91: Chapter 91: Alien Slaves Arrive, China's Infrastructure Development Takes Off

Inside the underground cavern, the deathly silence was broken by the sound of a bolt being pulled.

Zhao Gang's finger was hooked on the trigger, his knuckles white from excessive force. He stared fixedly at the hundred gray, muscular monsters, cold sweat sliding down his temple and dripping into his eyes, stinging sharply.

"These things... are too eerie."

No noses, pitch-black compound eyes, arms like apes, and skin like rock. How could these be Earth creatures? This was clearly a scene from Resident Evil!

"Boss! Get back!"

Zhao Gang shielded Jiang Chen, his voice hoarse, "These are definitely mutant creatures! Maybe even an alien invasive species! Requesting permission to open fire and eliminate them immediately!"

"Eliminate what? Those are our employees!"

Jiang Chen slapped Zhao Gang's helmet, producing a crisp "clang" that left Zhao Gang stunned.

He strode forward, like a foreman inspecting work, hands behind his back, pacing in front of the group of monsters, his tone so calm it made people want to hit him:

"Old Zhao, this is why I don't like taking you out; you haven't seen enough of the world."

"These are called 'Polymer Biomimetic Engineering Beasts,' the latest research achievement from the crazies... ahem, the experts at the Longke Academy biology group. They're specially designed for heavy manual labor. They might look a bit wild, but that's just to make them durable."

"Bio... biomimetic beasts?"

Zhao Gang lowered his gun, looking suspiciously at the creatures still gnawing on dirt on the ground, "Boss, are you sure these were made by our Long Nation? They look so... they don't fit our aesthetic at all, do they?"

"This is called pragmatic aesthetics."

Jiang Chen couldn't be bothered to explain, pulling a pre-prepared piece of high-energy compressed biscuit brought from the Wasteland out of his pocket—that thing was hard enough to crack walnuts, and it had been expired for fifty years.

He threw it casually.

"Catch!"

The largest gray-skinned monster leading the group had its compound eyes light up instantly. It sprang up, moving as fast as a gray lightning bolt, catching the biscuit precisely in mid-air, then, without even tearing off the wrapper, took a bite and snapped off half of it.

The sound of the chewing was enough to set one's teeth on edge, making Zhao Gang's scalp tingle.

"Full?"

Jiang Chen pointed to the mountain of cement and steel bars piled nearby, then pointed to the end of the tunnel that hadn't been dug through yet, issuing his first order:

"Get to work!"

"Hollow out that mountain for me!"

"Roar—!"

The gray-skinned leader let out a low roar, as if responding, or perhaps conveying orders to the group.

The next second, a scene occurred that made all the special forces soldiers question their reality.

Those hundred monsters moved. They didn't go for shovels, nor did they start the excavators. They charged straight at the rock wall, extending their ridiculously thick arms.

"Boom!"

The hard granite was as fragile as tofu dregs before those sharp claws. There was no need for drills or explosives. These gray-skinned monsters were like human-shaped tunnel boring machines; a few swipes of their claws created a large hole. Huge rocks were easily lifted by them, some even weighing several tons, yet in their hands, they were tossed back as easily as beanbags.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sounds of metal clashing, rock shattering, and heavy footsteps wove together into a violent industrial symphony. There was no rest, no communication, not even the sound of heavy breathing. They were like machines wound up, tireless and feeling no pain.

"Good heavens..."

Zhao Gang watched the bustling scene before him, having completely lowered his gun, his mouth open wide enough to fit a lightbulb. He looked back and forth between the heavy excavator nearby and the group of monsters. That usually formidable excavator now seemed so clumsy, slow, and even a bit redundant.

"This efficiency..."

Zhao Gang swallowed, glancing at the tactical watch on his wrist, "At this speed, the project that was originally planned to take half a year... these guys can finish it in a week?"

"Be more confident. Drop the 'a' from 'a week'."

Jiang Chen leaned against the excavator's tracks, watching the tireless "free beasts of burden," his eyes filled with the satisfaction of a capitalist squeezing out surplus value:

"A week? That's an insult to them. As long as there's enough food, I can have them hollow out this mountain in three days!"

This was the productivity of the interstellar era. In that universe where one had to race against time to survive, efficiency was life. These biochemical coolies, concocted for colonial development, were born for the Infrastructure Maniacs!

"Boss, what about our workers..."

"Let them rest, or have them haul away the Wasteland... ahem, haul away the debris."

Jiang Chen waved his hand dismissively, "From today on, this place is under full closed-off management. Except for our own people, not even a fly is allowed in. Especially, don't let anyone from the outside see this group of... 'biomimetic beasts'."

Zhao Gang nodded, his eyes becoming fervent. Although these guys were ugly, they were useful! With these infrastructure artifacts, our Long Nation's construction speed would surely take off, wouldn't it? What Infrastructure Maniacs? In front of these monsters, they were all just little brothers!

Just then, a series of rapid footsteps came from the passage behind them.

"Da, da, da—" The sound of high heels clicking against the ground seemed exceptionally crisp in the empty underground cavern.

Zhao Gang turned to look, and his expression changed instantly. The person arriving was none other than Academician Chen Shuyin. This female academician had clearly just run out of the laboratory; her hair was a bit messy, and her lab coat was stained with a little machine oil. She was carrying that toolbox she never parted with, her eyes anxious, as if she were looking for something.

"Jiang Chen! I heard you got new stock in?" Academician Chen Shuyin shouted before she was even close, "Is it that warship engine? Or some new mecha parts?"

However, when she turned the corner and saw the group of gray-skinned monsters frantically digging holes, her voice cut off abruptly. Her footsteps stopped as well.

Zhao Gang's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly blocked Academician Chen Shuyin, fearing that this national treasure-level academician might be frightened into some mishap. "Academician Chen! Be careful! These are biomimetic... uh, experimental subjects! They look a bit scary, don't be afraid!"

"Afraid?" Academician Chen Shuyin pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose. Behind the lenses, those eyes, originally tired from staying up late, suddenly lit up. It wasn't a light of fear. It was... the light of a hungry wolf seeing fresh meat. Greenish and terrifyingly intense.

"This muscle definition... this bone density..." Academician Chen Shuyin muttered to herself, pushing aside the blocking Zhao Gang, and like a madman who had seen a peerless treasure, she rushed toward the group of monsters regardless of everything.

"The perfect biomechanical structure!"

"This type of skin cuticle could definitely stop bullets! And that compound eye structure, is it a multi-spectral vision system?"

She rushed up to a gray-skinned monster carrying a huge rock, completely ignoring its hideous face and the sour stench emanating from its body, and directly reached out to pinch hard on its rock-like muscles.

"The hardness is comparable to alloy..."

Academician Chen Shuyin turned her head, looking at Jiang Chen standing in the distance, the expression on her face excited to the point of being somewhat distorted:

"Jiang Chen! Where did this come from?! Quick! Make it stop! I want to give it a full-body physical exam! I want to slice it up! I want to see its gene sequence!"

The gray-skinned monster that was working stiffened all over from being touched, almost dropping the several-ton stone in its hands onto its feet. It lowered its head, looking at this small female human who wasn't even as tall as its thigh, its compound eyes flickering, seemingly puzzled as to what kind of thing this was.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen in the distance watched this scene and helplessly covered his face. He knew it. This woman's focus was always on the dissection table.

"Old Zhao, hold her back." Jiang Chen sighed, "Tell her, this thing is for working, not for slicing up. If one gets broken, the project deadline will be delayed by five minutes."

Zhao Gang looked at the female academician who had already pulled out a scalpel and was preparing to gesture at the monster, and felt a chill run down his back. Compared to these alien monsters, this female academician... seemed even scarier?