The Devil’s Cage

As the old doctor came out of his office, the Warden, who had been waiting for him on the third floor outside the infirmary, swarmed him questions.

”Dr. Fenkes, how is he?”

After Kieran had performed first aid to help Old Tom, they had rushed him to the infirmary and allowed Dr. Fenkes to perform emergency treatment on him.

”He’ll live, but he’s still out cold,” the old doctor said, letting out a long breath.

As the only doctor at the prison, Dr. Fenkes knew that the odds of Old Tom surviving were not particularly good.

Death was Old Tom’s best option now, but that was not for him to decide. He was just a doctor after all. All he could do was carry out his duties to the fullest.

”Good, very good. As long as he’s alive, it’s all good. If he dies, I’ll have no way to locate his accomplices!” Warden Sherko said with a vicious expression. Warden Sherko was not an idiot. The fact that he had become the Warden of the facility was proof enough of his intelligence. He had been the fastest to collect his thoughts and calm down during the incident, and the first to realize that the goal had been to kill a witness.

Not only had he immediately sent away the other prison guards, but he had also forbidden anyone other than Kieran and Zywane to approach the infirmary.

Kieran was clear on what Warden Sherko wanted to do. It was obvious that he was infuriated. After all, his Deputy had just been killed by one of his subordinates.

During the process of saving Old Tom, the Warden had mumbled words like ”kill”, ”rip his neck off”, and other things along that line.

Kieran was confident that even if Old Tom did not make it, Warden Sherko would still let the other guards believe that he was alive. It was the only way to lure out the other accomplices, even if he had to lie about someone’s death.

The Warden had displayed unusual persistence and pride.

After he made sure that Old Tom was still alive, he turned around to thank Kieran for his help.

”Thank you for your help, Mr. 2567. It seems like I was right to hire you. It’s probably the best choice I have made in a while.”

”It’s been our pleasure to work for you, Warden Sherko. Besides, I’m more than willing to help you find the other accomplices!” Kieran said with a courteous smile.

Of course, the smile and courtesy were not because of the Warden. Kieran was smiling because the Sub Mission he had been assigned had been completed smoothly. That was clearly not the end, though.

[Sub Mission: Unexpected Killer (Completed)]

After Kieran noticed that the Sub Mission had been completed, he waited patiently for the Warden’s reply.

He believed that by completing the first Sub Mission [Poison] and the most recent one [Unexpected Killer] he had earned enough of the Warden’s trust.

Yes, everything was as Kieran had anticipated. After giving his words some thought, Warden Sherko nodded in approval.

”I’ll be really glad to have your help on this matter, 2567! I hope that you can diffuse the situation in the prison quickly, just like you solved Old Tom’s case here,” he said.

[Sub Mission Unlocked: Secret Accomplices]

[Sub Mission: Old Tom was not alone in this. There is someone more vicious and cunning behind him. Find the culprit!]

As Warden Sherko spoke, a Sub Mission notification popped up in Kieran’s vision again.

Kieran replied with a smile. His smile looked really bright and dazzling to Zywane, who was standing off to the side, observing the situation.

When Zywane had dashed up to the second floor earlier, he had ended up looking like a naive fool. Obviously, there must have been something going on for Kieran to be just standing there, but Zywane’s anxiousness had made him miss the opportunity.

”Damn it!”

Zywane had encountered several bumps along the mission after meeting Kieran. His irritation got the best of him, and he gazed at Kieran with an unfriendly expression.

Kieran’s D+ Intuition had picked up Zywane’s unfriendly gaze. He did not give a damn about it, though.

Given the binding of the Team Contract, unless Zywane had a death wish, he would not try to do Kieran any harm.

Their relationship was not important enough for Zywane to lose his life over it.

Kieran turned his attention away from Zywane and back to the Warden, reminding him to elaborate on the situation.

”Could you explain the whole situation around the prison to me and my colleagues downstairs?”

”You don’t represent them all?” the Warden looked at Kieran in surprise.

”We all have our own specialty and we work together as a team, not individually,” Kieran explained.

”Very well, go back to the room and wait for me. I’ll be there in a moment,” the Warden said with a nod.

”As you wish.” Kieran kept smiling as he parted ways with the Warden and headed downstairs, scanning the corridor of the third floor as he passed.

The corridor that led the to west side of the third floor was split in half by two big iron fences. The east side was where the guards lived, and the west side was where the prisoners were held.

The guards there were armed, and guarded the area in shifts of two.

On the corridor’s wall were security cameras. There was no camera blind zone on the whole floor. Everything was being recorded. At least that was the arrangement on the third floor. The first and second floor were only divided by a concrete wall. There was no iron fence.

That must have been why Old Tom and his accomplices had chosen to lure the Deputy Warden out, and not kill him in his office on the third floor.

If anything had happened on the third floor, the culprit would not have escaped. Even if they had been able to silently assassinate the Deputy Warden, the security cameras would still have recorded everything.

It would all have been revealed after a short investigation.

As soon as Kieran answered one of the questions in his head, another one popped up.

Why was the prison been built that way?

The floor that held the Warden and Deputy Warden’s office along with the infirmary had a passage that led to where the prisoners were held. It seemed extremely odd to Kieran.

From his point of view, a concrete wall would have been a lot safer than a fence.

Another thing that was troubling him was the Warden’s attitude. Kieran and his team had been hired by the prison to solve the mysteries taking place there, but judging by the Warden’s attitude back there, the mysteries must not have been as urgent as they sounded.

The Warden seemed to care less about solving the mysteries and more about protecting his pride.

Truth be told, the Warden has displayed such an attitude right from the beginning.

He had arranged for the Deputy to welcome Kieran and his team at the docks, and the welcome feast had been coordinated by a common prison guard. If it was not for the poisoning incident, Kieran thought the Warden would never even have showed up.

”Interesting.” Kieran smirked as he walked down the stairs slowly.

...

”2567, you’re really lucky! Come give me a hug and share some of your luck!”

When Kieran returned to the room where his team members were, he was warmly welcomed. Lawless opened his arms wide to give him hug.

Kieran dodged his incoming affection with ease.

”It was just a coincidence,” he replied.

Lawless knew everything that had happened following the poisoning in the cafeteria. Jack the prison guard must have told him. Kieran could not think of anyone else that could have.

”You also need to have strength and luck for coincidences to occur! So any new discoveries?” Lawless asked seriously when he stopped joking.

”I have nothing,” Zywane replied before he lay down on a bed, not saying anything else.

Lawless was not concerned about him. He was more fond of Kieran than him, anyway.

Zywane was all well and good, but compared to Kieran, who had been able to acquire two [Tekken-II] rocket launchers in the newbie dungeon and ten pieces of jewels in the first dungeon, the gap of strength and luck between them was very wide.

”There’s something off about the Warden,” Kieran stated his discovery.

Any information about the Main Mission had to be shared with the team. There was nothing to hide.

”Hmm…” Lawless touched his chin, appearing to be in deep thought.

”Anything?” Kieran asked in anticipation as he saw Lawless’ pondering expression.

Lawless had survived through seven dungeons, so Kieran was not going to underestimate him. He could not even compete with his strength and experience.

He knew Lawless might be able to catch any details that he had missed.

”Absolutely not! I’m not good at analysing. It’s only during a battle that I can fully use my power!” Lawless answered seriously.

Kieran looked as if lightning had struck him before he rolled his eyes at Lawless.

Even Zywane, who had been pretending to take a nap on the bed, and Starbeck and co. had frozen for a while. The answer had caught everyone off guard.

”I’ll leave such troublesome things to you, 2567! When the monsters come out, leave it to me! We have to work as a team, right?” Lawless said as he laughed out loud.

His laughter quickly faded away as suddenly Kieran’s ears picked up a series of footsteps approaching their room. It was the Warden.

An overdue knock sounded on their door.