The Devil's Cage

"This is the evening news, the police confirmed that 5 females have gone missing. The missing females are all young and single. Now we have Chief Teddy with us, to help us understand more about the case."

Glancing over the tv in the pantry, Amy, with her latest bag of the season, walked out of her office like a proud peacock.

As the youngest female manager that air-dropped into the position, Amy had her own assets that she took pride in: her beautiful looks and capabilities.

However, because her looks were extravagant, her capabilities were overshadowed.

At first, Amy felt ambivalent about it but she slowly got used to her own 'flaw'.

Amy realized no matter how she explained, everyone tend to believe what their eyes saw and with that going on, rumours began to spread.

The rumours varied from rising to position with her beauty, to earning extra 'money' during her high school days, to her parents divorcing because her mother was having an affair.

All the rumours were trying to kill her hard work and prove that she was one of those cheap women who relied on their beauty to get whatever they wanted.

Even now, the rumours hadn't died off, Amy could still hear whispers behind her back, but she did not care.

When she entered the elevator, she said, "I need everything on this case on my desk tomorrow morning, including everything about every single competitor out there."

The door of the elevator slowly closed. A split second before it shut, Amy could hear the angry rants and voices of discomfort from her subordinates.

Hmph!

'If they have time for gossip, they have time for overtime!'

Amy stomped her heels and went to the underground carpark.

A brand new red car was parked at the corner—she bought this car a year later than her new apartment, it's stylish and safety features off the charts.

Her car attracted a lot of eyes, and when Amy arrived beside her car, the effect doubled.

Several other male colleagues who got off work at the same time were captivated by her and her car.

The reserved ones smiled; the bold ones sized her from top to bottom.

Regardless of which, Amy returned it with an angry glare.

Men were narcissists that only cared about their own feelings, do not be afraid in this kind of situation! Once backed away, the situation would escalate and it would become harder to deal with.

Amy was sick of the rumours in the office and now being sized up by the men in the car park, she didn't want to be disgusted again.

The reserved men kept away their gaze and boarded their cars; the bold men shrugged, they wanted to stay but were greeted by Amy's middle finger. In the end, they chose to leave also.

However, not all left.

A man was standing beside Amy's car, talking into his phone as if he was discussing something important.

When the man caught Amy's questioning gaze, the man showed an apologetic smile.

"Can you lend me a pen?" the man asked.

"Sure," Amy was very direct, taking her pen out and lending it to the man, but when the man tried to touch her wrist when receiving the pen, Amy kicked him on the knee. Her sharp, sturdy heels landed hard on the man's knee cap.

"Aaaargh!"

The man hugged his knee in pain.

Amy didn't hold back, she swung her bag and slammed it into the man's face.

Why did she choose this bag today?

Other than the newest series of the seasons, the bag had studs as design, not the sharp one but the rounded ones, but after putting two bottles of water into her bag, swinging it with a good angle could transform it into a discounted flail to hit people.

Amy had tested it out before on aluminum cans and the results had been very satisfying.

The crushed aluminum cans proved how strong her 'flail' could be, similar to the man's face.

The man wasn't just bleeding, he couldn't even move at all, but Amy did not stop there. She raised her sharp heels and stomped on the man's crotch, precisely and painfully.

She didn't hold back at all and did not care about the cries for mercy.

Should she be soft in this kind of situation, she would be bringing trouble upon herself.

Soon, the building security ran over after seeing the situation through the camera.

Three security guards looked at each other in front of the bleeding man.

"Take him in, call the police!" Amy told the security guards.

"Ms. Amy, this man didn't do anything wrong to you, right?" a senior security guard asked dubiously.

"Nothing wrong? A stranger tried to approach me by pretending to borrow a pen but he had an electric baton on him? You are telling me he is clean? Or… you three are also with him? The missing women lately, are they your doings?" Amy laughed coldly.

The senior security guard turned pale, but the younger one beside him wasn't willing to submit to Amy.

"How did you know he was a stranger?

"I remember everyone's face and name in this building from when I took this job, it's just around 200 people, it wasn't that hard," Amy replied in a casual tone.

The young security guard was surprised. He didn't know whether Amy was telling the truth or not, so he looked at his senior.

"Call the police," the senior said.

Whether or not Amy was telling the truth, the police had to be notified because the senior found the electric baton in the man's pocket, and the man really wasn't from the building.

Soon, Chief Teddy arrived at the scene.

The short and thin chief officer saw the man on the ground, went over, grabbed the man by the hair. and threw him into the police cruiser.

"Ms. Amy, my men will get the testimony from you."

After leaving that behind, Teddy drove his cruiser back to the station.

He preferred to ask questions back in the questioning room.

"Is this the attitude a cop should show to a taxpayer? I want to report him!" Amy yelled in the direction where Teddy drove off.

"Ms. Amy, please forgive him. A lot has happened lately…"

"Nothing can change his bad attitude just now, I want to report him!"

Amy was being very hard on her stance, the officer smiled bitterly and the three security guards even quivered.

'This woman is scary! She can't be provoked!

We must tell this to the fellas in the office!

Do not step on this tigress' tail! Otherwise it's worse than death!'

The three security guards exchanged glances.

Amy saw the little reaction, laughing coldly in her heart.

'Look at you men, always letting your hormones get the best of you. Hmph, men.'

The testimony recording was quicker than Amy's expectation, or rather, because of her firm stance and refusal to back off on the report, the officers quickly sent her off like she was the God of Plague.

"This little incident may be unpleasant but it will help me in the new office. Those fellas will be honest for the time being."

Amy's mood turned better once the thought came into her mind.

She was above the age of being reckless, if it wasn't useful to her job in the future, she would never waste her effort in tangling with a man.

"Let's reward myself!"

Amy then turned away from the road back to her house.

She knew a very secretive bar.

…

"I like that bar better, your place is too cold and quiet. If I did not get chased out because I smashed a bottle in the owner's head, I wouldn't come here. Don't worry, I won't smash your head. One glance and I know you are that kind of cold, lustless man."

Drunk, Amy half crawled under the bar counter, mumbling gibberish.

Kieran raised a brow, really wanting to throw her out but the thing that came with the rattling chains seized him from doing so.

The translucent chain, as thick as a finger, crawled to the door like a snake and curled up at the entrance.

It curled up almost half a man tall and the tip, which should be the head, was aimed at Amy, but it quickly switched direction to the kitchen.

The entire chain stopped moving for a while, like it had found a better prey.

Kieran's face turned heavy.

This thing was switching target, from Amy to Starbeck.

If it was Amy, Kieran would be reluctant to make a move, but it was Starbeck?

Fung!

[Sharp Standard-Issued Blade] appeared above the chain and swung down fiercely.

Rattles!

The chain was startled, frightened like an animal. Although it was an inanimate object, it was frightened because someone saw itself.

Despite the fright, the chain wasn't slow, its tip, or head, rattled, its curled up body, then flew up, ring after ring, and constricted Kieran.

Its head then pulled back tightly, the rings of chain on Kieran tightening all of a sudden, but Kieran wasn't concerned.

[Sharp Standard-Issued Blade] continued its swing.

The tightened chains and the head were cut by the blade.

The broken chain fell on the floor and produced a heavy clunk, starting to melt like it was burned by fire.

[Scorch]!

The blade could inflict extra damage to the dead, form or formless.

This strange chain that possessed a rather unusual strength was definitely the latter.

Whenever a spirit relied on its irregular form to secure an advantage, once broken, it was on its way to being vanquished.

However, Kieran's furrowed brows didn't ease off as he watched the chain melt and vanish.

He could tell the chain was being controlled, not possessing a consciousness of its own.

Inanimate objects that could give birth to consciousness did not share the same presence as this chain, and it wouldn't be this week.

More importantly, it seemed like the power behind this chain had its target locked on Starbeck, seemingly having switched from its initial target.

Once he thought about that, Kieran turned about to the cumbersome drunkard.

"Society will not accept people like you! You must be lonely without friends right? Did you cry during the lonely nights? It's fine, let big sister know, I won't tell others about it."

A drunk Amy, lost in her usual calmness and clear mind, was mumbling gibberish and laughing in a silly way at Kieran.

She wanted to stand up and walk to Kieran, but something pulled her back from behind, causing the faltering steps to fall again, landing her bum on the floor again and leaning her back on the counter.

She turned behind and tried to look at the person who pulled her back with her blurry eyes.

"What a cute little boy, do you want to be my friend?"

Amy smiled idiotically at Starbeck beside her, reaching out and trying to touch Starbeck's face.

Pak!

Kieran slapped her hand away, grabbed her by the collar, and went to throw her out.

"Brother, wait, i-it's not safe at night," Starbeck begged softly.

Although his true thoughts told him that the cumbersome drunkard should be thrown out right away, immediately, as fast as possible, his kindness stopped him from doing that.

If something happened to her after she was thrown out, Starbeck could never forgive himself.

Kieran nodded. He threw the drunkard into a corner, allowing her to mind her own business.

Kieran wasn't being soft, the reason why he didn't throw her out was because Starbeck had begged on behalf of her. He had already compromised in a great way.

"Did you see that thing?" Kieran asked after he returned to the bar counter.

"I did not before but when you slashed it, I saw something," Starbeck answered seriously.

He knew Kieran was used to collecting info through these kinds of small details, so he was not careless.

"If you couldn't see it from the start and the drunkard wasn't aware, that means it's only visible to those with Spirit surpassed peak human performance? Plus someone must be controlling it from elsewhere…"

Kieran muttered with squinted eyes.

Deducing from current clues, the one who controlled the chain should be someone who surpassed peak human performance.

As a Chosen One, Kieran knew how scary a powerful Spirit was.

A silent attack, unable to guard it when it striked and could be considered as all-pervasive.

One would never imagine how a Spirit attack strikes!

The only good news was the person who controlled the chain, although possessing Spirit higher than peak human performance, shouldn't be that high.

Overwise, Kieran wouldn't have cut the chain into pieces. It would be the other way around.

Even so, his habitual vigilance made him walk to a corner.

Pak!

Kieran snapped his finger in the shadow.

"At your service boss."

Bloody Mary, the Superior Demon, appeared in an almost transparent form and bowed to Kieran.

Bloody Mary already knew what was going on through the power of the contract, there was no need for an explanation of the situation.

"Leave it to me now. I may not be combat-ready now, but scouting, guarding, and being on watch are all green," Bloody Mary then fused into the shadow.

It had to support its boss and watch the unusual occurrence in the area.

After Bloody Mary vanished into the shadows, Kieran walked back to the bar counter, picked up the phone, and called the number Ed Wong left behind.

Kieran didn't mind having an extra pair of hands against an unknown enemy when he was in a weakened state.

However, the call rang several times but no one answered. Kieran hung up and dialed again, getting the same result.

Judging from the conversation yesterday, Ed Wong should be a trustworthy person.

Something must have happened if no one answered the phone.

"A little too coincidental, don't you think?" Kieran muttered.

Right at that moment, the door of the restaurant suddenly opened.