Steel torrents pioneering a different world

Chapter 14 Do Beast Girls Exist in This World? (Please Read On)

My first time arriving in another world, my first meal in this strange new world...

My first time resting in another world...

The soldiers, too excited to sleep at midday, began to chat amongst themselves.

"Ah Fa, do you think... there might be animal-eared girls in this world?"

A soldier lying down, bored and swinging his toes, suddenly asked his comrade Afa next to him.

The warrior called Afa paused for a moment, then scratched his head sheepishly: "Huh? Well... I think beast-eared girls might not be as interesting as dragons!"

"Ah Fa, you don't understand, do you? Tsk tsk, it's obvious you've never had a girlfriend!" the soldier who asked the question earlier teased, winking at him.

"Go away... Ankang, what nonsense are you talking about! Squad leader, I'm full, and I still have to go and relieve you to clear the snow around the camp. Camp safety is the most important thing!"

The young soldier named Afa blushed slightly, put down his utensils, and fled the place.

"Build two more heavy machine gun positions! Then we can use machine guns!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Inside the canteen, both the veterans who were already married and the new recruits who had been training for two and a half years all chuckled softly.

After Afa left, the other soldiers stopped chatting.

After resting for a while and taking care of their physiological needs, ensuring they wouldn't need to relieve themselves again for at least the next five hours, they put on their thick cold-weather gear and necessary protective equipment again, and left the mess hall in high spirits to continue their unfinished camp construction and guard duties.

Inside the completed laboratory.

Seeing that the testing equipment showed no problems with the mice's red blood cells and metabolic function, Li Xiang made the following record:
Mouse ID: A02
Individual weight: 23g
Otherworld Survival: 6 Hours
Individual findings: Decreased excitability, normal activity, normal heart rate, and no problems such as shortness of breath...

Li Xiang turned on the recording device.

Then, mouse number 2 was subjected to a guillotine surgery.

Click~
With a crisp sound, mouse A02 passed away.

Just as I was preparing to observe the internal organs of the mice, I suddenly heard the dull, crisp sound of a rifle bullet...

"Enemy attack——!"

……

The campsite is a few kilometers away!
Fifteen minutes ago!
The straight-line distance to the time portal is 4.5 kilometers.

Xiao Zhou, the special operations team member who was the first to discover the time portal, is now acting as the team's spearhead, cautiously sneaking towards the location where the unusual clues were just discovered.

"This damn weather! How could it change so suddenly?"

The snowstorms in this other world are completely unreasonable.

Not long ago, the sky was clear and cloudless; they could even see the surrounding scenery from high above.

Apart from the anomaly point, the surrounding area is almost entirely uninhabited primeval forest.

On their way to investigate the suspicious location, Xiao Zhou and his team were suddenly confronted by dark, leaden clouds. A strong wind blew down with large snowflakes, which then turned into heavy snowfall.

The biting wind and snow reduced human visibility to a mere 300 meters. The white snow seemed to be swallowing the entire world, and the harsh weather severely hampered the reconnaissance soldiers' vision.

The flapping-wing drone that was previously attempted to be released only flew a little over 100 meters before crashing to the ground, becoming a useless dead weight.

Other military reconnaissance equipment is useful, but it's all bulky and makes a lot of noise when it's launched.

In order to reduce the risk of being discovered, they had to adopt the tactic of infiltrating and observing on their own.

Xiao Zhou complained as he finally reached the vicinity of the target area.

Wiping away the harsh wind and snow from his fully enclosed helmet visor, Xiao Zhou cautiously looked ahead.

It was the ruins of a large group of wooden buildings that had been burned down.

The burned buildings were almost entirely covered by snow. There were only about twenty houses, huddled together.

Around the complex, there are still some simple fences that have not completely collapsed, which appear to be used to keep wild animals away. The fences are up to two meters high.

Wearing a white snowsuit that blends seamlessly into the environment, Xiao Zhou pulls out a military-grade, uncooled handheld infrared rangefinder and scans the area ahead.

The military-grade uncooled handheld infrared rangefinder works very well.

There were no heat sources indicating intelligent life ahead, nor any signs of large animals. After repeatedly confirming that it was safe, Xiao Zhou sent a safety signal to Captain Zhao Chong behind him.

Several hundred meters away, the team members, who were almost blending into the snow, put down their guns and then quickly approached the area.

Zhao Chong looked around and discovered that these architectural ruins bore a striking resemblance to common wooden houses on Earth!
"This is a great location to gather!"

"Among the dozens of houses, there is an extremely large 'luxurious' building. Is it a temple and sacrificial site for intelligent beings from another world? What kind of intelligent race once gathered here?"

Zhao Chong's sharp eyes swept around, and several very tall, ruined doors caught his attention. He silently assessed the situation.

The location of this abandoned village is very clever.

It sits in a depression, surrounded on three sides by moderately high hills, forming a natural barrier that can shield it from most of the wind and rain in severe weather.

The earthen slope is less than five meters high, and its view extends towards the ridge, where it is covered with coniferous trees that resemble winter pines.

The abundance of coniferous trees provides cover without causing large-scale snowslides.

Even more remarkably, a frozen river meanders through the depression, clearly an important water source for this settlement.

Not far away, there is a relatively open area with obvious signs of human leveling on the ground, which appears to have been cultivated.

If it weren't for the extreme cold here, this place would undoubtedly be an ideal place for human habitation.

"Captain, this is very likely a gathering place for humans, or at least humanoid intelligent beings," Xiao Zhou said in a low voice.

"Hmm!" Zhao Chong nodded, raised his wrist to look at the sturdy and durable military mechanical watch on his wrist, and then glanced at the sun in the sky.

The high-hanging sun had already begun to drift away into the distance. Based on the sunset speed at the Earth's equator in summer, it was estimated that the otherworldly sun would completely sink below the horizon in three and a half hours, at which point night would soon fall in the otherworld.

"Everyone, hurry up!" Zhao Chong's voice was calm and powerful. "Collect specimens here, take photos and record everything from all angles! Focus your search on those tall building complexes."

"Xiao Zhou, you and Chang Nuo keep watch around!"

"Roger that!" The two guards instinctively followed wartime protocol, stamped their feet, and then bid farewell to Zhao Chong.

While everyone was busy, Zhao Chong looked around again.

"Qua~"

A black crow perched on a pine tree covered in snow caught his attention.

Seemingly sensing the humans spying on it from the ground, the crow cawed once, then flapped its wings and flew away...

"Ravens from another world? They're huge! But this place is so cold, why don't they migrate? Are they that resilient?"

Crows are very intelligent birds, and their footprints can be found almost all over the world.

However, apart from the cold-resistant Daurian jackdaw, most crows on Earth do not like to stay in temperatures below -35 degrees Celsius for extended periods.

The cold-resistant Daurian jackdaw even migrates to major cities like Beijing, Shenyang, and Changchun to escape the winter!

Zhao Chong felt a sense of unease as he watched the crow fly away.

Seeing that Xiao Zhou hadn't gone far, he asked Xiao Zhou, "Xiao Zhou, did you feel anything spying on us just now?"

"Spying?" Xiao Zhou asked in confusion.

"Yes, the feeling of being watched?" Zhao Chong frowned deeply.

"No, Captain."

"Strange, could it be my imagination?"

Zhao Chong scanned the surrounding snow-covered world inch by inch.

As far as the eye could see, besides the wind and snow, there were crows taking flight, and dense forests of winter pine needles standing like ghostly shadows all around. He could not find any trace of any otherworldly creatures in his sight.

"How's the specimen collection going?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Collecting in progress!"

"If needed, take a closer look at the birds in the vicinity later!"

"Captain, something unusual has been detected here."

(End of this chapter)