The Devil's Cage

Panda Novel

When the female officer stepped in and interrupted the questioning, Kieran clearly saw that the middle-aged officer shrunk his neck a little, showing a revered look.

A subordinate showing reverence to his superior wasn’t all that odd, but only reverence would be a little off.

While his mind was thinking about something else, Kieran wasn’t slow with his answers at all.

“I said I am a shaman. The dead Mikes told me who killed him,” he said calmly.

He didn’t sound disrespectful, but his words were especially blunt.

Impolite? He hid it in between the lines.

Kieran wasn’t friendly towards strangers anyway, let alone showing a smile to please someone who was impolite to him.

Again, he didn’t have any kind of weird fetishes.

Not now, not in the future.

“You!”

The young female officer widened her eyes, making her already large eyes grow bigger, making her look better as well, but her gaze was full of rage and a slight sense of killer intent. It was the kind of intimidating manner of a person that had lingered around the verge of life and death for a long time.

A normal person facing this kind of killer intent would instantly shiver.

Kieran?

Of course not!

He had been through many dungeon worlds, walked through the shadows, stormed the battlefield; he relied on his life, risking it every time to overcome the danger. When his experiences piled up, he was rewarded with the final victory.

The trail he left behind was full of bones and bodies.

The places he gazed at had corpses scattered everywhere.

Even in the big city, he was quietly known as the butcher, the executioner.

Kieran quietly looked at the killer intent, guesses growing in his heart.

He looked at the officer’s palm, then her legs, and then her face.

All of a sudden, Kieran showed a smile, a sincere smile from the bottom of his heart.

At the same time, he raised his right hand, his fingers opening up slowly like a blooming flower. His voice became soft like never before.

“Relax, this is not a battlefield. There are no bullets from the shadows, no mines buried in the ground. You need a good rest. I’m not asking you to forget what you experienced, as that’d be unrealistic of me, but I hope you can look straight into the facts. Remember, you are still alive. Alive with the honor and glory of your once brothers-in-arm, alive with the anticipation of your sisters-in-arm.”

His soft voice was like a falling feather. Standing under the light, the young female officer looked a little dazed, as though she were falling asleep.

The middle-aged officer beside her was looking at the scene with his jaw dropped.

Obviously, his occupation allowed him to understand what Kieran was doing to his partner.

Hypnosis!

But because he knew, the male officer understood the difficulties behind the feat.

Needless to say, his new partner wasn’t some simple Jane Doe. Her astonishing experience forged an iron will within her; any common hypnotist or psychologist that met her would be frightened, let alone when performing hypnosis. Even the few decent ones could barely scratch her iron will, which stood like a monolith.

‘Never thought a con-man here… no, a shaman could do it.’

That thought in the officer’s heart changed the way he looked at Kieran.

A person possessing abilities that commoners lacked was enough for others to respect him.

The female officer’s head suddenly tilted down, her body instinctively jumped backwards and her right hand tried to reach for the firearm at her waist, but she got a hold of nothing.

It was at that moment that she reacted to the situation.

She had left that horrifying place. She transferred to a more stable position, but because she failed some psych test, she wasn’t given a gun.

“What did you do to me?”

She had reacted to the hypnosis in her heart, but that didn’t mean she would admit it. She continued to question this con-man before her eyes with a cold tone.

He was a psychologist that claimed to be a shaman; it wasn’t too much for her to call him a con-man.

“Trying to ease your burden. If you continue on like this, you will become the person you hate the most. All you need is a split second, and you will become someone that you won’t even be able to recognize. It might be some squabbles, it might be someone bumping into you, it might even be a light cough—anything could be a trigger… You might not be yourself anymore. You wouldn’t want to point a gun at your partner, right? Then… I suggest you take a rest for some time.”

Kieran pointed at the male officer beside her, his eyes looking into the female officer’s, whose muscles were tight and ready to strike like a jaguar.

“I don’t need you to remind me whether to rest or not. Now tell me everything you know.”

She grunted coldly and continued the questioning.

Although she maintained her tone, Kieran could clearly feel that her attitude had softened up.

When Kieran had mentioned her partner, her attitude unconsciously softened.

Why would a kind person be so much weaker than a vicious bad guy?

Or rather, why would some big evil boss at the end of the game be extremely weak should they turn to the good side?

Because of bottomline and rules.

They used their bottomline to remind themselves of what they should and shouldn’t do.

They used their rules to remind themselves of why they did it.

As for those without bottomline and rules?

They may seem strong and furious, but it only appeared that way.

They would either fall under the new rules set against them or move forward toward a path of self-destruction.

The conversation between the officers and Kieran became friendlier.

Before the officers left, the middle-aged officer left a polite reminder for Kieran.

“Thank you for your cooperation. If we have any need, I will contact you again for questioning.”

When the officers truly left, Lyn Amie the makeup artist came in.

“You are really something, 2567! You know hypnosis as well? Are you a professional?” said Lyn Amie excitedly when he stepped in.

“I am a shaman,” Kieran said in an affirmative tone.

Of course Kieran knew nothing about hypnosis, but Pro level [Mystical Knowledge] was something similar. It may also be considered as a type of hypnosis; otherwise, Kieran wouldn’t have been able to affect the heart of a warrior in a short time.

Another thing was that Kieran’s stats, despite him truly being weakened, were at least still considered as commoner’s peak level.

Still, performing the trick with the handy [Mystical Knowledge] was strenuous for him. It was already his current limit.

As for anything more than that slight affection? Impossible for now.

“Ahem.”

A noise of clearing the throat came from the door.

“Director. I’ll go get something for you to eat, 2567—the station does provide dinner.”

Lyn Amie was quick to read the situation. He bowed at the middle-aged station director before running out to get dinner for Kieran.

Kieran subtly nodded before looking at the director.

The director was wearing a clean suit, probably some expensive brand. Based on the stitching, it should be handcrafted, not sewn by a machine.

However, it looked a little dirty and overdue of a washing. Like the wrinkled sleeves and oily hair, all the signs pointed out that he hadn’t bathed for a few days.

But still, his bloodshot eyes were still energetic, and with hurried breaths, it seemed like the director was extremely excited.

Kieran, who guessed the director’s intention, didn’t wait for him to speak before asking, “You want to work together in the long term?”