The Devil’s Cage

Kak!

As he closed the door behind him, lines of words appeared in Kieran’s vision.

[Absorbed energy, rewards turnaround authentication started…]

[Insufficient energy, authentication failed…]

Two lines of words made Kieran squint his eyes.

With much experience in his bag, Kieran instantly had guesses about the situation at hand.

He turned around and looked at the studio that was behind the door. His squinted eyes showed a brilliant shine.

In the end, he decided to alter his upcoming plans to cope with the new things

In the dressing room, Lyn Amie sighed when he saw the message on his smartphone.

Before this, he had known about the rumours between Director Wang and Mikes, but he never thought it would end up like this.

Of course, Kieran was the one that surprised him the most.

“He solved the murder almost instantly. Could it really be…that there are really shamans out there? No way, right? He must have used some detective tricks.”

The thought in his heart made the makeup artist shake his head. When he saw the continuous messages, even though most of them were just gossip, Lyn Amie was able to find a reasonable explanation for himself.

The methods of a detective may be wondrous, but it was much more logical and acceptable than crediting it to a ‘shaman’. Similar to the audience, they watched this segment of the show not because they really thought shamans existed, but because of curiosity.

So, when Kieran walked into the dressing room, Lyn Amie waved his hand.

“Hello, my great detective.”

“Em.”

Kieran nodded and sat back in his chair.

“You admit it?” Lyn Amie looked at Kieran in astonishment.

In Lyn Amie’s perspective, even if Kieran wanted to maintain the identity of a participant in the ‘shaman’ show, he should have at least held on to the identity of a shaman, not admitting that he was a detective.

“Admit what?” Kieran asked back.

“Your identity as a detective! Come on, my boy, a detective shouldn’t tease people with wordplay like this. It’s not a gentleman thing to do at all,” Lyn Amie said angrily.

“Wordplay is always a detective’s favourite, so is the case for a shaman. Because… words themselves have quite the magical power,” Kieran replied calmly.

Then he closed his eyes.

He had to wait for a while because of the slight alteration in his plan and, of course, to seize the time to rest whenever he could.

[Tracking] was forcefully reduced to Musou level; its effect was similar to the real Musou level, and it didn’t decrease a bit, but what remained was the Stamina consumption.

With Kieran’s Advance Rank Constitution as support before this, the consumption was not much, but now, with only E+ rank Constitution, the Stamina consumption was a little overbearing for him. In fact, in order to confirm more of his conjectures, he had activated [Tracking] for a second, but the moment he started to use it, he felt tired.

If Kieran had not relied on his powerful willpower, that moment alone would have exhausted him on the stage.

His long and steady breath sounded like he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Lyn Amie thought he would have to argue further, but instead, he took a jacket and placed it over Kieran before leaving the dressing room without a noise.

The door was quietly shut.

Kieran slightly opened his eyes when the door closed, and after a peek, he closed his eyes again and maintained his long and steady breaths.

He even produced some light snores.

10 minutes later, Kieran woke up from his nap.

Dak Dak Dak!

Noise produced by a pair of leather shoes on wooden flooring came from the corridor, and it clearly entered Kieran’s ears. He was rubbing his temples when there came a knock on the door.

Dok, Dok, Dok.

“Come in,” Kieran said.

The door opened after permission was granted.

Lyn Amie and an unfamiliar middle-aged man walked in, followed by another pair of uniformed police officers, a man and a woman.

The male officer was around his fifties, his face full of wrinkles, and even with the police hat, he couldn’t conceal the grey hairs around his temples.

The female officer was young; she looked ordinary but not ugly by any means. Her uniform made her look valiant and energetic, especially her eyes, which were sharp and full of reverence. Although she was the last in the group, she was the most eye-catching one, like a lioness.

Kieran couldn’t help but take another glance at her because he noticed something different about the female officer.

A killer aura different from others’.

‘She has killed before! And not just once!’

The two officers seemed interesting. Not just the killer aura, but also some differences in their movements.

The middle-aged officer who walked in front seemed to be leading the group, but his steps were slightly hesitant. Every two steps he took, he would turn around for a glance, but he seemed to hold back. Despite trying his best to cover it up, it looked extremely weird before Kieran’s eyes.

The female officer, on the other hand, strode forward, a strong manner appearing on her from time to time; everytime she almost overtook the male officer in front, she would pause before continuing.

‘The female officer should be the superior and the male her subordinate.

‘But they purposely swapped roles! Is it for a better observation? Or…’

The guesses in his heart didn’t show on his face. Kieran looked at the group of visitors without any obvious expression.

“This is Director Eckart, chief of the TV station. And this is Officer Lin and Officer Mei.”

Lyn Amie introduced each one of them.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. 2567. I have something to discuss with you, but before that, these two officers here wanted to see you. Don’t worry, it’s nothing severe. They are here to understand the murder that just took place. Just tell the officers honestly, and you will be fine. Amie and I will be right outside, so call us if you need anything.”

Director Eckart nodded with a smile.

“Thanks,” Kieran replied politely to the director of the station; he knew his altered plan was already halfway to success.

The director’s smile grew brighter. It seemed like he was happy with the answer.

Director Eckart waved at Lyn Amie, and both of them went outside the dressing room, leaving Kieran with the two officers.

When the door shut, the female officer showed her dissatisfaction with Eckart’s attitude, but she quickly stopped her grunts and laid eyes on Kieran.

Her eyes were judgmental and… showed a little disgust.

Disgust?

A sudden realization rose within Kieran’s heart.

Shamans in this world mostly represented one thing: con-men.

It was natural that an officer detested a con-man.

Therefore, Kieran knew the upcoming conversation might not be as pleasant as he wished.

As a matter of fact, it really happened as he expected.

“Mr. 2567, we are here just to understand some things. You don’t need to be nervous. Can you tell us what happened just now?” the middle-aged officer asked with a smile.

Before Kieran could answer, the female officer stepped in. “How did you figure out that Wang Du was the killer? Or did you find some clues? Or… did you see the process with your own eyes?”

Her words weren’t just blunt, she wasn’t polite either.