The Devil’s Cage

Frost Wolf pup was like any other dirty stray dog after being tainted in the mud. It scuttled around, searching through the streets and alleys for leftover food like a real stray dog.

However, stray dogs would eventually return to their own territory and guard their own turfs.

Lack of food for several days would wear them down, exhausting their animal spirit, but it wouldn’t stop their natural duty: guarding homes, despite the homes being empty.

The sudden war that befell Riverdale made its people run in a hurry.

The people, panicked beyond logic, brought away most of the valuables and food they thought they might need throughout their journey, but some “family members” were instinctively forgotten.

Fortunately, this was only the minority.

When Frost Wolf returned to the area, it looked exhausted and leaned against the corner of the wall, sticking its tongue out and looking around in alarm with its odd-colored eyes.

Whenever other stray dogs, the kind of dogs that had been strayed since birth and had never gotten close to any humans before, got close to the Frost Wolf pup, they would always reply to the other dog’s ruthless, fierce presence with their soft whimpers, and when the other stray dogs got closer, the Frost Wolf pup would run away.

Although it could have easily torn the invaders apart, Frost Wolf wouldn’t expose its unusuality when it knew what its task was.

Adopting the identity of a stray dog, especially a pup, was very useful to the Frost Wolf, to the point that it quickly inherited its maternal bloodline and adapted to all the natural gifts.

In simpler words, the Frost Wolf, at the moment, looked like an abandoned, lost puppy.

Would anyone care about a stray puppy?

Other than some kind-hearted folks, no one would.

Since Riverdale was empty at the moment, where would there be any kind-hearted folks for the puppies?

All Riverdale had now was people with evil intentions.

The Frost Wolf was actually watching a building further away, where groups of men had been entering since the afternoon and then leaving together after a while.

Then, three more men appeared before the building after those other men left.

Compared to the previous bunch, these three men were much more vigilant, much more powerful as well.

Frost Wolf clearly sniffed out the powerful presence around them. It shrunk its body further and squinted its odd-colored eyes.

If anyone that knew Kieran were to see the Frost Wolf pup now, they would be astonished at the way the pup squinted, its manner very much resembling Kieran’s.

Frost Wolf pup was blessed before, as other than growing its strength, it had, more importantly, exceptional intellect that surpassed other treasured beasts, and given the heightened intellect, it knew how to learn, or more precisely, copy.

The only person that it would imitate was Kieran.

The pup has been around Kieran from the moment of its birth, and after watching and listening to its master every day, not only did it learn to copy Kieran’s mannerism, its movement patterns became almost identical as well.

It carefully and vigilantly approached the house.

Covered in dirt, it stuck itself along the wall and merged with the shadows as it moved.

It didn’t have to get too close, as its paternal bloodline granted it excellent hearing, allowing it to hear everything in the house despite being quite far away.

“A bunch of morons! They really take everyone else as idiots? Why the hell were they so arrogant to attack Warren Palace? And they even attacked openly, at that! Where did their usual training go? Did it get eaten by the dogs?”

A man whose voice was originally low and heavy raised his tone a few times higher for the shout. His voice sounded irritated, hinted by the sharpness but more importantly, the rage it couldn’t conceal.

Before the others in the room could speak, the man shouted again.

“Didn’t they know that the Devil and Sons of Dragon were in the palace? Who the hell gave them such blind confidence? Or… Did someone leak out the wrong information?”

His sharp voice returned to a normal, heavy one, and what followed were a series of doubts.

The man obviously didn’t believe that his men could be wiped out just like that, especially after a perfect operation.

His men had displayed their strongest potential. As long as they had had more time, they would have been able to stand for themselves.

But now?

Huuhaa! Huuhaa!

Whenever he thought about how his long-time efforts were all cast into the river, especially with the death of his elite subordinates, and how his position was now threatened, the man’s breath became rushed. Even the aura on him changed slightly, causing the atmosphere in the room to become a little more depressed.

The other two men remained silent.

Assassins were not people that talked a lot in the first place. Some even got into this line of work through extreme training like cutting their tongues in the beginning.

Viper Sect used to practise this as well, but the means were cast away many years ago.

They chose to go with a more secluded way!

And now, it seemed like they did quite a decent job with it too.

The man that shouted the questions would have been pleased for this reason were it any other normal day, but now, he couldn’t feel happy at all. His silent colleagues, his dead subordinates and his threatened position, all of these fueled the rage in his heart further, causing the suppressed emotions to burn high again.

“Say something! Tell me! Tell me why!? Why!” he shouted.

This time, one of the two spoke.

“Rather than asking why, I think we should leave this place as soon as possible. Since it is confirmed that they are dead, this operation point has no reason to stay.”

The man’s voice was rough and gloomy with quite the calmness, but all of this sounded like he had ulterior motives in that first man’s ear.

“You want to destroy the evidence? Tell me, is all of this your handy work?” the first man shouted again.

“What kind of joke is this? All three of our groups have always worked separately, each of us having our own independent network system! Since the day we formed, we never interfered with each other’s business!”

The rough, gloomy voice sounded even colder. Unpleasant feelings were brewing behind his words.

“Never interfered with each other?” the first man mocked with a cold laugh.

It was said to be independent operations, but the reality was much different.

The first man had always nurtured schemes against the other two by planting moles in their groups and he believed that the other two were doing exactly the same to him as well.

“I’ll ask Lord Prime Viper to be the judge! You two better be prepared!” The first man then stood up.

Just like his colleague said, this operation point had no reason to exist anymore, nor the necessity for them to stay behind. If it weren’t to gather possible leftover clues, he wouldn’t even be here.

As for calling the other two?

Hmph!

He has lost all his men, but if it were just his own loss, wouldn’t that show his incompetence?

When the thought came, his mind was quietly finishing his own setups.

“Their death was well-deserved. And…” The third man, who stayed quiet before, finally spoke.

“And what?”

The first man’s rage burned hot again when he heard what the other guy said. He wanted to turn around and fire his ferocious gaze at him.

“And, you shouldn’t show your back to your foe.”

After the suppressed voice sounded, the first man’s face changed drastically, and before he could even react, a short knife had gone through his chest.

The blade perforated through the ribs’ protection and pierced his heart.

“You, you bastards!”

“Yes, we have been working together since long ago. Your men are dead because of our misleading information—I have to say, the way you roped in people was quite primitive and shallow, no techniques at all. Well then, you can die now.”

The third man spoke as he bent down, looking at his dying foe. A few cold laughs later, he was going to make the final blow with his blade, but someone else was faster than him!

Puk!

Almost in an identical way, the third man’s chest was stabbed through the heart as well.

“You really think that I would work together with you?”

The second man’s rough, gloomy voice sounded.

“I know right. How could I ever work with you?”

The third man, whose heart was stabbed by the knife, nodded with a smile, as though he hadn’t suffered any damage. He stood up and stared at his ex-collaborator.

Then, both of them spoke in one voice, “Now!”

The sudden command was loud and sonorous, sounding like an explosion but… there was no reply.

Dead silence rung after the shout.

Huuu.

The night breeze blew again amid the awkward silence.

Clear footsteps came together with the night breeze.

Tss Gak!

The door was then pushed open softly.

All of them saw a black figure with a bunch of dead bodies behind him. They even saw that slowly falling wind coat after the night breeze flew over.

It was black and abysmal, yet quiet.

As though it was the cape of the Grim Reaper.