The Devil’s Cage

Just as Kieran left the quiet Wallway Street but hadn’t truly reached the next destination, he was attracted by a single streetway, sandwiched between two tall buildings.

Ro Street, an arched neon sign connecting the two buildings stated, with both ends of the sign tightly nailed to the wall of the buildings. Players were walking beneath it, moving in and out of the street, which wasn’t exactly crowded but did seem endless.

It was merry, full of happenings and fully prospering.

Kieran was slightly shocked by the scene.

In the big city, other than some guild gathering spots, it was rare to see a lively, prospering scene like this. Even Harvest Inn was only bustling on the inside, unlike this scene, where the whole street was crowded and lively.

Most of the lone wolf players were less likely to speak in front of strangers, so it was quite difficult to achieve this.

“Since when did a lively street like this appear around here?” Kieran asked.

He tried to recall from his memories but nothing came up.

Each time he came out of his room, he dashed towards the train station and whenever he came back, he would go straight to his door. Although Ro Street was a block away, Kieran had never come here before.

However, out of determination, Kieran sent a message to Lawless.

Lawless: The street beside Wallway Street?

Lawless: You are saying Ro Street?

Lawless: It has been there for a long time, even before you came into the game.

Lawless: But the reason why it’s prospering is the sudden surge of new players recently.

Lawless: Other than that, a lot more new players are coming into the game and the numbers are ridiculous.

Lawless: Before this, many newbies appeared in front of Harvest Inn’s door but none of them came in. They stood in front of it and looked at us blankly, whispering, like they were looking at some caged monster.

Lawless: It’s really beginning to annoy me, and…

…

Lawless’ nagging mode had started once again and Kieran would reply with the most direct method: ignore him.

It worked every time he used it against Lawless and today was no exception.

Kieran recollected his thoughts and looked at Ro Street again.

With Lawless’ words, the doubts in his heart were cleared, but he kept the necessary vigilance as he ventured in.

When he walked close to the big neon sign above his head, his eyes were scanning his surroundings, remembering and recording every detail that appeared.

People, things, buildings.

As his Spirit grew stronger, it was easier for him to memorize things and with his Spirit reaching rank V, it was as natural as eating and drinking.

As he walked into the street, his hand was somehow stuffed with fried smelly tofu, fried milk dumplings, grilled yogurt, sausages, fried soba and grilled squid.

With paper bags in his hands and a sausage in his mouth, Kieran happily looked at the stalls further away.

Before entering, he never would have thought Ro Street operated like a market, with many small stalls selling things outside. In his opinion, it was only reasonable to run business like how Harvest Inn did: inside and safe.

However, he didn’t dislike this method, selling out and in the open.

Kieran hastened his steps when he saw more stalls further ahead.

As he walked deeper, ice-cream, soup bun, red bean bun, steamed dumplings, water chestnut biscuits and honey red date cake were added to his hands.

Kieran spent about 2 Points on all of his purchases, including the previous batch of food.

It was very cheap.

The transaction wasn’t done with the stall owner, but players wearing a unified uniform standing beside each stall. After the player recorded the payment, Kieran would be given the product.

It may seem a little complicated, but it was more formal and official.

All of this was obviously from an organization but it had nothing to do with him.

His hands were filled with bags of food and he could not take anything further. When Kieran saw that he has only covered one tenth of Ro Street, he was smart enough to walk to some stairs beside the street, which allowed players to rest and eat.

Kieran sat down, gobbled down what he bought and looked at the lively crowd.

It felt unusually real…

No! It didn’t just feel real, it was real!

His mind told him all of this was almost genuine as he tasted the ice-cream.

“All these stall owners should be players themselves and were newbies who had just been through the trial dungeon. They must have mastered Cooking along the way and wanted to use their skills to get a better chance at their next dungeon, am I right?”

Kieran shook his head without really commenting on the stall owners.

Everyone had their own choices.

The choices these newbie players made weren’t wrong by any means, just like how some decided to become lone wolves.

Kieran, as a passerby, only had to watch and enjoy the snacks in his hand, nothing more.

After gobbling down the snacks with extreme speed and cleaning his hands, Kieran stood up and continued his journey in Ro Street.

The plan, which was to venture around Wallway Street and the street around it, was changed slightly. The plan was changed to understanding Ro Street alone.

Some changes made would affect the entire plan.

When Kieran found out there were a few decent restaurants in Ro Street, he quickly changed his plans for the second day, which were to explore Harvest Inn and its neighbouring street, to eating at said restaurants.

As for the third day, when he would supposedly visit the landmarks of the city, it was also changed to walking around Ro Street, since he had heard there would be a cooking demonstration that day.

The fourth day?

Wandering around the city and wandering around Ro Street, what difference would it make?

…

Lawless finally met his friend on the sixth day.

His friend was sitting in Harvest Inn’s bar counter, drinking a free lemon water—with extra honey from Lawless.

“You’ve been walking around Ro Street lately?” Lawless laid on the bar as he was shook with his friend’s story.

“En. A very good place indeed,” Kieran commented in a delighted manner.

“I know, right? That place has some interesting events from time to time. There was an eating competition yesterday. I don’t know who got first but I heard the prize was some points and a special meal,” Lawless said as he wiped the glasses.

“Em. It’s really tasty,” Kieran said vaguely, taking a sip from his lemon water and placing the glass in front of Lawless.

Lawless grabbed the jug and added more cold water for Kieran.

“What did you say?” Lawless asked as he was refilling Kieran’s cup.

“Nothing. Where’s Rachel? Why did she give you so many holidays?” Kieran shifted the topic.

Kieran didn’t purposely keep it a secret from Lawless, but he knew how big his friend’s mouth was and if he wished to join another eating competition, he best keep his mouth shut.

100 points as a prize was nothing to Kieran, but the special meal was indeed tasty. It was almost as good as Starbeck’s cooking.

“Six days ago were holiday, and now… It’s overtime!” Lawless used a slightly euphemistic word.

“Overtime? Did she find out about your wine swapping?” Kieran reacted to the words after a jolt.

“Yeap. Rachel broke three of my ribs and even warned me, saying that if I touch her wine again, she would crush my balls,” Lawless nodded and said in a bitter tone.

But before his words truly subsided, Lawless chuckled. He was like a child, boasting about his mischievous deeds to Kieran.

“Actually, she only noticed two bottles, there is one that she missed. It means that my wine swapping technique is improving and one day, no one will know! Not even God or a ghost…”

Lawless was quite excited with his boasting but he suddenly realized his friend was not reacting properly and felt a chill at his back.

Lawless turned around out of instinct and saw the female owner of the inn.

“Uh, Uh, Hey Rachel, I’m just going to mop the floor,” Lawless said, then dashed out from the counter.

“Go. Don’t forget to come back to earn your bone breaking and ball crushing!”

Lawless ran faster, with his legs closed tight.

Kieran threw a funny glance at his friend before turning back to Rachel. He frowned.

“You’re hurt?”