its intention. It was undoubtedly anticipating Kieran’s questioning and berating, but Kieran kept quiet, not even a word coming out of his mouth as he stared at the phone blankly.

If it weren’t for the subtle breathing on the other end, the voice might have thought Kieran had hung up the phone.

“A decent opponent, I see! At first, I thought playing with you could burn away some of my free time, but now… I’ve changed my mind.”

The voice suddenly revealed a sense of seriousness.

“There is a condition: you have to be on live broadcast throughout the entire search. I suppose it won’t be hard for you, right? Rain City TV Station or any other media platform would gladly report this and follow you around. Of course, I am a humane person. To ensure the fairness of the game, I will give you an hour to prepare and even call the police, if you like. Our little game starts in an hour, and I will call again to give you the first hint.”

The line then hung up.

Kieran passed the phone back to Eckart.

“What should we do?” Eckart asked after receiving his phone.

“Go back to the soldier rehabilitation center and contact Officer Lin.”

Kieran then leaned back and laid down on the comfortable seat.

Playing a game of catch?

Boring.

He hoped there would be other arrangements waiting for him, or else it would be really dull.

Kieran was a king at this kind of game!