Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"How did you solve the problem with your spaceship?"

"Instead of asking this question, you might as well ask when the Terrans will be able to produce our superfluid coolant and thermal radiation nanoparticle cloud panels, and how you solved these problems before?"

“There used to be plenty of ice in the Arctic, and the water was cold.” The doctor was also a bit of a headache. Now the ice and snow in the Arctic have been contaminated by evil spirits, so obviously they can’t be poured directly into the water tank. Even in the past, they couldn’t be poured directly in; they would still need to be filtered.

"Besides, the waste heat wasn't this high before!"

"That's true." The higher the energy utilization rate, the less waste heat, and the lower the heat dissipation pressure. But right now, no matter what we do, we can't increase the utilization rate. The main problem is that the exchange and recycling of waste heat is a bit difficult with Terra's current technology.

Unless a large amount of Originium powder is used as a heat absorption barrier, and dozens of layers are set up, 70-80% of the waste heat can be dissipated smoothly, and the rest can be solved by water vapor and air cooling.

However, that would be like adding more water to the dough, as such a heat-absorbing barrier would not only be enormous in size but also heavy, requiring the reactor to produce even greater output... and the ship's cabin space would be limited.

"Forget it, let's just take it one step at a time. There's no point in scratching our heads here. Maybe we'll find a place in the Arctic where we can collect organic matter."

[PS]

Polar relics:

Unused cooling gel box: Replenishes supplies every 10 points, reducing operator redeployment time by 5%. "The box is still more than half full of gel, reflecting a life-like sheen."

Polar events:

Engine compartment report: The amount of thermal condensate is insufficient, and the cooling systems at all levels are severely overloaded. What should we do?

"Make the operators wear short sleeves"—Target HP -3, Supply +10. "The sweltering cabins and the ever-present threat of boiler explosions put immense psychological pressure on the operators, while also rendering most defensive mechanisms ineffective."

"Slow down and wait for natural heat dissipation to complete" - No effect. "You spent an uneasy night on the ice field until the cooling system returned to normal before continuing."

"Gather supplies and replenish cooling agent"—Condition: Possess unused gel boxes; Effect: +20 supplies. "Your operators were lucky enough to find an abandoned camp left behind by the vanguard reconnaissance team, containing a large box of unused cooling agent."

Is there such a possibility in Chapter Eight?

chapter eight

"Ursus promised to build a corresponding shelter system for each city and to cooperate deeply with Kazdel to further strengthen the response mechanism to large-scale natural disasters..." The TV host was spouting nonsense with a straight face.

The countries of Terra have not fully revealed the truth, only saying that a massive natural disaster may occur in a few years to several decades. Well, a solar storm can indeed be considered a massive natural disaster.

The people of Terran are already used to all kinds of natural disasters. For ordinary Terrans, a particularly large apocalyptic disaster doesn't seem much worse than moving to a city for refuge.

"...Colombia recently conducted a routine visit to Bolivar, and the two sides held positive consultations on issues such as the sovereignty dispute over Bolivar South..."

"Aerospace simulator, the most realistic experience of the Terra universe, the complete set of equipment only requires..."

"..." Kal'tsit rubbed her temples. She said it was about using magic to fight magic, but Kazdel's measures were a bit too magical. Amidst a plethora of news reports about disaster response measures, Kazdel was showing commercials, movies, and entertainment news, giving the impression that they were the only ones in the world who were unhurried and unconcerned.

Coincidentally, the bureaucratic tendency to only report good news and not bad news is common all over the world. In the past few days, the frequency of reports on natural disasters and various calamities on the radio in Da Yan has also decreased, and they have been replaced by reports on Da Yan's large-scale summer military parade.

The Great Yan usually begins large-scale military exercises in the winter and summer seasons, which evolved from the traditional hunting system. In the summer, birds and beasts breed and multiply in large numbers. If some are not eliminated, there will be a good show to watch during the autumn harvest.

Winter is the off-season for farming. Organizing militia training can not only wear down the energy of young and middle-aged men and prevent them from causing trouble, but also provide them with a full meal.

Of course, at this time, eliminating carnivorous beasts that had no food was also one of the objectives, and this tradition has continued to this day as the two military exercises and parades held in the summer and winter of the Great Yan Dynasty.

Spring is the time for animals to mate and reproduce, and autumn is the time for animals to fatten up and give birth. Large-scale hunting is generally not carried out in these two seasons because it would cause too much damage to the ecosystem.

In addition, spring and autumn are the seasons for sowing and farming and for harvesting, respectively. For an agricultural country, the consequences of conscripting manpower at these times would be too great. Therefore, the activities in these two seasons are sacrifice and celebration of the harvest. The former is to pray for good weather and abundant harvests throughout the year, and even the emperor has to go to the fields to make a show of it. The latter is to avoid starving to death at home in winter and to accumulate some fat in advance.

In short, most human cultural activities and folk traditions are closely related to production patterns and cycles. Therefore, there are generally no festivals in Ursus during the summer. They must quickly complete the planting and harvesting work in the short summer and before the first frost. They simply don't have time to do anything else.

Outside the window, on the dock, the "Polar Beast," which had undergone preliminary modifications, was receiving its final anti-freezing coating. Vehicles streamed in and out through the eight supply gates on both sides of the ship, with eight-wheeled trucks delivering supplies into the belly of this behemoth.

The upper six were mainly transported by various trucks, and the elevators on the deck were also piled high with cargo containers delivered by cranes. Containers of medical supplies and spare parts painted in blue and white and bearing the Rhode Island logo were neatly stacked into small mountains as the elevators slowly descended.

The two large supply ports on the lower level are accessed by small trains and transported by large cranes. These mainly consist of red fuel containers and black military supply boxes.

On the middle deck of the Polar Behemoth, a small flatbed trailer slowly drove into the passageway, piled high with flat, rectangular boxes.

"What are these?" The boxes are all light green with a transparent glass top and air vents and power outlets on the sides.

The "mini planting box" directed its crew to insert a box into the pre-set brackets that resembled shelves on both sides. The moment the box's contact points and power points connected, the entire box lit up, emitting a pale green light through the light green, semi-transparent side glass.

As you can see, inside is a layer of brown, sandy-like round particles, with bright green sprouts neatly arranged inside.

"These are all radishes, grown in sandboxes. Fertilizer and irrigation water are provided through drip irrigation pipes, and they have artificial lighting. They can even grow inside the ship's cabin. In addition, to accelerate their growth, a certain amount of carbon dioxide and high-pressure nitrogen will be introduced into this cabin later. So, it is best to wear a breathing mask when entering." Doumiao inspected the water tank on the other side, which contained green, moss-covered, stone-like farmed rock crabs.

Soon, the bare support structure transformed into two tall walls, each about 15 meters high, made of light green and silver-white, reaching all the way to the ceiling. The support structure was not simply a welded metal frame; it had a chain-driven moving structure that allowed boxes on the upper and lower shelves to be exchanged, so that a crane would not be needed to collect the goods during harvest.

Between the two cultivation walls, there is only enough space for a small goat to pass through, maximizing the planting density. The densely packed cultivation boxes gradually fill this food cultivation workshop to the brim.

"Potatoes, onions, radishes, carrots, desert and aquatic rock crabs, as well as dried shrimp and seaweed starch—these are the ingredients produced here that will be all the food supplies for the polar regions in the future."

"Is that all?" Even Susie, who is good at enduring hardship, felt that this was a bit too monotonous.

"Okay, there are still dozens of tons of sugar and salt in the warehouse, and 70 tons of fresh beef and mutton and 40 tons of cured meat and sausages that were just delivered to the cold storage. Since we don't need a flight deck, there will be more superstructures. In that case, there will also be a plant greenhouse, where we may grow some spice plants."

"However, it's best not to get your hopes up too high; that's the greenhouse Dr. Kal'tsit uses to cultivate medicinal herbs and collect polar species for cultivation."

Of course, following Lao Xia's method of planting wherever there is space, he might add more planting areas in various places on the ship. For example, in the areas where people shower and use the toilet, there will be several rows of semi-enclosed hydroponic troughs with air holes, which will be used to digest biogas residue and also to purify the air.

In addition, it's possible to squeeze a couple of scallions and garlic into flower pots and decorative glass display panels in residential areas, but the probability of expecting a continuous supply in large quantities like here is really not high.

This bad habit is thanks to the terrible food on Covenant ships. Most Covenant members who have experience with long-distance starship travel and sailing will try their best to grow some food and seasonings in every corner of the ship.

That way, even if one day we end up eating nothing but organic sauce biscuits, at least we can sprinkle some scallions in and make it scallion oil flavored. That way, at least when we swallow it, our tongues can convince themselves that it's not poop.

How can you tell the difference between a seasoned Covenant veteran and a newbie? Just look at how many flowerpots and makeshift planting sandboxes they find during their spaceship's deep clean-up, and how many crops and livestock not included in the plans they can sweep up.

"Oh, I almost forgot, the livestock shed also provides some eggs and chicken, but don't get your hopes up too high." Those are for broiler chickens raised on a large scale in a narrow cage where they can't move around freely.

The rectangular cabin is surrounded by chicken manure on all four walls. Even with the most powerful ventilation system and manual cleaning, you can still smell a strong odor of chicken manure when you go in. Chickens are raised on the upper floor, chicken feed is raised on the lower floor, and the manure is sent to the cultivation area as fertilizer.

The ultra-high self-circulation system is designed to treat this land-based ship as the internal system of a starship operating on land. Hundreds of thousands of these suitcase-sized cultivation boxes have been produced and will also serve as the food supply system on the Ark in the future.

"Give"

"What is this?" Susie looked at the box that Doumiao handed her. It was an ordinary white box covered with a food-grade non-toxic PE film, and underneath were colorful things.

"Let's get used to the rations in advance," Doumiao said. This was something the main kitchen had made. After all, not all operators would be traveling on the Behemoth, so pre-packaged ration boxes were necessary. Since the activity area was a region with temperatures below 40 degrees Celsius year-round, there was no need to worry about the food's preservation capabilities—the environment was colder than a refrigerator.

"It can be heated in a microwave or on an induction cooker. With your Originium Arts, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I'll give it a try." Susie tried her best to use her Originium Arts. After training and learning in the Weather Group for so long, she was no longer very good at shocking others. As the power was output, a layer of water mist gradually covered the film on the box in her hand. "Done." Susie tore open the film, and the heat mixed with the aroma of vegetables was released.

How does it taste?

"...Edible" The cooked lettuce was repeatedly heated, resulting in a soft and mushy texture, with almost no sweet taste of vegetables. The carrots grown in the sandbox had a very bland flavor. The mashed potatoes with added salt and oil tasted like a sticky, mushy potato paste. The abundant oil made it almost impossible to taste any other food in the mouth.

Moreover, the chili flakes meant to be used for refreshing and warming were far too spicy, and the few pieces of crab meat were barely any garnish, offering little in the way of meat juice or texture. The only bright spot was the tofu skin, which was alright.

Ultimately, Susie's assessment could only be "edible." This "warm salad combo," confidently prepared by the ship's kitchen, was clearly a complete failure in terms of taste, but it was more than enough to provide calories.

"Compared to a food box?"

"I'd rather eat dry rations"—that's what the advance team ate, far from the ship. It was like a field ration pack, and although it was unpalatable, it was still better than what the ship's cooks made with fresh ingredients.

"However, those are all cold foods, and you can't eat them for long periods of time in the polar regions."

Originally, the behemoth's space wasn't large enough to accommodate a planting pod, so the food package that Lao Xia arranged was meant to feed everyone. However, it turns out that Black Serpent was only modifying the power equipment instead of dismantling the old nuclear power system to create a basic Terran power system.

This means that the behemoth has extra space inside to replace the power system with a nuclear-powered steam turbine generator. Not only can it fit a planting cellar, but it can also fit a small breeding pod, and even eggs.

In this case, we must consider the decline in morale and indigestion caused by researchers eating cold food for extended periods in polar regions—a handful of fried noodles and a handful of snow is just a last resort.

For operators who bear immense work pressure and face the mental onslaught of evil spirits, a hot meal can obviously act as a calming agent. Therefore, the modification work on the Arctic Behemoth had to be postponed, and a fleet kitchen and an expanded bathing area were added, and even a sauna was built using waste heat from the reactor power.

For the Ursus operators, this was a welcome surprise—an Ursus man who doesn't take a sauna isn't really a man.

In addition, according to reports from the meteorological advance team and meteorological photos taken by the lunar observation station, the Arctic region is shrouded in storm clusters of varying sizes all year round, and large-scale hailstorms occur from time to time.

Therefore, the open deck had to be enclosed to become a closed deck, and the entire superstructure also needed to be enlarged and flattened to prevent the entire ship from being too high and capsizing. This meant that the modifications to the superstructure exceeded the construction schedule.

Of course, the good news is that the expanded superstructure allows for the addition of a flat, retractable dome greenhouse at the stern. The greenhouse botanical garden can further soothe the crew's mood, and the originally designed eight-person cabins can be expanded to four-person cabins or even double cabins. The toilet and rest area spaces have also been further increased.

"How about adding two more basketball hoops here?" Black Snake or Koshena, who was in charge of interior modification suggestions, pointed to a corner of the hangar while holding the blueprints. "The hangar can be used as an activity area."

"I'd better not. I don't want to see a basketball hit the fuse and then we all have to come back to repair the ship in a Category 12 Arctic blizzard." The hangar is full of flammable and explosive materials. How many lives do you have to play basketball here?

“Karaoke is out of the question too.” Lappland’s ears drooped immediately.

"Electric video games are also impossible."

"Tsk~" Texas curled her lip, took out a pack of cigarettes and shook it. "Also, no smoking area," the doctor pointed to the sign on the wall. Texas could only put away her cigarettes and obediently went to the smoking room next door amidst Lappland's burst of laughter.

"We can't put ice cream machines in either; anything that might generate sparks or high temperatures is out of the question," the Doctor added. These three operators, whom Kal'tsit had borrowed from the Emperor through connections, always wanted to cause a big stir on the ship.

Rhodes Island's structure is decent, but the Arctic Behemoth's is definitely not. To prevent the invasion of demonic spores and Originium radiation contamination, the entire hangar is multi-layered and airtight. In other words, fuel vapors and explosive gases don't dissipate quickly enough. At this point, an electrical spark could send everyone on board flying.

"Speaking of which, Koshenna, your outfit..." The Doctor hesitated, then glanced at Talulah, who was completely unaware that this was the Black Serpent (having lost her snake scale senses), and then looked at Koshenna's attire. The Doctor stroked his chin, "You've been raising her like a son?"

Using the excuse that it was inconvenient to work on the ship, Talulah finally got rid of Alina's little skirt and put on hunting clothes that were easier to move in. Although, with her silver-haired dragon girl's good looks, she still looked dashing and charming in men's hunting clothes, compared to Koshena's beautiful, fashionable and exquisite outfit... something just felt off.

"How could that be?" Koshena chuckled. "I taught her everything a lady should know, but it seems my education has completely failed."

"Black Serpent's involvement was not a sudden thing. After all, no one knew the situation of the sun better than her. So, when she realized that no matter how hard she struggled, Ursus could not survive the next millennium, or to be precise, the entire Terran could not survive the next century, cooperation was not an impossible choice for Black Serpent."

"Don't get too excited yet. My cooperation with Rhodes Island is simply based on not putting all my eggs in one basket," Koshena chuckled. "If you fail, I will decisively withdraw all my current investments."

The "normal" doctor didn't care at all. The other party's intentions were very clear. Ursus was busy with the Vault, so she didn't need to rush. As for Rhodes Island's struggle, she could invest some resources to explore the situation.

While this guy's political acumen may be lacking, it's more at the sociological level. It doesn't mean he's bad at politics. This kind of politician who bets on multiple fronts and tries to gain benefits from everything has a solid foundation.

Of course, he also has solid skills in kicking someone when they're down and kicking someone after they've served their purpose, so the doctor is still wary of this guy betraying him at a crucial moment.

What? You're asking why she's so good at politics despite her poor political skills? Well, that's precisely why she's a qualified politician. If she really understood politics, she wouldn't be able to do this job.

"Among all those politicians who spout nonsense, you're one of the more conscientious ones," Kal'tsit said with a sneer. At least this guy actually put this possibility on the table, instead of just doing it without saying anything. He could indeed be considered one of the more conscientious ones among the many Terran politicians.

In fact, compared to the inhumanity of other Terran factions, Black Serpent is actually a relatively normal and conscientious one.

“However, I have something I’m curious about.” Kal’tsit looked at Koshena. “According to my investigation, your current body is indeed another victim of your possession. But is there any possibility…” The old lynx approached Koshena, its pupils slightly contracting into the oval shape of a feline.

“Among your so-called ‘snake scales,’ one is your true form. There’s a saying among Boss Xia’s people: ‘Hidden wood is hidden in the forest…’” Kal’tsit stared intently at Koshena.

"So, the best way to hide a tree is to put it in a forest. Similarly, to hide your access point on Terra, your true self in a sense, so that we haven't been able to find it after searching for so long—or rather, none of the old guys on Terra have been able to find it..."

"Are you hiding it inside your possessed body, pretending it's just an individual you control, and deliberately exposing it so everyone knows that it's just another 'backup' of yours, when in reality it's the original?"

“I’ve always been curious about your identity as Grand Duke Koschitch. Without Talulah, none of us would have known, but your identity as Koschna isn’t so obviously concealed. Don’t you find that interesting?”

Koshenko gave a bright, mysterious smile: "Guess~"

PS:

Polar relics: