The Devil’s Cage

Smith was touching the patterns along his alcohol container inside his room.

The pattern wasn’t part of the container, it was actually a part of the cover, which he made from leather to prevent friction and damage to his real container.

The leather cover was very intricate, a glance at it would make you think it was part of the container.

There was a ring at the inner upper part, allowing Smith to easily hang it over his waist.

For Smith, the best thing about the cover was the convenience in carrying.

Gulp, Gulp Gulp.

A few big gulps of his alcohol later, Smith said in a blurry tone.

“An unexpected intervention? What a headache.”

Bolt, who was beside Smith, moved its head towards Smith, pushing his hand to show affection.

“Don’t worry, I am fine. It’s not that bad, I can still cope with the unexpected situation.”

Smith waved at Bolt and showed a smile. He then looked outside the room.

Clear footsteps entered his ears.

There were two people outside.

One was Romuse’s most loyal and efficient subordinate: Tyrese.

The other one was the person that he had been waiting for: 2567!

“Professor Smith…”

“Come in. And there is none of your business here.”

Smith answered the door when he heard the knocks and he waved at Tyrese to shoo him away.

Tyrese couldn’t help but show a bitter smile at Smith’s reaction.

Although both of them were professors at the school, Tyrese was far from Smith in terms of strength and achievements, especially the latter, where Tyrese could only catch a glimpse of the dust Smith left behind.

Therefore, after a glance at Kieran, Tyrese went out of the room.

Tyrese didn’t stand outside the door though.

Kieran could hear Tyrese’s footsteps heading further away from the building and only stopped when he was completely out.

Tyrese was waiting in an optimal location, a spot where he could not hear the conversation but would be able to attend to any kind of unexpected situation.

“Smart ass,” Smith pouted and pointed at the sofa as he looked at Kieran.

“At least he isn’t all that bad,” Kieran answered as he sat down.

“You are saying that after you’ve found him and he told you where I was?” Smith didn’t argue, but the dissatisfaction in his words was obvious.

“The recent commotion has gotten out of hand,” Kieran gave an irrelevant answer.

“So you came to me?” Smith grinned.

“Yup. I don’t understand why, amidst all the commotion, you warned me beforehand and gave me such benefits?” Kieran nodded.

“Living a cautious life is very tiring,” Smith said as though he was giving a reminder.

“At least it’s better than dying all of a sudden,” Kieran wasn’t moved.

“Death isn’t all that scary sometimes. The scary thing is people like you facing death. After going through despair, struggles and many more crazy things, your talent is enough to turn eyes—Romuse and I had a bet and you are the key point, which is why I gave you the Seed of Fusion. I know people like you will cause me great trouble once you discover the truth.”

Smith shrugged and uncorked his container again.

“You seem to know a great deal about me,” Kieran asked.

“Not you, it’s myself.”

Smith took a gulp, shook the container and listened to the waving liquid inside, which sounded very pleasant to him.

Judging from the echoes, there were still half of what was inside and it seemed like a sign for Smith to ‘stop’.

He carefully put away his container at his waist and continued, “Maybe you won’t believe me but you reminded me of my younger self, we are exactly the same! Whether in terms of looks or personality or even the way of doing things. Things might seem different now but look at my eyes, my brows and nose, does it strike a resemblance?”

Smith pointed at himself, wanting to make Kieran believe what he said.

“Em. I will try my best to not get bald, blind, and crippled,” Kieran answered seriously.

“I’m not fully bald! Just partially!” Smith emphasized.

“Is there a difference?” Kieran asked.

“Of course there is! I shaved it on my own, it wasn’t caused by natural aging! It’s like how your prize food during the freshmen dinner got stolen by Maye, and from there, you lured out Lude, Derton and even Palreynold of Sil Sect,” Smith said.

“So you are interested in the Index of Eat?” Kieran gaze at Smith and asked slowly.

“Index of Eat? A little bit but what concerned me more is Sil Sect. Based on what I know, Sil Sect doesn’t have an Inner Sect whatsoever, but now they’ve appeared and displayed Sil Sect’s signature: speed and items. They even infused sharpness into their palms, which is a notably high attainments of Sil Sect. Therefore, I have reason to suspect Sil Inner Sect really does exist, it’s just that I’ve never heard of them before. This is exactly how bullsh*t this world is. Every time you think you’ve gotten control of everything, there is some little thing that escaped your control and caused you anxiety,” Smith pouted in dissatisfaction at the end.

“So you want to know more about Sil Inner Sect from me? Or Lude and Palreynold’s location?” Kieran asked.

“Either one will do, Sil Inner Sect or Lude and Palreynold’s location. I’ll pay you handsomely,” Smith nodded.

Kieran looked at Smith seriously, seeing sincerity in his face.

He did not sense any malicious intent either.

In simple words, should he agree to Smith’s deal, he would get his hands on a handsome reward, but he shook his head.

“Too bad. I don’t know anything about the either of them. I discovered clues about Lude and Palreynold because of a series of coincidence and after multiple deals with Garcia. As long as they weren’t idiots, they will know where the problem lies. As a matter of fact, the source that I’ve got was already broken when Garcia made a move against Palreynold,” Kieran said as if everything was true. Arleast it was in Smith’s eyes because it was very reasonable.

A spy from the Dark Sect or Inner Sect had went undercover for so long. If he could be exposed that easily, the said spy would have vanished a long time ago in the river of history.

“Trouble, trouble, trouble. For you and for me,” Smith sighed.

Kieran looked at Smith in confusion.

“You don’t think the matter with Oliford Ryde is over right?”

Smith leaned back into bro he sofa and locked his eyes on Kieran.

Kieran was prepared for this, pretending to frown.

“Those family-related matters are always so troublesome,” Kieran said.

His tone bore disgust and skillfully revealed a sense of impatience.

Kieran wasn’t a native, but reading a vast amount of text granted him a grasp over very crucial information. Plus how Oliford Ryde did things, Kieran knew what kind of attitude he should use to describe the incident so that he could wash away his suspicion.

“It is even more troublesome than you thought. Go to Tyrese if there’s anything. Didn’t you say he is a good person? I bet he can help you.”

Smith curled his legs up on the sofa and shut his only eye.

It was obvious that he wanted to end the conversation and Kieran didn’t have any intention to stay.

Kak!

After the door was shut, Kieran vanished beyond the door. Smith opened his eye and looked at Bolt, who was beside his feet.

“Got his smell? Follow the smell and search around, we might be in for a surprise,” Smith said.

Bolt nodded and vanished from the room.

With Bolt’s absence, Smith shrunk himself back on the sofa.

“If I don’t spend my effort to search for evidence, how would I know if you are telling the truth?” Smith muttered in a blurry voice.

…

“Professor Smith and Principal Romuse had a bet? What is the bet about?”

Kieran and Tyrese were walking on the little pathway back to the student dorm together, Kieran not bothering to conceal his curiosity as he asked the question out loud.

“I can’t tell you the details because it is related to Principal Romuse and Professor Smith’s privacy. I can only tell you with their consent.” Tyrese looked at Kieran.

“Ryde Family has sent people over to Theorate, they will arrive in the next few days, so you better be careful,” Tyrese added as if he wanted to make up to Kieran.

“Professor Smith warned me about that,” Kieran answered.

“This isn’t just a simple reminder, I am warning you as a professor. Oliford Ryde is first in line to the family throne. He is directly related to a bunch of people and their future benefits. Although a lot of people wanted him gone for good, many more of them hoped that he could be the leader of the family. You have my number in your communicator. If there is anything you need, call me, I’ll deal with the trouble and if I can’t, we still have Principal Romuse. Remember, you are a student of Theorate, the First Seat of the freshmen, the whole of Theorate is your support,” Tyrese said seriously.

“Noted,” Kieran nodded slightly and did not further comment on the claims.

He always believed and relied on himself rather than someone else. That would not change, even in this particular moment.

Tyrese sighed helplessly when he saw Kieran’s reaction.

All the First Seats shared a similar arrogance. Only when they truly lost something would they understand that their mistakes and childish behaviour were laughable.

However, only a handful of people would have the chance to emerge anew because most of them would be remembered by others under the grave.

‘Hope you are not the latter,’ Tyrese said in his heart.

He didn’t say anything else to Kieran because he knew his words would be useless. For the time being, all he could do was increase security around Kieran.

Kieran noticed the changes of expression on Tyrese’s face, knowing what went on in the professor’s mind but he didn’t remind the professor or make him to change anything.

From a certain angle, Kieran needed the professor to react the way he did, at least it would add more scruples to Smith’s actions.

Kieran wasn’t worried about the so-called Ryde Family, he was more worried about Professor Smith at the moment.

After the little conversation with Professor Tyrese, he knew Smith was still hiding something.

More importantly, Smith’s common words sounded like they were probing Kieran, therefore Smith never did trust Kieran and would not trust the words that came out from his mouth.

Smith would have to search for evidence himself before he would believe anything.

Coincidentally, Kieran was also a dubious person, so he knew what he must do next.

Kieran parted with Tyrese in front of the student dorm and was welcomed by Lester before he headed up.

Professor Tyrese saw Lester, the ex-Dark Eater, and wanted to say something but nothing came out from his mouth. He shook his head, sighing in the end.

In the professor’s mind, he added three more guards on top of the planned number.

Once both of them got back to the dorm room, Lester naturally leaned towards the wall and sat down on the floor, taking out a few independent LCD screens.

For an ex-Dark Eater, he had barely any requirements for a comfortable living environment, trying to avoid capture and conceal his presence. Therefore, comfortable living environment was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

However, sitting out right in the room, enjoying the sunlight, breeze, and normal food was a delightful experience. Lester cherished every moment of it and he’d protect everything with utmost carefulness.

All the corridors, the rooftop, the entrance and all the blind spots in the building had surveillance cameras installed.

He’d try to capture every single person who entered the building with his ‘eyes’.

Kieran did not interrupt Lester’s work; realizing Lester’s gift in mechanical engineering, he was more than happy to receive more help from Lester.

Frost Wolf got close to Kieran and kept sniffing his backpack. It wagged its tail as it showed an interested look.

[Crimson Ghost Stomach] had the ability to isolate smell. Even with Frost Wolf’s sense of smell, it would never sniff out what was in the backpack, same thing went for [Battle Fanatic Box].

The reason why Frost Wolf acted like that was because it was very familiar with its master.

It could tell based on Kieran’s slightly changed aura that he had acquired a handsome gain.

“Smart little fella.”

Kieran touched Frost Wolf’s head but he did not bring out the [Drops of Finest Cream], which he had prepared for both of his animal companion.

First, it wasn’t safe here.

Second, the smell.

If he fed Frost Wolf and Fire Raven the [Drops of Finest Cream], it would be hard for them to suppress the smell of the item and once traced, his whole plan would fall short.

Wuu wuuu.

Frost Wolf whimpered, trying to win fondness.

“Soon, believe me,” Kieran said before he took out a book which he hasn’t finished.

After noticing Kieran’s reaction, Frost Wolf stopped its whimpers and curled up beside Kieran’s feet with erected ears, listening to its surrounding.

Fire Raven was at a window further away, scanning the surroundings with its keen eyes.

It suddenly became extremely hard for the watcher, who just got close.