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

"It's good that you've grasped it. What are your thoughts on the other characteristics?" I gently guided him, hoping he would continue to broaden his thinking and avoid falling into even greater misconceptions.

Gray swung his greatsword, and the strong wind caused the surrounding grass and trees to sway and break in all directions.

"The sword's design has equally obvious advantages and disadvantages. It's very heavy, making it impossible for a user to wield with one hand; only by using both hands can its power be unleashed. Therefore, the blunt, rounded tip, the broad but thin body, and the blunt section above the hilt are all designed for efficient slashing. However, this also leads to a rapid loss of stamina, resulting in exhaustion in actual combat..."

After saying all this, he fell into deep thought, staring blankly at the greatsword, seemingly having truly grasped something.

Seeing this, I didn't disturb him, letting Gray think about his thoughts and prepare to finish setting up the base.

I had already added flooring, tables, chairs, beds, and even weapons. This meant I didn't have enough wood, so my plan to build a workbench had to be put on hold.

The night was now deep, and the entire Mados Mountain was fast asleep. Weary birds returned to their nests, spring insects hibernated, and the wind, tired from the day, howled back to the forest crevices where it had found refuge, no longer as noisy as it had been during the day.

I picked up my axe and climbed the mountain step by step. To cut down trees discreetly, you have to use your brain. The ocean is the best place to hide water droplets, and the forest is the best place to hide trees.

The forest here is so vast that no one except Gots would notice that a tree or two is missing. And to fool Gots would be even easier.

As long as I cut down trees in his private forest farm by the lagoon, even if he has great insight, he wouldn't realize that a single tree is missing from his forest farm.

The lakeside scenery was still picturesque, but the traces of the giant beast I discovered last time still lingered in my mind. It wasn't wise to stay any longer in the middle of the night; I'd better finish cutting down the trees and leave…

"Boom...boom...boom..."

The monotonous sound of logging echoed across the lake at night, rippling across its surface. Between controlling the logging, I cast my gaze towards the dark waters, listening to every whisper carried on the breeze.

"This is a bit scary... It's dangerous to be alone in this environment. I should have brought Gray with me..."

Thinking about it this way, leaving Gray alone by the hot springs doesn't seem very safe, does it? What if they encounter a giant beast in the lake? Even with his skills, he might not be able to gain the upper hand.

I'd better hurry down the mountain.

Having made up my mind, I gathered the chopped logs and prepared to return to the secret base.

Suddenly, a faint, unusual noise blew past my ear. The sound was like insects in the dust gnawing at rags, or like waves crashing against rotten wood, hollow and muffled.

I gripped my axe and followed the sound, discovering that it originated from the nightmarishly silent lagoon on the hillside.

A nearly human-shaped figure lay soaking wet in the mud by the lake. His entire body was buried deep in the sticky silt, emitting a horrifying stench like that of a rotting corpse. The lakebed weeds clung to his body, forming a heavy shroud that strangled this pitiful life.

The reason I was able to tell that this humanoid creature was still alive was because of the glaring, astonishing, and continuously spreading red patch beneath him.

Blood seeped from his countless wounds, pooling into a vast, viscous, and thick river of blood that joyfully rushed into the lake, giving this beautiful, mirror-like lake halfway up the mountain a strange and alluring hue.

I gripped the axe and slowly walked towards the person by the lake, a multitude of terrifying speculations flooding my mind. Would he transform into a ghoul and attack? Were there apex predators lurking there? Would the blood attract the footsteps of something ominous? What... what exactly happened here?

From the time I arrived here until I discovered there were people by the lake, less than fifteen minutes had passed. I can assure you from my memory that it was absolutely impossible for someone to have dragged their severely injured body to the lakeside during that time.

So the only possibility is that this person walked out of the lake?

How could a human possibly cross the icy lake water alone, through the muddy bottom, enduring the double torment of suffocation and water pressure, and arrive on the shore covered in blood?

When I approached this person with a heart full of fear, something even more terrifying happened...

The poor man, lying unconscious by the lake, was beyond control, but an invisible creature was tearing, gnawing, and scratching at him relentlessly. Its sharp teeth pierced through the mud and weeds, creating countless holes in his body. Then, hot blood gushed out, flowing into the magnificent river of blood.

Chapter 146 The First Encounter with the Invisible Creature

The mud-and-blood figure before me seemed like a soulless puppet, being attacked and torn apart by an unseen murderer, soon to become a tattered rag doll.

Not far away, there I was, standing there, holding an axe.

For a fleeting moment, this scene created a delicate balance. On one side was a pitiful creature on the verge of death, its life force slowly draining away from its core. On the other side was a hapless soul who had lost its strength, fear relentlessly eroding its spirit from the outside in.

The comical and absurd scene continued quietly until a faint voice rang out.

"Come on..."

That was my first reaction, my last remaining rationality, which had materialized into a tangible presence, reminding me to run. This wasn't a place where I could easily extricate myself from the situation.

But that voice was hoarse, low, and barely audible; it was definitely not the cry from my heart, which was screaming with alarm.

The only possibility is that it exists in the silt in front of us.

That voice... sounds familiar?

"Come on..."

A second call rang out, this time tinged with anxiety, as if the dying humanity within him was making a final, desperate attempt to regain control.

The heavy mud and water restricted his movements, and countless wounds tugged at his nerves, but he swayed, twisted, rolled, and struggled, slowly pushing himself up from the ground...

The unseen beast continued to attack him, leaving more wounds on his body, but these wounds seemed to be stuck in cotton swabs, or perhaps his sense of pain had long been numbed, and something more terrifying had taken over his mind.

"Don't come any closer... run away..."

Standing frozen in place, I truly heard his voice this time, and it seemed as if a person had truly awakened from their body. That bear-like body exuded a stubbornness from within, stiffly twisting its limbs, and using both hands and feet to walk towards the lake…

wrong!

He's going to jump into the lake!

I realized his intention, and my body moved before my mind could react. In just two steps, I reached the lakeside and approached this mysterious and inscrutable being.

But by then, I already knew who this person was.

To appear on Mount Mads in the dead of night, to be such a tall and imposing person with such a gruff voice, to suffer such severe injuries yet refuse help...

Only after his wife and daughter died did Gotzer insist on living in the forest farm at the foot of the mountain, where he worked as a forest ranger every day!

"Hey, Gotz, even if you say that, I can't just stand by and watch someone die."

I reached out and revealed the First Dimension Armor, protecting my right arm guard in front of my chest. With my left hand, I grabbed Gotz's mud-covered arm and pulled him back from the edge of the lake.

"Quickly! Here...cough cough..." Gotz instinctively tried to struggle, but this aggravated the injury to his lungs from choking on water, causing him to cough violently.

I said with dissatisfaction, "If you had just lay there quietly and pretended to be dead, I would have pretended not to see anything and made my escape. Why did you have to try to be a hero? I hate it when people try to be heroes in front of me!"

As I spoke, I quickly activated the Colonizer System, set up evasion mode, and used my near-human strength to drag the half-dead giant onto land with one hand.

But not long after, my worst fears came true: the invisible killer seemed to sense my presence.

"Information alert: Unidentified hostile creature detected, has been set as combat target."

This damn system! We've already encountered such a dangerous enemy, and it still can't unlock the attack system and give me the combat function?!

Or is this invisible killer targeting Gotz, so I'm still stuck in friendly combat mode and don't have the authority to kill?

With a "thump," I suddenly stretched out my right hand, as if in a pantomime, and placed the arm guard horizontally between me and Gotz in mid-air.

Then came a teeth-grinding snapping sound, and a bite mark appeared on the arm armor. The transparent enemy had launched its attack!

Fortunately, when Gray forged the arm armor, he used a one-piece casting of wrought bronze and also incorporated the secret minerals of Sebala, which increased the hardness to an astonishing level, allowing him to withstand the attack of the invisible enemy.

But this was not the end. I didn't feel any weight in my arm while it was in mid-air, so I immediately switched to punching with the back of my hand.

Immediately, the arm armor was struck hard. Unlike the previous bites, this one seemed to be from a bony tail or claws, and sparks flew from the arm armor!

What kind of creature is this?!

The rapid counter-attacks in this transparent world continued. Gotz was still bleeding, but he was much better than before. The invisible enemy stubbornly attacked the shoulder and arm where Gotz and I were holding hands, giving me the possibility of defending myself.

If my opponent were to slow down my advance from behind, or deliberately pursue the defenseless Gots, then the inevitable result would be that Gots would meet a violent end.

Suddenly, three rows of blades on the side of my arm guard popped out and struck the claws in the void. A tremendous force came from the blades; normally, it would have left me wide open and unable to defend myself.

However, under the control of the colonizer system, power cannot be out of control. I watched as I vibrated my arm with a technique that reached its peak in an instant, taking control of the constant pressure, and then unleashing the strongest counterattack that belongs to humanity, flinging the invisible creature that was fighting against the blade into the sky.

In this contest of strength, my senses went beyond the limitations of the five senses, and I suddenly captured some special information, reconstructing the enemy's movements in my mind.

The invisible creature must have launched its attack from the void, striking my head like an eagle hunting a rabbit. However, the attack, built up with momentum, failed to work. Instead, I used even greater force to send it flying back into the void, where it escaped.

Such a deadly attack is never found in a top predator. The more ferocious the attack, the more it shows its eagerness to end the battle. Some unseen factors restrain it, preventing it from delaying any longer.

If this attack fails, the invisible creature will have no further chance to attack!

Just then, a figure appeared from a distance along the mountain road and shouted in their direction.

"Boss Marcus! What happened to you? Why do I hear fighting sounds?!"

It's Gray!

Just as I sensed something was wrong and wanted to return to the secret base to find him, he probably also sensed a hint of unease in the air, and ended his thoughts to come find me!

Did the invisible creature sense Gray's approach and thus abandon its attack?

"Gray, come quick! Gots's been attacked! He needs to get to the hospital right away!"

Upon hearing this, Gray immediately held his greatsword horizontally, gripped it with one hand and held it upright in front of his chest, grabbed Gotz's other arm, and the two incredibly strong men together lifted the big man and quickly descended the mountain.

What worried us was that at this point, Gotz had fallen into a deep coma due to blood loss, his lips were purple and his body was dirty, and he showed almost no signs of life.

Even more worrying is that we never found out what the enemy that attacked Gots was...

Chapter 147 is titled "Prison in the Human World".

Dr. Dort, dressed in pajamas with his hair disheveled like a bird's nest, stared at me and Sheriff Harris with bloodshot eyes, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger.

"Who could be so cruel! You must tell me!"

Sheriff Harris shook his head helplessly, looking at Dr. Dort: "I'm sorry, there were no eyewitnesses to Gotz's misfortune; only Marcus, who arrived later, knows. And in his description..."

Sheriff Harris turned to me, who was sitting next to him, signaling me to continue.

"It's an invisible creature! An invisible creature attacked Gots! It should be larger than a cat or dog, smaller than a leopard, with an extremely strong jumping ability, and may even have the ability to fly for short distances!"

The details kept replaying in my mind as I closed my eyes and recalled the feeling: "It had sharp claws, couldn't walk on two legs, its tail was probably made of hard bone and not covered with feathers... maybe... maybe it had a layer of tough, plastic-like skin, it was very fast at night, and it was good at tearing its prey apart with its canine teeth..."

This bizarre creature is beyond my comprehension. I can only describe it using various inappropriate metaphors and vague descriptions. But to outsiders, this behavior seems to make me appear to be desperately fabricating lies...

Dr. Dort interrupted me, annoyed: "Marcus, your statement is completely unfounded! The creature you described possesses stealth and gliding abilities, combines the agility of a leopard, the hunting characteristics of a falcon, the hunting methods of a mastiff, and even resembles an insect exoskeleton. Such a multi-species creature simply cannot exist in nature!"

Just as I was about to explain, Dr. Dort interrupted me abruptly with a question that left both Sheriff Harris and me speechless.

"You may doubt my clinical medical skills, but don't doubt my basic theoretical knowledge from medical school." A flicker of annoyance crossed Dr. Dort's eyes. "Those kinds of wounds are absolutely not something a creature you've concocted could create!"

He stood up and said emotionally, "Götz has three comminuted fractures, severe bone dislocations in his legs and hips, which even caused internal organ concussions and multiple internal hemorrhages!"

"What!" I stared at him in utter shock. "But his injuries..."

"Those bite marks all over his body were blocked near the muscle tissue, and the bleeding was quickly contained by the muscles. Even if the injury were twice as severe, it wouldn't kill him!"

Dr. Dort dismissed my question and said irritably, "Unforgivable! I absolutely cannot forgive anyone for trampling on life like this! Can you imagine? In this seemingly peaceful town, Gotz is being subjected to a vicious torment, like a cat tossing a mouse!"

“Those wounds were left by Gotz during his repeated attempts to escape and his struggles. The killer broke his bones little by little and hit his organs, wanting to watch him lose his vitality, his courage, and his chance to live, but without killing him directly.”