The Devil’s Cage

Kieran always thought of things in the worst possible way habitually.

He wasn’t really a pessimist but he would like to prepare for the worst case scenario just in case.

Time after time, the facts proved that his actions were correct.

Kieran who was standing in the shadows saw two players conversing at the opposite street and a lazy cat leaning on a side of the roof above them.

The players were the open watchpoint while the cat was the secret watchpoint.

After multiple times of contact and owning the Fire Raven, Kieran had quite the experience in how to differentiate the real stray animals in the big city. At least a lazy cat wouldn’t look around as much as it did.

Silently, Kieran stepped back. He wasn’t sure which side the group of people were from, the organization or Broker’s men?

That’s right, it was Broker!

Kieran never dared underestimate the cunning merchant’s abilities. He believed with Broker’s influence and power, there wasn’t anything that could slip past Broker’s eyes in the underground game, the organization included.

Even more so, Kieran guessed that Broker might be the one who aggravated the complicated situation at hand.

As for the few players who guarded Tyler’s house, Kieran wasn’t bothered about them but the people that showed up later robbed Kieran of his absolute confidence in winning.

Kieran already tasted first hand the terrifying points of human wave tactics, moreover after getting the intel about those “above veterans”, Kieran didn’t believe there weren’t such players under the cunning merchant’s command.

The numbers might be limited but it was enough to force everyone to take him seriously.

So, Kieran gave up on the thought of going to Tyler’s room to find more information and changed it to a more trivial method.

“Judging from Tyler’s performance, he possessed a certain level of cautiousness but was impulsive and arrogant at the same time, so he might have spent a certain amount of time to find “them” but it shouldn’t have been a long amount of time either. And given such circumstances, Tyler was still able to locate “them”. Other than certain luck, it might be not that difficult to locate them. Perhaps I’ve been going about this all wrong from the beginning…” Kieran pondered upon the thought.

He wouldn’t just brush aside the freaky tattoo on the back of his right hand.

Truth be told, after experiencing the so-called “test” and the extra red line appearing around the freaky smiley face, Kieran had been wanting to find out what it was.

He even requested Lawless’ help but whether him or Lawless, from secret codes to mystical knowledge, both of them found nothing.

“It isn’t secret codes or mystical knowledge. It also has a certain level of difficulty that common players wouldn’t have noticed it and still have to cover up a certain location…”

“Hold on, location?”

The sudden thought struck Kieran and he quickly sent out a message to Lawless.

…

2567: Lawless, is there a map of the big city?

Lawless: Yup, some bored guys once tried to map out the entire city.

Lawless: But it is a few months old and the new blocks that were being developed aren’t on the map.

2567: Old one is fine, send me a copy.

Lawless: Okay!

…

After the messaging ended, a screenshot appeared in Kieran’s PM tab.

While looking at the map and comparing it to the red line on his hand, Kieran’s eyes were getting brighter and brighter.

“Now I see,” Kieran muttered softly after a while.

…

In between the heart of the big city and the path to the outskirts, there was a very special building from common eyes located there.

It was a six-story tall and was divided into three parts.

The first and second floor were connected between a windowsill and the main door.

The third to fifth was made up of many straightened pillars together with large colored glass.

The highest floor was the most eye-catching spot: it was a giant white dome that didn’t match its apricot colored architecture style.

On top of the white dome was a black clock tower. The hands of the clock were ticking, ticking, ticking non-stop, anyone from further away could hear the ticks clearly.

At the street corner stood a metal signboard stating, 009th Amilder Ail Road.

When the screenshot of the map was folded together twice, the intersections and overlaying parts of the road formed the red line around the freaky smiley face and in the middle was indeed 009th Amilder Ail Road.

The place the players called the dome clock tower.

Based on the information Lawless provided, the place was very surprising for the players who just entered the game in the early stages because its pantomime structure was too eye-catching.

Though, as time flew and more players flooded the game, more and more weird structures of the building appeared and the dome clock tower was slowly forgotten.

As for the owner of the house, well since the first owner died, the players who shifted their attention elsewhere didn’t further care about it.

Even a player with a large network like Lawless didn’t know about it.

At that moment, from Kieran’s point of view, it was undoubtedly a method to conceal oneself.

While standing in the shadows, Kieran sized up the surroundings for a while and mapped everything in his mind before stepping out the shadows and headed straight to the main door.

His PM tab was pinging him non-stop, Kieran knew it was from Lawless without even having a look.

Kieran would reject his friend’s request to tag along, not just because of his habitual lone wolf attitude but also because of Lawless’ character flaws.

He couldn’t guarantee whether or not Lawless’ ill side would get the best of him, whether he could keep his friend safe or not.

So, Kieran knew he had to speed things up. Judging from Lawless’ attitude, he must be coming over without further ado regardless of the consequences.

Dang, Dang Dang!

While standing in front of the giant main door that connected the first and second floor, Kieran reached out to the door ring and knocked it several times.

The bronze ring gave out a clear clunking sound as it was knocked at the door’s iron plating and amidst the sound, the door slowly opened up.

After going through the blurry mist that covered up the room, Kieran’s sight was instantly brightened up.

A total of 33 four layer crystal chandeliers hung down from the ceiling, the grand hall of almost a thousand square feet was illuminated by the lights.

Bright black and white tiles were used as the flooring and it was so clean that it reflected Kieran’s features back to him.

Opposite the main gate was a Y-shaped ladder that connected to the second floor on both sides.

On the left side of the first floor of stairs, stood a marionette in a suit, or more precisely a puppet. However, the puppet was much more realistic than any puppet that Kieran encountered before, not only because of its movements but also the intellect it possessed.

“Greetings, Sir 2567. My master and I have been waiting for you! Please come with me!”

The puppet’s jaw moved up and down and a voice came out from its mouth, at the same time he presented a “guiding” gesture towards Kieran.

The puppet then went beside the stairs and only then did Kieran notice there was a small door underneath the turning point of the stairs.

The puppet then pushed open the door and went inside directly.

Kieran didn’t follow. He halted his steps and stood firmly on the spot, staring into the darkness in the door.

Then, he turned around and went up the stairs instead.