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

"Long live Lord Seven!" the soldiers responded.

This statement seems to have gone a bit off-topic, somehow veerging from "endurance and perseverance" to "invincible in every battle." It's as bizarre as reciting inspirational platitudes while plotting a terrorist attack.

"Legion's Gospel: When facing inner doubts, know that all beings create delusions, giving rise to thoughts with their own minds, thus constantly feeling as if they were in hell. When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Long live the Reverse Lightning Legion!"

"Long live the Reverse Lightning Legion!" the warriors shouted in response.

Okay, that's not a big problem. It's idealism, you can say whatever you want; consciousness determines matter and behavior. But when you say that when you gaze into the abyss, I always feel like the abyss will meow. Isn't that a perfect description of the psychology of owning a cat?

"The Legion's Gospel: To truly experience life, one must be present in it. When the mind arises, all phenomena arise; when the mind ceases, all phenomena cease. Long live the One who transcends humanity!"

"Long live those who transcend humanity!" I couldn't quite understand the soldiers' emotions.

That's a bit outrageous, Baldy. If you keep spouting these extremely idealistic things, my Wu Ke Legion might just chant "Amitabha" and instantly pass away.

Watch the atmosphere, you jerk!

The soldiers in front of him, with their expressionless faces, all looked like enlightened monks who had seen through the illusions of the world. After hearing the bald man's words, they all showed a joyful expression of deep agreement, muttering unintelligible scriptures as they walked past with their heads bowed.

After careful listening, I actually managed to hear a few words...

This is clearly the Heart Sutra I taught the bald man! What army uses Buddhist scriptures as their introductory text? Monk soldiers?

"Enough! Talk about something that boosts our military morale!"

I quickly warned the bald man and whispered an order for him to try to bring the conversation back on track.

The bald man slowly nodded. "Yes, sir. I didn't think this through. I've recently come to understand a saying. Do you think it's appropriate..." He opened his mouth and raised his arm to shout at the passing squad.

"Today, God is dead! In heaven and on earth, I alone reign supreme! Long live God! Long live God!"

Upon hearing this, all the monks and soldiers in the area showed excited expressions and began shouting along with the bald man's nonsense.

"God is dead!"

"I am the only one!"

Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!

Looking at the chaotic scene before me, I finally remembered where the problem lay.

This feeling that all martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin... isn't this just like the description of the "Namo Gatling Bodhisattva" statue in my ranch? The story of gods descending from another world, the battlefield in Borneo, the cycle of death and rebirth—it's clearly what these so-called high monks from the Great Electric Music Temple in front of me are about to do—descend to earth with weapons to save all living beings!

"Quiet down! I sense something's not right with you all. I'll give you a pre-battle pep talk myself!"

I raised my arms and shouted in the crowd, feeling that my moment of glory was about to arrive.

But in an instant, the entire crowd of about a hundred people fell into absolute silence, and their previously high morale visibly plummeted. I also noticed that many soldiers' knees were trembling, as if they had heard something extremely terrifying.

My face darkened, and I said speechlessly.

"...Alright, I won't say any more. Send troops today! Annihilate this breakfast place!"

As soon as I finished speaking, all the soldiers seemed to be injected with adrenaline, their bodies brimming with the energy of surviving a disaster, and they strode into the wilderness.

The bald man behind me exclaimed sincerely, "Thank you so much for personally boosting morale! Sir Seven, your methods are truly brilliant!"

...I can't afford to lose face like this. You should go and thank Taro.

Chapter 452 Mysterious Creatures in the Cave

On the night the entire army left, the camp returned to its empty state, as silent as if the previous hustle and bustle was just a dream.

The group, including the bald man and the fat man, began their raid as planned, disappearing into the night to make their way across the wilderness where the Loader's Territory and the Sabre Bay pirates were locked in combat. Meanwhile, the 460th Legion rushed back to the Free Trade Zone to establish a defensive line against any potential attacks.

The warm wind quickly cooled under the night sky, and a huge, eyeball-like satellite peeked out from the sky, casting a scarlet light onto this wild land.

I thought of the eerie rock paintings in prehistoric caves in the wild, and I also recalled the nightmare I had before meeting Old Man Hook.

Although the two planets look completely different, the seemingly lifeless, pupil-shaped craters on their surfaces awakened unsettling memories within me.

What puzzles me is how such a huge satellite was captured in orbit? According to gravity, when this satellite passed over the surface of the planet in space, it should have torn off a piece of material larger than an entire continent, turning it into a halo in the satellite's orbit, and then gone, disappearing into the bizarre and fantastical deep space.

This kind of thing, which is unacceptable under normal circumstances, is more unsettling than those indescribable horrors.

In parallel worlds, I have already discovered the shadows hidden behind the world. Those indescribable beings probably existed in the deep sea and underground for countless years before life appeared. Even the air we breathe and the space we live in are unintentional products of these beings.

Faced with these beings, even an organization like the University of Michigan, which gathers humanity's top talents and possesses unimaginable technology, cannot truly lead humanity to control its own destiny. The ultimate fate of humanity in that world rests solely on the shoulders of a man who has lost his family, is alone, yet remains steadfast.

The ****** I jokingly established seems to have truly become my panacea for resolving these situations. As the saying goes, we contain, we fail, we run away; with the entire world at stake, these futile efforts are humanity's last resort for protecting its sanity.

I stood by the rustling woods, gazing at the darkness in the distance. The wind whipped at my outer robe, howling ceaselessly through the deserted camp.

The gale seemed to be triumphantly declaring that they were the true masters of this land.

I stared into the depths of the dense forest, which resembled an abyss, and suddenly I heard the abyss meow at me.

……Meow?

What the hell?

Two lithe black shadows leaped down from the dense tree trunks, their forelegs stomping twice on the ground before landing steadily on the soft carpet of leaves, almost without a sound. Then, they moved in a tandem beside me, revealing their imposing, mottled bark, and then…

It rolled over, exposing its belly, and twisted and rolled around on the ground, making gurgling sounds in its throat.

"...It's you guys."

I crouched down to pet Big Cats No. 1 and No. 2, greeting these two animals I hadn't seen for a long time. I had heard before that they were quite independent and had hidden themselves in Silent Valley, and I never expected to actually run into them as soon as I arrived.

What are you doing here?

I asked them a question, and the two cheetahs rolled over and got up from the ground. After biting my trouser leg as a signal, they protected me in the middle, one in front and one behind, and led me deeper into the Silent Valley.

We walked past the abandoned radar station, around the small square littered with fallen leaves, and across the still desolate and empty housing area.

As a wisp of damp air hit my face, I knew I had been taken to that strange cave that appeared on the edge of a cliff, wider on the outside and narrower on the inside.

The wild herbs in the cave had already finished growing. I had already sent Fatty to pick them once before, to supply each soldier with battlefield medicine. But after Cheetah led me into the cave, we went straight past the wild herb field and deeper into the cave.

Soon, I smelled a faint smell of blood, which gradually became stronger as I moved forward.

Behind a large rock, I found a emaciated bison, its skin torn and mangled, lying dead on the ground, silent and still, without emitting any stench. But dark red blood had seeped all over the ground, leaving strange trails on the surface.

Two of the tracks were familiar to me: cheetah tracks that circled the bison carcass several times and headed out of the cave, showing no signs of venturing deeper. The fresh bite marks on the bison carcass were also evidence that the cheetah had been feeding.

The other trail was a strange bloodstain, about the thickness of an adult's arm, resembling a brush dipped in ink dragging across the ground. It swayed slightly from side to side but moved straight into the depths of the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

I wanted to follow the strange trail, but the brightly colored cheetah bared its teeth, its fur stood on end, its tail taut like a slingshot, its front legs pressed to the ground, and it crouched down, growling softly. The cheetah's roar was high-pitched and tense, as if it were confronting an unknown entity in the darkness.

Even in such a critical situation, the two cheetahs stood firmly in front of me, preventing me from taking another step forward.

I immediately understood that the cheetahs were trying to convey a message to me. They had come to regard me as one of their own, and thus brought me here to tell me about the hidden threat they had discovered.

Apart from the dampness in the darkness, there were no suspicious sounds, but I had already given up on the idea of ​​going any further.

The existence of this Silent Valley is highly suspicious. How could such a lush and fertile place not have a large number of animals living there, and be so quiet that it is like a living hell? This has always been hard for me to understand. Adhering to the principle of avoiding it, I even built my military camp on the outskirts and forbade soldiers from entering it.

I approached the blood-soaked bison carcass, examining the mutilated body of the short-horned, brown-furred creature. Although the cheetah had inflicted numerous bite wounds, it had only been feeding on the tender, fatty parts of the emaciated carcass, resulting in very little blood being drawn from the bites.

The heaviest bleeding occurred near the bull's anus, forming a veritable river of blood. Even for a bison of its size, such bleeding would have been enough to kill it several times over.

When I used a twig to open the wound, I found that the bison's anus had suffered a horrific laceration, with its entire intestine missing, along with most of its internal organs...

"Cheetahs aren't scavengers; they wouldn't target a dead prey. But this bison has bite marks on its body. Could it be that the animal wasn't dead when it was bitten?"

Could it be that something parasitized inside this bison's belly, devouring most of its internal organs and tissues, before bursting out of its anus?

Given that cheetahs don't eat carrion, I can even imagine that this pitiful bison, after being parasitized by the mysterious creature, had its daily nutrients stolen, leaving it emaciated. As the creature grew stronger, it even began to devour its internal organs, forcing the poor bison to wander around in search of food, living like a puppet unable to end its own life, a living corpse.

Finally, after it had completely lost its usefulness, the mysterious creature broke free of its body and died in the dark, sunless cave.

Chapter 453 Sanhe Labor Market

The morning breeze swirls around the azure sea, accompanied by seagulls soaring into the blue sky, making the clouds appear high, the birds small, and the waves calm.

But the bustling day in the free trade zone has already begun.

If you look down at the land at this moment, you will find that this trend started from rows of tents on the edge of the wilderness.

These traveling merchants, who came from afar, often relied on two hardworking animals to drive a large cart along the trade routes to transport goods. Therefore, they set up camp nearby, living close to the sheltered hills, and strung up cloth curtains around their carts to form a simple, safe, and windproof residential area.

As dawn broke, these small vendors unloaded their goods from their trucks and headed to the market, setting up their stalls in designated locations and waiting for the market to open.

Thanks to the stability of this market and the maintenance by the 460 Legion, their young and strong members no longer needed to take on part-time security work. Therefore, this surplus labor force once again gathered at the edge of the workshop district, eagerly awaiting which workshop would come to recruit workers that day.

Soon, a short, elderly man approached and announced to the crowd, "The Riok Tailor Shop is hiring three helpers who can do tailoring! Wages are paid daily, and two meals a day are provided!"

Before he could finish speaking, more than a dozen people jumped out from the labor force and surrounded him, raising their hands and shouting, "I'm here! I'm here! I'm incredibly skilled with embroidery needles!"

Another person nearby chimed in, "Get out of the way! I did this job last week, I know it well! Let me do it!"

The old man glanced at the group, then at their hands, and immediately made a decision: "You lot, your hands are all as thick as granite, and the one missing a thumb, don't cause any trouble! You, you, and you. All three of you come with me!"

The appearance of recruiters from the brewery and textile workshops also caused a stir, as they began their own recruitment efforts.

"Old Ladimir Distillery is hiring six employees who don't drink and have good character! You can choose whether to pay in credits or beer, and it will be settled every seven days! If that bastard who stole my beer last time and even peed in the barrel dares to show up, I'll chop him up like a hop!"

It was clear that the owner of this distillery had suffered greatly from hiring the wrong people, but unfortunately, as soon as he finished speaking, he was surrounded by wave after wave of drunkards...

The chances of finding a non-drinking worker in the wilderness are probably even smaller than the chances of finding a content creator who only posts content every year!

The textile workshop was much simpler. They found a group of women wearing headscarves and said, "Come with me, the wages are high, the work is easy, you can play for three days after working one day! It's not like those illegal workshops next door!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the face of a burly man next to him immediately turned black.

He shouted hoarsely through the crowd, "Don't listen to their nonsense! I offer great benefits, commissions, meat, meals, and even a bed! Limited spots available, first come, first served!"

Even though most of the recruiters had already finished recruiting and left, there was still no one signing up in front of the burly man.

Finally, a ragged, clueless young man tried to step forward, but was immediately pulled back by the people around him, who whispered, "New guy, don't go! They're a rip-off! The unlucky guy who went to this blacksmith shop last time believed them and ended up being burned and crippled. He cried for three days before he finally died!"

The naive young man shuddered after hearing this, and said with lingering fear, "That's terrifying?! I'm not going!"

The burly man's joyful expression quickly turned to anger, and he roared, "That idiot tried to pour molten steel with his bare hands and even spilled it on himself! How can you blame me for that?!"

The person next to him rolled their eyes: "This job is too dangerous. Come with me, bro, I'll take you to an internet cafe!"

The naive young man said gratefully, "Thank you, brother! What is going online?"

The person next to me said, "It's fishing by the sea! There are people renting fishing nets here for free. You can cast the net and go to sleep. The seafood you catch is split 50/50. You won't be full, but you won't starve either. If you catch a big fish, you'll be rich. That's why it's called 'net fishing.' Let's go!"

After saying that, he walked towards the sea with the crowd.

Burnett and I watched this scene from the crowd, and one of the clever kids remarked, "Which little devil came up with this internet job?"