Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"Don't move..." Xia Lin pulled out her hunting knife. "Don't leave blood everywhere, it'll attract predators..."

The fact that the animals here have never seen humans or been abused by them is both good and bad news.

The good news is that they may be less alert, making them easier to find and hunt. The bad news is that predators don't necessarily see humans as dangerous prey.

Xia Lin clumsily cut open the area pierced by the electromagnetic bullet. As a non-hunting bullet, the cavity created by the Mach 6.5 expanding lead bullet was a bit too large, destroying a large amount of meat, and broken lead particles could be seen everywhere.

Following the bullet holes, peel off the deer hide, gradually removing the entire hide except for the scalp. Then roll it into a cylinder, cut open the abdomen, remove the liver and heart, collect the blood, and finally cut off the foreleg meat and soft abdominal meat that were not contaminated by the bullets.

Once the deer has reached its carrying capacity, most of it can only be left on the spot. Given readily available food, predators will not choose to attack unfamiliar creatures rashly.

Therefore, for hunters, if they really can't carry the remaining corpses away, it's a good option to throw them as far away from themselves as possible.

Next, the smell of blood was removed. Deodorant and a hemolysin-dissolving agent were sprayed on, and soon even Yelena's sense of smell could not detect a trace of blood. This would prevent carnivores from being brought to the campsite by the smell of blood.

Because hunting the giant deer took some time, it was already completely dark when they returned to the mining machine. Xia Lin took out the processed firewood from the truck bed.

Honestly, using this kind of high-quality pine wood as firewood would get you a severe beating from the forestry administration in the Covenant, and the fines would be so high that any middle-income person would be terrified and would never dare to do it again.

Even those forest colonies that offer outdoor BBQ services only grow fast-growing miscellaneous trees specifically for firewood, and they charge exorbitant prices.

However, there are certainly no Star Alliance agencies here to impose fines, and this is all wild woodland. According to the Star Alliance's ancient pioneering laws, Xia Lin even has the right to claim ownership—

Yes, the area extending 20 kilometers from the edge of his pioneering territory is his legitimate property—to encourage humanity to explore the stars.

Simply put, the land within 20 kilometers of the wall he built belongs to him, but beyond that, it doesn't. If you're capable of building a wall the size of a continent to enclose land, then the area inside and the 20 kilometers outside are also yours, it's just that the scale of that project...

So, theoretically speaking, he was cutting down his own wood for firewood, and no one could criticize him; at most, they could just say that the rich man was really extravagant.

For those who have brought alcohol and an ion torch, starting a fire is not difficult at all. The dried branches quickly ignite into flames, and then a few thick pieces of dry firewood are added, and a simple campfire is ready.

As Yelena watched the campfire and added broken twigs to it, Xia Lin unloaded a folding kitchen table from the truck bed, unfolded it, placed it next to the campfire, and then put a battery-powered outdoor lighting lamp on it.

The campfire gradually grew stronger, crackling and popping, and the warm firelight made people feel exceptionally safe.

After checking that the giant deer meat had almost no Originium sediment, Xia Lin threw the deer meat into clean purified water to wash it again, and added chemicals to accelerate Originium crystallization. She then washed it several more times to make sure that the Originium particles had crystallized and settled at the bottom of the water before taking it out and placing it on a cutting board to prepare for chopping.

Cut venison, cabbage, and potatoes into chunks, arrange them in a cooking pot, add salt and MSG, a little chicken oil, and then pour in purified water. Cover the pot and place it on the campfire. Then, cut venison leg meat and potatoes that have been salted for a while into chunks, skewer them on tree branches, and stick them around the campfire.

Finally, add pine needle tea made with salt and a pinch of clean pine needles, and a standard hunter's wilderness meal is complete. Xia Lin is very satisfied with her work.

The small pot on the campfire gurgled and the aroma of stewed meat filled the forest.

Under normal circumstances, this would easily attract wild animals. However, with such a large mining machine making a strange rumbling sound nearby, most wild animals would not dare to approach and risk their lives.

While Xia Lin was preparing the meal, Yelena went out carrying a large stack of clamps and didn't return until the stew was boiling. She had gone to install the traps.

If something is actually attracted to it, it might be a pleasant surprise.

He lifted the pot lid, poked the venison floating on the surface with his chopsticks, and felt that it should be tender enough. Xia Lin nodded and said, "It's ready to eat. Lena, go get the lunchbox."

"Okay!" The little girl quickly wiped her hands and ran to the back of the truck bed to rummage through two polymer lunch boxes.

A large lunchbox full of hot venison stew, plus venison skewers that were crispy and sizzling with oil on a baking tray, made their dinner for the day.

To be honest, the taste was just average, but it had a unique rustic charm.

The crispy outer skin cracks between your teeth, releasing hot oil and juices—a rich texture that poultry can hardly match. "Hmm, not bad, what do you think?"

"Mmm, it's delicious." Her fair face was stained with oil, and her shiny little mouth took another bite of venison. Her cheeks puffed up, and she made a satisfied sound as she chewed.

"Speaking of which, we could consider breeding these giant deer in the future..."

"Hey, you found the nest?" Yelena looked at him curiously. Did he know where the fawn was? "Ah, no, but I've collected somatic cells, so I can consider breeding them."

That Life Tree Seed Synthesis Platform, which cost nearly 1000 million Star Coins, was used for this task.

Of course, complex genetic modifications are not feasible, but simply inducing somatic cells into germ cells to form autologous cloned embryos should be barely acceptable.

In this way, he can obtain a giant deer embryo for breeding, although it is an autologous clone, and he will not selectively knock out the sex chromosome to turn the male deer's somatic cells into a female deer embryo.

So only males are available, but there will be opportunities to hunt this animal in the future. If all else fails, you can always buy a live deer from a local.

"Does having that mean we can raise them?" Yelena's delicate eyebrows furrowed; she didn't quite understand what autologous induced cloning was.

But if I understand that I have had my blood and so-called tissue samples collected before, does that mean I can create many versions of myself?

Completely inexperienced and uneducated in such matters, Yelena began to let her imagination run wild: "In that case, should the new little Yelena call herself 'Mom'? And what should Xia Lin call her? 'Dad'? How embarrassing!"

"Ah, this is a bit troublesome, but it is indeed possible to raise it. I'll try it when I get back."

"Um... can Yelena do it too?"

"Ah, humans are no good." The Covenant has locked down human clones because deck-based decks are easily banned by Ancestral Tech, causing misfortune for all of humanity.

"Oh—" The girl didn't know whether she was disappointed or what, but she quickly recovered from the self-loathing that her embarrassing past had been made public.

After all, she was only ten years old, and her understanding of these things was only vague, so she quickly put them aside.

After finishing their meal, Xia Lin cleared away the dishes while gesturing for Yelena to go into the tent, saying, "It's time to sleep. You go sleep in the tent; I'll keep watch..."

He has a symbiotic dozing mode, which allows him to rest for a while. Yelena doesn't have that ability. It's better for children to eat and sleep more.

Moreover, although her body was no longer so weak, she still looked very thin.

The girl wasn't coy at all. She agreed and crawled into the tent, wrapping herself in a thick, warm sleeping bag. The past few months had been like heaven compared to the past. There was no hunger, no struggle, no guards who took pleasure in abusing the infected, and no cold or fear.

Although life is somewhat mundane and uninteresting, she finds this simple life to be a great blessing and enjoyment. However, the uncertainty of the future fills her with some fear.

Especially with Mr. Xia Lin, he does a lot of the work himself, so her role is very limited and she could be replaced or abandoned at any time.

However, the fact that I was able to help out today is a small consolation, and Mr. Xia Lin didn't seem to have any complaints or dislikes.

On the contrary, he diligently taught himself how to handle prey and how to hunt; perhaps that's where his value lies.

Being a hunter free in the forest seemed pretty good, the girl slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"Ah, she fell asleep so quickly. Kids have such good mental fortitude..." Xia Lin looked at the synchronized life monitoring data in PNIS, which showed that Yelena was already asleep.

The nanofluid injected into her earlier has been mostly metabolized, and her recovery is progressing very well. The area previously diagnosed as osteoma is also showing signs of healing. The people here are really remarkably resilient; at this rate of recovery, she will soon return to normal.

Xia Lin smiled, picked up a piece of dry firewood and put it into the fire. "Crack!" A crisp sound came from the woods. "Who goes there!?" Xia Lin grabbed the rifle next to him and pointed it in the direction of the sound. His helmet automatically switched to optical enhancement mode.

"Don't be nervous, I'm just an ordinary traveler..." A tall man emerged from the woods, a faint, wry smile on his face. Damn it, how could a scout from the Shield Unit make such a basic mistake? "Look, I'm not carrying any weapons, so..."

"So, you gave your weapon to your companion and told him to come out too. I don't believe you're some kind of traveler."

"Okay, okay." Had he been seen through? And that weapon was a gun? What was this guy's connection to those Sarkaz? Ivan pondered this as he signaled to his companions to leave a mark before emerging.

Continuing to hide now would only make me a target, and at this distance, I'm not confident I can take down a heavily armed enemy. Therefore, leaving a mark before emerging is the only option.

If the other side is hostile or does anything to them, that hidden mark will alert the Patriots. And then... nothing more, the "Demon of Ursus" will take care of everything.

Chapter Sixteen Truth or Dare is not

Chapter 16

A creature with antlers emerged from behind the woods. To be honest, Xia Lin had already seen two "people" with animal ears.

But this was the first time I'd ever seen one with deer antlers on its head. The one that came out later was carrying a long halberd on its back and a heavy crossbow in its arms.

It has four crossbow arms that cross in an X shape. The overall structure looks like a standard rifle. Even the bolts are inserted from the back. There is also a Picatinny rail on the back of the crossbow for attaching a sight. Xia Lin didn't know how to evaluate it for a moment. What kind of wasteland DIY style weapon is this?

“We certainly don’t mean any harm, though we’re not exactly travelers…” Ivan raised his hands and slowly approached, without even exchanging glances with his companion. “Let’s talk. I’m sure you don’t want to cause trouble for that girl too, do you?”

"Stop! Don't go any further!" Xia Lin's thumb quickly flicked the safety, and three red warning stripes lit up on the gun, indicating that the weapon's battery was ready to fire. Although his index finger was still outside the protective ring, Ivan still felt a terrible sense of unease.

The gun in the other's hand gave him a great sense of danger, completely different from what Sataran had.

Even when facing Vasily's sniper crossbow, I didn't feel that way; it was a fear that if I moved even slightly, it would be instantly fatal.

As a veteran who had survived countless battles, Ivan always trusted his sixth sense. He obediently stopped and did not approach any closer.

Instead, he looked down at his surroundings and simply sat down cross-legged. It is difficult for a seated person to suddenly stand up and attack; this is a gesture to show that he has no malicious intent.

"Where is he?" "Sorry, just like you don't trust us, we don't trust you either."

The antler-wearing man behind Ivan decisively pointed his crossbow at the tent instead of Xia Lin. He wasn't confident that his crossbow could kill someone as heavily armored as Xia Lin, so threatening the little girl who had no armor was the only way.

This method is not advocated by the Shield Forces and Old Man, but it is acceptable if it is to avoid casualties and conflicts.

They weren't morally fastidious people, they just had a bottom line. If a conflict were to break out, Vasily would definitely shoot, aiming for the girl's leg, so that the other side, hampered by a leg injury, wouldn't be able to pursue.

Xia Lin maintained this posture, pointing the gun at Ivan, not at the guy with the crossbow, even though the 6.5 Mach iron bullet was definitely faster than the other guy's crossbow bolt.

However, the opponent's index finger was already inside the protective ring, and the twitching of his finger at the moment of death would still allow the crossbow bolt to penetrate Yelena's tent. Therefore, aiming at the man sitting on the ground was the only solution.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"Regarding your identities, you don't seem to be from this place..."

Ivan smiled. The girl was alright; she looked thin and small, not even half the height of his shield. But this man was a bit special, and so was that strange farm.

"Tell me first, you're not travelers, and you can't possibly be villagers from the area. Who are you?"

“We are infected…” The burly man rolled up his sleeve, revealing the crystals on his arm to prove he was telling the truth, but Xia Lin did not let her guard down because of this.

Yelena said that many infected people become scum who will do anything and dare to do anything because they have no hope.

In a sense, the discrimination against those infected stems from both their terminal illness and political propaganda.

However, these factors do not have a significant impact on most ordinary people who are also struggling below the poverty line. What truly cuts off the possibility of infected individuals receiving sympathy is themselves.

After a group of people who lacked a guiding principle, faith, and even more so, had no future or hope, they gained enhanced Originium Arts due to infection. What would they do in the face of cold stares and their own hunger and cold?

It's about robbing, killing, stealing, and even indulging one's animalistic instincts.

So, did they unleash this hatred and revenge on the nobles, warlords, and conglomerates who caused their predicament?

No, they are inflicting this pain twice as much on ordinary people who might have sympathized with them, or even become one of them in this shitty world at any time!

They couldn't possibly storm into a metropolis like Lungmen, nor could they attack the elites and nobles heavily protected by organizations like the Royal Guard, the Internal Security, and private PMCs. So, who would they attack?

Of course, it's not unusual for infected people to become bandits in ordinary small villages and towns on the snowy plains.

This has led to a deep-seated hatred of the infected in these villages and towns. Even without further encouragement from the Ursus authorities, they will naturally be hostile and ostracistic towards all infected individuals, and even fear them.

Even though the old man put in a lot of effort to reform and protect ordinary people from the scum of Ursus, he still couldn't gain their understanding and support. They might temporarily compromise out of fear of the powerful Shield Force.

However, once the shield troops leave, the infected who remain will face even greater violence and hostility.

They themselves will find that these villages and towns will soon disappear from their route, and then Ursus's scouts will receive a large number of reports and relentlessly pursue them.

"You two don't look like infected miners. What are your identities? I demand the truth from you..."

“But you’re not telling the truth either. How about we try a different approach? You ask one question, we ask one question. Neither of us can verify whether the other is telling the truth or lying, so there’s no point in arguing about this,” Ivan said with a smile.