The Devil's Cage

The House of Winchester, just like its name suggested was a family-style hotel.

The building had three stories and an extremely awkward entrance, even for a normal person, one would need to enter sideways.

Obviously, such a place couldn’t hold an independent car park.

The space in front of its door and the sideways was the best they could afford.

After Kieran spent the 1 dollar note in his pocket to get the exact location of Winchester House, he headed towards the entrance by circling around the cars parked in front.

Kieran glanced over the cars out of habit.

There was a total of four cars, two common cars, one jeep, and a Picard.

The brands though, Kieran’s knew nothing about the dungeon world, let alone recognizing the brands of its cars yet he spotted that one of the cars was different from the others.

The car’s body was prolonged and had a deep tinted window all around. Kieran also spotted leather seats through the windshield and he knew the car was expensive.

"A rich person’s car?" Kieran raised a brow.

A fancy car like that appearing in a luxurious hotel wasn’t an odd scene but it was when stopped before an old broken family hotel.

The scent of a sub-mission!

Kieran squinted his eyes.

His steps automatically hastened.

He was eager to get more information to clarify his current situation in addition to finding leads to his main mission.

Ten days wasn’t long by any means.

Ding Dong!

The doorbell rang when Kieran pushed the door open.

When Kieran opened the door, a mixed stench of blood and gasoline assaulted Kieran’s nose.

Plus the smell of fire powder’s sulfur and potassium nitrate!

Before he took a step in the hotel, he quickly retreated without a second thought.

KABOOOM!

An explosion occurred the moment Kieran backed off.

A dazzling fire rose up from the windows of the Winchester, followed by shattered glass flying all over and blazing fires dancing out of the windows.

The calm street had plunged into chaos in an instant, as though hot cooking oil was poured into a pail of cold water.

People on the streets screamed and ran in panic. Everyone was terrified by the sudden explosion.

Even when the police sirens sounded, it didn’t calm the panic down at all.

Kieran shook his head and tried his best to calm the concussion to his brain.

Although Kieran reacted quickly to the unusual explosion, he was caught in its blast range.

The powerful explosion sent Kieran flying almost 7 to 8 meters away and crashed on the lamp post beside the street.

"Damn it!"

Kieran missed his items and equipment more than anything when his HP dropped by 500 instantly because of the shockwave and the crash.

He didn’t even require much, all he wanted was [Primus Arm] or [Armor of Excellence] and the explosion before his eyes couldn’t even scratch his hair.

Even the weakest among all, [Crow’s Black Feather] could decrease some damage taken unlike now as he was taking the blast in his face.

Especially when [Fusion Heart] was sealed and [Body of Evil]’s effect was gone, Kieran would not be better than a common man when the explosion and burns went off in his face.

If it wasn’t for his A+ Constitution and the corresponding 900 HP, it would be game over for Kieran before he even truly stepped into the House of Winchester.

Still, he immediately suffered a [Moderately Wounded] status after the blast.

All three Strength, Agility and Intuition had further decreased but still, it wasn’t the worst yet.

The worst was the arrival of the police of the dungeon world.

He had zero information and knowledge of the current dungeon world nor did he possess a corresponding identity and now he appeared before the scene of a murder and explosion.

No matter how he looked at it, it was a terrible start.

Kieran wanted to stand up and leave the place instinctively but reality always opposed his intentions.

When a young police officer jumped off his cruiser, he quickly spotted Kieran who fell beside the street because of the shock wave and was soaking in bloody with messy clothes.

"Sir! There’s a wounded here!"

"Hold on, the ambulance will arrive soon!"

"Hey mate! Look at me! Your injuries aren’t that serious but don’t close your eyes..."

The young police officers were yelling beside Kieran’s ears, trying to give as much support as possible to him. He was worried that Kieran will fall unconscious so he kept distracting Kieran’s attention ceaselessly and gave him comfort.

No doubt he was a just and kind young police officer but Kieran could only reply with an eye roll.

As a player, Kieran knew his body status better than any native. He might seem heavily wounded but it was just the looks of it. It wasn’t fatal by any means.

Kieran glanced over the young officer who was still calling out to him and also saw a couple more officers who ran over to him with the corner of his eyes.

He decided to ditch his plans of running away, though it wasn’t hard for him, he didn’t want to complicate things.

"The moment I returned to Winchester House, it exploded? This is not a coincidence! It’s a trap! Then... The key in my pocket?"

Kieran’s doubtful and vigilant attitude started to cause questions to appear in his mind but his questions were interrupted right away.

"Sir! The victim’s eyes have turned white, hurry up with the ambulance! He can’t hold on for long!"

The young officer was shouting loudly after misunderstanding Kieran’s expression.

Kieran was stunned, he couldn’t hold back the slight twitch on the corner of his mouth against the "kind" person.

"SIR! The victim started twitching, his body is going unstable!"

The young officer went further with his misunderstanding and shouted even louder.

"FINE!"

Kieran gave up, he didn’t need to argue with a "kind" person because this shouldn’t even happen in the first place.

Kieran the victim only needed to stay down honestly and wait for the ambulance.

...

St. Reid Hospital.

It wasn’t the best hospital in the city but it was the closest to Winchester House.

Kieran was sent directly into the ICU after arriving at the hospital.

Though a minute later, the ICU doctor was scolding loudly.

"You’ve got to be kidding me! It’s only flesh wound! All he has to do is wash the wounds and get some rest and he will be up in no time!"

The young officer who sent Kieran over exchanged gaze with another one of his older colleagues.

Five minutes later, Kieran was transferred into a special care ward.

It wasn’t the special care ward for patients that needed checking from time to time but the special ward for those who needed to be placed under surveillance.

After cleaning up the wounds and being bandaged up, Kieran looked down and saw his left hand was cuffed to the bed, restricting his mobility.

He then turned his eyes outside the door.

Because of the angle, he couldn’t see through the small window but he could hear two people breathing outside.

The officers that sent him to the hospital had become the guards outside his ward.

"Things are much worse than I expected," Kieran said softly.

The way the officers treated him had stated that he was one of the prime suspects of the case and it wasn’t something that Kieran preferred to see.

He squinted his eyes and began grinding his gears on how could he escape the sticky situation.

Half an hour later...

Bang!

The ward door was pushed open hardly, a leather jacket plus jeans woman with an average height yet a voluptuous body walked in.

Under the ward’s lighting, her hair was a dazzling bright red, similar to her hot-tempered attitude. Her mature and sharp eyes were gazing directly at Kieran who was laying down on the bed.

"I’m the chief officer, Teresa."

She stated her position and stood beside Kieran’s bed, looking down on him like a powerful figure staring down at her prey, creating pressure for Kieran.

Three four seconds later, she continued.

"Who are you!"

"Where are you from?"

"Why were you there at Winchester House?"

"Is the explosion your handy work?"

"Is the people behind the explosion your acquaintance?"

"Why did they blow up Winchester House?"

Her questions were skillfully asked. She spoke fast and rhythmic.

When such a series of question with that tone were blasted out, once the target was caught with its flow, the target might really reveal something and even if the target didn’t, the face might show some unusual expressions as well.

Teresa must have gotten the technique of questioning through some special books and her experience. She was very confident in herself but what happened next made her frown.

Kieran who was blasted with the questions didn’t react as she would have expected but looked at her with an absent-minded face.

"Who am I?"

"Where do I come from?"

"Why would I be at the Winchester?"

"Ugh!... My head hurts!"

Kieran sounded like he was answering but mumbling to himself and before he finished, he covered his head on the bed, moaning in pain.

Teresa’s heart had a bad feeling when she saw Kieran’s behavior.