There can't be a Harvest Moon in the RimWorld.

Seeing my firm refusal, Dr. Dort immediately fell into dejection again, muttering, "What a pity... Once you've tried it, you'll definitely want to try it again..."

This stuff has side effects...and addiction issues?!

Shouldn't we follow the ancient method at this point, tie him up and force him to quit, beating him every time he has an attack, until his addiction is completely eliminated?

I approached Dr. Dort, gently patted his shoulder with a concerned gesture, and said, "Dort, you don't seem to be feeling well. You might need to rest."

Upon hearing this, Gray suddenly became agitated and tried to stand up from his chair to protest his condition, but I held him down so he couldn't move.

My hand landed on his left shoulder again, and after three pats, his usually impassioned face suddenly froze, and he couldn't utter a word.

Soon, the flush on his face and the bloodshot eyes from excitement faded, and he looked exhausted from the inside out.

“I’m sorry… Marcus, I…”

Dortmund regained his usual upright expression, looking dejected and wanting to apologize, but I stopped him.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, you just didn’t manage the pace well. Actually, you can take a break for a while, and I’ll adjust my thinking before we start researching again,” I said with concern.

This person did not do anything wrong, and the drugs he developed did have merit. However, he was too obsessed with the theory and became overly fixated on the new drugs he discovered on the island, ignoring their side effects.

The processing method I taught him can indeed help prepare medicinal materials and reduce side effects. However, I believe that if all of this is not based on a full understanding and analysis of the medicinal materials, it must be tested through hundreds or thousands of clinical cases and tested over a long period of time before it can be considered a "tested prescription" and thus a breakthrough in medicine.

The kind of unbridled new drug development that Dortmund pursues can at best be considered a shortcut to exploring the unknown, and its success or failure depends entirely on fate.

“You’re right…” Dort forced a smile, but couldn’t help yawning. “The teacher also pointed out the flaws in my research, but I insisted that with just a few more breakthroughs, I could successfully refine my previous experience, so I continued to speed up the process…”

That's a dangerous idea, young man!

If you were studying at the University of Michigan, with your suicidal attitude, the Earth might have been nuked twice already!

"By the way, Dort, which medical school did you graduate from?" I suddenly asked.

"Miskatonic University School of Medicine, what's wrong?" Dort asked innocently.

...No problem, it really is a place where talented people emerge in large numbers, no less than my alma mater, Arkham.

Seeing that I didn't ask any further questions, Dort smiled and said, "Actually, I didn't want to go down this path at all. My father is a doctor and my mother is a nurse. My most vivid childhood memories are of an empty house day after day. So even though I went to medical school according to my parents' wishes, I had absolutely no interest in medicine. If I hadn't met my teacher, I probably would have been expelled by now because of my grades..."

I exclaimed in shock, "Even someone as hardworking as you gets expelled! Your school is actually the affiliated medical school of Hengshui High School, isn't it?!"

Dort scratched his head sheepishly: "I originally wanted to rebel against my parents, get expelled from school, and then do what I love. Ironically, just when my teacher truly made me appreciate the nobility of this profession and inspired me to become an excellent doctor, I found myself on the verge of dropping out due to my poor grades..."

"...So you came here?"

Dr. Dort said, "That's right, this is an opportunity my teachers fought for for me—to retain my student status through overseas support, allowing me to catch up on my previous studies over a few years. Actually, I was confident I could go back to take my graduation exams last year, but here, I've gained a deeper understanding of the meaning of being a doctor. I really want to do something for this small town, which is why I've been putting it off until now..."

This story is Dortmund's misfortune, but the town's good fortune. The people in the town also experience much misfortune, but being able to come here is also a blessing for the town.

The greatest fortune of this town is that it has gathered so many like-minded residents who love Mineral Town, which has made it the place I love now.

"Dortmund, do you really not want to go back?" I asked.

Dort's eyes held a passion that remained despite his life experiences: "Right now, all I'm thinking about is how I can be happy as a doctor to help the residents here!"

"Uh... so you still had a falling out with your family?" I continued to ask. It seemed that the childhood memories from his family of origin hadn't stopped this person's rebelliousness; he was just stubbornly running in another direction.

Dort smiled. "Yes, I lost contact with them after I refused my parents' arrangement to stay at the family hospital and announced my choice to come to Mineral Town as a celibate. Before I came, my teacher, Professor Francis Morgan, told me that the pursuit of truth is always lonely and misunderstood, and only when you shine brightly can you find true companions."

That's true, but it's undeniably cruel to people. Perhaps only someone like Dortmund, who lacked a sense of belonging to family life growing up, would truly embrace such a maxim.

"It really is a fake name."

I didn't say anything more, patted him on the shoulder, left a vague remark, and walked to the hospital entrance.

"Get some rest, but if you keep taking random medications..."

Dote nodded: "Don't worry! Next time I'll definitely have a specialist test the drug! I won't take it randomly again!"

Hey, don't say things like that while looking at me with those expectant eyes! I'm not some kind of medical guinea pig!

Yeah, I really can't let this guy have any free time, otherwise he'll definitely find a way to bother me...

"Dorte, in the package I gave you, there's some medicine I brought from outside. It's very effective for treating external injuries and for sterilization and detoxification. You can try it. But there's not much, and I'll run out after that!"

I said this to draw his attention to the wild herbs of the Edge World. Unlike the highly potent herbs in Mineral Town, which also have severe side effects, the wild herbs of the Edge World have mild, side-effect-free medicinal properties and are extremely suitable for animals. I suspect that they are also a product of the "Binary" project's genetic modification.

If we combine the two, could we create a new type of drug that is fast-acting and has few adverse reactions?

Anyway, let Dortmund just shed his hair.

…………

"A bicycle! What do you want, a bicycle!"

Back on the dark ranch, I tossed aside Sebala's whimsical human-powered generator. What use is it here other than for comic relief? I could pedal it all night and it probably wouldn't even be enough to boil a kettle of water!

Then I took out a suitcase-sized device from behind the door, connected it to the ranch's electrical system, and pressed the power switch.

In an instant, all the lights on the ranch came on!

The light circled around the main house, stables, chicken coop, and warehouse, then illuminated the ranch's central axis, creating a light zone that connected the town's streetlights to the ranch's roads.

Under the transmission of electricity, the temperature of the battery provided by Sebala rises dramatically in less than two minutes, becoming extremely hot to the touch, as if it were about to catch fire.

"Where did this counterfeit product come from! Could it be that Sebala made it himself?!"

I quickly disconnected the battery cable, thus preventing a fire caused by an overcurrent.

The portable reactor, with its enclosed, portable design, was the first small reactor blueprint in history and also marked the first time that reactor miniaturization was achieved.

Compared to the military version of the "Double Star Program" that I received, this portable reactor has been redesigned by scientists from Harris's fleet and can be put back into use after being recharged. It now uses energy blocks from Shining World, which contain specially treated trace amounts of uranium fuel blocks that will not sprout mushrooms even in the event of a short circuit.

This blocking technology is very sophisticated, locking the power limit at 1800W, or 1.8 kWh per hour, ensuring safety and stability.

I brought this portable reactor back from the Edge World specifically so that my ranch could see the light of day again.

"Ah...it feels so good to have light..."

I stepped outside and gazed happily at the brightly lit ranch, captivated by the soft yellow glow of the outdoor lights. This long-dormant ranch had finally come back to life, radiating an unprecedented brilliance!

The horses running wildly on the field were startled by the sudden bright light. After a moment of panic, the wild horses lost their fear and instead approached the light, nuzzling affectionately against me. Only the little horse with the meme-like expression remained motionless, looking as if the sky had fallen...

(;°ロ°)!

You're really embarrassing the horse... Hmm, that doesn't seem right... embarrassing the horse? That doesn't seem right either, so it's more like embarrassing the horse itself!

I grabbed its reins and led it to the light in front of the stable to adjust to the brightness, while also trying to knock on the stable to put it inside. But the next moment, two white figures flew out of the chicken coop, skillfully darted onto my shoulders, and hugged my neck on either side, trying to hide inside my collar and tremble.

...How did these two fighting chickens also learn bad habits from the meme pony?

Not far away, the eyes of two cheetahs were also faintly visible in the grass, clearly affected by the changes here, and thus hiding in the grass to observe secretly.

Sigh, looks like I still won't be able to sleep. I'd better settle these animals back in and help them integrate into their new life on the ranch.

Chapter 540 Of course police dogs like people!

The biggest surprise upon returning to the ranch was the newly built warehouse that looked exceptionally sturdy.

Even after I disappeared, Gots insisted on building this warehouse regardless of the cost, as if he firmly believed that I would return someday.

The warehouse took a month to build and encompassed the original area of ​​the stables and chicken coops, with its edges almost touching the eastern boundary of the ranch. Even more ingeniously, Gotz thoughtfully continued the architectural style of the main house left by Old Man Hook, giving the ranch a symmetrical layout on the east and west sides.

Standing at the edge of the pasture, I realized the entire plantation area was abandoned and needed to be reclaimed to restore it to its original state. I plan to buy some seeds tomorrow and try to catch the last harvest of summer to supplement my empty wallet.

The grazing area remained in good condition, showing no change except for the grass being a little taller. After being relentlessly rolled and trampled by the wild horses, the newly grown grass had been almost completely destroyed, so there was no need to worry about the ecological problems of the grazing area.

Wild horses that have lived on the wilderness for a long time have never seen such a lush and humid environment. They are more curious and interested in the outside world and need to adapt to life here for a while, so open grazing is not a big problem.

My only concern is their overly thick fur. It would be good for keeping warm and protecting them from the sun in places with large temperature differences between day and night, but if I stayed in Mineral Town for a while in the middle of summer, I might just faint from the heat.

So I called them back one by one, grabbed their thick manes with one hand, and used a sickle to cut off the excess hair with the other. With a rustling sound, the ground was soon covered with a layer of brown manes, and the four horses' original punk style was completely transformed.

Only after trimming the outer mane did I realize that these wild horses had short, upright manes growing in the opposite direction, while the outer manes were long and soft, quite unlike wild horses with short or missing brow hairs. This clearly indicates they were domesticated horses bred in the wild. They had acquired the temperament of wild horses, becoming extremely fierce and aggressive when threatened, and possessing the remarkable skill of a swift, powerful kick.

As I casually cut hair, I seemed to awaken some kind of Tony the hairstylist spirit, and suddenly wanted to design some hairstyles for them.

Ok……

My split ends are quite severe, so I need to trim the dry and damaged ends and get a deep conditioning treatment...

My bangs are too thick; they might need to be thinned out a bit, and maybe I could get them permed and dyed...

This double-sided shaving method is quite suitable for those long faces... It exudes a lazy vibe and is very easy to maintain; you can just quickly comb it in the morning and head out the door...

Finally, I kept the long, flowing hair down their backs, trimmed their short, stiff manes, and gave each of them a more flamboyant hairstyle.

When they started running under the lights, the wild horses' manes flew like flames, swaying wildly on both sides of their bodies with their neighing, and the fluffy hair on their tails also bounced, making them look incredibly majestic.

This kind of progress... is similar to evolving from the "Shamate" style to the "Visual Kei" style!

As I watched the wild horses galloping, lost in thought, I suddenly noticed something nibbling at my sleeve.

I looked down and saw the meme-worthy pony gazing enviously at its kin in the distance:

(☆▽☆)！

...You mean you want it too?

"At such a young age, you want to grow your hair long like other people! Do you want to perm and dye it? Will the school teachers allow it? Will the security guard at the gate let you in? Have you done your homework? Have you reviewed your books?!"

While I was scolding the meme-filled pony, I neatly and cleanly shaved its fur—as a pony, it's important to keep its skin dry and breathable.

Then I carried it into the stable, cleaned the room again, and let it lie down to go to sleep early.

But until I closed the door and left, this guy kept his head resting against the haystack, looking all wronged, with only half of his angry face showing:

(-`д'-)！

Could this horse have Teacher Yu's bloodline? Why is it so obsessed with getting its hair permed?

…………

Now that the horse issue is resolved, my next step is to reorganize the chicken coop.

The shed is still a bit small and not enough for the Alpha chickens that have just grown into their white-feathered form, but the warehouse is large enough and not exposed to the sun and rain, so it can temporarily serve as their activity area.

Alpha Chicken, whose appearance has barely deviated from its chick form, still retains its original chick-like personality. It will hide on me at the slightest disturbance. At this time, it has changed from a bright yellow chicken ball into a larger white chicken ball, which looks particularly comical.

I poured a basin of chicken feed, added a basin of water, and then sent them both back to the chicken coop, back to the warehouse area.

A high-powered incandescent light bulb hung from the warehouse ceiling, providing just enough light to illuminate the space without being glaring. I walked around the area and found that Gotz had already stored the pasture's timber, general-purpose stone bricks, and workbenches inside.

The space here is large enough, and there are plenty of materials. I've gained a lot from this trip to the Edge World, and the Colonizer System has unlocked many new features. I'll start studying them here tomorrow. Someday, I could easily build an Iron Man suit, a quantum travel device, or a humanoid general-purpose weapon in the warehouse.

Satisfied, I locked the warehouse door and prepared to further address the issue of the animals' enclosure.