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

At the center of the site stands a giant, silvery-white tungsten-titanium alloy pillar, towering into the sky and appearing almost to pierce the heavens from close up.

Within the massive crater, the interstellar vampire was pierced through the core of its body, and most of the entire wall of flesh and blood vaporized and evaporated!

Countless bloated, disgusting chunks of flesh were ripped apart by the explosion, scattering far and wide in a radial pattern. Those hideous, bloodthirsty tentacles also lay scattered on the ground, utterly lifeless!

But beside the enormous interstellar vampire remains and the tungsten-titanium alloy tombstone, a four-meter-tall giant fish-monster was slowly moving, its body covered in horrific wounds, shattered scales, and gruesome bloodstains. Its cruel gaze swept across the entire area, meeting Harris's terrified eyes...

…………

Anonymous Diary

(This diary originated from an unknown seller. It appeared inexplicably at a small auction but failed to sell, and no one came to claim it, eventually becoming part of the Inaki Historical Club Library's collection. Its obscure entries attracted the attention of some association members, but the owner's identity remained a mystery. Below are a few excerpts for my amusement:)

March 20th, cloudy

The situation in the town deteriorated rapidly, and I had no one left to deal with the disaster. After Antonio's death, doubts about my plans grew stronger, and I needed to think of a solution.

March 21st, Cloudy

Today, Little Hook came to my door, questioning what I had done behind his back, but I coldly drove him away. Everything I did was for noble purposes, and I have a clear conscience about that. But what should I do next?

They will never know that it was an old man, dragging his frail body, who cleared away the obstacles in their path. Never.

March 22nd, sunny

A bright, sunny day is a sign of good fortune, as is the saying in my hometown. In that perpetually cold place, a sunny day meant enough heat for people to bask in the sun and warm their bodies.

Judging from the frequent recollections of my early years, I may really not have much time left. All I can do is sit on the balcony with my books, wrap myself in a blanket, and chat with Browning for a bit.

Anyone could see that Browning wasn't cut out to be a sheriff. In peacetime, such a passionate but mediocre sheriff would be a blessing. But now... I could only subtly hint at his shortcomings.

March 23rd, rain

The damp weather made my joints ache slightly.

Today, Doranco received an invitation to speak with me privately. For some time, I've kept him at a distance, viewing him as the most destabilizing element in town. But now, I need him to be my strongest asset.

I told him the whole story. Doranco hesitated for a long time before agreeing to my request.

Everything is going according to plan, which is good.

March 24th, Cloudy

The chaos in the town lasted for several days.

Browning's futile efforts to uncover the truth left him no time to find me. He's a pathetic man, for everyone believes his greatest contribution is to do nothing. And Doranco, by now, should be there.

Today, at 3:12 PM, which is an hour and a half later, my heart will stop beating, and I will pass away. But I have one last thing to do: open that damned book and read that obscure and ominous language.

Then, there was no more Yorkson Providence.

(The diary contains numerous incomprehensible markings, which some researchers speculate are self-made ciphers used to correspond to certain texts or book numbers. However, such ramblings have not aroused sufficient interest among researchers, and we can only wait for later generations to use their ingenuity to solve them.)

Chapter 178 Colonel Aureliano Buendía stands before the firing squad

The night when the stars and moon are hidden.

A desolate wasteland with fallen grass and trees.

The battlefield was a scene of utter devastation.

A colossal beast, its gaze fixed in awe.

There are also people who are terrified.

Harris could only move one hand, and his body was covered in wounds and various hidden injuries. Under such circumstances, it was already a remarkable thing that he could still move around with difficulty as a human being.

The most remarkable thing is that Harris was able to remain rational in the face of a giant monster.

Even if Harris was unwilling to admit the similarities between himself and his father, he had to admit that he was just like the old man in terms of his stubborn personality traits.

Like that fool who was still chasing the truth before the town was destroyed.

Like that stubborn old man who spent the rest of his life searching for hope to save his companions.

It's like being on the verge of death and still thinking about what's going on, instead of just running away.

The bizarre events and the complexity of the clues here had completely exceeded his expectations.

The current situation is exactly the same as what that stubborn old man once encountered.

The town sheriff of yesteryear missed the chance to catch the killer and uncover the truth, and today he too has overlooked the clues to unravel the mystery…

The first clue was that the moment the giant fish monster appeared, he should have guessed that there was something wrong with this huge transformation from two meters to four meters in a short period of time, from humanoid to beast.

The second clue is that although Gotz could speak to him in a hoarse voice at the beginning, he remained silent afterward, never even glancing at him. This wasn't out of trust in a friend, but out of contempt for someone so insignificant.

If the first two clues can be attributed to the bizarre and unpredictable nature of today's events, then the last clue is the utter failure of the police as a whole...

Sebala had come to the police station and told them about the mud monster Gray had seen that night, which he had always believed was Gotz in disguise. But at that time, Gotz was lying in a lagoon halfway up Mount Mads, his fate uncertain, before Marcus came to his rescue!

"So... the fact that there are two monsters has been right in front of me all along... and I just didn't notice?"

Harris sat down on the ground with a wry smile, feeling utterly dejected.

They originally thought that the "final calamity" in the lake mine had been driven away, the darkness's erosion had been interrupted, and the interstellar vampires had been annihilated, and that all misfortune had come to an end.

But a small oversight on his part caused this giant fish monster to awaken from the lagoon halfway up the mountain, unleashing another destructive storm. If such a colossal monster were to arrive in town, what horrific destruction would it cause? And who could stop it? Was it Gotz, whose fate remained uncertain? Or was it himself, battered and bruised, having revealed all his trump cards?

"What kind of monster is this...?"

Harris leaned against Gotz in despair, feeling the chill on his body and a faint breeze brushing past him.

"That's not a monster..."

A weak voice came from the fish monster beside him, panting heavily as if it were working a bellows, before it could utter its second sentence.

Harris saw the gaze of the eternally unchanging Black Sea Abyss in the dark, beastly eyes of the fish-shaped Gothic, a silent aura carrying the melting of earth fire and the fleeting glimpse of eerie scales, rushing towards him.

Harris saw the monstrous creature cruelly devouring the bits of flesh scattered on the ground in the reflection of its beastly eyes, and heard Gots' voice in his ear.

"That's my father..."

Harris looked on in horror and exclaimed.

"Your father! Doranco! Was he the one who attacked me back then?!"

Gots nodded his massive head and panted for a while.

"That was the first day he died completely as a human being, and also the first day he transformed into a monster. At that time, he still remembered what his old friend looked like, which is why he didn't kill you after seeing your face clearly."

"But the curse on our family is far more complex than that..."

On this dark and hopeless night, Gotz recalled the scene of his father taking him to visit old Yorkson for the first time.

…………

Before the black and white tombstones, Gots trembled like a patient with an acute illness, staring in terror at the dark cave that had devoured countless lives, as if he could hear countless vengeful ghosts howling and crawling outwards, about to invade the world of the living.

But the father patted himself on the shoulder and encouraged the child in his usual way.

“Be brave, my child. True courage is not ignoring the danger that is right in front of you, but keeping your eyes open until the last moment of your life. After Antonio died, those spirits have long since fallen into slumber.”

Young Goetz asked his father, puzzled, "How did Uncle Antonio die? Was he killed by these monsters?"

The father shook his head, casually pulled away the weeds from old Yorkson's grave to use as a cushion, and sat down.

“A few days before the town collapsed, old Yorkson found me and said he needed my help.”

“I hesitated for a long time that day and didn’t agree to his request. Because I had always suspected that old Yorkson was involved in Antonio’s death. The poor guy was thrown off a cliff from a high place and was almost smashed to pieces, but judging from the traces at the scene, he crawled on the spot for about a hundred meters before he really died.”

"Can you imagine? It's like someone breaking their own neck first, and then tying their own tie."

Gotz tried to recreate the action in his mind, but the first thing that came to mind was a man whose body was smashed to pieces, writhing forward on the ground like a snake, covered in blood but refusing to die.

“Old Yorkson denied it and sincerely apologized to me for his previous wariness of me.”

"He told me a theory: humans can only punish evil, and only the bizarre can punish the bizarre."

"When the calamity memes spread wildly, only a being that surpasses the limits of humanity can independently accomplish the task of expelling the indescribable."

Young Gotz looked at his father with a puzzled expression and asked with the pride typical of a child, "Father, are you the most powerful person in town?"

Dolanko affectionately stroked his brown hair and denied it, saying, "I'm just an ordinary person. What old Yorkson was talking about was the bloodline that lies dormant in our bodies."

"In his words, it was called the cursed bloodline of the Deep Ones..."

At this point, Dolanco hugged Goetz tightly and whispered in his ear with concern and worry.

“My child, if one day your father no longer recognizes you, you must run as far away as possible. What you will see then will not be me, but some other being.”

"But no matter how long I'm gone, you must remember that your father loves you..."

Listening to his father's heartfelt words, Gots couldn't help but snuggle even tighter into the arms of the wild man, leaning against his tattered clothes.

But gradually, Gots felt the grip on him getting tighter and tighter, and then he started to feel breathless. He struggled a little, but then he felt his father’s fingers become sharp and moving repeatedly along his spine, arteries, ribs, and abdomen.

"pain……"

Gots looked up with a grumbling expression and saw his father staring intently at him with huge, bulging eyes, their green, fibrous pupils unblinking...

Chapter 179 A Hero Driven by Interest

"We are shadows lurking in the deep sea, phosphorescent flames burning underground, strange creatures walking among humans, ghosts destined to lose everything."

Gotz's voice was plaintive and calm, as if everything he was saying had nothing to do with him.

"Those who bear the curse of the Deep Ones will develop a peculiar appearance as they age, increasingly resembling ugly deep-sea fish. Our skin will wrinkle, our hands and feet will become webbed, gills will grow on our necks, and our minds will be filled with cruel and insane thoughts..."

“My father’s ancestors, for some reason, left the coast and drifted to the dense forests of the east. The peaceful natural ecology and harmonious environment there greatly delayed the process of my father’s bloodline manifesting.”

"But ever since he was arrested and taken to the mine, the extreme pressure has accelerated the transformation within him. He has been living in seclusion in the forest, unwilling to have contact with people, for fear that various accidents would cause him to completely lose control."

"But old Yorkson needed his power! He needed someone who transcended human limits to take his place in suppressing the dark invaders! Therefore, from the day the town was destroyed, my father completely relinquished control and allowed the cursed bloodline to take effect!"

"He transformed into a terrifying beast and hid in the mountains and forests, concealing himself in the lake, all to ensure that he could remain conscious and reach the lake mine within the timeframe predicted by old Yorkson, to complete his mission..."

Harris silently closed his eyes, unwilling to look at that ugly beast devouring pus and rotting flesh any longer, unable to believe that such a beast was once a human just like him.

My foolish father... do you know what these companions have carried for you...?

"Then he..."

"He went mad. In the final years of his life as a human being, my father was left only with frequent delirium and hallucinations, having forgotten all his human instincts. Only when gazing at the parchment share deed could he find a sliver of peace..."