God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World! Chapter 653: Interrogation [2]

After a long moment of silence, Matthew spoke. "I don’t know."

"You seemed to know plenty just now."

"I genuinely wasn’t qualified to read what came after that." Matthew sneered. "Even if you kill me, I can’t give you an answer I don’t know myself."

Gabriel stared at him for several seconds, watching him expressionlessly. He did not seem to be lying. At least not about this part.

Edgar, however, had remained silent beside him the entire time.

Noticing this, Gabriel turned his head slightly.

"You know what comes next."

Edgar still remained silent. Several seconds later, he finally said, "I told you before. There are some things I shouldn’t be the first person to tell her."

"I didn’t ask you to tell Sophie."

Gabriel looked at him fully now. "I’m asking you."

"..."

The corner of Edgar’s mouth twitched.

The way this bastard seized upon the key point was as irritating as ever.

"We’ll talk after we get back."

"Why?"

"Because this place isn’t safe." Edgar looked beyond the valley. "That man escaped earlier."

Those words instantly changed the atmosphere.

The casualness on Gabriel’s face also faded slightly. He had almost forgotten about the last person who had fled.

"So you couldn’t catch him?"

"If I were alone, I might have been able to try." Edgar shook his head. "But we just rescued the children. I couldn’t possibly leave them here. Besides, that man never participated in the transaction from beginning to end. He stayed hidden outside the valley the entire time, which means his mission was never to fight but to..."

"Observe," Gabriel completed the sentence, then another thought struck him. "Do you think there could be someone else?"

"Yes." Edgar nodded. "So we can’t stay here for long."

While the two were speaking, Erin had already returned with the eleven children.

She did not allow them to approach the area where most of the corpses were lying and instead stopped several dozen meters away from the others.

"I checked all of them," Erin said. "There are no fatal injuries, but two of the children are extremely weak. We need to get them back as soon as possible."

"Prepare to leave," Edgar said.

When Matthew heard this, a smile reappeared on his face.

"You’re only thinking about going back now?"

Gabriel looked down at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You think the man who escaped just went to report what happened here?"

Blood stained the corner of Matthew’s mouth.

"If the Church has already confirmed that the girl is somewhere in the Sacred Forest."

"What do you think the first thing they’ll do is?"

Edgar’s expression abruptly changed. The next second, he grabbed Matthew by the collar, lifting him from the ground with one hand.

"Speak!"

Matthew merely smiled, seemingly enjoying this. "Too late."

Bang!

Edgar punched him across the face. Blood splattered across the ground.

"I asked what they’re going to do!"

"Find her," Matthew finally answered.

"Obviously, they’ll find her. They don’t need to restrain themselves anymore because they are certain it’s her."

"But..." His gaze passed over Edgar and landed on Gabriel. "If that girl really possesses that bloodline, then this matter will no longer be handled by a Cardinal like me. The next people who come won’t be this weak."

After hearing this, Gabriel showed no panic whatsoever.

Instead, he asked, "Do they know Sophie’s current location?"

The smile on Matthew’s face stiffened slightly.

"No."

"Then what are you smiling about?"

"..."

Gabriel looked at Edgar. "How long does it take to get from here to your settlement?"

"At our speed, less than an hour if we move as fast as possible."

"And with the children?"

Edgar glanced behind him. "At least two hours."

"You go back first then."

Edgar frowned. "What about here?"

"Erin will take the children," Gabriel said. "You go back and notify Aelira. Seal every route around the settlement that can be used to enter the core area, and don’t let Sophie leave alone."

Edgar stared at him.

"And you?"

Gabriel lowered his head and looked at the corpses scattered across the ground.

"There are still things I haven’t finished."

"You’re sure?"

"Mm."

"The Holy Church may already be moving."

"That’s exactly why you need to return first."

Gabriel’s tone did not change in the slightest.

"They don’t know where Sophie is right now, and the Sacred Forest isn’t some ordinary forest. Finding one person in a place this large won’t be easy."

"Besides." His gaze returned to Matthew.

"We still have someone who knows quite a lot."

Matthew’s expression shifted slightly.

Edgar thought for a moment and nodded his head, not wasting any more time.

"Fine. I’ll head back first."

With that, he turned around. But after taking only two steps, Gabriel suddenly called out to him.

"Edgar."

"What?"

"If someone has already arrived. Don’t kill them all."

Edgar froze for a moment before he smiled.

"Want me to leave a few for you?"

"Mm, preferably the high level ones."

"Fine."

As his words fell, Edgar’s figure instantly disappeared into the forest.

Gabriel watched Edgar’s disappearing figure, then shifted his gaze to the corpses strewn across the battlefield.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Matthew’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

Gabriel turned around and then started to approach him.

Seeing those cold electric blue eyes, Matthew felt a chilling cold run down his spine and began to shift backward, but it was nearly impossible because his legs had already been broken by Gabriel earlier.

Gabriel grabbed his shoulder and lifted him directly from the ground.

"Wait, what are you doing? Where are we going?" he cried out.

"Somewhere."

...

Meanwhile, deeper within the Sacred Forest, Sophie stood alone in the middle of a clearing surrounded by enormous ancient trees. Several elves Aelira had assigned to protect her stood not far away.

Strangely, however, she had gradually stopped being able to clearly hear their voices. It was not that she could no longer hear. Rather, another sound was becoming increasingly clear.

Thump.

Sophie’s body trembled slightly as she lowered her head and looked beneath her feet.

Thump.

Again, but it was not her heartbeat. The sound came from underground.

No. From somewhere even farther away. Somewhere deeper.

It was as though the countless intertwined roots beneath the entire forest were transmitting the same rhythm.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Sophie slowly closed her eyes.

The next moment, every ancient tree around her trembled gently at the same time.

Rustle...

The leaves began to sway even though there was no wind. Yet every plant in the area seemed to have sensed something, their branches and leaves slowly leaning toward Sophie.

The nearby elves stopped simultaneously.

"This is..." One of their pupils widened slightly.

But Sophie could no longer hear them at all. Her consciousness seemed to extend outward through the earth beneath her feet, passing through forest after forest, crossing rivers, valleys, and countless ancient root systems until it finally touched something so enormous that she could not even begin to comprehend it.

The next second...

Boom!

Sophie’s consciousness violently tremble. An image appeared in her mind without warning.

An endless forest appeared before her.

There was no sun in the sky. Everywhere the eye could see was only a tree. The ancient tree was so enormous that it seemed to support the entire world. Most of its branches and leaves had already lost their luster, and among its countless roots, some had even turned gray black.

But the instant Sophie saw it, the ancient tree, which had seemingly remained silent for countless years, suddenly trembled ever so slightly.

Immediately afterward, a consciousness clearer than anything she had ever sensed before crossed an unimaginable distance and descended directly into the depths of Sophie’s soul.

This time, it was no longer merely two indistinct words. It was a complete sentence.

[My child.]

[You have finally returned.]

Sophie’s eyes snapped open, and deep within her pupils, golden green light completely lit up.