The teleportation circle flared with blinding white light.
In the next instant, Luo Feng and the thirty-two powerful adventurers appeared in the middle of what used to be Eden Village.
The smell hit them first — thick, metallic blood mixed with the stench of burned wood, rotting crops, and death. The once-green fields were now blackened and trampled. Huts lay collapsed or reduced to charred skeletons. Bodies were scattered everywhere, some torn apart by claws, some crushed under fallen beams, some burned beyond recognition.
Luo Feng's eyes moved slowly across the horror until they locked onto one figure lying in the center of the square.
Miya.
She lay on her back in a pool of dried blood, her beautiful white-and-blue wedding dress torn and stained dark red. Her body had been cut cleanly in half at the waist. Her long black hair was matted with dirt and blood, but the silver lotus hairpin he had given her still clung to the strands near her face. Her eyes were closed, as if she had simply fallen asleep.
Luo Feng walked forward like a man in a nightmare. His legs felt heavy, every step echoing in the silent ruin. He dropped to his knees beside her.
For a long moment he just stared.
Then he gently lifted what remained of her upper body into his arms, cradling her against his chest as if she might wake up if he held her tightly enough.
A broken, guttural sound tore out of his throat — a loud, raw cry that echoed across the destroyed village.
"MIYA…!"
Tears poured down his face without stopping. His shoulders shook violently as he rocked her gently.
"Forgive me, my wife…" he sobbed, voice cracking louder than anyone had ever heard from the calm farmer. "If I had not left the village… I could have protected you… I could have protected everyone… Forgive me… Forgive me…"
He buried his face in her cold hair, the silver lotus hairpin pressing against his cheek. His tears fell onto her face as he repeated the words again and again, his voice growing hoarse.
The thirty-two adventurers stood in a silent circle around him. These were hardened S-rank and A-rank warriors who had seen countless battlefields, yet every single one of them had tears in their eyes. Some looked away, fists clenched so tightly their knuckles were white. Others stared at the ground, hearts breaking at the sight of the quiet young man who had once saved their kingdom's Duke now cradling his pregnant wife's severed body.
No one spoke.
The only sounds were Luo Feng's loud, heartbroken sobs and the distant wind blowing through the ruined fields.
The unblessed traveler from another world had finally returned home… only to find it had been turned into a graveyard.