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

"Oh, by the way, the handicrafts you shipped yesterday are of very good quality. They should fetch a good price if sold to art collectors. It's just that the shapes are too strange. I looked at them for a long time and still didn't know what to write on the labels. In the end, I just numbered them and packed them into boxes."

"It's alright, I don't even recognize all those things, so leaving them is fine. I didn't know you had connections in the arts?"

Zach humbly replied, "It was just a coincidence. After all, Jeff would mysteriously bring me things every month and insist that I hand them over to the gallery, so I ended up getting the contact information of a few collectors."

After getting a meal from Zack, Cliff and I headed to our next destination empty-handed.

…………

The solemn and majestic church remains absolutely stunning and empty today!

"You who have gone astray, what is it that you are confused about, and do you need to pray to the Holy Spirit for help?"

Father Carter stood on the pulpit, smiling as he watched us enter. A faint scent of incense wafted through the air, bringing a touch of coolness to the sweltering heat outside.

The church's architectural style is ingenious, creating a gentle and comfortable draft, so as soon as I entered the building, I immediately realized that it was indeed a perfect place to take a nap...

"Father, your dark circles are quite noticeable. Are you alright?"

Father Carter's expression froze for a moment before he continued, "It's alright. I had a fierce battle with evil in my dream yesterday, which resulted in severe sleep deprivation. I'll catch up on sleep after get off work."

Oh? Then it must be a big, soft, white, and heartwarming evil that kept you up all night, right?

“Father, do you need any help? Just say the word, and I’ll send some over in a bit…”

Carter looked at me warily: "What is it? Explain yourself clearly first. The more I listen, the more something seems off."

You're overthinking it.

I pushed the somewhat shy Cliff forward. "Look, this young man is looking for a job. You have such a big church, and you're all alone. You must be overwhelmed, right? Don't you want to consider hiring someone else?"

"Hire someone?"

Father Carter looked at me with a troubled expression, and said in a tone that was both tempted and reluctant, "Although there is indeed some work to be done here, the church does not need anyone for the time being... You understand what I mean?"

"What the hell do I understand? You don't mean you want a housekeeping robot, do you?"

Father Carter stepped down from the pulpit, pulled me aside to a corner, and whispered, "I'm telling you this privately, don't tell anyone..."

I asked suspiciously, "What's the matter? Are you hiding WWII Jews here too?"

"Shh... Do you remember the Hilichurls I mentioned yesterday?"

"I remember, it seems like the Vatican assigned you to settle a secret race, right?"

My memory isn't so bad that I'd forget what I said yesterday immediately, but here's the problem: Father Carter said the Chuchus are on the island, but I've never seen them before.

Cardi nodded: "That's right. The Hilichurls came here from the Cold Plains through secret passages long before recorded history and lived in the isolated mountains. When the Holy See discovered them, these little guys had somehow escaped the influence of madness and been assimilated into a group of hospitable native inhabitants. They were also self-conscious about their height and had long been unwilling to communicate with others."

How tall are they?

"About four feet, no more than five feet."

"It's true that you're prone to feeling inferior. Let me tell you, people who are insecure about their height are easily isolated and don't feel valued. They often try to find a sense of existence in others and tend to admire the same sex around them. This is often accompanied by behaviors such as plagiarism and refusing to admit it, or losing a case in court and not apologizing. I suggest strengthening psychological counseling and sending them for treatment in time. If all else fails, it's best to cancel the account and start over to cut your losses."

As I spoke eloquently, Carter nodded in agreement for the first half, but as he heard the latter part, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper. Finally, he asked in a low voice, "Is your statement... implying someone?"

I immediately waved my hand in denial: "Don't talk nonsense! If you keep guessing, I'll send you a lawyer's letter!"

Carter covered his face and said, "I shouldn't have had any expectations of you... Go on, during our contact, we discovered that their sanity is only half that of a normal human from birth, and it drops drastically when they come into contact with forbidden knowledge and rituals. Therefore, the Vatican decided to disperse them, and this part was brought back by me and hidden in the woods behind the church..."

"Behind the church? Is there something there?" I asked curiously.

"I set up an alchemical concealment barrier, so to people outside it looks like an ordinary forest."

Speaking of the forest, I suddenly asked, "Father, tell me honestly, is there a dilapidated old church inside the so-called barrier, the kind with a two-story spire and stained glass windows?"

Carter immediately exclaimed nervously, "That's an old church from a long time ago! How...how did you know!"

...Sorry, I accidentally entered the Mineral Town in a parallel universe that you mentioned.

It was there that I saw the remains of some unidentified dead in the empty house, and the manuscript of the nameless captain.

Looking back now, it's probably a Hilichurl with extremely low magic resistance who secretly read that martial arts manual of unknown origin, and then died from qi deviation.

Another mystery has been solved without my knowledge.

I comforted him, saying, "Everyone has secrets, you should be glad it was me who saw it, and not some other suspicious person. Given our bond, we're in the same boat, would I ever harm you?"

"That makes sense..."

Seeing that Father Carter readily accepted this premise, I quickly asked, "But after all you've been saying, what does this have to do with not being able to hire Cliff? Hilichurls live inside the barrier, while you're in the church."

"Oh, that matter..."

Carter said dismissively, "Actually, I have Hilichurls come over to clean for me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It would be troublesome if the young man ran into them."

Cleaning? Am I hallucinating? Or am I mishearing "cleaning lady" as "Hydrangea"?

Ha...haha...I must have misheard...

"Did you take in Hilichurls or tame a bunch of slaves?! Why are they making us work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?! Do you expect us to cook for you on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and walk your dogs on Sundays?!"

Faced with my barrage of questions, Carter calmly blocked his spittle and slowly explained, "It's not as heartless as you think. I usually eat there every night—they clean the windows on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and they have Sundays off."

I'm calling the police! In broad daylight, under the clear sky, someone is keeping slaves! And they're not even paying them!

No wonder this church closes early every day and doesn't usually welcome people in; it turns out Carter secretly brought in a bunch of slave laborers, enjoying the thrill of being a capitalist exploiting workers every day...

"...Did you poison them? Why would these Hilichurls willingly do things for you?" I asked with a dark expression.

"Of course, it's through the calling of the Holy Spirit!"

Carter spoke with righteous indignation.

I turned to Cliff and said, "You can play here for a while. I have something to talk to the priest about."

Cliff was curiously examining the beautifully decorated building, and silently nodded as he went to study the paintings on the windows and ceiling.

I leaned closer to Carter and said seriously, "Do you think the police will believe your nonsense? Take me there and see for yourself! Otherwise, I'll arrest you right now."

Carter quickly retorted, "You can't do that! I'm a priest! Guilt should be judged by the court!"

Hearing this, I chuckled and asked him with a grin, "Are you sure you want the court to investigate you? Let me do the math. As far as I know, it includes concealing disasters, hoarding contaminants, neglecting worship, blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and enslaving secret families... These crimes combined are enough to warrant being dragged out and shot for a week, right?"

Upon hearing this, Father Carter shuddered. It seemed he was well aware of the enormity of his sins and quickly softened his tone.

"Don't be like that... Marcus... We can still talk this over. I'll take you to see it now, okay? But wait here for ten minutes."

Waiting a while is fine, but what if this guy is planning to do something shady? Like secretly deleting browsing history and hidden files before lending the computer to someone else?

But ten minutes later, Carter arrived as promised, looking relaxed, and said to me, "Come with me."

We walked out of the church through a side door, along a stone path that circled the church, and Carter unlocked a locked iron gate with a key before disappearing into a dense forest.

However, the lush trees did not cause us any trouble. After walking a short distance, the view suddenly opened up, and a building with a high roof but low ceiling appeared before me.

"This is..." I asked, puzzled.

Carter pushed open the wooden door and said in a forcedly enthusiastic tone, "Welcome, distinguished guest. The host has been waiting for you for quite some time!"

I frowned as I looked at him, but before me stood seven identical, diminutive humans, their features exaggerated and distorted, yet their clothing was no different from that of ordinary people. What was most intriguing was that each of them wore a different, brightly colored outfit.

"Welcome! We are...the little dwarfs from next door in town!"

The group of short humans gave a strange introduction, and then began whispering among themselves in front of me.

"What should we do... Napi... Are we being rude? I'm so nervous..."

"It's okay, Akya... I was nervous too..."

"Husband... don't lean on me... I'm so nervous I feel like I'm suffocating..."

I crept closer to Father Carter: "What's going on? These are Hilichurls? Something seems off about their appearance."

Father Carter maintained his smile and calmly turned his head to say, "It's alright. The word 'chuchu' simply means short. It's normal for them to call themselves dwarfs."

"Also, to keep them from wandering off, I told them that the people in town are very proud and polite, and that they can't leave the town without being familiar with the local customs. Since they're naturally meticulous, they've been practicing their manners here for years, without venturing out even once..."

I complained, "They've been fooled by such a lie for years? Have these little dwarfs reached the required brain capacity?"

Carter said, "They're like ten-year-old children. This tribe of Hilichurls is naturally peace-loving and not good at socializing; other tribes wouldn't be so easily fooled..."

Good heavens, this guy really knows how to lie without batting an eye. He can even fool such a small thing. Can he be considered a servant of the Holy Spirit?

"...Then what's with these clothes? Did the rainbow candies come to life?"

"Take a closer look, don't they all look exactly alike... If they weren't dressed in easily recognizable clothes, how would I possibly remember who's who!"

Update and adjustment notification (come and take a look!)

First, let's get down to business. Due to exams, I'll be taking a week off from tomorrow until December 12.6th to review my coursework (which means starting from scratch).

The second thing is that after I stop updating next week, I will slow down my updates to prepare for my new book and plan for major events in my life. I can probably only guarantee two to three updates a week.

...........................

Let's chat a bit while we're at it.

It has been exactly 11 months since the beginning of this book.

Maintaining this high-intensity update schedule (for me) was unimaginable in the past. I am extremely grateful to all the readers for their love and support for this flop book.

As a newbie who has written hundreds of thousands of words and still hasn't found a job, I didn't have any expectations for this book. However, the book's development has been better than I anticipated.

From its initial launch without any subscriptions to its current average of 400 subscriptions, this is no problem for top-tier authors, but it's an unimaginable achievement for me.

As a novel written from a first-person perspective, with a niche theme, an unclear main plot, chaotic subplots, and a protagonist who is often out of touch with reality, it is something to be very happy about that readers are willing to collect, vote for, and tip it.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. In the process of writing, I have also summarized some techniques for writing novels, learned from the experience of immature writing, and gained a lot of valuable knowledge.

In this book, with the idea of ​​practicing more, I tried several different writing styles and themes, attempting to find my own writing style.

Because of my laziness, I have long deviated from the outline and relied on last-minute cramming, which easily leads to wasting energy on trivial details. Therefore, summarizing experience and improving methods is something I have been wanting to do since I reached about 1.5 million words.

I'm ashamed to say that at first I really wanted to write a book that would be amazing, and I prepared a supernatural Cthulhu theme similar to "The Iron Crane Book". But after thinking about it, I realized that if I insisted on writing it, I would not only face the problem of insufficient writing skills and not being able to achieve the desired effect, but it would also be easy to get a 404 error.

Now, I'd rather write stories that bring a smile to people's faces and soothe their hearts amidst a busy academic life. Whether the fantasy is real or not isn't important; what matters is whether it brings joy to the author while allowing readers to empathize.

This world is complicated enough. Why not just live a happy life in a fantasy world, holding fast to your inner sincerity and kindness?

Right?

Do you believe that Ultraman exists in this world?

"I believe it. Otherwise, why aren't there monsters in this world?"