The Devil’s Cage

“Leo!”

Moments later, the middle-aged man shouted out of shock, his face turned pale and his fists tightened.

Without further ado, he dashed out of the car.

The driver also came down and arrived at the spot where Leo Ryde landed after he was thrown out the window. A little check later, the driver shook his head at the middle-aged man.

“YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR BLOOD!” he shouted and dashed into the cafeteria.

The students who were there for breakfast were pushed away by the middle-aged man as he charged forward.

The students didn’t know what happened.

Bang!

Another heavy thud sounded, something heavy was thrown out again.

The middle-aged man who charged up to the First Seat lounge landed perfectly beside Leo Ryde who was thrown out the window earlier. It looked rather tidy from up high.

However, the students couldn’t care about the tidiness. They scattered away in panic and looked up at the window.

When they noticed both the bodies were thrown out from the window at the First Seat lounge, sudden realization hit them right away.

Every student had heard about the rumours regarding the First Seat one way or another, it sounded like a clap of thunder in their ears because wherever the First Seat went, death followed.

Some of them treated it as a joke at first but as time flew, the joke became reality, especially in this moment where the two bodies landed in their own blood, who would treat the rumour as a joke anymore?

Not even Gutti could laugh at this when she arrived, not even Professor Tyrese who arrived later.

Both of them looked at each other before they headed up to the First Seat lounge.

Inside the First Seat lounge, they saw plates as tall as Kieran himself on both his sides.

The food he ate was enough to feed at least 10 people!

As expected of…

Gutti glanced over Kieran and came up with a conclusion. She felt Kieran had gotten even more unusual on top of his outstanding presence.

She pretended to be calm after she saw Kieran but her gaze had some extra emotions mixed into it—there were shyness and anticipation.

Gutti even forgot why she was there under all the mixed feelings. All she did was stand in place, twisting her body shyly and grabbing the edge of her skirt tightly.

Professor Tyrese looked at Gutti in shock. He heard about some rumors about Gutti’s family but he never thought Gutti would choose Kieran.

Trouble! Big trouble!

Troublesome thoughts rose in Professor Tyrese’s heart but the dutiful professor knew what he must attend to first.

Two more from Ryde Family got thrown out the window!

“2567, what just…”

“Yep, I threw them down.”

Kieran nodded before Professor Tyrese even asked.

“Do you know what you’ve just done?” Professor Tyrese widened his eyes.

“I know.”

“But those who interrupt my meal and even attacked me are dead, not even God can save them,” Kieran nodded again.

“Do you know what the consequences of your actions are? The Ryde Family is not like the others…”

The professor pointed at Kieran, as if he wanted to scold him but he sighed heavily and lowered his hand in the end.

Tyrese always thought Kieran was quite the loner but he could deal with things in a calm sense, he shouldn’t have done what he did: killing two people from the Ryde Family.

The fact told Tyrese that Kieran was exactly what Smith described: doesn’t follow the rules.

Gutti beside the professor showed glimmers in her eyes.

Food was good, they shouldn’t be destroyed.

Whosoever disrupted one’s meal would be the enemy and enemies should be killed.

The vows of her family echoed in her mind. She was rather reluctant to accept those words before but now she was rather fond of it.

“2567, follow me to the authorities, I need you to explain what happened and…”

“Nevermind, just follow me.”

The professor thought he wanted to warn Kieran but when he thought about the strength and weird personality, he shook his head and discarded the thoughts.

Kieran walked out of the cafeteria with Tyrese, he subtly paused when he walked past the two bodies.

“First Seat?”

Standler and Maica walked up to him.

The other freshmen stood further away but their gazes were glued to Kieran.

Just look at the prying gazes from the freshmen!

Tyrese felt like if he wronged Kieran or did anything to him, the youngsters would jump on him and eat him alive. His temples were swelling.

“It’s just some standard questioning,” the professor explained.

He couldn’t understand how a loner First Seat had won the wild and untamed youngsters’ respect.

Tyrese was in his prime, he would never understand why the more a person acted on his own, the more he would attract resonance from his peers.

Especially from these youngsters who were at their rebellious age. Other than reverence, it was respect from the youngsters for Kieran who was strong, never followed rules, and gave birth to rumor after rumor, they were like looking at their idol.

The freshmen didn’t care about the professor’s explanation, their eyes were glued to Kieran.

“Em.” Kieran nodded.

Standler and Maica stepped back and opened a path for the professor. However, including the two aides, all the other freshmen were looking at Kieran.

Powerful personal charm!

If he were to be a leader, he would be the best of the best!

Gutti’s eyes shined brightly at the scene.

The more time she spent with Kieran, the more she realized he was the perfect candidate that fit all her criteria, he might even surpassed her expectations by a lot!

Chance! This is a chance given to me, I must seize it!

Gutti couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Professor Tyrese, I don’t think you should bring 2567 to the authorities. He didn’t do anything wrong, Ryde Family is being rude at first and their impolite actions should be investigated, not 2567.”

“On top of that, Leo Ryde is although a graduate of Theorate, I’ve checked with the school and realized he doesn’t have permission to return. Meaning he infiltrated the campus.”

“Any member of the school has the right to kill or expel any infiltrator.”

Gutti started to bring out all the rules and big words and it caused Tyrese’s temples to further swell.

The professor looked at Gutti in a helpless gaze.

He knew Gutti was choosing Kieran as her candidate but favoring him to this extent and outrightly so, the professor was rather worried that she would expose herself under enemy’s rader.

“Gutti, I know what you said is correct, but…”

“Let’s just go to the authorities, the security garrison right? I want to have a look there.”

Kieran interrupted Tyrese again and everyone else was shocked at Kieran’s request of going to the security garrison.

The security garrison was a special department of Theorate, it housed the securities and guards altogether.

In simple words, the garrison was like a combination of a military camp and prison.

Most of the students would rather stay away from that place, no one had ever voiced their intentions of going there to have a look.

An alarm rung in Tyrese’s mind.

“2567, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m cooperating to your investigation,” Kieran answered seriously.

His serious answer struck a bad feeling in Tyrese’s heart but he had to bring Kieran to the garrison.

Theorate’s rules clearly stated that students who committed huge mistakes are forbidden to stay on campus and must be investigated at the security garrison.

A car driven by one of the security guards arrived at the cafeteria and Kieran went in right away.

“I’ll make sure 2567 is safe at the garrison,” Tyrese made a promise to the freshmen,

The car then went off after that.

From start till end, Kieran didn’t even have a glance at the car hidden in the corner further away, despite altering his plan because of the person sitting inside the car.

The car drove Kieran away swiftly.

Gutti frowned as she saw the car off.

She knew even with Professor Tyrese with Kieran, the bastards from the Ryde Family will make their move!

They might not make a move themselves but with the temptation from [Drops of Finest Cream], a lot of others might take the risk.

Gutti had to hurry.

…

The security garrison was located between the intersection of E Block and D Block.

On the outside, the garrison looked like an expanded underground bunker.

It was short, sturdy and took up quite the space.

The car entered the inner part of the bunker without hindrance and through the window, Kieran clearly saw the military camp on the right side.

Groups of guards were attending their morning training, and further away from them were antenna-like structures sticking up from the ground, it added a weird look to the bunker.

“Those bastards from the Ryde Family will not simply spare you. You must stay close to me, understand?”

Tyrese spoke a lot casually without anyone around. He didn’t just call the Ryde Family bastards, he even warned Kieran again and again.

“They seem to have much more influence than I imagined,” Kieran answered.

“It’s not their influence, the greedy people are a lot more than you can imagine,” Tyrese corrected Kieran.

“Drops of Finest Cream is really a good thing.” Kieran nodded.

The professor didn’t answer anymore because everything was obvious enough, it wasn’t necessary for him to repeat it over and over again, but he was still troubled by some doubts.

“Why did you kill them? Don’t tell me they interrupted your breakfast,” Tyrese turned around from the passenger seat.

“They really did interrupt my breakfast. Just like what I said before, those who interrupt me and even wanted to attack me is dead for sure, not even God can save them.”

Kieran gave the same answer and the professor shook his head with a sigh.

Tyrese obviously did not believe what Kieran said but he didn’t want to further pressure Kieran since his questioning was fruitless.

In the professor’s mind, all he thought about was how to help Kieran overcome the upcoming difficulties.

As for the other matters, nothing was more important than Kieran’s life and death.

The call fell into silence and stopped after 5 more minutes of driving forward.

“We’re here.”

The professor got out of the car first before Kieran came out from the bent over passenger seat. He then sized up the narrow alleyway which allowed only three people to move at once.

Kieran had a clear look at the little door at the end of the alley.

In front of the door were two cold-looking guards and both of them smelled like Advanced Ranks.

When the guards caught Kieran’s gaze, they replied with their own ferocious glare but with Tyrese beside him, the guards didn’t do anything over the top.

“They are the guards of the garrison. They directly answer to Principal Romuse, just like the group of security guards you saw last night.”

“Whenever something unusual happens, they are sent out to deal with it. They would be at the garrison most of the time, so in a certain aspect, the garrison is the safest place in all of Theorate.”

Tyrese introduced Kieran to the place after some thinking.

It was to calm Kieran down and prevent any unwanted misunderstanding.

However, when he saw Kieran was sizing up the place with an interested gaze, Tyrese knew he was overthinking.

Kieran wasn’t even worried, he was quite relaxed to be precise, as if he was on a vacation.

“Let me remind you once more, the Ryde Family…”

“Are not to be provoked, they never spare people after suffering a loss. I know. A lot of people had been discussing this topic after Oliford Ryde died.”

“Fortunately, I eat everything but definitely not defeat.”

Kieran smiled at the professor.

Tyrese rubbed his ever-swelling temples, he ought to stop discussing the topic with Kieran because everytime he did, his chest would feel tight, like it was hard to breath.

He finally knew why Romuse always carried that little vial of pills for calming himself down.

If Romuse didn’t bring the pills with him, Smith would have upset him to death.

And now, Tyrese thought he should have a vial with him as well.

Better safe than sorry.

Through the guarded main door of the garrison, Tyrese brought Kieran to the second floor and stopped at the last second room of the corridor.

“This is my office here in the garrison.”

“I usually worked outside anyway, so you can stay here temporarily. There is a little resting corner in the office, the bedsheets are new, so you can make yourself at home. Tell me if you need anything, food or drinks, I’ll be right outside.”

Tyrese introduced Kieran to his office after opening the door.

“According to standard operating procedures, you have to stay for 24 hours. So you better tell me what you need now.”

“I want the books I put on my table back in my dorm, can you send someone to get it?” Kieran said.

“Of course,” Tyrese nodded and dialed his communicator.

Kieran headed to the resting corner and lied down on the bed. He looked at the clean ceiling with his squinted yet glimmering eyes.

I’ve given you the chance, don’t let me down now, Ryde Family, Sil Sect overseer and… Professor Smith.