The Devil’s Cage

Kieran walked out the exit. A man with a staff badge stood in the corridor.

The man was slightly chubby with a little beard on his chin. The badge at his neck claimed him to be an assistant director; his name had only a single word, Li.

“Why aren’t you putting on makeup? Nevermind, hurry up! You are up next! Follow me!”

The assistant director walked over to Kieran and sized him up from top to bottom. He looked surprised, but he quickly rushed Kieran in an impatient way.

Without further ado, Kieran followed the assistant director along the corridor, made three turns and arrived at the end of the corridor.

The door at the end was covered by a thick curtain, but the faint breathing noises behind the curtains entered Kieran’s ears because of his Intuition, which was at its peak for a commoner.

Kieran quietly looked at the assistant director who guided him.

“Go in.”

The assistant director was still impatient, but his face showed a sense of pleasure at the other’s misfortune.

Since Kieran had seen some reality TV show before, he knew what was going on. He lifted the curtain.

At once, strong lights and a microphone appeared before his eyes.

The host who held the microphone in front of Kieran’s face was so close; he looked eager to stuff the microphone up Kieran’s nose.

At the same time, cheers resounded.

“Hello, Candidate 2567!”

A thin man with a moustache and smiling eyes was revealed as the host; he spoke loudly and went according to the script.

However, what the host saw was an expressionless face with a cold gaze.

Kieran’s expression surprised the host, cameraman and the lighting personnel. Compared to the other shamans who got scared when being greeted, Kieran’s reaction was a little too calm. His gaze especially wasn’t just calm anymore; the coldness from his gaze could send chills down one’s spine.

The host, cameraman and lighting personnel twisted their bodies out of discomfort, but professionals were professionals.

The host quickly shifted the topic since the initial fright had failed.

“A very unique name, but I think it’s nothing unusual among you shamans, right? Well then… Candidate 2567, do you have anything you want to say?” the host asked.

“No,” Kieran replied coldly.

“No? You don’t have anything to say to your parents, your family or your friends?” the host replied with an exaggerated expression before continuing the question.

“No.” Kieran was still just as cold.

“Very well then, Candidate 2567, who doesn’t have anything to say. Let us begin the main course for today. You’ve arrived at our show through many selection processes. Our show knows about everything that you can do, but the audience doesn’t know. So, can you showcase it for us here?”

The host then posted a ‘please’ gesture. Then he, the cameraman and the lighting personnel curled up their lips uncontrollably. It was very subtle, but Kieran, who kept his attention on the host, saw it clearly.

The grin was very familiar to Kieran.

Countless people appeared before him with such grin before; they laughed at his poor background, his pitiful lifestyle, etc.

Once these ill-intentioned people attracted laughs from the crowd, they would apologize, pretending to be nice and sincere.

‘Sorry, it’s just a joke.’

‘Are you okay? It’s just a joke, can’t you afford to play along?’

Kieran heard such explanations countless times throughout his life, but no matter how many times he heard them, he would never think of them as some joke.

Joy itself should be great, but joy built on others’ suffering isn’t so beautiful anymore.

So Kieran would use his actions to tell those ill-intentioned people what a joke was, what it cost to laugh at him.

His fists were his regular weapons, sometimes beer bottles or chairs or bricks, anything he could get his hands on.

Then?

He would be attacked by groups, become isolated, get labeled as a loner, a deviant from the group.

The hideous side of human nature was shown vividly and incisively at that time.

The first lesson of society told Kieran how heavy the cost was for not conforming to a group: he wouldn’t get the pay he deserved and would be fired without valid reason.

In the lessons of society, some people learned to compromise; others still followed their own way of living, drawing the criticism of others while doing so.

The former would live a better, scrumptious life, while the latter would find it harder to survive.

Unfortunately, Kieran was the latter.

He didn’t want to compromise, nor was he willing to compromise or conform to those group of ‘people’.

He lived in his own way.

It was hard, but it was quieter and more comfortable for him.

As for those ‘people’?

Of course, Kieran remembered them.

Kieran had a decent memory, especially when someone ‘reminded’ him of something, then he wouldn’t be able to forget even if he wanted to.

Someone persuades you to let it go?

What right do they have if the bad things never happened to them and they never stepped in your shoes?

If a bystander tells you to let it go, take the brick beside you or whatever you can get, smash it in his face and tell him ‘I hit you, now you let it go’.

If the person really lets it go, you can try listening to the advice.

If the person doesn’t? Another smash with the brick. Tell him what society is.

The coldness in Kieran’s eyes got colder.

The host before his eyes didn’t just remind him of the unpleasant past, but also those kinds of delightful bystanders.

Kieran couldn’t find a brick around him, what a pity.

So he chose a more direct way.

He released his killer aura.

The killer aura of someone who had slaughtered myriads of souls.

Maybe his core powers were sealed away.

Maybe his stats had plummeted.

Maybe his equipment was forbidden.

But it didn’t mean Kieran was lacking in ways to respond.

Wung!

The host, cameraman, and lighting personnel’s heart skipped a beat. Then they realized the man standing in front of them had become a beast that devoured its prey based on selection.

A heavy stench assaulted their noses. It was the flow of blood.

Wails echoed in their ears. It was the fading of life.

“Aarh!”

The host, cameraman and lightning personnel cried out in shock uncontrollably.

They faltered backwards a few meters before panting heavily.

They then looked at Kieran with anxious, doubtful gazes.

Kieran still had that same old look, cold and expressionless.

No beast, no flowing blood, no wails of the dead.

Everything seemed to have been an illusion playing tricks on their minds.

“Ha-ha, haha! That was a joke just now! Seems like our Candidate 2567 has the least amount of humour. Well then, shall we begin? Candidate 2567, please step forward. There are three doors, one of which I’ve just been through; I want you to locate that door…”

The host diverted the topic with a forced laugh. He wanted to use his words to cover up the embarrassment, but before he could finish, he was stopped abruptly.

Kieran directly went over to the door, opened it and walked inside.

It was the correct door, of course.

The host’s joke was not funny at all, as everything was reality.