The Devil's Cage

It smelled amazing!

Everyone exclaimed the same way.

As the first customer of the restaurant, Song Shi was served with her order first.

The mutton soup was milky white, crescent shaped mutton slices laid on top neatly, spring onions, coriander, chilli, and vinegar placed on 4 little saucers around the bowl of soup.

The stuffed biscuit was fried golden, crispy on the outside and substantial on the inside. A single bite produced a crunch sound and the stuffings inside spilled out.

If it was soaked in the mutton soup, it would be much better. Song Shi dipped the stuffed biscuit into the soup and then took another bite, the crispiness remaining but the stuffings inside getting juicier, and coupled with the taste of the mutton soup, it was a pleasant feeling.

Anyone would exclaim how good it was to be alive after having the combination of soup and biscuit, at least Song Shi cherished her life even more.

She didn’t care about Amy, who she ‘fought’ with earlier, anymore. Every time she ate Starbeck’s food, she forgot all the bad things and only retained the good ones.

A mouth of biscuit, a spoonful of soup, and then followed by a piece of tender mutton.

She then grabbed the glass noodles beneath the surface, picked up her bowl, and shoved them into her mouth.

A little while later, Song Shi’s forehead was drenched in sweat, but she didn’t mind at all.

She quickly emptied the first bowl and then went for the second.

Amy swallowed her saliva, the more she watched Song Shi eat, the more she resented the lady in front of her.

The lady wasn’t just prettier and had the newest clothes and accessories that she didn’t, she even ate that much right in front of Amy’s eyes!

Teddy was also restless. He glued his eyes to the mutton soup and biscuit while he tried his best to keep his calm.

It will be my turn soon!

It will be my turn soon!

Don’t rush!

Wait for the food patiently, it will taste better!

Teddy hypnotized himself to wait and tried his best to keep himself seated.

The last customer was very polite and well mannered, he sat there without any big movements, but his nose was sniffing quicker than before.

More and more servings were brought out from the kitchen.

Soon, Song Shi was done with hers. She took her digestion pills out and wanted to continue her eating spree but Li Jiajia did not serve her any further, going to serve Amy, Teddy, and the newest customer.

First come first serve. It was a rule a chef had to abide by, and taking care of every single customer was also the golden rule of running a restaurant.

It wasn’t one of Starbeck’s lessons though, Li Jiajia realized this rule by herself.

As for the effect?

The joy on Amy, Teddy, and the last customer’s face had said it all.

Huuu huuu!

Song Shi was emanating a faint grudge with her less happy gaze, yet no one cared, and munching noises filled the restaurant with slurping and lips being burned.

Amy was the first to finish among the second batch. She burped out of satisfaction, wanting to have more but she knew if she didn’t want her stomach to suffer tomorrow, it was best she stop right now.

Otherwise, she would not be able to eat nice food tomorrow.

Amy forced herself to lower the chopsticks using the made up reason, the same thing went for Teddy.

The officer looked at his empty bowl with a heavy gaze. He still hadn’t had enough of the delicious mutton, he really wanted a second bowl, but when he reached into his pocket and counted the money, he gave up helplessly.

The salary of a senior officer was decent but he was still suspended without pay.

As for his savings?

What a joke!

Teddy spent every penny of his salary every month, there was no such thing as saving for him.

As for the part-time Herder job?

Even though he was good at his job, he still had to go through the necessary procedures.

In short, he was still an assistant and he couldn’t go on missions alone, hence no income there.

Sigh!

After a heavy sigh, Teddy started to compartmentalize his next month’s salary, intending to stop spending on instinct, otherwise he couldn’t even have a full meal.

As he pondered over his salary, Teddy looked at the last customer.

The man was still eating and compared to the gobbling of Song Shi and Amy, this customer ate politely.

He didn’t just chew slowly, his gestures were elegant too. Coupled with that handsome face, this customer looked more like a person from some big family than Song Shi, despite his attire being old and broken.

Subconsciously, everyone landed their gaze on this customer.

The customer obviously sensed them, his face flushing a little but he did not avert their gazes because he was captivated by the food in front of him.

Delicious! Very delicious!

He had never tasted something so delicious before!

Compared to the mutton soup and the stuffed biscuit he was eating, the food that he had been eating for his entire life was garbage!

It should be fed to the pigs! No, not even pigs would eat that garbage!

Those ingredient-wasting bastards!

It was rare for him to hold a grudge against those chefs that cooked for him before.

He grumbled heavily, it was something that almost wouldn’t happen to him, but he did not care about it at the moment.

The food in front of his eyes made him toss every unusual thought outside his mind.

“One more!” He said.

Similar to that unusual grumble, he unconsciously raised his voice louder.

“I’m sorry, mister, we are sold out for the day. If you want more, please come again tomorrow,” Li Jiajia said with apologies.

The mutton that was used in serving everyone was the leftovers from breakfast, the best part of the lamb was eaten by her boss, so it was natural that not much was left at night.

“Oh, is that so?” The customer looked a little disappointed, but he quickly showed a smile.

“I’ll be here tomorrow.”

The customer took a stack of money out as he said, placing the money on the counter and nodding at Song Shi, Amy, and Teddy before he went out.

Until the man completely vanished from their sight, Song Shi’s brows were still furrowed together, the same went for Teddy, who was in heavy doubt.

He too sensed the presence of a monster but... it wasn’t entirely the same.

As a newbie Herder who still couldn’t go on missions alone, he was quite cautious with him. He didn’t make a move recklessly but chose to ask the professional for advice.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Teddy stood up and bid farewell.

Li Jiajia nodded and didn’t say anything. Teddy was a regular anyway, no words of courtesy were needed.

However, right before Teddy pushed the door open, Song Shi, who had been quiet, spoke.

“I would suggest you stay away from that person.”

Song Shi nodded at Li Jiajia and beat Teddy in walking out of the restaurant.

Teddy was startled.

Although he did not have much fondness for Song Shi, he recognized her strength, especially after he got some understanding from Huai Cuike about what Song Shi Family represented. He knew how far he was from Song Shi.

Yet, despite all that, he saw worry and anxiety on Song Shi’s face when she mentioned the man.

‘Who is that guy?’

Teddy grew curious.

He too walked out and went into the night without a pause.

Amy, a reporter, wasn’t an idiot. Observing the situation and people’s faces was the basics in her field of work, so she sharply sensed something fishy.

“What happened?” Amy asked.

“I have no idea,” Li Jiajia said but the voice in her head was screaming loudly and relentlessly.

‘Go! Go tell your boss! Tell him!

This is what he is waiting for! If he is happy, we will be safe!’

The screams made Li Jiajia frown.

“You are scared of that guy?” Li Jiajia asked the voice with her mind.

‘No! I respected him! He is a very important person that I respect!’

The voice said loud and clear.

Li Jiajia’s mouth was twitching. It was the first time the voice sounded so righteous and it made her not want to talk to the voice.

It was so embarrassing!

What prophet, what philosopher?

It was nothing but a lie, those people were liars who bullied the weak and feared the strong.

A chef earned more respect than those liars!

“What’s wrong?” Amy noticed the unusual look on Li Jiajia.

“Nothing,” Li Jiajia shook her head.

Amy didn’t ask. As Kieran’s temporary assistant, she had seen enough and got to know things commoners couldn’t, she herself even started to become weird.

She knew those that stayed around Kieran were strange and it wouldn’t be surprising at all, including Li Jiajia.

Amy also knew that if she wanted to be safe, it would be best for her to stay in the restaurant.

Moreover, Carrie Mayden and Tom and Jerry strongly requested her to stay.

“I think going out can be very dangerous!”

After everyone was gone, Carrie Mayden appeared in her ghost form, floating beside Amy. Tom and Jerry, the guard dogs, lied down beside Carrie Mayden.

Elite Hound lifted its head up at the two dog souls.

It saw the two before, they were considered half of its kind and although the two of them lived decently, compared to itself...Tsk, pitiful mutts, probably couldn’t even chew on bones.

The unknown feeling of superiority came and Elite Hound closed its eyes.

“I got it.”

The trust Amy had in Carrie Mayden made her stand up and walk to the corner, placing a row of chairs together and lying down, seemingly to be very skilled at this.

Li Jiajia didn’t stop her, knowing that Amy, as Kieran’s temporary assistant, had her place in the restaurant, just like her to her teacher.

After Li Jiajia cleaned all the things on the counter, she walked to the entrance and went to take the little blackboard in. It wasn’t closing time yet but they’d already sold out, so the blackboard wasn’t appropriate anymore.

The moment she picked up the little blackboard...KABOOM!

An explosion went off from afar.

It was very far away but the explosion was huge. Li Jiajia didn’t just hear the blast, she even felt the ground tremble.

“Is that the outskirts?”

Li Jiajia looked at the direction where the blast came from, frowning, and then quickly took the little blackboard in.

To her, regardless of what happened, as long as it wasn’t in front of her eyes and did not affect her, it wasn’t her concern.

However, not all were as frank and calm as Li Jiajia.

Huai Cuike and Bain gazed upon the monsters that kept coming closer with a heavy gaze.

The guards of Song Shi Family were overflowing with killer intents, knowing a brutal fight would go down soon, yet they were the ones facing disadvantages this time.

A few hours ago, Mian Yi went down to the underground hole, but he wasn’t seen until that tremendous explosions went off.

The whole Roze Farm was blasted to the sky, all the construction that Song Shi Family’s men built on top of it all destroyed, only a crater left behind.

In fact, if it wasn’t for Mian Yi’s warning through the radio, the guards who were standing on top of the blast point before the explosion went off would have ended up in a million pieces.

Although they survived and were in one piece, the danger did not go away just yet.

Quite the opposite, the danger level rose to an all time high because Mian Yi had gone missing after the explosion!

The guards and men tried to contact Mian Yi, but after that blast, all kinds of communication methods were ineffective.

It fueled the anxious monsters, making them surround the giant crater together.

“Back off!” The guard shouted.

The chief guard even pulled out his sword and pointed it at the monsters.

The mystical runes branded on the blade were glowing red and green. It was enough to scare off monsters during other times but it did not work against these.

The monsters weren’t scared at all, instead they laughed menacingly.

“I bet Mian Yi is in a million pieces now right?”

“Victor’s treasure is ours now!”

“Yeah!”

“So what if you people are from the Song Shi Family?”

“We will catch Victor and get the treasures from Ring City from him, and when you people finally react, we will be long gone!”

Sneers and mocks sounded from the army of monsters consecutively.

They restless monsters bared fangs and claws at the guards and suddenly, one of them shouted, “Charge!”

As though the breaking point was reached, the monsters swarmed towards the family guards like rising waves crashing onto the shore.

Kawooooosh!

Both sides clashed, and upon contact, blood and flesh flew everywhere, the noise of bone cracking sounding endlessly.

The defense line the family guards put up was instantly broken through.

The guards weren’t weak by any means but the amount of monsters was outrageous, they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

There were less than 50 family guards at the scene and they were going up against foes 10 or 20 times their numbers. Some special monsters that ignored physical attacks inflicted huge damage to the family guards. The chief guard was armed with a sword that could damage the spiritual beings, making up for his shortcomings, but it wasn’t useful at all.

The outrageous amount of monsters surrounded him tightly, backup and support couldn’t reach the chief at all.

Huai Cuike and Bain fired their magic pistols endlessly but it was an inadequate measure.

The breach in the defense line was getting bigger, the monsters flooding in quicker than before, the guards and Herders forced back by the ridiculous waves.

Huai Cuike looked extremely ugly when they were being pushed closer to that crater.

He knew what the monsters were trying to do: push all of them into the hole!

Whether falling to their death or surviving after the fall but having to find a way out, either one was sufficient for the monsters and they were happy to see it happen.

“Damn it!” Bain clenched his teeth and took out another magic grenade.

Kaboom!

The magic grenade exploded after being thrown, clearing a big group of monsters but more filled up the empty space and dashed towards them frenziedly.

Bain couldn’t stop the monsters from dashing towards them even after he threw a second grenade. His face was getting bitter and uglier and it wasn’t just because he had used up the grenades, he heard screams! Screams from the chief guard of Song Shi Family!

Bain heard it, Huai Cuike heard it, and so did the guards!

Huai Cuike looked left and right, feeling helpless against the situation. He knew they were going down eventually, and if they stood ground, every one of them would die.

“Retreat! Everyone retreat!”

Huai Cuike shouted to the men without a second thought.

The veteran Herder fired both his pistols repeatedly, trying to attract the attention of the sea of monsters with stronger firepower so that the others had the window to fall back.

Unfortunately, the monsters didn’t care about Huai Cuike at all.

“Run? Don’t worry, none one of you can run from us!”

One of the leaders in the sea of monsters said coldly.

The other monsters around that particular one laughed ferociously.

“Hehehehehehe.... UGH!”

However, the laughter stopped abruptly the very next moment.

As though their throats were stuck, the monsters couldn’t laugh anymore.

In fact, not just those particular few, all the attacking monsters reacted the same way, as though they were petrified on the spot.

Then...

BAM!

Blood gushed out from the monsters, thousands of monsters becoming blood fountains in an instant.

A handsome man in broken and old attire and boots covered in dirt was strolling under the blood fountains, ignoring the blood and bodies around him, looking as calm as still water.

When Huai Cuike and Bain saw the handsome man, they were overjoyed!

“Lord Anna!”

The two of them straightened their body and bowed together.