The Devil’s Cage

Everyone in the living room had a bad feeling when the phone suddenly rang.

Kieran waved at Eckart who was trying to answer the phone, then answered the phone himself.

“Hello.”

“Sir 2567, it’s great that you are the one who answered. It really saves me a lot of unnecessary trouble and time. I bet you know why I’m calling. Well then… Do you want to save Officer Mei Huasheng?”

After Kieran answered the phone, the voice from the other end spoke through a voice changer, concealing age and gender, just releasing a sharp and irritating noise.

Kieran didn’t ask questions like ‘who are you’, instead he quietly signaled Gorbor to search the area.

Gorbor nodded quickly and went out of the living room.

This mysterious person was able to precisely grasp Lin An’s whereabouts and after the officer came in, the phone rang.

Kieran did not believe this person was a clairvoyant.

So, he was either being followed or being watched, or both.

In fact, it was just as Kieran expected.

A second after Gorbor left the living room, he found the stalker.

He was wearing a raincoat, standing in the middle of the rain, and the moment he saw Gorbor, the stalker lifted one side of his raincoat up, revealing the contents of what he was wearing.

Gorbor, who was about to attack, stopped right away and pressed the alarm button that he had on him.

But, no alarm sounded.

Instead, a message was sent to the bodyguards, together with Eckart and Lyn Amie.

As their phones vibrated because of the incoming message, a line of words was shown—bomb!

When Eckart saw the message, he quickly pointed his phone at Kieran.

Kieran squinted his eyes and the person on the other end spoke again.

“Seems like you have received the gift that I prepared for you. Now, let my messenger into the room. Rain City’s rain can be quite chilly at times. You don’t have to doubt, the bomb that I installed on my messenger is enough to level out your villa with all of you together. Or do you think you can hide in your basement? I am looking forward to your choice.”

The voice purposely paused as though it was giving Kieran time to think.

However, Kieran didn’t hesitate at all and signaled one of Gorbor’s men.

He knew this mysterious person wasn’t joking, or rather, this person had no need to play jokes.

The bomb installed on the messenger would surely level out the villa and everything around it.

If it was possible, Kieran would really want to escape the villa but other than himself, who had as all chance of escaping alive, the others would surely die in the explosion.

Whether it was Eckart or Lin An, either one of them dying would create tremendous problems for him.

Eckart was already an inseparable piece connected to his plan and for Lin An?

His identity would be the biggest problem.

Kieran had no time left to redo everything.

Gorbor slowly stepped back into the living room while the black raincoat messenger walked in step by step.

Droplets of rain fell along the raincoat and drenched the entrance.

When the messenger took down the hood, a pale middle-aged man entered Kieran’s sight.

The man was shivering and scared, trying to say something but before he could, he was stopped by a sudden thought in his mind.

Lin An had started to run background checks on this messenger.

“Wise choice. Did you see my messenger? Then let us continue the conversation—do you want to save Officer Mie Huasheng?”

The voice from the other end of the phone kept talking but Kieran was looking at the ‘messenger’.

The messenger took out a small camera from his raincoat, much smaller and lighter than the common video camera.

“Oh, you are concerned about my messenger? The camera in his hands is also a present for you. I know you are used to being in front of the camera, so I provided a similar environment for you. Of course! The audience will be, as usual, watching you perform live!”

The voice on the other end spoke after Kieran sized up the ‘messenger’.

“Okay, let’s stay on the topic, I don’t like deviating from the conversation.”

“I will ask you again Sir 2567, do you want to save Officer Mei Huasheng?”

“Yes, she’s not bad and considered an acquaintance.”

Although it was the same question from earlier, Kieran answered without a second thought, looking bland and calm as if he was stating a fact.

Lin An, who was running background checks on the ‘messenger’, looked up in shock. He remembered Kieran rejecting him firmly about this before.

With investigations and spending some time together, Lin An knew Kieran wasn’t a person who compromised himself to threats, nothing would change even if his life was on the line.

After the ‘shaman’ show rose in popularity, it attracted a lot of love from the audience but there were also haters. Some extremists even sent death threats to Kieran multiple times.

Lin An, as the liaison from the police, had persuaded Kieran to ‘rest’ for a day or two, giving the police enough time to catch the malicious haters.

‘Let them come’ Kieran replied.

Lin An still remembered how Kieran looked when he gave that answer, which was very similar to his current look.

Was there something different about Mei Huasheng?

The thought bloomed for a second in Lin An’s heart but he quickly shook his head and discarded it.

What a joke!

Mei Huasheng might have decent looks and her relationships with her colleagues were acceptable, but with her personality and character, how would she fare against other ladies as a close friend or a love?

10 out of 10 men would hate her without a doubt. The men would have crawled away, even if their legs were broken.

Given how popularly Kieran was now, if he really wanted to choose, there would be a better choice than the female officer.

More so…

A sudden thought ran through Lin An’s mind and he unconsciously looked at Lyn Amie, the makeup artist, his heart confused even more.

As for the micro-camera in the ‘messenger’s’ hand?

Lin An saw it but he wasn’t thinking about that.

The others shared the same thought as well, all of them looking at Kieran with doubt, confused as to why he would agree to the question.

Kieran’s acting really was top-notch, he fooled everyone.

He had acted everything about his identity as a shaman but did not include his true goals.

Although he had his own goals, the public was attracted to his shaman identity and the most convincing part was Kieran never participated in any other show or events other than Eckart’s ‘shaman show’.

He did it on purpose, of course, because he didn’t want others to realize his true goal and also because the other shows and events couldn’t satisfy him in terms of rewards.

Kieran knew how strong the attraction was towards the ‘mysterious’, and to sacrifice his settings for his identity in exchange for more publicity, the loss would far outweigh the gain and a moment of relief would result in a greater disaster.

Pak Pak Pak!

Claps sounded from the other end of the phone.

“I know my choices are correct.” the voice said with double meaning.

“Now, provide a car for my ‘messenger’, he will bring you to a place. Remember to come alone. If I find anyone else following you, I will set the bomb off. And…”

The voice then purposely prolonged his words.