The Devil's Cage

BOOM!

A huge explosion was heard from behind the police cruiser.

The shockwave shook the car hard, but Schmidt tried to steer the wheel, managing to prevent the car from flipping over.

After pulling the emergency break, Schmidt quickly turned around to see the explosion.

All he saw was the old couple’s car turning into a fireball.

There was no chance that the old couple could survive that.

Schmidt was shocked by the sudden explosion. He sat stunned in the driver’s seat, unconsciously turning his eyes to Louver, who was in the backseat.

Louver seemed completely lost, his senses stunned by the scene.

The young man was staring blankly at the burning vehicle. After a few seconds, he started screaming his lungs out.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooo!"

As he screamed, Louver broke out of the car and rushed out.

Schmidt wanted to stop him, but before he could even react, Kieran had already lifted him up and ran to the side of the car.

Three gunners with light machine guns had appeared at the corner of the street and started to shoot at the police cruiser without hesitation.

The continuous shooting sounds forced the questions back inside Schmidt’s mouth. That did not mean that he was going to sit there and do nothing though.

After he was pulled off by Kieran, he followed him, rolling into a green flower bed to dodge the enemies’ fire.

Schmidt got back his senses and started to fire back.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The repeated shots slowed down the pouring bullets of their enemies.

One of the gunners had fallen down, but the remaining two replied with an even heavier rain of bullets.

The downpour forced Schmidt to keep his head down.

"F*cking f*cks! I’m calling in reinforcements!"

Under the force of the bullets flying above their heads and the debris flying all over the place, Schmidt was feeling strange. He noticed that Kieran was unusually calm, but he quickly cursed again when their enemies started firing even harder.

Suddenly, the heavy fire stopped.

Schmidt took that window of opportunity to roll to the side of the flower bed, getting ready to fire back. What he saw next made his jaw drop in shock though.

The two remaining gunners had fallen down and started begging for their lives, screaming sadly.

Both the gunners’ arms had been chopped off and their legs had been detached from their bodies. The first gunner, who had been shot by Schmidt, looked exactly the same.

That gruesome scene was just the beginning.

Whoever saw Louver’s twisted, enraged face would know that he could not be stopped easily.

A blade that shone like the clear reflection of a silent lake had suddenly appeared in his hand. The blade seemed to have come alive through the young man’s wielding as it started to spin around like a whirlwind.

Every cold shine of the blade split the air around it. There was a series of screams from the gunners.

None of them was able to calm the rage inside their hearts. What was left was only a sea of despair.

Louver’s only hope had been to get home to his parents. His parents had been his sole hope for surviving all those years, yet he had been robbed of that hope now.

Nothing else was left in him but despair, and despair brought destruction. His only option was destroying others, himself or both.

"Stop! Louver! Stop right now!"

As Schmidt came to his senses, he raised his gun and pointed it at Louver. He did so instinctively because of his job as a policeman.

However, his words were unable to penetrate the thick wall of rage surrounding Louver. They only made him even more furious.

A cold flash swept through the air as one of the gunners was decapitated by the sharp shining blade.

Bang!

Schmidt fired out a warning shot, pointing the gun at Louver again. His attitude was self-explanatory.

Louver raised his head and turned his eyes to Schmidt’s gun. Then he raised the long blade in his hand.

Schmidt quickly moved the gun slightly, aiming at Louver’s arm. Of course he would not take Louver’s life, but he did not want to lose both the remaining gunners either.

He didn’t feel empathy or mercy for them. All he wanted was to get information out of those bastards.

Anyone would have been able to tell that those gunners had been hired to killed them.

"I suggest you don’t fire. If you do, Louver will throw himself before the barrel and take the shot. He can and he will! He has a death wish now!"

Kieran could clearly see the despair on Louver’s face.

He had experienced despair first hand himself, so the expression on Louver’s face was very familiar to him.

He knew what a man was capable of doing if their heart was filled with despair.

He gestured for Schmidt to stand down, and he walked towards Louver slowly.

"St... Stop right there!"

Louver pointed his blade at Kieran.

"Louver, if you want to die now, that’s your right. No one can take that away from you. Would that be enough though? Those bastards were just scapegoats hired by someone else. They’re not the real mastermind. Are you willing to let the real mastermind behind your parent’s murder roam free? Live Louver, live! Find that guy and take his life with your own hands!"

Kieran did not stop like Louver had ordered him to. Instead, he had quickened his steps and started talking faster.

By the time he spoke his last word, he was already beside Louver, looking him in the eye.

Louver did not shrink back from Kieran’s gaze this time. He was like a different person with the blade in his hands.

His face was slim and paleish, as it hadn’t been exposed to sunlight for a long time. His hair was long and messy, but his gaze was sharp like the blade he was holding.

"Kill him! Kill him!!" he was mumbling in a soft voice.

He had already lowered the blade he’d been pointing at Kieran.

Kieran knew the seed of revenge was sprouting and growing along with his will to live. His different expression and the words he mumbled proved as much.

No one knew what the final fruit would be though.

Schmidt came closer, wanting to interrupt Kieran’s persuasive words, but in the end he didn’t say anything. He quickly called the station for backup.

Kieran was looking with furrowed brows at the surviving gunners, who were screaming in agony.

The three gunners must have set up their ambush there from early on. Otherwise, their ill intent could not have escaped Kieran’s Intuition.

The explosion of Louver’s parents’ car must have also been planned in advance.

A timer bomb could have easily been set up at the scene.

They had to kill the witnesses after all.

Louver had to know some kind of secret if there was someone out there who wanted to assassinate him and his family.

Keeping that in mind, Muntle couldn’t have been just a simple cab driver and kidnapper. He must have belonged to some kind of gang or faction.

The group behind Muntle must have heard about his death and wanted to eliminate any potential danger.

It was the only reasonable explanation for the ambush.

Kieran turned his eyes to Louver, who was still mumbling. He seemed to be hysterical, and his heart was beating really fast.

"Louver, can you tell me what you’ve been through?"

Kieran tried to use a mild, friendly tone as he asked.

Louver was still mumbling gibberish to himself though, as if the words had not reached his ears.

Louver’s state gave Kieran a bad feeling.

He raised his hand and waved in front of Louver’s eyes, but Louver did not blink or flinch.

"What happened?" Kieran’s action had caught Schmidt’s attention.

"Trouble..." Kieran pointed out Louver’s odd manner.

"What the hell..."

Schmidt tried to communicate with Louver by looking at him, but the outcome made Schmidt’s expression change before he turned back to Kieran.

"I’m thinking what you’re thinking, but we still need a professional to confirm it. When is the ambulance coming? Ask them to send a psychologist if it’s possible," Kieran said.

"No problem!" Schmidt nodded before he picked up his phone again.

...

They were at the station, in Schmidt’s office.

Kieran was sitting beside Schmidt on the couch, watching the screen play the scene of the Heart Taker’s death on repeat. This was the third time he was watching it.

"Anything?" Schmidt asked, pausing the screen with the remote.

"Let’s pay the body a visit," Kieran said.

He had a general idea, but he did not want to mention it yet.

Kieran had a habit of not sharing his plans unless he was at least 99% sure.

"Let’s go then!" Schmidt stood up and rushed out the office, his impatience evident.

Just as he pushed open the door of the office though, they heard some noise come from the interrogation room.

Bang!

One of the officers was sent flying towards the interrogation room door, slamming hard against it before another officer was pancaked on him.

"Kill him! Kill him!!"

Louver, who was mumbling in the room, barged out as the psychologist let out a scream. After a quick glance at his surroundings, he dashed towards Kieran at a ridiculous speed.

He was not in an attacking stance though. He just stood beside Kieran mumbling.

The psychologist rushed out of the interrogation room shouting.

"Officers! Anyone, please! Gosh! How could a patient escape? Bring the restraints and more sedatives!"

"Shut it, doctor! Excuse my manners but I’ve told you before, Louver is a special case. Please treat him in a mild, gentle way and help us diagnose his condition instead of screaming around for restraints and sedatives!" Schmidt shouted back at the psychologist, warning him in a stern manner.

"But..."

"No buts! Any more problems and I’ll have to find a better doctor!"

The psychologist had been about to express his concern, but he was cut off by Schmidt’s warning.

Schmidt was having a terrible day. The killer he had caught had died in the station without an obvious reason, and Schmidt himself had been ambushed by gunners on his way to the station.

Now he had to deal with an unreliable psychologist to boot. If it didn’t violate his own moral code, he would have already pulled his gun out and asked the doctor to scram.

The psychologist looked upset as he walked away, and Schmidt knew that he was going to complain to his superiors.

He did not care though. This was not the first time, and it would definitely not be the last.

He turned around to take Kieran to the morgue, when he suddenly saw something.

After the accident, Louver had suffered a mental breakdown. However, right at that moment, he was pointing at the surveillance footage and talking to Kieran about something.