The Devil's Cage

Panda Novel

Holding the phone, Kieran was overwhelmed by the words.

Although when he saw that half of a photo, thoughts had been running around his mind, he’d never thought things were much more exaggerated than he expected.

Ex-wife? Married?

Hahaha.

Impossible!

With his personality, he would never get married even in this life, he’d even reject love. He would rather rely on food to maintain his life and adding a person in his life would be the worst thing to do.

Kieran’s silence attracted misunderstanding from the police office on the other side of the phone.

“Mr. 2567, my condolences. Your ex-wife’s parents passed away a long time ago, and she doesn’t have any close friends, so we found you. If you can, we hope you can drop by McRose Forensic Lab to I.D. the body, there will be someone waiting for you there,” the harsh voice showed an extra layer of warmth.

Kieran thought for a while before ultimately agreeing to go.

He, without a question, would not want anything to do with this ex-wife that he never met but considering his current identity, he must go for a look at least. He had to get more information because he believed this identity wasn’t given to him without a reason.

That Mordin must have something arranged for him, despite the fact that Kieran couldn’t spot any inklings until now.

Waiting was not part of Kieran’s character.

He hung up the phone and went back to the courtyard. He told the chef with an apologetic tone, “I’m sorry, something came up, I can’t stay around and eat. Can you finish the cooking and store the food back at Eatery Hut’s place?”

“Of course, but Dr. 2567, don’t say I didn’t remind you, keeping the food refrigerated for a long time will make the taste go bad.” Nala, the tall and slender chef, wasn’t unfamiliar with this kind of situation, smiling and handling the situation skillfully.

“I know. I’ll finish my matters as soon as possible and retrieve them at Eatery Hut. The address is 4-2-2 right?” Kieran had to make sure.

“That’s right, we will be waiting for you,” Nala said as she almost finished cooking.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there. I’ve already smelled something good.”

Kieran was always honest in front of food, especially good food which he ought to try.

The cooked food and cooking utensils were loaded back on the truck. As Nala and her sous chef left, Kieran locked the door and headed out too. It was hard to hail a cab in this kind of high class neighbourhood.

Kieran had to walk 5 minutes from the inner street to the entrance of the neighbourhood, which was connected to the main road.

Although it was his first time in this world, based on his outstanding memory and the Talent [Memory Palace], the gaze from the second floor balcony allowed him to grasp every single street, road and alleyway in this neighbourhood.

He then hailed a yellow cab.

“Where to sir?” The cab driver asked.

“McRose Forensic Lab.” answered Kieran.

The cab driver nodded, stepped on the pedal, and started the counter.

The distance was quite far, around 20 km from Kieran’s place.

During the journey, Kieran scanned over the city named Moon.

A very peculiar name, similar to the neighbourhood that he just left, Elm Tree Street.

Kieran wasn’t bothering to find out who named the city, yet the authenticity he felt further proved his theory: he had arrived in a real world.

‘What are you planning?’

Kieran fell into deep thought until the cab driver notified him about the destination.

“76.8 please,” said the cab driver.

Kieran paid 77 and waited for the 20 cent changes before he got down from the cab.

Keep the change? Not possible.

Savings started with the trivial things.

McRose Forensic Lab was easy to locate. Kieran saw a big sign on the wall in front when he got off the cab. The sign told him to make a right turn and walk down.

Following the signs along the way, Kieran finally reached this forensic lab.

There was no reception counter, no waiting seats, only a large space with an inner and outer area. Anyone with good sight could see the forensics at work inside the workshop by standing at the entrance. That was, of course, when the shutter wasn’t shut, which it did not because the people inside forgot about it.

There were two dissecting tables inside. One of them had a body with many scattered tools tainted with blood around it. The tools glinted unusually under the light.

There was a rather petite lady with pearl colored hair, a pale face, and heavy eyeshadow pulling out a heart from the opened chest and placing it on the weighing scale.

The lady was wearing a white robe but Kieran easily noticed the leather jacket underneath.

After weighing the heart and recording the numbers, the lady finally noticed Kieran standing at the entrance.

She unconsciously wanted to close the shutter window but her bloody rubber gloves got stuck on her hands. She spent quite the effort in pulling them off and when he finally removed them, it was a minute later.

“Damn it! I’ve had it! I told them I want natural latex gloves! Not artificial ones. These stupid gloves always make me look like a fool!” said the lady before she opened the door from the inner area, walked out and asked Kieran, “2567?”

“Yes,” Kieran nodded. His gaze on her showed interest, but he wasn’t interested in her clumsy act just now.

In Kieran’s mind, any ladies who would fall from a flat surface either had a weak brain, blind, or they had some kind of ulterior motives. The lady before his eyes was indeed clumsy and Kieran didn’t think she’d fit the job of a forensic.

However, the dark and cold aura he felt on her attracted his attention.

It was a phenomenon caused by accumulation of negative energy.

Dissecting bodies over the years couldn’t reach her levels.

“An unexpected discovery,” Kieran muttered to himself in his heart.

“Follow me,” the lady pathologist ordered Kieran.

As though she was embarrassed by showing her own clumsiness in front of Kieran, she didn’t further speak or care about Kieran. After the cold words, she brought Kieran into the door at the outer area.

Behind the door was a flight of stairs going down and at the end of the stairs was the morgue.

The lady pathologist went over to the cabinet labeled 301, checked the label, and pulled the cabinet out.

Kieran saw the name on the label: Mary.

The body inside the cabinet was packed inside a body bag. The lady pathologist skillfully pulled down the zipper—not all, but only to the neck.

A female body was revealed to Kieran.

Although dead and her blonde hair becoming dry, her face was still looking good.

One could tell she was a beautiful woman when she was alive.

Though what caught Kieran’s attention wasn’t her face, but the other part of the body.

Despite being covered up by the body bg, Kieran still realized the body wasn’t intact, missing her arms and legs. On top of that, there were some black threads around her neck. It seemed like her head was reattached after she died.

Dismembered?

Kieran frowned. Such extreme methods were rare.

Other than some extreme hate towards the lady, only some psycho would do such a thing.

Regardless of the former or latter, the odds were fairly low.

Unless…

Thoughts rose in his mind, Kieran then pointed at the body, asking “Can you explain?”

“That is not what I’m paid for. Someone else will explain it to you later. My mission here is done!”

The lady forensics shrugged, zipped the body bag and pushed it back into the cabinet.

Kieran then followed the lady back to the workshop upstairs.

Back at the workshop, there was an experienced looking buff woman waiting for them.

Her face was strong and young yet not to be underestimated. Similar to her strong features, her gaze on Kieran was sharp and revealing, trying to inspect him further.

Any common man would definitely avert her gaze automatically but Kieran returned the gaze frankly and sized her up.

“Inspector Gredith.”

She reached out her hand as she introduced herself.

The harsh and cold voice that Kieran heard from the phone earlier was obviously her voice.

“Dr. 2567.”

Kieran recalled his memories about her as he spoke. They shake split after contact but based on the little touch, the part in between her finger and thumb and joints were full of calluses. The signs were telling Kieran she should possess some decent shooting skills.

“McRose, we need a chair, something normal people would sit on.”

Gredith called out to the lady forensics, who went back into her workshop and tried to shut the door.

“Everytime you come, you bring trouble,” the lady pathologist ranted but still pulled out two chairs with cushions.

Gredith signaled Kieran to sit and asked, “When is the last time you contacted your ex-wife?”

“Would you contact your ex-husband at normal times?”

Kieran really wanted to tell her the truth, if he knew anything, but he had to brush her away because he had no related memories about this so-called ex-wife.

“I’m not married. Did she tell you about any kinds of trouble she was in?” Gredith replied briefly and changed a question.

“You are referring to the dismemberment?” Kieran continued with his questions.

Gredith heard Kieran’s question and immediately showed an angry glare at the lady forensic. It seemed like the inspector had misunderstood something.

“Hey, he found out himself, I didn’t tell him anything!” explained the lady forensic.

“You are a psychologist, right?” Gredith turned back to Kieran with a new question.

“Psychologists are doctors as well. Some obvious things are very easy to spot, such as the fact that you’re treating me as a criminal suspect,” Kieran replied.

“Not a criminal suspect, just a suspect,” Gredith emphasized.

“Is there a difference?” Kieran smiled.

“Of course there is. I’d be more polite in asking if you are the latter; I’d cuff you back to the station and put you in a cell if you are the former,” Gredith explained, her words having a faint threatening meaning.

“If you have the evidence that is. I guarantee you I did not kill my ex-wife. We were divorced but the hate between us isn’t enough for me to kill her. After all, we’ve been in love before.”

Kieran was continuing his bullshit while he had totally given up the thought of probing more useful information from the inspector.

She would not tell.

Although it was just a simple questioning session, she had presented herself as a very strong character. With her character in the way, Kieran had no hope of getting the information he sought from her.

On the other hand, the lady pathologist may be a better target.

Gredith was quiet as she stared at Kieran.

Kieran stared right back into her eyes like he did before.

Both of them stared at each other for more than 10 seconds, Gredith then took a deep breath.

“This is my number, call me if you think of any-…”

Ring Ring Ring!

Gredith’s phone rang.

She waved at Kieran, stood up and walked aside.

“What?” She answered the phone.

“Boss, an alarm rang in the security system, someone intruded 2567’s house!”

Her subordinate’s report changed her face for the worse.

Gredith subtly glanced over Kieran, who was further away.

“Are you sure about this?” Gredith asked.

“Yes, it is the 2567 that you are meeting for the dismemberment case. His name is rare, so I am sure both 2567 are the same person,” Her subordinate reported.

“Fine, seal the scene at once! We might be able to catch ourselves a big fish!”

Gredith hung up the phone after that and returned to Kieran.

“I’m sorry, Mr.2576, I think you are going to have to come with me.” said Gredith.

“What happened?” Kieran asked the obvious.

As long as he willed it, with his current Intuition level, any kind of sound within a 50 meter radius could not escape his ears, let alone a larger room.

Someone intruded in his identity’s house…

“Will it be related to this identity’s ex-wife?” Kieran wondered in his heart.

“Just follow me,” Gredith didn’t explain and signaled Kieran to follow up.

The police siren was turned on as Gredith sped back to Elm Tree Street faster than the cab earlier.

Back at 2-1-6, the entrance was sealed off by a police line, two tall police officers standing there, blocking curious viewers.

Inside the house, plainclothes officers did a blanket search of the place.

When Gredith and Kieran arrived and came down from her cruiser, one of the plainclothes came over swiftly and reported the situation to the inspector.

Kieran felt weird at the scene though. It wasn’t about the reporting but the plainclothes were all females.

The uniformed police blocking the viewers were male though.

Other than that, more than 70% of the curious viewers were female.

Recalling who he had met when he came to this world, Kieran noticed a female chef, a female pathologist, and a female inspector.

A new thought popped up in Kieran’s mind.

Is this world controlled by women?

Kieran then remembered Mordin’s gender, which was also a woman.