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

Mr. Rod suddenly shouted.

I jolted awake and instinctively stood up. "Uh... Mr. Rhodes, what are your instructions?"

"What did you do to Popuri! What is it that Popuri is afraid to say!"

Certain associations caused Mr. Rod to suddenly stand up, decisively draw the pistol from his waist, and release the safety with a clang.

"Don't even think about leaving today until you explain yourself clearly!"

Ashina swordsmanship! Rod, you're so despicable!

I immediately lay down and turned to find cover, my movements so practiced it was almost heartbreaking.

I knew something was off!

This scene is just too similar to the one where a daughter is tricked away by a wild boy, then comes back pregnant and forces her into marriage! With Poppy's actions, I can't explain it at all!

"Publi, tell me now, or your dad will shoot! It has nothing to do with me!"

I quickly reminded Poppy, hoping she would snap out of her ostrich state as soon as possible.

Seeing the situation getting complicated, Poppy became increasingly nervous and unable to explain herself clearly. Her voice trembling with tears, she said, "Dad, these are all my thoughts...it has nothing to do with Marcus, please don't make things difficult for him..."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Rhodes' face showed a mixture of heartache and rage.

"It really was you! Prepare to die!"

What are you even saying, girl!

Is your pink-haired head filled with red bean paste?!

"Let me explain! That's not how it works!"

"Go explain to God!"

"boom!"

Chapter 679 Harvest Festival in Mineral Town (Battle for Honor)

At the summit of Mads, where the moon hangs low over the towering mountains, Gray lay flat on a boulder, his eyes closed as he sensed the flow of all things in the world. Suddenly, he opened his eyes.

I ran up to the top of the mountain, collapsed to the ground, panting, and stared blankly at the night sky.

"Boss, why are you up the mountain again?"

"I'm here to remind you that it's time to go back for dinner. Oh, and if you go home, don't mention you've seen me, especially if you run into someone carrying a gun. Understand?"

Gray, with a strange expression, stood up from the rock.

What did you do now?

I looked around at the desolate scenery, where no one was around and the autumn grass was gradually withering, and sighed.

"Don't ask anymore. I've made up my mind to build a hut on the mountain from now on, stay away from the fighting and intrigue of the martial world, and live a carefree life."

"...Whatever makes you happy."

I didn't understand why those reclusive martial arts masters and hermits in the mountains, despite possessing unparalleled martial arts skills, would claim to be tired of the conflicts of the martial world and deliberately avoid trouble by living like wild men in the mountains. Even if the enemies are difficult to deal with, wouldn't it be enough to just kill them all?

But now I understand that some of the entanglements in the martial arts world are far more dramatic than the plots of my father being a villain, my master falling in love with me, my benefactor's eldest daughter cutting off my arm when she couldn't marry me, and my youngest daughter searching for me all over the world while I only treated her as a younger sister. In this case, if you really want to take a knife, you might have to start by taking action from your own household registration book.

For example, even if I subdue Mr. and his son now, so what? I still can't clear my name. I can't just beat them both, kidnap Poppy, and wait for her to explain, can I? Wouldn't that just confirm my guilt even more?

Furthermore, if this news gets out, and people say I took Poppy but not Lynn, does that mean I look down on Boss Dart? Shouldn't Ellie and Karen also be taken care of?

In short, it's better to avoid trouble. I'd better just stay kneeling in the mountains and behave myself.

Gray opened his mouth as if to say something, then clicked his tongue and obediently closed it again, saying to me, "Let's not talk about that for now. I just thought about it seriously, and I actually came up with some insights that seem like I can incorporate into my techniques..."

"You do have talent, but your vision is too narrow. No matter how high your martial arts skills are, you can't transcend the laws of nature. You might as well study science and make better use of those laws."

Gray retorted, unconvinced, "Can't I just focus on self-cultivation and physical fitness?"

I shook my finger. "I'm asking you, how many monster girlfriends does the Monkey King have... Oh no, how heavy is the Monkey King's Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff)?"

Gray looked bewildered: "Huh?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention, you don't know this. The official weight is 13,500 jin, but if we use the International System of Units (SI), the bar's mass is approximately 6750 kilograms."

"and then?"

I slapped my thigh.

"A single crane can handle over six tons, and I can haul away six hundred tons with five Tianjin heavy trucks. So trust science, young man!"

“That’s true, but there are always things that technology can’t reach. How can it compare to the convenience of self-training…” Gray hesitated.

"How about we make a bet? I'll show you the power of technology."

This concerns the honor that science and technology are the primary productive forces, and I must prove it to him.

"What kind of bet?"

I pulled him up, "Come on, come on, don't ask any questions yet, I'll take you to see the fruits of science and technology! Then you'll be convinced!"

Upon arriving at the entrance of the spring-fed mine, a strange-looking machine was already standing there, quietly awaiting activation. The surrounding area had been cleared; weeds had been pulled up, and rubble had been swept away, making it easy to see what the main machine was.

Gray walked around the machine twice, and I could almost see a few more question marks popping up above his head.

I patted him on the shoulder: "This is an important research result you obtained after working hard on the fundamentals of microelectronics! I've decided to give you the right to start this machine for the first time!"

Gray looked dejected. "So all that hard work I put in for so long is what I got in return?"

"Don't talk nonsense! This is a deep well capable of extracting ore from deep underground!"

I connected a portable reactor, discarded from the ranch, to the deep drilling power interface as a power system, listening to the steady vibrations coming from the machine.

"Come on, press here, and the machine will start!"

I waved to Gray, signaling him to come over quickly. Although this place is called Mineral Town, it hasn't produced any real minerals for many years. Even Bertholdt and Jay have asked me why the town hasn't changed its name yet.

As the saying goes, opportunity knocks but once; the time has finally come to redeem this small town!

"Is this the correct method?"

Gray walked over dejectedly and looked at the most conspicuous red button on top of the deep well. "Can I leave now, boss? I just want to go back and get some sleep..."

"Stop talking nonsense, just press it! You'll be convinced right away!"

Gray had no choice but to press the switch hard, and the vibration of the machine suddenly intensified. The drill bit in the middle of the bottom of the machine began to collide violently and mercilessly with the ground, and even the ground beneath our feet resonated.

The tremor caused Gray to lose his footing, and he swayed for a moment before regaining his balance. He quickly asked, "Boss, is this normal? Hey, how did you get so far?"

I had already run more than ten meters away and was hiding behind a protruding rock. I waved and said, "Don't get me wrong, my cochlea balance isn't very good, so I feel more comfortable standing further away. I'm also a little dizzy from the Earth's rotation. How's it going on your end?"

Gray gripped the deep drill bit tightly, relying on the vibrations to stay steady, but his voice was already swaying: "Nothing's wrong, the drill bit seems to have gone deep into the ground, there haven't been any abnormalities, and the vibrations are quite stable..."

I quickly replied, "Okay, let's continue to observe."

Gray's voice came through immediately: "Something's changed! The ground's stopped shaking, but the whole machine's a bit unstable, like it's run out of oil..."

"Don't talk nonsense, this thing only consumes electricity, hang in there! If it mines Bitcoin, we'll split it 50/50!"

I looked at it with a bit of confusion.

There's no reason for that. As a deep-drilling mining facility, it must be in a continuous, oscillating downward process. The direction in which the power is applied is its direction of movement. How could the power suddenly disappear? It can't be that the earth has been drilled through and completely shaped like the drill bit, can it?

Hey, speaking of drilling through...

Could it be that the deep well drilled into a cavity at the bottom? Is some hidden underground paradise about to be discovered?

Just then, I didn't feel the machine malfunction, but I felt a shaking under my feet like a subway train passing by, as if a high-speed train was speeding past, causing a loud rumbling sound that grew louder as it approached!

Then I saw the area where the deep well was being dug shake violently, and a towering column of water burst out of the hole, bursting through the deep well and soaring into the sky, forming a beautiful halo around the bright moon.

...and then Gray, too, flew into the sky.

What a brilliant move! A celestial being descending from the heavens on a full moon night!

See? I told you technology surpasses human power! Could human beings alone fly so high and so far in mid-air, drawing such a perfect parabola?

…………

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot that besides minerals, the bottom layer here is also rich in water. I guess I accidentally hit a spring just now..."

I spotted Gray hanging from the tree branch from afar and quickly apologized. I was careless; when I checked the water source mode in the colonist system later, the entire area was a pale blue, and the spot where I'd just punched the hole was almost blackish blue…

Gray said with a long face, "Now I regret studying microelectronics even more..."

"Stop joking around. Einstein and Oppenheimer even regretted inventing the atomic bomb. Get down from the tree now."

After rescuing Gray from the tree, we returned to the entrance of the mine by the spring and watched the last stream of water gush out of the spring, flow into the clear spring, and wash over a patch of collapsed and broken rocks, carrying away the dust and sand, allowing us to discern some unique substances.

"This is mithril and orichalcos!"

Gray picked up the stone and looked at his hand in surprise. "According to Grandpa's experience, these are rare substances that can only be found by digging through five or six layers of ore in the mine!"

Five or six layers of ore mean we're at least fifteen meters underground. This deep well seems to be working!

Golden oresite is already a precious mineral. Even if it's not luxurious enough to build a house, it can be exported to earn foreign exchange. Perhaps the Brown Pool tribe can find a way to sell it.

"Gray, well done! How about one more time!"

Gray jumped back. "No, no, this is playing with my life! I can't take it!"

"Never mind then, take these back first and let your grandfather check their quality."

I also took two samples and sneaked to the Brown Pool Tribe camp in the woods at the foot of the mountain, but only found jays training in the dense forest.

"Jay, you're training so hard!"

The jay did a backflip and leaped from the treetop, throwing a dagger from its cloak, which landed right in front of me. Then it sprinted and stopped in front of me.

"Marcus! You've come to play with me!"

I patted her head. "Who's wielding swords and spears in the middle of the night? Where are the rest of the caravan?"

The jay shook its head in dissatisfaction: "They're going back to deliver the goods this evening. Grandpa Bertholdt is going with them too. The cargo has exceeded expectations by far, and he's a little worried."

Indeed, this trip included not only a large amount of cotton, but also tools made by old Sebala and cattle and sheep from Muchi, as well as goods that Gulegu had brought back from other islands. The business opportunities created by these numerous commodities were almost comparable to plundering a town on a fringe planet.

This is like a fishing buddy who's been out of the game for years. He was humming, "I'm heading north, leaving behind the season of fish. The fish say you're tired, you've been out of the game so many times..." and then he was thinking about whether he should bring back a calf from the roadside this time. But then, by sheer coincidence, he caught a tiger shark.

With so much stuff, won't it get robbed on the way?

I have a bad feeling that if Bertholdt has to get involved, it's probably something serious.