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

Old Yorkson led me out of the police station and onto the cobblestone street once again.

The stone-paved road in Mineral Town still looks brand new, with traces of bricks being hammered during its construction visible at the edges. But the people on this road seem to pass through me in a fast-forwarded manner, like phantoms.

Before our brief encounter, I saw fear and bewilderment on the weathered faces of the residents from back then.

Even now, old Yorkson remains the master of this dream; with a snap of his fingers, the rapid flow of time comes to an abrupt halt.

He pushed open the door to his room and gestured for me to enter. Inside stood a burly man who bore a striking resemblance to Gots. His hair and beard were disheveled, and his expression was utterly expressionless; he seemed to have been waiting in the darkness for a long time.

But the next moment, old Yorkson, who was walking, was frozen in time.

Still and motionless.

Chapter 193 A Tale of Deception and Reality

"Old Yorkson?"

I called out, trying to wake the person in front of me, but in this dream I was just an invisible and shapeless consciousness, unable to touch him with my hands.

What's happening here?

Did you pause yourself while watching TV?

When did this bizarre plot stop?

I don't want to see an old man get suspended!

In the dimly lit room, even the dust motes floating in the air seemed to hang suspended in mid-air. The water in the cup rippled a few times before settling into a glassy, ​​solid state. I walked around the room and found it filled with all sorts of historical books and research manuscripts, ranging from the oldest era of maritime conflicts to the most recent industrial revolution.

I approached the man who looked remarkably like Gotz again, scrutinizing his brown eyes and hair, trying to glean some useful information.

But suddenly, his eyes moved!

I swear I'm not seeing things!

Those eyes smoothly shifted from looking straight ahead to looking at me in an instant!

This classic horror movie-style scare tactic almost scared me out of the house; I could even feel a non-existent heart pounding in my chest!

Just as I was still in shock, a disheveled-looking man pushed open the door and entered, instantly blocking both my way in and out.

"Who...are you?"

The young man who came in was not unfamiliar to me. After all, I had just watched his pantomime the whole time, like watching a monkey show.

"Old Man Hook... no, Little Hook!"

I exclaimed in surprise! This was the same little Hook who had been locked up in the prison earlier, but how did he get out? Why could a phantom from a dream move freely when the dream paused, and even talk to the phantom in my consciousness?

The young man's eyes radiated a piercing, scrutinizing gaze, as if he wanted to probe a person's soul without any restraint. His rudeness seemed instinctive, to the point that he exuded an aura of utter suspicion, making one feel uneasy.

简单来说，就是普通人听到1+1=2会点头称是。复读机听到1+1=2会说有一说一确实。杠精听到1+1=2会说1+1+1=3不服来辩。拳师听到1+1=2会说这个1象征的是男性生殖崇拜，女人只配用个0什么时候才能真正站起来。

If little Hooke in front of me heard me say 1+1=2, he would ask me who defined the purpose of the plus sign and the equals sign, and what my purpose was in trying to impose this concept on him.

"You brat, that's stereotyping! And who exactly described me like that to you? What's their purpose?"

Little Hook immediately bristled and started lecturing me in a condescending tone, inadvertently revealing his true nature in the process.

No... I didn't say those words out loud, so how did his dream illusion know?

Little Hook casually pulled up a chair and sat down, retorting, "Do you think the technique of crossing the dream gate is difficult for me to learn?"

Someone, bring him a cappuccino! I give this guy full marks!

A realization began to dawn on me: "You're not Little Hook from the dream? You're Old Man Hook from the real world!"

"Hmph, you only guessed it now? I overestimated you." Little Hook snorted, still with the stubborn old man's expression.

"Old Man Hook, you're not dead yet?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that this was inappropriate. Who asks a living person why they're still alive?

"Just one breath away."

Old Man Hook, disguised as a young man, let out a deep breath but showed no anger, as if he had become indifferent to matters of life and death over the long years. "I felt that the memes I left behind back then were being triggered, so I came back to take a look, and it turns out I really caught this old bastard!"

This is like insulting a bald man in front of a monk... Old Man Hook, you're not young anymore, are you?

"You brat, how can you have such a sharp tongue?" Old Man Hook complained, then asked me, "Who are you? Don't you remember anyone like you in Mineral Town? A descendant of the Browning family?"

"The Browning family descendants...aren't those the Harris family?! Do I look like a horse at all?"

A sneer appeared on old man Hook's young face. "I can't see your face! Could it be... Doranco! Come and see your grandson!"

"What?! My grandson!"

A deep voice came from behind me, and a pair of strong hands appeared instantly, but they passed right through my body and grabbed nothing. A bear-like giant had already broken free from his frozen state and walked straight towards Old Man Hook.

"Where is he! Hook, do you think he's in this area between us?"

Little Hook thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers, and my body gradually emerged from my feet. I actually had a physical body in my dream!

The burly man in front of me looked at me expectantly, his gaze never wavering.

But as my face appeared, his expression instantly darkened, and he stammered, asking Hook, "Gotz has always been such an honest child... how come he's nothing like ours... could it be..."

That's enough! I can hear you no matter how quietly you speak!

"Shut up! You shameless old scoundrel! Who said I'm Gots' son? Did he do bad things at ten years old?!"

“That’s why I said Gotz is honest…” the big man said hesitantly, indicating that he couldn’t bear to see his son grow up to be a burden.

“Shut up…” I stretched my body, feeling helpless against this airhead. “I’m a new immigrant to Mineral Town and currently run the Mineral Town Ranch.”

Old Man Hook, who had been calmly watching the spectacle, suddenly felt as if he'd been struck in the knee: "Hmm... he's actually my heir!"

Dad, you call that ruin you left behind an inheritance? I'm the one who's really taking over!

"Oh right, Doranco is alive too!" I suddenly realized something was wrong and looked at the two people in front of me in surprise. "Then who is that huge Deep One outside!"

Dolanco looked at Old Man Hook with a puzzled expression, and Old Man Hook sighed and looked at me.

“That is the real Doranco. What you see in front of you is merely a replica of Doranco’s personality that I created. He knows nothing about what happened after that day.”

Upon hearing this, Doranco nodded in sudden realization: "It seems my worst fears have come true. My bloodline has manifested, hasn't it?"

"Yes, I transformed into an enormous seafood king and tore old Yorkson apart with my bare hands. After that, I was beaten into a pulp by Gray, but luckily I smashed him into a son, so it wasn't too bad."

"???" Doranco looked completely bewildered.

“Don’t listen to this kid’s nonsense. His head is full of all sorts of crazy ideas. Ordinary people can’t keep up with his train of thought.” Old Man Hook was relentlessly criticizing me, but his expression had clearly softened a lot. “Luckily, I kept this meme.”

"Since you are my heir and have gotten involved in these matters, I will tell you what happened."

Can I refuse?

Chapter 194 Xiong Ba and Sword Twenty-Three

"I started preparing the day old Yorkson found me and told me about his crazy plan..."

This skeptic is terrifying!

Not only did they fail to execute the plan promised to old Yorkson, but they also immediately devised a countermeasure plan...

This familiar and shameless strategist... isn't he just like Batman?!

"Hmph." Old Man Hook read my thoughts and said with displeasure, "If your neighbor had kept the fact that there were explosives buried under your foundation for thirty years, would you still trust him?"

Hmm... that's a very apt analogy.

"Or do you think the idea that Old Yorkson will transform into a monster to save the world sounds plausible?"

Well... if Gray wanted to do that, I would definitely use the righteous iron fist that Batman used to beat Robin, to make him forget everything physically.

Old Man Hook sat in his chair, displaying the tranquil demeanor typical of the elderly: "No matter what old Yorkson told you before, don't believe it. I have absolute authority on this matter."

Indeed, the person who understands you best is not your friend, but your enemy.

Of course, from a consequentialist perspective, Old Man Hooker was right. Old Man Yorkson's plan was based on the unknown, with creativity outweighing foresight, and many overlooked details later turned into terrible disasters.

“You’re right. What do you think that old bastard is?” Old Man Hook relentlessly explained his opinion.

"From the moment he tricked us into coming to the island, he was already carrying out those secret plans. Old Yorkson claimed to have obtained mineral information from an unknown book and had been digging two mines in succession."

“I noticed it from his behavior a long time ago; he was too confident. He wasn’t based on rich practical and operational experience, but only on a wealth of theoretical knowledge and an unusual level of self-confidence in carrying out his plan.”

"Having embarked on the voyage of such an arrogant captain, I have no reason not to doubt the inevitable day of capsizing."

Simply put, it's because we're incompatible, right?

Before Old Yorkson's downfall, he had achieved many successes. Skeptics like Little Hooker say someone is a bad person only because they subjectively feel that person is bad or they hope that person is bad, not because the person has objectively done anything bad.

After all, the outcome happened many years later, but the prejudice arose many years earlier.

“I hate these kinds of thoughts of yours the most… one by one, you just make excuses for his mistakes, blindly claiming his success was inevitable and his stupidity was just bad luck!”

Old Man Hook roared, ignoring the astonished looks on my and Doronco's faces: "Didn't you two think that old Kai's appearance was suspicious? Where did he get the mineral information? Why did he dig up such a terrifying thing as soon as he started digging? Why did so many refugees rush here after hearing the news? Why did the refugees keep disappearing? Why did he suddenly return after so many years?"

Old Man Hook said a lot, then paused and slowly said to Doranco and me, "And... haven't you thought about... how Antonio... died?"

Doranco's alter ego's expression darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "You know, it was just an accident..."

"An accident? Ha! What a great accident!" Old Man Hook roared. "Is this the only explanation everyone is willing to accept? Otherwise, old Yorkson's ambition would be exposed!"

"..."

Doranco remained silent.

Little Hook turned to me with his eyes flashing with a fierce light and demanded sharply, "Do you know why I'm here?"

"To be honest, I don't know," I said, shaking my head.

"...Can't you be serious for once? Don't ruin the mood."

"To be honest, no." I nodded.

Old Man Hook sighed, looking at his youthful body, and said, "When old Yorkson told me about the crisis in town, he was trying to use my feelings for everyone as leverage to get me to support his plan. He thought we would be leaderless without him."

"But he was wrong. I learned how to cross the dream gate through his manuscripts and mastered his technique for creating memes."

"So I secretly peeled off and modified the meme he had etched into my consciousness and left it in the cell. What I didn't expect was that the next day, Dolanco also found me and told me about how old Yorkson had made him become a monster to protect the town, hoping that I would take care of his son, Gots."

“I couldn’t persuade him, but he agreed to leave a copy containing his memories and personality behind the dream gate as a trump card.”

Is this the origin of the name Dolanco?