Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

“I didn’t tell you to take him in. I meant to leave him in the observation corridor and have his mother keep an eye on him.”

"Then you go and argue with the boss's daughter, and I get a disciplinary action and get fired, right?"

"Who is it? So arrogant? Arguing with Miss Qiu." The coworkers who had just returned to their cabin were shocked when they heard this.

"I've only heard about it from a friend."

"Oh~" Generally speaking, at this point, it's either "Is the friend you're talking about yourself?" or it's a completely fabricated friend.

"Woo-woo~" The station alarm sounded. "Oh, a spaceship has arrived. It's probably here to change shifts?" A Ghost Shark spaceship gradually entered the docking area and began unloading personnel and cargo.

"Unfortunately, no, they were sent to the demolition station. The ones over there are the ones that are truly in a terrible state." We need to detonate those Originium meteorites one by one or push them aside as much as possible to clear a path to the Ark and the lunar surface, as well as to open up a larger orbital safety zone.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Track Clearing

Terra Orbit, Space Cleanup Site: Skadi Type IV engineering vessel slowly approaches a massive Originium meteorite. Six plumes of white mist spray forward from its cone-shaped tip. High-pressure nitrogen jets gradually reduce the relative speed. Then, the landing gear opens, and it slowly lands on the rock, which is about the size of a small landship.

The metal hook at the end of the bracket engages with the Originium crystal, securing the spaceship, allowing the hatch on the side of the cone to open outwards.

The engineer, wrapped in heavy work clothes, gripped the ladder and slowly descended to the surface of the stone. His boots, equipped with magnetic sensors, automatically fixed themselves to the stone. Since the source stone was not ferromagnetic, the magnetic boots could not be guaranteed to be attracted here.

The soles of the boots are made of numerous tiny hooks, similar to Velcro, which can better fit into the gaps on the surface of crystals and stones to secure them. Even so, this kind of fixation is only slightly better than nothing.

The violent woman pulled out a measuring rod, pressed the bottom of the rectangle against the bluish-brown source rock beneath her feet, and the shockwave propagated rapidly through the solid, circling the entire rock before returning to her terminal.

Several detonation locations were marked on the terminal. The next step was the tedious and boring process of installing directional explosives on the surface of the rocks, then returning to the spaceship, detaching from the rocks, and selecting the detonation point.

The explosion of the miniature directional explosive instantly shattered the giant rock into several small pieces. Glistening Originium crystals from the fractured sections flew like snowflakes in the vacuum, striking the bulkhead with unsettling crackling sounds. Fortunately, the carbon nanomaterials and foam superalloys were strong enough that these fragments did not have a significant impact on the engineering vessel.

Next, the engineering vessel landed on the side of the rock block whose final value had been analyzed, ignited its main engine, and moved toward the source rock processing array outside the space station like a worker ant carrying a food scrap several times its own size.

The remaining fragments would need to be moved several more times before such a huge Originium meteorite could be completely disposed of. After several tens of minutes of flight, the engineering vessel turned around and used its main thrusters to brake and decelerate. The giant rock, which was almost at the limit of the processing array's storage frame, slowly approached and was grabbed by dozens of long arms extending from both sides.

The industrial processing module had to activate its orbital change engine to compensate for the massive momentum exchange. Finally, after nearly an hour of jetting and maneuvering, the source rock block, resembling a sliced ​​egg, came to a stop within the frame.

The industrial processing array consists of several stations, with the frame in the shape of a hexagonal metal ring. There are three workshops on the left and right sides, respectively. On the side of the ring, perpendicular to the ring, huge transport tracks are filled with cargo boxes.

"Mineral storage complete, engineering vessel disengages." The Brutality Operation spacecraft detached from the outer layer of the source rock and docked in the nearby station's berthing area, awaiting refueling and basic maintenance.

Space mining and space clearance operations are like ants moving house, cutting large pieces of food into smaller pieces, with swarms of worker ants carrying pieces larger than themselves back to the nest, and everything is crushed, digested, and transported to the largest queen ant via this steel umbilical cord.

During the atrocities' break, the miners who had switched from Rembiton slowly approached the massive source rock block and began dismantling it with handheld equipment. First, they peeled off the outermost, least valuable rock skin, and then sent the crushed rock to the waste treatment plant. After being rendered harmless, it was dumped onto the Terran land.

With just an initial acceleration, Terra's gravity will soon capture the template, causing the massive rock to plunge into the ocean, while most of its components will burn up in the atmosphere.

To ensure the stone is burned as cleanly as possible, rather than being dumped into the seawater, the industrial processing plant's compression workshop pulverizes the gravel into stone powder, adds a small amount of binder, compresses it into smaller stone bricks, packages them into large stone cubes, and then dumps them into the sea.

In this way, it will disperse and burn within the atmosphere, transforming into a brilliant meteor that vanishes in an instant. As for the side effects such as an increase in atmospheric source stone clouds and atmospheric dust, they can't worry about that. Besides, they don't clear away all the meteorites; they just clear a path and then periodically remove any newly drifting meteorites.

While maintaining the safety of the waterway and construction area, they also obtained a large amount of Originium minerals, as well as some rare metal minerals.

When cleaning the surface of the rocks, some metallic concretions are also found. These are products left over from the era of the Great Explosion and the Cataclysmic Era. Some are alloys that have melted and solidified to the point that their original shape is no longer visible, while others are just lunar rock metals that were brought out of the moon when they were blasted out.

These metal concretions and the relatively high-purity Originium crystals on the surface are sent separately to the metal processing workshop and the Originium processing workshop. The former is remelted into alloy or metal material ingots, while the latter is processed normally into Originium ore ingots or low-purity Originium ore ingots and sent to the space station.

The latter will be transported to the ground via the Specter Shark for further refining into pure Originium ingots. These Originium ingots will then be processed into standard fuel rods for Originium reactors and stored.

Because the future repair of the Ark will inevitably consume a large amount of fuel rods produced by restoring the technology of the ancients, since the Ark itself uses two energy modules: Originium reactor and nuclear reactor.

Frankly speaking, the cost is much higher than mining on the ground. Even if the mineral itself is of high purity, it is difficult to offset the cost even if about 20 kilograms of pure Originium can be processed from one ton of space Originium meteorite.

However, if it is considered a byproduct of clearing obstacles, then it becomes acceptable. This means that the cost of clearing an Originium meteorite would drop to an unbelievable level, and if metal byproducts are included, it could sometimes even be considered slightly profitable.

After cutting off the outer skin, the heavy industrial buoy began to process the inner layer, which resembled a "gemstone cave". The heavy ion cutting robotic arm quickly cut off the colorful crystals in the inner layer and threw them into the metal furnace. Then, the Originium crystal layer, which transitioned from dark gold to light gold, was broken up by the robotic arm and stuffed into the Originium processing workshop.

Compared to the slow process of polishing rocks, the processing speed of the inner crystals is much faster. The industrial buoy is like a drill bit, quickly penetrating into the crystal cavity, breaking it apart, crushing it, absorbing it, and digesting it.

Ultimately, they were transformed into crates of mineral raw materials on the transport track, most of which were sent back to Earth, while some were processed on-site into various materials needed for the expansion of the space station.

"Another ferry has arrived. I wonder what unlucky souls have been banished to this hellhole this time." The miners, floating in the void, grumbled as the ghost shark-shaped spaceship slowly flew overhead. "I heard it's some unfortunate soul from Letania, or maybe from Gaul."

The coworker glanced at it and continued operating the cutting machine, cutting open the outer layer of the newly fed meteorite. This work was very tedious and required caution, because the broken rock fragments could easily pierce through the work clothes, and then the low temperature, suffocation and high-energy radiation of space could quickly turn you into a cold corpse.

Therefore, during operation, it is necessary to use gentle and precise movements to cut along the crack first, and also to use a clamp from time to time to remove the surface crystals and put them into the ore mule box that accompanies you while you work.

"I feel like one of those jade cutters from long ago, dealing with these outer layers of stone every day, unable to damage the inner jade. Damn it." The energy-absorbing properties of Originium mean that direct heavy ion cutting before the outer layer of rock is cut away could easily trigger an explosion, which would send everyone on the site to meet their grandmother.

Only after the rock skin is removed and the mechanical cutting device separates the entire core of the large geode, can the heavy industrial buoy dare to use an ion cutter to cut off the metal crystals, and then process them into fragments using the same mechanical crushing method.

These jobs are tedious and boring. Although the view from space is nice, after a few days, it becomes tiresome and leads to severe loneliness. Floating around all day without any direction puts a lot of psychological pressure on many workers.

Even after getting off work and returning to their cabins, there's not much to do. At most, they can play cards, watch TV, and then wait for the next day to start work.

Therefore, many workers jokingly call this construction site a "bitter kiln," while those building the space station are much more enviable in comparison.

First, they have a small but not insignificant inner ring area of ​​the space station as a rest area, as well as supplies delivered by spacecraft from time to time. Although their daily work is very intense, it is at least not boring.

The most crucial point is that there are many people on the construction site over there, so they can chat and joke around to alleviate the loneliness of work. However, this place is too far away from Terra, and ground communication cannot be reliably connected. Moreover, due to the interference of a large number of Originium chips in space, it is difficult for workers at different sites to connect.

"The more people who come to this kind of 'bitter kiln,' the better. The more people there are, the sooner we can go home!" the foreman said noncommittally. "However, the Gauls aren't very hardworking, so you'd better be prepared for your workload to inexplicably double."

"And the Leitanians are rather slow, but they are quite meticulous in their work."

"Stop talking, save your energy, we still have one more rock to process today." The workers referred to a piece of Originium meteorite that had been partially blasted and cut open by the engineering vessel as "one rock."

This has become the most intuitive way for workers at the site to estimate their performance and workload.

However, contrary to their expectations, the workers who came this time were not from Letania, but from Colombia. In Colombia, due to war and depression, many people were unemployed, and many disabled veterans could not find work. There were more than a few people willing to come to space to mine and blast rocks.

However, because the relationship between the two countries was not good, there was no plan for large-scale immigration before. As the propaganda machines of powerful countries such as Colombia and Victoria changed their tune, some lower and middle-class workers and civilians who could not make a living thought that coming to space to pan for gold was a good place.

Unfortunately, this line of work requires more than just shovels, jeans, and buckets; it also requires a strong body, disciplined training, and a decent education to strike it rich, rather than dying along the way.

"New miner, keep quiet, and take this." The foreman looked at his new comrade as he entered the compartment, a sly smile on his face, and shoved a cutting tool into his hand. "From now on, this will be your wife and best friend."

After saying that, he picked up a helmet and put it on the newlywed's head: "Wearing this hat, you will no longer be an ordinary person. You will no longer be able to enjoy any of the holidays, entertainment, and pleasures of this world." The newlywed trembled with fear.

"Alright, stop joking. Hello, we'll be coworkers at the same workstation from now on. Although the work here is a bit monotonous, it's not that scary. There's just not much entertainment, so we can only tell corny jokes to pass the time."

"Your living quarters computer will remind you when it's time to start work. Basically, you get up when the alarm rings, then you work. When the foreman says it's time to finish, you go back to work. If the cabin lights are off, it's time to sleep at night. Don't move around at night, and you can't eat late-night snacks either."

The management was completely militarized. While it was actually permissible to have a late-night snack, everyone tacitly forbade newcomers from doing so. This was because there had been instances where newcomers had gotten up at night to have a late-night snack and, due to improper use of an induction cooker, it had blown through the bulkhead in the middle of the night, resulting in the entire cabin being blown out by the pressure and dying inexplicably while they were asleep.

Even the safety production department's subsequent investigation couldn't figure out how the other party managed to blow through a nearly one-meter-thick bulkhead with a low-powered induction cooker. They could only attribute it to the casual use of Originium Arts to try and salvage the situation after the accident, which led to an even greater explosion and destruction.

"The second thing is, do not use Originium Arts. Absolutely do not use Originium Arts here. People have already died here."

The surrounding area is full of huge Originium blocks and high-risk Originium dust. Using Originium Arts is like playing with firecrackers in a gunpowder warehouse. If you don't die, you're lucky. If you're blown to bits, you deserve it.

"As for the food, there will be an alarm clock to remind you. Also, our chefs don't work overtime at night, and they will lock the refrigerator and equipment, so you can't steal any food. Therefore, try to eat your fill at mealtimes. Although the food here isn't very tasty, you should force yourself to eat more to avoid waking up hungry at night."

Actually, for the newcomers, the first meal at space was not bad. Each person received a microwaved hamburger patty and a slightly sticky fried rice, which tasted pretty good.

These meals are all pre-packaged and produced on the ground and inside the space station. The so-called cooks simply put them in the microwave to heat up, then pour them into plates with plastic lids. Then, they heat a can of seafood broth in a covered cup on an induction cooker, and everyone eats it with straws or carefully through the feeding opening on the lid.

After use, tableware should be thoroughly wiped clean with a dry cloth and placed in the recycling bin. Then, the recycling bin should be placed into the trash can along with other waste. When the trash can is full, it should be placed on the transport track, which will take it to a processing module near the space station for processing or to be disposed of at high temperatures before being returned to a new container.

However, if it's the same microwaved food and the less-than-ideal seasoning and cooking methods every day, these work meals can feel like torture after a while. While the new crew members are eating, a bright white light shines through the porthole, illuminating almost the entire cabin and making the overhead wall lamps seem dim.

"What, what is this?!" The newcomer exclaimed in shock, but the foreman slapped him hard on the head. "Don't talk while eating in space, or you'll choke to death." Moreover, food crumbs would float everywhere, which was not only disgusting but would also pollute the cabin environment. So the foreman found a vacuum cleaner and carefully cleaned up the flying crumbs.

"That's just the airway clearing team blasting rocks in the distance, nothing to see." They directly used nuclear bombs to clear away some of the Originium meteorites that were too large or too small.

The winding waterway is almost open, and the first manned spacecraft is expected to be launched to the Ark by the end of the year. The next step will be to continuously send people, supplies, and tools, and to carry out a thorough inspection and repair of the Ark.

Before that, it is necessary to improve the original scaffolding around the Ark, establish a wider channel area, and build more Ghost Shark-class ships. As for larger ships, that is beyond Lao Xia's technical equipment level. Even if he goes to the forum to find experts to do it for him, it will be useless, because the quality of Terra's workers is limited.

Not to mention, the maximum processing size of some of his processing equipment is limited to this point. Any larger, and the machine simply cannot handle it properly. This isn't a simple elementary math problem where you can just extend it arbitrarily. Extending the machine means that the motor tracks need to be spliced ​​together. No matter how perfectly the splicing is done, there will always be gaps that affect accuracy, not to mention the stress issues associated with splicing the tracks.

As for the increased arm length, the bending of the arm material causing the machine head to drop, and the inability to process larger workpieces within the "optimal processing period," resulting in performance differences in different areas of the workpiece due to cooling, ultimately creating numerous weak points of varying sizes, this is even more troublesome.

Of course, if you're just doing some low-precision, general-purpose machining projects, extending the machine and machining area isn't a bad idea. But if you're manufacturing spaceships, forget it. You'll only end up completely destroying this precious production equipment and being unable to produce even a Ghost Shark-class spaceship.

Reality is not a game; there is no rollback function. The consequence of such modifications is not that you can no longer build larger spaceships and continue producing the original model. The most likely outcome is that your modifications will fail, and you will never be able to build even the most basic Skadi-type spaceship again, which is almost equivalent to complete scrapping.

Since it's impossible to build larger spaceships, increasing the number of the largest existing spaceships is the only solution. Therefore, workers in the hangars on the ground are working overtime to build more Ghost Shark-class spaceships.

This rapidly expanding list of ships represents not only opportunities for the other nations of Terra, but also an immense sense of threat—and precisely because this threat is so direct and obvious, everyone's attitude has softened and become more conciliatory.

What was that really old joke again?

When they say you are a threat, you better really are a threat, just like when they say you have a deadly weapon, you not only better actually have it, but you better actually dare to use it and be able to use it, and be able to actually throw it in their faces.

In that case, they will never mention the matter again, but will instead warmly invite you to join a "Weapon of Mass Destruction Prevention Alliance" to restrict others from possessing such items.

At that time, you'll find that the guys who used to criticize you will greet you warmly, saying, "How can you sit down there? Come up to the stage!"

Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Space Race Begins

Chapter 79

In the Great Yan Cabinet, the Emperor sat down wearily, too lazy for pleasantries, and went straight to the point: "These Kazdel spaceships are constantly flying overhead, and I can't sleep well at all. You ministers are all experienced and shrewd people who have been working on the country. Do you have any insightful opinions?"

However, the audience below remained completely oblivious, as if they were a group of clay or wooden statues. Everyone knew that the emperor was just looking for an excuse to punish people, and what could Kazdel possibly do?

If you speak well, it's only natural; if you speak poorly, you can be dismissed on the spot for delaying important national affairs. The first principle of officialdom: if you don't do anything, you won't make mistakes; if you have to do something, then do it twice as hard.

"Your Majesty, this thing hangs high in the heavens, beyond human reach. We should put pressure on Kazdel, whose roots are on the ground." Finally, someone spoke up with a pointless statement. Everyone knew that this thing was unreachable, so they could only put pressure on Kazdel, who were on the ground.

The problem is that everyone is now cooperating with each other. If Da Yan applies pressure alone, it might end up becoming the target of a collective attack. Besides, Da Yan's business with Kazdel is not a small business either.

"Hmm, that makes sense. I will immediately issue an edict to seal off the nine borders, forbidding any boat or plank from crossing the border. Anyone who violates this order will be sunk on the spot. I will also order the Black Guards to investigate all those who trade with the Kingdom of Ka. If anyone is found, their entire family will be executed. How about that?" The emperor said with a half-smile. Did he really think he was completely ignorant of bureaucratic rhetoric? If bureaucrats are lenient, then the emperor will be lenient with them.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't! This is tyranny and cruel law! What have the border people done to deserve such a calamity!" The cabinet members immediately changed color. If the emperor really did this, their families' businesses would probably be wiped out on the spot.

Even if they bribed the imperial envoy to escape disaster, the goods still had to be sold in the end. Given the nature of those Sarkaz barbarians in Kazdel, they would either drastically reduce the price or simply blockade the entire operation.

As for the livelihood of people living on the border, the definition of "people" is in their hands.

"Then please don't try to fob me off with such rhetoric. I want a truly feasible solution."

“Well, I have heard that the Celestial Master’s Mansion has recently achieved quite a few results. Perhaps we can also follow Kazdel’s example.”

"Oh, so this means they won't impeach the Celestial Master's Mansion for violating ethics and disrespecting ancestral rules?"

"Your Majesty, times have changed. Blindly following the words of our ancestors is not the right path. We should be inclusive and open-minded." The emperor had no energy to continue arguing with these shrewd people. They had spent two or three decades studying the classics and could always find extremely reasonable words from the sages to endorse their own views.

To paraphrase a former Grand Secretary, "How can etiquette and law be such inconvenient things?!" For these cabinet ministers, being able to manipulate events at will and find explanations within etiquette and law that align with their own behavior is practically a basic skill.

"Well then, issue an edict to the Celestial Master's Mansion, the Imperial Household Department, the Bureau of Works and Equipment, and other departments, stating that they may act expediently on matters involving the Nine Heavens, and that officials who report on hearsay shall not use this as grounds for criticism." The emperor had achieved his goal, effectively disarming the outer court and gaining control of the Imperial Household Department and the Bureau of Works and Equipment, thus controlling his own purse strings.

The former involves a portion of tax revenue distribution, while the latter involves engineering projects such as palace and city construction. By taking back control of their own pockets and the project's direction, they can pass many things directly without needing external court review.

In other words, it was like giving his own decrees a green channel. For the court officials, this blow was indeed a bit heavy, but they could still bear it. Faced with Kazdel's ships flying around overhead and the pressure of the emperor clearly preparing to find an excuse to wipe them all out, sacrificing the pawns to save the king was an unavoidable decision.