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

I took out the raw materials for general-purpose stone from the house and placed them on the ground in front of us. I also took out the chisels and hammers that had been used the day before yesterday.

"Today in art class, we'll learn how to carve. I'll teach you how to carve on stone!"

The colonist system has a carving command that I've never tried before, so this is a good opportunity to test how it works.

"Watch closely, and don't forget the details of my movements."

Standing before the common stone, I was suddenly struck by a strange feeling. An image flashed in my mind: an elderly man, his cane raised high above his head, his long white hair and beard flowing, looking like Moses parting the Red Sea, solemnly proclaiming…

"Carve words on stone! It's the oldest method, but it's the longest-lasting way to preserve information!"

Yes, the so-called end of civilization is nothing more than carving words on stone...

From this perspective, my impoverished teaching experience has acquired a certain romantic sentiment that has endured the test of time but has never faded.

A sudden clanging sound rang out, dispelling the reverie that had inexplicably arisen in my mind. Stone chips and powder, constantly falling from the common stone, were drifting in a hazy cloud.

Soon, before You and Mei's surprised little faces, I had already embossed a lifelike pattern on the stone.

On a small area of ​​common stone, a shallow outline was first chiseled out, highlighting the structure of the main subject of the image. A simple bed was abruptly depicted in the scene, and a person was fast asleep on the bed, but their face was not visible.

A small window is carved in the upper right corner of the painting, but it is just enough to let in a bright red sun shining through the sky. The blazing sun outside and the desolation inside create a striking contrast of light and shadow.

"Professor Marcus, what are you drawing? Why is someone sleeping?"

Mei and You peeked out and leaned closer to ask.

I didn't slack off at all, maintaining a very high frequency of carving, while answering their questions: "What do you think I'm carving?"

Mei tentatively asked, "Is it a picture about the bedroom?"

I shook my head and said, "No, think about it again..."

Although the artwork in the colonist system is purely random, I can roughly tell that it's a house on the ranch, probably just a replica of a scene where I was sleeping in at home one day.

But Yu suddenly had her own idea, and confidently pointed to the picture, saying, "I know! Mei, I already know what this is about!"

I looked at the little boy with curiosity, who seemed to understand even better than me, and encouraged him, "Oh? Then tell me what this drawing is. If you guess right, I'll give you a PE class this afternoon."

Yu stroked her short hair and pointed to the person fast asleep in the screen, saying, "That's Father Carter! Isn't that right!"

I asked curiously, "Hey, why do you say that?"

Although Carter is a rival worth criticizing for life, I'm not so insane as to enjoy insulting him every day.

Yu said with certainty, "I once sneaked into the prayer room and saw the priest lying in this position... He said he was performing a sacred ritual and told me I must never tell anyone!"

Oh, I see.

So this world-famous painting, which I named "The Priest in Prayer," was decided upon, and I placed it in front of the rancher's house window for anyone who passes by to see.

Later, everyone who saw it would ask, "What's the name of this painting? 'The Priest Praying'? And who's this lazy person?"

At this point, I would patiently reply, "This person is Carter."

"He was clearly sleeping, so why did you say Carter was praying?"

At this point, I would solemnly say, "That's absolutely right. It's Carter who's sleeping—while priests all over the world are praying to God right now."

Chapter 590 The Sound of the Seasons

Some say time is like sand in your hand; the more you try to hold on, the faster it slips through your fingers. When you have nothing to do each day, you often lament how long the years seem, as if there are always days you can't find a way to pass the time.

Only when one suddenly realizes the importance of focusing on certain endeavors will one suddenly notice the gray hairs appearing at one's temples and deeply understand the meaning of the brevity of life.

But I feel that time is like a pearl in a sewer, impossible to define as useful or useless; it depends entirely on whether you search for the value it contains.

For example, after the evil deeds in Crime Alley, Batman appears; after the gunshots in Sarajevo, the old empire collapses; and after Teacher Ma unleashes his lightning five-hit whip, it's hard to predict what will happen.

In short, one should not use one's high level of skill. Even though they were already bruised and battered, the two martial arts masters, Master Lei and Master Ma, personally demonstrated what it means to have a moral bottom line—although whether they upheld or lowered the moral bottom line is still a matter of debate.

Life goes on in this uneventful way, and it made me realize for the first time how precious quiet days are.

"Ugh... I'm so sleepy... I haven't finished half of the book yet..."

Having engaged in these meaningless thoughts, I am now trying to restrain my wandering mind and focus my attention on the book in my hands.

However, the books in front of me were full of dry academic terms and definitions. Reading them was like reading gibberish. Just when I was happy that I had mastered the knowledge after much thought, new knowledge would unexpectedly come and slap me in the face, reminding me that I was too happy too soon.

During my three-day retreat, I read introductory books on botany, electrical engineering, and alchemy day and night, doing everything I could to acquire the necessary prior knowledge for these subjects.

"System notification: The colonist's learning progress meets the requirements and the botanical research has been completed."

"System notification: New garden trees and crops have been unlocked in the Colonizer system. Please check them out."

Hearing the system's voice, which sounded like heavenly music, I finally let out a heartfelt exclamation.

"Great!"

Three days, a full three days!

Do you know how I got through this?

I had simply opened a book on alchemy, intending to learn about this seemingly idealistic technological power. However, a percentage progress bar suddenly appeared in my field of vision, and the system unlocked something called a "Basic Research Station."

"Item Description: This is an essential piece of equipment for colonists to discover new things, providing research points for technologies under research. Without residents performing research tasks or without a simple research station, the learned technology will not make any research progress. 'Research' can unlock more efficient ways of working and improve all aspects of residents' production and life."

What else is there to say? Of course, I should continue reading this book and find ways to advance this part of my research. I'm confident that once I've made 100% progress, it will greatly help me overcome my current technological predicament.

I quickly surpassed the first two milestones of 30% and 60%, and finished reading this thin introductory book in just one hour, bringing my research progress to 77%.

However, the subsequent research was a bit difficult. It took an average of ten minutes to make any further progress, and the time spent seemed to be increasing. When I had reached 91% of the research, I was completely convinced that I had fallen into a trap.

...Is this research system borrowing ideas from Pinduoduo? Why does it get more and more difficult to cut costs as you go further?

Gradually, I realized that after roughly understanding the content of the book on the first reading, it meant that I had grasped about 80% of the knowledge, while the remaining 20% ​​consisted of the vague or difficult-to-understand parts of the book.

This forced me to repeatedly flip through the book like playing whack-a-mole, thoroughly understanding every single point in order to make even the slightest progress. Frankly speaking, if I had worked this hard when I was a student, I would at least be a doctor or lawyer now.

The research in botany was relatively easy, and it was the first project I tackled. The other two were much more difficult to learn. There was so much new content, and I couldn't refer to my previous studies in landscape architecture, so the research on basic alchemy and electrical engineering seemed a long way off.

However, these past few days I've realized that these things I've been racking my brains over without success could have been asked by professionals!

All Sebala and Carter need to do is explain something to me, and the problem will be solved! Why waste my time here!

This kind of stubbornness is called "brave and diligent" in Buddhism, but I feel like I'm just being obstinate, hitting a wall and still thinking about how to make a hole in it.

...Not only would I have to make a hole, but I might also have to seriously consider whether to use a Chinese or European style for this door frame while holding the bump on my head.

…………

Stepping outside, the sun was shining brightly. Although my face bore the marks of a night of cultivation, I wasn't quite ready to have the sunlight shining on my face and backside at a 45-degree angle at the same time, so I decided to take a stroll around the ranch and relax.

I wasn't completely without rest during these three days. Activities like teaching Mei and You didn't interfere. In my free time, I would stroll to the tavern for a meal or do some repair work on the ranch.

I've done a complete overhaul of the ranch's perimeter defenses over the past two days. The excavated soil has been leveled and filled in, and the weeds and trees in the soil have been uprooted to prevent them from sprouting and competing for the soil's fertility.

Speaking of the crops in the field, the corn, eggplant, pumpkin, onion and pineapple planted earlier have grown vigorously to the point of near maturity, and the plants are full of heavy fruits, making the field a scene of abundant harvest.

The lush scenery here has made the horses roaming in the pastures very hungry. Every day, these guys lurk close to the fence, looking at the fruit as if they would bite it off if I let my guard down.

Fortunately, there was a magical wooden fence that kept the animals at bay. Even though the fence was only half the height of their legs, it effectively prevented the restless animals from getting out of control.

Desire is the primary driving force. These past two days, the kappa has been hiding in the fields, checking on the crops that are gradually growing, and then watering the cucumber patch with hope before leaving the land full of cucumber seedlings with satisfaction.

But what I'm not quite sure how I told it is that cucumbers past their season are unlikely to be harvested. It's like other crops planted at the same time are all flowering and bearing fruit, but this cucumber patch is completely still. I suppose without the protection of the colonist system, it's just had the strength to grow vines.

This scene of neatly arranged fields has brought a long-lost sense of prosperity to the desolate pastures. My life seems to be turning around in this hazy atmosphere, and the harvest wind will bring other good news to this land.

It was then that I realized that the originally hot afternoon weather had gradually eased, and the oppressive heat had also quietly changed. The earth had absorbed the heat of the entire summer, which had been fully absorbed by the plants, and was about to cross the critical value and enter a golden season.

Summer is almost over before we know it, and autumn seems to be just around the corner.

But unlike the seasons that change quietly year after year, it seems that some unexpected things will arrive in this small town at a more subtle time and place...

Chapter 591 The Famous Mr. Marcus

On the deserted beach, the waves cycled endlessly, crashing onto the sand again and again, scraping off only a layer of soft, fine sand before retreating back into the sea, gathering strength once more, and faintly roaring from the depths of the ocean, showing no regard for the feelings of the shells and lone seaweeds tossed ashore by the waves.

In this mechanical motion that has been repeated millions of times, everything is changing, but it seems that only that rigid reef ignores the passage of time and remains in the same place. Neither raging winds and towering waves nor dripping water can wear away stone. These stubborn rocks are not concerned with anything.

Several enormous coconut trees swayed and danced in the wind, casting dappled shadows that further highlighted the impromptu actors who had intruded into this protracted performance...

"Zack, it's already evening and you're still not here to collect the goods? Are you hiding here pretending to admire the plants? Or are you planning to ambush Lady Lilia?"

That's right, it's Zach.

This burly man with a buzz cut, who hasn't yet overcome his fear of the sea, is the kind of suspicious person who would be questioned by the police if he walked down the street. At this moment, he is squatting on the shore a few meters away from the sea, staring motionlessly at the horizon.

Seeing my ill-intentioned look, Zack wasn't embarrassed at all, and subconsciously said, "I've been to the mineral ranch countless times, how many times have I not come back empty-handed? It's okay if we don't go today..."

I punched a coconut tree. "You know my ranch doesn't produce much, so I finally managed to grow a bunch of goods today, and you just let me wait for nothing. Do you know how much of a jerk that is!"

As I pulled my fist back, a pile of coconut leaves fell from the tree with a clatter, interspersed with ripe green coconuts.

Putting everything else aside, the huge pile of potatoes I planted in my field is already a mountain. If no one comes to harvest them soon, they'll clash with the eggplants and pineapples tomorrow, and there won't be any place to store them!

As everyone knows, coconut leaves can kill people, so I immediately dodged. But Zack remained unmoved despite the danger, letting the leaves hit his head, and still managed to catch two green coconuts with agility.

He grabbed one coconut in each hand, put them together, and gave them a hard knock. Then he handed me the cracked coconut, saying, "Calm down, calm down... The cargo ship isn't coming today because it's been rerouted. I'll come to your place later and put the goods in the freezer first."

Hmph, you think you can bribe me with just a coconut? Let me tell you, this isn't going to end so easily. You'd better pay me for emotional distress, lost wages, and depreciation of the goods, or else...

"...So sweet."

I took the coconut and took a sip. The sweet and refreshing juice instantly soothed my body and mind, and the anger I felt earlier seemed to have subsided.

The next scene was me and Zack squatting side by side under a coconut tree, each holding a green coconut and drinking from it, staring blankly at the white clouds and the blue waves in the sky.

Why isn't the cargo ship coming today?

Zack gulped down the coconut juice, then with a burst of strength, his arm muscles writhed, and the empty coconut split in half. He then expertly began chewing the coconut meat.

He looked at the angle of the sun in the sky, frowning as if calculating something. His face was full of confusion, and he didn't answer my question directly, only saying, "Should we have another one?"

"Oh, thank you. Seven-tenths sugar this time, with coconut jelly."

Zack picked up a smaller coconut from the ground, cracked it open, and handed it to me. This time, the flavor was indeed much milder, with the unique sourness of coconut juice and the aroma of herbs and plants. Every sip was full of summer charm.

"What are you waiting for? If you don't tell me, I'll take everything from your house as compensation..."

His suspenseful behavior continued for another half hour. I was so bored that I was ready to dismantle the wooden planks on his dock to pay off my debts when finally, a slight change in the situation occurred.

Suddenly, a whistling sound came from the distant horizon, like the sound of bagpipes echoing over the cape, carried by the increasingly strong sea breeze, and reaching my ears in wisps.