Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"But those experts should still be useful in terms of climate and soil surveys, as well as in providing guidance on planting, right?"

"Someone who doesn't even know as many plant species as I, an outsider, do? I think they should get a good lesson."

"That's so embarrassing..." Many people, even industry leaders, were hit hard when they arrived here. They were faced with theories they had never heard of, tools they had never heard of, crops and species they had never heard of. The only things they were familiar with were the most basic agricultural machinery and planting processes.

However, as Lao Xia said, you could train Yelena and other young people who grew up on farms for a few months and they would be quite competent. What he needs are experts who can deal with pests and diseases of genetically modified crops, skillfully use viral tools to graft, suture, and cut gene fragments, deal with various plant and animal genetic diseases, and even create the desired traits.

It doesn't require creating a new species out of thin air, but at least it should be able to perform major repairs on existing species.

In addition, the ability to skillfully utilize various existing biological species, crops, viruses, and bacteria for joint ecological transformation, and to make land suitable for cultivation, is also essential.

“Then your standards are too high. We have received a lot of protests, saying that the basic courses you set for the agricultural college are too difficult and that you have not considered the possibility of people graduating.”

"Is it difficult?" Old Xia scratched his head. He was using vocational high school level textbooks, and the basic courses only allowed them to learn the practical parts of genetics and gene modification.

Of course, bioelectrochemistry and necessary quantum mechanics are also required (there are indeed some biological and biochemical activities that require this).

Since we're going to study quantum mechanics, an introductory course in advanced mathematics for the interstellar era is a basic requirement. Chemistry and biochemistry are also mandatory courses, and so on...

"Is this even meant for humans to learn?" Miss Bean Sprout, brimming with confidence as she entered the agricultural college, could barely contain her urge to throw her textbooks away. What on earth was this?! "What the hell is this biochemical dynamics?!"

Each word is understandable, and the total number of nouns that can be understood when put together is no more than three. This is certainly not for making biological engines, but refers to the power source of biochemical activities within organisms.

The process of creating, controlling, and understanding the working principles and basic mechanisms of gene-editing devices and viral tools, as Lao Xia puts it, is already the practical part and doesn't involve deeper theoretical issues. Therefore, there's no need to delve into quantum mechanics and physics.

Otherwise, it's hard to say whether we can cultivate new agricultural experts, but we'll definitely produce a few lunatics. This set of teaching materials is a bit of a headache even for a lamb with its limited intelligence. It's not a problem with the teaching materials, but rather that there are simply no qualified teachers—self-study and having a teacher are two completely different things.

"Our agricultural machinery major is still the best," said Bagpipe Girl from one of the dorms, happily placing her textbooks, which were two-thirds less than her roommates', on the table. "Fewer textbooks, simpler courses, and the practical training isn't too difficult."

She was so happy because many agricultural machines were unavailable. Otherwise, just maintaining the agricultural drone network and repairing and manufacturing the drones would be a nightmare, requiring knowledge of fluid mechanics, electronic engineering, programming, and other technical fields. It was only because Lao Xia didn't have these devices that Terra couldn't popularize them, thus sparing her from such trouble.

As for the Bean Sprout major, because Old Xia has enough virus and microbial tool components, as well as the Tree of Life editor and various relatively simple genetic devices, plus the fact that Rhodes Island also has a lot of medical and biological equipment from the prehistoric era, the difficulty and complexity of the courses in this major are approaching the standards of interstellar era universities. Just looking at those difficult words and textbooks makes one's brain explode.

"Bagpipe, if you keep doing this, we're breaking up!"

"But I see that Wendy next door is learning very well."

"How can we compare to her? She's an Agorian, and she might be older than both of our great-grandmothers combined, you know. Besides, she's an expert in biology and genetics in Agor!"

Doumiao is already considering changing her major or giving up, because she really can't handle these things. She just wanted to do more research on improving rock crabs, so why is she like this?

"But Miss Eyjafjalla's classes are going very well..."

"Bamboo Pipe" Doumiao grabbed the shoulders of the taller red-haired girl. "Humans shouldn't compare themselves to monsters. She was already an internationally renowned volcanologist at 16, with three doctoral degrees, while we..."

At 16, I was still helping my dad grind flour at home, and I was frowning at my math textbook at school. Compared to someone like that, you'd just feel like a complete waste of space...

"No, although I didn't get an A in the course, I did get a C to pass. I didn't fail..." Bagpipe said seriously, until he felt the pressure from the fingers on his shoulder begin to shift into the vise before he stopped.

"Then, you can go to Miss Yelena's major. I heard that although it's a bit challenging for her, it's not too difficult. Besides, isn't that animal husbandry? Since you only plan to raise rock crabs, why do you want to go to life sciences?"

"This is probably..." Tears welled up in Doumiao's eyes, "...the mistake she made when she was young..."

Doumiao felt there was nothing to learn about simple breeding and animal husbandry. Instead, life sciences and bioengineering were closer to her goal of further improving rock crabs and gaining a deeper understanding of this life form—before being violently bombarded by a bunch of terrible things that wiped out her SAN.

In reality, during class, I was completely at a loss because Lao Xia, who was a part-time lecturer, didn't really know much about teaching, and the examples he used in his teaching materials were... ridiculous.

Not only that, your classmates are almost all elderly guys with gray hair—each one of them was a professor-level bigwig in your old school, and you sit among them learning the same things and listening to the same lectures…

They write with lightning speed, inspiration flowing like a spring, as if they are constantly inspired, while you feel as if you are in a dream, with only one thought swirling in your mind: "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? What should I eat for dinner?"

"You really should just switch majors..." Bagpipe decided to suggest to her roommate that she choose something easier; not everything in the agricultural college is this difficult—

Okay, in terms of basic courses, they're all pretty difficult; greeting each other with advanced calculus and physics is commonplace. But at least some major-specific courses are much simpler.

"I... I'll think about it." Doumiao was already numb, and deeply understood what it meant to "overestimate one's abilities" (don't try to learn quantum mechanics on your own) and "high and mighty" (high scores in advanced mathematics are in God's domain).

"Well, good luck..." People's joys and sorrows are hard to understand. Fengdi felt that the difficulty of her major was actually not too bad, provided that she didn't have to take advanced mathematics and physics.

Chapter 71 is titled "Driving a Tank"

Chapter 71

The Tree of Life is neither the largest nor the most advanced life modification system in the Covenant.

However, on Terra, it is the most powerful gene-editing device on the planet, with a massive amount of dense data projected onto the holographic screen.

Even with Lao Xia's skill level, it was a headache to look at, and he didn't dare to try some of the functions.

Inside the editing chamber, several plant embryos, invisible to the naked eye, are being penetrated by several nanoneedles and RNA viruses acting as editing tools, precisely cutting out and replacing specific base pairs. More complex parts require the tool viruses to directly copy and paste.

"This should be enough, right?" The hatch opened, and the resynthesized seeds rolled into the collection tank below. "Send them to the cultivation room to determine the stability of their traits." This is a plant used to fix sand and nitrogen-fixing soil, a species that does not exist on this planet at all, pieced together from gene fragments from various public circulation areas and a kind of weed.

Once its traits are confirmed to be stable, it can be used for large-scale sowing. Its root system is well-developed, capable of penetrating rocks, causing rock layers to crack, and penetrating deeper into the soil. It utilizes nitrogen fixation and water-soluble ion dynamics to combine inorganic salt ions and nitrogen gas, transforming them into more organic matter stored in the branches and leaves.

"How is the cultivation of the palm-shaped wood progressing?"

"There haven't been any problems yet, but the locals are a bit scared..." Hand-shaped wood is a modified variety of alien plant with a terrifying appearance. Simply put, it looks like pale hands reaching out from the ground and pointing to the sky. When it is planted all over the mountains, it gives people an extremely scary feeling.

It looks like countless hands struggling to reach out from the mountainside and grab someone passing by. In reality, it's just a strangely shaped plant.

The outer shell is a thick layer of bark, which can greatly prevent water loss and storm damage. After reaching a certain height, the branches fork, like palms. There are no leaves, but a lot of fibrous threads will form between the palms.

After reaching maturity, a sail-like structure forms between the fingers, which filters dust, microorganisms, oxygen, and nitrogen from the wind at high speed, just like a spider weaving a web. It transports these nutrients into the porous fingers, and after complex biochemical and physicochemical reactions in the large abdomen, a large number of nitrogen and oxygen nodules are eventually formed in the root system.

It originally lived on a planet with a thin atmosphere like Mars, and needed to rely on this method to filter out as much oxygen and nitrogen as possible from storms in order to survive.

Moreover, it has a very low dependence on photosynthesis, making it more like a carnivorous organism, with a significant portion of its energy coming from the spores of insects and other mosses and lichens it captures.

During its growth stage, the outer skin is green, like a cactus. Once fully mature, it turns into a pale wood and produces flower-like blooms at the top.

However, those drooping, tentacle-like green leaves, or rather petals, make this thing even more shabby.

Those are its water storage organs; any tiny amount of moisture captured from the air is stored in these large leaves. Local organisms rely on these leaves of the palm tree to replenish their water and obtain sugar.

For the people of Terra, this thing looks too much like a dead person's hand. Many mountain people refuse to enter the area where the palm-shaped wood grows, believing that it must be something of a demon, cursed.

However, Lao Xia needs it to filter out Originium particles at high speed and obtain enough nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to synthesize enough organic matter.

Moreover, the living environment of the palm tree is also such a desert area, and its root system will go very deep. With artificial fertilization, its root system can extend several kilometers within one or two years.

It is very beneficial for conserving water and soil on the barren mountains here, preventing water and soil loss while bringing out and utilizing deep-seated nutrients.

"We're digging for stones every day, when will this ever end?" The mountain people carry large and small baskets of stones into the factory, throw these rocks into the high-temperature dissociation chamber, and convert them into usable inorganic salts and oxygen. Then, through an extremely complex artificial synthesis process, these substances are turned back into sand that resembles soil.

After being mixed with palm wood and slime mold debris, fermented, and then processed with biological waste and feces, it becomes usable humus.

Then the mountain people carry this sticky mud to designated places, dumping it into the fields or filling the greenhouses. They don't complain that this process is useless.

After all, simple plants are already being planted in the greenhouse, and some moss is gradually growing on the soil-covered hillsides. However, the process is too slow. Although there is progress, it is just a drop in the ocean compared to the barren mountains that are everywhere you look.

Compared to the slow progress of land reclamation, the construction of the power system has been much faster. The large Originium power plant has already started generating electricity, powered by eight tower furnaces, each with four generator sets. The total power generation capacity of the power plant is about 1100MW, which is enough for Lao Xia's pile of extremely energy-intensive equipment, and can also supply local industrial and daily use.

For the mountain people, at least they no longer have to save livestock manure for heating and power generation, but instead throw it into the reaction plant to turn it into fertilizer and soil for planting some simple crops.

"I'd rather be on the battlefield than digging for stones..." The young people in the mountains are not used to this kind of life. They have received combat training since childhood, not this kind of production work.

"Just bear with it a little longer, we'll have our chance..." The mountain people live by fighting, and these outsiders will not let go of their talent and ability.

In the central battlefield, since Theresis withdrew with her main force, the remaining combat troops have caused the Doctor even more trouble than when they were the enemy. The front line has collapsed almost visibly, and tens of thousands of fleeing soldiers have disappeared into the wilderness and cities with various military assets and weapons.

Looting, rape, massacre, arson, and separatism occurred one after another. The Doctor had to urgently deploy more troops to suppress and annihilate them, and do his best to prevent the spread of the fleeing soldiers. Under these circumstances, Therese successfully shook off most of the nobles, preserved his main force, and successfully withdrew to the south.

After retreating to the south, he was left with only one last obstacle: the ancient corridor that ran through the Dividing Mountains. It had been used as a fortress during the Sarkaz civil war and had now been further strengthened and consolidated. The southern city-states knew that once the northerners passed through this ancient road, their resistance would only last for a few more days.

"This is troublesome." "Leytania has stockpiled troops on the border and declared that if we further invade the south, they will intervene militarily." The Kazdel civil war has reached this point, and the surrounding countries are getting restless.

"Kazimir remains neutral, but Ursus's troop buildup on the border makes them very nervous."

Ursus's reason was to assist Kazdel's allies, a perfectly legitimate reason that even demonstrated the credibility of those bear-men.

In reality, everyone knows it's all bullshit. If they were going to intervene and help, they should have come during the previous fortress siege.

Right now, all that's happening is watching Kazdel start its southward advance, tying down Victoria and Letania's attention. So, Ursus, that greedy bear, is just waiting for the opportunity to carve out a piece of the pie.

“Victoria did not participate in the war, but I believe that as long as we invade Letania or go to war with Letania, Victoria will inevitably fight us.”

The economic crisis is becoming increasingly apparent. Terra's economy is now in a frenzied recession, with massive unemployment, unsold goods, and only the military industry maintaining production. Or, to be more precise, the civil war in Kazdel is the key to sustaining Terra's economy.

If the South were to fall and the war ended, the ensuing economic crisis would be enough to send half of Terra's government to hell. In that case, they would do anything to maintain the state of war in Kazdel.

“Therefore, we must slow down now and wait until their crisis becomes unbearable before we break through the south in one fell swoop,” Kal’tsit suggested.

However, the doctor shook his head. "No, this will only put us in the dilemma of two wars. According to my and Lao Xia's judgment, we must end the civil war within a year and then use another year to make adjustments in preparation for the next war."

"War?" Kal'tsit was puzzled. "I think they might intervene militarily, but not to the point of..."

"If the whole world is engulfed in war, can we remain uninvolved? I'm not talking about them interfering in our affairs, but rather, it's very likely that a real world war is about to break out."

The flames of civil war are already rising in Ursus, and the commercial dispute between Casimir and Columbia is about to escalate into armed conflict. The Great Yan is fine, but the Eastern Kingdom is preparing for war, waiting for the opportunity to get rid of the powerful parent state of the Great Yan.

Looking further south, Iberia and Agor have already sounded the horn for a counterattack against Haizi, and Rembiton will inevitably clash with Iberia over the ore.

Otherwise, if Kazdel imports ore from Iberia and transports it along the Uca-Uca Cooperation Corridor, Rembitox's industry would shrink by more than half instantly, which would be a life-or-death crisis.

They could not choose Kazdel, which had demonstrated considerable fighting power in the civil war, as their opponent. Iberia, which had been devastated by the tsunami and was besieged by the Sea Kings, was the best target for invasion.

"When these countries go to war, Letania will be forced to fight on two fronts, against Ursus on one side and against us on the other. So, which side will Letania choose?"

“We…” Kal’tsit sighed. A person’s reputation precedes them. Ursus’s army group is renowned. Letania will definitely choose to target Kazdel, which has just emerged from the civil war.

"With this situation, the luxury goods and various commodities of the Great Yan will no longer be able to be sold. As for the arms trade, they will not dare to do it either. They will have to close the border and be on high alert. Under these circumstances, the Longmen trading port will be finished..."

"Losing the Longmen trading port will rapidly escalate the internal conflicts within the Great Yan Kingdom. If the ruler of the Eastern Kingdom isn't a fool, he will definitely do something at this time," the doctor quickly deduced the course of events over the next few years.

"Also, you've overlooked one thing: Ursus has invaded Sami, and Colombia is already feeling the pressure." Sami borders Colombia, while Colombia borders Glassval, Shelag, and Casimir.

“Apart from Sargon and Minos, who may be spared from the war due to their distance, no other country can escape, including Lateran.”

If a world war breaks out, Laterano and Letania will inevitably form an alliance, as both are surrounded by war zones.

"Now, a world war is just a match away from us. We cannot slow down now; we must accelerate the process!"

“We don’t have enough manpower or troops. We don’t have enough people to rule the whole of Kazdel. Theresis’s escape has caused us more trouble than his resolute resistance.”

If Theresis persists in resisting, he will hold out for another month or two, and his troops will surrender and be annihilated in large numbers. In that case, the Doctor's process of retaking the North will be very smooth.

But then he abandoned all that junk equipment and cannon fodder troops, and ran away. That's when things got really messy. These hundreds of thousands of pigs took off running, and it would take half a year to catch them, not to mention that these pigs were carrying weapons.

If these pigs were gathered together by Theresis, it would be fine; the pigs wouldn't surrender en masse, but the people would.

In the central region, in the wilderness, "whoosh—" the engine made a steady sound, and the sound of the tracks grinding through the sand was like the low whistle of a ghost. "The tracks are clear, we're in the right direction." The spotter quickly ran a few steps, and with the help of the powered armor, caught up with the vehicle and grabbed the handle on the outer wall to pull himself onto the vehicle.

"Watch out for their anti-tank weapons. I don't want to die chasing a bunch of fleeing soldiers instead of on the battlefield..."

"Clang!" The electromagnetic piercer suddenly flew in from a distance, sparks flying from its armor, followed by the deafening explosion.