Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"9..."

"……grass!"

The sky twinkled with stars as the shattered Originium fragments were captured by gravity and slowly sank into the atmosphere. The outer shell of the rock melted rapidly, while the inner Originium minerals burned, releasing high-energy particle beams that rubbed against the dense air above the shock cone, creating a dazzling aurora-like light before crashing through the ancient people's edifice, leaving a through hole.

"The bridge ahead is broken!"

"jump over!"

"Whoosh!" The engine roared with its last bit of power as the armored vehicle charged onto the broken bridge and hurtled towards the opposite side. "Bang!"

"Safe landing, how far are we!?"

"300 meters!" The support frame and platform at the bottom of the airdrop pod are already visible. Old Xia's symbiote has automatically connected to the equipment within the communication range. "Open the pier!" The rubble at the edge of the platform falls off, and an arched door at the bottom of the airdrop pod flips open, revealing a long metal ramp.

"Drive up!" The demon was almost touching the last vehicle. "Screech!" The armored vehicle rushed into the loading and unloading area at the bottom of the airdrop pod, braked suddenly and swerved sideways, and the other vehicles followed suit.

"Close the door!" The hatch slowly closed, and the black wave formed by the demons crashed into the outer shell of the airdrop pod. Almost instantly, the sound of the alloy structure of the outer shell deforming under the pressure could be heard.

Not only that, but a large number of meteorites also fell. Fortunately, the airdrop area was not hit by many of them, mainly thanks to the anti-meteor laser at the top working properly.

Star Alliance Technology, of course, contained no Originium components. The demon circled the behemoth a few times, realized that it contained no Originium, had very weak external radiation, and was difficult to corrode, so it abandoned its target and headed towards the landing point of the fallen Originium meteorites.

"Turn on the lights!" The interior lighting turned on, illuminating the cargo containers that lined up to the top of the loading and unloading area, as well as the central ring elevator and the four robotic arms that assisted in pulling out the cargo containers.

"Where did they get so much equipment?" Old Xia stood in front of the central logistics control terminal, flipping through the contents. Everything he requested was there, and everything he didn't request was there too. However, now was not the time to inspect the treasures.

The circular elevator, which is responsible for retrieving the O-2-E cargo box, rises upwards. The robotic arm accurately locates the numbered cargo box, and after the electromagnetic latches match and verify the connection, the flat cargo box is pulled out. Then, the elevator descends, and the cargo box is placed on the loading and unloading stack area.

"A small ultra-membrane communication terminal for ground scientific research," Lao Xia explained before opening the box and quickly operating it on the pop-up holographic interface.

"Damn it! I don't have access rights!" The interface displayed a bright red permission deficiency warning. "I can only access the star sector's public network now. I can't access the research team's network or their communication channels."

"Can we hack it?" This was Ash's first thought. Since the FBI couldn't access the network, the obvious choice was to illegally hack it.

"..." Old Xia looked at her like she was an idiot. "Do we have any experts in this field here?"

"I... okay, there really isn't." Ash originally wanted to say that there were several experts here, but after looking at the holographic interface in front of her, she realized that this was not the technology of her time. It was like letting DOS-era hackers invade modern networks and servers. They might even have to spend a lot of time figuring out where the protocol doors were. And that was an optimistic estimate.

A pessimistic way to put it is like sending 16th-century Japanese ninjas to infiltrate the security system of the modern North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). That's roughly the idea.

"Can we broadcast a distress call using the same channel as before?"

"I'll give it a try..." Old Xia quickly edited the message and sent it, but only received a cold, default reply. Obviously, the other side thought that he had escaped danger. They only left a rendezvous point and promised that only people with fewer than 200 people could take the research vessel back. The others were asked to find a place to settle down on their own and wait for the formal rescue.

Fortunately, this was an original, genuine communication station, not subject to the 10Kb limit. Therefore, the other party also provided a map of nearby habitable planets that had been explored. There was nothing Lao Xia could do about this situation. Obviously, the other party's scientific research mission was more important, and it might even be some kind of black operation or secret operation. They had already gone this far because of the Star Alliance's consistent decision-making habits.

Do you have weapons and equipment?

“No, but we have equipment.” Old Xia had the robotic arm pull out several more cargo boxes and connect the cables to the communication station. “Let’s register and update your identity information first.” Old Xia placed his hand on the communication station, where the interface displayed Star Alliance citizen information verification. Soon, his identity information was displayed.

"Ashes? Who wants to go first?"

“I’ll do it.” Alexander placed his hand on it, and soon the interface displayed that no genetic information for this person could be found.

"Select deep secondary verification and add new information."

"..." Soon, a new identity form appeared. Except for the place of birth and name, everything else was filled in automatically, including blood type, gender, and ethnicity.

In the Star Alliance, there's no gender selection option for transgender people because these... are usually dealt with at the embryonic stage—for a civilization with a population shortfall of tens of billions, allowing this kind of political correctness is less desirable than suicide.

Not to mention, the era in which Lao Xia lived was right after the end of the war. Many peripheral areas were still under military control and defense zone systems. They wouldn't talk to you about many things or offer much explanation. If it was a psychological issue, there were at least twenty kinds of forced psychological correction and drug-assisted psychological correction methods to make you realize this correctly.

If it's a hormonal issue, the symbiotic system can repair it. If it can't be resolved, a genetic diagnostic medical institution can help. If it's a congenital issue—then the baby won't be born at all; it will be eliminated at the embryonic cell stage and re-fertilized.

Even by the strictest standards, an embryonic cell cannot be considered a "living person." Only when it grows to the point where a fetal heartbeat can it be considered a "living person" and cannot be destroyed by technological means.

Of course, what if it's a truly accidental case of gender dysphoria? It's simple: we can actually change your gender. The surgery might be expensive, but it's definitely possible.

"It's neither politically correct nor humanitarian."

“Because nobody in the universe talks to you about humanitarianism.” Old Xia shrugged. “Because apart from you, no one else is human, in the literal sense. So, the word doesn’t exist for them. And if you insist on this kind of generalized humanitarianism, you’ll only bring about your own destruction.”

"I think it's alright." Alexander, who came from the Soviet era, felt it was acceptable and even felt a strong sense of familiarity. Although he hadn't experienced the era of the "Iron Man" due to his age, Alexander still had a good understanding of that period.

Especially for someone who has truly experienced the loss of a nation, they can better understand what all those wonderful things in the mouths of the West are really like. He joined the Rainbow Squad not for justice or ideals, nor for those high-sounding slogans, but for money and the ability to do some good for the world while doing so.

Don't think it's vulgar; actually, apart from Levi and Shuanghua, the other three are all after money. Blitzkrieg not only hasn't finished paying off his student loans, but he's also a spendthrift hedonist. Alexander is divorced, and besides his ex-wife and child support, he also has a sister, nephew, and niece—a whole family to support. Given Russia's economic situation, how can they survive without money?

Ash, needless to say, is straightforwardly and simply after money. However, while it's about money, it's not entirely about money. What's wrong with receiving monetary rewards while doing good for the world?

Then Ash and Blitz completed their registrations, but Frostflower encountered a problem. She couldn't find Canada in the birthplace field of the registry, and Blitz couldn't find the UK. Of course, it didn't matter; they could just select Europe.

“Canada is gone, Britain has sunk, of course you won’t find them. After all, our system hasn’t considered the possibility of a group of ancient people from centuries ago suddenly appearing.” Old Xia scratched his head. “However, most Canadians have been incorporated into the United States, and most British have been incorporated into France. Anyway, if you trace back further, they’re all one family. Why don’t you choose the United States?”

While it may seem like there's no difference to Covenant humans, it's quite absurd for those born during the "separation period."

"After completing the registration, we still have a lot to do, so let's not waste any more time." Although the demons were attracted away by the Originium meteorite, it was no easy task to send so many supplies out of the Dead City. Therefore, Old Xia had to upgrade their equipment on-site.

"Didn't they say... there were no weapons or equipment?"

"Yeah, there really aren't any. If there were, I'd be pushing right now." Old Xia was also helpless. "But, besides military equipment, it's not like only military equipment can be used as weapons." On the interface, he had already logged into the official website of the Star Alliance Space Geology Department, and put Originium Ingots and Originium Minerals into the mineral analyzer linked above to upload information.

"What are you doing..."

"Make money! How can we fight a war without making money?" Old Xia rubbed his hands excitedly. "Whether we can achieve financial freedom depends on this wave!"

Anyway, the sun won't explode for several decades. Several decades? Let those people from the planetary mining group keep an eye on it. If Terra still has a slightly larger source stone mine in ten years, then those people are just slacking off.

"Then upload the mining area distribution map, then the mining area star map, and the preliminary mineral identification data... Done! Let's get the Pioneer Discovery Bonus first."

"Is it really that simple? Or is it a hoax?"

"So how do you plan to convince the thousands of burly miners who come carrying their equipment not to squeeze the last bit of shit out of your intestines?" As for the money for risking their lives, this discovery bonus is a bit too little.

"All done, money arrived, let's start buying equipment." Old Xia skillfully connected to the official website of a group called "Wind Pick," and then proceeded with operations that others might not understand, resulting in a pile of blueprint download processes appearing in the background.

"This group specializes in manufacturing mining tools. I bought their most renowned mining and exploration drone, unarmed. However, I also bought a high-powered plasma crusher and cutting gun from another company." Combining the two organically, and utilizing the battlefield craftsmanship of Middle Eastern Maimaiti, it might not be suitable for fighting wars, but it should be very useful for fighting demons.

"Then we'll use the materials here to manufacture the first batch, and then send them out to deal with the recent demons. After that, we'll manufacture the rubble-clearing robots. These are quite expensive, but they're equipped with the most powerful weapons we have without access to military weapons. They can clear all kinds of rubble and recycle building materials. By the way, I specifically chose blueprints that don't contain rare materials like superheavy elements."

"If you lived two centuries ago, you would definitely be the most terrifying terrorist in the world!"

"Huh?" Old Xia scratched his head. "Isn't this a basic skill? Didn't you have to serve in the military or receive military training in your time?"

"?" Now it was Ash and the others' turn to have question marks popping up in their heads.

"Does every one of you receive this kind of training?"

"My generation was actually considered relatively good. The generation before that, people over the age of fifteen received training that included basic courses on frigates and space carrier-based aircraft. In other words, compared to that, my generation is a lost generation. If you randomly picked 50 people from the previous generation, there was a 50% chance that you could immediately assemble a complete destroyer crew, and a 70% to 80% chance that you could take a destroyer to the battlefield—as for how many minutes you could survive on the battlefield, that's another question."

“The training for newborn children nowadays is much simpler, consisting of some basic military knowledge, simple battlefield first aid, evacuation, and weapons-related knowledge.”

"Not bad," Alexander seemed surprisingly accepting of this setup.

Chapter Sixty-Five: As long as the road continues to extend

Chapter 65

The blueprint download speed was not fast, and Lao Xia's speed in assembling a simple drone assembly line was not much faster either. The airdrop cabin was equipped with some scarce supplies to prevent the tragedy of having a cooking pot but no rice to cook and starving to death.

This mining exploration/mining drone has a simple structure and can be equipped with either a legged, tracked, or flying component to adapt to various mining areas. It is powered by two high-energy hydrogen batteries. The flying version can carry any equipment weighing no more than 150 kg, while the tracked version has few limitations as long as the cargo platform can hold it, although its terrain mobility will be greatly reduced.

The fixture automatically extracts material ingots from the material bin, and the microwave-sized assembly machine quickly prepares parts at a rate of 2-3 seconds each and sends them to the assembly table next to it.

Four robotic arms swiftly assembled, welded, and heat-treated the parts as if they were building blocks. The entire process took less than 15 minutes, and a drone with a four-legged wheeled structure that makes it easier to move in urban areas rolled off the production line.

"Because the default production settings do not allow the installation of non-matching tool components directly on the assembly table, we need to do this part manually for the time being. However, this kind of automatic assembly line is very simple, and if all else fails, a manual assembly line is also very simple." Old Xia connected to the drone with the symbiote. The drone, which was about the size of a large dog, circled around him twice and quietly climbed onto the tool table and lay down.

"This reminds me of the dog I have at home."

"Pretty much. The VI chip for this thing uses the same template as dogs. They also use the same template in home drones and electronic pets, so it's not too strange. Hand me the toolbox." Old Xia took the toolbox from Alexander and started working on the back of the drone.

"The blueprint I chose is for a standard heavy-duty drilling laser and a small ion gas cutter, which are independently powered. So, we need to install the batteries ourselves. Luckily, they also sent a batch of batteries, otherwise we would have been in the awkward situation of having guns but no bullets." Although mining lasers and military lasers have similar or even greater power, their actual lethality is very different.

"Our military lasers come in several configurations, the main differences being in frequency and hue. Of course, price and complexity are also different," Lao Xia explained as he tightened a screw. "Military lasers generally use gamma, microwave, and ultraviolet frequencies, and also radio frequency frequencies, but microwave and gamma are the most commonly used. The purpose of military lasers is to kill the enemy, primarily using pulsed lasers, and requiring both penetrating power and targeting of the laser beam."

“Generally speaking, we use microwaves to deal with Zerg warships. They lack a solid metal outer shell, and the energy peak of the microwave laser is absorbed inside the chitinous shell. In other words, the laser causes very little damage to the chitinous shell itself. However, the muscle tissue and body fluids inside absorb a large amount of peak energy, which causes a rapid temperature rise and explosion, blasting the shell open from the inside out.”

"Different laser modules will be selected for different targets. However, gamma is an exception. As everyone knows, it is very difficult to generate gamma photons. Generally, nuclear bombs are used. However, with the advancement of technology, we can now use positron-electron annihilation to generate enough critical gamma photons for stimulated emission. Gamma lasers are basically... universal. They are reliable in killing any target. The only downside is that they require ammunition."

"Okay, mining lasers mainly use infrared and long-wave light. They don't require penetrating power, unlike shipborne weapons which require the target's peak absorption point to be inside the armor or hull material, or even close to the ship's cabin, to directly cause the material to evaporate and explode, killing the ship's personnel."

The lining material absorbs excessive photon energy, causing it to evaporate and form a small-scale light burst. This may cause the target's surface armor to red-hot and deform, but the interior will explode, creating numerous holes and deformed, unusable components. Therefore, in the Covenant arsenal, laser weapons are mainly used for non-lethal attacks and crippling strikes.

The former is easy to explain: wide-angle high-power laser scanning directly damages the target's surface sensors and various external devices, causing a non-lethal attack; the latter is direct pulse irradiation, which damages internal pipes, armor, or hull structure, forcing the target to go back for repairs. Moreover, these things are particularly troublesome to repair because you need to cut open the hull and then install a new one.

For some starships with one-piece molded hulls, rebuilding them might be faster than repairing them. This would greatly increase the enemy's logistical pressure and financial burden, adding a lot of "wounded" ships that the opposing shipyards have to repair.

Just as the best use of a sniper is to inflict tons of wounds on the enemy rather than kill them with a single shot, laser weapons, which are sniper rifles in space, are used in the same way.

"However, mining lasers are not very meaningful. People just want to use light pulses to blast or cut open the surface of rocks, rather than melting the minerals inside. Therefore, the thermal effect is emphasized more, and long-wavelength light is used more often. After all, there are no requirements in terms of range, accuracy, or penetration. It is just a matter of power."

"Alright, all set up. Let's send this thing out to scout ahead." Old Xia patted the drone on the workbench, and the thing jumped off the workbench by itself. Its built-in VI module activated, and it began to follow the preset action pattern, climbing out of the special drone release hatch in the airdrop compartment.

The demons had no interest in these drones, which were neither living beings nor reacted to Originium. They frantically writhed around the meteorite impact site, constantly spreading and eroding the structure of these Originium meteors.

"Identify this thing as: mineral, OK, now let's see what happens." The drone approached the demon slowly, after all, it was only used for mining, and the ore vein wouldn't run away. Its four mechanical legs slowly climbed the steps and lay down on the roof of a ruined building, with the drilling laser on its folded back rising up.

The first step in the mining process is to drill with lasers and use pulse heating to evaporate the surface structure of the ore and peel off the outer skin to expose the core. The high-energy infrared laser leaves a trail of dazzling golden-red beams in the atmosphere, which is the color emitted by the Originium dust and other particles in the air after absorbing the energy of the high-energy beam.

A spot of light fell on a demon, instantly evaporating and melting the ice and snow on its surface, triggering a small explosion. Then it continued to penetrate deeper, with more and more demon tissue fluid being evaporated and ionized, creating an explosive effect that peeled away the demon's tissue structure. However, the blood and flesh that flowed over filled the hole.

The drone automatically identifies the target as a soft fluid mineral, retracts its laser, and starts its ion cutter to prepare to cut the minerals. Drilling is done so that when cutting hard rocks, the rocks can split along the holes instead of crumbling into pieces, making it impossible for the mining drone to work.

If this were in space, the debris would be sent flying hundreds of kilometers away, making the entire mining process unbearably inefficient. So, the process involves drilling holes first, followed by ion impact cutting, which allows the rock to split open along these neat holes without producing too many fragments.

The high-powered ion cutter is not a low-end version of the thermal cannon. With a flash of arc light, a demonic limb was completely cut off. Since Lao Xia did not equip it with mining and processing drones, this mining drone, codenamed "Kobold," ignored the falling limb and began cutting the next part.

The intelligence of Star Alliance's various drones is not high. Sometimes, they even require commands from humans and the AI ​​core to work properly. This is because, during use, it was found that increasing production seemed to be easier than improving their intelligence, so the mass production model was chosen.

As something that is almost a disposable item, the Covenant drones don't require much intelligence. Maintenance and repair drones are a bit better, but combat and resource gathering drones really rely on each drone doing only one thing to avoid mistakes, and then the gameplay depends entirely on a densely packed number of them.

This does not mean that these drones are truly devoid of intelligence, or that the Covenant does not require intelligent devices. These drones are all equipped with intelligent access ports. In other words, if Lao Xia had a mining service-oriented AI core, he could intervene at any time based on the loss/replenishment status and performance of drones in various mining areas, and the same applies to combat drones.

This design has misled many players. Just when you think the enemy drones are a bunch of mindless, reckless mobs and have gotten used to this brutal style of play, the enemy has actually changed their tactics. The next wave will be a seamless transition from mindless mobbing to elite units that are skilled in flanking maneuvers, coordination, and fire support.

All drones are similar in model, and within the coverage area of ​​the quantum network, any one or multiple of them can instantly become intelligent. This poses a great challenge to the enemy's intelligence work—you simply don't know whether you are facing elite or ordinary units, whether they are acting recklessly as usual or suddenly starting to play tactics.

Even a single drone could suddenly become possessed, capable of destroying an entire platoon's defenses in a single strike. It's difficult for the enemy to pinpoint the main force and elite units of the Covenant ground unit cluster. Any one of them could become a main force in a second, or degenerate in the next.

The most terrifying scenario is when you haven't even figured out the situation and are completely bewildered, the enemy has already set up a bunch of server centers. Now, the drones you're facing are all elite main force drones, each with the tactical awareness and cunning of the most elite soldiers. They are also the kind of elite drones that never die, constantly learning from their deaths, and whose numbers are only increasing.

Therefore, the best way to deal with this standard tactic of the Covenant is to launch a swift attack before their command center deployment is fully completed and they are still a bunch of idiots, using a larger number of forces to violently destroy the landing site and the servers subsequently deployed. Once the idiots become artificial intelligence, then quickly leaving the planet is basically the best option.

Although Lao Xia doesn't have an AI core or military drones, he can still use the same tactics. After all, he doesn't have tens of thousands of drone troops. He only needs to control five "leader drones" with the four members of the Rainbow Squad and issue commands remotely through the symbiote.