The Devil's Cage

[Discovered Sub-mission: Slander!]

[Slander: The well-being of chief officer Teresa has caused some parties to be anxious. The slander was just the beginning, more danger awaits her. If you want to know more, you need to locate her as soon as possible and help her clear her name.]

...

Kieran went into a deep thought after seeing the words in his vision.

The chief officer being listed as a wanted criminal was totally out of his expectations.

Although he suspected that the station had the enemy’s mole, he did not expect the mole to possess such authority and was able to frame Teresa.

Or was it...

"The mole is affiliated with outsiders and pressured the force from the outside?"

Kieran unconsciously thought of the fully armed members of the assault squad.

Their arsenal wasn’t something regular people could deal with, let alone the people using them were elites as well, it was quite a rare scene to come across.

With elites plus a high-end arsenal, it may mean that the forces behind them had quite the authority and financial ability.

Coincidentally, one of the mayoral candidates was killed in the explosion.

"His political rival?"

Another guess popped up in Kieran’s heart but because of the urgency of the situation, he couldn’t verify the guess at the moment.

Hoskin who heard the announcement from the radio couldn’t further hold himself back.

"How is this possible?! How is the chief the killer behind the Winchester House explosion!? Did those guy stuff sh*t in their head?"

The young officer scolded loudly, his enraged expression even made the green veins on his forehead visible.

Hoskin wanted to step on the pedal, he wanted to go back to the station and find the person who gave the order so he could knock some sense into them.

Kieran, however, was a step ahead by taking away the key, causing the cruiser to shut off.

"Wait for me in the car!"

Kieran took off the bulletproof vest and left the car before Hoskin had a chance to ask.

He directly went up to Dancing Diva’s main entrance.

Teresa was originally following the both of them to the nightclub, her cruiser was parked not far away from theirs beside the street and based on Teresa’s attitude, despite being framed and placed in a dangerous situation, she wouldn’t have snatched her cruiser to escape.

So, she would need to rely on her legs to escape the pursuers.

Wherever she went, tracks would be left behind.

[Tracking] -1 couldn’t track spirits but it could easily track traces left behind by human beings.

More coincidentally, because of his vigilant nature, Kieran would remember the prints and footprints of the people he came across out of habit.

After [Tracking] was activated, Kieran quickly went across to the alleyway opposite from Dancing Diva’s main entrance.

The alleyway opposite was unlike the narrow ones behind Dancing Diva. Not only was it narrow and tight but it was connected to many more streets and paths, making it look like a maze.

Under his [Tracking] vision, Teresa’s footprints seemed to be quite familiar with the environment, there wasn’t any pause during her turns.

Those pursuers behind her obviously didn’t possess the same familiarity.

Teresa’s running speed and familiarity towards the geography lessened the pursuers behind her by the second until she completely ditched all of them.

Still, even without a pursuer on her tail, she didn’t stop at all.

After carefully leaving behind her trail, she started to head towards a single direction.

Kieran couldn’t hold back his praise to the chief officer when he noticed the misleading tracks that Teresa left behind through [Tracking].

Perhaps she couldn’t have hidden her direction that she was going in the major paths but it would be enough to divert the attention of the pursuers that came for her.

While hearing faint but moving away footsteps, Kieran swiftly reached an iron ladder.

The spiral ladder was attached to a seven-storey building which had a platform to the corridor at each floor.

Kieran went up to the third floor and quietly pushed open the corridor door.

The corridor was made up of wood and along the long corridor, every door and window was shut tight.

The connecting spot of the corridor and the platform had a green paper that acted as a notice.

’More and White Mulberry Apartment 3F’

However, Kieran didn’t further sense any living presence. The wooden floorings were covered with thick layers of dust.

Obviously, the place was either abandoned or shut down.

After deactivating [Tracking], Kieran reached a door labeled 309.

Dong, Dong Dong!

A rhythmic knock later, Kieran clearly heard the rushed steps and the turning of the gun’s safety pin behind the door.

"It’s me! Alone!"

Kieran said to prevent the chief officer from taking further unwanted actions.

A moment later, the chief officer opened the door just a crack and looked outside vigilantly.

Based on how Teresa was posing, Kieran was sure behind the door where he couldn’t see, her gun was pointing straight at him.

Kieran went along with the flow and put his hands up, expressing that he was unarmed.

"Come in."

Teresa said after opening the door but the gun was still pointed at Kieran.

Kieran went into the room after being called in and started to size up the new environment.

There weren’t any other excessive things, all the room had was the basic table and bed plus an opened up bedside drawer full of items.

Firearms, medicine, food, water, clothes and new phones and phone cards, everything suited for an individual in hiding.

"A safe house?" Kieran said in shock.

He originally thought it was just a temporary hideout for the chief officer but it turned out to be her safe house.

Building a safe house was not an easy task and at the same time, a chief officer owning a safe house drew even more questions.

Of course, Kieran still had his priorities straight and he knew it wasn’t the best time to be curious about those things.

"I’ll contact Hoskin with the phone, you have his number inside right? Though your deceiving trails might be decent, when they don’t find anything, they will send out the police hounds!"

Kieran said while dialing the phone in his hand.

"How did you find this place?"

Teresa didn’t stop Kieran from dialing the phone because she knew it would be safe if Kieran was speaking. Yet she was doubtful about how Kieran could locate her.

"Didn’t you see my files before? I’m an adventurer, I guess must have picked up the tracking skills out in the wild from some old hunter of sorts. After knowing that you were being framed, I followed the traces you left behind and came here. Well, of course, thank you for your cover-up, otherwise, it would be three people on the wanted list."

Kieran spilled the script that he had planned beforehand.

"That old hunter must be the best recon scout in Matam State!"

Teresa obviously didn’t buy what Kieran said but she did lower her gun a little from his chest.

However, right at the next moment, her lowered gun was pointed up again at the door!

Gak Tssss!

Bang!

The door was smashed flying inwards after a loud bang.