The Devil’s Cage

Description

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A virtual underground game that has no protection. Lurking with players who seek power, fortune and survival. Qin ran chose to enter this VRMMORPG game without hesitation because he knows this is his only way out from death. Can he escape death in real life or dying via the game?

Associated Names
One entry per line
Demon’s Cage
TDC
恶魔囚笼
Related Series
The Demon’s Menu (Shared Universe)
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Recommendation Lists
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  4. The Blissful World Of VRMMORPGs
  5. Evil/Ruthless MC who is willing to do everything t...

Latest Release

Date Group Release
09/07/17 Webnovel c106
09/06/17 Webnovel c105
09/05/17 Webnovel c104
09/04/17 Webnovel c103
09/03/17 Webnovel c102
09/02/17 Webnovel c101
09/01/17 Webnovel c100
08/31/17 Webnovel c99
08/30/17 Webnovel c98
08/30/17 Webnovel c97
08/30/17 Webnovel c96
08/30/17 Webnovel c95
08/30/17 Webnovel c94
08/29/17 Webnovel c93
08/28/17 Webnovel c92
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59 Reviews sorted by


hjieru
hjieru rated it
June 17, 2018
Status: c411
Lots of action. Great suspense and thriller. Only low humour...

Definitely recommend reading! Although the first 50 chapters may be dry but after that it's beyond awesome ?
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somsit
somsit
February 11, 2018
Status: c278
One of the best but underrated novels MC is smart, cool, and intelligent. You rarely found any flaw in the MC's decisions (unlike many high-rated novels here, which have childish intelligence). The plot is interesting and fun.

The only drawback is that there is no romance or harem.
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murilofranco
murilofranco rated it
February 7, 2018
Status: c295
There's no such thing as perfect novel, without any flaws whatsoever, but this one is being a perfect recipe for me. Just so well written and I can understand the characters motivation, from the MC to the side characters.

The concept of real virtual reality it's very common, but I like the way the MC develop inside the game, he is not just a fighter, but a detective as well, so good.

I can find flaws, but the way the story progress makes me want to read more, I look like a... more>> addict. But it's so good. <<less
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ivanx44
ivanx44 rated it
April 1, 2021
Status: c1854
The story is quite decent however the plot holes are giangantic

... more>>
Spoiler

like on the end of the story theres no mention of him every getting cured of his sickness. The main point of why his on the game is to make money but not even a single chapter is dedicated On his IRL.

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The flow of his every adventure are enjoyable as there are closure as every world visit did not end on a high note. However

Spoiler

why the F DID THE DEAD PLAYERS ON THE GAME Revive on the end like WTF the premise on the story is that dead on the game dead IRL. And the other mystery on why people need to go to a dungeon every 3 month else they die have not been answer.

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PriestessofNeptune
PriestessofNeptune rated it
February 16, 2021
Status: c1854
I didn't see this mentioned in other reviews, so I wanted to point out the heavy sexism. I should have expected it in a Chinese novel with "straight" male MC (and I did), but still worth mentioning.

Other than that, the other completed reviews are right: rushed ending, this is actually a harem novel, many plot holes, flat characters, power scaling quickly becomes broken, piles of loose ends, lack of dungeon variety, lack of challenges to MC, MC's impossibly always-correct guesses about what's going on, etc.

The thing that frustrates me the... more>> most is Starbeck. MC is clearly asexual, repressed gay, or has some sort of trauma that's never explained just like any of his backstory or underlying character motivations.
Spoiler

So why did Starbeck have to be a lady in the end? The MC obviously wouldn't have been into her anymore, the same as Kuer Horton who was also a lady pretending to be a guy, who got the cold shoulder as soon as the MC found that out.

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I'll also be happy if I never have to read the words rampant, chili powder [and cinnamon], increased his appetite, and quantitative increases cause qualitative change ever again. Holy cow. You could cut a thousand words just by find+replacing those away. <<less
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Deathlord
Deathlord rated it
September 9, 2020
Status: Completed
I picked up the novel due to it being recommended by another user on his reading list where every other novel was enjoyed by me so I thought I would give it a try and I am glad I did. Don't bother about the low review score since the score is low because of the disappointment reader would feel at the end that's all. I would say you can enjoy reading this story till around c1400-1500, after that story goes downhill and outright confusing. The main villain at end felt... more>> like "because a badass villain needed one who never once showed up personally at all before but just being mentioned everytime" that's s*upid on author's part.
Spoiler

I would have appreciated a lot if the author kept the Broker as the final big bad

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Daresan
Daresan rated it
August 28, 2020
Status: c1600
Well it was very good novel but at the end its a game. Like so young, so beautiful, so pretty, so cute but She is a Man.

Everything is pointless everything is a game.
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Piknos
Piknos rated it
December 3, 2019
Status: c354
Starts off strong but devolves into uninteresting plot lines.

... more>>
Spoiler

The fact that the whole premise of the story is in a game that solely exists in a virtual world turns the novel boring. The first few missions were good enough to hook you in but after a few it reads like filler. The main reason for this is because nothing that Kieran does in his missions ever affects reality directly. None of the characters pass over except for special dungeons which are like a sequel to the original missions. It forces a feeling disinterest because the characters aren't truly alive and you most likely won't ever see you again. Even if one of them dies you can barely bring yourself to care because it changes nothing. It's like reading the plot line of someone's gameplay, extremely boring.

This is enhanced by the not-so-stellar translation, which is definitely readable, don't get me wrong, but the occasional inconsistencies in grammar pulls you out of a novel that is already hard to get into. Sometimes Kieran's know-it-all attitude juxtaposed against his supposed humbleness does this as well, he comes off as jagged, only able to act in two different extremes.

Kieran comes with a ton of plot armour, he excels in completing missions and never is in any true danger aside from the starting mission which is why the story quickly becomes boring. You never have a moment where you think 'Oh shit, this is bad' which to me means that the MC is never at risk. Sure there are some unbeatable existences but he always ends up finding a way to kill them or avoid them to kill them later. He also never makes a mistake. With how convoluted and difficult some of the missions are, Kieran always manages to pull them off with a 100% completion rate. Combine this with a total lack of any setbacks in any of the chapters so far Kieran ends up as a sort of Gary Sue, extremely boring to read.

I also feel the need to mention that at over 350 chapters in and we're only on his 5th dungeon. Supposedly you have to complete 30 to get out of the game alive without consequences. He progresses extremely slowly (all missions take up 1 hour of real world time, irregardless of if you spend months or years inside them) and aside from the initial set up in the first few chapters his life outside of the game is completely irrelevant. Apart from the one or two mentions that he is going to eat, piss and do basic real world things reality doesn't seem to affect the story. This is strange because he's still piss poor at the moment, eating fast food in his room and is basically a ghost in society. I was looking forward to seeing him becoming healthier and possibly more social, but at this point in time he only has one reliable friend (who he also only knows in the game). Whether it was him going out to exercise or simply shopping for healthier groceries to cook and eat there is no break from the constant battles/missions which makes it feel like one huge insignificant blur. Not to mention that since he is in such desperate need of medical attention the first thing he should change is his diet to give his body some sort of standing ground. The fast food he eats in reality is supposedly so bad that a nutrient bar that tastes like nothing and described as "swallowing debris" is better than it.

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Overall, the Devil's Cage is really a "meh" novel. It's an average read with dull characters and is ultimately forgettable the next day. <<less
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sri143
sri143 rated it
December 14, 2018
Status: c744
The novel is set in future where the hero needs money to cure his ailment and turns to illegal VR game. Well paced with little to no fillers in between the dungeon runs at the start, but that time also becomes a part of the story after some time instead of being filler. Also as of now, the MC is focused on becoming stronger so no romance in the plot. Will recommend for people who are looking for a nice little layback story reding time.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
iosoposo
iosoposo rated it
June 19, 2017
Status: c21
There's nothing much to say as of now.. It looks pretty good, the start it's pretty fast paced and has some potential regarding the story. Have to see how it's going to develop in the future chapters.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Shaze
Shaze rated it
March 22, 2022
Status: c645
A really great start with a great MC... ruined by an author that just won't get to the point.

I am about a third in, and none of the main questions are answered. If anything, there are more.

For this genre, VRMMORPG, I believe that there needs to be a balance between real life and virtual, to keep things interesting. Not really 50-50, more virtual than real life, but there still needs to be the latter. This is about 99% virtual and 1% real life, if that so far (maybe less). Despite... more>> his initial reason for curing his real life illness, nothing else happens in reality! He hasn't even cured it yet!

The time flow is also an issue. Since a dungeon inside the game is solo for the MC mostly, he can spend up to 6 months of time there, and only an hour will have passed in reality/game. Its therefore almost impossible to reasonably gauge how time passes in this.

I really tried, but around the 500 chapter mark I started to feel bored and wanted to see some of the main answers around the corner, or at least just one. The villain is also the annoying type that may lose at the time, but still grins and says "just as planned", and acts as if he foresaw it all and still got what he wanted.

The various dungeon runs seem interesting the first few times, but gets old, especially when the author won't confirm how the game affects reality. In the end, you just see these as temporary distractions and want to skip it all. Worst part is he needs to do 30 dungeons and I can barely handle 6, according to the plot pacing.

When I started the limit break arc and saw it would last over 100 chapters... nope, I give up. My interest is lost, and while I wish I knew what happened to the MC in the end, I am not wading through over 1000+ chapters of this dragged out plot to do it. <<less
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Willow Bandit rated it
September 2, 2021
Status: Completed
I really enjoyed the story and how it went but the ending was rushed and it ended quite abruptly. The last fight was very lackluster and bland. When I finished I was getting ready for the next chapter but then I was slightly surprised when I didn’t get the one more chapter I was expecting that would go more in depth of the last fight and ending of how it all ended. I was happy when I learned that Starbeck and Kieran have feelings towards each other. The Devil’s Cage... more>> is one of my top favorite stories. <<less
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Zone Q11
Zone Q11 rated it
November 8, 2020
Status: Completed
It was good for the major part, but... the last two arcs chapters was going nowhere, and everything ended suddenly with a timeskip, a sudden power boost, a rushed final fight, and a deus ex machina.

Before that point, it was still understandable what the MC should do: "Fulfill missions, get loot, get stronger, survive 30 dungeons, sell loot for RL money to get surgery."

There were a lot of plot holes, plot derailments, lack of growth, and many other flaws, but as "someone who likes OP MCs who can steamroll their... more>> enemies, " I was fine with that.

However, when the MC suddenly got reset around Chapter 1600, I didn't even see what the point was of his actions.

I would still recommend this novel, but I would ask people to stop reading after Chapter 1626. Just assume that they had a "happily ever after" afterwards, because... that's what happened anyway. <<less
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Cole
Cole rated it
June 29, 2020
Status: c1648
it had a really good start but then it got worse and worse. I had a lot of patience but I really became unenthusiastic by the 1500-1600 or so chapters so I'm dropping it for a few weeks or so before picking it up again considering I'm almost done anyways and the translations also about to be done.

the dungeon runs are also about the same, the MC never really fails so there was really no tension, as he always manage to be in control of everything. There's also still no... more>> sci-fi dungeon, always medieval, ancient or modern settings. Anyways, it gradually became luckluster.

Spoiler

in the start, there were a few that got interested in the MC in a couple of dungeons but it wasn't annoying by then. But then it started to have every girl the MC comes into contact with in every dungeon like him, it may also be like a harem sometimes. Because of the mc's confusing act of never really rejecting or saying no straight to the females who shows interest in him so it makes it really really annoying. And then also in the big city with that wu, I don't know what the author wants to point out with that wu but she really became annoying, especially when she compares and insist that the MC and her past lover is the same person.

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SailingLeaf
SailingLeaf rated it
June 26, 2020
Status: c1123
It had a good start but got worse gradually.

    • MC eventually just devolved into an a**hole that only cares about loot and money.
    • If you have read the very first chapter and remember that the MC joined the game cause he needed money for medical bills, well you have a better memory than the protagonist (or the author) since we don't even see it being mentioned anymore as the focus just shifts to him fighting the antagonist, interacting with other side characters and... food, a lot of food. The reality aspect of this novel is almost non-existent and the author's only mention of the MC's real life is that he eats and shits sometimes.
    • All the side characters (at least those he meet in the dungeons) are flat and unrealistic. They feel like robots pretending to be human and can only do one specific thing.
    • The dungeons got boring and repetitive. The author uses the same 'troubled place needs help' and 'have one or more female characters fall in love with mc' formulas every single time.
    • It doesn't have much consistency either. From vol.1 to 19, the MC keeps on saying that he doesn't believe in coincidences and in vol.20
      Spoiler

      there are two families who "coincidently" have similar powers to his and he doesn't even question it. I get that there's like some sort of integration of his powers into independent senerios but it was just too much of an excuse when a literal family with powers similar to the MC exists in an existing senerio. Was the author lazy and just wrote it in for conveinence so that people who are supposed to belong to the world doesn't question why he just transformed into a devil? Or if he was trying to pull a s*upid, "It's all destiny!" sh*t and made him the centre of everything, I'll never find out since I've decided to drop it.

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If you don't care about logic leaps, plot holes and annoying cliches, it's a pretty decent read up to a certain point anyways but if you do then this novel might be really frustrating in the later chapters. That's all I have to say. There are some things I didn't mention because other people already did that.
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SayMrrp
SayMrrp rated it
August 16, 2019
Status: c1189
Honestly, I wasn't really excited to read this, but I did because the reviews here were good. It's not really my type of novel, or so I thought. I ended up reading 1000+ chapters in one go because it was GOOD. It was boring for me at the start, but eventually it started dragging me in.

The MC isn't s*upid, which is great. His biggest flaw: maybe he's going toward the "too perfect" area. He's not a Gary Stu, but he seems to almost always succeed (at whatever cost though), which... more>> still makes sense because if he truly fails, he dies. I really enjoy seeing him power up, and I think his special abilities are cool.

For a lone wolf, he has some friends, which is pretty nice and heartwarming. You'd think a story based on the MC playing multiple dungeons, which are multiple worlds with their own worldbuilding, almost always by himself would be boring and dull, but the characters, or "natives, " inside the dungeons are realistic and feel alive. The side characters have their own mysteries and details, which makes a generally one-man run interesting.

Summary of plot: The MC, in order to earn money, willingly chooses to play a VRMMO that kills you if you lose a dungeon (depending on circumstances, but failing a dungeon will eventually lead to death). The dungeons are multiple worlds, and some reoccur, so it's kinda like having a few arcs that take turns. Some even are connected vaguely.

The mystery behind the game itself is intruiging, and the big bad inside the game isn't weak or dumb. So far though, he doesn't really spend much time out of the game, so if you're interested in that, I guess we'll have to wait and hope. <<less
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SolarIridesence
SolarIridesence rated it
February 16, 2018
Status: c307
This novel is quite interesting and I'm enjoying it. Each of the world the MC visits is interesting, each person or as they call them "native" feels like a proper character and has his personality and ideals. The only world I don't like is the one in witch he returns every time. The world where players reside, its boring it only has players and the only thing they talk about is the game, jobs, mu*der and Trade. In my opinion if there were some "natives" in that world and minor... more>> missions that could I don't know give you 500 points it would be more fun, as even that world would feel real. The "earth" is totally ignored with which I'm fine as it's there to give him a goal.

so why 4 stars than?

Spoiler

the reason is that there is a scene that is so cliche that it almost made me stop reading. I was enjoying his progression and the intricate ways he did his quest's but when he got the heath omg was I mad. Like you can see that it was such a Deus ex machina. First he manages to destroy the crystal but guess what it still manages to hit his hearth. Oh but that isn't the end, so he is dying and the sistem offers to heal him, of course he doesn't have enough points so the system offers the second option (you think that he will have enough for this one but no) with which I would be content because it would still be fine and he wouldnt become OP too fast. But he doesn't have enough even for that. So the system offers him the third and the most risky option and he takes it and obtains the SPECIAL AND UNIQUE HEARTH THAT NOBODY ELSE HAS, and guess what the penalty for it's use is cheep even tho it makes him so much stronger.

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and another reason is that sometime you can get attached to a likable "native" but after he finishes the dungeon you will never see him again and that bothers me too much.

All in all this is a good read and I recommend reading it. It deserves all of its 4 star and I hope the story stays good for a long time because these long novels sometimes get repetitive. <<less
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Steelkite
Steelkite rated it
March 13, 2023
Status: c370
I'm still reading this, and even though that I quite enjoy it so far, there's something extremely annoying.

Those damn translator notes. Every chapter ends with idiotic translator notes. Why would they ruin a perfectly good translation with these ramblings and trolling? It's infuriating.

Example: "The bloom of a romantic relationship", this is a TL note inserted at the end of a chapter. Keep in mind, that this particular chapter was about the protagonist escorting a 13 years old child! This is just trolling and has nothing to do with the actual... more>> story. There are many cases like this. <<less
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Darthi
Darthi rated it
July 24, 2022
Status: c1854
Great start

Decent middle

Terrible finish

Like a lot of novels that go from mortal to god style of progression, the closer they get to divinity the worse the story gets. The ending is quick and you can feel the author grasping at straws trying to tie everything together quickly, then just being done and ends it with lots of questions still to answer. The only reason I gave this 3 stars was that even a bad ending is still better then no ending at least it just didn’t stop and get abandoned.
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Mahesvara_
Mahesvara_ rated it
July 22, 2022
Status: c122
Not too bad actually. It's a kind of vr game genre, but I don't find anything unique in it, rather it has so many cliches ideas, it was influence by so many stories to the point it loses it's originality. I also don't find any special quirks of author either that's why reading it feels so bland, it's so obvious that the author tried to integrate writing styles of other authors.

I also dislike how the author keep inserting unnecessary info at the climax of the arc while in the middle... more>> of action scenes or any important things. The scenes pausing for me just so the author could give his piece of mind in form of narrative, like explaining the obvious to the readers it just irritates me. It's very basic I can't enjoy it. Sometimes while the Protagonist is in the middle of solving some mysteries the author will also throw in some life story of the MC, he will explain why the MC is like this and that going away from scene and then will suddenly go back to solving mystery again. I've seen books like this but this is the first time I actually find it so annoying. Probably good for starter books for newbie readers where author will treat you like an idiot. Aside from problems from writing styles. The Protagonist is also too lucky, his plot armor is very thick than your average lucky protagonist. Not unreasonably lucky but the logic was being stretched a bit too much, when you read it you just get to know that MC will never take a loss.

I came here for the mystery to entertain me, but I find myself looking for reasons on how to enjoy the book. The mystery is very much disappointing. Novel just feels so empty.

Story: 4/5

Characters: 2/5

Style: 2/5 <<less
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