The Devil’s Cage

Golden brilliance shone brightly in the basement storeroom.

The golden brilliance wasn’t from the light or reflection, it was all emanated from Crossing Gold Coin.

Kieran bathed in the brilliance, and moments later he saw many black, tiny chains coming from the void, tying his torso and his limbs down.

Kieran was shaken.

He moved his hands and his legs and twisted his body. He seemed to move just fine, there wasn’t any restricted feeling or weight on him, but the chains he saw were real.

“The seals?”

Kieran immediately knew what was going on, he then carefully examined the scene, especially the chains.

The chains were all black, seemingly naturally formed out of some iron, there were no traces of being forged, neither did it have any mystical runes.

Though whenever he sized up the chains in concentration, his heart would feel disgust.

Other than the black chains from the void, there were some other thinner ‘chains’, as fine as a strand of hair and almost invisible, poking into his head. They were nothing like the visible black chains.

“Spirit is really different from others!”

Kieran suppressed the disgust in his heart and examined the nearly invisible chains, he also realized there were more chains around him that were flickering.

These chains appeared and disappeared repeatedly, and unlike the nearly invisible chains, these chains were like illusory images, flickering quickly.

If Kieran didn’t pay attention, he would miss them.

“These are the skills and Talent?” Kieran wondered.

While he was pondering upon the topic…

Kak!

One of the nearly invisible chains on his head snapped.

After the first one snapped, a chain reaction happened.

Ka Ka Kak!

The black chains tying his body also snapped, one after another.

The scene around Kieran had also returned to the basement storeroom.

[Spirit broke through a layer of seal, increased from A+ → S-]

[Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intuition broke through a layer of seal, increased from A → A+]

…

System notifications popped up on his vision. Kieran then looked at the gold coin in his hand, the gold coin had lost its shiny radiance, heavily mottled and broken in an instant.

If Kieran didn’t know it was a coin before, he wouldn’t have known based on the mottled and broken look.

“Crossing Gold Coin, eh?” Kieran muttered to himself.

If he was still having second thoughts of the gold coin being different, his guesses had been verified after this transformation.

The coin didn’t just let him see the seals around him, the energy contained inside helped him break through the seals more efficiently. During his last seal-breaking session, his Spirit consumed a total of 20 silver coins just for one minor rank, and according to his calculation based on experience, this particular seal-breaking cost at least 26 silver coins, or more than that.

The rest of the stats consumed around 3 silver coins respectively.

Meaning, if he would convert the gold coin into silver, he would need at least 38 silver coins.

According to the market conversion rate, 1 gold coin equalled 30 silver coins but because of how rare the gold coin was and the unique usage, the conversion rate tended to spike higher; people would trade 33 to 36 silver coins for one gold coin.

After some meticulous calculations, Kieran grinned. Even if the conversion rate was good, he would get around 35 silver coins, should he exchange it and now consuming the gold coin alone had provided him with extra profit.

He saved up around 3 to 5 silver coins this time and he could have exchanged for a gold coin with all the silver coins he saved.

What he saved was what he earned.

Plus the unique usage of the gold coin, Kieran had a new decision in his mind: try to use only Crossing Gold Coin for breaking through the seals from now on.

As for the conversion method?

Given his current identity, and stand, it wasn’t exactly hard for him to exchange a gold coin from the Herders.

The only problem was, how could he earn more silver coins.

Kieran simply sat down on the box in the storeroom and pondered upon the question.

Bloody Mary became a loyal guard on guard duty outside the door.

It had no idea what it’s boss had just been through, but it knew not to disturb its boss when he was thinking.

Seconds turned into minutes.

The sun was hanging high in the sky, and then started to slide to the west.

Kieran took note of Starbeck’s body clock, returning to the bedroom a moment before Starbeck would wake up and a few seconds after he sat down on the sofa chair, Starbeck opened his eyes slowly.

Starbeck struggled with the sleepiness and then slowly sat up while rubbing his eyes.

“Morning.”

Starbeck greeted Kieran as usual, standing up and walking into the bathroom in his pajamas.

He cleaned himself up and when he put on the apron, he was already looking energetic and lively.

“What do you want to eat today?” Starbeck asked Kieran.

“I’ll eat whatever you cook,” Kieran spoke his mind.

Starbeck’s cooking was the best he had ever seen, having such a wonderful chef to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for him was the best thing that had happened in his life.

He didn’t need to make an order, Starbeck could let his creativity run free. Having anticipation and guessing was the right way to enjoy the masterpiece. It would raise the taste to a new level.

Kieran prefered it that way and he would never get tired of it.

“It will be ready soon.”

Starbeck showed a smile at Kieran’s reply, he then walked into the kitchen. Elite Hound was lying down at the kitchen entrance with its tongue out, looking forward to what its second master would prepare today.

Although every meal it had until now was the leftover of his first master, it didn’t complain at all.

Quite the opposite, it felt it was the best way.

It felt how powerful its first master was, and although it was covered up now, that terror hidden in his bloodline was obvious, it knew what it should do.

Submit to the strong, it wasn’t something unacceptable for the Hound.

In fact, it had prepared to work itself to death under a new master but who would have thought it would be blessed with a miraculous existence like its second master.

Delicious and healthy food.

Its canine life was at its peak, it had no regrets anymore!

As for its job and mission?

Protecting its second master wasn’t its job or mission, it was its lifetime pursuit!

The work in its second master’s hand was its lifetime conviction!

Till death do it apart from its duty!

Kieran glanced over the Elite Hound at the kitchen entrance.

His sharp perception felt something had changed in the the Elite Hound and it wasn’t the bad kind.

The differences between Elite and normal?

Kieran wondered after he glanced over the other Hounds.

He then shifted his attention outside the restaurant.

For better ventilation, the door of the restaurant was opened wide during afternoon, so that the warm sun could share its warmth during autumn. Standing at the counter, he had a clear view of what was happening outside.

The alleys, the street, the streetlamps, the busy traffic, the pedestrians.

Though most wouldn’t notice the restaurant in the alley.

It was hard for a modern person to stop his or her step to look around, everything had to be fast.

They had to quickly finish their job, quickly eat their meal, and quickly earn money so that they could quickly clear the loans and feed their family.

Exhausting right?

It really is.

But then what?

Everything had been determined.

You can’t jump, can’t run away.

Escaping reality would only result in a quicker, harsher death.

Facing reality heads on with clenching teeth might result in a thin lining of hope.

Other than pure coincidence, or some familiar acquaintances, or even people who had business with Kieran, there would be very few customers knocking on the door.

However, today was an exception.

Moments after Kieran opened the door, a girl in casual dressing popped her head over the door frame, peeking inside. When she saw Kieran, she looked more curious than earlier.

“We are not open for business yet,” said Kieran since he did not sense any malicious intentions from the girl.

He wasn’t fond of being watched curiously, it made him feel like he was a monkey in the zoo.

“I’m sorry, Is this a restaurant?” The young girl apologized before asking.

“Yes,” Kieran nodded and continued cleaning the place for opening.

He wiped the table, mopped the floor, removed any visible dust. He didn’t care about the customers but he cared about the hygiene of the place, since he was having all 3 meals here.

Kieran would clean the place before opening and after closing.

The young girl saw Kieran was busy cleaning, so she didn’t interrupt him. She took out a small notebook and started taking notes.

Occasionally, when she realized Kieran was looking at her, she showed a smile and signaled that she would not disturb his cleaning.

Kieran furrowed his brows but didn’t say anything.

Since the little girl wasn’t hostile and did not disturb him, Kieran tended to be generous.

After cleaning up, a rich smell of potatoes came out from the kitchen.

Kieran returned the cleaning instruments to the corner and then went back to the counter, waiting patiently.

2 to 3 minutes later, Starbeck came out with a tray.

The white and steaming soy milk wobbled left and right in the large body with Starbeck’s steps.

10 caramelized, sweet, deep fried dough cakes were placed on the tray neatly.

The thinly sliced cabbage was on the little saucer and 5 hard-boiled eggs with their shells removed were in another.

Without saying anything, Kieran took over the trap and put it down. He grabbed the fried dough cake, split it in half with both his hands, red sugar falling out and landing on the tray. Kieran picked up the specks of sugar one by one and put them in his mouth. He didn’t want to waste anything.

The fried dough cake was perfectly caramelized, the sweetness and crispness together with the warm soy milk presenting Kieran with an utmost satisfaction. He squinted his eyes pleasantly.

The fried dough cake was still steaming, despite being torn in half, and after drinking the soy milk, Kieran delivered the fried dough cake into his mouth.

Crunch, cruch!

The outer layer of the fried dough cake was crispy, the inside was chewy. After another mouth of soy milk to deliver the chewed dough cake into his stomach, Kieran put the rest of the fried dough cake into the soy milk.

After dipping the fried dough cake into the soy milk, he put it into his mouth.

The crispness was still there yet it exploded with soy milk with each munch.

It was addicting and Kieran showed no signs of stopping.

The fried dough cake was decreasing rapidly, so was the bowl of soy milk.

After he tried the thinly sliced cabbage, that fermented sourness converging with the sweetness of the fried dough cake, it lifted Kieran’s appetite a lot.

No extra explanation was needed for the eggs, he ate one egg in a single bite and finished all in five.

Gulp!

Saliva gulping sounded from outside the restaurant door.

Kieran concentrated on his food, not even caring about the gulping noise.

Starbeck glanced at the little girl, politely smiling, and then went back to the kitchen.

“Compared to the cold older brother, the little brother is better and more handsome. He cares for the customers.”

Luna outside the restaurant was talking to herself.

Therefore, she added a star beside the name of the restaurant in her little notebook, and if the food could satisfy her, she would add another star.

As long as the star went above 3, this place would be quite a decent choice for a meal. Although there was no need to drive herself here purposely, whenever she passed by here, she could come in for a meal.

Luna was very confident about this as a rather well known food critic. Anticipated, she looked into the kitchen.

She was waiting for Starbeck to bring out some food and invite her in for tasting, she was also looking forward to Starbeck’s heartfelt gratitude after she published her article about the restaurant.

Then, she saw Starbeck brought out a big pot.

A pot?

Luna was confused. She quickly felt disappointed.

She wouldn’t expect a little restaurant like this to serve a dish delicately, but at least serve the food in proper dining ware. Bringing out the pot like this made her think the wife of a farmer throwing out the leftovers and rice water to the livestocks after the cooking.

As a matter of fact, the leftovers in the pot were indeed meant to feed the Hounds.

As for the smile earlier? It was just a display of manners.

There was no other meaning in Starbeck’s smile.

Luna watched Starbeck pour the bean dregs and the red sugar leftover into the dog bowls. Ferocious looking dogs then came out of nowhere, ran towards their respective bowls, burying their head in the food and gobbling it down. Luna was shaken.

‘It wasn’t for me?

It was for the dogs?

Then what’s the smile all about?’

Luna stood outside blankly, Starbeck stood up after distributing the food and smiled at her politely again.

He went back into the kitchen.

Luna was petrified outside the restaurant for more than 20 seconds before she regained her senses.

“You people…”

“Excuse me, coming through!”

Just when Luna was about to complain, a polite yet cold voice sounded behind her. She turned around instinctively and saw a middle-aged man in a gown with a mandarin jacket plus a pair of cloth shoes.

In the man’s hand was a box, behind the man was a luxurious car and beside the car was the driver in a neat-looking suit.

That buff physique of the driver told Luna the man was more than just a driver, and the person who moved around the city in this kind of luxurious car and had a driver cum bodyguard was not someone that she could afford to provoke.

Luna wisely stepped aside and made way.

Luna then saw the cold middle-aged man, who seemed rather familiar, walk into the restaurant with the most sincere smile and bowed in the most polite, most solemn way at the owner of the restaurant.

He even raised the box in his hand over his head.

“T-This…”

Luna’s eyes widened, she didn’t know what was going on.

After the middle-aged man presented the box to the owner, he walked towards Luna.

“Please do not disturb the owner’s daily lives,” said the man, coldly.

“Y-You know me?”

Luna stuttered at the cold tone.

The man didn’t answer, he glanced over Luna’s face and returned to his car.

Watching the car drive off and smelling the smoke in her nose, Luna suddenly cried in shock.

She finally remembered who she was talking to: the CEO of Song Shi Group, Mian Yi!

The CEO of the large company that has business in multiple regions came all the way here and presented a box to a restaurant owner, with profound respect and humility?

Luna couldn’t help but look at the owner behind the counter.

‘Who are you?’