The Devil’s Cage

Some of the prying gazes were from humans, while others weren’t.

Those who weren’t human vanished one after another when the soft munching sounded, the fear, horror, and suppression from the top of the food chain casting them away.

As for the humans?

They felt discomfort.

The imaginary smile drawn with Kieran’s finger and that whisper struck heavy discomfort in their heart, but that was it.

Their target was just a psychologist, with the ability to fight back. Nevertheless, regardless of how much fighting technique the doctor knew, he was just a doctor, right?

The target changed from a defenseless one to a rather troublesome one, that was it.

When firearms were thrown into the mix, the fiercest tiger and lion would submit without resistance, let alone a psychologist.

However, those interested parties hid well because they spotted others in the area. It seemed like there was more than one party that had their eyes on this target.

After the psycho killer clown’s test, the intentional parties were exposed under each other’s radar and naturally their plans had to be altered to cope with the situation. Of course they wouldn’t just give up like that but they would wait it out, waiting for the opportunity to take out the competitors before they moved on to the target.

Kieran clearly felt the malicious intentions from the gazes. He stood there and turned a blind eye.

He was patient, especially in front of enemies who had already shown flaws.

“Amy, please tell Nala from Eatery Hut I’ll eat there instead,” Kieran pointed at the yellow police line outside his house.

It seemed like he would not be able to eat his lunch in his courtyard anymore.

“Okay.”

Amy called the operator of Eatery Hut and left them a message. When she finally hung up the phone, Kieran was already outside the courtyard’s gate.

She looked at his back and sighed. She was on a diet, otherwise she would definitely follow.

“A little bit more! A little bit more and I’ll have my perfect body! Then, I can tell the doctor my true feelings!” Amy clenched her fist and endless fantasies ran past her eyes, as if she was seeing some beautiful vision. Her face even showed a bright smile.

Kieran too showed a smile when he saw claypots with steam coming out, even more so when he smelled the mutton inside, his smile getting brighter.

Eatery Hut of 4-2-2 of Elm Tree Street had a similar structure with Kieran’s 2-1-6, which was an independent building equipped with a courtyard. Similarly, the chef, Nala, occupied the third floor as her private quarters and developed a basement as a wine cellar.

In the courtyard were 5 tables arranged in a messy yet meticulous way. Regardless of which table or angle the customer sat at, they would have a clear view of the open kitchen on the first floor but not too thorough enough to look at other customers in the living area. An optimal distance was created in between, drawing a line perfectly in between public and private. That was the reason why it was so popular with the customers.

It was noon and three of the five tables were occupied.

“Good afternoon Dr. 2567,” the female chef greeted Kieran.

“Good afternoon, is this today’s specialty?” Kieran nodded and placed his attention on the claypots.

“Yes, claypot mutton. I referenced the eastern cooking style and altered it with some technique from the chefs in Nightless City. Probably my best dish yet,” Nala explained.

“Are there reservations on these?” Kieran looked at the dozens of claypots and asked curiously.

“Only 5 for now,” Nala was stunned but replied anyway.

“Nice. I’ll take the rest,” Kieran smiled.

“Of course, have a seat and we’ll serve you right away,” Nala came back from her stunned state and smiled.

No chef would dislike a customer like Kieran: able to eat without wasting and with the money to pay.

Likewise, Kieran to Nala. He quite preferred her thinking of doing her ‘job’ right.

A chef’s job was to prepare nice food in a sufficient amount to satisfy the customers.

Those rules that limited one order per customer were nothing but shameless marketing techniques. Customers would not feel happy about it and even with food as buffer, it would feel less pleasant.

The true path to eating was to sweat and stuff your stomach until you could barely walk, wasn’t it?

At least it was true for Kieran.

Kieran survived through countless days where food was a rare commodity for him, so when he had the chance to taste something nice, he would stay true to his body.

As for anything more than that?

Kieran did think of it before but he knew removing the shackles wasn’t true freedom, knowing his limits was, or more precisely, self-discipline.

Self-discipline and vigilance were irreplaceable for him, who lingered in constant danger. Both elements complemented each other perfectly.

Soon, the claypot mutton was served.

When the lid was removed, the aromatic smell entered Kieran’s nose. The milky white soup was thick and showed a few cubes of mutton on the surface. One could tell with a single glance that the mutton was cooked very thoroughly, very tender and soft on the bite. A scallion was chopped in three and placed on top of the stew and several goji berries were floating around the soup. The brilliant green and energetic red resonated with each other, increasing one’s appetite greatly.

Kieran took the spoon and enjoyed the soup first.

Fresh!

It was the first impression that came into his mind, followed by a slight spiciness.

It wasn’t the numbing spiciness of chili, but white pepper and ginger juices.

The flavours didn’t fight each other and increased the aroma, bringing out the freshness completely.

“Is the soup cooked from fish?” Kieran asked after a second spoon of soup.

“Carp fish soup to be exact,” Nala looked at Kieran in astonishment, not expecting Kieran to understand the secret in her soup.

“It’s nice” Kieran then scooped up a piece of mutton.

The mutton was a perfect mix between lean meat and fat, as it was boiled in the claypot, wobbling with a special glint. When it entered the mouth and was chewed on, the fatty part melted instantly, covering the leanner part as it spread all around the mouth. The exceptional taste increased Kieran’s eating speed.

Two servings of claypot mutton were decreasing in exponential speed.

Nala served the second pot after the first one was near its bottom, followed by the third, the fourth and the fifth.

Nala’s eyes on Kieran were shocked at first before it turned into astonishment. She stared at Kieran’s stomach, which did not even bloat after he ate around 10 servings of claypot mutton, looking like a normal person after his meal.

A big eater!

The term popped up in her mind subconsciously.

Nala gasped as she recalled the astonishing scene that she once saw in Nightless City.

Those big eaters in Nightless City could eat a lot more than Kieran but every single one of them had unimaginable size and weight. There was no one like Kieran!

Besides that, Kieran didn’t seem full! Her chef instinct told her that and her guess was verified the next moment.

Kieran lifted up the pot and drained the last drop of soup before he looked at Nala with a smile.

“What’s the complementary food today?” he asked.

“Fried chicken, a burger, and coke. How many do you want?” she asked.

“5 please,” Kieran pointing at the 5 empty claypots.

Since the complementary food came with each main course, it should be 5 servings also.

None should go to waste because he was paying for the meal with the money of his identity.

When Kieran tore open the first burger, Inspector Gredith came in and saw Kieran in the corner with a mountain of food in front of him. She frowned.

She thought Kieran was wasting food, but she didn’t criticize him right away. She waited patiently for Kieran to be full, but it was obviously impossible.

Gredith widened her eyes and watched Kieran gobble down all the food, including the drinks, on the table like a tornado ravaging the city, with nothing left behind.

“Where did all the food go?” Gredith couldn’t hold back her question.

“My stomach,” Kieran answered.

“Is your stomach another dimension? A bottomless hole?” Gredith was obviously shocked.

“Many people have a special ability, like some people feel like they are serving justice with a keyboard. They’d feel like superman, invincible as long as they are behind their monitor. Me? I guess it’s eating. You are here for my testimonials or…?” Kieran did not want to linger on the topic and switched it right away.

“First, your testimonial. Don’t worry, I’ll prove that you did it out of self-defense, those bastards shall not revoke the case this time! Second, it’s about your wife, ex-wife. Did you know her well?” Gredith asked after a deep breath.

“Know her? What do you mean?” Kieran pretended to be dumb and raised a cautious deep down in his heart. He knew Gredith must have discovered something.

“I’m sorry but because of the case, I ran a background check on you and your ex-wife. I discovered that after your divorce, your ex-wife cut herself off from society, isolating herself and cutting ties with others,” Gredith said after an apology.

“What is so strange about that? People’s personalities change, some change for the better, being happier than before; some change for the worst, isolating themselves and something like that,” Kieran replied with his own statement.

“But ‘disaster’ won’t follow them like a shadow! In the 3 years after the divorce, we found out that your ex-wife had gotten into accidents almost 50 times, like car accidents, falling from tall places, drowning incidents, explosion from a gas leak, etc. Of all the recorded incidents, casualties happened in almost 20 cases. I found out about it when I read through the files on Mary, and most importantly, she’d escape unscathed every single time,” Gredith spilled the beans after a deep breath, her words filled with obvious confusion and doubts in between the lines.

“You are telling me she caused all those incidents?” Kieran raised a brow and acted out an angry tone.

“I’m not saying that Mary caused all the incidents, it’s just that I think she was escaping from something! Those disastrous incidents followed her like a shadow. I am suspecting that Mary found out about something, hence she decided to leave you. So I am hoping to find out about her from you,” Gredith shook her head.

“It’s very normal actually. Similar to other divorcees, all sorts of reasons are laid on the table. Regardless of reasons, it ended up the same: we split up.”

Kieran purposely gave a vague answer and stopped giving Gredith the chance to ask further by saying, “Can I have a look at those files on the disastrous incidents?”

“Sorry, you are not part of the force, you have no right to.”

Gredith sounded apologetic but her stand was firm.

Kieran wasn’t surprised, but he did have a way to go around it, just that he’d have to spend more effort.

Before that, he would have to give Gredith his testimony.

The process didn’t take place in Eatery Hut, or his sealed off house. Gredith brought him back to the station due to standard operating procedures and wrote down every word from Kieran on the incident.

After triple confirming the contents, Kieran signed it and proceeded to the recording testimony session.

An old-fashioned inspector like Gredith ought to follow the procedures without fail.

She would arrest even her best friend should she find out her friend was breaking the law and Kieran was just someone on the case that she just met and barely knew, so Kieran would never get the easy way out.

A person like Gredith wasn’t all that bad though. Quite the contrary, a person like her was considered one of the good ones, from a certain aspect. However, she was definitely not a good friend for a normal person.

Befriending the likes of her required a strong heart and power, you never knew when she would land you in a troublesome position.

“Is that all?” Kieran asked after Gredith carefully listened to the recording testimony.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll arrange my men to send you back,” she nodded.

Kieran didn’t argue with her, since being able to save on the taxi fee on the way back was quite a deal.

Just when Kieran was about to step out of the door, an officer ran in in a hurry.

“Inspector! Inspector! We found another dismembered body!” the officer shouted after his sudden entrance.

“Where?!” Gredith asked anxiously, not blaming her men for saying confidential information in front of an outsider.

“Inside the station! It was sent here by parcel in the morning…”

Before the officer even finished, Gredith stormed out.

Kieran squinted and followed her.

Soon, Kieran saw that bloody paper box in front of the reception desk on the first floor.

The box was opened, the body inside finally visible.

The victim was a young lady, her limbs all cut off and arranged on her torso. The blood on her was coagulating.

“Run me through it!” Gredith’s face turned extremely heavy in front of the dismembered body.

“We received the parcel this morning, it had your name on it and we thought it was your online shopping parcel, so we placed it at the reception counter. But in the afternoon, someone noticed blood starting to ooze out of the box. They opened it and found the body and… a letter!”

The officer on duty at the reception ran her through the incident briefly and passed her a letter packed in an evidence bag.

Gredith gloved up and took out the letter, trying to open it for the contents inside.

Kieran, who was sizing up the body beside her, suddenly spoke.

“I wouldn’t open it if I were you…”