Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"At least the lethality I've seen is quite average. Maybe they just didn't get their hands on anything good. The Sarkaz are pretty strict about it."

Ivan was certainly not foolish enough to ask where the other party got the controlled items, a question that could immediately cause a complete breakdown in relations.

"Oh, how low is it compared to my genuine copy?"

"A protective suit like this would take at least a while to break, tsk, it's really shattered. It seems there's a big difference between the real thing and the fake." Ivan pulled aside the corpse's clothes, revealing the shattered protective plate underneath and the bloody hole behind it. He stuck his finger in and stirred it around, feeling that the internal organs inside were completely crushed into dust.

He didn't know if his armor and the standard shields of the Ursus Shield Guards could withstand the attack, but even if they could, they wouldn't last long.

"You two need to be extra careful now. If these people are infected, they won't give up so easily. Infected people can't live in this land without sticking together, and they have to use this kind of revenge to prevent themselves from suffering even greater persecution..."

“I still have plenty of ammunition here…” Xia Lin patted the rifle in his hand. He wasn’t afraid of fighting, and killing at night was a completely different matter from killing during the day.

Of course, there is another crucial issue—the first time someone commits murder, they are so scared that their hands tremble.

Especially for long-term law-abiding citizens, the psychological damage from a second or third attack is much lower.

"It seems we can't stay here any longer. Yelena, help us dismantle the machine. Let's go back."

With Ivan's help, the ore storage boxes on the side of the mining machine were lifted onto the vehicle. After all four ore storage boxes were loaded, the vehicle sank almost visibly.

“If you don’t mind, I can show you around for a bit. You two have pretty much figured out the area around the farm anyway. But, let’s forget about going inside to entertain you.”

Xia Lin said, holding onto the car window, "After fighting side by side just now, the two sides have developed a bit of a comradeship."

“That works too,” Ivan nodded. Of course, no one would walk back in the middle of the night if they could take a car, especially since they might be attacked by those infected hunters.

Moreover, he was eager to go back and report this to his father. The fact that infected people were starting to act as hunters or similar roles was not a good sign.

As an infected person himself, he knew what these people were thinking. They were either trying to turn normal people into new infected people, or they were targeting ordinary civilians. The hunters hunted the infected, and these infected hunters would hunt civilians.

This will only make civilians hate and reject the infected even more. It is not good for the Shield Guards either. They will find it difficult to get support and supplies. In fact, civilians will not hesitate to report any infected person in their field of vision. No village or town will be willing to provide supplies and accommodation for the infected.

Those Ursus hounds don't mind hanging anyone who sympathizes with the infected, nor do they mind hanging anyone they suspect is infected by the roadside. Such scenes have been played out countless times in the wasteland.

Because it was hauling extremely heavy minerals, the tractor practically roared and bounced all the way back to the farm gate across the fields. "This thing is really powerful... ugh!"

Ivan and the crossbowmen vomited by the side of the wagon, spewing out only some undigested grass roots and unidentified black residue.

"Here—" Yelena's eyes flickered slightly as she handed over a bottle of purified water. Ivan took it, drank half of it in one gulp, and then tossed it to his companion. "Thanks, this water is really good." It had no strange taste at all, and was pure and clear; it must have been specially purified.

"Here, have something to eat, it's hard to get through the night!" Yelena tossed over a small bag containing baked potato pancakes, made by mixing mashed potatoes with salt and a little MSG and then baking them. Although they were already cold, they still gave off a sweet and savory aroma.

"Thank you, I will repay you if I have the chance..." In such a lean time on the snowfield, such exquisite food must not be cheap. Ivan broke it in half and gave it to the crossbowman. The two of them silently and quickly finished the half potato pancake.

Xia Lin drove the car into the workshop and had Yelena stand guard at the entrance with a gun. However, Ivan and the other man did not make any unusual moves. They were originally planning to leave immediately, but Xia Lin asked them to wait a little while.

After pouring four boxes of ore into the automated smelting control module and the furnace started working normally, Xia Lin went to the warehouse to take out a bag of potatoes and some cabbage, and put them in a polymer box.

"This is..." "Our farm's crops will have even more production in a few months, but I welcome friends to come and trade."

After all, the crops we grow are only for our own consumption or for sale, but if anyone tries anything funny, my gun won't discriminate..."

"Oh, what are you planning to trade?" Ivan's eyes lit up. The guerrillas were most lacking in food. They could only rely on hunting, gathering, and buying a little food from some slightly friendly villages at extremely high prices. Not to mention feeding the infected women and children who accompanied them, it was even a bit difficult to feed themselves. They almost entirely relied on their father's personal charisma to maintain order.

If we could find a place where we could trade for a large quantity, or at least a certain amount, of food, everyone's lives would be much better.

"Let me make it clear first, I'm not accepting coins for now. Other than that, ores, wild herbs, animal hides, etc. are all fine. If all else fails, scrap metal is also okay. Oh, but I don't want Originium."

"That's no problem, what do you have here that we can trade..."

"We have nothing right now, but in another month I can provide some eggs and chicken. If you have pregnant women or wounded soldiers, they will definitely need these things..."

“That’s right,” Ivan nodded sadly. Many wounded soldiers died from malnutrition. His father sighed all day long but had no good solution. He could only become more silent and support everyone’s spirits with the image of an emotionless iron man.

"I can provide some food in about three months. In six months, I can provide fish and some basic medicines, but if you want dairy products and fruits, you'll have to wait a year or two."

"We wouldn't even dare to think about that stuff." Damn it, eating fruit in the snowfield, what kind of person would do that? Anyway, Ivan never ate fruit, even though he rose from a private to a captain.

"If you really have nowhere to go, you can come and work for me. I'm short-handed here, for digging, cutting wood, and maybe later I'll need people to plow and cut grass."

Of course, they won't be put into the farm to work, but rather to cultivate land outside. Xia Lin will only provide seeds and tools. "Of course, not now. I can't support that many people right now."

"Then it's a deal. I hope you're not a liar..."

"And I hope you're not a bunch of robbers..."

"Hahaha!" Ivan and Xia Lin were both stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Well then, we'll be leaving now."

Chapter Eighteen: Trade and Guerrilla

Chapter 18

One morning, Xia Lin muttered to herself, “I’m so stupid, I’m really stupid. I only knew that mechanized agriculture required tractors, but I never thought that I could use animal power before mechanization. I’m so stupid—” staring blankly at the seed and embryo bank interface.

The interface clearly states: "Improved heavy draft horse, Shire breed." Indeed, compared to carrying ore by hand or manually building engines, there is another option: to first breed a batch of Shire horses using artificial wombs.

In addition to these heavy draft horses, there are also embryos of various horse breeds used for grazing and riding.

While real Covenant ranchers prefer to drive around in heavy vehicles weighing over 70 tons, that doesn't mean tourists enjoy these uninteresting things.

To support the development of tourism and certain specialized agricultural and pastoral industries in the colonies, the Covenant's "farm stays" offer activities such as riding horses across the wilderness like a cowboy in the Wild West or participating in rally races in fuel-powered off-road vehicles.

Therefore, Xia Lin even has thoroughbred racehorse embryos, the kind with the label of Earth's Gold Medal Breeding Farm, whose bloodlines can be traced back to top-quality thoroughbreds more than 20 generations ago, and even breeds that were used as warhorses in ancient times.

Besides horses, there are also cows. If artificial wombs are used to accelerate the maturation of these two animals, they can basically do some work in as little as 6 months. By the time they are about one year old, they have the same physical strength as unmodified natural horses at two to three years old, and can basically handle most jobs.

"Okay, it's not too late to start now." The novice, who did not have a livestock breeder certificate, began to operate the frozen embryo bank, removing embryos from two Shire horses (one male and one female) and four Qinling cattle. The artificial uterus, which looked like a bag hanging on the wall, was slowly filled with turbid synthetic amniotic fluid and then the embryos were injected.

Since he was only a novice, he dared not change any unnecessary settings or parameters. This meant that the six animal embryos would only develop in the default mode, and all the intermediate operations such as ripening and hormone regulation were set to default.

If deformities or other unforeseen events occur, it means the embryo is ruined, so it shouldn't be that unlucky.

After all, such situations only occur in large breeding farms where tens of thousands of embryos are developing simultaneously, requiring certified professionals to make meticulous adjustments and monitoring. Xia Lin, who raises only a few livestock at home, is unlikely to encounter such a low-probability event.

Including development time, it takes about 3 months to transition from artificial womb mode to in vitro development mode, and then a total of 7 months later, the first batch of foals and calves can enter the livestock shed.

If he hadn't come back and thought of processing the somatic cells of the giant deer into embryos, he wouldn't have thought of raising cattle and horses first, and maybe they could finish plowing before his heavy tractors.

The electronic furnace ran all night and successfully produced the first batch of alloy materials. As Xia Lin requested, the materials were transformed from the architect's production line into alloy armor plates and metal reinforcement brackets. The next step was to reinforce the greenhouse and workshop.

The workshop and greenhouse shells both have pre-drilled slots for installation. Xia Lin used a portable welding gun to weld the alloy plates onto the outer wall, which was a very time-consuming task. Fortunately, he was quite skilled at it.

Xia Lin, who grew up in a colony located in the inner part of the outer ring area, had to help her father weld various things as part of her daily chores. Her father ran a private ship repair shop, the kind that caters to home-use shuttles.

On the Meridian Space Station, there's a cabin with an indoor area of ​​over 300 square meters that serves as a shop and workshop. Without being immodest, I'd say I know how to weld on anything, not just cricket alloy plates, but even a warp drive—

Of course, he can only weld things on; he can't repair them, he can't assemble them, and he can't disassemble them—he can only earn a little pocket money by welding.

"Sizzle" The high-voltage arc welding gun moved quickly and smoothly along the edge, producing a fine and tight weld. "Give me a new one," Xia Lin, who was wearing a safety belt, moved to the side and waved to Yelena below.

The girl agreed and quickly pulled the rope, causing the pulley system to hoist a large new alloy plate up. Xia Lin then secured it and began the welding work.

By the afternoon of the third day, the workshop and greenhouse were protected by layers of bright silver armor plates. Yelena and Xia Lin each carried a large can of still-warm protective gel and climbed up the scaffolding to spray the external protective coating with a spray gun.

After solidification, these gels form a protective coating on the outside of the metal armor that resists oxidation and radiation. They also help to keep the metal warm and prevent rapid temperature changes from causing embrittlement. It should be noted that these are not proper interstellar alloy materials—the Heavy Island Element Xia Lin does not contain any hope—so their strength is limited and they need to be protected as much as possible.

"Hmph...Hmph—" Yelena, with a white headscarf tied around her head and an apron around her chest, sat on the scaffolding working while humming a cheerful little tune, holding a spray gun in one hand and a scraper in the other.

She had only heard her mother hum it a few times and didn't know what kind of music it was. It was just a feeling she had to express on this cool day, enjoying the comfortable breeze while working up high.

"Hey you guys, are you painting the walls?" Ivan stood next to a wheelbarrow, waving at the two people on the farm. "Need my help?"

"No thanks, I'm afraid you'll mess it up and I'll have to redo it..." Xia Lin slid down the bright yellow ladder, while Yelena didn't move, still diligently applying the gel.

"What are you carrying?" "Scrap metal. There's plenty of this stuff in the wasteland. What do you need it for?" Ivan pointed to the scrap metal in the car and said, "As a thank you for last time, we collected some for you. If it's not enough, we'll bring you some more next time."

"I melted it down to make tools and walls; the new greenhouse will also need a lot of metal..."

"Okay, I'll bring you more next time. This stuff is practically everywhere in the wasteland. It's all garbage left over from the last war and from cities that are still some time ago."

Of course, there were no parts here that could be used to repair weapons and equipment. Xia Lin looked around and saw that they were mostly large, broken gears, small pieces of metal, rusty broken frames, and some obviously distorted metal objects that could be considered junk.

"Then I'll accept it. Hmm, my second batch of potatoes will be ready in about a month. I can share some with you then. As for the price, how about this: you send a truckload of scrap metal and I'll give you two truckloads of potatoes; if you send ore, one truckload of ore and half a truckload of potatoes, how about that?"

"Okay!" Ivan readily agreed. A truckload of potatoes could feed everyone for at least several days, and if they were careful with what they ate, mixing them with wild vegetables and dirt, it could last for at least a month or two. To be honest, the fact that the farm had a greenhouse was a wonderful surprise.

Even a stern man like Dad was a little more relaxed than usual. A farm with a greenhouse that was willing to trade with infected people was practically a lifeline on the snowfield.

After reporting on the attacks on the troops by the infected, the old man also said that patrols in the surrounding area should be strengthened to prevent such a rare stronghold that is at least not hostile to the infected from becoming a hardcore hostile group of infected.

"Oh, right, I just remembered something. I have a lot of fabric and stuffing here, but my textile equipment... you know, so if you need it, I can also provide that."

"How much?!" Ivan asked hurriedly. Good quality cold-proof fabric and filling are second only to food in terms of life security on the snowfield. More fabric means more winter clothes, and one more person will not be taken away by the cold. Not to mention, if there were cold-proof tents, the people in the team would not have to huddle together every night to keep warm and avoid freezing to death at night.

"Yes, a lot." The decomposition pool can use trees and various harvested plants to make carbon nanofiber fabrics.

As for the filling, various flocculent gels synthesized from the decomposition of biomass can also be used. However, compared to the abundance of raw materials, automated sewing equipment cannot produce a garment that quickly.

Of course, this refers to complex clothing such as padded winter coats. If it's just ordinary single-layer fabric underwear, the nano-printer can print out a well-fitting and close-fitting outfit for you in just a few minutes.

"I can provide enough for you unless you have tens of thousands of people in need. But what are you going to offer in exchange?"

What do you want?

“These,” Xia Lin handed over a thick stack of papers, which recorded the characteristics of the various minerals he needed and the corresponding exchange quantities, “ores.”

"What do you need so much ore and all this random stuff for?"

“Fertilizers and pesticides, such as herbicides…” Xia Lin said, “A large part of this is indeed fertilizers and pesticides.”

However, fertilizers and pesticides, which everyone on Earth knows, often have other interesting uses—for example, organophosphorus pesticides and certain nitrogen fertilizers (ammonium nitrate), etc.

Once Xia Lin has these raw materials, he can start planting cotton. When he processed and reduced the pyrite, he obtained a batch of analytical grade concentrated sulfuric acid. Combined with the galena and copper ore he found earlier, he can now make those old-fashioned lead-acid batteries.

Once the workshop was reinforced and the third new greenhouse for growing spices and seasonings was built, he began manufacturing large lead-acid battery packs to store excess power from the reactor for emergency use and for equipment located far from the workshop.

Although I still have a large roll of superconducting cable left, it's not cost-effective to use this megawatt-level power transmission cable on these low-end products. Therefore, lead-acid batteries with rubber-insulated copper wires are the best choice at present.

Once cotton, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid are readily available, Xia Lin can then mass-produce large quantities of propellant, increasing the number of machine gun turrets around the workshop from five to twenty-five, enough to form an extremely dense barrage. Any creature attempting to attack the farm will be punished by iron and fire.

As for more powerful explosives, we'll have to wait for a stable source of oil before we can start blasting and clearing the mountain. He plans to open up the upstream water source into a small reservoir and then use the drop in elevation to install a small hydroelectric system.

Moreover, this way, fish can be raised in the reservoir. All that's needed is to set up a barrier net downstream of the workshop's exit. People can fish on their own farm whenever they have free time and enjoy the life of a retired old man ahead of time.

"I see. Then I'll try my best to think of a way..." Fertilizer and pesticides are indeed very important. Ivan scratched his head. As for whether these things are for making fertilizer, he would have to go back and ask. There are still many infected people in the team who used to be farmers.

Xia Lin wasn't afraid of him going back to ask, because these were indeed materials needed for fertilizer, but they weren't just fertilizer materials; for example, they included saltpeter, phosphate rock, and so on.

Mixed in are also products such as kaolin and kaolinite, which are used to decompose and obtain aluminum and rare earth elements. This is why Xia Lin is planning to build a small hydroelectric power station.

Electrolytic aluminum is a high-energy-consuming industry. Without aluminum, more than two-thirds of the recipe in the furnace would be useless.

If aluminum is available, aluminum foam and graphene boards can be used to build a larger, unrestricted greenhouse. This greenhouse relies entirely on the materials for insulation and has no internal heating or insulation system. It is used to grow potatoes and vegetables that have been moved from that greenhouse. These two crops are not qualified to occupy that professional greenhouse for a long time.

Noble cash crops, at the very least, should include the prestigious sugar-producing crops.