The tips of her hair gently brushed across his fingertips, carrying a familiar tingle of crispness and itchiness.

"Hannah."

He called her name in a low voice, his tone enveloping the night and becoming especially tender.

She didn’t lift her head as if lost in thought, her gaze still fixated on his fingertips, "Mmh."

Her voice was soft and slightly husky.

The sound of the wind carried the chirping of birds, as if blown from afar.

Arnold Simmons took Hannah’s hand that was holding his and cupped her face gently with the other.

She raised her head, yet her gaze remained elsewhere, not on him.

"Are you mad?"

Hannah shook her head wanting to pull her hand back, but he gripped it even tighter, "No."

She truly wasn’t mad, just feeling a bit uneasy.

It all felt so unreal.

She really didn’t like this sensation of events being out of her control.

Perhaps Wayne Lane had been right in saying she was too confident and competitive.

Her gaze drifted off, and the shadow cast by her eyelashes blurred the light reflecting in her eyes.

The firelight danced nearby, crackling softly.

Arnold Simmons pressed Hannah’s hand against his chest, "Hannah, I’m serious."

Beneath her palm was his strong heartbeat, the initial thrilling pulsation he felt for her.

The sun had completely abandoned the cerulean sky as if someone had splashed it with black ink all at once.

The sky became thoroughly dark.

Gregory Lawrence walked back with food that had been prepared, with golden lotus tripping by his side, and the big white creature flapping its wings and leaping onto a tree branch before jumping down again, crumpling a dry leaf underfoot.

The dry leaf rustled.

Dinner was roasted meat prepared by Gregory Lawrence.

Just as he’d assured by patting his chest before he started, the rabbit meat was roasted to a crisp outside and tender inside, and despite the lack of extra seasonings, one could still sniff the tantalizing aroma of the food.

Compared to the dry and cold rations, this roasted meat could certainly be considered a delicacy.

One mutated rabbit was quite large, more than enough for three people to eat, and the remainder went to golden lotus and the big white.

The AIs didn’t need to eat; they were merely indulging their cravings.

After dinner, they gathered around the campfire to discuss the itinerary for the next day.

In the Blackwood Forest, they could only rely on the sun to discern their direction, as all other communication devices would experience various levels of interference within.

With the help of the firelight, Arnold Simmons spread the map on the ground and pointed to their current location, "If we follow the path drawn on the map, we should be nearing the heart of Blackwood Forest within a week at most."

Not entering, but approaching.

No one knew exactly how vast the center of Blackwood Forest was, only that it was perpetually shrouded in white fog.

The fog wasn’t poisonous, but it reduced visibility considerably, making it easy for anyone walking there to lose their way.

Once, an expedition team of ten set out to delve into the heart of Blackwood Forest, and not a single one returned.

The current estimated size of Blackwood Forest was just that―an estimate.

Hannah stared at the pitch-black woods not far off, "A week isn’t very long, but that’s assuming we don’t encounter any mutated beasts along the way."

Crises lurked everywhere in Blackwood Forest.

Startled by Hannah’s gaze towards the darkness behind him, Gregory Lawrence quickly changed positions to lean against a tree, "It can’t be that bad, right? We walked all day today and didn’t encounter anything."

"You didn’t see anything because we’re still on the outskirts of Blackwood Forest," Hannah said slowly, "Have you forgotten about the pile of mutated beast corpses we came across today?"