The Devil's Cage

Panda Novel

The morning of the second day, the one who arrived at Kieran’s temporary lodging spot first wasn’t Lyn Amie, but Eckart the station director.

After a hurried knock on the door, Kieran saw a more… disheveled Eckart.

Correct, disheveled.

His oily hair was as messy as a bird’s nest, his beard was unshaven and his suit was wrinkly.

He had cleaned himself up handsomely during the live shooting, but now, not only did he return to his old looks, he looked even more messy than before and even more excited.

“We did it!” Eckart screamed the moment he saw Kieran.

Of course Kieran knew they had done it. The spamming notifications about ‘reverse energy’ was the direct proof. It was much better than any kind of information-gathering method.

“En.” Kieran nodded calmly.

“You knew? You were able to predict this as well?” Eckart was stunned.

Eckart’s gaze at Kieran turned even stranger. He speculated whether someone had told Kieran in advance, but he quickly shook his head.

Kieran was living in the place he prepared.

In simpler words, Kieran’s whereabouts were within his grasp.

Before Eckart arrived at Kieran’s door, the apartment manager already told him the details starting from the moment Kieran came back to the apartment.

There were others who came to the apartment, of course, but none of them would have known more details than Eckart.

Besides, Kieran didn’t even have a phone, so no one would be able to call him.

After excluding all the speculations, the director had only one thought left in his mind: Kieran’s identity.

A shaman!

Eckart would have never believed such a thing before he met Kieran. But once he had, he started to suspect whether there was another world the public didn’t know of.

Kieran didn’t want to explain. His eyes were looking at the paper bag in Eckart’s hand.

In fact, were it not for the paper bag, Kieran would have already sent Eckart away.

He didn’t want to talk to a tired but excited Eckart because he looked like a crazy man in Kieran’s eyes.

What were the challenges in talking to a crazy man?

Kieran had no idea, nor did he want to find out.

Fortunately, Eckart’s sanity far surpassed Kieran’s imagination.

After Eckart caught Kieran’s gaze, he passed the paper bag over.

“The information you asked for! The revolution that happened a thousand years ago—I can only acquire this much at the moment, as your request came in too suddenly. But don’t fret, I’ve told my friends to gather more, and they will bring more information to me in no time.

“Are you interested in that historical event?” Eckart asked out of curiosity.

“Em. Wherever there is a real sun, there is a fake moon… The moon at night, it’s beautiful, right?”

Kieran was talking like a street diviner, causing Eckart to scratch his head.

“Wait, what? The sun and moon?” Eckart was completely baffled.

Kieran didn’t answer. He went over to the dining table, pulled the chair, sat down and started to read the documents inside the paper bag.

Although he hadn’t known Kieran for very long, Eckart knew Kieran hated to be disturbed, either when he was thinking or reading.

Therefore, before Kieran truly started to read, Eckart spoke first.

“We must forge the iron while it’s hot! Our show was scheduled for twice a week at first, so the shooting last night should have ended this week’s task. But based on the viewer opinions, we should do an extra one or two showings. I’ll try my best to pick a place that suits our show, and also reorganize the crew again.”

Eckart clenched his fists before stating his plans.

It wasn’t to brush Kieran off, but after the ‘accident’ last night, where the site supervisors ran from their jobs, Eckart had decided to hire some real ’employees’.

The hiring candidates must have skills, but more importantly, boldness and loyalty.

Should the candidates come without skills?

Nevermind, the latter was the more important criteria anyway.

“That is your responsibility, just tell me when you get things sorted out,” Kieran said without lifting his head.

Things should be handled by the professionals of their respective fields, not letting an amateur point fingers.

Kieran knew Eckart would do his best in producing the ‘shaman’ show so as not to revert to his difficult days. In a way, the director needed the show more than Kieran.

“Okay!” Eckart heaved a long breath.

He had been very worried about Kieran stating some harsh conditions.

In fact, Eckart had been in many positions in the TV station before finally ending up as one of the few higher rankers that had power. Eckart had seen too many people aggrandize themselves.

They might be popular or some overnight sensation for a while, but all of them would end up badly.

Before this, Eckart hadn’t worry much, but his current situation was very special. He needed Kieran, very badly.

He believed Kieran knew it as well; thus, he was prepared to lose a great amount of resources to fulfill his requests, yet Kieran’s reaction shocked him.

Nevertheless, things were progressing towards the better end. Eckart wouldn’t reject it.

Eckart was already thinking about how he would make it up to Kieran for his kind reaction.

He didn’t believe in pure friendship. Maybe he had at first, but now, he believed friendship would be tighter when coated with benefits.

A relationship would not last long if one side kept taking and the other side kept giving.

“Leave the rest to me.” Eckart then left the apartment.

The door was carefully shut, not causing any extra noise.

Kieran didn’t turn around, as he was immersed in the documents.

Preciousness varies.

The things Eckart viewed highly might not be worth a cent in Kieran’s eyes.

Even though Eckart thought he had given valuable things to Kieran, from how Kieran saw it, those were not as valuable as the documents in his hands.

Eckart had gotten the wrong idea about what Kieran sought after.

Kieran, of course, wouldn’t correct him. He didn’t mind utilizing the mistakes to mislead his collaborator, thus providing himself with more help.

He was very ‘weak’ in his current dungeon world. Should his flaws ever be exposed, he would be doomed.

He had to be very careful even for the simplest collaborations.

After all, the meaning of collaboration was two sides with equal forces teaming up. Teaming up two sides with unbalanced forces wasn’t a collaboration; it was annexation.

If the situation really turned into the latter, it would only be if Kieran were willing to depend on Eckart completely, becoming his tool to make a living; otherwise, it would have to be a life or death situation.

Kieran didn’t want that to happen, and neither did he want to become someone else’s’ tool.

Therefore, he had to seize the right to call the shots as soon as possible and ditch his reliance on Eckart.

It would require time and opportunities to make it happen though.

Time was the present, but chances had to be created.

It was similar to what he was reading, the documents.

“Huh?”

Kieran raised a puzzled brow amidst his reading.

He saw a phrase that went out of his expectation.