The Devil's Cage

Blood splashed, the fire in the gas barrel flickering.

Kieran stepped out from the shadows, pointing [Acard Knife] towards the fallen Witchcraft practitioner's hearts and gave them an extra stab.

With the [Soul Hunt] attribute in the knife, when the three practitioners sustained the first slash, their soul was damaged, they could never 'return' anymore.

Giving them a second stab in the heart was just vigilance out of habit.

After securing the skill, Kieran checked his spoils.

Other than a [Gordor's Chain] from the scarred face man, one of the two dropped nothing and the last person dropped a wooden voodoo tablet.

[Name: Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: None]

[Attribute: Curse]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: No]

[Remark: This talisman tablet is better than the Cursed Paper Man, but it required a much more complicated hand gestures and incantations (Your current Mystical Knowledge level is too low, unable to further read related information)]

…

[Curse: Acquire the target's name, date of birth and blood to cast a curse. Negative effects such as nightmares will be induced to the target (Have to undergo an E rank Spirit authentication, it won't work if the target passed the authentication)]

…

The [Gordor's Chain] from the scarred face man was similar to the one Kieran had acquired before, there was no difference in attributes and looked the same in terms of looks, both were thin long chains that resembled a bracelet.

Kieran equipped the newly acquired [Gordor's Chain] onto the same wrist.

Even though [Gordor's Chain] had less than ideal attack and defense, he would never look down on any item and equipment, especially when he was in dire need of one and had limited options to choose from.

[Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet]?

Without related knowledge, Kieran couldn't put it to use.

He put the [Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet] into his backpack, together with the one he previously got and the three [Cursed Paper Man].

These were all his spoils prior to tonight.

These three practitioners weren't Kieran's first target. In fact, following his methods of mixing things up, this would be the last stop in his Witchcraft practitioner hunting.

As for the spoils?

It was obvious that these practitioners were a lot weaker than those who participated in the battle for the Philosopher's Stone, he knew it by the spoils he gained.

Though these men wouldn't just sit back quietly without engaging in any battle, hence escaping their demise. Therefore, Kieran did not expect to get anything from them either.

Being ble to secure two [Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet] and three [Cursed Paper Man] was already beyond Kieran's expectation.

After he checked the surroundings once more and made sure he did not miss anything, Kieran left.

He returned to the restaurant without pausing.

He entered through the window, got changed, and returned to the main floor.

The Elite Hound who had been guarding the main entrance ran to Kieran with a wagging tail as he came down. Kieran caressed its head and signaled to the kitchen entrance.

Elite Hound quickly ran to the kitchen entrance for it understood Kieran's signal.

Throughout the little outing, Starbeck and Li Jiajia in the kitchen had not noticed Kieran's absence.

Amy and Carrie were already asleep for they were still trying to cope with their condition. They wouldn't have the slightest idea that Kieran had left the building.

All except... Superior Demon, Bloody Mary!

Bloody Mary had just completed the task its boss assigned to it, placing a little package on the tea table and turning on the rather old heater.

It found the old heater in the storeroom's corner. It might be old, but it ran perfectly fine.

A while later, the storeroom started to become warm.

Bloody Mary took a stool over and sat down, humming the melody that Kieran used to hum.

It was simple! Too simple!

Those Witchcraft practitioners hid their things like children!

As long as Bloody Mary located their hideout, with its ability, it was a piece of cake for it to get the items, and other than being worn out from carrying the things back, there wasn't any trouble or difficulties at all.

It has been a while since Bloody Mary had received such an easy task.

Compared to the previous life and death situations, in which it ended up dying multiple times, Bloody Mary was drowned in happiness.

Bloody Mary suddenly thought of something, standing up from the little stool and going over to the corner of the storeroom, an old tea set sitting there.

The tea set wasn't just old, it had sustained quite the damage, that was why the tea set ended up in the storeroom.

Though Bloody Mary didn't care.

It carefully wiped the tea cups and laid it all out on the tea table in front of it.

Even though it had no water to make tea, Bloody Mary enjoyed its personal time with ease.

Its current life was perfect! It hoped that this life could last forever.

That was what it thought in its heart but it knew very well that the thought would best remain a thought. Enjoying life once in a while was good enough, now it wanted it to last long?

Impossible!

It had only one boss to serve.

It's not that its boss was a trouble magnet and liked to cause trouble, but because its boss started off from a whirlpool of troubles, if its boss didn't give his best in escaping the vortex, he would be crushed.

As the most important contracted companion of its boss, once its boss died, it would not end up well either. It still wanted to exist, despite it having died too many times during assignments.

So, it ought to cherish the moments!

With such beliefs in its head, Bloody Mary relaxed for two minutes before it stood up again, put the tea set, tea table, and stool back to the corner and waited beside the door.

A moment later, Kieran came in.

"Boss, the things you wanted, these are the properties… I mean what's left of it, from those dead Witchcraft practitioners."

Bloody Mary passed the package on the floor to Kieran.

Kieran received the package. He didn't take a good look yet he grinned.

Through the weight and noise, he had a general idea of what was in the package.

At least 50 Crossing Silver Coins and 200 Crossing Copper Coins!

As for the gold coin?

There was none in the package.

It's not that the Witchcraft practitioners didn't have any gold coins, but because of the specialty and rarity of one, the practitioners did not treat the gold coin as their personal belonging which they would take anywhere with them.

Nonetheless, the package was a decent earning.

In addition to the previously earned 20 silver coins and the extra copper coins for the sake of bargain, he could easily get himself two gold coins.

"Nicely done. Did you find anything in the ancient ruins of the Philosopher's Stone?"

Kieran praised Bloody Mary before he asked about the very concerning Philosopher's Stone shard.

"Nothing! I've checked that place from top to bottom, but I found nothing, not even a suspicious spot! I even eavesdropped on the conversation between Song Shi Family members, they said that place was supposed to be a tomb, yet there lies a shard of the Philosopher's Stone."

Bloody Mary told Kieran everything it found out.

Bloody Mary's trip wasn't just to search for the missing Witchcraft practitioner's location and secure those spoils from the dead ones, finding out about the Philosopher's Stone shard was actually the priority.

Unfortunately, compared to its former task, it got very limited information on the shard.

Maybe Mian Yi from Song Shi Family knew something, but Bloody Mary dare not approach the man. Its instinct told itself once it got near the man, the man would surely expose itself.

Kieran nodded and stopped asking.

"Continue to keep an eye out for any movements in Ai City. I want you to gather more secrets from the souls and monsters," said Kieran before he headed upstairs.

"The tasks are as well as complete!" Bloody Mary said in flattery.

It was delighted because the tasks were very easy, it wouldn't have to break a sweat. Why would it be unhappy?

After Kieran went up, Bloody Mary vanished.

The sun rose as always and set when it reached the west.

A minute after the little blackboard was hung outside, Song Shi appeared in the alley entrance,

nodding in satisfaction when she saw the elegant words written on the blackboard.

It wasn't just because the words were beautiful, it was also because the menu made her happy.

Abalone sauce on rice!

One of her favourite dishes!

Therefore, after she stepped into the restaurant, she slammed a stack of money on the counter as usual.

"10 servings!"

Kieran took the money, counted it with ease and put it into the money box before he sent the order to the kitchen.

"I hope you can be this relaxed when you get into that place," Song Shi said in a slightly upset tone. She then added, based on her feelings and trying to make her stance clear for Kieran, "If something happens to you, don't even hope that I'll save you! Even if I see it, I will turn a blind eye, even if you are near to me, I will give you the cold shoulder!"

Song Shi was being loud and clear.

Kieran replied by tossing a package on the counter.

When the package landed on the counter, the clinks from the coins inside surprised Song Shi, she then crossed her arms and teased Kieran, "You are trying to buy me? Don't even dream about it, with this little amount of Crossing Coins…"

"I'm exchanging it. 70 silver coins, plus an extra 20 copper coins, for the 2 gold coins on you," Kieran stopped Song Shi from her delusional thoughts.

"You are proposing a business deal with me?" Song Shi was once again surprised.

As the eldest daughter of Song Shi Family, she was blessed with unimaginable resources since she was young. She never had to worry about money, let alone making a business deal.

All she did was prank other people, so having a serious business deal like this with Kieran was a first for her.

Though compared to her first business deal, this young lady was much more concerned about other things.

She looked at Kieran in an interested gaze.

"One gold coin is equivalent to 35 silver coins, so 70 silver coins would be enough for 2 gold coins, plus 20 more copper coins as extra, it's fair isn't it? But… why do I have to exchange it with you?"

Song Shi prolonged her tone.

She was hoping to see Kieran's shocked or baffled look, but she was disappointed with the results.

Kieran was still as cold as ever, taking back the package and sitting back down in his chair, pretending like nothing had happened.

"Aren't you frustrated at all?" Song Shi couldn't hold back her curiosity.

"Why should I?" Kieran asked.

"I obviously played you, didn't I?" Song Shi's curiosity was at her peak.

"I know, that's why this is your last meal here. You are not welcome here after this," Kieran nodded and said in a serious manner.

"You!"

Song Shi glared at Kieran with her beautiful fox eyes.

Song Shi loved Starbeck's food from the bottom of her heart.

She would pay 10 times the price or even 100 times, let alone the current price for the meal, she never cared about the money but once she realized she could no longer taste Starbeck's food, she breathed heavily and anger shone from her eyes.

Though her sanity told her not to engage Kieran!

She could not afford it! If she really did, everything would fall beyond redemption!

'I want food!

I want Roye!

Royan is a big fat piece of pig, bloody trash!

I can't be agitated!

I can't be agitated by him!'

Song Shi reminded herself repeatedly, breathing deeply multiple times before showing a kind smile and said, "You were proposing an exchange? I think it's a good deal."

Song Shi then took out 2 gold coins from her purse and placed it in front of Kieran.

Kieran tossed the package back to Song Shi without a second thought and received the 2 Crossing Gold Coins.

"The gold coins do have some special effects but accumulating it in numbers will not stack the effect, so don't hope for anything good to happen," Song Shi reminded Kieran.

"6 more silver coins."

Kieran took out the last 180 copper coins.

"What do you think I am? I'm warning you, this is the last time!"

Song Shi shouted in frustration, yet she took out 6 silver coins for the exchange. She then saw Kieran bring out two wooden sculptures and three pieces of paper man.

"These are probably worth around 30 silver coins. Plus the 5 from the 6 you just gave me, I want another gold coin," Kieran said.

"The Witchcraft practitioners that died last night, you did it?" Song Shi reacted quickly when she saw the items placed on the counter.

"No, these are my savings, some were the compensation from the South Sector and some are my collection," Kieran denied it.

"All these?"

Song Shi pointed at the [Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet] and the [Cursed Paper Man], unwilling to believe Kieran's words.

Although all these items were just common things, they weren't that easy to obtain either. [Cursed Paper Man] was rather normal, but [Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet] was something else, its creation process was much more complicated.

Of course, the price of the latter would far surpass the former, despite both seeming to be the same in the eyes of a newbie.

"Em," Kieran nodded.

Song Shi grunted.

'Who the hell believes you!??'

She commented in her heart, but she didn't want to argue with Kieran anymore. She took out 2 more gold coins and swept everything into her purse: the silver coins, together with the [Witchcraft Voodoo Tablet] and [Cursed Paper Man].

The small purse did not bulge ridiculously because of the amount of items stuffed inside.

It seemed like Song Shi was much wealthier than he imagined. After a quick glance, Kieran took the 2 gold coins which he exchanged for and thanked her, "Thank you."

Similar to what he deserved, Kieran would never ask for extra or receive less from a deal, since Song Shi helped him, he should thank her by all means.

Song Shi laughed out loud when he thanked her.

"You are really from the mountains! At first I thought you were some spy from some other rival families but if you are one, you wouldn't use these kinds of cheap tricks to get close to me. So what do you think, do you want to team up with me?" Song Shi tried her proposition again.

Kieran, again, shook his head. He turned around and took the plate of abalone juice on rice from Starbeck and served it to Song Shi.

Then, he turned around and took his own dinner: braised abalone.

"Let's eat," said Kieran.