"Are you alright, Bender?" Mosilaire handed Bender a glass of warm water and patted him on the shoulder, who was sitting in the dining chair shaking his head.

"What did you say?" Bender plucked out his ears and shouted at Mosilaire, "I'm not supposed to shoot indoors!" ”

"Hey, Mr. Bender," Mosilaire shrugged and took a sip of water from his glass, "I can hear you." ”

"Is Uncle Bender's ears okay?" Winnie, who was squatting on the ground and clutching a dog's tail grass and teasing peanuts, looked up and asked with some concern.

"Ignore him, this guy's hearing will be back to normal in a while." The old knife leaned back in his chair, his face flushed like a ball that had fallen into a dye vat, obviously not recovering from the thrill of machine gun fire, "It's the first time I've seen these lively ghosts up close, I didn't expect to be able to sweep a round of bullets at them one day, haha!" ”

"There will be such opportunities in the future, Mr. Old Knife." Mosilaire smiled softly, and the worries that had been lingering in his heart quickly dissipated - the enemies would only grow more and stronger in the future - but so what?

She has guns, a stubborn will, and reliable companions, as well as huge turrets that surround the base - though they're still broken.

The fringe colonies have regained their former tranquility and serenity.

Two of the well-preserved mechanical mantis and mechanical mantis were taken by the old knife for research, and the remaining severely damaged mechanical bodies were sent to the machining table by Mosilaire for dismantling, and a little useful parts and materials that could be used to assemble the turret were recovered.

In addition to patching up the two holes on the roof that had been punched by the mechanical mantis, Mosilaire and Bender also cleaned up and put in order the indoor growing area of the main body of the base - of course, they didn't clean up all of the huge planting greenhouses that covered an area of nearly one acre.

The warm season here is short, so they have to make sure that the base also has an area for crops to grow during the winter.

After thinking about it, Mosilaire and Bender only circled an area of about 250 square meters, and then separated the rest of the area with plastic film, otherwise maintaining the temperature of the greenhouse during the winter would have become a huge challenge - and they would not have needed so many cultivation areas for the time being. There are only a few people in the fringe colonies right now, and everyone has other more important things to do.

Therefore, after referring to Winnie's suggestion, Mosilere divided 150 square meters of this into corn planting area, 50 square meters for soybean planting area, and 50 square meters for potato planting area.

If all goes well, we will be able to harvest about 200 kg of corn and 80 kg of potatoes in the first few weeks of winter.

Compared to high-yielding staple crops, soybeans have a much longer growing cycle. Even with careful care, it can barely mature after five or six months, and this plant can only produce 20kg of high-calorie and high-protein seeds in 50 square meters.

20kg is not much, and it can fill a small bag sewn from old cloth.

While these estimates may seem a bit pitiful, life is all about budgeting to keep your life from being a mess, isn't it?

With the cold winter coming to the area in three months' time, Mosilaire decided to use ten more advanced hydroponic tanks to grow cotton and add more powerful advanced hydroponic nutrients.

Ordinary hydroponic liquid can shorten the growth cycle of cotton from up to four months to two and a half months, and advanced hydroponics can further shorten it to two months, and enable cotton to produce more seed fiber under catalysis.

Cotton grown in 10 rows of 40 square meters of hydroponic tanks will produce about 30 kg of usable plant fibres after two months – more than enough to sew a few comfortable, warm cotton clothes and bedding.

However, whether it is to maintain the normal operation of the hydroponic tanks that have reached 20 rows, or to activate the energy-intensive solar lamps in the cultivation greenhouses, it will be a huge challenge to the fragile power grid of the marginal colonies - which is why Mosilaire is not in a hurry to repair and use more hydroponic tanks - they will not be able to repair more power generation equipment before the next batch of parts promised by the gathering arrives, and the current power generation capacity can only barely sustain the work of growing greenhouse solar lamps. It cannot afford to operate more hydroponic tanks, which require a lot of electricity.

Of course, Mosilaire wouldn't have imagined that our good neighbors from the Mech Legion would pack up parts and deliver them to their door—it was a nice surprise.

Relying on the parts and materials obtained from dismantling the mechanical body, the great electrical engineer Mosilele repaired a solar generator and a wind turbine with his skill, so that the power generation facilities in the site were expanded from the previous four solar generators and three wind turbines to five solar generators and four wind turbines, so that the operation of various high-power equipment can be fully afforded.

In addition to repairing the parts used to repair the generator, Mosilaire also disassembled a small amount of fiberglass from the two mechs, perhaps allowing Bender to make some useful armor in the future.

Simple bulletproof helmets and bulletproof vests won't do much against advanced charged weapons, but the threat they face on this planet isn't just cold machinery.

Zombies, beasts, and their ill-intentioned counterparts outside the walls are potential threats to the fringe colonies.

As long as you follow the drawings deciphered by the old knife and work on the mechanical workbench, the reinforced helmet with a trace amount of fiberglass will be well protected against the penetrating blows of small-caliber ammunition and the flower pots, kitchen knives and anti-particle warheads thrown at you by the upstairs occupants. - Of course, there's one thing that's stuffed in for jokes. After all, reinforced helmets don't do much in the face of blunt objects such as flower pots.

They don't have bulletproof vests yet, but because there is still a little bit of superwoven fabric that Mosilaire used to sew clothes, they can also make some bulletproof armor with steel plates installed in the future.

This will increase their survivability in battle, and will also provide enough confidence for any human to face a storm of bullets.

However, due to the fact that there are still some problems with the irrigation pipes of the planting greenhouses and hydroponic facilities, after the indoor planting greenhouses are cleaned, the work of repairing the main water supply pipes, related irrigation pipes, and hydroponic liquid transportation pipes is all taken over by Bender.

For the time being, Bender is the only one who can properly operate the machinery in the fringe colonies, so it is natural that the production of new armor will probably be delayed for some ,——time, and the irrigation work will have to be shared by the three adults of Mosilaire, Bender, and Old Knife until the pipes are repaired.

What worries Mosilel is that she hasn't heard any messages from Gathering Ground Three since the attack – especially since it has been going on for two full days.

Fortunately, on a somewhat hot and sleepy afternoon on the third day after the attack, Mosilaire, who was lying in front of the communication station, managed to receive a message from the Third gathering place.

"Hello, I'm Mosilaire, the correspondent of the Fringe Colony, please answer if you receive it, over." Mosilaire, who had just woken up from a drowsy and still a little dazed, suddenly cheered up, but the familiar voice came from the headphones.

"Hello, I'm 'Augustinecn', the temporary correspondent of Gathering Point Three, you can simply call me Augustine, over."

"......" Mosilaire was silent for a moment, "Gathering Point Three and the Fringe Colony haven't been in contact for two days, what's going on with you there?" Where did the previous correspondent, Mr. Herring, go? ”

There was a long sigh from the other side, and it took a long time before he replied softly, "Gathering Ground Three was attacked by a massive mechanical legion two nights ago, and we lost a lot of manpower and many of us died in this disaster. The casualties of the unarmed poor in the slums were particularly severe. The colony's communications tower was partially damaged at that time, and it took a few days of repairs to barely get in touch with you - as for the herring, the poor guy was still lying in a hospital bed after a steel mantis had his right leg cut off by a steel mantis to protect him - and I don't know if he will be able to accept the harsh reality when he wakes up. ”

Mosilaire didn't know how to answer Augustine, and hesitated for a while before gently comforting, "Everything will be fine." ”

But both Mosilare and Augustine knew in their hearts that this was nothing more than self-deception.

But what else can Mosilare say?

She tried to build their sanctuary with her companions as much as she could.

As long as the fringe colonies become stronger and more prosperous, when the time comes, perhaps Mosilaire will be able to pull her back when her neighbors are in danger.

And if you want to survive on this planet, you must maintain the advanced nature of force,—— Mosilaire understands this truth, so after the old knife dismantles the onboard chips of the mechanical mantises, she personally participated in the work of cracking and regrouping, and put the assembly of the new drone gun emplacement.

The fringe colonies are still short of manpower, so this weapon, which can destroy the enemy to a certain extent, can intuitively greatly enhance the defensive firepower of the base once it is installed online.

In order to ensure that the machine guns needed enough 13mm ammunition, Mosilaire also submitted a new arms order to their neighbors hundreds of kilometers away that night.

The wealthy Third Gathering took the order with pleasure and promised to bring the 13mm all-metal armor shells and a small number of armor-piercing incendiary bombs to the fringe colonies on their next visit.

Armor-piercing bullets are designed to prepare for a physical target, causing irreversible damage to all ordinary flesh that is hit, while armor-piercing incendiary bullets are more effective at hitting incoming lightly and medium-armored targets. - Needless to say, this is reserved for the mechanical family.

In exchange, Mosilere mysteriously promised to surprise the neighbors when they arrived.

A month and a half later.

"W-w-"

"I'm Mosilaire, a correspondent from the Fringe Colony, can I hear from me?" After dinner, Mosilere sat down at the communication desk, exchanging daily information and insights with Gathering Point 3 as usual.

"Of course you can—not only that, but it's very clear, Miss Mosilaire." Her familiar voice came from the headphones, "Oh, yes! I haven't introduced myself yet – I'm Obakhamra Herring, the correspondent at Gathering Point Three – or you can just call me Herring. ”

"Mr. Herring!" Mosilaire was pleasantly surprised, and then asked cautiously, "...... Are you healed? ”

"Oh, of course, except I can't run as fast as I used to, but—" The herring prolonged, "I can now jump and walk, doesn't that sound great?" ”

"Hmm......" Mosiliel was a little confused, not knowing if Mr. Herring was joking with her or if he had been angered by this rude question.

"Ah, of course, it's just a joke, and although the wooden legs are not very convenient to use, they are not enough to jump and walk." Herring laughed a few times, "And no one dares to mess with me now, because if anyone upsets me, I can poke his foot with a wooden prosthetic leg that is sharp and thin like the heel of a high-heeled shoe—I guess it will be painful, haha!" ”