Chapter 178: CH 178: A girl
The masked man’s eyes locked onto the fireball, his pupils shrinking as sheer dread overtook him. He instinctively recoiled, mouth quivering. A loud gulp sounded from his throat, the sound of a man teetering on the edge of confession... or combustion.
"I’m waiting," Dave said, voice quiet but heavy with threat. "Talk. Before the next one lands somewhere less merciful."
Dave’s eyes narrowed, the flame still hovering in his palm like a judgment waiting to be cast. He stepped closer, the scorched floor creaking beneath his boots.
"Why did you kill those people inside?" he asked again, his voice low, tight with barely suppressed fury.
The masked man’s composure cracked completely this time. His lips trembled, his shoulders hunched as if bracing for another blast of fire. "I—I didn’t mean to!" he blurted out, his words spilling in a rush. "I was just following orders... orders from my boss!"
Dave didn’t flinch. He let the silence stretch, forcing the man to choke on his own guilt.
"The young dude wouldn’t cooperate," the man continued shakily, his eyes flickering between Dave’s glowing hand and the door like a desperate animal cornered. "So... so we had to deal with his family. We thought it would make him talk, scare him into giving us what we wanted."
Dave’s stare turned colder, if that was even possible. The fire in his hand didn’t burn any brighter, but it felt hotter, oppressive, like it was leeching the oxygen from the room.
"By the ’young dude’... who are you referring to?" he asked, each syllable carefully enunciated, each word a test of the man’s nerves.
"I... I don’t know him personally!" the man stammered. "He’s just some guy we saw heading toward this neighborhood. Looked determined, too confident. We figured he was hiding something, or looking for someone."
Dave’s jaw tightened.
Eric.