Information Security

Jiang Miao had not paid much attention to Wang Da Fu's Xihai Company. After all, whatever choice the other side made would have little impact on Hai Lu Feng Company.

Moreover, Ryukyu and the mainland were separated not only by a vast sea, but also by the opposing currents of people's hearts. Even if Jiang Miao wanted to deal with them, it would not be easy to make a move for the time being.

If he had not borrowed the hand of Kagoshima Eel Company this time, it would have been difficult even to sue them in Ryukyu.

Of course, Hai Lu Feng Company also took the opportunity to swiftly advance security and confidentiality upgrades at the Eel Farming Base.

The security room now stood directly opposite the ingredient room entrance. At least one guard watched it around the clock, and several surveillance cameras with independent power supplies had been installed. With facial-recognition access, fingerprint locks, and mechanical locks all replaced and added, nothing should go wrong in the short term.

The company's Eel Fry sales had not declined this month because of the theft of confidential information.

This was especially true in Ryukyu. Xihai Company's recent large-scale purchase of nearly 300,000 kilograms of mature eels had driven up local eel prices even further. Seeing profit to be made, many Ryukyu eel farms had also purchased fry from Hai Lu Feng Company.

However, as the supply of Eel Fry increased in February, prices in the domestic market did indeed slip slightly, with the average price falling to around 2.37 yuan per eel.

After all, many well-informed people in the industry knew that Xihai Company was buying mature eels on a massive scale. They therefore inferred that Xihai Company would soon sell Eel Fry in large quantities, so some farms felt there was no need to buy Hai Lu Feng Company's expensive fry in bulk.

Quite a few eel farms in Ryukyu had even preordered Eel Fry from Xihai Company. According to connections in Southern Fujian through the Sales Department, Xihai Company's planned wholesale price was roughly 22,000 Chinese yuan per kilogram of Glass Eel, or 2.2 yuan per Glass Eel.

Naturally, this tempted some eel farm owners into becoming the sort who preferred to wait and see.

Jiang Miao did not care about that at all.

Anyway, once Xihai Company's scandal erupted a few months later and it became unable to fulfill its contracts—along with those eels dying off—that would be when the real show began.

The February breeze was as sharp as scissors.

Inside the plastic greenhouses at South Lake Farm, the lush strawberry seedlings had already expanded to six mu.

A cold, fine drizzle fell onto the plastic sheeting.

Drip, drip, patter...

Jiang Miao accompanied Shu Ya. Both wore protective suits and hazmat helmets, and before entering the stretch of plastic greenhouses, they passed through a spray-disinfection area.

For plastic greenhouses cultivating fungi, such strict disinfection procedures were necessary to isolate contamination from outside strains.

Inside the experimental greenhouse for edible fungi.

Shu Ya checked the first greenhouse and found no White Truffles breaking through the soil.

But Jiang Miao could see the precise condition of every substrate bag. Seemingly casually, he made a round through the greenhouse.

Shu Ya, who had also made a round, shook her head. "It probably didn't work."

Yet Jiang Miao stopped and pointed at one of the substrate bags. "This bag seems to have some mycelium."

Shu Ya hurried over, picked up a magnifying glass, and examined the soil on the substrate's surface. Sure enough, she found plenty of tiny white mycelial threads. "There really is some. A Miao, your eyesight is amazing."

"Take some samples."

"Alright. Help me record them."

The two divided the work, quickly extracting five test tubes of samples while recording conditions visible to the naked eye.

They continued inspecting the ten experimental greenhouses.

Jiang Miao's experiment log was already filled with thirty-seven pages of notes.

Only after returning to the container laboratory did they remove their protective suits and helmets, then put on masks and gloves.

Jiang Miao patted the notebook in his hand. "Out of the two hundred control groups in these ten experimental greenhouses, I think Groups 63, 72, and 95 have the most potential."

Shu Ya took the notebook and carefully reviewed the data before asking in confusion, "I understand Groups 63 and 95, but Group 72's result is very ordinary. Did you discover something?"

"Because the substrate in those ten groups was mixed with pine needles and pinecones, rather than pine sawdust, yet mycelium still appeared. That means pine needles and pinecones also contain essential nutrients needed by White Truffle."

Shu Ya suddenly understood. "You think certain components in pine needles, pinecones, and pine sawdust affect White Truffle reproduction."

"That's right. Based on the preliminary results, pine sawdust should contain the most of those components, followed by pinecones, with pine needles containing the least."

"As long as we compare them, we should be able to determine which components they are."

Shu Ya nodded. "That makes perfect sense. I'll identify those components as soon as possible."

"Wait a little longer. Once the laboratory is finished, we can test them in our own lab. That will reduce the risk of leaks." Jiang Miao smiled as he sorted the sample tubes and placed them into the test tube rack.

In truth, Jiang Miao had already used the Appraisal Panel to see several special compounds contained in pine trees that played an important role in White Truffle reproduction.

If that had been all, he would not have deliberately reminded Shu Ya.

During the earlier observation, he had found that although pine sawdust contained all three of those compounds, one lipid-like component was present at less than one percent of the amount found in pinecones. Another mineral component was most abundant in pine needles.

Therefore, among the three specific compounds, pinewood's advantage lay in its relatively balanced composition, but it was still not the optimal ratio.

That was perfectly normal. Some symbiotic fungi were extremely particular about their environment and symbiotic partners, yet even they could not always ensure that every condition was optimal.

In agricultural production, boom-and-bust harvest cycles were common.

But Jiang Miao happened to be able to understand the optimal growth conditions of all living things.

What he needed to do now was guide Shu Ya step by step, allowing her to discover and test every "growth puzzle piece" of White Truffle. Once those pieces were assembled, that would become artificial White Truffle propagation technology.

After more than half a month of guidance, Shu Ya had gradually found over half of White Truffle's "growth puzzle pieces." Most involved trace elements, minerals, soil acidity and alkalinity, and specific components in symbiotic plants.

As for environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and light exposure, only some had been tested so far. The main reason was that the laboratory equipment and supporting facilities were insufficient, and comprehensive experiments would have to wait until construction was complete.

Shu Ya also understood Jiang Miao's caution. After all, the theft of confidential information had happened only recently.

And so-called business integrity simply meant the profit was not large enough.

If they sent the samples to a third-party laboratory for testing now, then when Hai Lu Feng Company launched its White Truffle products, the people at that laboratory would definitely associate them with the items previously submitted for testing.

When there was no profit involved, they naturally would not study the data left behind from the submitted samples.

But when the profits became great enough, they would not hesitate to study that data or package it up and sell it to other relevant companies.

Profit stirred people's hearts. That had been an unchanging truth since ancient times.

As long as the price was high enough, most people would find it difficult to resist the temptation of money.

Jiang Miao instructed Shu Ya to write the experimental records and information left behind during the research in code that only she could understand. Important information should not be recorded on computers or phones either.

After all, the apps on modern computers and phones were like thugs, secretly collecting all kinds of user information without even requiring the user's consent.

Although Jiang Miao had replaced every employee's phone, desktop computer, and laptop with domestically produced Pollen devices, he still required that the company's core data not be stored on internet-connected devices.

Even for devices not connected to the internet, he had the company's programmers and computer repair technicians completely isolate them both physically and through software.

This included removing network ports and components linked to wireless routers, as well as disabling all kinds of apps that automatically ran in the background.

The computers that stored core information retained only file editing and management functions. All other apps had been removed.

Jiang Miao was simply preparing for every contingency.