Luo Feng followed Miya and Luna through the simple wooden gates of Eden Village. The two thin guards with patched spears gave them a quick nod and let the group pass without question. No one asked who the stranger was. In a place this small and poor, visitors were rare, but as long as you came with the chief's daughter, you were trusted.
As they walked the narrow dirt paths between low wooden huts, Luo Feng looked around quietly, his young face calm but his farmer's eyes missing nothing. The village was exactly as the girls had described: about two hundred souls living in two dozen weathered homes. Children played barefoot in the dust, their ribs showing. Elders sat on doorsteps, faces lined with worry. Fields stretched out beyond the houses—half the crops wilted and brown, the rest struggling under clouds of black bugs that swarmed the leaves. Smoke from cooking fires carried the faint smell of boiled wild grass. It was poorer than even the hardest years in Churachandpur, yet the people still smiled at Miya and Luna as they passed.
Back home I would know exactly what to do, Luo Feng thought. Crop rotation, natural bug-repelling plants from the forest, the monster-ward thistle and healing herbs I already have in the bag. The soil just needs rest and the right seeds. I can fix this… but not yet. Not until they trust me.
Miya led him straight to the largest hut in the center of the village—a slightly bigger wooden house with a thatched roof and a small vegetable patch beside it. An older man with grey-streaked hair and kind but tired eyes stepped out to meet them. He wore a simple tunic and carried a walking stick.
"Father," Miya said, bowing her head respectfully, "this is Luo Feng. We met him by the river. He is a traveler."
The village chief—elder of Eden Village—looked Luo Feng up and down. His eyes softened at the young man's respectful posture and gentle expression. "I am Chief Haru," he said, voice warm but weary. "Welcome to our home. What brings you so deep into the borderlands, young traveler?"
Luo Feng bowed politely, the way a guest should in any village. "My name is Luo Feng. I have been walking alone for many days through the forest. I only seek a safe place to rest for one night. Is there any room available? I will pay whatever I can."
Chief Haru sighed and shook his head with a sad smile. "The village is poor, Luo Feng. We have no guest house, no inn. But you seem a good man, and my daughter already trusts you. You may stay with us. My wife is at home now with our youngest daughter—she is nine years old—and our son, who is eighteen. You already met my elder daughter Miya." He gestured toward the hut. "Come. It is small, but there is space on the floor and warm food, such as it is."
Miya blushed a little but smiled. Luna waved goodbye and hurried off toward her own home. Chief Haru placed a hand on Luo Feng's shoulder and led him inside.
The hut was simple: one main room with a low table, a small cooking fire in the corner, and woven mats on the floor for sleeping. A kind-faced woman in her forties looked up from stirring a pot of thin soup. Beside her sat a shy nine-year-old girl with wide eyes and a tall, thin boy of eighteen who was sharpening a wooden spear.
"This is my wife, Lira, my daughter Suki, and my son Kael," the chief said. "Everyone, this is Luo Feng. He will stay with us tonight."
Lira smiled tiredly and bowed. "You are welcome here. We don't have much, but what we have we share."
Luo Feng bowed again, his heart heavy with the same quiet sadness he had felt on the walk. "Thank you, Chief Haru, and thank you all. I will not be a burden."
As the family made space for him on the floor mats and the smell of boiled grass and a few small roots filled the hut, Luo Feng sat quietly, already planning in his head how he could help this village without revealing who he truly was or where he had come from.
Outside, the sun began to set over the struggling fields of Eden Village. Inside, a farmer who had once died in the mud of Churachandpur now sat among new friends, carrying secrets, skills, and a Storage Bag full of miracles no one here could yet imagine.