Chapter 218 A Witness in Shadows

Chapter 218 A Witness in Shadows

Garth was covered in dirt and scratches, his little face streaked with tears, and there was a bloody scrape on his temple. He looked both miserable and heartbreaking.

"Garth!"

Sylvia screamed her son's name, her voice breaking with emotion. She rushed over and held that cold little body tightly in her arms. In that instant, all the fear and despair that had built up throughout the night came pouring out like a dam bursting.

"I'm sorry... I came too late... I'm sorry..." She apologized incoherently, tears falling one by one onto Garth's hair, unable to hold them back any longer.

The small body in her arms stiffened slightly, then a pair of cold little hands gently patted her back, comforting her in a weak but sincere voice, "Mom, don't cry... I'm okay..."

This gentle comfort completely broke through Sylvia's last line of defense. She held Garth and cried uncontrollably.

John, Frank, and the others following behind saw this scene, and their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.

Sylvia held Garth, not daring to let go for even a moment, and quickly walked back to the medical room.

The doctor immediately came forward to give Garth a thorough examination, clean his wounds, and had him drink some warm sugar water.

Fortunately, apart from the scrapes on his forehead and body and being frightened, he was otherwise fine.

Watching Garth's pale face gradually regain color, Sylvia's wildly beating heart finally calmed down.

John dismissed everyone else, keeping only Frank and Lisa. He walked to the bedside, trying to make his voice gentle, and asked softly, "Garth, can you tell me what exactly happened?"

Garth leaned against Sylvia, his little hand tightly gripping his mother's clothes. He glanced at John, still seeming a bit scared, but after seeing his mother's encouraging look, he gathered his courage and began to speak in a trembling, childish voice, telling the story bit by bit.

He woke up in the middle of the night, found his mother wasn't there, and wanted to go out to find her.

Just as he left the medical room, he saw that suspicious maintenance worker from earlier in the day quietly heading toward another building.

Garth felt something was off about the man, and thinking he was small enough not to be noticed, he quietly followed.

He saw the man named Sam avoid all patrols and slip into a heavily guarded white building at the center of the island.

"I saw him go into a room with lots of books," Garth tried hard to recall, "he was searching through things inside, like he was looking for something."

That building was the core archive room of the Sapphire Sky Guild branch.

John, Frank, and the others held their breath. The medical room was so quiet that only Garth's thin, childish voice could be heard.

"I followed him. He came out of the study with something rolled up and ran outside." Garth's little hand clutched Sylvia's sleeve, as if this could give him strength. "He ran behind a big rock covered in moss and stuffed the thing into a crack in the stone."

At this point, his small body trembled slightly, and his voice dropped lower.

"Then... Cora appeared. She seemed to be out for a walk at night and happened to see him hiding something."

Sylvia's heart was gripped by an invisible hand. She could sense what cruel scene she was about to hear.

She gently stroked Garth's back, trying to warm him.

Garth buried his face in Sylvia's embrace, his voice muffled and tearful, "Cora asked him what he was doing, and he got really mean and wouldn't let her leave. Cora was scared and tried to run, but he jumped on her from behind and grabbed her neck with his hands..."

A child of just a few years old, describing a murder in innocent language.

The impact of these words was more shocking than any medical examiner's report.

Lisa couldn't help but cover her mouth, her eyes instantly reddening.

Frank's face turned ashen, the veins on his hand gripping the gun bulging.

John's expression was cold as ice, his eyes frighteningly cold.

"Cora struggled, but she didn't have the strength. Soon she stopped moving." Garth's voice grew smaller and smaller, filled with deep fear. "I was so scared, I accidentally cried out..."

That cry became a death sentence.

"He heard the sound, dropped Cora on the ground, and turned to look at me. His eyes were so red and scary. He said he was going to catch me, so I ran as hard as I could..." Garth's body shook violently. "I ran too fast, and it was so dark. I accidentally rolled down the slope."

Sylvia held her son tightly in her arms, her jawline tensed to the breaking point.

She could imagine the fear and despair her son faced alone in the pitch-black night, confronting a murderer.

"He was going to chase me, but then I heard someone shouting 'someone's dead' in the distance, so he didn't dare chase anymore and ran away." By the end, Garth was sobbing. "Mom, I was so scared. I thought I'd never see you again..."

Hearing all this, Sylvia's heart felt like knives were cutting into her. Lingering fear and rage intertwined, almost burning away her rationality.

She gently patted Garth's back, soothing him over and over, but the eyes that looked at John had no warmth left, only cold fury and murderous intent.

"John," she spoke, her voice terrifyingly calm yet icy with every word, "I want Sam to suffer a fate worse than death."

John met her murderous gaze and nodded heavily without hesitation. "Don't worry."

He turned and gave Frank a stern order, "Take Sam to the interrogation room. I'll question him personally." Then he pointed to several others. "You guys, come with me!"

John immediately led his men to the location Garth had indicated, and in the crevice of that moss-covered boulder, they found what Sam had hidden.

It was a cylinder wrapped tightly in oilcloth. When they opened it, everyone's faces changed.

Inside was the most detailed defense layout map of the Sapphire Sky Guild's island branch.

From the positions of open and hidden posts to the timing of patrol shift changes, even the surveillance blind spots were clearly marked.

John held that layout map and felt cold all over.

He immediately ordered a lockdown of the entire island, then headed grimly toward the underground interrogation room.

Sylvia's mood had hit rock bottom.