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

Hiron Mercenary Group!

Their distinctive attire and fighting style have made no secret of their identity!

These pirate mercenaries who roam the stars have already suffered heavy losses from the Covenant fleet and were later attacked by me at Sabre Bay. Why have they come to this desolate planet today?

The leader of the Hiron mercenaries emerged from his optical camouflage and, with a blank expression on his face, commanded, "End the battle quickly! We're here for Altana, and all obstacles must be removed immediately!"

Altana?

Are they also here for planetary consciousness?

How did they know about this?!

[Mr. Marcus, the Altana crystals at the planet's core are the newest type of energy in the universe, having replaced promethium as the mainstream energy source, and each gram can fetch an astronomical price. Space pirates often obtain these crystals by destroying planets, which is one of the things explicitly prohibited by the Covenant.]

Wait a minute, you weren't the mole in this, were you?

The number you dialed is currently mining promethium ore. Please try again later.

...Don't play dead just because you're feeling guilty, you bastard!

Bertholdt, pierced by the twin blades, struggled in excruciating pain and bleeding, his expression growing increasingly agonizing, yet he remained in a frenzy. With a roar, he used his bones to pry open the longswords, breaking free from their blades, and charged at his enemy once more.

His hands seemed to be trying to cover his wound, but the white ghostly figures of the Hiron mercenary group had reappeared, and more longswords appeared out of thin air, stabbing at him from different treacherous angles.

Bertholdt had long forgotten the meaning of retreat. Even after being struck by more than a dozen strange longswords at the same time, he remained unyielding, staring at the huge spaceship in the sky, as if trying to see the sky behind it through the spaceship that blotted out the sun.

But his actions were never followed up, because a long knife pierced his heart, leaving him to die quietly, like the legendary Astra, with his head tilted back.

"Chief Hiron, it's been a long time."

I stepped forward and greeted the old acquaintance with a smile.

The white-robed figure looked at me strangely, crossed his arms, and said coldly, "How long? I've been wanting to take your name every day, otherwise I wouldn't have asked to return to this planet."

I took a small step forward, blocking the view of the writing on the ground. Through the corner of my eye, I glanced at the changing characters and whispered, "Hatred can't solve anything. I hope you can let go of this hatred and leave this place."

Leader Hiron sneered as the dense pirate force surrounded us, instantly gaining the upper hand on the battlefield. "You seem to be unaware of the situation. We are in control now, and only the victor has the right to negotiate."

The cigar-shaped cannons of the colossal warships in the sky gleamed with an eerie blue light, methodically charging up their power, seemingly poised to unleash a devastating attack at any moment. Faced with such force, all words seemed utterly inadequate.

The leader of Hiron said with a grim expression, "As a worthy opponent, I can allow you to choose one of your men to surrender with you, but the rest will die here."

"What else can I do in this situation?"

I glanced down at my heels and said in a bargaining tone, "I don't have any attachment to this planet anyway, so kill them all if you want. But taking only one person is too few. Can I take a few more?"

The leader of Hiron said coldly, "So how many do you want to bring?"

"three……"

I pondered.

Leader Hiron scoffed, "Three, is that it? You do know your limits..."

"two……"

I continued to ponder.

Chief Hiron sensed something was wrong. He glared at me with sharp eyes, his longsword poised to strike at any moment: "Don't try anything funny, or I'll..."

"one……"

I remained unmoved as I spoke, then suddenly turned around and covered my eyes.

Suddenly, a violent sound was heard in the sky, followed by a deafening explosion and a burst of light that instantly shocked everyone's vision!

In the chaos, I snatched the longsword and held the blade to the neck of the leader of the Hiron tribe, saying in a friendly tone, "Tell me, who has the upper hand now?"

The enormous, cigar-shaped spaceship in the sky had been reduced to shattered pieces in the flames. The broken and burning debris everywhere illuminated the sky, like a dirty firework blooming above our heads.

But the gloomy sky did not clear up after the fire, because an even larger shadow had arrived in the area, using the standard tactic of warp and antimatter bombs to blast the Godkiller Pirate Crew's ship into pieces.

As the leader of Hiron stared in disbelief, a broadcast message came from the towering spaceship.

"This is the 2nd Division of the Star Alliance Special Forces Fleet, the Genesis mothership! First, execute the pirate clearance order. Ground personnel will be identified; anyone resisting enforcement will be killed on the spot!"

I breathed a sigh of relief; the second wave of distress signals sent by Sharon Whitestone had finally reached the Covenant fleet!

Prior to this, the spacecraft had come into contact with the bald man at the Yingelaer Space Center, and we passed each other by.

I knew their attention wouldn't easily leave this place, so I instructed Sharon Whitestone to continue using false police reports to constantly warn them of threats from Caribbean pirates, the "Ancient" Group, interstellar dinosaurs, the Cybertronian Legion, the Galactic Four Merchants, and so on, urging them to turn back and come to the rescue...

A man in military uniform quickly descended from the spaceship, came up to me, pointed a gun at the head of Chief Shiron, and said...

"Great, we even caught an A-level wanted criminal!" He drew out his words, seemingly still unaccustomed to the polluted air, and continued, "Although it wasn't a wasted trip, I'm definitely going to find the guy who made the false report and teach him a lesson from this chief! I'll also make him explain what he meant by 'Come quick, potato chips are half price here' in the distress signal!"

Feeling a little guilty, I lowered my head and remained silent, pretending to be a concerned citizen, Mr. Liu, only to find that the man in military uniform in front of me was also looking down at me.

"Look up! You look a little suspicious...and you seem familiar?"

I reluctantly looked up, only to find a familiar face in front of me...

It's Sheriff Harris's stupid face!

Chapter 534 Return to Mineral Town

The weather in midsummer is always hot and sunny. The lush green leaves of the trees at the entrance have grown wildly and are already showing a strong green color, but they are still a long way from bearing fruit.

The light and shadows cast on the ground resembled ripples, swaying from side to side with the sultry wind, shining into an old wooden door and onto the profile of a middle-aged man.

A middle-aged man, feeling drowsy in the afternoon, wore a crisp, wrinkle-free shirt. His square face was filled with a serious expression as he squinted at the sunlight outside. After a long while, he turned around and continued wiping the wine glass in his hand with a white cloth, as if the stains on it could never be cleaned.

"Boss, are you open for business here?"

Suddenly, the curtain outside the door was flung open, and two weathered strangers walked in, brazenly approaching the bar table and striking up a conversation in strange tones.

The tavern owner turned around and glanced at the unexpected customer with a suspicious look. Instead of being overjoyed that his dismal business had been saved, he said with an even more serious expression, "Outsider, let me make it clear that I only welcome customers here, not buyers. If you're not here for a drink, you'd better leave before I tell you to go."

The two strangely dressed men showed no fear, instead continuing to ask, "What do you mean by that? What else could we be here for besides drinking?"

The tavern owner stared at the customer for a while, then finally lowered his guard, poured two glasses of dark red drink, and pushed them in front of the customer.

"I'm sorry, I might be too stressed lately. Ever since this town suffered its misfortune, suspicious people have been trying to come here to buy up shops and land, and the townspeople have been harassed far too often."

After finishing his sentence, the tavern owner sighed slightly and continued, "What brings you two here?"

The stranger, with a white headscarf wrapped around his head, first muttered something about Anhu and Aba, then pushed away the two glasses of wine in front of him before shrugging and saying, "Sorry, we don't drink. The trip itself was rather unpleasant, so we need to find a place to soothe our weary bodies and minds. Boss, is this town as unfortunate as we are?"

The bar owner frowned, moved two glasses of wine to the side, poured two glasses of milk and placed them in front of him, saying, "The unfortunate story begins a few months ago. It started with an unusual famine, which brought an atmosphere of fear and unease to the town..."

Another stranger, whose face was wrapped in layers of gauze, reached for the cup to drink, but found that the bandages on his face were too tight to open his mouth, so he had to put it down in vain.

The woman in the white headscarf glanced at him and offered to explain, "My friend suffered severe burns and cannot be exposed to light. As for me, I am lactose intolerant and cannot drink it either."

The bar owner frowned even more deeply.

The man in the white headscarf asked, "Boss, according to you, the town declined because of famine? Then why not accept land purchases and move to the city?"

The tavern owner, hands on the bar counter, caught up with him. "Listen to me. The famine is just the beginning, so the problem isn't here. We don't have many properties for sale here. You could take a look at the old church to the north; the priest left two months ago and apparently doesn't plan to come back."

The man in the white headscarf asked, "Churches have no commercial value. If we're going to run a business, we'll naturally seek a stable asset. I see a ranch to the west that's completely deserted. Is it for sale?"

Upon hearing this, the tavern owner once again showed his displeasure. "The owner there is simply away, and there is no possibility that the property is for sale—more than a dozen people have inquired about it before you arrived. Moreover, let me give you a piece of advice: it's right next to Mount Mades, which is plagued by insects, so it's definitely not a good place to settle down."

"An insect plague?" the man in the white headscarf asked, puzzled.

The bar owner nodded: "This is the second misfortune I mentioned. The pests took two months to cross the mountains and appear on the edge of town. Even with pest control experts, they can only control it, not eradicate it. Now, a pest control buffer zone has been established at the foot of Mount Mads, and residents patrol it every day. The town's desolation is also closely related to this..."

"What kind of pest is it? Is it a locust plague on crops or a pest infestation on vegetation?" the white-turbaned man asked.

The bar owner shrugged: "It doesn't matter if you don't know these details. What I'm trying to say is that, in addition to these external disadvantages of settling down, the town itself is now also demoralized."

At this point, the tavern owner simply pushed aside the two glasses of milk that were in the way, "If you settle here, all you'll see are a bunch of distracted young girls, a bunch of drunken bastards, and a bunch of lonely old men..."

The man in the white turban coughed twice, looking a little guilty, and said, "Then let's leave. This is definitely not a good place to live."

The tavern owner chimed in, "Let's go, let's go quickly. If we wait any longer, the drunkard I mentioned will be off work, and running into him will only make things worse."

After saying that, the tavern owner skillfully cleaned the bar, poured the two untouched glasses of red wine into a pot of water, and washed the glasses in the water until there wasn't a single drop of wine left. Only then did he nod in satisfaction.

The out-of-towners, who were about to leave, were dumbfounded when they saw this and asked, "Boss, do you waste all the wine you can't finish here like this?"

The tavern owner explained matter-of-factly, "I'm creating value—when the drunkards come, this basin of water can be sold for the price of alcohol!"

The woman in the white headscarf exclaimed in surprise, "This...this isn't a good idea, is it?"

The tavern owner showed no remorse. "I'm doing this for his own good. He's so old and still drinks like crazy. He has no children to take care of him when he's old. Instead of wasting money on alcohol, it's better to let me save it for him."

"...This method of saving money sounds so familiar. Are you some kind of old lady from somewhere?"

The tavern owner's tone was somewhat helpless: "After Harris becoming a fugitive, Gotz leaving for distant lands, Marcus suddenly disappearing, and an outbreak of unexplained insect plagues, how many optimistic and positive people can you expect in town?"

At this point, the tavern owner stirred the kettle with a stick to even out the color of the wine in the water, before finally smiling. "Poor old Sebala..."

The man in the white headscarf twitched his face and sighed softly, "Yes, Sebala has really had a rough life knowing someone like you..."

"Sorry, I don't think I heard what you just said?"

The tavern owner asked politely, but the man in the white headscarf quickly waved his hand to indicate that he hadn't said anything. "Who would have thought that Sebala's grandson, whom she raised to be this old, would end up like this... How can an old man bear this..."

Seeing the bandaged stranger turn around and listen curiously, the tavern owner continued, "Tell me, who would have thought that his own grandson would elope with some young people in town two months ago?"

The shopkeeper sighed and said, "Back then, we saw them playing together every day, so we didn't think much of it. But after this happened, it's truly shocking... You have no idea how heartbroken the girls in town have been lately..."

Upon hearing this, I nearly crushed the optical camouflage device in my hand. I slowly removed my headscarf to eliminate the camouflage effect and greeted Boss Dart through gritted teeth.

"Long time no see, Mr. Dart!"

I forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, kicked the dumbfounded Gray to the ground, and then asked, word by word.

"Can you tell me who started this rumor? I'd like to give them a fake 'Awei's death' package first!"

Is there a problem with Chapter 535?

After being away for several months, the weeds in the pasture have grown taller than a person, turning the fields I painstakingly cultivated into a wasteland.

But my room is clearly cleaned regularly. The windows and tabletops are spotless, and the bedding is clean and tidy. The only thing missing is a statue on the table, and there is a cracked mirror on the wall.

So I spent some time tidying up my things, and then took a break to lie down and take a nap. But just as I fell asleep, I heard noises outside disturbing my peaceful sleep...

"Oh no! Something is falling from the sky!"

The whistle of Thomas the Tank Engine rang out in the town, its loud sound echoing through half the town, seemingly moving and running rapidly, getting closer and closer to Mineral Town Ranch, becoming clearer and clearer.