Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"Insects...so you think this natural disaster might have originated from insects?"

"Yes, when insects accumulate Originium, animals instinctively stop preying on these infected insects to avoid contracting Oripathy themselves. As a result, their numbers increase wildly. Without natural predators, they eventually cause an insect plague, which continues until all the infected insects die from Oripathy, at which point the natural disaster will end."

Xia Lin said that this was the first time she had ever seen a locust plague like this, but upon closer inspection, it made quite a bit of sense.

"The only solution is to kill them manually. However, I estimate the effect won't be very good. Another way is to spray insecticides, but..."

The use of highly toxic pesticides must be extremely cautious, especially those that can kill locust eggs and larvae. These pesticides can kill people almost as quickly as they kill insects, and may even kill them faster.

"Based on the growth of the larvae I caught, it will develop into a large-scale locust plague around June or July in the summer. The insects will cover the fields like clouds and devour all the crops and plants."

Compared to other natural disasters on Terra, this is relatively easy to deal with, even for the Terrans themselves. The greenhouse-style farming in the mobile cities leaves almost no soil or opportunity for insects like locusts to hatch.

Moreover, it is not easy for large numbers of locusts to lay eggs in cities and surrounding wastelands where vegetation is scarce.

Compared to other natural disasters that require people to flee within 2-8 weeks, locust plagues are relatively easy to deal with.

This is one form of prevention, and Terra's sorcerers can also use Originium Arts to detonate the Originium particles inside these insects, achieving a large-scale insect eradication effect.

However, regardless of the solution, these are measures taken when the locust plague has already broken out. Now that the locusts are still lurking underground, with their larvae jumping around in the grass, it will be more difficult for them to grow strong.

"So, what does this have to do with my clinic?"

"I was going to use a targeted insecticide. However, it is extremely toxic, even though it was designed with an auto-degradation function."

However, within the effective period, for a normal adult human weighing 50 kg, skin contact with an amount exceeding 2 mg/m² would be sufficient to cause death.

"I'm curious, did you really design this thing to kill insects?" Kal'tsit always felt that this was just a highly effective poison gas.

"Theoretically speaking, it is indeed an insecticide. It kills all kinds of insects. What I mean is, whether it's locusts or other insects, after spraying it, there will be a quiet spring."

When the Star Alliance is developing planets, they never care about the local ecological environment. They usually violently destroy the planets and then rebuild them into the Earth's ecological environment. In a sense, this purity is also a manifestation of technological strength—not changing itself at all is also a form of change.

Is there an antidote?

"It's practically impossible. The lethal time is about 20 minutes, while the best time for rescue is within 7-8 minutes after exposure. Immediate injection of a remedy can save the patient, but there may be serious long-term effects."

Therefore, when carrying out pesticide spraying work in agricultural colonies, there is almost no living person left on the ground.

Well, the old Zerg farmer next door isn't afraid of this. They're experts at using organophosphate poisons. This is usually the only time humans and Zerg reach a consensus. After all, people in agriculture, regardless of race, deeply hate pests and diseases, so naturally they'll spray pesticides together.

"So, at this stage, we need to keep everyone else in the village and not let them wander around. We will also deal with the livestock and beehives here, but it is inevitable that some people will come into contact with trace amounts of the toxic agent."

So, I'm letting you know in advance. Oh, and I'll send some of the relief medication over later. Dr. Kal'tsit, you guys need to keep a close eye on the children lately; this stuff is no joke.”

Especially for very young children, like Amiya's age, they dare to put anything in their mouths. This is a potent pesticide; if it gets on a person, they're dead.

"Have you really not considered using this thing on the front lines?" If this thing falls into the hands of mercenaries or certain forces, it won't just be a problem of insect plagues, but a humanitarian disaster, which would be extremely terrifying.

This is far more terrifying than the electromagnetic crossbows, landmines, and thermobaric guns that Lao Xia made before. An electromagnetic crossbow can only kill a dozen or so people at most, unless it encounters a dense, unprotected crowd. Landmines can only kill a few at most. The thermobaric gun is a bit more powerful; if the angle and position are right, it can penetrate dozens of people in one go.

However, once this poison is released, a mobile city can be wiped out in just a few hours.

“I’m not a butcher. I have no interest in killing. Besides, if this poison is released and everyone dies, who will farm and consume the produce?”

Xia Lin stated that he would not use this weapon on the front lines. Although it was extremely efficient in terms of killing, people should at least have a bottom line and not become too utilitarian and turn themselves into beasts.

Chapter 86 Sugar is Power

Chapter 86

The Covenant's pesticides, or rather insecticides and herbicides, are extremely toxic. They are typically used by cargo ships to decontaminate planets before agricultural colonies are established.

If the toxicity is not high, then an additional 1 mg per square meter would mean that the cost of the entire reclamation project would increase by nearly 50% or even more than double.

After all, a 30% increase in consumables means an additional 50% in transportation and nearly double the manpower.

Therefore, to the greatest extent possible, their pesticides are all designed to be extremely toxic, possessing characteristics of high permeability, high staining rate, and ultra-high toxicity.

Theoretically speaking, even wearing ordinary protective clothing would result in the toxic gas penetrating and contaminating the area where Xia Lin sprayed insecticide. Generally, double-layered, fully enclosed, internally circulating protective clothing can only be used in the toxic gas zone for less than an hour before it must be removed for full-body disinfection and injection and spraying of neutralizing and mitigating agents.

Fortunately, most of their pesticides have self-degrading capabilities and are deliberately made extremely unstable. Theoretically, residues not in the soil at a depth of 40-60 cm will decompose into harmless substances under sunlight in about 30-48 hours due to their instability.

Xia Lin's spraying area is mainly concentrated in the wasteland around the farm, as well as the mountains to the south, dry land, and saline desert to the north.

The farm itself doesn't need spraying because most of it is covered with mulch, making it difficult for locusts to lay eggs, and biological control methods can be used.

The Covenant's chickens and ducks haven't evolved the instinct to avoid insects contaminated with high levels of Originium. They are very fond of these locust larvae and eggs that can barely move.

Originium particles are also stored in their sacs to help grind food, although this can cause their internal organs to be contaminated by Originium.

However, since the Covenant's poultry breeds are standard Earth-improved breeds that do not metabolize Originium, their meat and blood will have virtually no Originium residue.

After the gas warning was issued, everyone in Schutzburg and the infected communities stayed home obediently, not daring to go out, even though Xia Lin had actually designated the human activity areas as non-spraying zones.

After all, his pesticides are too toxic, so he sprays them at low concentrations, so they hardly form any visible mist, and there are no markings.

If locals run around recklessly, they could easily rush into the gas-filled area. Once poisoned, they would almost never show any obvious symptoms and would fall into a coma within one or two minutes, dying instantly.

This was an unexpected disaster for the noble forces of Ursus. Due to the extensive damage to production in the war zone and the flight of animals and birds, this area became the most dangerous region for the locust plague. Therefore, Xia Lin used double the dosage of medicine near the southern war zone.

This desolate mountainous region, devoid of birds, beasts, and insects, was reported by the Ursus people in terror as being "corrupted by evil spirits" or "mysterious silent monsters," which made the Ursus noble soldiers huddled inside the fortress never leave the fortress's vicinity for anything less than 50 kilometers.

After all, Xia Lin's drones were just pesticide spraying aircraft, not yet capable of rushing into the fortress to spray pesticides.

Moreover, due to production constraints, he only sprayed high-risk areas, and did not spray low-risk areas or areas with human activity where biological control could be used.

Considering that insects also have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, this year's insect plague will probably be forced to move south to the area controlled by the Ursus military.

If the Ursus Empire government had reacted quickly and activated its emergency disaster relief plan, and if the nobles had understood the implications of a locust plague, the losses might have been less.

However, Xia Lin and the others were pessimistic about this. Given the personalities of the traditional nobles and warlords of Ursus, the south was likely to create a large number of ordinary people acting as guerrillas.

Although they cannot join forces with the Patriots due to discrimination against the infected and historical reasons, this also means that they have their own different environments for survival and combat styles, which will give Ursus a headache for a while.

"Hiss—" The drone hovered over the forest, and water mist, barely visible to the naked eye, fell down. In just a few minutes, the coniferous forest, which had been filled with the chirping of insects and birds, seemed to have been silenced, becoming completely quiet except for the sound of the leaves.

The complete agricultural reclamation and cleansing operation originally involved using two or three other toxic agents, herbicides, and defoliants to completely eradicate all native species on the surface. Only then would "seed bombs" be used to bombard the planet, planting various terrestrial lichen and grass seeds for terraforming, followed by tree seeds and insect eggs.

Although theoretically it would be safe after 48 hours, both Xia Lin and the infected chose to wait almost a week before going out.

"Yes, they've basically all been wiped out, and the underground parts have been completely decomposed..."

Wearing a thick protective suit, Lao Xia looked at the soil sample dissolved in the test tube. He didn't see the purple indicator color that represented residual toxic agent, so it should be fine.

"Tell me honestly, you're really not making poison gas?" For Kal'tsit, who had "seen the world," this was far more shocking than the regular poison gas used by the ancient people.

"You can use it as poison gas if you want, but there's no need for that. It's too penetrating and requires a special container. Also, there are some problems with transportation and storage. If you do, your own people will all die first. Otherwise, why do you think I make it to use immediately? Why would I never store it in a warehouse?"

Xia Lin couldn't understand why these people always wanted to use agricultural pesticides as weapons. In his memory, both the army and the navy seemed to prefer using more expensive drones rather than poison gas.

"However, the Originium concentration in this area is a bit too high; we need to find a way to collect it."

In a sense, this is a traditional skill of various natural disasters. According to Terra, even if a natural disaster has been suppressed in its infancy, it still produces a large number of low-purity Originium soil blocks, which are soil containing Originium particles.

"The purity is too low, no mine will accept it." "I know." Even if his refining furnace burns this stuff, it's a pure loss. "But at least don't let it continue to pollute the land, otherwise new natural disasters will come."

"Now you understand why this land is called the cradle of suffering, right?"

"Tell me the truth, was this done by that ancient people you mentioned? I mean, the signs of artificial modification to Terran's genetic material and the Originium Cataclysm."

"It's fifty-fifty, but this kind of thing shouldn't have anything to do with someone like Boss Xia... an outsider, right?"

Kal'tsit's statement was half right, since the traces of human modification to the genetic material were not hidden, and many top scholars on Terra knew about it.

"That's true, it really has nothing to do with me, but it's really enough to have disasters every few days like this."

This time it's a locust plague; the next one will probably be a drought or wildfire. Because the Originium particles are not being used, they will spontaneously release energy and heat up when they are fully charged, making the surrounding environment dry and hot.

Once trees become dry, they can easily ignite into wildfires from the slightest spark, which is the natural cause of numerous wildfires in Australia and the United States.

"Fire and drought—" In a Covenant agricultural colony, the former would be a major disaster, while the latter would be nothing. Just send an email to the nearest asteroid mining company, and they'll send you a comet or an ice asteroid.

The price for a single service is approximately no more than 200 million Star Credits, which completes the water replenishment work for the entire colony in one go. For an additional fee and by renting a Stargate channel, expedited service is available.

However, Terra doesn't have that advantage, so putting out fires becomes easier. By replicating the Originium Arts of the White Rabbit, fires can be extinguished quickly. Droughts, on the other hand, are more difficult to deal with. Fortunately, there are many water sources nearby, and since there is a lack of human industrial exploitation, groundwater resources are quite abundant.

However... this will lead to increased water vapor evaporation, which will eventually turn into torrential rain and floods.

Next, the Originium particles, having completely released their clean energy, enter the heat absorption phase. And just like that, an ice storm arrives—Terra's mobile city is forced out by this series of continuous attacks.

Furthermore, this area may also experience ground subsidence and earthquakes due to groundwater evaporation, as well as mudslides caused by floods.

Special circumstances such as meteorites caused by abnormal Originium condensation and volcanic eruptions induced by meteorite impacts are interspersed throughout.

Of course, if this is the only area with Originium, Xia Lin also has a way to solve the problem: collect all the Originium ore, manufacture it into pure Originium, charge it with a reactor, and put it into a special storage capacitor to use as a battery.

However, Terra is full of Originium. Even if we mine it all out, Originium clouds and atmospheric circulation will bring Originium particles from other places, which is really heartbreaking.

"By the way, Skadi, are there any natural disasters in the sea?"

"No, these particles will settle in the water, there won't be any problem..."

"That's true." Water's specific heat capacity is much higher than that of air. At most, this property of Originium causes warm and cold currents in the ocean, etc., ocean currents?

This means that the natural disaster-like phenomena that Originium originally caused in the ocean were all dumped on land by ocean currents and El Niño.

No wonder the Agor people dare not show their faces in public. If they accidentally let this slip, they'd probably get their heads smashed by the Terrans on land.

Thinking about this complex chain of events, Lao Xia felt that he should have chosen a major like "Alien Meteorology" back then. Now he roughly understands the causes of Terra's natural disasters and the process of their chain reaction, but he has no idea where to start. It's an interconnected relationship.

The industrial activities of the Terrans are like the impact of the urban heat island effect on the surrounding climate, only this "heat island effect" is spectacular and far-reaching.

Meteorites and similar objects can be blasted away with orbital cannons, and Originium clouds can be condensed and settled by firing sinking bombs.

However, other causes cannot be prevented. The settled Originium particles are absorbed by the organisms at the bottom, which then induces biological disasters. The accumulated high-energy stones may generate self-heating, causing droughts and fires, which in turn trigger torrential rains and ice storms.

"Forget it, let's deal with it as it comes. I'll rush to finish a batch of detectors later, first dig out the rich point veins, and then use a press to press them into hard blocks for storage."

Although these low-purity Originium ores are really hard to process and costly, Old Xia would rather spend a little more time on the furnace than risk a forest fire destroying the entire year's harvest.

The pure Originium produced was then handed over to Kal'tsit and Talulah to monetize, as the two of them had considerable connections and channels.

Anyway, as long as these things aren't burned on your own territory, it will take time for the Originium Cloud to drift over, not to mention... it might turn into a natural disaster and hit someone else's head on the way?

One month later, the farm's beehive tower;

Amber-gold honey dripped into the collection jar. The Covenant's black bees were ordered from the Zerg, with whom they had a fairly good relationship. The prototype was the Zerg's "Honeybee," which is equivalent to a human cow. Because their appearance was too...appetizing, the Covenant specially ordered these large black bees.

Honey, a food rich in various amino acids and sugars, is to the Zerg what industrial raw materials, biofuel, food, and nutrition are—as important as oil to humans.

Various sugars and honey products are also the main export products of the Zerg. As long as you don't investigate how they are produced, what they are made of, or look at the production process, the quality is still quite good.

It produces a considerable amount of honey and is compatible with Covenant crops. If the fungal carpet is rich in organic matter and nutrients, the honey production rate will be even faster.

Honey gradually solidifies at low temperatures, turning into a dark, creamy substance. Honey is a supersaturated liquid of sugar, and at low temperatures, a sugar shell similar to rock sugar will form on its surface.