The Devil’s Cage

When Bloody Mary saw the black figure, it finally heaved a sigh of relief.

At the same time, the woman in the red raincoat heaved a sigh.

Astounded, Bloody Mary looked at the woman.

It was sure it didn’t mishear it. It relied on its demonic traits and could clearly determine the woman in pursuit wasn’t faked, she truly heaved a sigh of relief.

This abnormal reaction raised the alarm in Bloody Mary’s heart.

However, before it could react adequately, something happened.

Fwaa!

Loud water gurgling noises came from the woman.

A drop of water appeared out of thin air in front of the woman after the noise.

It wasn’t a transparent, clean water droplet though, but yellowish, muddy water.

The gurgling water noise became more explicit and grew into a tide.

The little droplet of water was producing big tides and waves like the sea and rivers. In the relentless wave crashing noise, a never before felt dead stillness followed.

Suddenly, the atmosphere felt like a storm in the sea, the wind empowered the waves, and the waves became high along with the mighty wind.

Wuu!

The secluded street block vanished from sight, the scene was replaced by a muddy yellowish tidal wave instead.

The wave further gathered and rose before it crashed down fiercely.

The formless gale was blasting Kieran’s hair and fluttering his feathered mantle. His eyes were cold as he looked at the tidal wave. Devil Flame in his hand rapidly flashed, though.

He sensed something different about this tidal wave.

The tidal wave felt like it was going to exterminate souls and wash away everything, the anxiety from it was enough to drive one insane. However, it was not enough to affect him.

While Kieran was facing the unknown tidal wave heads on, Bloody Mary retreated without a second thought.

It sensed danger, a fatal threat.

Without further contact with the water, it knew once any drop of the wave touched it, it would die and will not come back anymore.

A powerful foe! The water was a bane to Bloody Mary!

Bloody Mary sized up the woman with heavy gaze, but out of its expectation, the tidal wave vanished. It didn’t just disappear without a sign, even that droplet of water landed on the woman’s body.

Then…

The woman was petrified! She was turning into stone exceptionally fast!

What happened? Is she crazy enough to hit herself?

Bloody Mary was stunned. Kieran also frowned.

However, when the petrification process was over, the woman turned into a stone statue with a blurry face. Kieran slightly eased up his furrowed brows.

Any players that died in the big city would disintegrate into light particles.

The red woman didn’t turn into light. Instead, she became a stone statue.

She didn’t die!

Plus the tidal wave just now, rather than saying the tide was an attack, it might be just a showcase of her strength…

Kieran walked over to the statue after the thought flashed in his heart.

He still needed to verify something.

“What is going on?”

Bloody Mary asked when it felt its contractor’s change of expression.

“Nothing,” Kieran replied while meticulously checked the statue. He then turned to Bloody Mary and said, “Keep this statue together with Rorl.”

After killing a plethora of players in the big city, sparing one or two extra rooms and turning them into temporary prisons was nothing hard for Kieran.

“You are the boss, you say so.”

Bloody Mary knew Kieran noticed something, but since he didn’t want to talk about it, Bloody Mary couldn’t do anything.

It lifted the statue and Rorl before swiftly disappearing.

After seeing Bloody Mary off, Kieran curled his lips into a grin, a ridiculing smile.

He discovered a small tattoo on the statue’s arm during his check just now, and it was also the thing that he was looking for—

Server III!

…

“You are saying an internal conflict happened in the Sin-server?” Lawless’ eyes widened as he was filled with astonishment.

“Internal conflict? No, not that severe yet. Though, based on the obvious identity and showcasing the attack before me, the attack might be the strongest attack of the mastermind that she knew of. So, she is warning me, plus the statue isn’t dying just yet, I am guessing some part of the Sin-server doesn’t want to stay on the ship anymore.”

“As for why?”

“Maybe it’s the conflicting ideals from a long time ago. Maybe the woman and her other friends couldn’t see hope in the organization, but a higher chance is…”

“Broker!

Lawless finished Kieran’s sentence before he could.

Both of them theorized Broker was somehow related to Sin-server, and now based on the weird encounter, it strengthened their theory.

“Maybe this is all that bastard’s plan.”

“You know, he is always skilled in creating conflicting and confusing fake scenes.”

“But, what does that bastard really want?” Lawless asked in a heavy tone.

“I don’t know,” Kieran shook his head.

Despite engaging Broker more than once, Kieran still couldn’t grasp what Broker was actually after until now.

The Witch’s Legacy?

Possibly, but as the Guardians showed themselves, Kieran realized Broker wasn’t that eager to get his hands on the treasure.

If he was really anxious and eager, given his influence and forces, he should have noticed the Guardian’s presence a long time ago. But now, it was quite the opposite, with every step he took, and every move he made seemed to allow the Guardians to progress further.

And the player killers!

That encounter was the most ingrained in Kieran’s mind.

Broker betrayed Kieran and his friends without a single thought.

Although Kieran escaped from the jaws of danger, Broker also his intentions exposed. Thus the player killers were on to him as well.

But…

What was the final outcome of that particular encounter?

Almost nothing was achieved!

Even the leader of the killer players, Extremus, died in [Blade of the Daybreaker]!

It seemed abnormal! It completely contrasted with Broker’s usual style!

Then, Broker went into hiding after he suffered a loss in [Blade of the Daybreaker], and everything seemed so reasonable.

What if this kind of reasonable progression was all part of Broker’s arrangements?

Kieran squinted his eyes when he pondered upon the possibility.

Kieran was habitually vigilant and careful, he could be considered as a dubious person.

While facing a theory which had only certain chances of occurring, he would not just neglect it but would calculate along with his plan as if the theory was a reality.

Was it tiresome? Very.

But compared to his puny little life, what was being a bit tired?

Lawless naturally shut up when he saw his friend go into deep thought. He was smoking his cigar and spitting out smoke until Wu walked in, Lawless gave a vigilant gaze.

Those who were allowed to enter the little living room were only a few in Harvest Inn.

Most of them were allies, but Wu was different.

Every time Lawless saw Wu, he somehow felt grumpy; when Wu predicted his friend’s ominous outcome or death, Lawless hated Wu even more.

His gaze at Wu was absent of goodwill.

Wu didn’t care though, just like she didn’t care how pitiful and useless Lawless once was when he knelt before her, crying like a baby for the first time.

Now? She wouldn’t care either, not at a pitiful soul whose memories were blurred out.

She walked to Kieran and placed two things in front of him.

One was a bracelet knitted with straws.

The other one was… [Dungeon Cooldown Reset Card].