Alien Knights

In the side hall of Muxi Town, Todd first picked up the report sent by Rachel, and read it again and again. It recorded the lives of 12 alien refugees who concealed their identities and entered the families of ordinary residents.

Generally speaking, the lives of these heterogeneous species were fairly stable at the beginning. The members of these families have been screened and compared repeatedly by Todd and Rachel to ensure that they have no prejudice or disgust towards the alien race. But even so, the two of them still agreed that the aliens should keep a low profile and not expose their abilities prematurely. After all, things like "Grand Ye loves dragons" are not uncommon in real life.

The second report he picked up was from Hudgens, and mainly chronicled the movements and conduct of the Cumberland army. At first, Todd was very wary and worried about this military force that "forcibly" joined Muxi Town. Judging from his previous life experience, the principle of "government grows out of the barrel of a gun" is an eternal truth no matter in any time and space.

For Muxi Town, which has a weak armed force, whether it is a blessing or a curse to introduce such a tyrannical army, Todd is also a little uncertain. Cumberland, as the direct commander of the 200-man army, if he intends to seize the town, as long as he raises his arms, there is no guarantee that there will be no accidents.

However, the reason why Todd accepts this team is that apart from the reason that Cumberland and Queen Mary need to rely on themselves to tide over the difficulties, there is another reason-the development speed of Muxi Town does not match the defense force.

On the one hand, in Muxi Town in the past, most of the residents were poor people with little money, and they used the guise of the church to coerce the surrounding forces, so naturally they would not attract the attention of others. But with the development of the town and the "escape event", the possibility of the town being attacked has increased.

On the other hand, it is different from the diplomacy and war between countries in the modern era of the previous life. In this different world similar to the Middle Ages, wars can often be detonated just because of a little border dispute, a personal attack, an unintentional remark, a failed marriage proposal, or even just a gesture, an expression, or a gesture, not to mention Muxi Town, which is described as a "miracle place" blessed by the heavenly father.

Therefore, leaving aside Todd's last trump card of "Alien", the town really needs a permanent troop to deal with all kinds of threats that may come.

Todd turned his attention back to Huggins' report, which surprised him, and it could be said that he was relieved. Cumberland voluntarily handed over his military power, and put all the weapons and armor into the holy treasury. He also suggested that the troops should be dispersed and stationed in various places in the city to assist the town guard and the "Order Law Enforcement Corps" in the defense and security of Muxi Town. The old knight himself recommended himself as an instructor, responsible for teaching the daily training of the small town troops.

The last report comes from Friar Joe, and it is also the longest of the three reports. For the whole page at the beginning of the report, the monk did only one thing - pouring bitter water.

There are too many things to do, too few people, not enough money, and I really want to sleep...

Todd raised his eyebrows and turned directly to the second page of the report. Brother Joe put forward his suggestions regarding the current heavy and harsh working environment: the "Bible" sent to the monastery in the early stage was unanimously praised by the old monks. They even took down the manuscripts in the display cabinet in the library and put these new "Bibles" with impeccable packaging and fonts. If possible, in Brother Joe's original words, "Can you consider sending some more exquisite books to the monastery to recruit more monks into Muxi Town?" 』

Seeing this sentence, Todd could almost see the monk sitting at the table with red eyes, struggling between "toil to death" and "selling friends for glory", and finally chose the latter.

With a flick of a pen, Todd wrote the word "agree" on the page.

Turning to the third page of the report, Joe finally started to talk about the business of Muxi Town.

The adjustment of the core area of ​​Muxi Town has been basically completed. According to the block distribution of the ancient Tailuo city, the building complexes of the residential area, commercial area, and public construction area have been re-planned. As for the planning of the external area, there is only a general plan, and the demolition and design will start next month: the industrial area will be placed outside the mountains in the north, the animal husbandry area will be placed outside the hills in the south, and the agricultural area will be placed outside the east plain.

Brother Joe also made a rough financial calculation specifically for the above-mentioned town facilities and functional buildings. Todd looked at the long list of capital requirements, counted the digits carefully, and finally took a breath in disbelief.

In the report, the monks especially questioned the necessity of Todd's proposal to build the "bathing place". In his opinion, things like taking a bath are not only useless, but also alienate the Holy Spirit from the mortal world.

Seeing this, Todd suddenly remembered that he hadn't showered for a week, and scratched his back unconsciously.

In the Middle Ages, according to the Church of the Father, a dirty body was seen as closer to God, and not taking a bath became a symbol of holiness. Those who have enough courage not to take a bath for many years will even be canonized as saints, just like the chastity archway that honored chaste women and martyrs in the past. Many devout clergymen started their filthy hard practice—in the Bible, there is even a character who insisted on not washing his face or feet for 50 years, and was finally canonized successfully!

Todd wanted to change this situation, but considering the current financial situation of the residents, he had no choice but to forcefully implement the idea of ​​a bathing place. In the note at the end of the report, he indicated that the construction of the Knights' Headquarters and the Grand Bazaar should be prioritized, while other buildings could be postponed.

After reviewing and annotating these reports, Todd handed over the official affairs of the church to the deacon and catechumens, and went back into his small laboratory building.

A series of breakthroughs have been made in the breeding of "keel" parasites.

After repeated experiments, Todd finally obtained information such as the most suitable culture tank, temperature and humidity for the growth of "keel". But even so, the parasite's growth is rather slow.

As the primary generation of male and female twin worms, since the beginning of cultivation, seven times of egg laying have been carried out, and a total of forty-seven larvae have been obtained. Of the six eggs produced for the first time, due to Todd's unfamiliarity with the breeding environment, two died and only four survived.

After the four eggs broke out of their cocoons, after several months of breeding, the fastest growing parasite had reached a body length of 27 centimeters. After another month or so, it should be able to reach the standard body length of adults and officially enter the mature stage.

As early as half a month ago, Todd selected four mice and selected a suitable "keel" to carry out the parasite attachment experiment.

First, the limbs of the mice were fixed; then the females were brought close to the back, and the sharp hooks in the worms pierced into the host and absorbed nutrients, pierced into the spines of the mice; after the females were fixed, the males were attached to the abdomens of the mice, connecting them with the females, and finally the mice were dressed in "mini armor".

After a period of observation, while Todd obtained a large amount of experimental data, he also paid a very heavy price.

The little mice that got the "keel" parasite gained a lot of strength and agility bonuses. When the experimenters were not paying attention, they smashed the reinforced glass with one foot, opened the wooden cage with one claw, and turned the small experimental building upside down. It took Todd a lot of effort, using his "speed", "weakness" and "perspective" abilities, and finally caught these "super rats" one by one. Later, Todd had to order a batch of iron cages from the blacksmith to lock up these troublesome little guys.

The real breakthrough in the study of "keel" came from Todd's sudden inspiration, which also allowed him to discover the real secret of this special parasite.

One morning as usual, after Todd got up, he began to clean the laboratory as usual. After cleaning to the back room, when he opened the tub containing the "primary generation" parasites and touched the limbs of the "keel" with a brush, causing the parasites to vibrate, he seemed to think of something, but after a lot of hard thinking, he found nothing. It wasn't until noon, when he was eating in the "sister hotel", that he saw the fish wrapped in the fried dough twist, and finally realized what he had missed.

Halfway through the meal, Todd dropped the spoon in his hand. Under Karin's surprised gaze, Todd rushed all the way back to the laboratory.

Before he even had time to change his clothes, Todd found four mice parasitized by the "keel".

After anesthetizing the hosts in batches, Todd found a huge glass jar containing the "hive" parasite (capable of controlling daughters through sound waves emitted by vibrations). Carefully removed part of the mother body (similar to a jellyfish hive) and its daughter body (black nematodes) from the inside.

Then, the mother and daughter of the "hive" parasite were implanted into the "keel" parasites on four mice by surgical embedding. A state in which one parasite is parasitized by another parasite is created.

Following a week of observation, Todd discovered two extremely interesting things.

The first thing is that the growth of the "hive" mother body buried in the "keel" parasite has completely stopped, and there is no sign of budding and reproduction; the growth of the "hive" daughter body buried in the "keel" parasite has also completely stopped, and the host (white mouse) has no nerve poisoning phenomenon, and all behaviors are the same as usual.

The second thing is that the mice buried in the mother body of the "hive" seem to be able to communicate with other mice buried in the offspring over a long distance in their daily activities.

In order to verify the second thing, Todd conducted a special experiment.

Divide a large iron box into four areas of the same size with glass, stick a black cloth on the surface of the glass, and determine two adjacent areas so that they cannot see each other's movements; then place a "匚"-shaped iron can with an opening in the middle of the large iron box. Block the opening and leave a small gap at the bottom; finally, place the mouse buried in the "beehive" mother in the area facing the opening of the tin can, and place the other three mice in the area facing the wall of the tin can.

The experiment begins.

At first, the four mice were in their respective areas and could not see each other. They walked around here and smelled there. A minute later, the mouse buried in the "honeycomb" suddenly found the cheese hidden in the tin can from the gap under the iron block. It first tried to push the iron block, but it could not move the fifteen-kilogram heavy thing by relying on its own strength. What happened next took Todd by surprise.

I saw the little white mouse buried in the "hive" mother stand upright, and the "keel" parasite on the back made some dull vibration sounds similar to "rattlesnake wagging its tail". Then, with the sound of shattering, the glass wall in the iron box was smashed by three other mice almost at the same time. The four mice worked together to push away the heavy iron block and shared the cheese inside.

After the experiment, Todd dissected and studied the four mice and the "keel" parasites on them, and determined the following conclusions.

1. For the "hive" parasites embedded in the "keel" parasites, due to the limitation of the former's physiological environment, the latter can only obtain the most basic nutrients for their own survival. The mother cannot reproduce by budding, and the offspring cannot secrete toxins and grow insects, which ensures the safety of life and the stability of consciousness of the four mice.

2. The "honeycomb" parasite embedded in the "keel" parasite retains its basic traits and functions. The mother host can communicate with the daughter host through sound wave vibration and convey messages. In this situation, it is as if the mother host has a radio on her back, and can contact the daughter host anytime and anywhere. Todd suspects it has something to do with the neural network in the "keel" parasite that runs throughout its body.

3. What is certain is that the "keel" parasite should be a very special parasite, which can allow other parasites to parasitize in its own body, while reducing its activity and retaining its basic functions.

In a word, the "hive" parasite can parasitize in the "keel" parasite. Due to the special physiological environment of the latter, the activity of the former is greatly reduced, and it will not poison the host and cause death. At the same time, the basic parasite function of the former is retained, but this function is reduced from controlling puppets to transmitting messages.

Using the terminology of microbiology in previous lives, if the host parasitized by a parasite is another parasite, this parasitic phenomenon is called Super Parasitism, and the "keel" is the parasitic carrier in this special phenomenon - Super Parasite.