The next day at dusk. The RV rolled over the muddy dirt road and plunged into the vast, endless bamboo forest.
Sunlight leaked through the gaps in the bamboo leaves, dappling the windshield as Daisy and Peter lay snuggled together on the bed. As for who was driving, the answer was, of course, Wheel of Fortune.
Peter was playing various classic mini-games developed by Parker Tech according to his instructions—things like Temple Run and Fruit Ninja—while enjoying the fruit Daisy fed him. Life was just too comfortable.
But as the car continued driving, Daisy couldn't help but frown: "Peter, are you sure your intelligent driving system isn't having any problems?"
Daisy looked up and glanced at the dense bamboo outside the window: "The GPS signal has been cut off for over ten minutes, yet we still show no signs of getting out of this bamboo forest."
"Don't worry, this is the place."
"But why..." Daisy's ears twitched, and then she looked out the car window at the World outside: "I feel like something isn't right. The forest behind us seems to be... moving constantly?"
"It feels just like... a ghost wall!" At this, Daisy's face turned pale.
Although she was a super-powered individual now, she was still just a young girl who had only recently come of age. She still held a certain amount of awe for these supernatural things.
Hearing this, Peter's hand, which was playing the mini-game, paused. He tilted his head to think for a moment before recalling a small detail about Ta Lo Village from the depths of his memory.
"Oh... I suddenly remembered something."
"What is it?"
"It seems the entrance to Ta Lo Village only opens on the Qingming Festival... Normally, if any outsider enters this bamboo forest, they could wander until they die and never find the entrance to Ta Lo Village."
"The Qingming Festival?!" Daisy couldn't help but widen her eyes, then asked somewhat helplessly: "Then what do we do now? It's only June, and there's still more than half a year until next year's Qingming Festival. Are we supposed to stay in this bamboo forest until next year?"
"If it were an ordinary person, they would indeed have to wait it out."
Peter suddenly became interested. He first signaled for Wheel of Fortune to turn off the engine, then said mysteriously: "But clearly, I am not an ordinary person."
Hearing this, Daisy's eyes lit up: "Are you planning to just bulldoze this entire bamboo forest and force a path through?"
"That would be too inelegant and doesn't fit my style~" Peter replied with a punchable expression.
Thinking back to how Peter had previously destroyed the entire Hells Kitchen with one punch in New York and parted the Hudson River down the middle, Daisy's mouth twitched. Elegant? Are you sure that word has anything to do with you?
Just as she was thinking this, the storage ring on Peter's hand flashed with light.
A golden necklace appeared out of thin air in his palm. The necklace was made entirely of gold and inlaid with shimmering, colorful gemstones. The moment it was brought out, it made the dim interior of the car brighten up. It was none other than the eye of aurora!
"So beautiful..." Daisy's attention was instantly captured. As everyone knows, girls are like dragons; they have absolutely no resistance to shiny things.
"But what does this have to do with how we can get out?"
"This isn't an ordinary necklace." Peter held the eye of aurora up in front of Daisy and shook it, then explained: "It can teleport us to anywhere we want to go."
"Anywhere?" Daisy was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but ask: "Then why didn't we use this when we set off from New York before?"
"Because I only got this thing yesterday..."
Regarding Peter's explanation, Daisy was clearly a bit curious, but she knew very well what should be asked and what shouldn't, so she just let Peter take her hand.
After taking Daisy's hand, Peter spoke to the eye of aurora: "To Ta Lo Village."
The moment his voice fell, the air in front of the two was torn open out of thin air. Golden light gushed out from the crack, forming a diamond-shaped portal, which then swallowed Peter and Daisy.
Daisy felt the scene before her spin dizzily for about half a second. When she came to her senses, the bamboo forest had disappeared, replaced by a pastoral landscape that left her stunned. Running water gurgled, and paths crisscrossed the land.
All around were a bunch of strange creatures she had never heard of before. There were chubby, eyeless furballs rolling slowly, little foxes with fluffy silver-white fur and nine tails swaying behind them lazily licking their fur, and even larger creatures that looked like deer but had a mix of different biological features all over their bodies, staring at them vigilantly by the creek.
"Is this... Ta Lo Village?" Daisy couldn't help but murmur, completely stunned by the beautiful scenery before her.
But just then... Whoosh~ An arrow came flying through the air!
Peter didn't even look up; he simply raised two fingers and pinched, precisely stopping the arrow less than three inches from the center of his forehead.
He looked at the arrow caught between his fingers: the arrowhead was actually made from some kind of scale, glowing with a holy, cold light in the setting sun.
Peter flicked his hand, and half his arm was immediately covered by the Vibranium bracer. Peter raised the arrowhead to stab at the Vibranium bracer, and after the two collided and erupted with blinding sparks, neither side had suffered the slightest damage.
"So this is dragon scale?" Peter couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "This defensive performance is indeed good stuff~"
Just as he was thinking this, dozens of villagers clad in scale armor and wielding dragon scale weapons swarmed out from all directions.
A burly man with a full beard walked at the very front, holding a large dragon scale blade, the tip pointing straight at Peter's throat: "Who are you people? How did you get in?"
Daisy subconsciously stepped back half a step, and ripples of Quake already appeared on her arms.
Peter smiled slightly at these villagers and then said: "Don't be hasty, we have no malice. On the contrary, we are here to help you solve your trouble!"
"Trouble?" The bearded man's expression changed, but he quickly said with a tough attitude: "There is no such thing as trouble in our Ta Lo Village. I don't care how you got in, leave immediately!"
Seeing the other party's tough attitude, Peter's eyes changed instantly. Following that, an invisible sense of oppression was suddenly released from his body—Conqueror's Haki!
Without any warning, the villagers' knees went weak one by one, and they immediately fell to their knees with a thud. Even the bearded man only managed to grit his teeth and hold on for three seconds before he, too, fell to his knees with a thud.
"I said, I have no malice." Peter withdrew his Haki, his tone remaining incomparably calm: "But if you insist on fighting, then I don't mind letting you calm down for a while first."
Saying this, Peter smiled again and looked at the bearded man, asking: "Now, have you calmed down?"
***************************
Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you're enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌