Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"Some kind of Originium device?"

"Hmm!" Little Lamb nodded. It was indeed some kind of Originium device, but the design and construction were not yet complete. She was still testing and adjusting it based on the volcano's condition and the precision of her research.

"Where is the warlock?"

"Huh? That's me!" Little Lamb looked at the staff leaning against the side, frowning in confusion. She was a high-level sorcerer, capable of operating such a large device all by herself.

"You...you operate such a large Originium device all by yourself?" Bagpipe stared in disbelief. "May I ask what your sorcerer's certificate is...?"

"Class A, Level I, is there a problem?"

"No, no." That's the highest level of the warlock assessment. Class A means that you can operate large Originium devices. In Ursus parlance, it's called a war warlock. Rank I is the highest level of Class A, which means that she can use any kind of war device by herself.

Fengdi was immediately filled with respect for the girl who looked even younger than herself. Although she wasn't a bad student, the other girl was no ordinary academic achiever either. It was like a top student from an ordinary key high school meeting an academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a big shot who became an academician in his early twenties and also held the title of full professor. A sense of intellectual inferiority arose spontaneously.

"Alright, I'm done here." Little Sheep recorded the last set of data, and the next day he would find Master Yikeke and others to help adjust and modify this Originium device.

The device works by using the bio-origin stone effect field, similar to how a warlock uses a staff to release a larger effect field covering the mining area, continuously consuming the energy of the Originium particles and then exporting the energy.

In this way, the volcano itself can serve as a huge energy center, and the dense Originium dust and particles produced will agglomerate into small clusters under the effect field, reducing the diffusion caused by hot air and wind, and accelerating the condensation and sedimentation.

They can also be rapidly recharged in the high-temperature volcanic area, turning into new Originium ore, which is more conducive to mining and greatly reduces Originium particle pollution caused by eruptions.

If this technology succeeds, applying it to all known active volcanoes in Terra could not only provide cities with unimaginable amounts of energy, but also provide abundant mineral resources and significantly reduce the amount of Originium particles in Terra's atmosphere, thus reducing the chances of Oripathy infection.

Even if it can only reduce the number of infected by less than one-thousandth, multiplied by Terra's area and population, it can still reduce the number of infected by tens of thousands. And if one infected person often means the ruin of an entire family, her invention could potentially save the fate of tens of thousands of families in Terra.

However, the entire device and system are currently unable to achieve the effect of simulating the scenario. The parameters used in the field are at least an order of magnitude different from the theoretical values, and some important data are even two orders of magnitude different. The variation curves have left Xiao Yang with no clues after studying them for more than half a year. The only solution is to use the most basic method: increase the density and number of detectors, collect data more extensively and deeply, and accumulate data over a long period of time.

Real scientific research is not something that a few people come up with on a whim. It involves finding one or two anomalies in massive amounts of data, reproducing them through hundreds or thousands of repeated experiments, and then digging out the core of the anomaly through the stabilized anomaly. This is only the final stage of scientific research.

In reality, the preliminary data collection work is a long and arduous process that requires a large enough team and a huge amount of funding, even for something as relatively simple as volcanology.

If we were to send them to study Covenant physics and do physics research—we would need at least three super colliders to operate them, as the daily energy consumption would be astronomical.

Therefore, Lao Xia is quite open-minded about the fact that resources and time are wasted every day without any usable results. Compared to the Star Alliance's scientific research consumption, Little Sheep's research and development costs are already very cost-effective, even at the level of a street stall.

After packing up the data boxes and storage chips, Little Sheep and Bagpipe returned together to their residence and research lab located halfway up the mountain.

To be honest, it was quite messy inside. Blueprints, large and small bio-servers, and cooling systems took up more than half of the room.

Various books and data boxes were piled up like mountains, and her living space was squeezed to a small extent. Only the outline of a bed could be seen from a pile of clutter. Judging from the appearance, she probably hadn't slept in it once. Usually, she would just take a nap on that long sofa.

"You'll die suddenly if you keep going like this," Bagpipe said seriously. No wonder Miss Talulah from this area had someone specifically assigned to deliver fresh fruit and health supplements like cod liver oil to her.

"No, I know my body very well, and the medical technology here is amazing."

"Hey!" Advanced medical technology is no excuse for your reckless behavior!

"You still need to make sure you get enough rest. If you keep working like this, your work efficiency will drop significantly. I have a lot of experience with this," Bagpipe continued to persuade him.

"I did get plenty of rest."

How many hours do you sleep a day?

"Four hours is enough for deep sleep."

Can you guarantee that you'll get deep sleep every day?

"Hmm." The little lamb took out a helmet-like object. "Dr. Kal'tsit made this especially for me. It helps me fall asleep, and I actually rested very well..."

What about exercise?

"Ah, do I need any extra exercise?" Thinking about it carefully, it seems not. After all, I have to climb the mountain two or three times a day, and it's this kind of terrain, so the amount of exercise is already quite high.

After lingering around the lamb for a while, the lamb took out some cloudberry jam and cloudberry wine that the farm had given them and shared them with everyone. Cloudberry wine has considerable antibacterial and immune-boosting effects, and drinking a small amount can be beneficial to the body—but excessive drinking will still lead to death.

By the time we came down the mountain, it was completely dark. The solar tower was under repair, so the farm's night shifts had been canceled for the past few days.

However, the patrol team continued their patrols with flashlights and dogs, as Talulah did not want to harm ordinary people.

However, she also knew the wickedness of human nature. Not wanting to harm their lives did not mean she was unwilling to punish them. She was not a saintly hypocrite.

Therefore, the patrol team was equipped with the hunting dogs or patrol dogs from Lao Xia's side. They were slender-waisted, long-legged, and broad-muzzled, making them adept at traversing mountains and crossing valleys. Their running and sprinting speed was unmatched by humans. Their jaw biting force was not very high, and they were mainly used to catch small animals such as rabbits.

In actual use, this medium-sized dog is also paired with a large dog that is muscular, short and stout. The former is responsible for chasing people away. Those who know their place will at most get a light bite, while those who don't will be entangled by the patrol dog and then become standard fighting dogs.

Although dog fighting is morally condemned, it is not explicitly prohibited in some colonies and regions, and this bloody spectacle is also popular among thrill-seekers.

Therefore, breeding fighting dogs falls under the category of agricultural technology. Of course, dogs for meat and fur are also included. In fact, Lao Xia also owns fur foxes and fur mink.

Since they were bred specifically for fighting, these short, stout dogs, though not good at trekking, running, or chasing, can easily crush a leg bone if they manage to get their way with a single bite once the patrol dog gets involved.

Of course, the farm's medical clinic provides treatment to everyone bitten by dogs, but the process is rather rough in order to save on medicine, and even Ursus people will cry out in pain, and there is a charge.

Since this method was adopted, there have been far fewer guys coming to steal green plants at night, because medical expenses have to be paid out of pocket, and the pain is real.

Moreover, there are far fewer other creatures that come to steal greens at night. The vast farmland also grows a lot of sugar beets, whose sweet juice is an irresistible temptation for herbivores, especially wild boars.

Even fighting dogs couldn't defeat them one-on-one. Relying on their thick skin and resin armor, they came in packs to steal vegetables from the fields.

Of course, the farmers didn't mind, because at most they would lose a few hundred kilograms, less than a ton, of beets and radishes. However, the wild boar herds were often entangled by the hunting dogs, leaving one or two alive.

These large pigs weigh at least 200 jin each. If you keep one or two, you'll break even. If you're lucky, you can catch piglets and raise them directly, then slaughter them for food in the winter.

Besides wild boars, red deer and moose are also a major pest, especially when they travel in herds. Rats are also excellent at storing food. Fortunately, where there are rats, there are foxes. The Arctic foxes found several dens nearby. They used to steal chickens from farmers, but after realizing they couldn't beat the big dogs, they simply settled down on the outskirts and spent their days catching rats and snakes.

The farm is surrounded by real wilderness and primeval snow forests, with a rich variety of carnivorous and herbivorous species. Being surrounded by wilderness means that these creatures are almost impossible to exterminate. If you kill a group, under the pressure of ecological compression, a new group will migrate from other places.

Finally, after everyone discovered this, they mainly focused on driving them away. After all, the old neighbors who had come to understand which fields they could and couldn't go to were easier to deal with than those newly arrived, clueless newcomers.

Just like wild boar herds only ravage the peripheral fields and dare not rush in, and they don't come to cause trouble every day. They usually come when they are fattening up for winter or when food is scarce in spring.

Carnivores also exist, such as wild bears lurking near beehives. Unfortunately, those are merely bee-like creatures; their relentless protein and sugar-producing machines are far beyond the capabilities of ordinary bears in nature. However, even when stung and howling, these wild bears refuse to give up.

In the end, Talulah had no choice but to put some sugar water by the field every now and then for the wild bears to drink. The presence of bears meant that other dangerous animals would not easily appear, which also relieved the patrol burden a bit.

"Stop! Release the dogs!" A chorus of gongs and drums echoed along the paddy field ridge, interspersed with a few low barks of dogs. "Holy crap, it's that old man again!"

"Old man?"

"Yes, the leader of a group of wild boars nearby, they bring their entire clan to forage around the time winter approaches..."

A ferocious wild boar weighing at least half a ton protected the piglets and the sow as they broke through the encirclement, while the young wild boars were on the other side.

Of course, the farmers didn't intend to fight against these desperate pigs. They kept banging drums and gongs and used their hunting dogs to drive them away and exhaust their strength.

Finally, two or three half-grown wild boars and a young wild boar that had been bitten fell behind. They were surrounded by a group of people and kept grunting, while most of the wild boar herd ran away.

"Looks like we'll have roasted pig tomorrow." Wild boars are known for their vengefulness, but after two battles with humans that nearly wiped out their population, they've learned their lesson.

Pigs are often associated with stupidity, but they are actually quite intelligent. They have learned that once they are discovered, the strong and healthy pigs will protect the sows and piglets and break through the encirclement, leaving the old, weak and sick behind. They have even learned to let the old, weak and sick attract the attention of the hunting dogs, while the herd sneaks in from the other side, has a good meal, and then runs away quickly.

If they didn't also know that while human fields offer abundant food, they are also more dangerous, and that they only come to steal food when there is a food shortage or when food needs to be stored, Talulah would have really sent Big Daddy with the Shield Guards and Yetis to wipe out the entire enemy tribe.

The half-grown pigs were put into the pen, while the injured wild boar was undoubtedly made to be hung upside down on a rack to bleed. The butcher came over with a lamp and knife, cut open its belly with one stroke, and then began to skillfully cut the flesh.

"Which team's assigned field got affected?" Igor offered a cigarette to the patrolman. "Which field?"

"These big guys are quite picky about the potato and beet fields; they take a bite from each one, but definitely not more..."

"Where's the cornfield?"

"The cornfield is fine. Ever since we threw some of the corn stalks outside for them to gnaw on, these guys have become much smarter and absolutely won't gnaw on the cornfield."

"But they've ruined all the little fish and ducklings we released into the rice paddies."

Wild boars are omnivores and will eat meat, especially these quacking ducklings and small fish in the shallow water.

"Oh, Miss Bagpipes is here too. It's so late, why aren't you resting yet?"

"Ah, I just visited Miss Eyjafjalla on that mountain and just got back," Bagpipe explained simply.

"We still need to go to the computer lab tomorrow, don't be late..."

"Early in the morning?"

"That's right. Farming requires getting up early and working late. You'll see how tough it is tomorrow."

"Is it really that exaggerated?" Bagpipe went to sleep, a little uneasy, because she had to report to the shunting yard early the next morning.

[PS]

Upgrading computer...

A bunch of software is being reinstalled...

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Another Year of the Battle for Terra

Chapter 58

In the shunting yard, "Tractor!" The infected person in charge of showing the inspection team around the machinery patted the behemoth next to him. It had four tracks, dual front and rear drive, and although the armor had been removed to reduce weight, it still looked very sturdy and huge.

"It can be connected to rotary tillers and heavy-duty stone crushers, and seeding racks and harvesting racks can also be installed on it."

"This one over here is a lawnmower, but it can also be used with a trailer or a small tiller for small plots of land and sloping fields."

"Hmm—" Fengdi listened attentively, clutching her notebook. She had never even heard of such a massive agricultural machine, let alone operated it. However, she also knew that this kind of equipment was extremely dangerous, and if she didn't learn how to use it, an accident could easily happen.

The shunting yard workers didn't hide anything, since everyone knew that this was a team that the boss's wife had found, intended for use in the south, where it was said to be more suitable for these machines to speed around, at least better than the muddy terrain of Ursus.

What's that white one over there?

"That's the boss's car. It can be used as a tractor, but we don't usually use it that way."

It bore unfamiliar bagpipe markings, and its red exterior stood out more against the military green tractors. Of course, it was also larger.

"Those are generally used in conjunction with harvesting. They can quickly thresh and process the grain, threshing and drying at the same time as harvesting. It's just that there aren't enough of them. It would be even better if we had three or four more."

"Let's start by learning the most basic driving skills today. This thing is quite complicated."

After all, it's a Titan chassis made by Master Ke. Even if it's troublesome to maintain, it's better to use it in the fields than on the battlefield. After all, large livestock like oxen are not much easier to take care of than this thing.

While Bagpipe was learning to drive a tractor, the real inspection team, led by Talulah, also visited the farm's facilities, starting with the largest pasture.

The ranch is located in the western part of the farm, on a meadow beside a salt pond, planted with shrubs and saxaul grass to improve the saline-alkali land. Further away are patches of alfalfa flower meadows, which are in full bloom at this time of year. Patches of purple and light red flowers cover the fields, and swarms of black bees fly around with a buzzing sound. The air is filled with the rich fragrance of flowers and honey.

"It's truly breathtaking." It was already late autumn. In other parts of Ursus, winter was gradually approaching, and the bare fields, evergreen coniferous forests, and light snow were the usual sights. But here, it looked just like the bright spring of Kazimierz. If it weren't for the light snow still falling from the sky, it would almost be hard to tell the seasons apart.

"Does this flower bloom in winter?" "Ah, it blooms once every four months, three times a year," Talulah quickly recalled the description in the booklet.

"However, this time it just so happens to be winter. Actually, there's not much difference even in winter, except that the flowering period is a little later and there's less nectar. But the stems will be more succulent and plump."

This effectively resists low temperatures, the grass blades become finer, reducing heat loss, and the root system becomes thicker and more developed. As feed, this juicy and sweet state is most suitable for improving the problem of poor appetite in dairy cows when they rely solely on dry feed and fermented feed at low temperatures.

"Completely unaffected by the seasons?"