The Devil’s Cage

“Song Shi Hot Spring Hotel, its name didn’t originate from the well-known Song Shi Mountain or turquoise itself. Rather, the two words, Song and Shi, were derived from the name of the first owner and his wife, the lady owner; even the mountain got its name from the two of them. Back then, the first owner was the son of a wealthy merchant in the city, and he met the pure and kind lady owner for the first time during an outing to the rural village…”

The tour guide walking in front was explaining the origin of Song Shi Hot Spring Hotel.

The tourists were very interested in the story, while only Teddy was looking around nervously.

The tour guide’s story and the decent mountain view couldn’t draw Teddy’s attention; to be more specific, he didn’t even care about those things.

He was concerned about those unusual things.

Even though the only Demon Hunter he knew said that those monstrous things wouldn’t come out during the day, he was still nervous nonetheless.

He was a stranger to the surroundings. Who knew what might possibly happen?

Up until now, Teddy thoroughly regretted signing up for this Hot Spring Cultural trip. He should have stayed back in Ai City, using the familiar environment to prepare himself against the unusual things, not adapting in a new environment while facing the unknown.

It was the worst feeling Teddy ever had, and just when he was thinking about leaving the tour to return to the city, a storm came all of a sudden!

The tour guide and tourists all ran into the hotel.

The lady owner of the hotel, an exceptionally beautiful woman with delicate makeup and proper manners, welcomed them with warm smiles.

The moment the guys stepped into the hotel and saw this fourth generation lady owner that the tour guide mentioned, they were all infatuated, including Teddy.

Unlike the other guys, however, Teddy quickly regained his senses.

He frowned at the heavy rain outside the window; leaving the mountain under the storm was basically impossible.

The rain blocked sights and caused the road to be slippery, and any misstep would end up in an unwanted accident.

“Mister, is there anything that I can help you with?” While Teddy was thinking about the weather, the fourth generation lady owner—coincidentally named Song Shi—came over with a cup of hot tea.

“It’s fine. Thank you.” Teddy courteously accepted the cup of tea and didn’t say anything else.

The lady owner smiled sweetly and made no further comment. She bowed to Teddy before going to serve the other customers, asking them whether they needed help.

Looking at the voluptuous back of the lady owner, Teddy had reason to believe that regardless of history’s legacy, any establishment with this lady owner running the place would be blessed with great business.

As a matter of fact, it was.

Other than Teddy’s tour group, another batch of tourists ran into the hotel shortly after them.

Similar to Teddy’s small group, they came in to avoid the rain and there were only five of them, including the driver cum tour guide.

“What heavy rain!”

“This sucks!”

“It’s all your fault, saying that you want to come to bathe in the hot spring!”

Behind the tour guide were four young adults, two males and two females. Judging from their looks and behaviour, they should be two couples.

The plump guy with glasses was trying to please his rather good-looking blonde girlfriend, but she didn’t appreciate the effort.

The blonde glared at the plump guy and even ordered him to fetch her a towel. The unreasonable and self-centered behaviour turned eyes and many questioning gazes landed upon her, but the blonde did not behave, instead speaking even louder. “Hurry up! I knew I should have gone shopping with the girls!”

Her rants made Teddy shake his head in disapproval. He then looked at the next couple behind her.

This second couple was much better. The guy was wiping the hair of his girl, who smiled.

It seemed normal.

Teddy only glanced over at the second pair before he went over to the corner of the lobby, waiting patiently for the lady owner to allocate the rooms.

Fortunately, even with two tour groups entering at once, both were small groups, so the small hotel could fit everyone in just nice.

Teddy was given room 201. It was on the second floor, right in front of the stairs.

To the left of his room was rooms 202 and 203 and on the right was rooms 204, 205, and 206.

The room beside the stairs was open to all, having a snooker table, sofas, and a tea table; it was probably an activity room. On one side of the activity room was a balcony with rails, from where one could see the center garden of the hotel and Song Shi Mountain. The view would have been great if it was a sunny day.

Teddy’s fellow tour mates were a family of three that were allocated to room 206, the biggest one.

The tour guides of the two groups obviously knew each other, so both of them shared room 205.

The remaining couples got room 202 and room 203 respectively.

Room 204 was empty.

Teddy got the keys for room 201 and the moment he opened the door, he went in and examined it from top to bottom. After making sure there was nothing unusual, he heaved a sigh of relief. It was a habit of his, probably already a second instinct, trained by the force, and after knowing this world wasn’t as simple as he thought, his occupational instinct swiftly rose to a new height, like now.

Promptly after he heaved a breath, Teddy brought out an electric baton and two blowtorches from his bag.

The electric baton wasn’t a traditional one; it was compact, as small as a mobile phone, and had two metal plates at the tip. Although small, the explosive electric current could easily knock out a grown man in less than five seconds.

The same went for the blowtorch; it was shaped like a small kettle or a weird gun, but when the trigger was pulled, the flame from the mouth could reach 300 degrees celsius easily.

After knowing how to deal with those monsters from Kieran, Teddy spent a lot of money on acquiring these items. He wasn’t anticipating any kind of encounter, he just liked to get his defense up.

Ever since the last encounter, Teddy couldn’t sleep properly without these things beside him, and even then, he would still wake up in the middle of the night.

However, today was different, for he felt sleepy after he entered his room.

Once he examined the room and counted his weapons, the sleepiness assaulted his eyes. He shoved the baton and blowtorches onto the bed.

‘Have I been too nervous these few days?’

The thought ran through Teddy’s mind before he fell asleep.

Snores then sounded as he truly fell into slumber.

Dok, Dok, Dok.

After some time sleeping, Teddy was awoken by a rhythmic noise.

His mind was blurry when he pushed himself up. He frowned as he walked to the door, opened it, and walked toward the noise.

Down at the lobby, Teddy realized the noise was coming from the kitchen.

Teddy finally understood what the rhythmic noise was.

“Chopping ribs?” Teddy mumbled as he lifted the curtain to the entrance of the kitchen.

Teddy liked eating ribs, especially the part with the cartilage; he was infatuated by the crunchy bite.

However, when he lifted the curtain up, his eyes widened uncontrollably.

What did he see?

He saw himself!

Naked and on top of a long chopping board! The beautiful lady owner was to the side, holding a sharp, broad knife, swinging down on the board.

Every single time she chopped, a heavy thud followed.

Blood also sprayed everywhere each time she swung the broad knife.

Teddy gasped in fear and stepped back while quivering, but something behind him tripped him, causing him to fall down.

Pak!

The heavy thud startled the lady owner, who was chopping meat in the kitchen.

She lifted the curtain and stepped out.

The lady owner was as beautiful as Teddy remembered, and though her face, hands and chest were splattered with blood, her beauty wasn’t affected; instead, it added an unusual, eerie feeling to her face.

Teddy jumped up and ran over to grab a chair from the lobby, throwing it towards the lady owner.

The chair flew straight into the lady owner’s face, but she swung her knife and cut the chair in half as if it was tofu.

Teddy’s pupils shrank in fear. A person who could cut chairs like tofu—he knew he wasn’t a match for her, even though she looked weak.

Without a second thought, Teddy ran towards the second floor, but after a step or two, something tripped him again and he fell down like before.

The worse thing was that the lady owner was already beside him, the knife in her hand swinging down toward his chest.

“Aaaarh!”

Teddy jumped up from the bed, panting heavily, and then examined his chest in panic.

He realized what he saw was just a dream.

But… it felt unusually realistic.

Recalling the scenes that happened in his mind, Teddy’s forehead became covered in beads of sweat.

Teddy got off the bed and went to the bathroom, wanting to wash his face, but just when he turned the water tap on…

“Aaaarh!”

A sharp scream sounded.

His police instinct urged him to turn around and run to the door.

The whole floor was quiet, so he easily pinpointed that the scream came from room 204.

The room of the young couple, the plump guy and the blonde girl!

What happened?!

Teddy aimed a kick at the door knob.

Bang! Bang!

BANG!

Three kicks later, the rather old door opened forcefully, but he couldn’t find the couple anywhere in the room.

What he saw was a person hanging up from the beam.

He only saw the back, but the familiar coat and pants told Teddy that they were his clothes.

“What the…”

Confused, Teddy looked at the hanging person with furrowed brows. The hanging person slowly turned his body around as if moved by the wind.

It was him! It really was Teddy himself!

Although the face was a dead purplish and the tongue stuck out, how could he be mistaken?

However, he was standing right there…

Fooosm!

The very second the thought appeared in his mind, Teddy’s sight shifted away and before he knew it…

He was hanging up high.

He felt suffocated, his hands and legs struggling, but the rope around his neck got tighter.

Teddy saw his other self on the ground, looking at him with a very eerie smile, watching him asphyxiate.

The lack of oxygen to his brain slowly muddied Teddy’s mind, his vision blurring beyond recognition.

Snap!

The rope that was hanging around his neck was suddenly cut, sending Teddy falling down from the ceiling. He landed very hard on the ground and the pain woke him up.

“Huh!?”

Teddy opened his eyes, only to find that he was still on his bed!!

His hands were holding the electric baton and blowtorch, but his body was soaked in pain, especially around the neck. He could still feel the suffocation.

“Is this a dream too?”

Teddy grabbed his weapons, went into the bathroom, and looked into the mirror.

There was no rope mark around his neck, nor did he find any bruises on his body.

The scene, however, felt all too real, to the point that it messed up his mind. He couldn’t tell whether he was conscious or… still dreaming!

He looked down at the electric baton and the blowtorch in his hands.

He remembered that he did not have these weapons in the dream, and it felt like he instinctively neglected these two items when he heard the scream.

And then there was room 204!

He remembered that no one was staying in that room, but in the dream, it had somehow become the couple’s room.

The dream reeked of suspicion and strangeness, yet he treated all of it like it was natural.

Based on his habits as a police officer, it shouldn’t have happened, unless…

“Did I encounter some monster or spirit?” Teddy couldn’t help but wonder.

Knock Knock Knock!

A sudden knock on the door stopped his train of thought.

“Who is it?” Teddy asked nervously.

“Good evening, mister. Dinner is ready. Would you like to have it now?”

The lady owner’s voice came from behind the door.

Dinner?

Teddy looked out the window and realized the sky had darkened unknowingly, but it was still drizzling.

His stomach was growling.

“Hold on a moment, I’ll be right there,” said Teddy.

He grabbed his coat and stuffed the electric baton and two blowtorches into his pocket—he purposely picked the coat that resembled a raincoat because of its huge, spacious pockets, just so he could bring his weapons to deal with any special situation.

“Okay,” the lady owner answered.

However, after getting ready, Teddy did not answer the door. He went to the window instead.

He still remembered what Kieran warned him about.

The first thing to do when encountering a strange situation wasn’t fighting, but escaping.

Teddy tended to believe in professional advice.

As for the other tourists?

Up until now, Teddy had no idea whether he was really touring with humans or not.

Without his bag, Teddy regained his agility. He stealthily jumped out the window and moved towards the garden.

Jumping from the second floor was nothing to the well-prepared Teddy. He landed with a front roll to ease the impact, but when he moved to stand on his feet, he tripped and fell again.

Splash!

Teddy fell into a puddle of dirty water. He quickly got up and turned around to see what tripped him, and then he became stunned.

A body!

A body tripped him! It was the blonde girl who coupled with the plump guy!

The body wore the same attire as when he first saw her, her face washed pale by the rain.

Phew!

Teddy heaved a long breath, thankful that the body wasn’t his own again.

If it were his body again, he wasn’t sure he could hold his sanity together.

However, before his long breath could finish, screams came from inside the hotel.

“Sherly? Sherly?!”

Two calls later, the plump guy that coupled with the blonde rushed out. He saw Teddy beside his girlfriend’s body in the rain.

Behind the plump guy was the other couple and the family of three, both of which had been helping him search for his missing girlfriend; the two tour guides also arrived just in time to witness the scene.

The timid girl, the child, and the two tour guides screamed in horror.

The other two guys each blocked their girlfriend and wife behind them respectively, looking at Teddy with utmost cautious.

Teddy raised his hand quickly in innocence.

“I can explain. I am actually… a cop.”

TL Note: Song Shi 松石 = turquoise