The Devil’s Cage

The unexpected discovery had made Kieran delighted in an instant.

He could not wait to find a secluded place and see what was on the crumpled piece of paper in his pocket.

The guard who had knocked down the old master thief came ranting towards Jack.

“Jack, if you have time to explain useless information, why don’t you come over here and give me a hand? The Warden took too many men from my team, I’m short on manpower!” the guard said as he signaled for Jack to help him.

“But the Warden has asked me to-”

“I think the Warden would not object to you helping me.”

Before Jack could finish, he was cut off by the guard, who was looking at Kieran deliberately, as if he wanted to make things awkward.

“I suppose the good sir here would not mind as well?” he said.

“Of course not,” Kieran said, smiling under the stare of the two guards.

He could not wait to see what was inside that paper, so he did not object.

“Very well. Then follow this corridor straight to the end. You can exit through the door there. Good day, sir!” The guard nodded as he explained the way out.

“I’ll see you again.” Kieran waved at Jack, who was smiling bitterly, and walked out of the cell area in big, quick steps.

He passed by the two armed guards guarding the gate, left through the west gate and made his way to the east entrance.

On his way to the east entrance, he noticed that the guards on the wall were less than half the number they’d used to be. Especially the guards by the gate that led to the cell area. When they’d first arrived at the prison, there had been a squad of guards present, but now all that was left was two men.

The Warden was determined to catch the accomplices.

Kieran sighed, and quickly he turned his attention back to the crumpled paper.

After he checked his surroundings and confirmed that he was alone, he took out the paper and opened it carefully.

It was made up of two separate pieces of paper. Both pieces had words written on them.

‘You can lead a better life than you currently do all you need to do is to give in something.’

‘Freedom is not out of reach if you have something to offer to me.’

The words were written neatly. Based on the handwriting, Kieran could tell that they had been written by two different people.

The meaning was quite similar, though. The only difference was that the first paper’s words were more euphemistic, and the second one’s were more direct.

“What the…?”

Looking at the papers, Kieran tried to guess why the old man would give him such a message. Then a light bulb went on inside his head.

“Is this…?”

Kieran looked towards the far end of the corridor, where the Security Monitor Center was.

Just as Kieran raised his head…

BOOM!

There was a flash, and suddenly fire engulfed the entire facility in an instant. The walls and windows all around it were completely destroyed, scattering among the flames and thick smoke.

The Security Monitor Center was blown to bits.

Suddenly, Kieran’s heart skipped a beat. Beside the Security Monitor Center was the room where Lawless, Starbeck and his bodyguards, No.1 and No.2., had been.

Kieran was relieved when he saw Lawless carrying Starbeck out of the thick smoke. They were fleeing in panic, but it looked like nothing serious had happened to them. Lawless made the OK sign to Kieran. No.1 and No.2 were nowhere to be seen, though. They had obviously been caught in the explosion. It seemed like they had not made it.

The fact that Lawless had been able to carry Starbeck dashing out of the explosion already exceeded Kieran’s expectations. The moment Kieran had felt the blast, he had thought that Lawless and the others were gone for good.

“So this is what a seven-timer’s strength is like! Seems like I still have a lot of catching-up to do!” Kieran thought in shock.

He walked over to where Lawless was, shaking his head. Lawless had both escaped the blast and saved Starbeck.

It had happened just out of the blue… No, not out of the blue. It had all been planned by Old Tom’s accomplices!

Their next target had to be the infirmary. As Kieran realized this, he waved at Lawless and flew like an arrow towards the third floor.

Just as he reached the second floor stairway, the alarm sounded off.

“There is a prisoner riot, I repeat, there is a prisoner riot! All the guards please report here! All the… Arrrrggggg!”

The irritating alarm kept ringing as an eager voice was heard through the loudspeaker. The voice screamed before it went silent.

The guards on the east side of the building were stunned by the message.

It took them a few seconds to react to it, but eventually every guard got a hold of their weapons and headed towards the cell area on the west side.

Every guard, Including the two guards by the third floor stairway and the two standing by the passageway that led to the cell area.

The guards visiting their colleagues who had been poisoned and the ones that had already recovered also rushed there, and so did the old doctor.

Everyone rushed towards the west side like bees, wearing an angry, startled expression.

When all of the guards had left for the cell area, Kieran climbed up to the third floor. The surveillance cameras all over the floor had been rendered useless following the explosion of the Security Monitor Center.

The only people left there were the patients unable to move.

Kieran walked openly towards the Warden and Deputy Warden’s offices. He had one more thing he needed to confirm, but of course both offices were locked.

However, Kieran had a Master Level [Lockpicking] skill and a set of great [Lockpicking Tools], so breaking in was a piece of cake for him.

He inserted the hairpin into the keyhole and turned it slightly. A clear unlocking sound was heard, and door to the Warden’s office opened.

Kieran went straight for the Warden’s desk and started searching.

…

A black male figure was running swiftly up the stairs. He knew the riot would only last for a while.

Even if he was there, he could not prevent the riot from being suppressed. He needed to make haste. He needed to kill Old Tom.

The black figure crossed the stairs in one big step and reached the third floor. He went straight for the infirmary.

Just as the man placed his hand on the door handle, he heard a voice behind him.

“Jack Ben, it really is you!”

“2567!”

Jack turned around fast. He could not believe it. Kieran was leaning against the wall of the corridor, waiting for him