Chapter 204: Monster Factory! Petri Dish! Metal Hive!
When they felt the axe's earth-shaking footsteps approaching the location of the Astartes warriors, their heart rates began to rise.

boom--!
At this moment, a giant leg with a rough texture and blue lines appeared in front of the warriors, and the axe head was passing by where they were.

hoohoo!

A loud roar came from Axe's throat, and the huge sound waves caused the ruins of the surrounding buildings to shake slightly.

Seeing this scene, V's brows furrowed involuntarily. If they were targeted by this giant beast, they would probably have to cancel this investigation mission.

There might even be casualties!
Under the absolute size advantage, even an Astartes warrior with a height of 2.5 meters cannot fight in close combat with a giant beast that is dozens of meters tall.

Although the MarkX power armor they wear is strong, it is not unbreakable.

If Axe Head's powerful kick landed on them, even if the power armor was not broken, there would be no guarantee that the internal devices would not have serious malfunctions.

V subconsciously held his breath, hoping that the giant beast would leave as soon as possible, and fortunately Axe Head did not notice anything unusual.

After looking around, Axe continued to move forward on its own.

The ground vibration caused by the trampling gradually weakened as it moved away from the area where V was, until it disappeared completely.

"call--!"

"This monster is so fucking amazing. It actually looks scarier than me."

"Fortunately, this thing has poor eyesight and didn't notice us, otherwise we would be in trouble!"

"..."

After confirming that the Axe Head had gone far away, the Astartes warriors breathed a sigh of relief and cursed in the voice communication.

It's not that they are afraid of death.

They just don't want to be discovered by the giant beast, which will ultimately lead to the failure of the action plan. For them, the cost 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 mission, V and his team left the ruins one after another.

They are getting closer and closer to their destination!

It wasn't long before the Astartes warriors arrived at the giant building built by the Pioneers and saw more details there.

It turns out that the dark green unknown sticky liquid was secreted from a "plant" that resembled a vine.

This liquid is like the "glue" used to stick giant buildings together, and also like some kind of nutrient transporter, because the roots and stems of these plants are connected inside and outside!

Immediately, under V's command, 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 will be responsible for meeting us outside and keeping watch for us. I will lead the team in to investigate the internal situation."

After seeing that the team members had completed sample collection, V issued new instructions to Reed's Group B team through the internal communication device of the helmet.

"Yes!"

Li De did not compete with V to go in and investigate, nor did he show any eagerness to try. He just firmly agreed to the order given by V.

The rest of the Astartes warriors in Group B also remained silent and calm, not fighting or competing.

Then, the members of Group B's investigation team dispersed and stayed outside the building, observing the external situation at all times so that they could report to their comrades in Group A inside in a timely manner.

V, Jack and 26 other 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 functional role.

What stands out is the efficient use of space!
During the process of advancing exploration, 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 walking in front of the team were responsible for using sophisticated imaging equipment to plan a reasonable route for the investigation team.

Not long after, they came to a relatively open area and saw countless tubular culture dishes. In each tube, there were small giant beasts of different appearances floating.

“Is this…is this the pioneer civilization’s giant beast breeding ground? Or in other words, a monster factory?”

Jack Wells looked as if he had seen a ghost. It was the first time for him to see such a complicated living creature breeding factory. It was even more shocking than the clone factories of giant companies.

But clones are actually no different from "toy people". Their noses, eyes, and limbs are produced on an assembly line and then pieced together and assembled.

Ultimately, the clone's thoughts, hobbies, emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness can be customized through the program.

The engineering technology used to create these embryonic behemoths in tubular petri dishes appears to be much more advanced than that used in human cloning factories!

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 manager of this giant factory!
"pioneer……!"

V lowered his voice, reminding everyone to be alert and not make any unusual noises.

Immediately, V and others quietly and quickly found a hidden location.

The team members formed a crossfire network with each other, and then patiently waited for V's next instruction.

At this moment, the Pioneer was facing away from V and his group of Astartes warriors, and was facing a center console that looked like a holographic screen, constantly marking some information with his finger.

Judging from its movements, this pioneer is most likely busy modifying the genes of the behemoth in the tubular culture dish, or using different genetic data to combine new behemoths.

During this period, V used the camera function of his tactical helmet to record the specific features of the Pioneers and uploaded them to the headquarters base.

While concentrating on observing the pioneer in front of him.

The Pioneer's appearance is similar to that of an aquatic insect, with translucent wings and a shell-like body. V can even vaguely see the Pioneer's internal body systems.

Apart from that, the Pioneer had a rather slender body, but at first glance, he looked like a complete loser in close combat.

With the abilities of V and his group of Astartes warriors, even fighting 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 container.

After seeing that the little 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, going somewhere else.

V and the others waited patiently for a moment, and after making sure that the other party had gone far away, they continued their reconnaissance mission and quickly collected biological samples here.

They basically filmed all the petri dishes in the entire monster factory and took away some tubular petri dishes containing giant monster embryos.

V came to the center console where the Pioneer had just been. After taking some relevant photos, he walked over and looked at the tubular culture dish that the Pioneer had just picked up.

"Is this... a human?!"

When V saw the "giant beast" embryo in the vessel, which had a human head and facial features, his scalp suddenly felt tingling.

A feeling of disgust and anger suddenly arose from the bottom of his heart, which made V unable to help but pull out the knife hanging on his side.

Then, accompanied by a "puff" sound, some dark green liquid, along with highly corrosive acid, flowed out of the container.

"Are all these giant beasts silicon-based creatures?!"

Jack Wells on the side seemed a little surprised. The giant beast that could be cultivated in such a highly corrosive nutrient solution could definitely not be a carbon-based creature.

"should be."

V frowned. With the protection of the power armor shell, 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 captured all the features of this "humanoid monster" through the camera.

Then V threw the knife away and put it back into the sheath.

"It seems that these damn pioneers are using human genes to breed these giant monsters."

Looking at the various behemoths in this monster factory, V can actually see that most of the behemoths have some characteristics of Earth creatures.

There are also some biological features that have never been seen before. Perhaps the pioneer civilization extracted the genes of the organisms from other planets and cultivated them.

"So... there is a lot of alien genetic data in the gene bank of the pioneer civilization!"

Jack's brain suddenly brightened up, and he immediately realized how these things could help giant companies.

If this thing can be used well, it will definitely become a giant enterprise's beast army and free labor!

If we encounter a large number of alien civilizations in the future, we will first "close the door and let the dogs go", let the beast tide rush in, and then send soldiers to reap the rewards.

"It should be. It seems that we have gained a lot from this investigation."

In order to avoid any more trouble, V did not stay here for too long. After collecting most of the culture dishes, liquids, and tissues here, he immediately gave the order:
"All members begin to evacuate in an orderly manner. Team B is ready to provide support. We are leaving here!"

As soon as V finished speaking, Li De outside immediately responded.

【receive. 】

Soon, the investigation team led by V quickly withdrew from the Pioneer's territory.

They returned to the original landing point along the same route, where the Storm Eagle gunship had been waiting for a long time and took the Astartes warriors into the cabin.

To be on the safe side, the first thing the soldiers from Groups A and B did when entering the cabin was to disinfect themselves 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 Wanjie Base.

……

At this moment, several airships belonging to giant companies are flying rapidly over human cities far away in Antarctica.

The once boundless glaciers and snowfields have long since turned into a vast ocean as the global greenhouse effect intensifies.

The sky and the sea are polluted with all kinds of chemical gases and wastewater. On the little land stands a metal city, from which bursts of industrial black smoke drift 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 was reporting the situation to headquarters via a communication device.

As the shuttle continued to fly overhead and approached the human cities below, he could see the high walls of these cities, perhaps as high as three hundred meters.

The thickness of the city is also quite exaggerated, reaching about 70-80 meters, and giant plasma pulse cannons are installed on the top of each high wall.

In addition, there are a large number of defensive bunkers and various mobile outposts around the city wall. The defense line constructed with three layers inside and three layers outside is no exaggeration to say that it is as solid as a rock.

"The city here can be considered a miracle of human construction. No wonder those giant beasts can't get in for a while. With such thick steel walls and huge cannons, it's quite difficult to gnaw on this bone."

As Mann continued to report what he had seen, the shuttle pilot had already locked the direction of his reconnaissance to the bottom of the city wall.

There are a large number of rich resources under Antarctica, including huge reserves of iron ore and coal, and there is 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 pioneer civilizations.

At this moment, around the city below the shuttle, there were 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 infiltrated this Antarctic city, and the action plan is going as usual! ]

At this time, Corey's voice was heard from the ground.

It turned out that not long ago, Li De, who was supposed to go to Antarctica for a reconnaissance mission, was temporarily transferred by V to the Pioneer's urban area for investigation.

The investigation task here naturally fell on the shoulders of other teams.

It just so happened that Corey, Steve, and Bruce, the three reserve members of the Astartes Legion, had not yet undergone organ modification and their appearance was not that conspicuous.

So Mann simply sent this group of people under the city.

Corey and his gang followed the chassis of a heavy truck, hung themselves under it, and successfully entered the city.

At this moment, Corey was in a corner of the city, reporting his latest situation to Mann in the sky.

"Very good, continue with the mission."

After learning that the plan went smoothly, Mann smiled with satisfaction. These veterans from the Earth of "Underworld" were quite smart.

They actually managed to sneak in smoothly!

Here, Corey, who had reassembled the Kangtao intelligent G-58 submachine gun that had been disassembled into several parts, was looking around vigilantly with his team members.

"Boss, we seem to be in an industrial area here. Look around here, there are either city walls that are hundreds of meters high or factories that emit exhaust gas."

Steve observed the surroundings and said to their captain Corey: "If we want to go to a crowded place to get information, we may have to move forward for a while."

What Steve said made sense. Corey, who also noticed the distribution of areas in the city, looked to the west.

Within his sight, there were towering skyscrapers and various aerial trains that quickly shuttled through the city's semi-space.

This is somewhat similar to the urban scene that Corey saw in the Ideal City, but the layout of this city is obviously more cramped, giving it a sense of a metal "nest city".

After seeing that the team members were ready, Corey, the captain, continued:
"Everyone, our top priority right 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 pass it to the headquarters."

"I suggest 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 intensity in the residential areas is the smallest in the city.

There were only industrial and production areas filled with fully armed human guards. With their unfamiliar faces, if they went to ask these guards for information, they would definitely be detained.

Going to a chaotic and disorderly residential area would actually give you a better chance of getting some key intelligence.

"Okay! Boss, we'll all listen to you!"

With Steve and Bruce, the two supporting actors, taking the lead in supporting, the rest of the members also nodded in agreement.

After unifying the team's internal opinions, Corey and others immediately used their stealth equipment to quickly shuttle between factories and head towards residential areas.

And the Skyhawk shuttle far in the sky was constantly marking out suitable routes for them.

Helped Corey's team avoid one surveillance area after another, as well as patrol inspections.

[Everyone, although the oxygen content, carbon dioxide, and ammonia in Antarctica are better than other regions, you still have to wear protective clothing. ]

[See the guards and staff around you? They are all covered like iron barrels. Please be careful.]

Mann's reminder voice came from the communication devices of Corey's team.

"Roger that!"

After receiving the news, Corey 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, as well as aircraft to carry boxes.

Corey felt that the level of human technology on Pacific Rim seemed to be more advanced than that on Netherworld.

In fact, the giant company's reconnaissance aircraft had already collected a large amount of intelligence.

This information has shown that due to the relentless pressure from the pioneer civilization, the level of human technology here has become much higher than before.

For example, in the research and development of plasma weapons and superconducting materials, humans here have made breakthrough progress and applied them to city defense.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this sense of urgency of life and death that the scientific teams in the city are working day and night to carry out technological research and development and breakthroughs.

Every little achievement will make the human survivors here feel more secure.

As the pioneers of the enemy, they naturally realized that they seemed to have accidentally activated the "racial talent" of humans, so they slowed down their offensive and tried to use other methods to defeat humans.

For example... creating a "genetic puppet" similar to humans!
Here, after three hours of running, Corey and others finally arrived at the junction of the residential area and the industrial area.

It was only then that they began to get a glimpse of the living conditions of the humans here.

This "metal hive city" has a sense of wasteland punk, with giant buildings over a hundred stories high everywhere. These should be the workers' residences.

The crowded and cramped snack street is filled with neon signs advertising synthetic foods.

Shops like [Charcoal-grilled mole], [Lanzhou ramen], and [Stir-fried dried cockroaches and earthworms] are crowded with diners.

Of course, the flesh trade has a very broad market prospect in any era, especially in the precarious doomsday period of civilization.

Corey passed by the sign adorned with tempting pink and made a brief analysis of the passers-by here.

Judging from their clothes and what they said, most of them were workers in the industrial area.

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 thought thoughtfully.

Human society cannot do without normal economic operations and the maintenance of basic order and stability.

The development of civilization is essentially the development of 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 would be no so-called progress of civilization or social development.

Looking at the dense flow of people, various gray industries, and a large number of residential buildings, Corey knew that no guards would come to investigate.

This would be beneficial for them to stay here and collect intelligence!
"Boss, do you want to rest here for a while?"

Steve asked out loud.

"No, keep going."

As soon as he finished speaking, Corey and his team arrived deep into the residential area, which was a mixed commercial and residential area.

Therefore, the crowds became more dense and lively.

The sky is filled with criss-crossing corridors and platforms, which has an architectural style similar to that of the mountain city of Chongqing.

Different consumption places were set up outside the buildings, and entertainment areas such as casinos, bars, and brothels began to appear.

But at this time, Corey had no intention of enjoying these things. They tried to collect all kinds of useful information while looking for a place that could serve as a temporary base.

Immediately, Corey dispersed the team members, and he took Steve and Bruce with him to observe the people coming and going here.

It wasn't long before Corey saw all sorts of social chaos including the sale of illegal drugs, gambling, prostitution, and violent debt collection.

All of the above behaviors are inseparable from the circulation of money.

The humans here still use the traditional method of cash delivery in exchange for various resources and services.

"Steve, Bruce, have you noticed that the illegal 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 gathering plan in his mind.

No matter how humans change, they cannot 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. I will mark the specific airdrop location on the screen when the time comes.]

……

……

(End of this chapter)