Mobile City Farming Guide

Chapter 363 Cosmic Virus (4K)

The thought of this made Li Ye's lips twitch involuntarily.

A population of several million is enough to form a small civilization, yet the Cocate Corporation only uses them to operate a single spaceship.

Over the next period of time, Novi gave Li Ye a general overview of the internal compartment structure and layout of the MK1.

As a cargo spacecraft, the MK1's interior design follows a cold, efficient, and highly differentiated functional philosophy, with all spaces strictly serving its core mission: "transportation."

The living quarters were far from as comfortable as Li Ye had imagined; they were merely rows of metal capsules arranged to maintain only the minimum necessary crew efficiency.

Each metal capsule has an extremely simple structure: a cabinet, a cryogenic hibernation chamber, a terminal interface, a table, a chair, and that's it.

The common areas consisted of a small canteen that provided nutritional pastes and synthetic foods, a gym built for the crew to exercise in order to prevent muscle atrophy caused by weightlessness during long space voyages, and a recreation room.

The industrial zone is mainly used for the production and processing of planetary resources mined during the MK1 voyage. The refineries and processing plants here can refine the mined ore into standard metal blocks, or convert the mined water ice into fuel and oxygen to improve transportation efficiency.

The agricultural area is mainly composed of multi-story hydroponic farms and tissue culture laboratories that produce "meat" protein.

“I imagine most of the crew on the ship are currently in cryogenic hibernation in the living quarters,” Li Ye said. “Novi, plan out the shortest route to the living quarters now.”

In fact, there are over a hundred living quarters on MK1, each housing 3 to 5 company employees.

Novie immediately planned a route for the landing troops to the nearest living area.

Therefore, Liye divided the landing force into two.

One unit was responsible for going to the living quarters, while the other unit was responsible for going to the cargo hold area.

Looking at the dimly lit corridor on the screen, he couldn't help but frown.

"Can you crack the spaceship's lighting system, Novie? Turn it on."

“In fact, the spaceship’s lighting system has already been hacked, Master,” Novi replied.

"Then why not start it?"

"Because the spacecraft's energy is less than 3%."

".What?"

"While traveling through the solar system, MK1 had already entered an AI-controlled autopilot mode and quickly switched to an energy-saving mode. MK1 has been traveling through the solar system for a total of 312 years, and as of now, its stored spacecraft fuel and energy have been completely exhausted."

The two troops then slowly advanced.

The corridors on MK1 vary in size, with the smallest only large enough for one vehicle to pass through, and the largest large enough for a level 1 mobile city to pass through.

Only a faint emergency light remained in the corridor, flickering and uncertain.

Li Ye kept his eyes glued to the screen.

A dozen minutes later, as one of the troops entered a new corridor, a sudden noise came from ahead.

"Who is it?" The leading special forces member immediately drew his weapon and shouted sternly.

Under the illumination of the searchlight, several figures slowly appeared.

Their outlines are roughly human-shaped, and their bodies are covered with large and small proliferating fleshy structures, making them appear extremely twisted and swollen.

Upon closer inspection, there are also spacesuits—though they have become one with the bodies of these creatures.

The helmet was damaged, revealing an organic membrane of multiple mother-of-pearl plates, with a huge, eyelash-less compound eye structure at its center. It was composed of countless tiny, independently rotating compound eyes, gleaming with cold, inhuman intelligence and pure malice.

Several pale, tentacle-like vocal cord growths have extended from the original throat area.

They wriggled and slapped their visors unconsciously, emitting a continuous, maddening low-frequency buzzing and a slippery friction sound that sent chills down your spine.

As for the limbs of these creatures, they had long since transformed into huge, asymmetrical metal claws and drill-shaped bone growth cones, with many fresh, unknown organic mucus residues remaining on them.

"My God, what is that thing?" someone frowned. "Stop, or we'll open fire!"

At this moment, Li Ye frowned deeply.

It wasn't because of the terrifying monster that suddenly appeared before him—after all, he had seen quite a lot along the way.

Rather, it was because he had a vague feeling that the monster in front of him seemed to be a crew member of MK1 in disguise.

"Get rid of them for me," he ordered immediately.

The landing troops opened fire and quickly eliminated the monsters in front of them.

However, the monster in front of them could not be killed no matter what they did. Even after being riddled with bullets and turned into a mangled mess, it was still twitching and writhing, trying to repair its body.

"What exactly is going on?"

Li Ye frowned.

It should be noted that the landing forces of the Tomorrow Alliance are basically equipped with level 5 or higher weapons. This firepower would be enough to give even space pirates a hard time.

"Lord, should we continue firing?" a special forces member asked hesitantly.

After pondering for a moment, Li Ye gently shook his head.

“Let’s not waste our firepower,” he replied. “Continue toward our destination.”

The landing force was immediately ordered to proceed.

Out of caution, they chose to avoid the corridor where the monsters were located.

As the landing troops departed, those clumps of rotting flesh continued to writhe.
A few hours later, one of the troops arrived at the cargo hold area.

Upon seeing the scene from the military's perspective, Li Ye couldn't help but hold his breath.

The scene before my eyes is truly breathtaking!

Tens of thousands of standard container units are stacked tightly with absolute precision, forming an endless gray honeycomb. The vast majority of units are in a dormant state, their operation indicator lights dim and unlit.

Secondly, there are orderly arranged bulk cargo holds, special isolation cargo holds, and cryogenic cargo holds.

Connecting them is a crisscrossing network of traffic corridors and conveyor rails, but due to insufficient power supply, most of these "arteries" of the cargo area are currently silent. Only one or two automatic maintenance units occasionally remain at their posts, like lonely fireflies.

“Open a few cargo holds and see what the interstellar cargo looks like,” Li Ye said.

The landing force responded immediately, with one group responsible for guard patrols and another for opening the cargo hold.

Basic resource blocks are made from structural metals such as iron, titanium, aluminum, and copper; standardized interstellar furniture; high-tech fabrics; high-quality rare ores; ultra-high-purity water ice; genetically modified interstellar crops; chemical raw materials; native plants and animals, special products, and works of art from various extraterrestrial civilizations.
For a moment, everyone stared in disbelief.

"Interstellar crops! They might even be better than the leveled crops in the mobile city!" Fang Yong's eyes lit up. "Alliance Leader, why don't we grow them in the city?"

Li Ye was initially tempted, but after thinking it over carefully, he couldn't help but shake his head.

"This is a genetically modified interstellar crop. Our human bodies may not be able to adapt to it. If we eat it without authorization, it may cause genetic mutations," he said.

His reminder instantly brought everyone back to their senses.

When they looked at the interstellar crops again, a look of awe and even fear appeared in their eyes.

Li Ye's gaze fell upon the interstellar cargo stored in the cargo holds, and he couldn't help but become excited. These were all truly valuable items!
At that moment, he felt like a mouse that had wandered into a barn—and a star barn at that.

Just then, a low growl and roar suddenly came from afar.

The landing troops immediately took up their weapons and stood ready for battle.

The lead special forces member turned on his searchlight in the direction the sound came from.

Countless monsters surged forth from afar.

Their appearance was far more disgusting than anything they had encountered before.

Some have their lower bodies completely fused with the engineered exoskeleton, growing multiple twisted, slender mechanical appendages, and secreting a shiny, metallic, sticky thread.

Some of them were abnormally swollen, resembling a huge, translucent sac, with their mouths torn open, revealing a huge metal suction cup inside.

Some were simply integrated with the heavy airlock system on the spaceship, their limbs becoming huge and twisted hydraulic pistons and door hinges, and their bodies becoming the entire door frame.

Some of them had shriveled bodies, with countless fiber optic cables and data lines protruding from their facial features and spines.

Although these monsters were riddled with holes under the intense firepower, they were still impossible to kill.

"This must have been caused by the crew members on the spaceship, right?" Yang Zheng asked in surprise. "What exactly happened to them?"

Li Ye's brows were almost furrowed into the shape of the Chinese character "川" (river).

The monsters gave him a feeling similar to the flesh-and-blood mechanical style of the Skeleton Lord.

But this wasteland god had already been sent away by the Tomorrow Alliance.

The landing force fought and withdrew simultaneously, eventually successfully evacuating the cargo hold area.

Just as one problem was about to be solved, another arose. At that moment, another unit had arrived in front of a living area.

Novi eventually gained access by deciphering the living area's system.

"Now, I can open the door anytime, Master."

Leaving the field serves as a reminder to this unit.

"You need to be mentally prepared and ready to fire at any time."

Once the troops were ready, he took a deep breath and gave the order.

"Open the door, Novi."

As the gate burst open, the scene of this residential area was revealed to everyone.

This residential area, which originally adhered to the concept of "space efficiency first," has now been distorted into a completely alienated and blasphemous deformed life form.

The once simple hibernation chamber and its inner walls are now covered with a greasy, pulsating biofilm. Countless thick and thin, dark purple veins resembling blood vessels or nerve cords throb beneath this fleshy surface.

The crew members of MK1, who were sleeping in hibernation pods, had long since merged with the former and transformed into monsters.

At this moment, hundreds and thousands of monsters roamed the living area. When the gate opened, they all turned their heads and then roared and surged forward.

The landing force opened fire quickly, suppressing them and forcibly closing the gates again for Novie.

"Novi, can you crack the MK1's operating logs to obtain information?" Li Ye asked.

Novi shook her head.

"MK1's operation logs also belong to the core system, which I cannot crack."

After a moment of contemplation, Li Ye came up with a new idea.

"Then, can you find the crew's personal logbooks on the MK1? Maybe we can find the truth in these personal records."

"Please allow me to try."

A few minutes later, Novi got the answer.

The MK1 has hundreds of thousands of personal logbooks—although there are millions of people on board, some of whom do not have the habit of keeping logbooks.

Some crew members actually revealed the truth behind these mysteries on the MK1 in their logbooks.

The cosmic virus "Rust Plague".

The characteristics of this virus, or rather the pathogen, are incredibly exaggerated.

Its main transmission routes are through air and contact with biological surfaces. Infected individuals rapidly fuse with any metallic substances they come into contact with, forming mutated organisms manipulated by the pathogen. The time from infection to onset is less than a minute, and there is no cure.

Therefore, the rust plague is considered a key cosmic virus for prevention and control by many star systems.

The reason why rust plague occurred on the MK1 was mainly due to commercial competition.

As a major interstellar corporation, Cocate has countless competitors, and some might even call them enemies.

One of the competitors, in retaliation, chose to poison the MK1.

The mole they planted chose the perfect time to poison the ship: when the vast majority of the crew on the MK1 were in hibernation and the ship was being driven by AI.

The rust plague spread rapidly into the MK1's interior via the air circulation system, infecting all the crew members.

Li Ye couldn't help but feel a wave of fear.

The forces of Tomorrow Alliance unknowingly stepped into this spaceship filled with cosmic viruses.

Both the vehicle's hull and the spacesuits worn by the special forces members were now covered in the Rust Plague virus.

“Don’t worry, Master,” Novi reminded him. “The Rust Plague virus cannot survive in space; it kills instantly upon contact.”

"Is that so?" Li Ye immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After careful consideration, he made a decision to have Novi directly connect the internal air circulation system of the MK1 to outer space, allowing the entire spaceship to begin a "sterilization" process from the inside out.

Originally, Li Ye planned to collect some viruses as secret weapons, but he gave up because of the high risk involved.

As for the cargo on MK1, he hesitated whether to take it all.

After all, the MK1 belongs to the Cocate Corporation, and the spaceship certainly has a positioning system, a black box, and a series of monitoring programs. If this interstellar corporation finds out that someone has stolen its cargo, the Alliance of Tomorrow and even human civilization will likely be in deep trouble.

After careful consideration, Li Ye decided to take the safest approach.

"Novi, try to contact Kocate Company."

A few minutes later, Novi successfully contacted the Cocate Corporation headquarters via the spaceship's system.

A nonchalant voice immediately came from the other end of the communication channel.

"Hey?"

(End of this chapter)