Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

The problem lies in the arrival of the solar storm, which plunged the entire base and breeding area into panic. Under the pressure of the apocalypse, hallucinations and terrifying associations were read and memorized by the Seed of Hope. Coupled with the terrifying nightmares that Terrans had before their deaths, the Seed of Hope eventually turned into the Seed of Nightmare.

It constantly devours fear and grows its thoughts, splitting into more deformed and terrifying offspring. These deformed and terrifying offspring became the nightmares of the ancient Terrans after the loss of civilization.

The earliest demons were just a little ugly in appearance, but they had normal functions. They did not actively attack humans, nor did they have any mental pollution effects, nor did they emit strange brainwaves.

But when civilization was lost, the Terrans, who returned to the primitive era, could no longer understand what this thing was—terrifying legends, fairy tales to frighten children, and strange folk customs accumulated in the northern villages all contributed to the evil of the demon.

Therefore, the demon becomes stronger through ignorance rather than through knowledge. When you come into contact with it without understanding it at all, and you start to imagine what kind of bizarre nightmare it is, this mimicry unit that can read the thoughts of Terrans becomes a real nightmare.

The more you know, the more real this nightmare becomes; the more powerful your knowledge, the stronger this nightmare becomes. Although it is not endless, for example, if Lao Xia stands in front of the demon and imagines an intergalactic Zerg warship, it can only mimic a shell and does not actually have the function.

But for the Terrans, the power of the terrifying monsters they imagine mostly doesn't exceed the limits of demonic mimicry. What is the most terrifying monster in the world? It's humanity's imagination of the unknown.

"The power of demons is fear, and their reliance is ignorance. When you realize that a demon is merely a tool that works by relying on human thought signals, it only possesses the power of a tool." The Doctor and Kal'tsit were responsible for teaching these operators, who had never seen a demon before, about demons.

"The reason we blocked this knowledge before is because for most ordinary people, technology that they cannot understand is no different from magic, and evil is precisely that magic-like technology. When you can't get rid of seeing it as a kind of magic, the more you understand it, the more terrifying things you will think of."

Then you'll be read by the evil spirits, and you can only watch as they become terrifying things in your nightmares. The scariest thing is scaring yourself. Once you're scared and start to feel fear and imagine... a negative cycle is formed.

"Doctor, does that mean if we imagine the other person as a cute rabbit, it will turn into a rabbit?" a Yeti sniper operator asked loudly.

"Theoretically, it's possible, but your imagination and thinking must be strong enough to counteract the thousands of years of memory data and fearful fantasies preserved in the demonic memory body and the mother body," the doctor said expressionlessly. Otherwise, the demon would have already changed its name to Slime Shapeshifter and been shining brightly in the red-light district.

To be honest, how much water was in his brain when he agreed to let that woman Koshená give this thing memory learning and imitation functions?

The reason given at the time was that human thought is unstable, and if this method were used, it would be hard to say that some strange creatures would not be created, wasting limited resources for exploration.

Adding memory learning and imitation capabilities would make things much easier. If one person's memory is vague, then the memory of all Terrans will not be vague. Through continuous adjustment and learning, it will eventually understand what the real Terrans look like, just like how artificial intelligence learns on its own, through continuous trial and error.

Moreover, this can also avoid interference caused by certain partial or vague memories. A person's memory of something is not very stable or accurate, but if the memories of all the people who have seen the thing are combined, a more accurate model can be obtained.

Then it will continuously modify it. After successfully mimicking it multiple times, the Seed of Hope will save the template. After that, it can copy all the parts related to the memories at once. Otherwise, even with brainwave control, planetary terraforming would be exhausting.

"Also, which idiot came up with the idea of ​​using the organic matter of the alien planet to clean up the environment and prevent local dangerous creatures from harming the pioneers...?" The Doctor stroked his chin and looked at Kal'tsit. It seemed to be Prester.

Now the question is, amidst word of mouth and fear of the unknown, the border people of Ursus and Great Yan are imagining evil spirits. Guess how many terrifying templates are stored in the Seed of Hope's mother body?

After thousands of years of learning, it will naturally compare the "Terra template" in its memory with the actual state of Terra and conclude that the current Terra is an alien planet. It needs to transform this planet into what it remembers as a living hell built up by human fear and imagination, according to these memory templates.

By the way, because people in less developed times always liked to imagine non-human heroes, the demons' understanding of the "Terra" seems to have gone wrong, causing them to actively corrupt the Terrans and turn them into what they imagined.

This proves a truth once again: the more brainpower you have when doing research, the more tears you'll shed when the results are finally in.

In contrast, the other project's Sealings were much more normal. They were used to provide biomass raw materials and maintain the entire modification project. In order not to interfere with the work of the evil spirits, they were designed to be beings that did not need emotions or imagination. The evil spirits would not read their thoughts and memories, thus avoiding conflict.

"Therefore, the demon has already completed the process of indiscriminate learning. Now it will only distort the memories and information it reads. For example, if you imagine a cute rabbit, what will appear in your nightmare is a rabbit with blood-stained scissors chasing you and with carnivorous teeth. The rabbit you can imagine is whatever image you have, however twisted and terrifying you are."

What's more troublesome is that the new images of fear generated from this will also be incorporated into the demon's memory bank, making the next rabbit monster even more terrifying. This is the meaning of becoming stronger through knowledge.

"Therefore, casters and sniper operators must control your thoughts. After this training, melee operators will also undergo simultaneous training. You must not think about the opponent's resistance, especially casters. You'd better not think about strange things, such as whether this demon has super strong magic resistance, or whether melee attacks are effective against it because it doesn't have bone plates."

Wendigos can tear demons apart because they are emotionally detached and completely devoid of fear or dread, making it impossible for demons to read their minds. When Wendigos enter battle, they are pure warriors who think of nothing but killing their targets.

Even if the demon reads their thoughts and ideas, it cannot commit suicide. In the end, it can only fight the Wendigo by relying on the fear templates imagined by others. However, it is essentially just a tool, and its actual combat power is not very high. Even so, the mimicry monster formed by thousands of years of accumulated fear can still cause fatal damage to the Wendigo.

Fear is the greatest weapon of evil. It grows because of your fear and is deformed by your imagination. It is the deepest nightmare in the mind of everyone who witnesses it. It is very difficult for people to fight against their own cowardice and fear.

"Next, we will learn about the weaknesses, structure, and range of mind reading of demons, while the medical team will learn from Dr. Kal'tsit how to perform psychological intervention and fear elimination on operators, and the technical team will further optimize and develop new anti-mind reading devices based on this principle."

The work was plentiful and busy. For the agents from Da Yan and Ursus, it was the first time they had heard that the truth about the demon was actually just a mimicry tool with mind-reading abilities.

It's just that this truth came too late; otherwise, the demons they're encountering now would just be a bunch of harmless, ordinary planetary terraforming tools.

"For Sarkaz operators, the Demon Network will protect you. The core processor will do its utmost to calm the thoughts within the network, allowing you to come together and form a sufficiently large thought signal, thereby suppressing the shapeshifting and mimicry functions of the demons to a certain extent."

Because the ability of demons to read minds is also limited, if it reads the thoughts and fears of a target that is actually an aggregation of the thoughts of a large group of people, then the demon will have a hard time determining which direction it should transform into.

However, the Demon King Network is a double-edged sword. When everyone's thoughts are undirected, the evil spirits will be unable to read effective mimicry information. But if everyone develops similar directional fears and thoughts, then the trouble will be immense.

The mechanism that "Sarkaz operators must learn how to adjust the timing of their network access and use the network to clear mental pollution and the reading ability of demons" means that the operators will be under great pressure. They must control their fear, resist the urge to use the network prematurely, and finally have absolute confidence in the courage and will of their comrades.

"On the medical team's side, I've developed a method to cure the simple biological contamination caused by the demons," Kal'tsit said, instructing the medical team.

"The healing of the demon is divided into three stages: injection, aerosol inhalation sedation, and psychological hypnosis intervention. In the injection stage, all medical operators must learn to use staves, drones, and any medical equipment at their disposal to inject blood purification agents into severely contaminated operators." This is an improvement on Old Xia's nanomedical technology.

"It will clear the demonic cells from your body and cure physical infections. Next, we will use aerosol inhalation to calm them down. For operators with more severe infections, we will administer the drug immediately after the injection to calm them down, ensuring that their minds are empty and they are in a state of unconsciousness, so as to avoid providing power to the demons."

"Finally, psychological intervention will be conducted on all operators. If it is found that the other party has lost the value of treatment, then memory intervention will be performed, and the operator will be transferred to the rear. The operator will no longer join as an exploration member until the situation improves."

"Now is a good year. Ten years ago, operators who witnessed the demons, were implanted with demon cells, and were injured by fear and the brainwave pulses of the demons could only be used as disposable items and could no longer participate in any combat against the demons." As a result, Da Yan and Ursus had scrapped millions of troops.

“However, we now have mental sedation rings and various related drugs and intervention methods to prevent you from becoming disposable. But if it’s too serious, it will still take one or two months to recover slowly. So, the key to success or failure actually rests on our medical team. The more you save, and the faster you save, the smoother the operation will go. Conversely…” Kal’tsit didn’t mention the consequences, but everyone showed a serious expression.

[PS]

Arctic exploration pigeons.

props:

Network Terminal: SP40, Automatic Recharge, Active: Clears all operators within range of Mental Pollution status. Passive: When destroyed, all operators gain +50 Mental Pollution.

Soothing Device: 20 DP. Deploys a Soothing Device that slowly removes mental pollution from operators within range and grants them immunity to mental pollution for 25 seconds.

mechanism:

Mental Pollution Accumulation: In scenarios where demonic enemies exist, every 3 seconds, everyone's mental pollution increases by 1, up to a maximum of 200.

Mental Pollution Full: Operators are stunned for 3 seconds, damage dealt to demons is reduced by 20%, and damage dealt to demons is increased by 20%; if operators retreat, redeployment time is increased by 100%, lasting until the end of the battle. Upon second deployment, Mental Pollution accumulation increases by 1/3 second.

Mental Pollution Removal: Each treatment by a medical operator will remove 5 points of mental pollution from the target and 2 points of mental pollution from their own mental pollution.

Demonic Enemies:

Fragment: Attack D, Defense E, Magic Resistance E, Health E. Upon being killed, it deals 100 true damage and 20 mana to operators within one tile.

Aggregate: Attack D, Defense C, Magic Resistance A, Health A, when damaged, it deals 15 damage to operators within 2 tiles.

Mimic: Attack A, Defense C, Magic Resistance C, Health B, Flight, creates Demonic Shards along the way, and increases the duration of Serum Infestation for operators within range by 5/3 seconds.

Fear: Attack B, Defense S, Magic Resistance B, Health S, Slow movement, all attributes increase over time, maximum increase of 200%, area operators suffer +5/3 seconds of stamina debuff.

Nightmare: Attack A, Defense B, Magic Resistance A, HP S. Deals 1500 true damage to stunned operators within range. Each use permanently increases own Attack and Defense by 10%. Can only be used when there are stunned operators within range.

Despair: Attack S, Defense B, Magic Resistance B, HP A. No damage will exceed 5% of maximum HP. When receiving a fatal attack, HP will not drop below 1. Protection lasts 6 seconds. Revives, dealing 2000 true damage to the 5 operators with the highest sanity upon revival.

Seed of Nightmare: Attack: None, Defense: A, Magic Resistance: A, HP: S. Each time an operator is attacked, all operators receive +10 Mental Pollution. This effect can only trigger once every 3 seconds. When HP drops to 80%, 60%, and 40%, it summons Fear, Nightmare, and Despair respectively. When it drops to 20%, it summons all three types of monsters simultaneously. When HP drops to 5%, it will stun all operators for 5 seconds and deal 1000 true damage, while simultaneously entering a 20-second protective state where HP will not drop below 1.

[PS2]

Should I say, "Horn, come and eat!"?

Chapter Four: Confronting Fear

Chapter Four

To ensure safety when entering the Arctic region, a great deal of preparation is required, including food, water, spare parts, tools, medical supplies, and so on. All operators also need to undergo some special training in addition to regular training.

"Aaaaaah!!!!" Terrified screams echoed from inside the isolation chamber, the screams sounding like executions. Susie's legs went weak, and the other operators in the waiting area turned pale.

The "Anti-Fear Training Pod" is a new contraption created because of the characteristics of demons. It helps operators adapt to and fight fear, and with the help of psychological intervention and suggestion, it eliminates their inner fear and reactions to the greatest extent possible, so as to avoid being read by demons and creating some troublesome mimics.

The hatch opened, and the melee operators, led by Popka, scrambled out, cowering in a corner, trembling, before being pulled away by the psychotherapist.

"Your turn, Susie." The pink-haired girl, clutching her staff, cautiously entered the training pod. The pod door looked like a scene from hell to her. "Tell me, what are you most afraid of?"

"Uh, poor?" This was Susie's first reaction. For her, who came from a poor family in a small rural town with many brothers and sisters, was there anything more terrifying than poverty in this world?

"Um, specific things, like cockroaches, arthropods, and the like." For example, Frostnova is afraid of spiders. She cried loudly when faced with a lifelike group of spiders projected in the training pod. She was even unexpectedly afraid of the tentacle monsters from Iberia.

Basically, every operator has something they're afraid of. Angelina, who is also in a poor logistics team, has something she's afraid of: ghosts and the like in her imagination.

However, Susie is the first person to openly admit that she is afraid of being poor.

"Um, it seems not..." She thought for a moment and felt that there probably wasn't any. There was nothing to be afraid of about insects. If you were afraid of them, you wouldn't be able to live at home. As for other ghosts and monsters, were they as scary as poverty and hunger?

"Alright, think about it again. Next, we'll conduct a fear test, projecting common horror scenes and objects for targeted combat training." There's a trick to combating fear: when you see something similar, distort its image to counteract distortion.

It's unclear how useful this training is in actual combat against evil, but since both the Great Yan and Ursus border troops have similar training, it must have some effect.

Next, the projector started playing the strange and frightening triggers that had been collected from the other operators. However, Susie looked completely bewildered and didn't seem to be scared at all, except when she appeared to be startled by the appearance of the giant spider and cockroach.

The detection circuitry connected to her body told the tester that her state was still some distance from the threshold of fear, and that she was more likely just startled than frightened.

"Okay, come back in a few days for another test." Susie left just like that, drawing admiring glances from the operators in the waiting area. They never expected that such a gentle and frail girl would have such a strong will, managing to walk out on her own without even making a sound.

With the exception of a very few operators, most of the "next" operators cried and screamed during the first day of the fear resistance training, causing the entire psychological intervention team to be overworked.

As a member of the logistics and meteorology team, Susie's schedule is almost always full from morning to night, except for the relatively low intensity of combat training. In addition to anti-fear training and professional training, she also needs to undergo necessary self-defense combat training and various emergency response training.

This includes quickly extinguishing fires, quickly donning protective gear, and so on. In addition, all operators need to undergo polar survival training and become familiar with the supplies and tools they are issued.

"Food supply packs," Lao Xia picked up the package on the table. "Each pack contains 10 standard boxes, and each box provides 10,000 calories. As members of the logistics team, especially the transportation team, we need to pay special attention to the quantity and condition of these packages."

“In the polar regions, we don’t have any more food supplies, and it’s impossible to find food on the spot, so everyone can only eat this.” Old Xia opened the package and took out a box the size of a standard lunchbox.

"Each box includes two compressed breads," which are dry breads crushed into a patty shape. "It contains 35% high-fat nut powder. I suggest you eat this last after opening the box, as it can last a long time even without being sealed."

"Nut chocolate bars, I know you all love candy, but anyone who sneaks a bite of these beforehand is practically doomed. They provide a lot of calories and contain various medicinal ingredients that can accelerate blood circulation and boost your spirits."

After testing, it was found to have a slight effect on the corruption of evil spirits. Two beautifully packaged chocolate bars, containing plenty of cocoa, syrup, nut powder, and medicinal ingredients, were enough to make an adult's thumb-thick, approximately 10-centimeter-long block, emitting a sweet aroma.

"Drink packets. In the Arctic, it's best not to eat anything that looks edible or snow. I don't really want to show you pictures of people doing this right now, but Dr. Kal'tsit insisted. Oh, and there are vomit bags next to your chairs. Don't cause trouble for the staff cleaning the classroom."

The picture shows a corpse provided by the Great Flame People, the result of eating the black snow contaminated by the evil spirits. The entire abdominal cavity is swollen, and black tentacle-like things are crawling out from the upper and lower openings. The navel is torn open, and a large number of leech-like things can be seen clinging to the abdominal cavity and intestines.

"The beverage packets include both plain water and sugar water. The latter provides you with extra sugar. By the way, I've added a lot of vegetable extracts, so it will taste terrible." So terrible that one sip will wake you up completely.

"Then there are vitamin chewable tablets to supplement vitamins; here are freeze-dried vegetable strips to supplement fiber, as well as seasoning salt packets and canned pickled lard, which are all sprinkled on bread." Old Xia showed the contents of this food supply one by one, this time with the consideration of providing the maximum calories and balanced nutrition in the lightest weight and volume.

"Oh right, I almost forgot, each package also contains a small packet of nutritional cubes provided by Dr. Kal'tsit. These can effectively provide extra calories for operators who are chronically hungry or injured." The cubes, which are freeze-dried after being dissolved in milk, coffee powder, sugar, cod liver oil, glycerin tablets, and vitamin tablets, actually taste alright; they're not too bad.

"Then there's your drug reserves. Every operator needs to understand the function and effects of the drugs, and master the rapid injection method," Old Xia said, taking out another box.

“This is just an inhibitor of demonic pollution. If you find yourself experiencing hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, or seeing people who shouldn’t be there, like your long-deceased grandmother, then give yourself an injection. Don’t inject too much. See this?” Old Xia pointed to the scale bar on the pen-thick device. “Pull out the protective cap, point this end at your thigh or wrist, press the injection button, and when the fluorescent indicator bar drops to this point, pull it out and discard it.”

"Don't use discarded injectable drugs. Although they may be effective, they will put an extra burden on your body."

"Each box contains 3 suppressants. The remaining 3 include two stimulants, which can greatly improve your reaction speed and concentration while suppressing your fear response. They are derived from a blood extract from Wendigo. Side effects have not yet been identified, but please avoid misuse as much as possible. The usage is the same as the suppressants."

"This last one is a nano-healing needle that I produced. Remember, it can only be used when you or your comrade are seriously injured. Otherwise, the side effects of the needle will kill him faster than the demon infection or external injury," Old Xia said solemnly. All the operators sat up straight in unison.

After class, Susie went to the restroom. She originally planned to buy a bag of snacks from the vending machine, but the videos and pictures that Lao Xia was playing were so appetizing that she couldn't eat anything anymore.

The other students who attended the same theory class were in similar condition, all looking pale. The effect must have been very good; they probably wouldn't dare to grab snow from the ground and eat it anymore, especially the Iberians and Syracuses from the south who hadn't seen much snow before.

The next lesson is taught by an old hunter found by Yeti and Sami, who explains how to use the necessary tools for activities in the Arctic, including sleds, how to make a suggested cold-weather cloak, how to safely start a fire on the snowfield, and how technicians will teach how to use water purification chips and folding anchors to prevent storms, etc.