Several hours later.
The Gunslinger—Roland—gradually woke from his sleep.
Earlier.
Perhaps because Ma Teng had been poked where it hurt.
After a long silence, he had chosen to turn over and go to sleep.
And because Roland possessed the ability to sense danger, he had likewise chosen to sleep afterward.
Without worrying in the slightest about whether he might be ambushed.
Now.
When he woke up.
What he saw was still that pitch-black night.
Just as it had been before he fell asleep.
As though he had not slept for very long.
Yet the biological clock forged through Roland's many years of experience denied that possibility.
Roland's internal clock clearly told him that he had slept for at least eight hours.
So normally, the sky should at least have been a hazy gray.
Yet now, it was utterly black.
As if it were still the dead of night.
Or rather, even darker than the dead of night—so dark he could barely see his hand before his face.
"..."
Sensing that something was wrong.
After thinking for a second.
He quickly turned his gaze toward the still-burning campfire.
And Ma Teng, illuminated by its flames.
Dressed in a black trench coat, the other man looked as though he had awakened long ago and had been silently watching him all this time.
Who knew what he had been studying in silence.
"What are you looking at?"
Faced with Roland's unfriendly question.
Ma Teng merely shrugged carelessly.
"Of course I'm looking at you."
"I don't like people looking at me like that." As he spoke, Roland tossed several more pieces of wood into the campfire, making it burn brighter. "I can't wait to see the sunrise."
"Unlike someone like you, who lives in darkness, a bright world of light is where I belong."