Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

“You should be glad they used the wrong energy source. This is not a weapon, but a tool, like an axe or a saw. If they had connected it to a large energy source… none of you would have made it out alive.”

And if such a thing is found, and it looks very new, as if it was just unpacked, could it be a Windrunner's cargo box that fell off? Wait, a Windrunner's cargo box! Cold sweat broke out on Xia Lin's forehead.

"Have you ever seen something like this?" Xia Lin hurriedly projected an image, a news promotional picture from the Star Alliance, showing a complex device resembling a giant ship lying on a support frame.

The second picture is a disassembled diagram of the device, and Xia Lin is referring to a device painted bright red and orange on the diagram.

"It seems like I've seen him before..."

"Have you seen it before or not?! This thing is beyond dangerous; you'd better think carefully!" Xia Lin was so anxious that her eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

That was a large space engineering device sent by the Windrunners to the planetary fracture site. It was called the "Gravity Oscillation Ore Crusher". Once fully assembled, it was a giant tower structure with a height of over 2 meters, usually arranged along the equator.

Because this vessel is larger than any Covenant cargo ship, it typically only carries the core components, while the rest is manufactured on-site using surface minerals from dismantled planets.

A certain number of these devices are installed based on the planet's volume, and their design specifications are such that they can cut through a 40-50 kilometer thick rock crust.

To put it simply, it's like slicing a planet's crust along its equator like cutting an onion, then peeling it away to expose the scorching mantle and core, which are then subjected to gravitational extraction.

Of course, Terra certainly doesn't have the industrial capacity to assemble this behemoth, and the installation and debugging of the core components are beyond the understanding and operation capabilities of Terra's technical personnel, but Xia Lin isn't worried about that.

But have you ever thought about this question: such enormous destructive power means consuming enough energy to overcome the binding forces of planetary matter. So what kind of reactors and fuels in the universe can provide this power?

The answer is: antimatter reactors and antimatter fuel.

To avoid the awkward situation of machines waiting for fuel or fuel waiting for machines, fuel and core components are usually shipped together. If the Windrunner's cargo hold contains core components, then there must be four antimatter fuel tanks.

Well, it's nothing serious. Each can is just filled with about 80 kilograms of antihydrogen atoms, which are compressed into a dense solid antihydrogen sphere by the gravitational restraint device.

However, there is a technical problem: the restraint of this fuel tank requires energy, whether the Terrans destroyed the battery, the battery was damaged during the fall, or the battery simply burned out due to the long duration of the fall.

Once the core binding field disappears...

"Four 80-kilogram antimatter fuel canisters... whether they can blow up Terra is hard to say, but blowing up the entire Ursus would be no problem at all!"

Although antimatter has a high energy density, its power is not as exaggerated as depicted in cheap science fiction.

For example, if one kilogram of antimatter were to obliterate the Earth, the annihilation yield per kilogram of antimatter would be only about 4000 megatons, lower than even the largest bomb ever created by humankind, the "Khrushchev bomb" (5000 megatons).

80 kilograms is equivalent to 32 Tsar Bomba bombs. The four canisters combined are equivalent to Ursus being bombarded by hundreds of nuclear bombs with a yield of 4 million kilotons. Moreover, the explosive power of antimatter in the atmosphere is not actually that high.

Unlike the plasma spheres of a nuclear explosion, antimatter is a solid particle that can be cooled to near absolute zero to reduce its kinetic energy activity. It only releases energy when it comes into contact with normal matter and undergoes annihilation.

Therefore, when the outer antimatter particles come into contact with the atmosphere and annihilate each other, the explosion will create a near-vacuum environment.

The annihilation of antimatter, which cannot access more normal matter, will rapidly decrease and cease, and will be blown into space by the force of the explosion, resulting in the actual number of particles annihilated not being as many as it appears.

But blowing up Ursus would still be more than enough. "If you really have seen it, then we'd better go there right away! Never mind, just tell us what happened first!"

Xia Lin originally planned to rush over immediately, but he was afraid that if he arrived, it would provoke the locals to start destroying the crashed cargo hold.

Once the fuel tank is destroyed, it won't just be a mushroom cloud problem; it will be an antimatter fountain appearing on Terra's surface. That explosion will be a different kind of spectacular and terrifying event, unlike a nuclear mushroom cloud.

This is why the Covenant's high-powered torpedoes use antimatter. Although the massive restraints cause the torpedoes to increase in size dramatically, transforming them from missiles into guided torpedoes, their destructive radius is greater than that of fusion torpedoes, and their proximity blast distance is much farther.

As mentioned earlier, antimatter is essentially a type of matter particle. In the vacuum of space, it will not annihilate itself and waste energy as long as it does not come into contact with more matter.

Compared to a scorching mass of uncontrollable fusion plasma brimming with immense particle kinetic energy, the explosion of a directed proximity antimatter warhead in space is extremely quiet and difficult to detect.

For safety, anti-hydrogen solids cooled to -269 degrees Celsius by magnetic traps are almost non-existent on thermal radar. They are like thin, sparse hydrogen solid particles commonly found in outer space, slightly warmed by starlight.

Then when your ship hits the "black smoke" from the torpedo explosion, the scene changes completely; the entire ship will literally "turn into light."

If it explodes within the atmosphere, Xia Lin feels that she will soon see Ursus become the "Land of Light." Anything that comes into contact with the diffused anti-hydrogen gas—the earth, the air, the mountains—will instantly turn into light. Positive and negative particles will combine and release a massive amount of energy in the form of critical photons, enough to blow away all the soil on the surface.

This power was clearly beyond what their own farms and workshops could withstand; no colonial building had considered how to survive a 320-kilogram antimatter explosion.

Well, it might be slightly better than being hit by a 500-kilogram antimatter warhead from an anti-colonization group, but there's no difference; they'll both instantly turn into light.

In a sense, just as a nuclear power plant explosion is more terrifying than a nuclear bomb explosion, it's quite normal for an industrial energy facility explosion to be more terrifying than being hit directly by a weapon from a Warframe.

"Aren't you exaggerating a bit? That's just a ruin; how could it possibly blow up the entire Ursus..."

Not to mention Ivan, even Yelena was somewhat skeptical, because what Xia Lin said was too exaggerated, exceeding their imagination.

Of course, those who have never seen half a planet turn into "light" cannot imagine the power of such a thing.

Especially after the Covenant mastered the warp drive, which is gravity manipulation, creating antimatter became incredibly easy.

By splitting a critical photon emitted by a star into a positron and an electron, and using the gravitational horizon to separate this entangled particle-antiparticle pair, an unconstrained positron is obtained.

Similarly, after separating the negative protons, if a positron is inserted, it becomes an antineutron cluster. If it is not inserted, allowing it to form stable antihydrogen atoms and then cooling and compressing it into a solid is a good way to transport and store it.

The only problem is that, just like the early use of nuclear energy by humans, the energy consumption of this device is several times greater than the energy released by the antimatter it produces, so such antimatter manufacturing stations are built very close to stars, and the production efficiency is calculated in "atomic clusters".

Fortunately, they are all unmanned devices. As long as enough are deployed to form a Dyson cloud around the stars, the final output will be quite considerable.

At Xia Lin's insistence, Ivan had no choice but to begin recounting how they discovered the excavation site built by the Ursus people near the wasteland, and what they had actually dug up. Combined with the descriptions of the other team members, they were able to roughly reconstruct the situation at the time.

However, it's hard to say whether this antimatter equipment actually exists. In the chaos of the battle, it would be difficult for either side to notice whether the things in the picture Xia Lin had taken out were among those enormous objects that were almost indistinguishable from the background.

Chapter Thirty-One: Actions of the Patriots

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A week earlier, Patriot and his Snowfield Guerrilla Force, uneasy about the Empire's unusual behavior, moved south into the southern part of the Snowfield, at the border between the Ursus Frontier and the Development Zone. Due to the existence of mobile cities and natural disasters, the territory of this world can hardly be considered a fixed map.

There is no distinction between developed and underdeveloped regions on Earth. In this world, a country's territory can be roughly divided into four types: core area, development area, border area, and uninhabited area. And unlike on Earth, these areas are mostly changing along the routes of moving cities.

Borderlands are the boundaries of civilization, while development zones are its branches. Further south, mobile cities and Ursus regular army land fleets begin to appear. Ursus's military power projection and security patrols only extend to the development zones.

The so-called development zone is a dangerous area filled with Originium after a natural disaster. It can also be considered an industrial zone. Mobile cities, mainly engaged in heavy industries such as mining and metallurgy, patrol this land, collecting resources and manufacturing materials to ensure that the core urban clusters in the core area, which are mainly engaged in commerce, scientific research and manufacturing, have enough raw materials and goods.

Fifteen years later, one of the main battlegrounds, Cherbonorg, is such an industrial city located in a development zone.

Otherwise, it would be a pipe dream for the misfits of the Reunion Movement to think they could conquer and control a mobile city. Even with an insider, it wouldn't work in the core area.

Unless Black Serpent is truly tired of living, he wouldn't pull such a stunt in the core area in front of a group of royals and die-hards, including Saint-Jun Castle. Moreover, the emperor and other nobles would never tolerate him playing with fire to this extent.

Even in areas some distance from the actual development zone, where Ursus landships and mobile cities pass through, Patriot and his troops had to operate as night as possible, being extremely careful not to obtain supplies, or even to eat and sleep.

This is not a remote border region far from the emperor's reach, nor is it a no-man's land devoid of anything but Originium Bugs and Originium-mutated creatures. The economy here is more developed, and the lives of ordinary people are better, which means that the people here harbor far more hatred and rejection towards the infected than on the snowfield.

Although the villages there were also hostile to the infected, due to the extortion and various atrocities committed by the Ursus army and the pickets, they were not friends with the Ursus government either, so they could at least try to negotiate with them.

But things were different here. Patriots witnessed the cruelty of the locals towards the infected several times along the way. Some of them lured the desperate infected inside, drugged them, and then the ruling picket team hung them all from trees.

Some colluded with managers of nearby mines and industrial sites to sell these infected individuals for a good price.

These two types are still somewhat humane. The most terrifying thing is to lure them into a cellar, let them starve to death, and then watch the infected kill and eat each other for fun.

Not to mention the atrocities committed by those idle Ursus youths who transferred their hatred and anger stemming from unemployment, poverty, and imperial oppression onto the infected, leaving even the demons speechless.

Patriot grew increasingly silent. He could fight back against the empire's oppression and brutality, protect villages, raid mines, and liberate the infected, but what about the tyranny of the Ursus people?

When these people are with non-infected individuals, they are mostly as warm and generous as ordinary Ursus residents.

They are willing to lend a helping hand if there are any difficulties, but when faced with infected people, these people who should be called "good people" will instantly change their faces and become more evil and cruel than demons.

The patriots, unable to do anything, could only silently lead their teams around these villages, searching and confirming as they went, only intervening when the other side truly crossed the line, but such rescues were mostly a kind of dying consolation.

Originally, Frostnova was the one who would have made this choice in place of Patriot. She was more resolute and ruthless in this regard, and the Yeti Squad would not attack civilians.

However, we will never let those who persecute infected people go unpunished, no matter what kind of people they are normally.

The Patriot, who arrived in the south earlier, didn't have the white rabbit with him. The white rabbit was still on the farm, training and hunting with the group of rookie hunters, having a great time.

Finally, after months of searching and marching, Patriots and his men found out what the Imperials were up to.

Several months ago, a natural disaster struck the Imperial Outpost, devastating an industrial site. However, rescue workers later discovered some "Ancient Ruins" nearby.

Moreover, it looked unlike any other ruins before, and after the report was submitted, the empire seemed not to find it strange at all.

For various reasons, some of the upper echelons of the empire are well aware that Terra's starry sky is not entirely composed of stars, and it would not be surprising if those "stars" were to fall down one day.

A young lady who was preparing to become a maid also headed north ahead of time because of this news. However, she did not seem to touch the ruins protected by the Ursus elite troops, but instead headed further north.

She had some... unusual intelligence sources indicating that the ruins had fallen from the north to the south. So, she decided to risk venturing deep into the uninhabited northern wilderness.

The Ursus had deployed a large force around the excavation site, which made it very difficult for the Patriots to lead his troops around their patrol routes and through layers of defenses.

If he hadn't originally been a member of the Ursus army, they might have been completely wiped out in this suicidal operation.

But it's pretty much the same now. "The area around the mine is full of soldiers, regular troops, not the guerrillas and ordinary security personnel."

Ivan had a bloody gash on his face, caused by arrows fired haphazardly by the Empire's crossbowmen at the surrounding vegetation.

"Number of people?"

“Varian and I saw more than a hundred of them, not counting the two industrial stations and one excavation station inside the buildings. We don’t have any weapons that can threaten them.”

An industrial station is a mobile industrial platform, generally used in mining, but occasionally for other purposes, while an excavation station is a modified mining station.

This kind of thing is used for collecting and refining Originium and excavating the ruins of our ancestors. In particular, the excavation station has various isolation chambers and laboratories, which can provide scholars and workers with enough space to subdivide those "artifacts" that are either harmless, useless or dangerous.

"Location……"

"The vast majority of them are around the excavation site, with some in the temporary camp; they're all highly vigilant. Also, I saw people from the Royal Institute. And... the banner of a certain Grand Duke..."

"equipment?"

"The elite Ursus Legion is configured the same way we have in the past. The heavy infantry are equipped with 'black armor' and 'large shields,' while the other marksmen have heavy armor-piercing crossbows. I also saw that they have a dangerous explosives depot..."

Originium explosives are more dangerous than gunpowder. Gunpowder at most explodes, while Originium explosives are not so easy to explode. However, like nuclear radiation, long-term exposure may induce Oripathy.

"Etching explosives... Etching is a way to manufacture Originium artifacts. Staffs and ammunition are made this way. However, compared to bombs, etched ammunition loaded into guns is smaller and requires a higher level of craftsmanship. Due to the reduced size, pure Originium must be used to compensate for the energy difference, making it incredibly expensive."

"Do you have guns? The kind?" Patriot asked after thinking for a moment.

Xia Lin's weapon, which was supposedly a "real gun," left a deep impression on him. So deep that even after seeing the Pope's gun corps, he suspected that they were deliberately using low-powered ceremonial weapons while hiding the real high-powered guns.

Moreover, this logic makes sense. After all, his interactions with those people in the church were in formal settings, not on the battlefield. It's reasonable for them to use ceremonial weapons. Who would display their true military strength and weapons?

"No, I didn't even see any Sarkaz mercenaries, which is good news..."

After all, the Sarkaz are extremely strong and can use mechanically assisted bows that are as tall as a person and heavy siege crossbows.

Even for the Shield Guards, they are a great threat, especially given the age and disrepair of their armor and equipment.

"No, bad news." Patriot shook his head. He knew the Ursus military's character very well. In war, they would send the "gray animals" and "mercenaries" first, and they would not send their elite troops and regular officers from noble families to the front lines to be wasted.

If they haven't even hired a single Sarkaz mercenary, that's truly the worst news imaginable. It means that the excavation site is extremely important to the Ursus Empire, so much so that they don't even dare to trust the reliability of Sarkaz mercenaries.

Now the Patriots are faced with a dilemma: attack the excavation site and rescue the infected slave laborers, or abandon their return to the snowfield, since the guerrillas are not in a position to confront Ursus head-on.

“Dad, what are you planning to do? We’ll listen to you…” Ivan said, and the others also looked at Patriot. Even if there was hell ahead, as long as Patriot gave the order, they would just give the devil the middle finger and jump in without hesitation.