The Devil's Cage

"Deputy Warden!"

The moment the scream was heard, Kieran could tell who was screaming in agony.

His body naturally moved towards the origin of the gunshots. He was like an arrow shooting through the bow, using his D- Agility to the fullest. Zywane quickly followed behind at a similar speed, looking like a horse let loose.

The guards and the Warden only started to move when the two of them were about ten meters ahead. Doubts formed in Kieran’s head while he was running.

"Something is not right!"

As Kieran recalled the series of incidents that had taken place since they’d set foot on Alcatraz, his brows were knitted together tight.

From the poison in their wine, to the guards drinking it and the Deputy Warden getting shot, every single incident seemed like it had been arranged beforehand.

"Was the Deputy Warden the target after all?"

Out of the blue, speculations bloomed in Kieran’s mind.

Meanwhile, he looked at the Deputy Warden, who was lying between the stairs of first and second floor.

The once arrogant Deputy had had his face ripped off by the bullet’s force. There was no sign of life on him whatsoever. They could only recognize him by his uniform.

The wall by the second floor stairs was bright with blood, and the bullet hole in it stood out like a target.

Other than that, there was no one around. As he looked at the blood and the bullet hole, Kieran tried to come up with any scenarios that could have led to the Deputy Warden’s murder.

The sudden appearance of Warden Sherko had upset Deputy Warden Swalker, and he had left in a very angry mood. He had been walking up the stairs cursing, when he suddenly saw a man standing in front of him on the edge of the second floor stairs, pointing a gun at him.

Naturally, the Deputy had tried to scream, but the killer had fired his gun and shot Swalker’s face off.

That had been the scream that everyone had heard from the kitchen.

"Did the killer come from upstairs?" Kieran speculated.

There were a lot of people living upstairs. After all, that was where the guard’s living quarters were. On the third floor was the infirmary and the office of the Warden and the Deputy. Lots of guards had been moved to the infirmary after the poisoning incident.

Unable to speculate any further, Kieran activated his [Tracking].

His sight became extremely clear in an instant. It didn’t take long for him to discover something.

The flight of stairs had footprints going up and down. They were as messy as an abstract painting, but a pattern could still be detected. All the footprints were connected after all. The owner of the footprints had gone up and down the stairs, and within them was a set of footprints that began abruptly, as if out of midair. It was very obvious by the pattern the footprints were forming.

Kieran went over to the spot where the footprints suddenly began, and he looked up. It was directly under the second floor stairway.

"After the killer fired the shot, he must have leapt over the handrail and jumped down."

"He would never have headed towards the crowded cafeteria, so he must have gone another way..."

"He wanted to create an alibi for not being on the second floor and remove all suspicion from his person!"

"However, that seemingly clever move turned out to be a foolish one!"

Kieran quickly ran up the second floor stairway, and inspected the handrail using his [Tracking]. There was an obvious trace of handprints on it. Kieran mumbled to himself.

Within an instant, the suspects had been narrowed down to a smaller area. Zywane had just arrived after him.

He saw Kieran staring at the stairway and noticed the blood stain and the bullet hole on the wall by the stairs. He instantly dashed towards the second floor.

Why was Kieran just standing there, not even bothering to move?

Although Zywane was curious, that was not enough of a reason for him to stop. What he wanted was to catch the killer.

Judging by his own experience, Zywane could guarantee that the incident before him would definitely trigger a Sub Mission.

If he could complete the Sub Mission smoothly, his rating at the end of the dungeon would be even higher.

It was what every player wanted.

As Zywane dashed out to the second floor, the Warden and the guards arrived at the scene.

"Swalker!"

When the Warden saw his Deputy Warden lying down in a pool of blood with his face ripped off, he could not help but scream out.

Rage took over the man’s features as he quickly scanned his surroundings and shouted loudly at his men, "Get up there and find that bastard! I’ll send him down to the water dungeon myself!"

"Yes, sir!" the prison guards answered in a uniform manner, sharing the same expression with the Warden.

Although the Deputy was their least favourite colleague, he had still been one of them, and he had been murdered on their turf. That was not something that they could just let slide.

The killer had to be found.

"Hold on!" Kieran stopped the prison guards before they could leave.

Ever since the Warden and his men had arrived, his eyes had been locked on a single person, a prison guard that had turned up on the site later, after most of them had reached the scene.

"What’s wrong, Mr. 2567?" The Warden was looking at Kieran doubtfully.

The prison guards looked confused as well. Some of them who had a shorter temper could not hide their impatience. If Kieran had not helped them during the poisoning incident at the cafeteria and earned a good reputation among the guards, the hot-headed prison guards would have not minded treating him the way they had treated Zywane.

No one expected men that had to deal with vicious prisoners on a daily basis to have a good temper.

"I think you’ll need my help to find the killer," Kieran told the Warden.

"You’ve found the culprit already? Please, tell us who that bastard is!" the Warden said strictly as he looked at Kieran in astonishment.

"I will." Kieran nodded.

Following his nod, a Sub Mission notification appeared in his vision again.

[Sub Mission Unlocked: Unexpected Killer]

[Sub Mission: The hateful Deputy Warden has been found murdered by the first floor staircase. Although he was not popular, he was still a member of the Alcatraz Prison Guard. The Warden would never allow such a thing to happen to his Deputy. You need to help the Warden find the killer!]

"The killer is... him!" Kieran pointed his finger at the target he had locked on right from the start.

The Warden and the guards looked in the direction Kieran was pointing at. It was a man in his fifties with a pale face, wearing a prison guard uniform.

"How can it be Old Tom?"

When everyone looked at the suspect Kieran had pointed out, they shook their heads in disbelief.

"You must be mistaken, Mr. 2567. Old Tom has been serving in the prison guard for over thirty years! He is a responsible person and the kindest man among the guards. How could it be him?" The Warden looked at Kieran, waiting for an explanation. So did Old Tom, who had been pointed out as a suspect by Kieran. The old man’s eyes showed that he was not afraid.

"Why would you accuse me of such a horrible thing?" Old Tom asked.

His old, pale face had turned angry at the accusation.

"Why?" Kieran laughed lightly and pointed towards the stairway on the second floor as he went on, "You fired the shot from the second floor and leapt over the handrail, jumping down to the first floor and then ran towards the other side of the crowd. Your escape plan was not as effective as you thought it would be, though."

"Hide yourself among the crowd was the best way, but you also should have remembered to wipe your handprints off the handrail on the second floor!"

"Even if you changed your clothes and shoes, detecting the gunpowder would not have been that hard!"

As Kieran went on, Old Tom’s face changed swiftly. By the time Kieran had finished talking, the old man looked uglier than ever.

"You bastard! Die!"

Old Tom pulled out a gun from his waist and pointed it at Kieran, ready to pulled the trigger.

Kieran was faster, though.

The [M1905] was already in his hand.

BANG!

The gunshot shot off Old Tom’s gun, fresh blood gushing out of his hand.

Still, Old Tom looked like he had not felt anything as he stared viciously at Kieran.

"It was Old Tom?" The surrounding guards seemed to be in shock. They could not believed what they had just witnessed.

"Tom, why?" Warden Sherko also found it inconceivable.

"Why? Becaus- Ugggh!"

Old Tom groaned coldly. He had been about to say something, when suddenly his body started twitching hard and white foam spilled out of his mouth and fell to the ground.

Chamaejasme grass!

The Warden and his guards were familiar with that particular scene. Everyone inhaled sharply.

Kieran rushed over and started to help Old Tom by performing emetic first aid. He was frowning hard.

Someone had just killed a witness.

That was the first thought blooming in his mind. The second one was that there were more accomplices.