The Devil's Cage

The man known as Anna felt a little embarrassed.

The embarrassment looked extremely weird under the bloody fountains.

The remaining guards from Song Shi Family looked at the handsome man with utmost vigilance.

This man was powerful and his power was further set off by the pile of monsters around him.

What frightened the guards the most was the man felt embarrassed in this kind of gory scene!

Could he be… a psycho? Or some serial killer?

Only people with such sick minds could show embarrassment in a bloody scene like this.

The handsome man obviously noticed the vigilant gaze from the family guards, jolting for a moment before realizing why the gazes were on him.

He immediately bowed to the family guards apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I just want to stop them quicker. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble for you all, I am really... Ugh!"

As the man apologized, he gave his best effort in holding back the urge to throw up but he eventually failed and vomited on the spot.

The sourish and disgusting smell came afloat and mixed in with the bloody stench.

The guards of Song Shi Family stepped back en masse.

It was so smelly!

At the same time, the thoughts in their mind were discarded away, this handsome man could never be a psycho or a serial killer, the embarrassment on his face was real!

Yet how could a powerful person like him be embarrassed?

Because of his girlish name?

Questions rose in the family guards' mind while Huai Cuike and Bain ran up to the man.

"My lord, your illness of throwing up in front of blood isn't cured yet?"

Huai Cuike tapped the man's back lightly while asking softly.

"Duh, isn't it obvious? Can't you see how badly he is throwing up? But he is a lot better than before, at least he is just throwing up, not passing out," Bain said without much concern and went to help the man up.

"I've tried some treatment, it made me feel...Ugh!" Anna explained to Bain but before he could finish, he threw up again, even fiercer than before, his stomach juice coming out.

"Well, I guess the payment for the treatment has gone down the drain," Bain shook his head and felt bad for Anna.

Bain tried to continue his teasing but he sensed Huai Cuike's glare, so he stopped.

The two of them then helped Anna away from the bloody place and he took almost 10 minutes to get back on his feet.

"I'm sorry, Huai Cuike, Bain, I've troubled you again. The treatment I took experimented with a little blood. I was fine before but who knew it's useless with a large amount of blood," Anna looked at the two apologetically.

"Then how much did you use for the experiment?" Bain asked curiously.

Anna hesitated before he lifted one finger.

"A person worth of blood? Not bad, it's a great improvement!" Bain laughed.

As one of the absolute high ranks of the Herders, Anna was the most favourite among the lower ranks.

He was powerful, kind, and humble, and was never haughty to others. He was also happy to share his spoils with others but there was one weakness: he was allergic to blood.

Like he said, Anna didn't just throw up, he even passed out in front of blood before, but other than this particular weakness, Anna was a perfect person.

Now, Anna got treatment for his weakness... Uh, although the effect wasn't obvious, it was a lot better than before, right?

Bain felt happy for Anna from the bottom of his heart, but Anna shook his head.

"Not a person's worth," he said.

"A can?" Bain posed to display a can size with his fingers.

Anna shook his head again.

"Don't tell me it's a cup," Bain frowned.

He thought Anna must have been cheated by some trickster, how could a cup of blood be effective in curing those allergic to blood?

Anna shook his head again, then raised his finger higher.

Bain was confused, looking down at the finger.

Three to four seconds later, Bain stuttered and asked, "Don't tell me it's as much as your finger."

Anna felt even more embarrassed, lowering his head and speaking like a fly, "A drop…"

Bain facepalmed himself.

Huai Cuike also furrowed his brows uncontrollably.

"Lord Anna, the effects may take time to kick in, so you should continue your treatment. We will work with HQ and the other high ranks to deal with the matters in Ai City," Huai Cuike said softly.

"I've endured almost 60 treatment sessions, of course I won't give up now! But when I started the 61st treatment session… the clinic was empty, even the devil's ivy that I liked so much was moved away. I didn't even have the chance to say good by to Dr. Tygor. The doctor left me a letter and said he's going back to his hometown because of some life difficulties. He told me not to find him. I was planning to invite him to a theatre show after he treated my illness."

Anna looked very troubled.

Huai Cuike opened his mouth, wanting to say something from his mind, but when it escaped his mouth, it became "It must've been hard for you."

He then quickly switched the topic, "Do you know what happened here?"

"Em. I've got a general idea about what Victor did. I never liked him, but I never thought he would commit such crimes."

Anna nodded and looked serious, looking at the giant hole in front of him.

"He is hiding underground?" Anna asked.

"According to our intel, yes, but after the explosion, I'm not so sure anymore," Huai Cuike said honestly.

"You are referring to Mian Yi? He is fine, I can sense his presence and… Huh? I have to go settle some matters."

Anna seemed to have noticed something, standing up and jumping into the hole without leaving any explanations.

"Lord Anna, Lord Anna!"

Huai Cuike called out loudly but there was no reply from inside the hole.

The veteran Herder looked at Bain with furrowed brows.

"Hey man, don't tell me you want to…"

"We cannot sit by and let Lord Anna jump into the face of danger."

Huai Cuike then grabbed Bain and jumped in also.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! I'm afraid of heights! I'm afraid of darkness!"

...

Bain's terrifying screams echoed in the giant hole.

Many heard it. Anna smiled and was ready to receive both of them at the bottom.

Mian Yi heard it through the echoes too. He was actually moving deeper underground and he frowned following the screams.

He had located the key path to Victor and he didn't want the Herders to be a part of this.

The Inhumans and monsters who slipped in looked at each other when the screams entered their ears, then hurried up and moved deeper.

They didn't know where Victor really was, but the path led straight down, so all they needed to do was follow the path.

As a matter of fact, Victor was indeed at the end of the path, but he wasn't the Victor that he used to be.

The death of his clone, plus his 'true' body dying once, and all the damage he suffered had damaged his soul and his core.

Victor couldn't even remember who he was. He forgot his name and would eventually forget every other thing in his mind.

Right after he woke up, Victor had been thinking deeply, hugging his head in pain.

'Who am I?

What am I doing?

Why am I here?'

The questions came one after another, but none were met with answers.

However, after the loud explosion, Victor regained his senses.

It was true that his soul was damaged and he lost his memories, but that didn't mean he became an idiot too.

Quite the opposite, because he lost all of his plans and schemes, Victor reacted even quicker than before.

Leave!

He had to leave this place and then think of something else!

After the decision was made, Victor searched for the path to leave the underground.

Going back up was certainly not going to work. Victor felt the immense pressure just by standing at the exit to the surface. It made his head numb.

The other way?

Victor searched the underground carefully, and soon, he found one.

The tunnel wasn't big, but long and narrow, forcing him to bend forward in order to go in.

After a while, he switched to a crawl. In order to buy his true body more time, Victor poured in all of his power into this clone of his and he even added a lot of secrets that he gathered throughout the years into the body, yet it was subtle enough to not stand out, therefore this clone of Victor, or his current true body, was very powerful.

Even though he was crawling forward, it was as fast as a common jog.

Victor crawled straight ahead, the tunnel feeling flat at first, but after a while, it started to go up, Victor clearly feeling the upward arch.

However, after moving upwards for around a thousand meters, the tunnel led downwards again after a sharp turn.

This time, the tunnel did not change direction until Victor arrived in an underground lake.

The huge cave was glowing in green light and a big dark lake was in front of Victor's eyes.

What captivated Victor wasn't the underground lake though, it was the figure that floated on top of it.

It was a female figure that looked sad.

However, Victor felt nothing but fear and horror when he saw her, because the body was translucent.

A monster!

The term popped up in his mind and the fear almost froze Victor's hands and legs.

He had no idea whether the knowledge in his mind was true or not but the ghost in front of his eyes was very real.

Subconsciously, Victor wanted to return where he came from, but that female ghost was far stronger than what Victor imagined.

"Who!"

A cold shriek frozen the lake beneath her instantly.

The female ghost appeared right in front of Victor, as if she had teleported, and when she saw Victor, she cried in shock.

"Lord Victor?

Lord Victor!"

The first call held doubt and disbelief.

The second one was joy after she verified what she saw.

For You, Victor's death meant the end of the world for her. If it wasn't to locate the killer, she would have died with Victor.

Even after she heard the news that claimed everything was Victor's schemes, her stance did not change, she didn't believe the claims.

She persistently assumed that someone was trying to frame Victor for this tremendous crime and she swore she would find the culprit and expose the malicious intents behind.

However, the killer hid too well, to the point that You had no clues where to go.

Just when she was about to give up, someone sent her a message.

Do you want to know the truth behind everything?

Come here. (the location of the underground lake was drawn)

The message was without a sender's name and title, except for the location of the underground lake.

Anyone with common sense would be cautious against this kind of message, but You didn't care. She flew to this place right away and hoped that she could find important leads.

To her surprise, she found Victor instead, ecstatic about the reunion.

Victor jolted when he saw the female ghost.

"You know me?" Victor asked, in attempts to make things clear.

"Yes! Lord Victor, I am your follower, You!" she nodded.

"You?" Victor looked even more confused.

He had zero memories of the name. It didn't feel familiar at all, but the joy on her face was genuine.

"What's wrong, Lord Victor?" You asked out of worry.

"I don't know, I woke up and I found myself in a dark underground hole. I don't know who I am, I don't know why I am here, and then an explosion went off. I felt threatened, so I decided to leave the place. Then, I met you."

Victor bitterly explained what had happened with his limited memories.

"You've lost your memories?" You tested him.

"I suppose so," Victor helplessly nodded.

"Can I have a look?" You asked again.

"Sure."

Victor nodded, for he did not sense any malicious intent and danger from her.

You placed her hand on Victor's head, and a while later, her ghostly face was shocked.

The soul of this person was undoubtedly Victor, she wouldn't be wrong for she had confirmed his presence, but this soul of his was badly damaged!

Any soul that had sustained this level of damage would break instantly, yet Victor retained his sanity. Losing only his memories was considered a miracle.

"What's wrong?" Victor asked You after he saw her expression.

"Your soul is damaged, that's why you lost your memories. Those bastards! Don't worry, Lord Victor, I will find them and rip their skins off alive. I will make them pay for what they did to you!"

You comforted Victor before she cursed her enemies viciously.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Victor asked in a pitiful look.

"You are the fair and just Judge that everyone respects, you favour no one and have a lot of followers, but also a lot of jealous enemies. They had always wanted to destroy you, but they saw a chance in this Battle of Winter Night that you organized, that is why all this happened. A body was found in the camp of the monsters and they claimed that was you, and then they impersonated you to get into Ring City…"

You told Victor everything that happened, she did not lie because she assumed it was all the truth.

Victor was shocked, his expression changing multiple times during the explanation.

He never thought he was someone this prestigious.

The Judge?

I am the Judge?

Victor bitterly smiled, feeling unreal, and at the same time, he did not hide it from You.

"My lord, your fairness and justice is without a doubt, and your kindness… The moment you questioned yourself about all these bizarre claims, it proved that your kindness is still in your heart. If you are really a fake and greedy person, you wouldn't question yourself, instead you would seize the chance to go further," You explained.

"That's because it felt very surreal to me…"

"That is because a part of your soul, the part that represented your Judge status, was taken away. That is the only way those bastards can impersonate you so perfectly. Those damn bastards!"

You grumbled sharply. She really wanted to catch those bastards and rip them to smithereens.

"You, don't think like that, there may be some misunderstanding."

Victor tried to persuade the lady ghost before his eyes, his instinct telling him to do it, it wasn't part of his schemes or whatnot.

"Lord Victor, your kindness.."

You wanted to say more but eventually shook her head.

Wasn't it Lord Victor's just and selfless kindness that made her want to follow him?

How could she tell Victor to not be kind towards his enemies?

"Let's go, let us leave this place," said You.

"Sure, where are we going?"

Victor was eager to leave this dark and humid place and if someone was to guide him away, it would eventually be the best case scenario.

"I met some other ghosts before I came here, they are the followers of someone big called the Dark Dominator, and that lord serves someone bigger, Lord Bird of Death. I think we can go to them for help," said You.

"Will someone so big and powerful help us?" Victor was worried.

You was confident though.

"Of course, because we have something the two lords seek."

You then took out a brilliant shining stone out, or more accurately, the shard of [Philosopher's Stone].