I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 668 - 566 Discussion

In the current stage of the war with alien creatures, Flame Country has already mobilized all its forces, shifting the entire country from post-disaster reconstruction and survival building to a wartime mode.

Fortunately, everything was previously under national control, so the switch to wartime mode hasn't been as disruptive as a sudden shift from peacetime might have been.

Nevertheless, this transition has significantly impacted the entire nation, leading to substantial losses for the country's economy and people's livelihoods.

After all, Flame Country's efforts were previously oriented towards civic development, and now the strategic direction of the entire nation has shifted, impacting every aspect.

Resource allocation, production transformation, human resource distribution...

All these issues are affecting everyone's lives.

This undeniably leads everyone to hope that the war will end sooner.

But how long will the war last? It's a question not only the public is asking but also the leaders.

Regarding this question, everyone hopes the answer is tomorrow, that the war will end tomorrow and everything can return to normal. This is undoubtedly the answer everyone wants to hear.

Unfortunately, it seems the war will continue for quite some time.

Though the military has held off the alien creatures at the Dongting Lake Area, preventing the invasion from spreading, this doesn't mean the war can end soon.

For the military, managing to block the alien creatures within the Dongting Lake Area, preventing the invasion from spreading further, has already exhausted all their strength.

At first glance, it seems incredible. Flame Country boasts the world's strongest land forces, and even though the disaster dealt a heavy blow, the military's strength can't be this limited, can it?

However, the situation is far worse than imagined. The alien creatures' relentless assault, attacking like a tide along the entire shore of Dongting Lake, forced the military to deploy heavy defenses along every segment of the lakefront.

This means that nearly a thousand kilometers of shoreline surrounding Dongting Lake have been fortified against the alien assault.

Such a defensive line is unprecedented in human warfare history.

That's because no human attack would ever adopt such a strategy, nor have the resources to conduct such an assault.

This deployment significantly strains military resources, as Flame Country only has so many regular troops. Excluding units that cannot be moved at will, only a limited number of forces are available.

This inevitably raises questions: What do these alien creatures eat to grow?

Even if they breed like an insect swarm, producing and consuming offspring like bullets on an assembly line, they must use resources, right?

How do they maintain such an exaggerated reproductive speed and sustain their offensive?

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"What do alien creatures eat to grow? Why are you concerned about that question?" asked Chen Xin, taking a moment to rest over lunch, when faced with the question from Mo Qingyan.

Mo Qingyan came to deliver food to Chen Xin, who had been stuck in the office working for some time, with no time to go home.

Worried about his health, Chen Xin's parents cooked meals every day and asked Mo Qingyan to bring them to him and ensure he ate well.

The curiosity about this question arose after hearing recent war updates from Chen Xin.

"I'm really curious. Even insects need to eat, right? In games, insects at least have some kind of fungal mat, a sort of logistics. But these invading alien creatures show no logistics. Even if they grow crops underground, they couldn't grow this fast, could they?" Mo Qingyan glanced at a few aerial reconnaissance photos on Chen Xin's desk. The entire surface of Dongting Lake was covered by alien creatures, enough to terrify anyone with trypophobia.

Indeed, it raises more questions. As Mo Qingyan mentioned, even insects must eat; how are so many alien creatures being spawned?

Even factory assembly lines need raw materials. These alien creatures can't just appear from nowhere.

To this, Chen Xin simply shook his head and said, "Didn't you go with me during the cleanup of alien nests? Alien creatures hatch from eggs, and their food... should be derived from the mother body."

"The mother body? That huge creature we saw last time?" Mo Qingyan clearly recalled the massive mother entity they encountered, but it still puzzled her. "But the mother body needs to eat too, right? Where does the initial energy come from?"

"We don't know yet. The biology research lab is analyzing this, but one hypothesis is that they derive energy from magma." Chen Xin shared some insights with Mo Qingyan, as the information wasn't classified. "Based on our assumptions, these alien creatures use the mother body to absorb heat from magma, converting it into an energy substance—a high-temperature liquid—that's delivered to the offspring and embryos within the mother body.

This high-energy material enables the embryos to hatch rapidly, giving the offspring enough energy to fight.

From the intelligence we've gathered, this hypothesis seems accurate, and the aliens also retrieve the bodies of slain offspring in battle, indicating they can reuse these biomaterials."

"Eating corpses?" Mo Qingyan clearly understood what this implied.

Chen Xin gave her a slightly annoyed look, tapping the bowl with his chopsticks, "I'm still eating here!"

"Sorry!" Mo Qingyan promptly apologized to Chen Xin.

However, neither cared much about the topic, quickly moving past it.

"Ah Xin, when do you think the war will end? If the state were to use nuclear weapons, couldn't they instantly wipe out these alien creatures?" Mo Qingyan asked, looking at the mass of alien creatures in the reconnaissance photo.

Yet Chen Xin still shook his head, disagreeing, "Regardless of whether the state is willing to use nuclear weapons on its own soil, even if they were used, it likely wouldn't annihilate all these alien creatures. It would only eliminate those currently on the lake surface, doing little harm to the mother bodies deep underground.

As long as the mother bodies exist, these alien creatures can continue to breed rapidly, quickly restoring their numbers. We can't endlessly deploy nuclear weapons to eradicate them, can we?"