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

Imagine a person whose artwork has an extremely strong style, exquisite carving, and superb technique, yet produces very limited output. Wouldn't that be a collectible that is very suitable for speculation?

Ironically, I happen to be best at using rhetoric to package my products and create something that sounds impressive but is actually quite obscure.

All they need to do is let capital promote it, and people will say that what they understand is Pop Art, what they don't understand is Abstract Art, what makes them want to be astronauts is Futurism, and what makes them dizzy and nauseous is Postmodernism...

After introducing them in this categorized way, who would dare not call it art!

I don't know much about the art world, but as for collecting... those who know, know...

Everything is ready now, all I need is a sucker to help me package it for the IPO!

While Yu and Mei finished their afternoon art creations, I also quickly made a batch of oddly shaped sculptures. Without really checking them carefully, I just piled them all on top of the shipping boxes that Zack had designated.

I can't believe I still remember the shipping box, something as useless as an appendix. I'm sure Zack will be very touched when he comes to collect the package in the evening!

The two students' craft projects were, of course, not as groundbreaking as mine.

I took out two small pieces of wood that they could hold and play with, and gave them a stack of sandpaper, asking them to slowly sand them according to their shapes.

The specific process involves starting with 80-grit sandpaper and gradually polishing until they reach 2,000-grit. This results in a small handicraft with a wood grain texture, sharp edges, and a smooth, delicate feel! It's great as a paperweight on a table or as a keychain!

This little thing is safe to make, and it can cultivate their geometric thinking and temper their impetuous nature—to be honest, the process is quite addictive and easy to get carried away with; before you know it, you've spent the whole day working on it.

The day's classes passed quickly. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, I said to the little ones who were still struggling with the wooden board, "Class is over for today. You can go home with Teacher Lin! Tell your parents what you learned today. The next class is the day after tomorrow, so don't forget!"

"Understood, Professor Marcus!"

After cheerfully greeting Teacher Ma, Teacher Kevin, and Aunt Chicken, the two children skipped and hopped away from the ranch.

Surprisingly, this young girl was quite into character, and said to me with a serious expression, "Mr. Marcus, thank you for your hard work today! Leave the rest to me!"

Then she turned and called out into the distance, "Wait for me! Remember to stay behind Teacher Lin!"

After saying that, Lin excitedly followed.

…………

"I think today's lesson went well, right?"

The afternoon sun was shining brightly at four o'clock, and a warm breeze blew across the pasture. The soil, after being cultivated and sown, exuded a unique fragrance, as if one could smell the sweat of the seeds working hard to sprout underground.

I washed my hands by the river, and when I turned around, I saw a sneaky little head appearing outside the pasture.

"Publi, stop hiding! I can see you!" I shouted in that direction.

Then a panicked denial came from outside the ranch gate, "No, it wasn't me! Poppy isn't here, you've mistaken me for someone else!"

I shook the water off my hands and complained, "With your pink hair, who would mistake you for someone else!"

Do you want to impersonate Lux Klein or Madoka Magica?

After a while, Poppy indeed came out looking dejected. "How boring! So boring! I was hoping to scare you a little..."

...Did Wing Chun master Cheung Tin-chi ever tell you that within seven steps, a fist is faster, and beyond seven steps, a spear is faster? Coincidentally, I'm proficient in both. If you can get close to me without me even noticing, you'll be able to cosplay the headless senior in the next second.

I patted the stone bench and asked, "What's wrong? Didn't you always say that summer UV rays are bad for your skin and that you don't want to go out?"

As if by magic, Poppy pulled out a parasol from behind her back, opened it, and then sat down next to me.

"I was originally going to ask Lin to hang out with me, but the boss said she came here, so I just came to check it out~ Is that not allowed?"

Of course it's not impossible... but I really didn't expect that you could describe such a small town as a maze where it's so hard to find people.

I bluntly exposed her: "You've been hiding there for a long time, haven't you?" I patted her head. "Look, even the hair on the top of your head is sunburned."

Poppy blushed and glared at me. "I... I just wanted to help... but I'm not good at dealing with kids, so I didn't dare come in..."

"What's there to be afraid of with kids? Oh, and let me show you the results of my chicken-raising project!"

I chuckled and snapped my fingers. Two fluffy, white Alpha chicks slid down from the tree like arrows and nestled into... the dejected Poppy's arms.

Hey, hey, hey, you guys are in the wrong place!

Although Popuri's curves are indeed not very obvious, that's not your chicken coop!

Wow, they grow so fast!

In front of familiar animals, Popuri indeed regained her spirits, happily stroking the Alpha Chicken's feathers and skillfully checking its physical condition—Come on, let me see how abnormal its development is!

It's strange that this girl likes small animals but isn't good at interacting with children.

"I was so worried when you guys got lost last time~"

Poppy murmured to herself, then suddenly asked in a light, melodious voice, "Marcus, where did you go? What's the outside world like? Can you tell me about it?"

"It's a remote and impoverished place, not worth mentioning," I said.

Her bright eyes seemed to contain starlight, like a beautiful starry sky glimpsed when you accidentally look up on a summer night.

"I heard you... also met your father?"

Her voice trembled slightly as she finally spoke her mind.

My hand, which was resting on the table, stopped. Suddenly, I remembered the girl I had met in a parallel world.

There, even though Poppy was already irreversibly transforming into a Deep One, her father, Mr. Rhodes, still tried every means to slow down the process, guarding their last home in the bitter wind and rain.

That man, whose back is as imposing as a mountain, must be somewhere on Earth right now, protecting his family in his own way.

"Yes, I met your father. He was a remarkable man."

I said with a smile.

But the pink-haired girl in front of him looked troubled. "That's what Mom said too... but why doesn't he come home?"

"Why do you ask that? You're acting a bit strange," I probed.

Poppy whispered, "Rick said the ring on your hand is Dad's. Is it because Dad doesn't want to come back, that he gave you something so important..."

...This misunderstanding seems a bit big.

And I can guarantee I haven't seen my brother-in-law in three months! How could he know I was wearing this ring?

Could this be ninjutsu? Behind his black-rimmed glasses… could it be the Mangekyou Sharingan?!

"Don't overthink it. Your father is just facing a bit of trouble and needs time to get out of it."

"Will it be like on TV, where you're surrounded and chased by bad guys?" Poppy asked anxiously, her imagination running wild.

I said frankly, "If this level is not difficult for him, then with his superb crowbar skills, any living creature would be nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter."

I can't explain to Poppy that his father was caught in a spacetime vortex, stumbled into a parallel world, faced an indescribable existence, and ultimately wanted to sail through a spacetime distortion point to find his way home...

Unless you have an all-powerful colonizer system like me, and an elderly space travel group to protect you, how could you possibly escape easily?

But whether it was Mr. Dart, Mr. Jeff, Mrs. Lilia, or even myself, we all firmly believed that this man would definitely come back, and would never die silently in some corner of the world...

"Don't worry, I promise you I'll find Mr. Rod! Even if he's on his way back, or even if he really doesn't want to come back, I'll punch him awake and drag him back to Mineral Town!"

I described it deliberately in an exaggerated tone, my chest pounding loudly.

When Popuri saw me, she tossed her loose pink hair aside and her happy smile returned.

"Alright, alright, it's been so long since school ended. Even if you come to class now, it'll be too late. Go home and eat! As punishment for your absence today, you'll have to come to math class next time!"

"Hey! Marcus, you're bullying me!"

Poppy pretended to be angry and stood up, raising her little fist to hit me. Even the two Alpha chickens perched on the chicken coop stood up with their feathers standing on end, forming two round balls of feathers...

(?ω?) What are you two doing getting involved? I'm informing you that dinner is canceled!

…………

After sending Popuri away, the ranch finally returned to peace. The police leopard, who had been trying to catch up on sleep during the day, also woke up lazily. When it saw me carrying my equipment up the mountain, it followed me on its own.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Cheetah seems to have lost a lot of energy these past two days, like a cultivation master, even his dark circles have gotten several layers deeper... What did those two guys do in the middle of the night?

As the sun set, I strolled slowly up the mountain. The shadows of the trees dappled in the tranquil forest, and the sounds of the wind and the hustle and bustle of the world were all dissolved in an indistinguishable mist. The damp air was thick with a hazy mist, making my already dim vision even more blurred. My childhood fantasies about mountain spirits and monsters gradually became real.

Such dense water vapor is, of course, a unique characteristic of mountain hot spring resorts.

After a busy day, I came to this relaxing place to wash away the dust and grime. I watched as the moon rose higher and higher over the eastern mountains, until it surpassed all the stars in the sky and hung there in the air, detached from worldly affairs.

I opened my mouth to recite a couple of lines of poetry, but after searching for a long time, I couldn't think of anything. So I took off my clothes and quickly lay down in the hot spring, watching the mist fill my eyes and change into all sorts of shapes with the white steam I exhaled.

This hazy, white scene really stimulates the imagination. I suggest Jeff come here for inspiration next time.

For example, I only soaked for a short while, but I could actually imagine a lifelike aquatic creature watching me from not far in front of me...

Wait a minute, this doesn't seem like a hallucination...

"...Barren earth, what are you doing here!"

Chapter 571 Goddess Cultivation Project

Imagine this: you're bringing your big cat up the mountain, soaking in the hot springs and singing songs, when suddenly the water element sees you completely naked...

"I'm giving you one minute to come up with an excuse that I can accept, or I'm going to pee in the water."

I calmly covered my vitals with a towel and issued an ultimatum to the water element in the opposite corner, where the mist swirled.

But the water elemental before me didn't maintain its awkward 16-bit humanoid form as usual, nor did it answer my question in a comical goddess tone. In a daze, I saw its condensed form resemble crumbling icicles, inexplicably beginning to melt in the hot spring…

Could it be that it's too hot here and melted the water element?

Or perhaps the elements in the water weren't suitable for shaping, causing her goddess maintenance plan to completely fail?

It's all this guy's fault for wanting to get plastic surgery to grow a human face; he's clearly botched it...

I already told you not to get hyaluronic acid injections randomly!

"Hey, what's wrong with you!"

My right hand tentatively touched the sticky, unidentified liquid, and I suddenly felt a strange sensation, like putting my hand into a washing machine.

The water in front of us is spinning at high speed, generating a powerful centrifugal force that makes it almost impossible for it to maintain a stable equilibrium!

The moment I touched it, this strange rotation seemed to break a delicate balance, and a huge splash of water burst from the water element's body, soaking me from head to toe.

It's one thing to be splashed with water, but the water in the core area is also extremely hot...

"Ahhhh!"

My screams pierced the sky. Even though I had gotten used to the temperature of the hot spring, my already red skin was instantly scalded red, and excruciating pain shot through my skin.

In my Marcus calendar, today is not Songkran, and there is no custom of splashing hot water on people!