The Devil’s Cage

“H-How? Why are you here?”

The man with the backpack shouted loudly as his pupils shrank.

His voice wasn’t just loud but sharp as well, as though it could tear eardrums apart, but the dangerous thing on him was the gun that he just pulled out.

The black gun didn’t even reflect the light in the corridor.

It seemed like this handgun wasn’t some crude, self-made gun anymore but a modified military weapon.

The man with the backpack raised his gun at Kieran without a second thought.

The man didn’t know how Kieran appeared here. He also didn’t know whether Kieran arrived alone or if the police was on their way too.

All the man knew was that his plans were ruined.

This young man ruined his plans for the second time! He must die!

As the thought bloomed in the man’s head, he readied himself to pull the trigger.

Then, he saw Kieran walking towards him.

Did he have a death wish?

The man would not hold back! A vicious smile appeared on his face.

He widened his smile and licked his lips, like a beast hunting its prey.

Bang!

The gun fired. The muzzle flash shone, but the bullet missed.

It wasn’t that hard for Kieran to dodge the bullet since his body was still at the peak of a common man. He didn’t have to be faster than a bullet; all he had to do was calculate the bullet’s trajectory and be faster than the man who pulled the trigger.

The vicious smile froze on the man’s face as he looked at Kieran with a stupified expression.

“How is this possible?” the man shouted.

“There are too many unknown things in this world that are impossible to common men. You see, just like behind you, they are watching you quietly.”

Kieran took a step up the stairs as he spoke in his heavy, hoarse voice.

A step closer and the man was within Kieran’s attacking range.

Hu!

Kieran dished out a kick. The kick, with a strong wind, reached the man’s face almost instantaneously, replacing the disbelieving look with a frantic one.

“Let’s see how you dodge this!”

The man didn’t dodge or move away from the kick; instead, he pulled the trigger repeatedly.

To his thinking, no matter how nimble Kieran was, he couldn’t dodge the bullets in point-blank range.

Bang Bang Bang!

The gun fired repeatedly, but none of the bullets hit their target. Quite the opposite, as a strange snake hiss echoed in the man’s ear.

Sssss!

The man saw that Kieran’s body and legs were wiggling like a snake!

No! He didn’t just look like a snake, he was a snake! A transformed snake monster!

After the bullets missed, the man, having lost the thing he relied on the most, instantly plunged into fear. The fear even pushed him into a certain degree of illusion.

The man felt like he was seeing a snake in a man’s skin. Fear was smeared over his face, but it was covered by the kick right away.

Bang!

A loud bang later, the man was sent flying backwards, crashing into the wall at the corner of the stairs.

As the man slid down the wall, Kieran, who was already pale, strode up and grabbed his backpack and gun. Just in case, he also added a chop to the back of the man’s neck. Kieran then searched the man’s body for items that might threaten him.

With the surveillance camera around the corner of the stairs, Kieran couldn’t kill the man, but it didn’t stop him from taking measures to make himself safer.

After the search, Kieran endured the discomfort in his body and sat down on the floor.

Huu! Huu!

While panting heavily, Kieran took out the thermo flask that he carried around and took sips of its thick, porridge-like liquid.

The liquid was actually made up of protein bars. Rather than eating the solid bar that had to be chewed, Kieran preferred to blend the bars with milk and egg whites. It was better for consumption and also shortened the time for him to chew.

The mixed drink’s temperature was just nice for drinking.

As for the blended protein energy bar, the taste was actually less than pleasant.

There was still some chocolate in it while it was in bar form, but after blending it, there was nothing but stickiness. Nonetheless, Kieran drained everything in the thermo flash, finishing his ‘personal concoction’ before putting the flask down.

Kieran’s face showed an expression of deep thought.

“It’s really workable…” he muttered to himself.

When the messy footsteps entered his ears, Kieran stood up from the floor, patted the dust off his body and looked at the unconscious man.

The man was around his thirties, had a fit physique and looked normal. The most notable feature was a weird tattoo of a square encasing a triangle on the man’s neck.

Tattoos had special meanings to them; some people chose words, others chose characters and mythical being, but this kind of shape was a first for Kieran.

‘Did he create this himself, or… Is it the marking of an organization?’ Kieran thought to himself silently.

“2567? 2567?” Eckart’s voice came from the lower floor.

“Here,” Kieran replied.

Dak Dak Dak.

The footsteps got clearer. Eckart and Lyn Amie with a few more lighting men and cameramen from Rain City TV Station ran up to the scene.

When they saw Kieran and the unconscious man on the floor, the cameramen quickly locked on to the culprit even without Eckart’s order.

The lighting was shed on the subject as well.

A clearer scene was shown on the TV as it was also a live broadcast. It was much better for the eyes compared to the hidden shooting.

Behind the camera, Eckart looked at Kieran with a face full of gratitude.

He was actually very hesitant when Kieran suggested the operation because it was very dangerous; any misstep could easily kill them.

But at the same time, danger equalled chances.

Eckart knew that should this operation go smoothly, he would not only overcome the biggest hurdle before him, but his position would also be firmer than he could ever imagine.

He might even progress higher!

So, in the end, Eckart compromised.

Eckart quickly arranged the things at Kieran’s behest, thus granting him the result before his eyes. A very great result.

The smile on Eckart’s face couldn’t conceal itself anymore once he thought about it, especially when he saw Kieran walk over to him behind the camera.

“Thank you,” Eckart said sincerely.

“Helping you is also helping me,” Kieran said calmly.

It was the truth, Kieran had no need to hide it, but in Eckart’s point of view, Kieran was simply being humble.

“It’s slightly different. You pulled me up from a critical situation. You will never know what I felt three days ago. So if you have anything that I can help with, just tell me. I swear I will do my best to fulfil it,” Eckart said seriously.

Kieran, on the other hand, smiled at his seriousness because he indeed needed Eckart’s help in something.