Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 455 Food
"I only have four compressed biscuits left, but there are still quite a few energy crystals left." Leighton fumbled around on his body for a long time, and finally took out four biscuits that had been crushed into crumbs from the bag hanging on his chest.
"I'm almost there too." Ivan held out his hand, with five energy bars in his palm. "I've finished my vodka, too."
"I have a big appetite... I only have one compressed biscuit left." Zhuoligetu said a little embarrassedly, "But I still have two dried beef jerkys. They are very filling. Just a small piece the length of your thumb can keep you going for half a day... Do you want to try?"
As he spoke, he took out two long, black objects with a metallic luster from his backpack and handed one of them to the hound.
" This thing... is beef? How come I've never seen this kind of beef jerky before?" The Hound looked at the long object in his hand and said suspiciously, "The texture does look a bit like muscle tissue... but it's too hard. Can I really eat this? I feel like it will knock out my teeth."
"Yes, it can be eaten. This thing has existed since ancient times. Its Mongolian name is 'Buleci'. When Genghis Khan led his army to attack the European continent, he used this thing as military rations... But now only the descendants of the Mongolians like us know how to make this kind of food."
The hound tried to saw off a small piece with the steel teeth on the back of the military dagger, put it in his mouth and took a bite - "It seems to be edible... but it's as hard as a rock. By the way, Ke Lan, how many supplies do you have left?"
"Not much." Ke Lan opened the bag at his waist and took a look. "A bag of self-heating military rations, four compressed , and a bottle of 'blue capsules'."
The "blue capsule" that Ke Lan mentioned is a special drug developed by Maya Biological. Its full name is "Emergency Survival Meal Replacement No. 663". Only one small capsule is needed to allow people to not eat for 48 hours without feeling hungry, and their physical strength and energy will not be affected... But this thing is essentially just a hormone and cannot provide nutrition and energy to the human body.
It is called a "meal replacement", but it cannot really replace food.
This is just an emergency measure. No one will eat this thing unless it is absolutely necessary.
Its main function is actually to block the brain's perception of hunger and drain the energy stored in the human body. Once the effect of the drug wears off, hunger and fatigue will double, and the side effects are even worse than those of powerful stimulants.
Moreover, because their blood sugar levels are too low, most people who take the blue capsules will faint within a dozen seconds after the effect of the drug ends. If they are not treated in time, these fainted people may never wake up again.
This is a trump card, a trump card that can be played when you are out of ammunition and food, but if you can't get out of the desperate situation within the last forty-eight hours, then the only outcome will be death.
"I still have two bags of self-heating rations and two compressed biscuits." Asano Akira said.
"I still have quite a few here." Valentina came out of the Valkyrie's cockpit, holding a backpack in one hand. Both backpacks were bulging with things - just from the bulging shapes on the surface of the backpacks, one could guess that they were filled with foods such as compressed biscuits and canned food.
These foods were emergency supplies prepared by Ke Lan and his team, and were placed in the Valkyrie's cockpit before departure. For one person, these foods would be enough to sustain for nearly half a month if eaten sparingly, but if they were distributed equally to everyone, the amount would be pitifully small.
"Tsk... Even if we save on this little bit of food, I'm afraid it can only last for three days." The hound turned his head and looked at the deep and dark tunnel in the distance. "I don't know how long we will be trapped here. Don't starve to death by then."
"It's better to starve to death than to be killed by the Alpha's machine, right?" Layton muttered.
"Bullshit, that's because you've never been hungry!" The Hound glared at him and cursed back, "There was a clearing mission before. I led the vanguard too deep into the desert and lost contact with the main force. Then those clever beasts cut off our retreat. We could only build fortifications with the help of the terrain and hold on until help... Do you know how much food we had with us ?"
"How much?" Layton asked.
"It was just two meals, one of which was for emergencies," said the Hound. "It was originally a quick mission, with the scheduled combat time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We could still catch up with the stew dinner when we returned to the base after work... It's all because of that damn intelligence department... The number of indigenous creatures in that area is nearly three times more than what they told us. We have been moving and fighting since we landed, and by the time we cleared out all the beasts in sight, we had already deviated from the original marching route."
"Then can't you call for air support? Let a transport plane come and pick you up. At worst, just airdrop some supplies." Layton wondered.
"Do you think we don't want to? Do you know what our target was during that mission?" The hound rolled his eyes at him, "It was the Lost Hound!"
The lost dog is a kind of indigenous creature that lives in groups and is about the same size as large dogs on Earth. The reason why it is given such a strange name is that there is extremely strong magnetism in its bones. When a large number of lost dogs gather together, they will form a large interfering magnetic field. Electronic equipment and positioning devices will be disturbed by the magnetic field, causing people who enter their territory to lose their way.
"No wonder, what happened next?" Layton couldn't help but ask - although he had also been in the field force, he was not in a combat unit, but in the logistics support department. He had only heard such battle stories from soldiers who had returned from the front-line combat units to rest, and he had never experienced it himself.
"We are so hungry that we have no choice but to pick up the corpses of those animals to eat." The Hound said as he chewed the "Buller Thorn" that he had held in his mouth for a long time but was still not softened by saliva. " The meat of these animals is not only radioactive, but also damn poisonous. It is woody and sour. Even if it is roasted, it is difficult to swallow. Many soldiers vomited and had diarrhea after eating it... But there is no other way. In order to survive, they can only swallow it with their eyes closed."
"But our situation is even worse now." Ivan looked around. "At least you had the corpses of lost dogs to eat, but this tunnel is just metal and concrete... Oh, and there are lighting fixtures made of unknown materials. But no matter what they are made of, I don't think our stomachs can digest them."
