Mecha Star Wars.

Chapter 1445 Annie the Demon Star
Bonnie was born and raised in Graystone Settlement, and ever since she learned about Silvermoon City, she has longed to leave Graystone Settlement.

The Black Rock Mountains run from east to west.

To the far west, bordering the outer edge of the Azure Forest, lies the Graystone Settlement, the settlement with the most orc civilians.

The houses here are all neat concrete buildings, and the streets are much wider than the narrow alleys in the loess area, paved with asphalt.

But everything is inevitably "old and worn out".

The exterior finishes of the building have long since peeled off, losing their original color.

The lighting in public transportation is also old and in disrepair. The road is so dimly lit that you're lucky if you can even see anything and don't fall into a pothole.

The road surface is riddled with cracks and potholes from years of neglect, and no one is repairing it.

Although there is a stable power supply in the area, the voltage is often unstable, and power outages occur frequently.

Most of the people here live off the mines on the east side of the settlement.

Many orcs are known for their strength, making them well-suited for physically demanding jobs such as mining, logging, and transportation.

Some clever people use mechanical aids to save a lot of effort. However, the high price of the equipment deters most people.

The technological development of Annie Demon Star is incredibly diverse. It possesses intelligent machinery from a Level 3 civilization, as well as primitive tools and pickaxes from a Level 1 civilization.

The people of the Greystone settlement are orcs with a relatively low percentage of animal genes.

The reason they were exiled to the bottom is because, apart from superficial abilities such as great strength and speed, they lack stronger animalistic talents in their genes.

If it weren't for their distinct orcish appearance, they would have been easily mistaken for members of the Loess Plateau region.

The lives of the people in the Greystone settlement seem to be predetermined from the day they are born: work, finish work, reproduce, die...

It's like a programmed, living tool.

The vast majority of people who do heavy labor tighten their belts and save money to buy an auxiliary machine that can save them effort.

Even with their abilities, they could only afford rudimentary mechanical limbs that lacked intelligent systems and relied entirely on manual operation. However, this was enough to lighten the burden of life and make their bodies a little easier.

However, once you buy mechanical products, maintenance, upkeep, and repairs are all very expensive...

Therefore, the people in the graystone settlement were generally poor—those who relied solely on manual labor were inefficient and didn't earn much; those who had the help of machinery earned more, but that money went to the machinery.

The meager savings of most orcs meant that they could only afford secondhand goods discarded by Silvermoon City: inferior food, inferior cloth, inferior vehicles, and even much inferior medical care...

Survival itself already takes up most of their energy, so where would they find the energy to care about trivial matters on the street that don't concern them?

Sometimes Silvermoon City would send someone to do maintenance when they remembered; other times, some wealthy person would suddenly have a change of heart and come to repair the damage.

More often than not, the Greystone settlements maintained this not-too-dirty, dilapidated appearance, hanging on the edge of a first-level civilization.

This is how the people of the Greystone settlement have lived for generations: listen to the anecdotes of the upper class, sigh, and then continue with their own arduous lives.

Until Anemor announced that it had entered a level three civilization and that it could perform targeted optimization of the "original talents" in the orc genes.

This news stirred up the restless spirits of the people in the stagnant Graystone settlement.

If orc genes can be edited and optimized, could they also possess higher talents and enter Silvermoon City, or even Starshine City to live?
Entering Star City is no easy feat. The cost of just clearing the way alone is dizzyingly high.

Some people gave up quickly. Others did not.

Bonnie entered Silvermoon City through clandestine means. She doesn't want to recall the process, but one of the costs was that she had to follow orders and make money for the smugglers.

It may sound unpleasant, but making money isn't shameful.

As for conscience, it doesn't hurt if you don't have it. From the moment she decided to leave Graystone Settlement, she cast all her kindness aside.

How could someone who has paid such a high price for a higher social class possibly go back to it so easily?
I think that way, but I can't say it out loud.

Bonnie continued acting with Gar, looking dejected. Her acting was indeed quite good; otherwise, how could she have fooled Antonio at the beginning?

Add to that her good looks, and Garl's genuine disdain. Whether he truly believed her or was pretending, Bonnie outwardly fooled him and even managed to get information out of him.

Lin Fan felt a jolt in his wrist.

[Antonio: That idiot's got no brains... He actually believed that?]

She glanced at Antonio. This guy has the nerve to talk about others.

Antonio felt Lin Fan's gaze, looked up and smiled at her, then continued to secretly observe the area ahead, as if he had already forgotten his earlier protection of Bonnie.

It was pitch black outside the carriage; you couldn't see anything.

Lin Fan glanced at the two people in front of him who were still chatting, then looked down at the terminal display hidden between his torso and legs.

They are now crossing the Canglan Forest.

This is an area covering 30-60 degrees north latitude, which, according to the 3D space map, is the blue-green "crystal".

Due to logging operations by orcs, a patch of mottled, brown, bare land has appeared on the northwestern edge.

The light green patch of land south of the forest is the Cloud Ridge Plain they just left. Most of the area to the northeast is an automated agricultural base. Only a small area in the southwest corner is loess. Anyone unfamiliar with the area would assume the automated agricultural base is managed by the loess region.

Further down, spanning a vast area 20 degrees north and south of the equator, lies the red sand desert.

From the northern part of the Red Sand Desert to the middle of the Black Stone Mountains lies the largest meteorite ore area on the planet Annie.

The dark gray Blackstone Mountains run east to west, sloping from northwest to southeast.

The deep blue sea that covers almost the entire eastern hemisphere is a vast ocean area rich in rare resources.

My wrist jolted again; it was the latest official message from Lan Bingru.

The content is roughly about gene repair technology, which uses telomere technology to reset the cell aging clock every 50 years, so that the natural lifespan of orcs can generally be stabilized at 300-500 years.

Below was a link to "Practical Results of Targeted Optimization of Orc Genes." Lin Fan clicked on it and saw that it contained information they had discussed in a previous meeting.

Old Dupu was very interested in the principles and processes of gene optimization. But Lin Fan was not optimistic and cited Xiangshao as an example.

Sentinels are also products of genetic optimization. However, due to excessive optimization, while some abilities have increased dramatically, the disadvantages that come with the advantages have also multiplied, ultimately leading to a loss of self-control and requiring third-party intervention.

Comparatively speaking, the guide's genes are not as enhanced. Although their bodies are weak, their structure is relatively stable, and they can also provide positive spiritual guidance to the sentinels.

Lin Fan believes that the iteration of natural genes is a stable result accumulated, refined, and verified over time. So-called optimized genes created by easily disrupting a stable structure, while seemingly powerful, inevitably harbor significant hidden dangers. Rash actions should be avoided.

Like her and Antonio, their bodies appear stable, but they also face many challenges. In particular, the process of tearing apart flesh and bones to cover the mecha during each transformation is not so pleasant.

Moreover, even the octopus-men weren't sure how long this stability would last. Everyone just tacitly agreed and kept quiet about it.

As a result, Cui Yan unsurprisingly sided with Old Dupuy, as did Ilya.

Antonio and Jin Sichen stood with Lin Fan.

Cen Fangyuan abstained, stating that he needed to see more detailed and specific experimental data before he could express his opinion.

But experiments always require people to act as carriers.

Lin Fan was adamant that he did not want the people on the Noah to conduct such an irreversible and dangerous experiment in order to achieve rapid power.

In the end, naturally, nothing came of it. I didn't expect to see this report here again.

A further search revealed that Annie Moxing has quite a few reports on gene optimization.

Thinking that any reasonable judgment should be based on real data, Lin Fan carefully read through each article one by one.