God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World!

Chapter 604: Sleep With Me

"Your clothes are wet," Gabriel said without turning his head. "Take off your coat. Don’t catch a cold."

"Take... take off my clothes?" Sophie’s eyes widened, and her ears burned when she heard those words.

Sophie responded quietly, lowering her head to unfasten her cloak. Her flaxen hair had grown somewhat damp from the rain, with a few strands clinging to her cheeks. She stole a sidelong glance at Gabriel and found him already seated cross legged on one side of the hide mat, his eyes closed in deep concentration, seemingly regulating his breathing. His breath was steady and profound, his entire presence like a sheathed sword, quiet yet carrying an undeniable sense of presence.

Outside the tent, the rain grew heavier and heavier, the dense drumming of raindrops nearly drowning out all other sounds. Occasionally, flashes of lightning tore through the sky, penetrating the tent’s fabric with a momentary white light, followed by the low rumble of rolling thunder.

Sophie hugged her knees, sitting on the other side of the tent, trying to make herself relax. But her thoughts refused to settle, spinning uncontrollably in her mind.

Being alone with Gabriel in a tent was nothing unusual in itself. They had been traveling together for so long that camping overnight was a matter of routine. But tonight... tonight, for some reason, her heart simply would not calm down.

Perhaps it was because of the rain. The rain had shut out the entire world, turning the inside of the tent into a tiny space isolated from everything else. In this space, there was only him and her.

Sophie bit her lip, forcing herself not to dwell on those messy thoughts. She secretly glanced at Gabriel. His eyes were still closed, his breathing steady, seemingly completely unaffected.

An inexplicable sense of discouragement welled up inside her.

Just then, a soft "plop" sounded from the top of the tent.

A drop of rainwater seeped through a seam in the tent, landing right on Gabriel’s side of the hide mat.

Gabriel opened his eyes and looked up at the leak, frowning slightly. He reached up to try to adjust the seam, but the rain outside was simply too heavy, and the wind kept shifting direction. One leak became two.

Sophie hurriedly moved over to help. Their hands met at the top of the tent.

"Press tighter here," Gabriel said. "Right, right there."

They fussed over it for quite a while before finally managing to stop the leaking. But when they sat back down, both of them discovered a problem. Gabriel’s side of the hide mat was now soaked through, completely unsleepable.

Sophie looked at the damp mat, then at her own side, still relatively dry. Her lips moved.

"You... sleep with me," she heard her own voice say.

The moment the words left her mouth, Sophie regretted them.

Not because she didn’t want Gabriel to sleep beside her, but because her voice was too quiet, too soft, and somehow ended up sounding like she was implying something. Her cheeks instantly burned, and the tips of her ears flushed so red they looked ready to drip blood.

Gabriel looked at her, his gaze calm.

"Where will you sleep then?"

"I..." Sophie opened her mouth, wishing she could swallow her words back down. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to continue. "I’ll sleep here too. Anyway... anyway, the mat is big enough. Two people squeezing together won’t be a problem. With the rain this heavy outside, you can’t possibly sleep on a wet spot."

After saying this, she felt her face had grown hot enough to fry an egg.

A moment of silence settled inside the tent. Only the rain continued to crackle and patter outside.

Gabriel didn’t answer immediately. He looked at Sophie, and something seemed to flicker in those blue eyes of his, something too quick to catch.

"Alright," he finally said, just that one word.

Then he stood up, walked to Sophie’s side, and lay down at the very edge of the mat. His movements were clean and purposeful, as if carrying out a tactical mission, without a trace of hesitation or awkwardness.

Sophie froze for a second, then stiffly lay down on the other side.

The hide mat was indeed large enough, but only just barely. Lying side by side, a small distance still remained between them, but that distance was so narrow it was unnerving. Sophie could even feel the warmth radiating from Gabriel’s body, that dry and warm presence, impossibly distinct in the damp rainy night.

She turned on her side, her back to Gabriel, burying her face in her arms.

Her heart pounded in her chest like a war drum.

She could hear her own breathing, rapid and uneven. She desperately tried to calm it, but the harder she tried to control it, the more uncontrollable it became.

The illumination crystal at the top of the tent still glowed, casting its faint light. Sophie stared at the rain dampened patterns on the tent wall, not daring to move a single muscle.

"Cold?" Gabriel’s voice suddenly came from behind her.

Sophie’s entire body stiffened.

"N no, not cold..." Her voice sounded like someone had her by the throat.

In truth, she wasn’t cold at all. Quite the opposite, she felt like her whole body was about to combust.

Gabriel said nothing more. But Sophie felt that behind her, he seemed to have turned over. Her back faintly sensed a warmth drawing closer, so close that she stopped breathing altogether.

The rain continued its relentless roar beyond the tent. It washed over the wasteland, over the mud and rock, but it could not wash away the ever thickening, indescribably subtle tension filling the tent.

Sophie shut her eyes tight, and only a single thought remained in her mind.

Tonight, she was probably not going to get any sleep.

...

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