Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

The rate at which new infected individuals are being generated has slowed down, and the infected individuals die quickly after losing their jobs. The Ursus Empire is even beginning to worry about where to find such cheap labor after all the current infected individuals have disappeared.

In order to avoid the complete extinction of cheap labor, even the stingy nobles and oligarchs of Ursus had to release some of their profits, and followed Colombia's example by creating an insurance program for infected individuals and unemployment benefits.

Rembiton, on the other hand, is having a tough time. Apart from the best Originium Ore, its other minerals are simply not competitive. Originium crystals in space start at the level of Originium Ore, while on the ground they are mainly Originium Rock and Solidified Rock. Only Originium Ore, a high-quality corundumized mineral, can barely compare.

As for Originium ore, it still has a certain competitiveness due to its cost advantage. However, this also means that the profit margin of the mining industry has been cut by at least two-thirds. After all, if Originium ore and Originium jade ore are directly refined, the refining cost is enough to make up for the high purchase cost of space ore.

Ghost Shark navigated through the bustling space mining area, where the flashes of exploding Originium meteorites and unmanned engineering vessels dragging large rocks could be seen flashing past the portholes.

The workers, who were visiting space for the first time, stared in astonishment at the gray-blue platforms and the massive Originium blocks that resembled floating hills in the distance. Even the workers from Rembiton had to admit that Rembiton's mining industry was truly outdated.

The workers from Kazdel, on the other hand, seemed quite calm. Compared to the Kazdel Dragon Ridge Mountains and Hills mining areas, as well as the Northern Lava Mines, this scale of mining was child's play. Those mantle extraction towers were drawing blood from the planet at an astonishing rate every second.

Even the smelting speed could hardly keep up with the mineral production rate, forcing them to sell a large portion of it, which caused mineral prices to plummet. This made Ursus and Rembiton's mineral revenue seem even more like hard-earned money.

The dramatic drop in raw material prices is a huge economic boon for any country that relies heavily on industrial production, but for any country that relies heavily on raw material exports, it is nothing short of a catastrophe.

"I heard that Kalan Trade has laid off a large number of employees. Is that true?"

"It's true. I heard from Letania Bank that their assets are severely below their debts, and they may even go bankrupt."

Who do you think will clean up this mess?

"New Gaul or Victoria, but I think the probability is not high."

Because the Karan trade is a typical raw material export group, relying on the industrial facilities and abundant resources of the early inhabitants of Shelag, it makes profits by selling resources, and a considerable portion of the profits is used to purchase various seeds and fertilizers needed by Shelag, as well as a huge food shortage.

When faced with such turmoil and the sharp drop in prices of almost all raw materials and primary industrial products, they were the first to be hit. Rembiton Mining Company fared slightly better because they were able to maintain a small profit thanks to their scale and high-quality source jade mining. Moreover, they did not only sell resources, but also heavy engineering equipment for mining.

"I think Colombia might make a move; they're the ones who made the most money."

Colombia, known for its innovative technologies and enterprising spirit, has been ruthless in eliminating small-scale, rudimentary industrial facilities, with people and raining down on the rooftops even more densely than in Victoria.

However, after the initial rainstorm in Tiantai subsided, new industries and processing industries developed rapidly, driven by the aerospace industry and the sharp drop in raw materials and upstream products. They not only made up for the previous losses but also made a fortune.

Victoria, on the other hand, was in a more awkward position. They had a huge smelting and industrial group, and the scale of their industrial production overlapped with Kazdel's primary products. They simply couldn't compete on cost. Kazdel was processing by-products, while Victoria had to pay for fuel and manpower to produce them, which naturally accelerated their bankruptcy.

However, as an established empire, Victoria itself possessed considerable advanced processing technology and industries that required these primary products. It could be said that the combined effect of the two was almost break-even, making it difficult for them to accept the mess that was the Carlan trade.

"But the agricultural products of the Kalan Trade are still very competitive." The food and wool textile industries of the Kalan Trade have not been affected much. In fact, because the space station keeps the temperature very low for energy conservation, it needs a lot of high-quality wool products and makes a lot of money.

"There's no hope then," the well-informed Colombian worker scoffed. "Not to mention the food industry itself, which is already facing strong competition from Kazdel, Victoria, and our country, the wool textile industry isn't without alternatives either. Ursus and Da Yan are both doing this, and their technology is even more advanced, especially since Da Yan and Ursus began developing the northern frontier."

"That's true." "Your information is outdated. Kalan Trading has already divided its assets, separating the original food production and textile factories into two independent groups. So, even if it goes bankrupt, only the unlucky investors will jump off buildings, hahaha!"

Then a small group of Colombians and Lungmenese in the cabin turned green with envy—they were the unlucky guys who had bought Caran Trade stock!

"Isn't this considered asset transfer?"

"Yes, and it's a legal transfer. What can you do about it? After all, they haven't declared bankruptcy yet, and they've even paid off the bank interest by selling some of their high-value assets."

Therefore, the banks that received the interest were naturally unwilling to cause any trouble, and even used the money to invest in the spun-off Karlan Dairy Group, which is arguably the most profitable company in Sherag recently.

In any case, going to space and working on the Ark require considerable physical fitness, and protein-rich foods such as milk can bind to heavy metals, which to some extent reduces the health risks for personnel working in the Kazdel mantle extraction tower.

These places are heavily polluted by heavy metal dust. Although there are full protective measures to minimize the risk, I still feel safer eating more dairy products and animal offal.

In addition, as a semi-nomadic people, the Sarkaz people have a great fondness for dairy products. Although Lao Xia's dairy group can perfectly supply these needs, his own production is also limited and cannot be increased indefinitely.

Therefore, the reduction in the production of dairy and meat products in Kazdel that were originally entering the international market naturally led to an increase in overall prices, and Kazdel trade was able to recover some of its losses thanks to this positive development.

"Speaking of dairy products, I think the ice cream from Kalan Trade sold in Kazdel is quite delicious. It would be a real shame if they really went bankrupt."

"I still prefer the ones made by Kazdel. The flavor isn't as strong, but it's cheaper!"

"So what are those farmers and dairy companies in our country doing? We have the largest ranch in all of Terra!"

"Because they need to make money~" Food safety in Colombia is a long story. Sausages might contain pork or any other meat, milk is probably half milk, and tea is probably tea leaves—Boston tea isn't tea at all~ haha.

In contrast, Kalan Trade was unwilling to tarnish its already limited reputation. Kazdel's output was too large and all of it came from the Xia family's ranches. The dairy products were produced with automated management and standardized processes, lacking soul, but the quality was still excellent.

“Based on my experience growing up on the Red River ranch, Kazdel’s milk is adulterated,” a Colombian worker said, holding up his finger. “It’s about 90% milk, and I don’t know what the remaining 10% is. It’s probably some necessary additives, since their milk can be stored for a longer time than that of Caran.”

"The milk from Carlan Trade may have a richer flavor due to its variety, but it also has a strong milky smell. The processing technology is not good. However, it can basically be guaranteed to be 100% milk. As for the milk on the Colombian market... 20%, no more than that."

How much water do you usually add to your household?

"You dilute it with 200 ml per liter, which is 1/5, then the dairy factory dilutes it with half again, and then adds other things~" "Aren't you afraid of ruining your own reputation?"

“I sold my ranch to those Sarkaz people, so of course I’m not afraid. Besides, if my ranch were still here, I wouldn’t be working here.” Of course, the ranch owner’s children run their own farm. If it’s in a good location, their income in Colombia is no less than that of some urban elites.

"Alright, stop chatting, we've arrived. Grab your things and get ready to assemble!" The Specter docked at the Ark's mooring area, the airlock opened, and the foreman urged the workers, who were now steer the conversation toward international politics and economic trends, to hurry off the ship and prepare for ash removal—did they all think they were high-ranking members of parliament?

Chapter 86 ~~~~~~OvO hiccup~

Chapter 86

At the Ark construction site, the landing platform is the first checkpoint to enter the Ark. One end of the U-shaped platform is a light strip track that guides the spacecraft into the port, and the other end is a gate to enter the interior of the Ark. The spacecraft will land on this platform, rotate 180 degrees in the center of the platform, and then stand upright to enter the interior of the Ark by touching the gate with its back.

Since the Ark's gravity is generated through prolonged acceleration, and the direction of gravity is parallel to but opposite to the direction of travel, the floor is perpendicular to the main body of the spacecraft, so such a platform is needed to adjust the spacecraft's attitude.

Of course, this only applies to small ships. Medium and large ships fly in normally. The large ships built by the Terrans are similar to most civilizations that are on the verge of interstellar civilization. Their structure is more like a flying building, and their decks are the opposite of those of ships like the Covenant.

Therefore, the process of a large spacecraft entering the Ark for docking is like a building rising from the port passage, and then the automated orbital systems on both sides connecting to it. Small spacecraft, on the other hand, are like space shuttles. They need to adjust their attitude before entering, otherwise it would be very uncomfortable for the crew to get on and off the plane, because the floor is perpendicular to the direction of gravity, making it almost impossible to move inside the cabin.

This U-shaped platform has now become the Ghost Shark's temporary landing site and a storage area for workers. Containers and integrated living quarters are left here, waiting for workers to unpack them and transport them to the Ark repair site via the cargo channel.

Because the freight rails are still under repair, or more accurately, dismantled and reinstalled, most of the workers have to live on the platform, and the transport of goods relies almost entirely on manpower and simple machinery.

In a tunnel-like freight passage large enough for a large train to pass through, a dozen workers, under the direction of engineers and foremen, are dismantling the bulkheads and re-laying lines and interfaces. On the ground are transport tracks being installed and laid.

Although the tunnel is actually not very long, less than 10 meters in length, its structure is quite complex, including a series of structures such as airlocks, decontamination, safety detection, moving object detection, self-maintenance, and waiting stack areas.

"Here, and here, remove the wiring. Remember the cable marked A7, don't take the wrong one again. This old thing can't withstand a few more attempts by us." In the control room, Kroos held two completely different Ark blueprints provided by Old Xia and the Doctor, frantically directing the workers to reset the wiring.

The mere issue of connecting a freight route had already given her a celestial look with dark circles under her eyes, a difficulty no less than that of the Rhodes Island restoration project.

Fortunately, since the Ark's power system and information aggregation system themselves need major modifications, at least these module system areas need to be completely overhauled, there is no need to consider the issue of connecting with the old people's system for the time being; we can just dismantle and reassemble them.

The only slightly troublesome part is that the unified Originium Efficacy Field Transmission System and Neural Impulse Information System need to be integrated with the Ark Control Center. Although a new one can be used, the technical standards and interface standards need to be consistent with the old system.

This is already the easiest part of the project. After that, there will be the repair and restoration of the old system, which will be several times more difficult. This requires a thorough understanding of the Ark technology of the ancients, and then continuing the technical projects that they did not finish, or replacing them with similar Star Alliance systems.

Either way, one needs an extremely deep understanding of the ark technology of the ancients. Otherwise, if you dismantle the radar and put a fish tank on it, that would be a huge mess. You should know that this is a real event that happened after World War II when Japanese war assets were taken over. That was an era when the technological differences within the civilization framework were not significant.

As for the final, Zentradi-level challenge—the massive project of integrating the old and new systems while maintaining the overall system's reliability and stability—Kroos's opinion was: whoever is capable should take on the task. She simply couldn't handle it; she couldn't even manage the second phase of the repair project—let's find someone more capable!

"Zzz~" The electric arc leaped, and the automatic wire-laying drone swept across the wire groove at a constant speed, automatically fixing the wire ends together. These special drones for starship production and manufacturing produced by the Covenant are the guarantee that this project has even a little bit of feasibility. They are highly efficient and use the gravity point source welding method.

Unlike ordinary welding, it can ensure that the material and physical properties of the joint remain basically consistent. In other words, it is not obvious that it is welded on. When using it to connect new and old circuits, it can minimize the chance of problems at the connection and adapter.

Following the cargo channel leads to the Ark's internal port. The previous facilities of the early inhabitants are being dismantled and leveled one by one, since these facilities are just empty shells. New parts and construction materials are constantly being brought in and assembled into new facilities.

This includes port scheduling equipment, navigation control centers, and so on. These facilities are still in the initial stage of infrastructure construction and hardware installation. The wiring hasn't even been installed yet. There are still more arduous and massive projects waiting for the skilled workers who will arrive ship after ship.

Beneath the jellyfish-shaped head of the ark, various external navigation devices and radar systems need to be installed. Below one of the six fan-shaped areas on the ark's head, a large number of people wearing extravehicular activity suits are flying back and forth.

Like tiny flying insects circling a giant beast, unmanned transport aircraft shuttle between the forest of navigation towers. Each tower is surrounded by scaffolding and various floating equipment, either for improvement or for dismantling.

Compared to the difficulties at the bow of the ark, the main hull was much simpler. The problem was only with the docking part that extended into the main body, which was easy to fix. Since it was all scrapped anyway, we could just dismantle it and rebuild it from scratch.

Although the gas-liquid pipelines have slightly different standards, maintaining consistency between the old and new systems is quite simple. The only difference is that the internal sensor system needs to be completely dismantled and replaced with new ones. As a result, the Ark's life support control center also needs to be dismantled and rebuilt.

This is thanks to the fact that the original human part was never actually completed. So, all we had to do was dismantle it and outsource a life support system from the Covenant to that specification. Then, the entire life support system could maintain a high degree of independence, and the minor troubles in operation and management were no longer important.

The reason why all systems were connected to the Sailboat for unified management was that Terra could only send brains and had no way to operate these independent systems and modules. Therefore, it was necessary to connect them all to a central control system.

Now, well, we can just do it manually. We can simply dismantle all the parts that are impossible to fix and make them into new, independent modules that are not connected to the old Ark control system. Then we can arrange for people to monitor and manage them manually. As for the security risks and information exchange issues that may arise from this, the Doctor can no longer worry about that.

Between the possibility of an accident en route and the certainty of being blown up by the sun, the former is much easier to accept. Currently, the Ghost Shark has sent nearly two thousand people of various kinds here, making the once quiet and desolate take-off and landing platform look like a bustling small town. The hemispherical dormitories and public areas connected by pipes are crowded with people during rest periods.

The convenience store and the makeshift coffee shop for rest were bustling with noise. When it was time to eat, the canteen was like a zombie apocalypse. Due to the special nature of space operations, even though the doctor wanted to exploit these people to the point of exhaustion, he could only make them work for six hours a day, divided into three shifts, with each shift having to be released after two hours.

Space engineering is a high-intensity, highly focused undertaking. The cost of damaging parts and bringing people here is far greater than the wages paid to hire more people and their living costs. This is especially true when some processes involve ancient equipment that is almost impossible to regenerate in a short period of time, requiring extra caution.

It's better to work for a while and then rest for a while than to cause an accident and have the whole team waiting for the ground to launch new components. That's not just a matter of cost, it's also a huge delay. Specter will take at least half a month to deliver a shipment of goods and personnel.

Even an emergency launch would take about a week, not to mention that sending these few parts via emergency launch would mean losing money and having even more headaches in the later stages of the operation. So, the best solution is—to absolutely avoid any mishaps!

In front of the registration office for the Columbia Space City Joint Project Engineering Team, there was a long line of people. Among them were those who came simply for the high salaries, those who were internally recommended by other companies, and researchers studying the technologies of early humans.

The ancient space city of Terran, such a complete and intact ruin, is an irresistible temptation for all the scholars on Terran who study the technology of the ancients. The Ark construction site does need these people and their research results, because many old things need to be dismantled or repaired. Although these scholars' results may not be the best, they are still more reliable than blindly working on things.

The timid girl clung tightly to her friend, jostled and pushed around by the crowd, feeling dizzy and disoriented, before finally managing to find the door to the interview area.

"Has Number 19 arrived yet?"

"I'm here!" The girl nervously pushed open the door and went inside. "I... I'm here to apply for a job in the engineering department..."

"Understood, Miss Pudding." The interviewer rubbed his temples. Dr. Hamer was temporarily drafted to be an interviewer. In fact, there were many others like this, such as Miss Moore (White Owl) next door. "I have seen your submitted scores, which are quite good. In the first round of written tests, you showed outstanding... talent in engineering drawing and planning."

There aren't many people who can organize the messy drawings of Kroos and the Old Ark into a compliant document. In a sense, she has already passed the test. The interview is just a formality; the main purpose is to test her psychological qualities and adaptability.

“Miss Pudding, let me be frank. Your professional skills have been highly praised by all of us. From that perspective alone, we would be very happy to have you join the Joint Project Engineering Department. However…” Hammer looked her over for a moment, “your medical report shows that you have Oripathy, is that right?”

"Yes, yes," there's no point in hiding it. This is the reason she resigned or lost her job. Although the research institution she had previously visited had purchased Oripathy insurance for her, so she could receive a monthly medical reimbursement for Oripathy, she was still fired as a burden.

Because if the company were to rehire her, it would have to bear a considerable amount of additional insurance and medical reimbursement expenses. Just like most Colombians would immediately go to the hospital for a physical examination upon hearing that they are about to be fired, medical expenses in Colombia are quite inhumane.

However, medical insurance for Oripathy patients requires a considerable additional fee, so Ms. Pudding urgently needs to find a new job, preferably one that includes Oripathy medical reimbursement, otherwise she will soon run out of money to buy blocking and relief medications.

The most suitable job would be to find a job at Rhodes Island or Xia's Group, followed by Rhine Lab. These are all companies that produce Oripathy drugs. As an employee benefit, employees can obtain the drugs at a relatively low price. Moreover, for these companies, employees with Oripathy are not a significant burden; they can even be considered free trial volunteers.

Among the three companies, Rhodes Island is the best, as it offers free inhibitors. However, the drugs from Rhodes Island are also the least effective, and the benefits are not great. Rhine Lab's drugs and benefits are about average, but the drugs are generally very expensive, and sometimes they are required to participate in drug trials, making it a second-best option. The Xia Group is the worst.

While the latter has a host of advantages, such as cheap medicine, good benefits, and prompt salary payments, it has one major drawback: the vast majority of salaries are paid in internal consumption vouchers rather than in the circulating currency, and it does not support the conversion of Kazdel currency into Colombian currency. Moreover, its recruitment requirements are the highest, making it impossible for ordinary people to get in.

For someone who lives alone, this disadvantage is not serious. However, for someone who needs to send money back home to support their family, choosing the Xia Group means that most of their salary cannot be sent back.

However, for Pudding, having tried the first two options, only this last one remains. Rhine Lab has no shortage of electrical engineers, and if she were a biological expert, she might be able to try her luck. The same goes for Rhodes Island; now, only the joint project team of Xia's Group and Black Steel, which requires a large number of engineers and workers, is a possibility.

“Don’t be nervous, we don’t discriminate against infected people, but Miss Pudding, you should have read the previous introductory booklet, right?” Himer reassured the girl. “Do you understand what kind of work environment you’re going to be in?”

"I understand, universe."

"No, you probably don't understand. It's an extremely quiet, monotonous, and silent world. Therefore, we need people who can endure loneliness and pressure. Do you understand?"

"I will try my best."

"This isn't about whether you work hard or not. Rather, if you have problems at the top due to psychological or other reasons, it will bring enormous danger and pressure to yourself and others," Himer stated bluntly.

Just kidding. If even one person up there couldn't handle the pressure and went crazy, opening the airlock in the middle of the night, all twenty-odd people in the dorm would be dead. And that would be considered good. If they damaged something deadly, like the liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen transport pipeline, don't think it won't explode in space!

Especially since she is an electrical engineer, if she hallucinates due to high voltage, misreads the blueprints, or installs the wrong lines, and this is not discovered by subsequent personnel, the scene would be extremely terrifying.

"Given your excellent professional skills, I'm willing to give you a chance, but you need to prove yourself. Kazdel has a simulation training environment, and if you can pass it, this job is yours."