The Devil's Cage

Dressed in casual clothes, an apron and a pair of mittens, Starbeck took out the tray from the grill. The egg tarts were arranged into two neat rows.

The aroma of eggs and sweetness entered Kieran's nose right away.

After Starbeck placed the tray on top of a wooden rack, Kieran eagerly picked one up and shoved it into his mouth.

Unlike how normal people ate egg tarts, Kieran did not lick the sweet egg in the center or bite it from the egg. He shoved the entire tart into his mouth instead. He pushed the egg tart up with his tongue, crushed it with some pressure and chewed a few times. The whole eating process allowed Kieran to taste the soft part and also brought out the tastiness of the crispy part. His way of eating also preserved all the essence of the egg; not a single bit was wasted. He could achieve a lot with a single bite.

"How is it?" Starbeck asked with anticipation.

"Em, as good as always," Kieran answered.

After he heard Kieran's answer, Starbeck smiled brightly. He hopped over to a side, took a bottle with a plant inside and brought it over to the table. The bottle with the plant matched the white table cloth perfectly. It set off the golden egg tarts even more and attracted attention at first glance.

"This is a decoration for the table, my teacher taught me during cooking class. She said good food without a good decoration is an insult to the food itself," Starbeck explained.

Although the so-called teacher was a native, a teacher was a teacher. Starbeck respected his teacher regardless, and this particular point was very similar to Kieran.

"Your teacher is right. So you have to take all these. Good food requires good kitchenware and tableware—well, they might not be actually good, but it's okay," Kieran said and pushed the package beside his feet to Starbeck.

"This is for me?" Starbeck looked at Kieran with surprise.

As a matter of fact, when Kieran brought the big package into his room, Starbeck was already wondering what it was, but he didn't ask because he knew how strict Kieran was.

Starbeck never thought the package was actually for him.

Curiosity aroused, Starbeck opened it and saw the set of Sil knives and forks, some plates, [Five Flavour Bottle], [Compact Brew Winepot], [Secret Oil Mixture], [Big Battle Pot], etc.

Starbeck's eyes were shining, and the shine in his eyes almost materialized when he saw [Duyer's Recipe] and [Index of Eat].

He wanted all of it!

It was a thought in the deepest part of his mind, but before he took it, he still asked Kieran, "Can I?"

"Of course. Where do you want to put them? It's not light at all, so I'll help you to arrange it." Kieran stuffed the last egg tart into his mouth and stood up.

"Kitchen! There is a very suitable place for these."

Starbeck opened the door to his kitchen and pointed at the empty right cabinet and a big enough spot to hold [Big Battle Pot].

Kieran arranged all the kitchenware according to Starbeck's arrangements. After that, he turned around and saw Starbeck leaning against the kitchen door, reading the two recipe books with utmost concentration. The light from the dining area shined on him and cast a tender glister over him.

Kieran did not interrupt Starbeck. He crossed his arms and waited patiently in the kitchen because he too did not like others interrupting him during reading.

As for whether Starbeck could really read the recipe books?

Before he gave Starbeck the recipe books, Kieran had labeled everything in the common language, so it shouldn't be a problem.

…

Bang!

Wu almost smashed the tea cup on the tea table. The spoons beside the cups jumped and produced repeated chimes.

"Go find the person who pissed you off. Don't vent your anger on my tea set," Rachel ranted, feeling sorry for her tea set.

She spent quite the effort in finding this tea set. It wasn't exactly expensive, but she spent a lot of her time and effort in finding it.

If any single one of the cups broke, the whole set would be damaged in terms of elegance.

Wu did not say anything. She took the tea pot, poured herself another cup of cold tea, and finished it in one gulp.

This time, she did not put down the cup fiercely, but carefully.

She poured herself tea again—only tea could calm her down right now.

After four continuous cups and almost draining the tea pot, Wu heaved a long breath and leaned back on the sofa.

"Why am I losing to her?" Wu asked.

She didn't say names but Rachel knew who she was referring to.

Rachel thought for a while in front of her friend.

"You are not as rich as her?" Rachel said with slight hesitance.

"Rich? So what? Can money achieve everything? Can she do whatever she pleases with money?" Wu sat up as though she was electrocuted and answered loudly.

"Then, you are not as tender as her?" Rachel changed her approach.

"Tender? Can tenderness be eaten? A powerful defense is the best way!" Wu chuckled coldy.

Rachel did not argue with Wu on that because she thought the same. That was why Rachel kept exerting her powers before Lawless at all times.

"Then I guess there is only one thing left. Her cooking. Your cooking is not as good!" Rachel lifted up her right index finger and said in an unusually serious tone.

"Cooking?" Wu was stunned.

"It's well-known that 2567 likes to eat. If you have outstanding cooking skills, he will surely look at you differently, and the most important thing is, acquiring cooking skills in the big city isn't something difficult." Rachel gave Wu her own suggestion.

"But Crow had no extra demands for food." Wu frowned.

"Crow is Crow, 2567 is 2567. They may be similar, but they are entirely different," Rachel emphasized.

"In my eyes, they are one." Wu shook her head.

Rachel sighed at her friend's answer. She had no idea how to correct her friend anymore.

Treat a person as another, especially with the likes of Kieran, and no matter how good she was to him, he would only be more cautious and alarmed. She would never win fondness.

"Can you get me a [Cooking] skill book?" Wu spoke after a few seconds of silence.

"Of course."

Her answer sparked joy in Rachel. She smiled and walked back to the bar counter.

As long as she could change, there was still a chance!

Rachel heaved a breath of relief and walked faster, but when she opened the door, she found Lawless stealing her liquor again. The frustration flooded her mind right away.

Pak!

She grabbed a bottle along the way and smashed it onto Lawless's head.

"You bastard! Stealing my liquor again?! And two bottles!" Rachel shouted angrily.

"I only drank one bottle!" Lawless explained.

"The one I just smashed on your head, that one is on you too! Now go clean the bar, and mop the floor and signboard outside! I don't want to see a speckle of dust!" Rachel shouted and kicked Lawless on the butt.

Lawless shrunk his neck cowardly and started to do as ordered.

The crowd in the inn chuckled.

At first, there were some who tried to stop the abuse, but now, they were used to it already.

It would only be weird if the liquor stealing scene didn't happen daily.

The loud noises in the front came in the little living room through the unclosed door.

Wu showed a faint admiration at the merry atmosphere.

She admired Rachel and Lawless's relationship, and she thought it was the best way to be together.

But…

She knew if she smashed a bottle on Kieran's head, he would surely burn her 10 times over.

"He is really dull."

Wu exclaimed, stood up and closed the door. When she turned around and walked back to the sofa, she realized, without her knowing, Kieran was already sitting opposite her.

Wu wasn't surprised because Crow behaved the same.

Such actions made Wu feel nothing but familiarity.

Right away, Wu's depressed heart lit up.

Some things may change, but the roots would remain the same.

Wu sat back down and asked, "Can I see your right hand?"

Right hand?

Kieran was a little surprised. He thought of the freaky smiley face tattoo.

"You mean this?" Kieran did not take off his glove but raised his right hand and pointed at the back with his left hand.

"Yes, can you take off your glove?" Wu nodded and asked again.

Kieran hesitated for a moment before complying. The blurry smiley face tattoo was revealed before Wu.

"As expected, it has changed. In my past divination, it was always in your shadow and connected to your fate, but the latest divination showed me something else: it has started to fade. If it's possible, can you tell me what happened?" Wu asked.

Except for the secretive part, Kieran told Wu exactly what happened.

Through multiple collaborations, Kieran had already formed a basic trust for the woman before his eyes, despite the fact that she wasn't really normal at times.

"Is that so? Resistance? The Witch is really scary. Even after she left the game, she still affects the latecomers. As for the Resistance… she will be ruthless," Wu said after a deep breath.

Before entering the game, Wu was always with Crow, so she had seen a lot of bad people, but even with the amount of people that she had seen, all of them felt lackluster compared to the Witch.

It wasn't just because of the magical powers in the game, but also because of the Witch herself.

A powerful person would reign with absolute power no matter where he or she was.

As long as they had a chance, their talents would shine.

As for the weak?

No matter how much resources and trust was poured into them, in the end, nothing would come out of it except for excuses, trying to lie to others and themselves.

"You are in grave danger now, a lot more dangerous than your previous runs. Her lingering power is affecting me, so I can't even see what you will face in the next dungeon." Wu sounded helpless.

"Thank you." Kieran heard the helplessness in her. Out of manners, Kieran thanked her.

As for the danger she mentioned?

Kieran was prepared for it.

Spirit had truly reached V, and his Intuition was catching up. He could already sense the danger from the Witch closing in.

Was he worried?

A little bit.

An opponent like the Witch, even if he never met her before, the stories she left behind were too many to count, to the point that Kieran would have to face the danger with everything he got.

He was worried but not afraid.

Countless battles, countless dangers told Kieran that fear was useless in such situations. He would rather have an ice-cream to calm down and think about the countermeasures.

The calm reaction from Kieran delighted Wu.

Crow had never panicked before either, and Kieran, at the moment, was exactly like Crow in her memories.

The only difference was, back then, she could not help Crow, but now, she could help Kieran.

"You must be careful, leave the rest… to me!"

Wu then stood up and walked out.

Kieran frowned as he saw her off.

Although he did not spend a lot of time with her, Kieran knew her character well enough to understand such words weren't a joke.

Judging from what she did for him before, Kieran naturally stopped her. "Wait, Wu."

"I have to be prepared. Otherwise, I won't make it in time."

Wu heard Kieran, but she did not stop. She even activated a teleportation tool because she feared Kieran might stop her. She vanished from Kieran's sight just like that.

A headache struck Kieran. He wasn't fond of owing a debt to others, especially to Wu.

Once the debt was owed, he could never truly repay her.

Kieran stood up without a second thought and walked out of the living room.

"Free lemon water," Kieran spoke to Rachel, who was wiping glasses.

"Free, free, free. Can you spend some points here? You don't even want to spend 1 Point, are you that stingy?"

Rachel grunted in an upset tone, but she wasn't slow as she prepared a glass of lemon water with extra honey for Kieran.

"All Points should be spent on weapons," Kieran said and initiated a trade with Rachel.

A hundred Magic rank items and five Rare rank items appeared in the trading slot. Rachel widened her eyes and breathed quicker than usual.

"W-What are you trying to do? I am selling my skills, not my body!" Rachel stuttered with a bit of shyness.

"These are for Wu. She said I am in an unprecedented grave danger, so you should know what she is going to do, right? And this is to compensate her for the teleportation tool she just used."

Kieran then placed a Legendary rank item into the trading slot.

[Name: Agile Dagger]

[Type: Wonder Item]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Attack: Strong]

[Attribute: Relocation (1/2)]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: It was used to cut meat by a certain eastern Eater, but after an accident, it acquired unimaginable power.]

…

[Relocation: Move to a desired spot within sight (No further than 100 meters)]

…

Looking at the [Agiel Dagger] in the slot, Rachel understood the value of the dagger and the rest of the items Kieran traded, so she stayed quiet.

Three to four seconds later, Rachel spoke.

"I'm sorry, I take back my comments about you. You are not that stingy. You're really spending your Points on weapons. Leave Wu to me."

Rachel then turned around and headed to the living room. She definitely wished nothing to happen to her friend.

After Rachel left, Kieran's right hand holding the glass of lemon water suddenly shook, ripples appearing in his glass.

Other than that, Kieran felt suffocated. His sight started to turn dark, and the pain was hurting his body.

"What's wrong?"

Lawless, who was mopping the floor, saw his friend shaking and ran over right away.

"I'm fine." The words were squeezed out from the seams of his teeth after he took a sip from his glass.

However, he was in a lot of pain, and it was obvious to his eyes.

Huuu!

He took a deep breath to adjust his condition. After the pain eased up, he finally calmed down and thought deeply for a while.

He then turned on his PM tab and contacted J. Pearlman.

2567: How's the investigation?

2567: Need any help?

J. Pearlman: Great, I'm scratching my head here. When can you come over?

2567: Right away.

…