After his turn, Jun woke Junnix up and said they would swap turns to guard, and that it's his turn.
"After your turn, wake Xin up for you to swap," Jun said to Junnix, who is still half asleep.
After handing him the knife, Jun lay down and closed his eyes, embracing the night. At last, he could rest for real. All the things that happened to him this day, he can now sleep in peace.
After reminding him one last time, Jun finally falls into a deep slumber.
Still half-asleep, Junnix sits down, clumsily holding the knife in his hand. Eyes half closed, in his peripheral vision, he caught a man looking at him.
This man's eyes were wide open, almost popping out of his sockets. With eyes as red as the red moon, looking at him without blinking and displayed absolutely no emotion.
Still in a half-asleep state, he failed to notice this man looking at him from a distance. Then this person's figure disappears and reappears, now inches away from his face. The man's body contorted sideways at an unnatural angle, his gaze fixed on Junnix.
Behind this man, another figure appeared, then another. And another. For several minutes, they kept coming–at first, no more than ten. Then, a hundred. The number was already in thousands. No different from the first one. Red eyes, wide eyes that felt as if about to burst from their sockets, faces utterly devoid of emotion.
The figures were all different. Some are children no older than nine. Some are teenagers, adults, and some are elderly, men and women. Every single one stared directly at Junnix, silent and motionless—as though they were waiting for him to look back.
Junnix didn't notice a thing. He was still half-asleep, and the darkness around him masked any strange things happening in his surroundings.
He couldn't fight it anymore. He lay on the ground, positioning his body for comfort, and finally slipped into deep sleep. On the other hand, the strange figures didn't move; they just moved their heads following Junnix's movement.
The trio's surroundings are packed, crammed even, with strange human figures. Hours go by, and they are still there, watching them as they sleep.
However, as the sun's first ray broke over the horizon, so did the figures begin to disappear.
–––
"Yawn." Stretching up, Jun opens his eyes. No longer feeling tired, he happily sits down. "Ahh! As always, nothing beats a long rest after an exhausting day.'
Noticing Xin already awake, he happily asked. "How's guarding? Any strange things happened?"
Searching through the bag, Xin responded, "How would I know? I just woke up a while ago. Maybe ask Junnix why he didn't wake me up."
"WHAAT?!" Jun yelled–his eyes widened in surprise after hearing Xin's response. "Wha-What did you say? You just woke up, and Junnix didn't wake you up?"
Without looking back, Xin responds again, mimicking his previous answer. "I said I just woke up; instead, you should ask him and not me." After searching through the bag for something, Xin finally found what he was looking for. "I knew it!"
In Xin's hand are a couple of seeds inside a zip-tight bag. He cannot hide the happiness painted on his face. However, Jun's expression is the opposite of that of Xin's. "F*cking hell. I spent that night for nothing; that's an additional four hours of sleep."
Jun didn't mind Xin's behavior because they shared one mind, he understood Xin's character–– and why he was doing it. Instead, he walked to where Junnix was sleeping. Sour expression was evident on his face.
Jun taps Junnix's shoulder using his foot. "Hey!" Annoyed face could be seen on his face, as he continuously tapped him to wake him up. "Hey! Sleeping Beauty, wake up!"
"Hmm…" Junnix stretched his arms and legs. He looked at Jun and murmured. "Good morning."
Jun could only snort in annoyance at Junnix's response. "Oh! At last, you finally woke up! How was your shift last night?"
He smiled at him. "Nothing happened last night—just pure darkness here and cold wind there." He slowly sat up and straightened his clothes.
"Oh, really?" Jun looked at him, not believing one bit.
"Ok, ok. You win, I slept last night, happy?" Junnix raised both his arms, like a criminal who was already cornered.
Jun breathed deeply, clearly not wanting to ruin his day any further. "Calm down, Jun. This is your second day in a fantasy world. Don't let someone ruin your day, okay?"
Junnix just looked at him, clearly knowing what Jun was thinking. He smiled, but before he could act, Xin spoke up. Aware of what he was going to do. "Don't do it; he might explode and accidentally kill you." He pointed to the knife Jun was holding.
"So, what now?" Junnix looked at Jun and Xin. "We don't have food, water, or even a single cigarette."
"What can we do? The only choice we have is to explore and hope for the best," Jun answered. "We should separate for now, but not too far from each other. Since we came from the north yesterday, the only areas we have yet to explore are the east, west, and south."
Jun draws on the ground directions while Junnix and Xin listen. "Junnix, you go to the west. Xin, you go to the east. Then I'll go to the south. Clear?" Jun looked at them seriously.
"Clear." Xin calmly said.
"Aye, boss," Junnix said with a nonchalant demeanor.
After long minutes of discussion, preparing for any scenario that might happen, the trio finally set off for their assigned locations.
–––
The three sigh in relief after finding out another perk of the passive skill [Split]. They all knew that their minds were connected, but at the same time, they had independent thoughts, decisions, and judgments. But after separating, they discovered they could communicate telepathically, even over great distances.
They didn't know what the others were seeing or thinking unless they concentrated on a specific split; only then could they finally access those memories, thoughts, and visions.
After hours of exploring, they all returned to where they had first appeared. "Nothing at all—not even a single fly." This revelation unsettled the trio. At first, they thought that only this part of the forest was empty, but after exploring a vast distance, they had no choice but to accept that fact.
"What the heck is happening in this forest?" Jun muttered in confusion. "Don't tell me the entire forest is empty?"
"How can an entire forest be devoid of life so that not even a single insect could be found?" Junnix started to feel uneasy because of this strange occurrence. They might have already fallen into a scheme without even realizing it.
"It is not devoid of life," Xin spoke calmly in response. Both Jun and Junnix looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "Remember that tiger that we accidentally killed and ate last night?"
Both Jun and Junnix come into realization.
"Right, I forgot about that. Overthinking really puts me on edge, huh?" Jun said, blaming himself.
"Yeah… We found it on the north side. Maybe we might find an answer there." Junnix suggested, encouraging the two.