The Devil’s Cage

Four to one!

The distinctive choice made on the stage caused the audience to gasp in surprise. The audience’s interest piqued as they continued to watch the show on the stage.

They were eager to know the results.

Was the truth grasped by the majority of the participants or the minority?

As the audience, they were just observers, not participants. Their hearts were only troubled by their curiosity, nothing else.

But the other four participants on the stage were different.

When they saw Kieran’s choice, the four of them were stunned at first before their eyes and expressions showed heavy mockery and sneers.

The one among the four who held a crystal ball even voiced his sneers.

“Seems like someone has no talent at all but still wants to be on stage, showing off nothing but his shamelessness. What a joke!” The harshness in his words was obvious.

His harsh words were responded with the acknowledgement of the other three participants.

“I know, right? Some people think too highly of themselves.”

“Maybe you think being a shaman is cool and fun, but at least learn some of the history about shamans before trying to act like one.”

“How do you know he hasn’t already? Maybe this shameful choice is the result of his learning! It’s just that he never learned the essence, just letting his mind run wild!”

After the man with the crystal ball spoke, the three followed up right away.

After the mocking and sneers, the three of them showed disgust at being on the same stage as Kieran.

Then…

The left and right boxes opened up.

They were empty!

The four participants who were full of mockery just now turned sour right away. The man who held the crystal ball even muttered to himself like he had lost his sanity, “Impossible! Impossible! It should be right here!”

Then, the man with the crystal ball felt as if he’d realized something. He started to shout, “It’s rigged! This is rigged!”

His voice was loud and sharp; as he shouted, the makeup on his face fell to the floor like snow. His words were halted abruptly when the giant screen behind the stage lit up.

The screen played footage of the second director, Wang, entering the dressing rooms of different participants.

The footage was shaky, obviously having been taken from a hidden camera, but the contents were very clear. When the four participants in the video heard the second director mention ‘a special way’ to get the answer, the shine in their eyes and the greed on their faces left an impression in people’s minds.

“Piss off!”

“You cheaters!”

Loud scoldings and rants came from the audience seats. A few hot-tempered audience members who bought their seats with real money threw drinks on the stage as well.

Of course, they weren’t throwing things on the stage blindly. Their targets were the four participants to the right; all the stuff thrown avoided Kieran in the middle.

Bang!

The series of events caught the man with the crystal ball off guard. When a water bottle hit him on the head, he was knocked straight out cold.

The crystal ball fell and shattered everywhere.

The staff rushed up on stage and carried the man down. The other three participants also covered their faces and ran down. When the three of them ran past the man who was being carried out by the staff, they noticed that the man was breathing normally and his eyes under the eyelids were moving relentlessly.

He was faking it!

The three participants quickly reacted; they cursed in their hearts.

All the participants who entered this show were ‘shamans’ themselves with a little fame. They, of course, had their own way of dealing with danger. After all, not everyone was so easily deceived; once their work was exposed, they had to react immediately. However, the excitement of them being on TV made them lose their way, and they were obviously not as smart as the man who faked his faint.

The three of them even guessed that this bastard would become a victim of a cheater, complaining about the violence of the audience to divert the attention away from his cheating.

Damn it!

After some heavy cursing in their hearts, the three of them started to think about excuses to escape the scolding.

However, it wasn’t something the audience had to think about.

After the four con-men left, Kieran was left alone on the stage.

The audience showed more surprise and astonishment at Kieran who stood there throughout the whole process without the slightest expression. More curiosity followed.

In the footage shown on the screen, Kieran was expressionless; when he appeared on the stage and the uproar from the audience happened, he was still expressionless.

Even though the audience had controlled where they threw things, anyone would easily flinch when something was flying towards them or approaching them suddenly.

But not Kieran! He was not a normal person!

No! More precisely, he was different from a normal person!

The audience, who got the conclusion, couldn’t hold back their excitement.

The audience who attended the live viewing of the shaman show would naturally be interested and curious about those abnormal incidents or people.

A tech-savvy person would never have appeared in a show named ‘shaman’ or other similar segments.

Kieran was unlike the ‘shamans’ in the rumours and legends, but who could guarantee that those legends were real from the start?

“Eh… Seems like things are a little out of expectation! But fear not! Thank you, Director Wang, for your effort in our show. I suggested this method at first to test the participants, but a lot of people objected. Only Director Wang was willing to help me, just like he always did. Thank you! Without Director Wang, we wouldn’t have witnessed such an amazing show! Neither would we be able to differentiate the real and fake shamans! Now, let us give a big round of applause to our director!”

The host’s voice sounded from the stage’s speaker again. The audience clapped loudly after the voice subsided, and Director Wang also played along by bowing on the other side of the stage.

One of the four cameraman beneath the stage focused his camera to Director Wang, taking a close up shot.

Kieran, who was still in the center of the stage, captured everything within his sight. Then he turned toward the box behind him, his gaze somehow looking different.

It was a probing, interested gaze.

The voice from the speaker continued.

“Now, let us place our attention on our final participant. Let us follow the camera and see what surprise is waiting for us!”

One of the cameraman quickly moved up after the voice stopped.

At the same time, the screen on the stage tuned to said camera’s feed.

Then, the box behind Kieran opened up slowly.

Bang!

When the cameraman saw what was inside the box through his camera, he fell on the stage. The camera that he treated like a treasure fell beside him.

But before the camera fell, it had captured the content of the box and displayed it on the stage’s screen.

“Aaarh! Aaaa!”

“Dead!”

“Someone is dead!”

Sharp screams resounded in succession among the audience.

The screen on the stage clearly showed what was inside the box.

It was a body! More precisely, it was the body of the host, Mikes!