The Devil's Cage

If Kieran felt Barney the "Jackal" wasn’t simple before, he was certain that Barney wasn’t who he claimed to be after seeing the hidden entrance with the wooden cupboard blocking it.

A street thug who was a drug addict could easily move a solid wood cupboard that required three to four people to move?

What a bad joke!

Was there someone else who helped him instead?

Well anyone would want his secret entrance to be kept away from other people’s reach.

It was common sense!

Therefore, Barney the "Jackal" was not someone to be underestimated in terms of strength.

Still, despite him purposely concealing his strength, he was taken out easily by that assailant.

Based on the traces on the scene, Kieran believed that Barney was taken down before he even had the chance to resist and began that long interrogation session.

Kieran didn’t sympathize Barney’s encounter, instead, he grinned because he knew he would finally get his hands on the long overdue clues about the mission and the potential drops of items and equipment!

The ranks might not be high but it was crucial to Kieran at the moment.

One wouldn’t cherish something before one experienced loss.

When Kieran was fully armed, never did he think he would be so greatly anticipating one Magic rank item despite him packing up even the lowest rank of items during normal times.

"I hope it’s a weapon that fits me!" Kieran said to himself.

After all, an evil spirit was one of the vast range of enemies that he had to face.

He was fine during the day but once night arrived...

"Without a specific weapon, it would be troublesome to fight an evil spirit." Kieran frowned slightly.

Hoskin didn’t notice Kieran’s expression. He was thinking about the question that Kieran asked him while moving forward.

Since the young officer was able to join the heavy crime unit at a young age, despite him having the impulse of a young man, he was quite decent in other aspects.

After seeing the handle behind the wooden cupboard, Hoskin too had his own guesses.

However, after working his mind hard, he didn’t recall any rumors about Barney the "Jackal".

"No, nothing. Other than being listed as a suspect for a murder in his younger days, there is nothing really worth mentioning about Barney, he wasn’t like the others who boasted about themselves so much."

Hoskin shook his head but before his words could finish, he stopped.

It was at that moment, Hoskin noticed something different about Barney.

"Damn it! Why didn’t I realized it earlier!" Hoskin blamed himself.

"Realizing it earlier might not be a good thing either," Kieran commented.

Barney the "Jackal" must have hidden some deep secrets but once anyone got close to the secrets, no mercy would be shown, even police officers were no exception.

It seemed like Hoskin understood the meaning in Kieran’s words.

The young officer wanted to refute out of unwillingness but in the end, nothing came out.

The sharpness and the power that Kieran displayed had brought Hoskin to submission without himself knowing, causing Hoskin to truly admire Kieran from the bottom of his heart.

Even though he didn’t agree with Kieran’s words, he wouldn’t resist it directly.

It was exactly what Kieran wanted.

He wanted a helper that could provide effective from time to time and not a watcher that reported to his superior.

Both of them moved forward for another 20 meters and saw a hole that leads straight down underground.

The hole was big enough for one person to go down using the iron ladder embedded on its side.

Hoskin shone his torchlight down but most of the light was swallowed by the darkness.

The remaining light too was dimming down but a ferocious face exposed under the dimming light.

It flew up under the light and its mouth tore open widely, revealing a set of bleached white teeth and gave out a crying laugh.

"Aaaarhhh!"

Hoskin was frightened beyond belief by the ferocious face that appeared in the darkness.

The young officer’s hand shook and he screamed in shock. His body wanted to move back out of instinct but the ferocious face’s owner jumped out from the hole before Hoskin even moved.

The person grabbed the gun barrel before Hoskin had the chance to fire it.

Gask

A tooth numbing screech later, the young officer’s assault rifle was bent by the bare hand with brute force.

"Aaaarh!"

Hoskin screamed again in shock, one was because of the bent rifle, the other was because another force came from the back of his neck, pulled him up and sent flying into the darkness.

Dak Dak Dak!

The assault rifle was fired and muzzle flash shone repeatedly. The slight flash faintly revealed Kieran’s figure who was hiding in the darkness but the ferocious attacker who didn’t even notice Kieran’s presence was forced back by the repeated fire.

A couple of shots landed on the attacker’s body and blood too gushed out from the bullet wounds but the attacker didn’t fall.

The bullets from the assault rifle tore the attacker’s coat and were shot into his skin. However, all the bullets were embedded inside his muscles and didn’t cause real damage to him.

When the rounds were emptied from the magazine, the enraged attacker growled angrily and threw his left punch at Kieran with a hard whistle.

Kieran easily blocked the punch but the attacker who was enraged a moment ago grinned coldly. His right hand was driving a sharp dagger with teeth silently towards Kieran’s stomach.

"You’re dead meat!"

The attacker declared with a ferocious laugh.

Right at the next moment, his ferocious laugh was frozen as Kieran launched a kick with his face unchanged.

Fuuu!

The kick was not only powerful and heavy but also lightning fast from how the attacker’s point of view. Before the dagger could get near, Kieran’s kick had landed on the person’s chest.

Bang!

The attacker flew off as though he was being hit by a truck, crashing into the wall beside. The wall even cracked open like a spider web.

A big portion of the attacker’s chest caved in, causing blood to gush out from his mouth relentlessly.

A second later, he slid off the wall like an old painting, falling down on the ground.

A green glow then appeared on the attacker’s body.

Kieran frowned, he was certain that he controlled his strength to capture the attacker alive but still...

"The gun wounds were more serious than they looked?"

Kieran checked the body with lingering doubts.

Soon enough, Kieran found something on the body.

Behind the attacker’s vest, a small but deep scar was present. If the attacker was any slower, his heart would be pierced but still, the wound caused quite the damage to his body.

"Is this a dagger?"

Kieran unconsciously related it to the speculations that he made about the killer in Winchester House who was also skilled in short weapons.

"Could it be a single person?" Kieran guessed.

Hoskin climbed up from the ground and after he saw who the attacker was, he screamed in shock again.

"Aaaah! It’s him!"