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

"It's seawater..."

I spat out the remaining salty water in my mouth and stared despairingly at the puddle of surface water. This seawater, filtered by the sand, was still salty and undrinkable; it seemed there was no point in drinking it directly, and I'd have to find another way.

I looked up and saw the tall tree next to me...

The tree is a tall, arborescent tree with persistent leaf bases on its stem. The upper leaves ascend obliquely, while the lower leaves droop, forming a sparse, cap-like crown. The leaves can reach over 6 meters in length, with long, slender, and mostly flat petioles. The pinnae are linear-lanceolate, about 30 centimeters long, with a short, acuminate apex, grayish-green in color, and have a distinct keel. They are clustered in groups of 2 or 3, covered with hairs, and the lower pinnae become long, stiff, needle-like spines.

Even more noticeable is the large cluster of red fruit hanging from the branches below the canopy!

The question is... is this thing edible?

Will eating this kill someone?

As I approached the tree, I suddenly noticed the item attributes from the Colonizer System popping up!

Item Name: Date Palm Tree

Description: A date palm tree, also known as the "desert bride," makes its greatest contribution to humankind through its fruit—dates. The trunk can also be used for beams and floorboards, and the branches can be woven into various tools.

Durability: 300/300

Characteristics: Harvestable, but with a limited lifespan.

Fertilization requirement: 70%

Fertilization sensitivity: 50%

Light requirement: 51%

Harvest output: 20

Cover effectiveness: 43%

Aesthetics: 3”

The lengthy description didn't help me, nor did it capture my attention. All my energy was focused on those two words in the introduction…

Dates!

This is edible!

I have food to eat!

...Wait a minute, this tree seems a bit too tall?

I took two steps back to gauge the height of the tree, first confirming that I wasn't hallucinating because of dizziness.

Against the backdrop of the sea and sky, this tree looks at least twenty meters tall, as tall as a five-story building! And the branches laden with dates are about the height of a four-story building. How can I possibly reach them?

"Hmm... having a colonizer system attribute, does that mean I can use a cheat code..."

In my experience, items that exhibit colonizer system attributes are considered system-approved items. And system-approved items can be manipulated using system commands…

That's right, it's skill! I, Wu Wukai, didn't cheat!

I pondered for a moment, then gave the work order to the tree.

At this moment, two commands appear in the direction of the date palm tree.

Available work commands: Cut/Harvest.

That's it? Of course, that's a harvest! I want to eat dates! I don't want to eat tree bark!

"Select work command: Prioritize harvesting date palm trees!"

The moment the order was given, the colonist system swiftly took control of my body, and I was forced to retreat five or six steps.

Then, I suddenly exerted force with my legs and began a short sprint at an astonishing speed, leaving two deep footprints on the ground and raising a cloud of dust.

Amidst the smoke and dust, I stepped onto the almost vertical tree trunk at an extremely fast speed, and in the blink of an eye, I used the skill of stepping on water to leap up to a height of five or six meters!

The upward momentum hadn't completely dissipated, so I wrapped my arms around the trunk of the date palm tree and continued to push off with my legs, leaping another four or five meters upward.

Although this height is already amazing, there is still a seven or eight-meter gap between the ten-meter-high position and the date palms under the canopy that cannot be crossed!

At this point, the upward momentum had weakened, the old forces had been exhausted and the new forces had not yet emerged, and it seemed that it was about to stop and fall!

If someone were to fall from that height of ten meters, the consequences would be unimaginable! Even falling from the height of a three-story building would, at best, result in high-level paraplegia!

But the colonist system was clearly prone to mishaps. Suddenly, a blade popped out of the arm guard on my right hand, embedding itself deeply into the trunk of the date palm tree. With a slight exertion of force, I continued climbing up the trunk of the coconut palm tree!

What's amazing is that this tree climbing method doesn't involve going straight up and down. Instead, it involves shifting the force and rotating around the trunk to climb upwards, using both hands and feet to quickly ascend another five or six meters, getting extremely close to the height where the date palms are!

It was only then that I understood the purpose of the colonists' special climbing technique.

Dates, as fruit, hang in clusters at the ends of branches and droop around the canopy. If I were to climb up in the usual way, my arms would have to be two meters long to grab the trunk while picking the fruit.

The systematic method was that when I climbed to a sufficient height, I hooked my feet around the tree trunk, lightly extended my arms, and the silver-white sickle emitted a cool aura as it swiftly sliced ​​through the branches and leaves of the sea coconut tree, precisely severing the connection between the branches and leaves where the fruit was located!

As the saying goes, if the skin is gone, where will the hair attach? With a crackling sound of branches breaking, several lush branches of the date palm fell downwards under the force of gravity, crashing onto the soft sand.

The ground was covered with what looked like a rain of dates, large, juicy red dates, like a harvest celebration.

Then, I used all four limbs to press my body firmly against the tree trunk and nimbly climbed down the coconut tree. Soon my feet were back on the ground.

I didn't care to distinguish which date was the prettiest, which one had heatstroke, which one wasn't eating, or which one was fighting. I just picked one up randomly, didn't bother to wash it, and stuffed it into my mouth and chewed it...

Really fragrant!

Chapter 268 Settlements

As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy and you will never be defeated." After eating my fill, I first surveyed the environment of this seaside area.

Using the sunrise position as a reference point, to the east lies a vast, azure beach, a long, winding stretch of sandy shore. The sand is fine and uniform, formed by long-term wave erosion. The sand is dry and soft, making it a potentially suitable habitat. The downside is the lack of natural resources; it's unlikely one could forage for a variety of foods like on mudflats.

Three or four hundred meters away from the beach, the land becomes relatively fertile, with scattered drought-resistant trees, cacti and weeds, and some pincushions hidden in the grass, like little hedgehogs crawling on the ground.

Because of its proximity to the salty pool, the surrounding vegetation gradually became richer, with tall date palms and fig trees growing there, and a lush meadow on the ground, which seemed to have been gnawed by animals.

Biting?

After observing for a moment, I confirmed that the animals that had eaten the wild grass were likely some fairly large herbivores. Judging from the number of hoof prints left on the ground, there were probably four or five of them moving as a group.

Fortunately, the tooth marks left behind were those of a flat herbivore. I was able to recognize them because these tooth marks resembled those of a pony eating in an emoji—these teeth should all be flat, large, and good at chewing and grinding plant fibers.

But this also served as a reminder to me.

The presence of herbivores in this grassland doesn't mean it poses no threat to me. The natural ecosystem is interconnected; where herbivores are active, there are also carnivores patrolling and hunting in their territories.

I silently noted down the location where the animals were found to the south, and then headed west.

To the west lies the road I came by. The land is relatively flat, but four or five mounds rise abruptly, highlighting the jagged rocks that dot the desolate landscape. The ground here begins to solidify, and the soil is covered with vegetation. Unfortunately, most of it is shrubs, with only a few large dragon blood trees stubbornly thriving.

This is a good place. If I were to settle here, the land would be flat and open, and logging would be convenient. It would be enough for my needs as a single person.

Looking around, I confirmed that the entire area was a dry shrubland.

The consistently low rainfall has resulted in a predominantly arid landscape, but it hasn't degenerated into a desert. This open plain is mainly covered with grasslands and shrubs, with few trees. Only a small number of drought-resistant trees survive, and thankfully, many of them are edible, preventing me from going hungry.

Unlike the remarkably adaptable plants of this land, the animals living in this region likely lack the same drought tolerance. They need to roam and forage across vast areas to maintain a precarious balance between the slow rate of plant growth and the gradually expanding population.

As a professional rancher, I certainly wouldn't be content with a wild nomadic life like these animals; my goal is definitely an agricultural life!

Unfortunately, after carefully analyzing the surrounding land, I came to the conclusion that the areas near the sea were severely salinized and had turned into sandy land unsuitable for planting, while the areas far from the sea were dry and fragmented due to lack of water, presenting an obvious barrenness.

In other words, it is quite difficult to find suitable land for farming in this area.

From a broader perspective, to the north of this area lies a patchwork of scattered hills that fragment the land, lacking particularly dense vegetation and even slightly less favorable conditions than this one. To the west, the view is blocked by a large hill, its pale red rocks shimmering dazzlingly in the sunlight. Daytime temperatures are certainly not low, and the lack of vegetation to protect the temperature at night makes it seem unsuitable for habitation.

To the east lies the vast ocean, a place the fish might love, but I'm not so sure. Judging from the curvature of the coastline and the surrounding terrain, this is most likely a bay, probably teeming with rich fishery resources.

As I climbed a small hill and tried to look south, I noticed something unusual.

In the sparsely vegetated environment, most places are occupied by drought-resistant plants, except for one area that slopes from northwest to southeast, which is clearly barren.

Wild grasses never reason with people. In their wild and short lifespan, they only know how to expand and grow continuously, and try their best to survive. Therefore, this strip of grass, about five meters wide, is highly suspicious.

Based on my observation, this grassland-free zone stretches for at least five kilometers in the distance, extending northwest through the hills, then running along the coast to the southeast before disappearing into the distant Gobi Desert.

I walked down the hill and came to this grassless area to check. I found that the land here was the original road that had been modified by humans!

This road was so primitive that I could hardly distinguish it from the surrounding wilderness. There were no bricks, no gravel, and no identifiable road markers.

When this road was built, they probably just leveled the protruding soil and rocks, filled in the potholes that could easily injure pedestrians, and then haphazardly patted the ground with a shovel to compact the soil before putting it into use.

Subsequent "road maintenance" relied solely on pedestrians, who would tread the soft pavement with their footsteps and pull out the overgrown weeds to create a barely passable path.

But this is very good news!

The presence of roads here proves that there have been traces of civilized activity here.

This also means that I am not as far away from human society as I imagined!

However, based on my observation, there are absolutely no settlements with human activity within the range of my field of vision, and this dirt road does not look like a proper road.

If I want to try my luck along the road, I must first gather enough equipment, food, and water to support me in crossing the vast Gobi Desert and completing this solitary journey. This is no easy task.

Even more dangerous is that if I encounter a malicious person, I will become a lamb that has walked into the wolf's den...

As I suppressed the urge to search for civilization, a brilliant idea popped into my head!

Since this road has been traversed, I should settle down by the roadside and wait patiently for passing caravans, migrants, and other travelers.

Using this method, I can avoid dangerous long journeys and obtain the information I want effortlessly! With even better luck, I might even be able to follow them to civilized settlements and find my organization!

Given the harsh environment of this place, I don't expect to see any highly developed or bustling cities. I'd be grateful if there were just a lively settlement and a couple of decent houses!

By the way, could it be that what passed by wasn't human, but some other random race? I haven't heard of any aliens being discovered in Shining City.

Chapter 269 Advantages and Disadvantages

Item Name: Dates

Item Description: A sweet fruit that grows on trees. It is both a daily food and an indispensable ration for long journeys. It has a thin skin, thick flesh, and is sweet and soft. Each fruit weighs about 20 grams.

Durability: 100/100

Market value: JPY 1.50

Physical mass: 0.02 kg

Nutritional content: 0.08

Probability of food poisoning: 1%