Before long, everything gradually fell silent.
No one knew how much ti had passed before the group of ard n who had been sheltering in the large supermarket finally made their way over. Carrying weapons, they approached the edge of the enormous crater—eight hundred ters wide—and stopped there.
The mont they looked down at the scene before them, every single one of them froze.
"Shit… did a missile strike this place?"
"Is this Sunny Street? And Stan Avenue... they're just gone."
"Look over there—is that lava?"
"Did that monster finally die?"
"It has to be dead. Even a demon couldn't survive sothing like that."
"All of this… was done by that boy?"
They stared at one another in disbelief.
The force of those explosions had been so overwhelming that the shockwaves had nearly reached the supermarket where everyone had been hiding. Thankfully, the supermarket had been built with reinforced concrete instead of wood, otherwise it would have collapsed just like many of the nearby houses and buildings.
"It honestly feels like I'm dreaming."
The police chief stood there with his hands on his hips, letting out a long sigh of disbelief.
"Maybe he's a mutant," the high school principal said quietly. "Only mutants could have power like that."
"One of those freaks?"
At the ntion of mutants, the crowd's expressions imdiately changed.
So frowned with obvious disgust, so looked indifferent, while others showed gratitude instead.
"He must be a ssenger sent by God, here to destroy the demon and save us."
The old pastor from the town church spoke with complete conviction, his face full of piety. Several people beside him nodded with the sa expression—they were clearly believers too.
But then an old sheriff with a full head of white hair, still sharp and energetic despite his age, stepped forward in his police uniform, a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"Who the hell cares what he is?"
His voice was loud and firm.
"All I know is that when our families and friends were about to die, he saved every single one of us."
The old sheriff truly didn't care about labels.
Mutant, angel, freak—it ant nothing to him.
What mattered was that that young man had saved everyone in their town, including his wife, his two sons, his daughters-in-law, and his four grandchildren.
He didn't even want to imagine what would have happened to them if that boy hadn't shown up.
His heart held only gratitude.
He wasn't a religious man, but if there really was such a thing as God, then at this mont, Matthew was as close as it got.
Among the crowd, Needy stood silently, tears filling her eyes.
The sharp, burnt sll from the crater stung her nose, but she barely noticed. The conversations around her had long since faded into aningless noise.
Her heart was drowning in grief.
She had never wanted Jennifer to die.
They had grown up together since childhood, and Needy knew Jennifer better than anyone.
Jennifer had never been a bad person.
She was just a normal girl—soone who liked attention, liked having fun, and dread of leaving their small town behind for life in a big city.
They had shared everything with each other.
Whenever Needy was bullied, Jennifer would always step in without hesitation to protect her.
Even after Jennifer had been possessed by that demon, there had been countless chances for her to devour Needy.
But every single ti, at the critical mont, Jennifer would push her away and run instead, fighting desperately against whatever had taken over her.
Needy had seen it with her own eyes.
Each ti Jennifer appeared, the struggle on her face grew stronger, more painful.
She knew the demon wanted to eat her.
But Jennifer had resisted again and again with her own will.
The last ti they t, Needy had clearly seen it—within one of Jennifer's eyes, there had been reluctance, sorrow… and farewell.
Then she disappeared.
Needy understood.
That had been goodbye.
Covering her mouth, she cried soundlessly as tears slid down her face.
What she didn't notice was the strange flicker of color that briefly flashed through her pupils.
…
A fine rain began to fall, blanketing the entire area.
Devil's Kettle Town was nearly half destroyed.
Only the buildings on the far outskirts had barely remained intact. Everywhere else, structures had collapsed or been heavily damaged under the terrifying combination of explosive shockwaves and earthquake-like aftereffects.
The residents of the town had all been gathered in the relatively flat southwestern area, where a large temporary camp had been set up to shelter them.
Trucks carrying supplies moved in and out constantly. Workers in raincoats hurried through the camp, along with police officers maintaining order, doctors treating the injured, and countless other personnel handling the chaos. Excavators and bulldozers rumbled nearby, clearing debris from the ruined town.
Of course, there were also people being questioned.
What had happened in Devil's Kettle was far too serious to be ignored.
Around the enormous eight-hundred-ter crater left by the bombardnt, even more people were hard at work. Specialists were collecting data and evidence from inside the pit, while temporary tents had been erected at the bottom. Cranes and helicopters were being used to transport personnel, equipnt, and instrunts in and out.
Inside one of the temporary command tents, a middle-aged man wearing a black sweater beneath a dark overcoat accepted a file handed to him by one of his agents.
"Sir, this is the summary of our interrogations and the site investigation."
"Good."
The man nodded and began flipping through the report. Since the agent had not been dismissed, he simply stood nearby and waited patiently.
After a long while, the man finally closed the file.
A trace of shock flashed through his eyes, followed imdiately by a frown. He looked like he was developing a headache.
"Devil's Kettle. A man-eating demon. A boy who can fire lasers." He let out a dry laugh. "Am I reading a movie script?"
"Sir, this is the sketch our forensic artist made based on the residents' descriptions of that boy."
The agent handed over another sheet of paper.
The man took it and glanced down. It was a portrait sketch of a very young-looking black-haired boy.
"We used the sketch for facial comparison and identified him. His na is Matthew Brown. He lived in Margrave, Georgia. His adoptive father was Daniel Brown, a veteran who served for twenty-one years and participated in three wars. After retiring, he returned to Margrave and joined the local police departnt."
The agent continued calmly.
"This May, Daniel Brown was murdered while investigating a criminal organization. One month later, Matthew carried out revenge. He killed everyone involved in Daniel's murder, dismantled the criminal group, and exposed a large amount of criminal evidence. In the end, multiple parties worked together to suppress the incident."
"On June 7th, Matthew left Margrave and completely disappeared. From that day until now, there are no records of him checking into hotels, boarding flights, or using any official identity registration. His bank cards and credit cards also show no usage from that day forward."
The man raised an eyebrow and lightly waved the file in his hand.
"So he vanished for seven months without leaving a trace, and when he reappeared, he had enough power to blast out an eight-hundred-ter crater."
He leaned back slightly, his eyes narrowing.
"It seems our Mr. Matthew is carrying quite a few secrets."
The agent hesitated for a mont before asking, "Sir, should we mobilize our people to find him?"
The man shook his head.
"I need to report this to the Director first. Before that, we need a complete understanding of what happened in Margrave. I want a full detailed report."
"Yes, sir."
…
That sa night, inside a luxurious private villa, the maid left as usual after finishing her duties for the day.
Alexander Pierce sat on the sofa wearing a sweater. The living room was brightly lit as he looked over a file through his glasses.
A cup of hot tea sat on the glass table before him. Steam spiraled upward, and everything was silent, save for the sound of turning pages.
...
Read Advanced Chapters on : spatreon/cw/OblivionTL
~ Every 100 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]
User Comments
0 comments from readers