Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

However, in a sense, warlocks did not completely disappear; they simply moved from the ground to the sky. You can't see warlocks wreaking havoc on the ground, but you can see airborne warlocks flying war knights setting off fireworks across the sky. A 25-ton payload is enough to blow an entire block, including streets and houses, into the air.

Especially the newly released War Knight Mk2 model, thanks to the Soviet aviation data and technology brought by the multi-disciplinary genius Dr. Levi, thus... successfully completed the development of the MK2 model together with a certain rocket engine enthusiast.

The rocket engine takes off and accelerates, while four super-large turbines hover or circle. The 37-ton payload can not only lift half a city with metallic hydrogen, but also carry a company of power tanks to lift the remaining survivors as well.

Unfortunately, due to its extremely counterintuitive operation, the turboprop system is stuck in Master Nian's mechanical research institute and currently only exists on blueprints and in computer simulators.

However, now that the top talents from both planets have been gathered to tackle the problem, it should be solved within one or two years. Then, the current MK1 War Knight will be replaced with the smaller, foldable, but more powerful MK2, increasing Abaddon's fleet from 4 to 8-12 aircraft.

As for the issue of fighter jets, we don't need to consider it for the time being until Terrans build fighter jets. Victoria and Columbia were clearly misled by the Sky Throne's research and development ideas; they are building Originium-powered airships that are like super-large airships.

This thing... its service ceiling and speed are obviously problematic. When facing the War Knight MKII, simply replacing the bombs with heavy rockets and firing them from outside the enemy's range is enough to deal with it. Moreover, even if this thing is covered in anti-aircraft guns, it can only compete with the War Knight for the status of a heavy strategic bombing unit.

Since it cannot be called a fighter jet, it naturally does not need a professional fighter jet. Moreover, to be fair, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles on Earth would probably be of little use in Terra, whether facing Victoria's airship project or Kazdel's war knights.

Even if Levi went through all the heavy fighters on Earth in his mind, he still didn't think there was anything that could deal with this behemoth covered in armor and firing six rocket engines.

The foxbats that can catch up can't beat them, and the super flankers that can beat them can't catch up. Moreover, this ability to beat them is based on the premise that the other side has no anti-air strategy and carries hypersonic missiles—obviously, there is no such wonderful weapon on Earth. Although the technology can be developed immediately, it is best to be conservative in terms of actual destructive power.

Anyway, based on the performance estimation of the alloy material samples provided by Lao Xia, Levi easily understood that with the power of the Soviet Union's 30mm autocannon on Earth, unless they caught up and strafed the weak points at close range, they could only damage the enemy and send them back for repairs, not shoot them down.

As for missiles... the fragments from ordinary air-to-air missiles are really just a minor scratch. However, if the War Knight were equipped with a Soviet or American fire control system and its bomb bay were filled with Phoenix missiles or other medium-range missiles, given its massive size and advanced avionics pods, the fighter jets chasing it would be the ones likely to suffer heavy damage.

In reality, no aircraft can pull off the circus act from Ace Combat, but War Knight can. And Lao Xia's pig brain chip allows missiles to be designed with fire-and-forget optical guidance, rendering the interference from the hot air grenades and the missile swarm ineffective.

In other words, Levy believed that if he could capture all his former colleagues from the Soviet Union, he could arm an air force capable of conquering the world within three years.

Unfortunately, he's the only one available right now. The fact that he can help solve some of the avionics and flight control technologies, allowing the MK2 to smoothly enter the trial production stage, is already the biggest help he can provide.

Chapter Forty-Seven: What's with all the fancy stuff?

Chapter 47

With the Arctic Behemoth as its flagship and the Abaddon as its escort ship, along with several other supply ships and other escort vessels, it resembled a large-scale combat fleet compared to a research convoy.

"It's truly spectacular. I've never seen such a surging torrent of iron." Blitzkrieg lay on the small platform outside B8, looking down at the vast steel fortresses beside him.

In the distance is the USS Abaddon aircraft carrier, with its relay drones providing additional signal boost to the entire fleet. Between the giant ships, vehicles of all sizes rumble across the barren land like a herd of migrating bison.

From a greater distance, one can see the escorting small and medium-sized warships and the accompanying transport and supply ships. No man could resist such a magnificent steel torrent.

“If you were 20 years younger, you probably could see it too.” Alexander stood behind Blitzkrieg and handed him a cigarette. It’s hard for veterans to resist the temptation of cigarettes and alcohol. In the cold trenches soaked by rain, only cigarettes could bring a tiny bit of warmth.

"It's a pity I didn't see it, and it's also lucky I didn't see it." Blitz lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke. "However, here, these things will probably become our daily routine."

"If the people here were to fight our side, who do you think would win?"

"Are you referring to the era Xia mentioned, or our era?"

“Our time,” Alexander gripped the railing, a solemn expression on his weathered face.

"Based on the information I've recently gathered... if they were in their current state, apart from the United States, I'm afraid there would be very few things in the world that could rival them. I mean without the advantage of terrain. If they did have the advantage of terrain, then apart from the United States, they would have a hard time dealing with any other developed country in the world."

The Blitzkrieg was a very real statement. Without the advantage of terrain, only the Americans could barely withstand such a torrent of iron. However, conversely, if they had the advantage of geography, apart from the Great Plains of North America, it would be difficult for any unfortunate creature to encounter such a torrent attack.

"Also, you know, we haven't seen their navy or strategic forces. Theoretically, these are conventional forces, and do you think a civilization that has started using controlled nuclear fusion would lack nuclear weapons?"

The answer is definitely no. Although a fusion reactor is probably much easier to build than a hydrogen bomb, Lao Xia doesn't have the equipment to manufacture a laser igniter.

Using the Covenant's igniters and equipment would be too extravagant, so Old Xia really didn't know how to manufacture nuclear bombs with low technology—if his manufacturing equipment hadn't expired its verification period, then it would have been possible, but unfortunately, there was no suitable delivery method at the time, nor had a heavy water plant been built.

The biggest difference between fusion and fission nuclear bombs is that the latter is simpler to detonate than the former. You may be able to build a nuclear reactor, but without enriched uranium and a super centrifuge, you probably still can't make a nuclear bomb, because the fuels are completely different concepts.

However, fusion reactors and fusion bombs are different. Ignition and maintenance are too difficult. Compared to fusion bombs, which only require a powerful force to ignite the nuclear reaction, the difficulty lies in maintaining and sustaining the reaction in the reactor. As for the other technical challenges, they are actually simpler than fission because the nuclear fuel used in both is the same thing and does not require further processing by a super centrifuge.

Therefore, based on common sense, it is highly likely that the locals possess hydrogen bombs. If the two nuclear-armed forces were to fight, they would essentially perish together. Thus, Blitzkrieg and Alexander tacitly avoided mentioning other troops and missile units, focusing solely on the armored formations at hand.

However, this nuclear-free state will not last long, because remember what Levy's first degree was? Nuclear physics expert, and a Russian at that, a Russian who was even used to making nuclear bombs by rolling sausages.

"You two are here. Come to the briefing room quickly. There's a job that I need you experts for." Franka pushed open the hatch. "Also, remember to turn on your neural ports next time. Don't let someone be offline when I need to find them."

"Sorry, it's a habit." It's an occupational hazard of special agents to disconnect communication channels and ports after use, instead of staying online to chat like on QQ. That would be because they think the other side's wireless positioning is inaccurate and their precision-guided bombs can't kill people.

The bad habit that the US military developed in the Middle East came back to haunt them during domestic exercises. The opposing commanders were probably looking on with utter bewilderment – ​​"I've never seen such a strange request in my life." – The entire convoy was blown to smithereens, cleaner than a plate licked clean by a dog.

They probably think of these neural link channels as radio waves, meaning that even if one side is disconnected, calls from the outside can still be transmitted, but the other side will not transmit signals. In fact, it's more like a network; if you unplug the network cable, no calls from the outside can get in.

In the briefing room, Razer and an action team had already arrived. Maps, photos and pictures of buildings, and some intelligence materials were posted on the whiteboard. There was also a stack of documents in front of each person's seat. "You guys are late. Hurry up, time is of the essence."

"This operation is a cooperative one. The Ursus 'Blade' squad will be working with us. The objective is to wipe out the former Ursus inner guard safe house." Razer stated the nature, objective, and content of the mission right from the start. However, the four members of the Rainbow Squad were still a little confused. What was an inner guard?

"After these former guards were purged by Ursus for their defection, many of their units operating outside the region were not dealt with in time. Some fled to the Arctic, some took control of small border troops in Ursus, and others fled to our territory."

"Those in Ursus and the Arctic are not under our jurisdiction; Ursus's army will handle that. Our main concern is dealing with those who enter our controlled areas. Information about these internal guards is on your desk."

"This is a cooperative operation. The target is located inside a former Leitanian military station, surrounded by a lot of unresolved wreckage. Intelligence indicates that these guards control some bandit groups and Leitanian rebels, posing a significant threat to our supply lines and Leitanian farms. However, Leitania simply doesn't have the resources to deal with this issue..."

"East and West Germany cooperating against Russian traitors, what a strange and magical era," Blitzkrieg muttered under his breath.

"The station has two levels, an underground parking garage and a waiting hall, made of high-grade cement. The Ursus people require us to confirm the target before we can use bombing. As for the reasons and justifications, they are in your manual."

The locals all know why. The reason for saying this is that the Rainbow Squad has not yet officially come into contact with this kind of thing. They do not know that if bombing is used, it may lead to the escape of the inner guards or some of them. In that case, it will become a game of hide-and-seek with the evil spirits in the complex environment of the snowfield. Not only will it take longer, but it will also be very dangerous and inefficient.

"Then what about those who were coerced?"

“Kill them all, leave no one alive. Targets controlled by the Inner Guard’s land pollution are no longer considered human.” Razer shook his head. “According to your Earthling mindset, you can consider them as monsters that have been parasitized and controlled. Don’t be polite.”

"I understand." You might not believe it, but for things like zombie crises, every country has drills and contingency plans, especially the Americans. So, after hearing this, Ash roughly understood the situation.

"The enemy's equipment is very complex. According to intelligence provided by Ursus, it includes a certain number of Letanian military crossbows, at least 6 grenade launchers, and more than 30 high-powered guns. The description of the guns is also in the manual. You can read it later if you have any questions."

Razer pointed to the map and photos on the whiteboard with a laser pointer, "But our preliminary drone aerial reconnaissance has revealed that the other side may have some dangerous heavy weapons or armored vehicles. Infrared photos show an unusual heat source under the station, and there are reports of missing persons in nearby villages and Letania farms. We may be encountering more enemies than the intelligence suggests."

"In terms of support, the fleet cannot provide too many resources. Strictly speaking, this area is a sensitive border. If our fleet were to enter on a large scale, it could trigger a serious international tension. You will be parachuted in by aircraft, then quickly break through the station and kill all the enemies."

"That's right, this is a complete Shoot job. There's no need to gather any extra intelligence or evidence, and no need to rescue hostages. What you need to do is very simple: shoot down any moving, unfamiliar thing, no matter what it looks like. Given the danger and severity of this matter, I'd like to say something separately to some newcomers who might make mistakes due to a lack of understanding: No matter what it looks like, remember, people who have been contaminated by the Internal Security are no longer human."

"Whether it's a woman, an old person, or a child, they are all enemies. Of course, we are not executioners. The electronic sights you are issued have biological scanning capabilities. As long as the sights don't light up a green light, shoot them all! Even if they are your former comrades and allies."

Dealing with the Inner Guard and the Demon is a basic requirement, because the other side has a certain ability to mimic, and the infected people don't have "I am a monster" written on their faces. Not to mention that the Inner Guard will peel off the victim's face to create fear or use the Demon cells to fuse with their own face to change their appearance.

Therefore, when dealing with internal guards and demonic infected beings, the instrument is more effective than anything else. In other words, unless the scan result is green, there is only one solution: kill them all.

"All other relevant information is in your manual. We'll depart in one hour. Dismissed."

"I'm really a bit confused." Ash also felt a bit confused, but since it was an unexpected event, there was nothing he could do.

"Could this be another 'test'?"

"It's possible. No organization would trust a group of newcomers with unknown origins. There will probably be many tests, both overt and covert." The previous White Rabbit was openly recruited, but this one is probably secretly recruited. Otherwise, sending four consultants to the front line would seem a bit strange, though not to the point of being suspicious.

Meanwhile, Levy retorted, "Nuclear weapons? Shouldn't you have phased them out long ago?"

"No, in fact, you would be hard-pressed to find a more destructive weapon in the universe than a nuclear explosion. And the nuclear weapon I'm talking about is not the standard one we use, but the oldest standard one."

"A fission bomb? Or an atomic bomb?" Levi understood what Old Xia meant. "So, you don't even have an atomic bomb right now?"

"If I weren't worried about the factory shutting down, I could make dozens of hydrogen bombs, but the ignition equipment is limited." There's no way to expect the igniters to survive a nuclear explosion; that sacrifice would be too great.

The simplest way to detonate a hydrogen bomb in a conventional manner is to use fission as the fusion environment, which is the hydrogen bomb on Earth. However, Lao Xia doesn't know how to make fission bombs, which is quite awkward.

Strictly speaking, it's not that we don't know how to do it, but that we don't know how. To give an example, it's like you know how to make stone tools, but that doesn't mean that if you're given two stones, you can make a decent stone dagger. Besides, a nuclear bomb isn't a dagger.

After all, a stone dagger can still be used even if it's ugly, but a nuclear bomb is really hard to detonate if it's just a little bit off. So, the main problem right now is the process of turning the design into a physical object.

"So... the related nuclear equipment and radioactive minerals?" Levy frowned. If these two were resolved, 99% of the problems would be solved. Of course, the atomic bomb itself was simple, but the ones used to detonate the hydrogen bomb were a bit more difficult.

"The minerals aren't the problem; the problem lies in the equipment." Old Xia really didn't know anything about the equipment for the uranium enrichment plant. This wasn't something you could just make do with other things; anything less than perfect wouldn't work.

Why did you suddenly think of making nuclear weapons?

"What do you think is the best way to deal with a large number of leaking nuclear reactors?"

"Nuclear bomb..." Levy understood almost instantly. What's the fastest and best way to deal with a leaking reactor that's constantly emitting radioactive material? Of course, it's a hydrogen bomb with a high enough yield. It'll be pretty much gone in two years.

"So, lithium deuteride and deuterium..."

"The prepared materials, especially deuterium, I dare not say anything else, but I have a lot of deuterium and helium-3 fuel." I didn't even use up all the ones salvaged from the Windrunner wreckage, not to mention that I later managed to refine another batch.

"Oh, so the problem now is, we need to design or copy a super centrifuge, but where does the problem lie?"

"The manufacturing equipment has expired its verification period, and the remaining equipment is not capable of manufacturing these types of products."

"Verification expired?" Levi never expected this ridiculous reason. "Wait a minute, what does 'verification expired' mean?"

"According to the regulations on safe production, after a certain number of generations of manufacturing and replication, for safety reasons, the functions will be locked and an automatic destruction process will be initiated. Then, the equipment will be repurchased. You can also understand it as the consumables of the equipment being scrapped. Although they are not scrapped in terms of performance and function, if they are used any longer, problems will start to occur according to the normal production process, so... they are forcibly scrapped."

"Is the security issue very serious?" Levi asked after thinking for a moment.

"It's extremely serious. If it gets out of control, the entire planet could be doomed."

The spread of the gray tide was truly catastrophic for the civilization of Terra. The Covenant could only evacuate the colonies, tear the entire planet apart, and use extreme heat to completely destroy the out-of-control gray tide.

“Then it is indeed advisable to scrap it when there is absolutely no chance of failure.” Otherwise, the risk would be far too great. Levy indicated that he understood.

"So what are the main manufacturing problems?"

"I've never seen such an old thing as a gas diffusion centrifuge. The textbooks only mention it briefly, but don't teach it."

Just like how modern textbooks may contain pictures of the spinning jenny and a simple description of its principles and structure, but apart from a few specific fields and libraries, you can hardly find blueprints of such a thing.

Moreover, considering the continuous advancement of human technological civilization, the blueprints for these devices will increase exponentially, measured in tons. Therefore, it is very likely that in the future, you will only see pictures and structural diagrams—which would be like asking the Rainbow Team to look at a structural diagram of a nuclear fusion reactor on the wall and then figure out controlled nuclear fusion technology on their own.

"Although I understand the principle and can make something similar, you know, this kind of thing..." Symbiotes can't handle acute radiation sickness. Old Xia is neither a warmonger nor a nuclear weapons enthusiast, and he's not facing a life-or-death situation. There's no need for him to risk his precious life to exhaustively try such things.

The current situation is like asking him to use the mechanical knowledge he learned from the spinning jenny to build a mechanical difference machine. That would definitely not work. At worst, a poorly made difference machine would just cause a jam, but if the equipment in a nuclear plant is not handled properly, people could really die, and even the acute radiation sickness symbiont cannot save him.

"Well, okay, I do have some experience to draw on, but you need to give me a draft of your equipment first."

"Okay, I'll transfer it to you right away." Then Levi was stunned by the dozens of gigabytes of data he was bombarded with. "You made this yourself?"

"Yes, I have computer-aided design software. Mechanical design at this level is very simple, it's just..."

So you just don't have the guts to actually build it and test it, right? After all, fission is not like fusion. Although the nuclear waste and radiation produced by fusion are strong, the residue is poor. But the things created by fission have a half-life of hundreds or thousands of years, which is really deadly.

“Okay, I’ll take my time to look at it when I get back. You really should give me a few more assistants, and at least take care of the elderly’s sleep, right?” Levi complained. Of course, despite the complaints, it’s hard to say that he didn’t enjoy this kind of thing.

After returning, Levi simplified Xia's design drawings by half in just one night. It wasn't that his abilities were too outstanding, but rather... how should I put it? Xia's gas diffusion centrifuge and other nuclear plant equipment used many technologies and things that Levi could only call "fancy" or "showy," resulting in serious deficiencies in reliability and safety.

"What the hell is this gravity traction splitting? Where did he find such a high-precision gravity generator? Wait, what the hell is a gravity generator? And what the hell is a directional ion needle? Why does a centrifuge have these things?"

"Huh? Ionize uranium vapor and then directionally condense it into ultra-high enriched uranium? You'd be lucky not to blow yourself up! No wonder you don't dare to do it, can't you do a more ordinary design?" Levy looked at the gadget like an old man on the subway looking at his cell phone.

To draw an analogy, it's like someone from the steam age looking at modern steam-powered equipment designed for production in the steam age: "What kind of fancy stuff is this? What kind of unreliable design is this? Can you really make this part? Won't the pressure cause the furnace to explode?"

Clearly, Lao Xia knew there was a high probability of the furnace exploding, which is why he didn't do it.