Night deepened.
According to Selena, the first group of explorers to enter Sandbox One and investigate the situation had been attacked after nightfall.
Gawain stood before the house, gazing up at the clear, luminous night sky over the desert. He appeared calm and composed, but he was secretly heightening his awareness of the surroundings and activating all manner of preparations.
Even now, no unusual phenomena had occurred, and no one had suffered Mental Corruption. Duvall and Nariter were resting in a house not far behind them, while Selena and the other two remained alert, taking turns keeping watch inside.
It seemed this would be a peaceful night.
The desert became quite cold after nightfall, but the temperature was not enough to affect Gawain. He took a deep breath, letting the frigid air cool his mind, while unable to suppress his admiration for the Sleeper's technology in creating this world—
Such realistic wind, such realistic cold, vast land, glittering stars—everything was just like the real thing. How long had they spent building such a convincing false world? And the beings living within this world... how long had it taken them to realize the boundary of the box existed?
A stir in his senses snapped Gawain out of his wandering thoughts. He turned toward the door—the white-haired Nariter, whose hair nearly reached her ankles, quietly opened it and walked outside. She stepped barefoot across the ground, making almost no sound as she moved, yet she did not know how to conceal her presence.
"You woke up?" Gawain casually asked the strange girl.
Nariter swiftly glanced up at Gawain and nodded faintly. Then she walked a short distance away from the door, sat down directly on the ground, hugged her knees, and stared blankly up at the sky.
Though he had always found