The Devil's Cage

"Is this the guy who used the spirit to spy on 1st Black Street? Or someone who had been hiding here for a while and wanted to acquire profits in times of trouble?"

The thought that bloomed in his mind made Kieran rush in at a faster speed.

Schmidt remained silent behind him. After checking the marks on the gate lock, he pulled out his gun and followed Kieran into the two-and-a-half storey house.

Although Schmidt knew that bullets might not be effective against mystics, it was still better than going in with his bare fists.

However, when Schmidt entered, he saw Kieran standing before a body and inspecting it carefully.

"We’re late, no one is alive here!"

Kieran stood up and walked over to another body.

There were three bodies in total inside the house, and every single one of them had a slash on the neck, inflicted from the front.

His [Tracking] vision allowed Kieran to carefully capture the details around the crime scene. He saw the footprints of the culprit in the corridor clearly and made an educated guess based on them.

"The culprit pried open the garden gate and disarmed the magical traps around the door. Then he barged in at extreme speed and killed all the personnel with a single slash before they could even react. His movements and blade drawing speed were extremely fast. The two dead victims did not even have the time to pull out their guns!"

Kieran had noticed that two of the dead bodies were holding their guns tightly, but had been robbed of the chance to draw them. Kieran frowned. He could never have matched such a lightning speed kill. At least not with [Arrogant Word].

Not unless the three bodies had been very close to each other. However, the bodies were quite far apart from one another. The first two bodies were in the big hall and the corridor of the first floor respectively, and the last one was on the stairs heading upstairs.

Kieran’s mind quickly painted the picture when he saw a footprint on the couch. After the culprit had killed the first floor personnel, he had quickly dashed up the stairs, where the third body was. Before the third victim could react, his throat had been slashed.

The cut was clean and the method very precise. None of the victims had survived. Kieran had a feeling that the culprit was a professional.

"Such a quick blade!"

Schmidt’s face turned sour after he checked over the scene. He could understand how fearful the blademan must have been by putting himself in the shoes of the dead personnel.

No matter which position Schmidt imagined himself in, he could not pull his gun out in time either.

Schmidt even recognized two of the victims. The two of them had actually been quite famous.

"The two dead gunners here were quite famous on the West Coast. They were well-known for their speed. They went missing about half a year ago! I thought they had been ambushed and killed by someone else. Who would’ve thought that they’d joined the Cursed Society!" Schmidt said as he pointed at the two dead bodies.

"What about this guy?" Kieran pointed at the body on the stairs.

"I don’t know him. Never seen his face before. He might have been new to the society!"

Schmidt shook his head after taking a careful look at the third one.

"Is that so?" Kieran muttered.

The third victim had casual clothes on and had been coming down the stairs when he had been killed. There had also been two staff members on the first floor. No matter how Kieran looked at it, the third person’s identity had to be more important than the two famous gunners’ Schmidt had mentioned.

He was still a fresh face for Schmidt though. His body showed no signs of training either. His hands and palms were quite smooth.

"Maybe he is a spell-caster?" Kieran guessed before beckoning at Schmidt.

"Follow me! Help me investigate this guy. I can sense a secret hiding behind him!" Kieran told Schmidt before he rushed up to the second floor. At the end of the corridor, there was a table there with a vase on it. The sunset light was reflected against it brilliantly.

The white vase had an orange-reddish pattern that seemed to match the paint of the decorative table beneath it.

However, Kieran’s [Tracking] revealed more obvious traces. There was a partial glove print on the vase and a footprint of the culprit in front of the table.

After Kieran checked the table and the vase carefully, he placed his hand on the vase and pushed it slightly.

Crack!

The vase turned with a clear noise and a door appeared on the side of the wall.

A passage leading downstairs revealed itself after the door was pushed open.

Kieran went down the passage right away.

After around 30 steps down, a secret room with an open door appeared before Kieran. He carefully checked around for any potential traps and then signaled at Schmidt, who had been following him, that it was safe.

"When did the Cursed Society build a secret room like this?"

Schmidt came down and scanned the room with a curious expression.

Judging by his confused tone, Kieran was certain that 100th Ciaran Street had never had such a secret room before. Schmidt seemed to be quite familiar with the place.

"Any secret societies that enter our radar are thoroughly investigated. The Cursed Society was no exception. Before they bought 100th Ciaran Street and turned it into their base, the blueprint of the building had already appeared on my desk!" Schmidt explained before Kieran could even ask.

"Seems like your investigation was not as thorough as you thought!"

Schmidt gave Kieran a forced, bitter smile.

Kieran glanced around the secret room that housed dozens of books about potionology, alchemy and spell ingredients. His eyes eventually came to rest on a table.

The position of the table and the three chairs around it made it look like a meeting table. Through his [Tracking], Kieran saw the culprit enter the secret room and walk right up to the table.

It seemed like there had been some things of great importance on the table before, but there was nothing left on it now. There were still some clues left behind for Kieran though.

"The culprit seems to have been much more familiar with the place than we thought! His goal was clear as well. Was he a close acquaintance of the Cursed Society after all?"

The gears in Kieran’s mind span as he asked Schmidt, "Among all the individuals that had a good or bad relationship with the Cursed Society, was there a 180-centimeter tall person with a nimble figure who was good with swords?"

"Nope! In fact, there is no one like that on the whole West Coast. Professional killers and mafia hitmen are all accounted for. Of course, our investigations might not have been thorough enough this time either!" Schmidt answered in an affirmative tone before adding a self-mocking comment. He had suddenly realized that he was in a secret room that he had failed to discover before.

Kieran did not reply. Instead, he circled around the table for clues, hoping to find something useful.

Unfortunately, the culprit was much more vigilant than they’d imagined. There were no noteworthy clues around. Schmidt hadn’t found anything either.

"I think I should call my cute colleagues back at the station. Although everything here is under my jurisdiction, some standard operation procedures still apply. Besides, we might find something if we get more men to search the room. It will make things easier for us!" Schmidt said.

"Hold on!" Kieran shouted at him.

He had found something.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

A little hint on the bladesman identity, he appeared before! Guess!

And on a side note, Im at the part of the novel where things really started to get interesting! I always love how much Kieran power up himself! I assure you guys, your wait for the future chapters will not be in vein!!