Chapter 32: Thug Interrogation
With the two thugs awakened and their souls freed from burning in hell for eternity, the handler knew that it would be easier to get information from them.
Nonetheless, she was not going to be merciful, as they had committed numerous atrocities against Camille's people.
The first man got the nails from his hand ripped out with a pair of pincers, but he still didn't divulge any information about his gang.
Paige and Camille were focused on one thug, and Dante understood that they were using him as an example for the second one to see what happened when they didn't answer their questions.
The scientist continued and moved from the nails to the man's mouth, forcefully removing only the canine teeth, as she said that they were the most painful to get ripped out.
When the man started to lose consciousness from the shock, one of Camille's lackeys used a taser on his soaked body to keep him awake.
Suddenly, the moment that Paige said that she would move on to the testicles, the man implored them to stop, saying that he would speak.
"Name of your gang?" Camille asked with a severe tone.
"S-Scarlett Bullets…" the man replied with blood coming out of his mouth, making the platinum-haired woman smile sinisterly.
Not able to endure any of Paige's meticulous torture, the man gave a detailed summary of everything he knew about the Scarlett Bullets.
He had joined the gang two years ago after a group of hooded men approached him on the streets of a poor district, saying they were interested in his skills as a hitman.
The man accepted to join them since he was poor, and when he was taken to their base, he saw horrors that he could never forget for the rest of his life.
He described the man in charge of their base as a horned monster—One that he knew wasn't from this world.
The monster pointed his palm at the man, and he felt a sharp pain in his body that lasted for a few seconds, followed by a threat that if he ever spoke of anything related to the gang, his soul would belong to him.
Most of the missions he was given were to feed drug pills to any unlucky pedestrian they could fool into ingesting them. However, he wasn't aware of the purpose, as they simply followed orders not to lose their souls.
"I see. Then why are you here?" Camille asked, her sharp gaze locked on the man.
"I-I don't know… I was simply told to kill everyone inside the apartment. All I know is that it came from a higher-up," he said as blood dripped down his mouth.
Camille rejoiced with the information, as they had been tracking the Scarlett Bullets for some time through Red River.
The thugs only knew the location of one of their bases, but Camille believed that it could be enough to find the location of the others.
Dante was a bit confused, as he thought that the Blood Dragons were their primary objective, so Camille explained that it wasn't easy to get to the top rank if they didn't clear the trash around them.
Zac wasn't too familiar with the mafia and the gangs' culture, so the handler gave them a more detailed explanation.
There were four mafia families in the country who had control over different districts and provinces, and each of these families had criminal gangs working under them.
However, it was impossible for anyone to gather information about the families unless they thoroughly investigated the lower-ranked criminals, which was the reason Camille had been raiding the Red River gang.
She knew that Red River was the lowest-ranked organization working for the Blood Dragons, so she was going up the hierarchy until she could get the details she needed to finish off their enemies.
Seeing that the sun was coming up, Camille asked her men to take the group to their apartment. However, Zac was still confused about why he was personally invited to be there.
"You don't see it?" Camille asked the redhead.
"The drug they used on people. It leaves them paralyzed and unable to speak…" the woman continued.
Zac understood what she was trying to say, but his brain was trying to deny it, not wanting to believe that his mother might have been forced into drinking demon blood.
"It's not just your mother, Zac…" Camille said, addressing the redhead by his name for the first time.
"There are hundreds of people in the capital with the same condition. The government already considers it an epidemic, but they have stayed silent in an effort to find the cure before it could keep spreading…" she explained.
The redhead lowered his gaze, and Dante could feel anger flowing from him, but it wasn't aimed at Camille—it was directed at the thugs.
"So… Is there no cure?" Zac somberly asked.
"There are ways to break it…" Dante interjected, wanting to console his friend.
Zac's eyes gleamed momentarily, feeling like he could trust Dante's words as the warlock had been pretty honest with him since the first time they met.
"Killing the demon should release the curse from the victims," the warlock continued.
Camille told the group that she was thinking about sending Dante and Megan to raid the Scarlett Bullets' base once they extracted the precise location, as Dante himself requested.
The warlock had asked the handler to send him on the next mission she had so that he could redeem himself after deleting half a building during their last raid on Red River.
However, he asked for a few more days to train, saying that he was still getting used to controlling the umbra from their world.
It was easy for him to cast spells that didn't require a lot of energy, but advanced spells like "Destro" required experience to be able to control the amount of power output.
Camille agreed to Dante's request but showed interest in his training and wondered if she and Paige could be present to see it.
"I don't see why not…" the warlock replied, pointing out that Zac had already seen him training a few times.
Dante wanted his next mission to be flawless, and he didn't want to lose control of his powers again, as he thought it was embarrassing. Still, he believed that he would regain perfect dominance of his magic with a few more days.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone