Chapter 204 Monster Factory! Petri Dish! Metal Hive!
When they felt the shaking of the ax and the footsteps of the earth approaching the location of the Astartes warriors, their heart rates began to rise.
boom--!
At this moment, a huge leg with rough texture and blue streaks appeared in front of the soldiers, and the ax was passing by their location.
Hoho!
A loud roar came from the throat of the axe, and the huge sound waves caused the ruins and buildings around to shake slightly.
Seeing this scene, V's brows furrowed involuntarily. If they were targeted by this giant beast, they might have to cancel this investigation mission.
Maybe there will be casualties!
Under the overwhelming pressure of their size, even Astartes warriors with an individual height of 2.5 meters are unable to fight in close combat with behemoths that are dozens of meters tall.
Although the MarkX power armor they wear is strong, it is not indestructible.
If the powerful and heavy kick of the ax steps on them, even if the power armor is not broken, there is no guarantee that the internal device will not suffer any serious malfunction.
V subconsciously held his breath, hoping that the giant beast would leave as soon as possible, but fortunately, Ax did not notice anything unusual.
After glancing here and there, Ax continued walking forward on his own.
The ground shaking caused by stepping on it also gradually weakened away from the area where V was located, until it completely disappeared.
"call--!"
"This monster is really amazing. It's even scarier than me."
"Thankfully, this thing has bad eyesight and didn't find us, otherwise it would have been troublesome!"
"..."
After confirming that the ax had gone far away, the Astartes warriors breathed a sigh of relief and cursed in the communication voice.
It's not that they're afraid of death.
They just don't want to be discovered by the giant beast, which will eventually lead to the failure of the action plan. For them, the price of mission failure is far heavier than death.
"Okay, keep going!"
V's voice interrupted the conversation of the soldiers in time. After bringing the team members' minds back to the execution of the mission, V and his group left the ruins one after another.
They are getting closer and closer to their set destination!
It didn't take long for the Astartes warriors to reach the giant building built by the Forerunners and see more details there.
It turns out that those green and unknown viscous liquids are secreted from "plants" that resemble vines.
This liquid is not only like the "glue" used to bond giant buildings, but also like some kind of nutrient transporter, because the roots of these plants are connected internally and externally!
Immediately, under V's order, an Astartes warrior took out a sample extractor and collected some liquids and "plants".
After the investigation mission is completed, these things will be sent to the biological research and development department of the giant company and handed over to engineers for research.
"Li De, your people are responsible for responding outside and giving us a lookout. I will lead the team in to investigate the internal situation inside."
After seeing that the team members had completed sample collection, V issued new instructions to Li De's Group B team through the helmet's internal communication device.
"yes!"
Li De did not compete with V to go in to investigate or show eagerness to try. He just firmly agreed to the order issued by V.
The rest of the Astartes warriors of Group B were also silent and calm, not fighting or fighting.
Immediately afterwards, the members of the investigation team of Group B spread out and stayed outside the building, observing the situation outside at all times in order to report to the comrades of Group A inside in a timely manner.
V, Jack and the other 26 people quickly got into the building.
It has to be said that the architectural ideas of the pioneer civilization are highly similar to those of ants. The structures are intricate and every inch of space has its own function.
What stands out is an efficient use of space!
During the forward exploration process, in order to ensure that the personnel would not be defeated one by one by the enemy, V did not separate a second investigation team, but all members acted together.
At this moment, the two soldiers at the front of the team were responsible for using sophisticated imaging instruments to plan a reasonable route forward for the investigation team.
Not long after, they came to a relatively open area and saw countless tube-shaped petri dishes. In each tube, there were small giant beasts of different shapes floating.
"Is this... is this the giant beast breeding ground of the pioneer civilization, or in other words, a monster factory!"
Jack Wells looked like he had seen a ghost. This was the first time he had seen such a complicated living creature breeding factory. It was even more shocking than the clone factory of a giant company.
But replicants are actually no different from "toy people". They all produce noses, eyes, and limbs like an assembly line, and then piece them together.
Finally, the thoughts, hobbies, joys, sorrows and other emotions of the cloned person are customized through the program.
The engineering technology of these embryonic giant beasts in tubular petri dishes seems to be much more advanced and advanced than that of a replicator factory!
At this moment, the sharp-eyed V noticed that not far away from him, there was a pioneer who was 3.65 meters tall and wore a red crown.
It should be the administrator of this beast factory!
"pioneer……!"
V lowered his voice to remind everyone to be vigilant and not to make any unusual noises.
Immediately, V and others quietly and quickly groped for a hidden location.
The team members formed a crossfire net with each other, and then patiently waited for V's next command.
At this moment, the pioneer was facing away from V's group of Astartes warriors, facing a central console that looked like a holographic screen, and constantly marking some information with his fingers.
Judging from its actions, the pioneer was most likely busy modifying the genes of the giant beast in the tubular culture dish, or using different genetic data to combine new giant beasts.
During this period, V used the camera function of the tactical helmet to record the specific characteristics of the pioneer and upload it to the headquarters base.
While concentrating on observing the pioneer in front of him.
The appearance of the pioneer is similar to that of an aquatic insect. It has translucent wings and a shell-like body. V can even vaguely see the internal system of the pioneer's body.
In addition, the pioneer's body is relatively slender, but at first glance, it is completely a melee combat level of a five-star warrior.
With the ability of V's group of Astartes warriors, even one against five is no problem!
At this time, after marking the data on the screen on the center console, the pioneer turned to the device table on the right and picked up a transparent tubular vessel.
Seeing that the small monster embryo in the vessel seemed to be developing well and in line with its expectations, the pioneer put down the culture dish.
Then, the pioneer turned and left the room and went somewhere else.
After V and others waited patiently for a moment, they confirmed that the other party had gone far away, and then they continued to perform the reconnaissance mission and quickly collected biological samples here.
They basically took pictures of the culture dishes in the entire monster factory and took away some tubular culture dishes containing giant beast embryos.
V came to the center console where the pioneer was just now. After taking some relevant photos, he walked over and looked at the tubular culture dish that the pioneer had just picked up.
‘This... is this a human! ’
When V saw the "giant beast" embryo in the vessel, showing the human head and facial features, his scalp suddenly felt numb.
A feeling of disgust and anger suddenly came to V's mind, which made him pull out the knife hanging on his side.
Then, with a "puff" sound, some dark green liquid, accompanied by highly corrosive acid, flowed out of the vessel.
"Are all these giants silicon-based creatures?!"
Jack Wells on the side was slightly stunned. The giants that could be cultivated in such a highly corrosive nutrient solution must not be carbon-based creatures.
"It should be."
V frowned. With the protection of the shell of the power armor, it would not be a big deal even if the acid touched his hands.
He continued to stab the specially made tactical knife into the vessel and filmed all the characteristics of this "humanoid monster" through the camera.
Then V shook the knife and put it back into the sheath.
"It seems that these damn pioneers are already using human genes to breed this giant monster."
Looking at the various giants in this monster factory, V can actually see that most of the giants have some characteristics of Earth creatures.
There are also some biological characteristics that have never been seen before. Perhaps the pioneer civilization extracted the genes of the creatures from other planets and bred them.
"So... there are quite a lot of alien gene data in the gene bank of the pioneer civilization!"
Jack's brain was rarely bright, and he immediately realized how these things would help the giant enterprise.
If this thing can be used well, it will definitely be the giant enterprise's beast tide army and free labor!
In the future, if you encounter a large number of alien civilizations, you should "close the door and let the dogs go" first, let the beast tide rush over, and then send soldiers to harvest.
"It should be. It seems that we have gained a lot from this investigation."
In order to avoid more trouble, V did not stay here for too long. After collecting the culture dishes, liquids and tissues here, he immediately ordered:
"All members begin to evacuate in an orderly manner. Team B should be ready to receive them. We are leaving here!"
As soon as V finished speaking, Li De outside responded immediately.
[Received. ]
Soon, the investigation team led by V quickly withdrew from the Pioneer's territory.
They returned to the original landing point along the original route, and the Storm Eagle gunboat there had been waiting for a long time and took the Astartes warriors into the cabin.
For the sake of safety, the first thing the warriors of Groups A and B did when entering the cabin was to disinfect to avoid being infected by alien microorganisms and bacteria.
Then everyone uploaded the video and picture information they had collected to the front-line headquarters and the other end of the Wanjie base in turn.
...
At this moment, over the human city far away in Antarctica, several airships belonging to giant companies were passing quickly.
The once boundless glaciers and snowfields have long since turned into vast oceans as the global greenhouse effect intensifies.
The polluted sky and ocean are filled with various chemical gases and wastewater. A metal city stands on a small piece of land, and bursts of industrial black smoke drift from the city from time to time.
"This is Team Mann. We have arrived above Antarctica. The mountains here are covered with green grass, just like the Grampian Mountains in Northern Europe."
Inside the cabin of the Skyhawk shuttle, Mann is constantly reporting to the headquarters through the communication device.
As the shuttle continued to fly over the sky and approached the human cities below, he could see that the high walls of these cities might have reached 300 meters.
The thickness of the city was also quite exaggerated, reaching about 70-80 meters, and giant plasma pulse cannons were set up on the tops of the high walls.
In addition, there were a large number of defensive bunkers and various mobile sentries around the city walls. The defense line constructed with three layers inside and three layers outside was no exaggeration to say that it was as solid as a rock.
"The city here can be regarded as a miracle building of mankind. No wonder those giant beasts can't get in for a while. It's hard to gnaw on such thick steel walls and cannons."
Just as Mann continued to report what he had seen, the shuttle driver had locked the direction of reconnaissance to the bottom of the city wall.
There are a lot of rich resources under Antarctica, with extremely large reserves of iron ore and coal mines, and there are also a lot of fresh water that has not been polluted!
It is precisely because of these precious resources that humans can continue to survive in Antarctica and continue to fight against the pioneer civilization.
At this moment, around the city below the shuttle, there are many heavy trucks running back and forth between mines and production areas.
In order to produce at full capacity and continue to develop human civilization, these trucks run almost 24 hours a day.
[Report to the commander, our people have successfully sneaked into this Antarctic city, and the action plan is going as usual! ]
At this time, Corey's voice came from the ground.
It turned out that not long ago, Reed, who was supposed to go to Antarctica for reconnaissance missions, was temporarily transferred by V to the pioneer city area for investigation.
And the investigation mission here naturally fell on the heads of other teams.
It happened that Corey, Steve, and Bruce, the three reserve personnel of the Astartes regiment, had not yet undergone organ transformation, and their appearance was not so conspicuous.
Therefore, Mann simply sent this group of people to the bottom of the city.
Corey and his gang followed the chassis of the heavy truck, hung themselves under it, and successfully entered the city all the way.
At this moment, Corey was in a corner of the city, reporting his latest situation to Mann in the sky.
"Very good, continue the mission."
After learning that the plan went smoothly, Mann smiled with satisfaction. These veterans from the "Underworld" Earth were quite clever.
They really got in smoothly!
Here, Corey, who had reassembled the Kangtao Intelligent G-58 submachine gun that had been split into multiple parts, was looking around with his team members with vigilant eyes.
"Boss, we seem to be in an industrial area here. Look around here, there are either hundreds of meters high city walls or factories emitting exhaust gas."
Steve, who observed the surrounding scene, said to their captain Corey: "If we want to go to crowded places to inquire about the news, I'm afraid we have to go forward for a while."
Steve's words made sense. Corey, who also noticed the distribution of areas in the city, looked to the west.
In his sight, there were skyscrapers standing in a forest, and various aerial rail trains were quickly shuttling through the city's semi-space.
This is somewhat similar to the urban scene that Corey saw in Ideal City, but the layout of this city is obviously more cramped, and it has a sense of déjà vu of a metal "nest city".
After seeing that the team members were ready, Corey, as the captain, continued to speak:
"Everyone, our top priority now is to find a temporary base as soon as possible, and then send people out in batches to inquire about the news and collect intelligence and send it to the headquarters."
"I suggest that we go to the crowded residential areas first to see the situation."
The reason why Corey dared to directly suggest that the team members go to the crowded residential areas is precisely because the control of the residential areas is the smallest in the city.
Only the industrial and production areas are full of fully armed human guards. With their unfamiliar faces, if they go to these guards to inquire about the news, they will definitely be detained.
Going to the chaotic and disorderly residential areas, on the contrary, has a better chance of obtaining some key intelligence.
"Okay! Boss, we all listen to you!"
With Steve and Bruce, the two supporting actors, taking the lead in support, the rest of the members also nodded in agreement.
After unifying the internal opinions of the team, Corey and others immediately used their stealth equipment to quickly shuttle between factories and head towards the residential area.
The Skyhawk shuttle in the sky kept marking the appropriate route for them.
It helped Corey's team avoid one monitoring area after another and the patrol inspections.
[Everyone, although the oxygen content, carbon dioxide and ammonia in Antarctica are better than other areas, you still have to wear protective clothing. ]
[Do you see the guards and staff around you? They are all covered like iron barrels. You should pay attention. ]
Mann's reminder voice sounded from the communication devices of Corey's team.
"Received!"
Corey, who received the message, rushed to the residential area ahead while observing the nearby industrial area.
When he saw that the humans here also had large engineering mechas as auxiliary tools for cargo transportation, and aircraft to carry boxes.
Corey felt that the level of human technology on Pacific Rim seemed to be more advanced than their Netherworld Earth.
In fact, the reconnaissance aircraft of the giant company had already collected a lot of intelligence.
This information has shown that due to the pressure of the pioneer civilization, the level of human technology here is much higher than before.
For example, in the research and development of plasma weapons and superconducting materials, the humans here have made breakthroughs and applied them to city defense.
Perhaps it is because of this sense of life and death that the scientific team in the city has been conducting scientific research and development and breakthroughs day and night.
Every little achievement will make the human survivors here feel more secure.
As the enemy's pioneers, they naturally noticed that they seemed to have accidentally activated the "racial talent" of humans, so they slowed down their offensive and tried to break through humans in other ways.
For example... create a "genetic puppet" similar to humans!
Here, after three hours of running, Corey and others finally came to the intersection of residential and industrial areas.
It was not until then that they saw the living conditions of humans here.
This "metal nest city" has a sense of wasteland punk, with giant buildings over a hundred floors everywhere. This should be the residence of workers.
The crowded and cramped snack street is full of neon signs of synthetic food.
Shops like [Charcoal Grilled Ground Rat], [Lanzhou Ramen], [Stir-fried Dried Cockroaches and Earthworms] have diners coming and going.
Of course, the flesh trade has a very broad market prospect in any era, especially in the doomsday period of civilization.
Corey skipped the sign decorated with tempting pink and made a simple analysis of the pedestrians here.
Judging from the clothes and words of these people, most of them are workers in the industrial zone.
The rest are local residents or outsiders from other districts.
"It seems that the social order here is still relatively stable. At least the economic system has not collapsed. They can even open a store."
Corey said thoughtfully.
Human society cannot do without normal economic operation and basic order maintenance.
The development of civilization is essentially the development of the economy.
This is the fundamental source that drives humans to carry out a series of activities. Without a complete economic system, humans will no longer participate in various labors and create their own value.
There is no so-called progress of civilization and social development.
Looking at the dense flow of people, various gray industries, and a large number of residential buildings, Corey knew that there would be no guards coming to investigate.
This is conducive to their staying here to collect intelligence!
"Boss, do you want to rest here for a while?"
Steve asked.
"No, keep moving forward."
As soon as the voice fell, Corey and his team came to the depths of the residential area, which is a mixed area of business and residence.
Therefore, the people are more dense and lively.
There are all kinds of criss-crossing corridors and platforms in the sky, which have a kind of Chongqing mountain city architectural style.
Different consumption places set up outside the building, casinos, pubs, brothels and other entertainment areas began to appear.
But Corey at this time had no intention of enjoying these things. They tried to collect various useful intelligence while looking for a place to serve as a temporary base.
Immediately, Corey dispersed the team members, and he took Steve and Bruce to observe the people coming and going here.
Before long, Corey saw all kinds of social chaos, such as the sale of banned drugs, gambling, prostitution, and violent debt collection.
All of the above behaviors are inseparable from the circulation of money.
And the humans here still use the traditional cash delivery method to exchange for various resources and services.
"Steve, Bruce, have you noticed that the banned drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and meat products here can all be used as hard currency for transactions."
"I think we can use these resources to pry open these people's mouths!"
At this moment, Corey already had a complete intelligence collection plan in his mind.
No matter how humans change, they can't do without the exchange of interests.
Thinking of this, Corey immediately turned on the communication device, reported to Mann in the sky, and told him his thoughts.
Soon, Mann's answer came:
[Okay, I will prepare everything you want for you right away, and I will mark the specific airdrop location on the screen at that time. ]
……
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