The Devil's Cage

The fully armed squad with the overflowing killing intent was identical with the ones Kieran and Hoskin encountered at the Winchester House.

"Go in!"

Hoskin pulled out his gun to prepare himself for a fire fight with the squad when he saw them but Kieran dragged him back into the small short door just as Hoskin wanted to fire, followed by Teresa.

Kieran grabbed her by the waist and flew backward through the small short door with a strong tap of his feet.

Bang Bang bang bang!

Just as Kieran and Teresa fell on the ground inside the small short door, loud gunshots were fired outside.

The bullets landed all around the brick wall and splashed dust and debris all around.

The dust came in through the small door before it was shut, causing Hoskin to cough a few times after falling hard on the ground.

Despite the ugly position, the young officer still pointed his gun at the door.

Kieran saw Hoskin’s reaction and couldn’t come up with a comment on his action.

A hot-blooded person who wasn’t afraid of death was to be respected but if it was a reckless death, it wouldn’t be worth it.

"Do you have a death wish?"

Kieran pointed at the trap on the wall after climbing up and ran towards the only door deeper inside.

Despite the chaos, Kieran didn’t forget to check whether the inner door was safe.

Since there was a trap mine installed at the entrance, who could guarantee there wouldn’t be a second one.

"Hurry!"

Kieran rushed Hoskin and Teresa as marching footsteps approaching swiftly.

Both of them ran towards the inner door without further ado.

Unlike the short door outside which revealed only darkness inside, the second door which was much sturdier and had a light behind it.

Therefore, when Teresa and Hoskin ran inside the room that looked like a storeroom, they saw the body on the floor.

A body which had the cap of his skull opened up.

However, the three of them didn’t stop to check on the body but ran further inwards.

After going through a third door...

KABOOM!

A loud explosion came from behind. The fierce explosion was so powerful that it shook the ground, forcing the running three to halt their steps.

"They are not the same party?" Kieran squinted his eyes.

Kieran then laid both his hands open when he sensed the judgmental gaze from Teresa.

"I guess my guesses were wrong but at least it did us a favor! Still, I think we are still in danger, one bomb couldn’t have taken out such a number of armed men! Even though they lost a few, it will buy us some time amidst their hesitation but it wouldn’t be long since there is more than one door here."

Teresa glared over Kieran before striding inwards.

Hoskin quickly followed and so did Kieran without any hesitation.

If the pursuers behind him had enough benefits, Kieran wouldn’t mind beating them up but they were a bunch of armed men with heavy firearms, which proved not much of a value for Kieran at the moment.

Even more so since the current dungeon world wasn’t a place that he could carry a firearm freely around, without [Crimson Ghost Stomach] and the absence of total concealment, Kieran wouldn’t want to attract further troubles for himself.

Kieran followed Teresa, he sized up the place while thinking to himself.

"These armed elite men are different from those who slaughtered everyone inside Dancing Diva... that means more people or forces have come into play?" Kieran muttered in his heart.

His mind unconsciously related the situation to the four unidentified bodies and the item that attracted so much attention.

No doubt the armed men were here for the item, perhaps the four bodies were also there for that item.

"Means someone beat them to it? If the one who beat them to it had gotten the information from one of the five dead bodies and he decided to kill the witnesses by blowing up the place, it would make sense as well! So, what in the hell is that item?"

Kieran tried to think of the thing that was similar to half a brick and had a lot of value.

Meanwhile, Teresa strode on forward without stopping and went through the kitchen and strode past the bar in the Dancing Diva.

There were three more bodies there and similar with the one at the storeroom, their heads were blown off by a single shot.

After that, the three of them went up to the office on the second floor and saw Barney the Jackal’s body.

"Tsss!"

Hoskin’s heart of justice wished that Barney the human trash would disappear from the society but when he saw the body, he couldn’t hold back and gasped coldly.

Other than the fatal slash on the neck, Barney’s fingernails and toenails were all pulled off, his teeth were all knocked off as well. One side of his ear was cut off and a steel pen was stabbed in his left eye socket. There were many bloody and badly damage spots on his body, especially between his legs, all that was left was a big part of minced meat.

Kieran frowned when he saw the badly mutilated body.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t bear the horrible scene but Barney the "Jackal" was much more important in the case that he thought, otherwise he wouldn’t have suffered such an interrogation.

Barney the "Jackal" was much more stubborn than expected as well since he suffered so much through the interrogation.

"Is it something that will kill him once he reveals it?" Kieran guessed.

Then he started to scan the area in hopes of finding more clues.

Teresa acted the same with Kieran.

Hoskin was stunned for a while before reacting to the scene and joined both of them in their search.

However, Barney’s office was much cleaner than expected.

The safe that was hidden under the study table was pried open with emptied contents. All of the drawers were dragged open and tons of paper files fell on the floor.

"Damn it!"

After a round of searching and got nothing, the chief officer stared at the empty safe, cursing heavily. Hoskin was in low spirit as well but Kieran smiled.

"You found something?"

Teresa had been sparing a part of her attention on Kieran and her eyes shone when she notice Kieran’s expression.

"A little. If you can keep a secret, I don’t mind telling you." Kieran said.

"WHAT?" Teresa shouted angrily.

"It’s simple, you’ve called in the bomb disposal unit and also contacted your men but the armed squad arrived instead of reinforcements. Can I assume that there is a mole in the station or... the one you called to was actually the enemy?" Kieran maintained his smile.

Teresa, however, was shocked.

Rage filled her face and Teresa dashed over to Kieran like an arrow. She wanted to lift Kieran by his collar, her speed was overwhelming for a person of her size.

Still, she missed.

Kieran moved aside swiftly, not only did he dodged Teresa’s grab but then counter grabbed Teresa’s arm and twisted it behind her back to pin her down completely.

A powerful punch was thrown at her abdomen, robbing her of her ability to resist further.

Then, Kieran pulled out the smartphone from Teresa’s pocket and threw it to Hoskin.

"See who the hell did she called with her phone," Kieran said.