The Devil’s Cage

The minivan, having left the city center about 10 minutes ago, drove steadily.

It drove away from Rain City and headed towards the outskirts, but the place wasn’t deserted at all.

Kieran was still able to see the street lamps with the headlights on.

“Be prepared for the big surprise!” Eckart said in a mysterious tone.

He was anticipating Kieran’s questioning, but unfortunately, he didn’t know how patient Kieran was after having a friend like Lawless or how he would deal with such teasing.

Silence.

The minivan fell into silence right away, and even Eckart felt awkward and uncomfortable.

“Are you not curious, 2567?” Eckart asked again, but Kieran continued to look outside, not even turning around.

Eckart also stayed quiet as he touched his nose. He started to regret sending Lyn Amie to the bodyguard’s van.

If the makeup artist were with him, he might still be able to shift the topic.

But now? Awkward.

Fortunately, the awkwardness didn’t last long. Three minutes later, when the minivan went over a hill, it finally came to a stop.

Before the minivan was a taller hill with many light sparkles decorating it. They were actually hillside villas that were built in a secluded spot, and if it weren’t for the lights, the villas would have been practically invisible at night.

The villas looked as if they were separate from the noisy city life, yet they maintained their prosperous views with the lights garnishing the area.

A single glance from Kieran told him that the villa area must be the work of some famous architect.

“Inside.” Eckart pointed at the villa area.

As for the guards at the entrance, they were handled by the bodyguard cum driver.

Gorbor, the bodyguard who Eckart hired with a large price, didn’t let him down. A few seconds later, the gate to the villa area slowly opened up.

“Sir, I don’t suggest going in. The security here is tight, but without proper communication, we will be impeded instead.”

Gorbor, who got back into the driver seat, reminded his employer again dutifully.

“Don’t worry. I might have worried if we were going to any other place, but here, we don’t have to,” Eckart said with confidence.

Gorbor wisely shut up when his employer voiced out his confidence.

He knew what his employer spent money on: for safety, not nagging.

So Gorbor vigilantly kept an eye on the surroundings and signalled to his colleagues in the other van behind.

When the minivan finally stopped, the surroundings were under Gorbor and his colleagues’ control. Gorbor even stood in front of the door of the minivan.

“Don’t worry. It’s fine.” Eckart tapped on Gorbor’s shoulder. The bodyguard nodded but had no intention of moving away.

He and his colleagues acted as meat shields as they escorted their employer to one particular hillside villa.

“Hello, I’m the one who made the booking earlier…” Eckart pressed on the comms at the door.

Kieran, on the other hand, sized up his surroundings habitually.

There were many pine trees planted in the area, and the path they were standing on was a stone path made of stone tablets of various sizes. The stone path extended all the way from the gate to the villa door, and from the small tablets at the gate to the bigger intact piece in front of the door, every piece of tablet was laid down according to size.

Kieran glanced at the stone path and showed slight shock.

He did not know about common rocks, but he knew that all the stone tablets of different sizes laid inside the path were from a single giant piece of rock.

Crushing a giant piece of rock into tablets of different sizes to form a path was not an easy feat.

The size of the rock must be big enough and its volume sufficient to fill the path.

In other words, the original piece of rock was cut vertically tablet by tablet by a grinding knife and must not be cut horizontally.

“Interesting.” Kieran slightly squinted his eyes at the stone path after a second glance.

Then, he turned around and looked at the opening door.

A beautiful attendant in a maid outfit stood there.

“Everyone, please follow me.” The attendant’s soft and pleasant voice led the group inside.

After Eckart nodded, Kieran followed too.

When they entered the villa, their sight was greatly expanded.

Brilliant green bamboo forest, cobblestone paths; the bamboo forest was thick and vast and the cobblestone path was small and winding.

Under the soft lighting, a crystal clear scene hid in the bamboo forest.

When the wind blew, the sound of fluttering bamboo converged with the murmuring of little streams.

A sense of tranquility and comfortable feeling spread in everyone’s heart.

The vigilant Gorbor eased up a little, and the makeup artist couldn’t help but take in deep breaths while enjoying the lushness of the environment.

Eckart then looked at Kieran.

“How is it?” Eckart whispered.

“Not bad,” Kieran replied.

The response wasn’t to brush Eckart away though. Everything that Kieran saw was really a decent scenery; the cobblestones of different sizes, the lush bamboo forest. A lot of effort was put in to create a scene like this, let alone the lake hidden in the middle of the bamboo forest.

Kieran could already hear fishes jumping out of the water.

No one would say bad things about this place, likewise, everyone would enjoy themselves in this comfortable environment, to the point that they wouldn’t want to return to the outside world.

“This is getting interesting.” Kieran curled the corner of his lips, showing a faint smile as he followed the maid, shuttling through the bamboo forest on the winding path.

A wooden house with extra rooms on both flanks appeared in Kieran’s sight, its doors opened widely.

House of Han!

A wooden sign crafted by hand hung under the eave.

“Please hold on. Mr. Dao will come out soon,” the maid said, bowing and walking aside.

“This is the restaurant that you mentioned was operated by a true culinary master?” Kieran asked.

“Restaurant? No, this is the House of Han! A place countless foodies in Rain City admire,” Eckart shook his head and emphasized.

“Isn’t it the same? It is where people eat,” Kieran said.

“It’s not! Because… The food crafted by Mr. Dao will not disappoint any foodie.”

Eckart looked respectful when he mentioned the culinary master.

“Is that so? If that’s really the case, I guess it really won’t disappoint.”

Kieran looked around again and anticipation was mixed in his words.

He really wanted to know how this Mr. Dao’s craft food would not disappoint.

Bang!

After a loud wooden noise captured everyone’s attention, a strong, heavy man’s voice came from inside the House of Han.

“2567, please come in. The others… please return.”