The Devil’s Cage

The night arrived as usual.

When Kieran was about to hang the little blackboard outside, Amy rushed into the restaurant.

In fact, she has been waiting outside the restaurant since afternoon.

She was scared and curious.

Fear and the unknown were like a pair of vines crawling around her, breeding thoughts and guesses in her mind.

“What really happened?” Amy sat at the counter, asking Kieran.

“What you saw, that’s what happened.”

Kieran switched on the tv for the evening news before he answered Amy.

“What do you mean ‘that’s what happened’?! And before this! The day I was drunk, did Chief Teddy encounter the same thing here?”

Amy was definitely no idiot, for she was able to secure such a high position in a newspaper firm at her age. In fact, she was exceptionally smart. When she wasn’t drunk, she used her identity and position’s advantage to find herself some traces and clues.

Kieran wasn’t surprised at all, so he nodded.

“Yep. It’s considered your experience too, but you were too drunk to notice,” Kieran then took his newspaper for reading.

Amy went silent.

Although she was prepared, it was rather hard to accept the fact after getting verification from Kieran personally, because it toppled her world view entirely.

In her original view, what was dead stayed dead and everything would come to an end after that. Whether love or hate, everything would be gone.

However, what she encountered last night told her that death wasn’t the end, it was some kind of a new start. If her heart wasn’t strong enough, she would have gone mad.

Amy breathed heavily after the shock.

“Get me something to drink,” Amy said.

“We don’t serve alcohol here, only chicken soup,” Kieran emphasized.

“Whatever, soup or not, just get me something to drink,” Amy said quickly.

Kieran put the newspaper down and poured a bowl of soup for her.

She didn’t use the spoon though, she picked the bowl up and drank it without being concerned about the temperature.

“Ah! Hot! Hot! Hot!”

She cried repeatedly when the hot soup touched her tongue.

“Being anxious can’t change anything, it will only make things worse. Being at peace and having a calm mind is the way to solve problems,” Kieran said as he pulled the bowl in.

Starbeck personally chose the bowl, it was considered as one of his properties, so he would rather not break it.

“I know, I should stay calm but running into ghosts, the dead, and spirits, it’s not something that you can be calm about!” Amy refuted, even mentioning a couple of names.

“Can,” Kieran said decisively.

Any looked at Kieran in surprise, believing him but curious about the decisive tone.

“Because I don’t want to die,” Kieran said.

“But isn’t death a… Not everyone can be like Deodre after death?!”

Amy swiftly realized what Kieran was referring to.

“Not just that. Like humans, there’s also good and bad spirits,” Kieran said.

“So you are the one who deals with the bad ones? You keep reading the newspaper and watching the news because you are collecting information? Don’t you people have an organization or some sort of group?” Amy voiced her theory.

“I’m not, but someone is,” Kieran shook his head.

“Who will that be?” Amy’s eyes shone brilliantly, it was the occupational excitement.

“You sure you want to meet him?” Kieran asked.

“If it’s possible, I really want to meet this great sir,” Amy replied.

“Even if you might lose a part of your memory?” Kieran asked.

“Losing a part of my memory? You are saying?” Amy was shocked, she looked at Kieran in doubt.

After Kieran nodded, she couldn’t hold back her emotions and stood up. She wanted to argue but more thoughts came to her mind, reminding her of something, and she slumped back on the chair.

“Some secrets should remain secrets from the masses as long as time goes, revealing the secrets would only break the balance and order, but we should…”

Amy muttered to herself, like a believer’s faith collapsed.

“Ignorance is bliss in many cases. The more you know, the deeper you might be in trouble. It depends on what your choices are,” Kieran looked at her.

Amy frowned, not averting Kieran’s gaze.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

She was smart enough to know why Kieran altered his cold attitude to her. Other than publishing Deodre’s case honestly, he should have something to ask of her.

It was impossible that he was interested in her, she knew this kind of man very well. A single glance revealed everything to her.

“Do you want to pretend nothing happened last night and go back to your normal life, or do you want to work with me? Like you said, I’m watching tv and reading the newspaper because I want to collect information, but my capabilities aren’t comparable to yours. In short, I need someone to collect news for me,” Kieran said frankly.

After discovering her occupation and realizing she had quite the position in her newspaper firm, Kieran had some thoughts to recruit her. Otherwise, Kieran wouldn’t tell her this much, even if she published Deodre’s case honestly.

“You and those Demon Hunters… are different? They are professionals and you are… a part-timer?”

Amy thought for awhile and said some terms easy for everyone to digest.

“Something like that,” Kieran didn’t argue, he wasn’t a professional after all.

His profession was that of a restaurant owner, expelling the dead was just along the way, a type of convenience.

However, in order to recover to his former strength, he too wouldn’t mind using his free time to farm for a better result.

Amy did not answer right away, thinking about the suggestion for almost half an hour.

“I can help you, as your assistant, but we must be on equal terms. You can’t force me to do things and I’ll do my best to help you,” Amy stated her condition.

“No problem,” Kieran extended his right hand.

“Happy working together.”

“Happy working together.”

The shake lasted only for a second, Amy then heaved a long breath of relief. She now had confirmation that Kieran wasn’t interested in her, which was the best for her.

“Do you have a room to rent here?”

After solving the biggest problem that troubled her mind, she went on to solve the next biggest problem.

After meeting Deodre, Amy had not returned to her apartment.

Before yesterday night, living alone was an enjoyment for Amy but after that freaky encounter, she had been overthinking a lot. She felt like there was someone around her, beside her, above her, beneath her, it was like she was surrounded by ‘people’.

The eerie feeling was the worst, she had to find a place that she assumed was safe to settle down, and in her knowledge, where else was safer than Kieran’s place?

“No,” Kieran replied straightforwardly.

“I’m your assistant now!” Amy emphasized.

“But we are on equal terms, right? You said it yourself,” Kieran returned her words to Amy.

“I didn’t request any commission!” Amy tried to fight for it.

“When you get a hold of the secretive news from the dead, which should die with them, you will be rewarded beyond your imagination,” Kieran wasn’t moved, he has too many secrets to keep from her.

Other than Starbeck, Kieran wasn’t willing to allow another person to stay around him for a long period of time, not even his so-called assistant.

“Then how should I go back at night?!” Amy asked.

“Like how you used to go back. An electric baton should solve every problem that you might face. But if you aren’t up for it, you can sit here and wait for sunrise. One seating for the night is a hundred, I’ll give you a discounted price of 99 for long-term service,” Kieran said seriously.

“Money face!” Amy grunted in a muffled voice but she took out 200 dollar and put it on the counter.

Amy’s chicken soup was 100 and the seating fee was 100.

Kieran received the money and put it into the money box.

“Shouldn’t you give me back the change?” Amy frowned. She was very sensitive with numbers.

“Long-term use is a 100, but if it’s just a night, how can it be long term?”

“It’s just a dollar!” Amy’s pitch raised higher.

“Every penny counts, every little makes a mickle. Ten thousand dollars is made up of ten thousand 1 dollars, even a hundred thousand dollars or a million starts with 1 dollar. Anyone who looks down on a single dollar will never be wealthy because they will spend until the very end,” Kieran said seriously.

Amy did not argue with him this time, because she thought the same.

After that, Amy was busy tidying her documents on her seat while Kieran continued reading and listening to the news on the tv.

Time soon flew past midnight and when the clock struck at 1am, a drama series, which was a repeated broadcast started playing.

The drama usually played four to five episodes back-to-back during winter break and it would repeat every single holiday.

Kieran was rather interested in the drama. The repeated broadcast stated how classic it was, but no matter how classic, people would eventually grow bored of it, like Amy.

“You are really a dull person and you aren’t that handsome, I guess you’ll die alone,” Amy said when she noticed Kieran was enjoying the drama.

Kieran didn’t argue though, it was a fact that he was dull, even he himself knew it.

As for his looks?

Although the system usually blurred it out, it wasn’t going to beautify his looks, it was still an exact reflection of his own face, so he also admitted he wasn’t that good-looking.

Dying alone?

It was still too early to say so, but Kieran never even thought about it.

Kieran didn’t argue, but it didn’t mean Starbeck accepted it.

Starbeck has been listening the moment Amy stepped into the restaurant and he finally lost it when he heard the dissing, walking out of the kitchen with his apron on.

Amy’s eyes shined when she saw Starbeck.

Compared to Kieran, Starbeck was unusually handsome. He had the rigidness of man and the softness of woman, which attracted Amy a lot.

“You are his brother, Roye right? You are also the chef of the restaurant? You two looked nothing alike,” Amy sized up Starbeck with her burning gaze, her enthusiasm self-explanatory.

“Interesting souls weigh around a hundred kilograms; a nice looking vessel is around 3000 per night. My normal-looking, dull brother will not die alone with me around him. What about you?”

Starbeck stood beside Kieran, showing a warm and polite smile, his gaze not that pressuring but Amy felt unusually pressured.

She felt like she wasn’t looking at a beautiful young man but a person with power and high authority.

She felt a similar feeling before when she was interviewing the mayor of Ai City, even though the mayor did not make her feel pressured, it was almost suffocating.

“Me? Well I have my own plans. After I achieve what I am chasing after, I’ll get married.”

Amy’s brain started to slow down in front of such pressure, thinking of replying in a slicker way but what she said somehow made her lose the initiative.

It felt terrible, it was intolerable!

She was pressured by a young man and could hardly breath?

What a joke!

‘Counter! I must counterattack!’

After the thoughts formed in her mind, Amy wanted to say something else but when she saw that kind and polite smile again, the pressure and suffocation got very intense, like she was sitting across a king who had the rights to determine the life and death of all his subjects. She couldn’t even sit properly.

“I-I can now confirm that you are related! Both of you speak the same way!” Amy said in stutters and her hand was holding onto the counter.

Starbeck smiled and didn’t say anything, turning around and serving Kieran a cup of goji tea.

‘I am here to serve tea, not to purposely diss you.

If you think I’m dissing you, you are overthinking.’

Amy deciphered the meaning behind Starbeck’s action and smile as such.

She suddenly realized that compared to the handsome younger brother, the cold elder brother was a better person to stick around.

“Royan, I…”

“Shut up.”

Amy wanted to end the awkward atmosphere, she spoke to Kieran but Kieran stopped her loudly before she could finish.

Kieran glued his eyes at the tv.

Amy then realized the drama had somehow turned into a black and white scene with a hand inside.

The hand curled up slightly, using the back of its finger to knock on the screen!

Knock Knock!

When the hand knocked on the screen, a loud knock on the actual door of the restaurant followed promptly.

Amy turned pale, the knocks sounding like they were knocking on her heart.

Amy was badly frightened after yesterday night and she was horrified by the knocks.

She widened her eyes at Kieran, hoping for some comfort, hoping the pro would solve the problem.

Then, she saw Kieran stand up and extend his hand to the tv switch.

Pak.

The tv was switched off.