Chapter Summaries

As Little Mike Banana reached harvest, Zheng Siwen inspected the Qiongzhou branch’s banana-hemp processing operations and introduced its products and expansion plans to agricultural and textile industry representatives. The visitors tasted ripe Little Mike Bananas and were impressed by their flavor, leaving the new banana and hemp businesses with strong industry interest.

• Growers harvested the first Little Mike Bananas, and Captain Zhang’s team weighed the fruit and stalks and issued commercial notes for payment.
• Zheng Siwen toured the hemp plant with Factory Director Wu and Old Huang, inspecting hemp processing, blended fabrics, clothing, and product sales.
• Zheng Siwen told textile industry representatives that Hai Lu Feng Company planned to promote Yellow Banana Hemp cultivation across Qiongzhou within three years and nationwide within ten years.
• The Qiongzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences team and other visitors tasted ripe Little Mike Bananas and praised their sweetness and resemblance to Big Mike Banana.

Little Mike Bananas reached Hai Lu Feng’s northern sales regions, where warehouse staff, fruit shop owners, and customers encountered the new produce. After Lao Zhao’s family tasted the fruit, Zhao Biao explained the history of its predecessor, and agriculture professionals began paying attention to the variety.

• Qiongzhou’s branch shipped thousands of tons of green bananas daily, and the Jin Port South Warehouse Center prepared ripe shipments for shelves.
• Boss Li bought bananas and other produce at the warehouse after learning about Hai Lu Feng’s products and ordering options.
• Customers shopped at the Warehouse Supermarket, where a couple bought strawberries and bananas at discounted prices.
• Lao Zhao picked up three boxes of fruit his son had ordered, then tasted the bananas, oranges, and cherry tomatoes with Gan Limei and found them unusually delicious.
• Zhao Biao explained that Little Mike Bananas descended from the old Big Mike Banana variety, while agricultural professionals tried the new bananas and took notice of their distinctive taste.

Yang Yang filmed a visit to Hai Lu Feng Company's Qiongdong banana farm, showcasing Little Mike Bananas and a newly discovered bud mutation as the variety gained popularity and resisted efforts by rival buyers to enter the market. The chapter ended with Fairy Bean Soybeans planted at Taminchagan Farm beginning to sprout again on March 13.

• Yang Yang interviewed Xie Yingming at Qiongdong Banana Farm, where Xie explained the Mack Series varieties and documented the QD03 bud mutation for research.
• Yang Yang's video introduced the bananas and their Manila hemp potential, drawing customers to Hai Lu Feng products and shifting sales away from boutique fruit stores and imported bananas.
• A Qiang and Brother Fang abandoned their attempt to buy Little Mike Bananas after learning farmers were contracted to Hai Lu Feng Company at high prices and faced steep penalties for breaking contracts.
• Qiongzhou officials studied expanding the Mack Banana industry for Manila hemp production as Little Mike's typhoon resistance strengthened local growers' interest.
• Agricultural experts and officials focused on the Mack Series, while Hai Lu Feng Company's Mo Nan Branch stored Fairy Bean Soybean seeds for future planting.
• On March 13, the soybeans planted the previous year at Taminchagan Farm began sprouting again as daytime temperatures rose above seven degrees Celsius.

Fairy Bean Soybean regrew across Taminchagan and Mulan Farms as researchers studied its growth and farmers managed the fields. At Taminchagan Base, Jingneng International agreed to pilot Hai Lu Feng Company’s Sponge Battery storage system for its Jerim wind project, leaving the companies poised to negotiate a long-term partnership.

• Fairy Bean Soybean sprouted naturally at Taminchagan and Mulan Farms, and researchers found its root blocks could sustain growth until the mid-June harvest.
• Taminchagan Farm workers thinned excess soybean shoots, treated selected fields, and prepared pesticide-free forage for harvest in late April.
• Jiang Haibo showed Lu Zhenwei and his Jingneng International team the Sponge Battery energy storage center and quoted a leasing price.
• Jingneng International’s cost estimators calculated that the batteries would add 0.0524 yuan per kilowatt-hour, and the managers discussed securing a long-term contract.
• Lu Zhenwei proposed using the Jerim Wind Power Project as a pilot and building an energy storage regulation center with 2,000 cubic meters of battery cells.

Zhang Xincheng arranged for Jiangxin Shipyard to test Hai Lu Feng Company's Sponge Batteries in an electric transport vessel, and the results convinced the shipyard to pursue an order. At the same time, Jingneng International sought a Sponge Battery partnership after its wind-farm trial succeeded, while Jiang Miao received updates on agricultural development and biological phosphorus extraction in Mo Nan.

• Zhang Xincheng showed Dai Qiguo and Liu Daoyang Hai Lu Feng Company's battery specifications, and they agreed to test Sponge Battery containers in a 2,000-ton transport vessel.
• Dai Qiguo's team tested the vessel and found that it could travel about 800 kilometers fully loaded at a constant speed, with battery power costing less per kilometer than diesel fuel.
• Hai Lu Feng Company selected five remote river docks to serve as freight hubs, service stations, and battery-swapping stations.
• Lu Zhenwei and Jingneng International's executives reviewed the successful Sponge Battery trial and learned from Li Jiahao that recycled components kept the battery's estimated cost low.
• Lu Zhenwei contacted Jiang Haibo to arrange a visit and discuss cooperation, while Jiang Miao agreed to meet Jingneng International and heard that Mo Nan's farm development and United Mining's phosphorus tests were progressing well.

Jiang Miao agreed to cooperate with state-owned power, port, and energy companies on Sponge Battery leasing and battery-swapping infrastructure. The companies formed two energy-storage ventures and ordered 200,000 cubic meters of battery cells, while the upcoming press conference threatened to upend China’s battery industry.

• Dai Qiguo secured Jiangxin Shipbuilding orders for forty electric cargo ships and two battery supply ship designs for Hai Lu Feng Company.
• Liu Shanhe and representatives of power grids, ports, and energy companies proposed working with Jiang Miao to build battery-swapping stations and use Sponge Batteries to store surplus electricity.
• Jiang Miao outlined a full-lifecycle battery lease, and the executives calculated that Sponge Batteries could lower storage costs and shorten wind power projects’ payback periods.
• The companies established Southern Energy Storage and Northern Energy Storage, which contracted to lease 200,000 cubic meters of Sponge Battery cells from Hai Lu Feng Company.
• Hai Lu Feng Company announced a press conference in Shanmei Urban Area, while wind, photovoltaic, motor, and shipbuilding stocks rose and lithium battery stocks plunged.
• Attendees learned that Hai Lu Feng Company had also partnered with Jingneng International and State Power Investment Corporation to create battery companies, leaving other battery firms worried about their future.

Liu Shanhe and Liu Haitao announced plans for energy-storage joint ventures, power-pricing reforms, Sponge Battery performance, and a leasing model that could transform battery swapping and vehicle costs. Automakers and battery companies began assessing the consequences as the industry prepared for a major reshuffle.

• Liu Shanhe announced that cooperating companies would establish Southern Energy Storage Company and Northern Energy Storage Company, which would buy battery cells from Hai Lu Feng Company and build large-scale energy-storage systems.
• Liu Shanhe outlined plans to phase out tiered electricity pricing, unify industrial, commercial, and residential rates, and continue investing in multiple energy-storage technologies.
• Liu Haitao presented Sponge Battery test results, and Li Pin and Wang Guoxin discussed the batteries’ low degradation and strong cold-weather performance, along with their size, heat, and limited cycle life.
• Liu Haitao announced that Hai Lu Feng Company would lease Sponge Battery cells for 10,000 yuan per cubic meter with a 10,000-yuan deposit, and would authorize two or three companies to build automotive battery-swapping networks.
• The president of Future Automobile calculated that leasing batteries could sharply reduce vehicle prices, while automakers and battery companies anticipated a major industry reshuffle.

Liu Haitao announced unified standards and proportional charging for Sponge Battery swaps, and the rapid expansion of the new-energy industry reshaped companies and electricity plans across Seres. The chapter ended with European and American capital retreating behind trade barriers and seeking battery suppliers elsewhere, unable to find a way to counter Sponge Battery.

• Liu Haitao announced that Hai Lu Feng Company, Jingneng Battery, and Guodian Battery would standardize swappable vehicle batteries and charge 0.1 yuan per unit of electricity used.
• Liu Haitao met with related companies, and after more than a week they finalized three battery weight classes and other technical standards.
• Automakers, power companies, oil companies, and equipment manufacturers rushed into battery swapping and new-energy projects, while authorities moved to curb redundant investment.
• Power grids announced plans to gradually lower industrial, residential, commercial, and agricultural electricity prices and reduce reliance on thermal power.
• European and American companies saw their carbon-tax approach weakened by Seres's soybean supplies and Sponge Battery, then pursued trade barriers and overseas battery production.

Tourists arriving in Shanmei joined Hai Lu Feng Company’s organized trip to a local durian farm, where they sampled and bought tree-ripened fruit. The chapter ended with the company’s first harvest selling briskly in Shanmei while broader nationwide durian sales remained planned for November.

• Teng Ge, Xiao Qing, A Kun, and other visitors signed up at the Hai Lu Feng service station, received room and bus cards, and were given company shirts.
• The guide led the group to a cooperative-run homestay in Gui Zhu Ling Village and explained the farm tour and its safety rules.
• Farm workers guided the tourists through the durian orchard, demonstrated how to judge ripeness, and helped them pick and weigh fruit.
• Teng Ge, Xiao Qing, A Kun, and other tourists praised the Floral Monthong durians while the guide explained the company’s grafting technology and year-round growing plans.
• Hai Lu Feng’s ten durian farm service stations served more than four hundred tourists in one morning and sold over three hundred durians.
• The chapter noted that Shanmei’s harvest was being sold locally and in the Pearl River Delta, with nationwide sales expected to begin in November.

A Kun, Teng Ge, and their companions toured Nan Fen Village and sampled its farms and restaurants before spending the afternoon visiting Hai Lu Feng Company-backed attractions. The day ended with an unexpectedly affordable seafood set meal at Ma Gong Cold Meal.

• The young guide took the group from Gui Zhu Ling Village to Nan Fen Village, where A Kun and Teng Ge went fishing while the women picked fruit.
• A Kun and Teng Ge caught two Egyptian Fish, and a local restaurant cooked them into a catfish claypot dish that the group enjoyed.
• The group ate lunch at Nan Fen Local Food Stall, praised the food and its low prices, then toured several local attractions.
• Teng Ge chose the Walk into Hai Lu Feng set meal at Ma Gong Cold Meal after the group arrived in Ma Gong Town.
• The group sampled oysters, salmon, beef, fruit, and other dishes from the set meal and left completely full.

Shanmei’s tourism boom continued after the May Day Golden Week as Hai Lu Feng Company and local authorities expanded lodging, transport, and quality controls while promoting tree-ripened durians. The chapter left Shanmei positioning itself as an affordable durian tourism destination, with Jiang Miao urging officials to prevent dishonest businesses from damaging its reputation.

• Hai Lu Feng Company spent 30 million yuan on online promotion, while local authorities tightened market oversight and introduced weekly rankings and penalties for partner shops.
• A specialty store on Erma Road sold clearly priced durians as visitors lined up, and Shanmei’s tree-ripened fruit drew tourists away from imported durians.
• Hai Lu Feng Company and its partners recorded 2.29 million tourist visits and 837.14 million yuan in spending during Golden Week, while citywide tourism revenue was estimated at around 7 billion yuan.
• After Golden Week, Hai Lu Feng Company coordinated with village cooperatives to add nearly 3,000 homestay rooms as tourist numbers remained high.
• Xiao Bai and her companions ate tree-ripened durian in Gongping Town, where visitors discussed Shanmei’s fruit, its value, and Hai Lu Feng Company’s expanding production and processing plans.
• Jiang Miao called local officials to demand stricter oversight of dishonest operators and protect Shanmei’s tourism reputation.

Hai Lu Feng’s affordable, high-quality durians disrupted Guangzhou’s wholesale market and drew strong demand from retailers and consumers. As wholesalers rushed to sell existing stock or switch to farming, the chapter left Hai Lu Feng’s products selling briskly across the Pearl River Delta.

• Durian wholesalers in Guangzhou discussed Hai Lu Feng’s expanding supply and low prices, and Lao Tu feared heavy losses on his imported Monthong stock.
• Old Huang explained Hai Lu Feng’s high-yield growing technology and estimated its profits, prompting several wholesalers to consider farming durians in Qiongzhou or Shanmei.
• Wholesalers dumped or delayed imported durian shipments, while others headed south to lease land and grow durians or bananas.
• A fruit shop owner bought durians and Red Big Mac bananas from a Guangzhou Warehouse Supermarket, where Hai Lu Feng’s supply remained below demand.
• Lao Wu and Lao Dai collected durians and salmon for their shops, and Lao Wu’s customers quickly bought fruit boxes and ordered prepared durian flesh for home delivery.

Hai Lu Feng Company expanded its stores, restaurants, and desert farms while developing a tightly controlled salmon supply chain. At Ma Gong Cold Meal in Panyu, Tian Xiaodong took his parents to try its raw fish, and the meal demonstrated the restaurant’s safety claims and helped attract other dining businesses to Hai Lu Feng products.

• Hai Lu Feng Company expanded to 677 specialty stores, 78 warehouse supermarkets, 22 Jianghai Food Houses, and 6 Ma Gong Cold Meal restaurants as desert farmland reached 11.7 million mu.
• Agricultural groups planned desert farms with dune barriers to reduce fire risks, and a China Railway construction company developed a sand-spraying firefighting vehicle with Zoomlion.
• Tian Xiaodong brought his parents to Ma Gong Cold Meal, where his father tried Crisp Waan Fish, Dace Fish, Pacific Red Salmon, and Pink Salmon.
• Tian Xiaodong’s family enjoyed the restaurant’s sashimi and cooked dishes, while the restaurant’s controlled ingredients and processing supported its claim to offer safer raw food.
• Hai Lu Feng Company’s public testing reports, legal enforcement, and isolated salmon farming helped attract other dining businesses and distinguish Hai Lu Feng Salmon from imported salmon and domestic Rainbow Trout.

Hai Lu Feng Company's strict cultivation agreements drew investors as Qiongzhou's durian and Mack Series Banana quotas filled, while Manager Liu Kaifu uncovered a suspected quota fraud. After reporting the forged opportunity to Lu Weibin, Liu was invited to the company's headquarters, leaving him hopeful of making a valuable connection.

• Hai Lu Feng Company maintained strict planting and sales conditions as Qiongzhou's approved durian area reached 900,000 mu and Mack Series Banana area reached 1.5 million mu.
• Manager Liu Kaifu met Hei Zi, who offered to obtain a 1,000-mu durian quota for a service fee and showed him apparently genuine company documents.
• Liu Kaifu transferred Hei Zi 50,000 yuan, then flew to Hai Lu Feng Company's headquarters and showed Lu Weibin evidence of the suspected quota scheme.
• Lu Weibin checked the document numbers, confirmed that the documents existed but were unallocated, and thanked Liu Kaifu for reporting the matter.
• Lu Weibin called Liu Kaifu that evening and invited him to headquarters the next day, and Liu told his subordinates to stay sharp.

Jiang Miao cracked down on improper durian and banana quota deals in Qiongzhou, rewarding whistleblowers and tightening company oversight. Shu Ya then presented an improved Sponge Battery and a microbial fuel cell that could turn surplus inulin and plant residues into electricity, alcohol, and fertilizer.

• Jiang Miao granted Southeast Fruit Industry permission to grow durians and bananas in Leizhou, prompting Qiongzhou authorities to investigate and employees and partners to report quota abuses.
• Hai Lu Feng Company punished forty-six employees, revoked improperly obtained planting quotas, blacklisted violators, and reassigned most of the quotas to Leizhou.
• Jiang Miao ordered the Supervision Department to create undercover inspectors and directed branches to rotate mid- and upper-level managers away from their hometowns.
• Shu Ya showed Jiang Miao an improved Sponge Battery process that raised energy density and reduced defective portions, though cycle life still depended on charging and discharging power.
• Shu Ya presented a microbial fuel cell using inulin, tea seed protein, and plant residues that generated electricity while producing alcohol and organic fertilizer.

Jiang Miao and Shu Ya inspected the experimental production of artificial silk made from Fairy Silk Soybeans and discussed its future use and expansion. Jiang Miao ordered the factory to prepare for large-scale production next year by hiring staff and planning to expand.

• Shu Ya told Jiang Miao she would return to researching edible fungi, while he updated her on Rubber Grass and Fairy Silk Soybean development.
• Jiang Miao and Shu Ya visited Wansheng Knitting Factory and examined its experimental processes for extracting silk protein and producing fabric.
• Meng Feng explained that the factory had developed usable soybean silk, reported its test results, and said the fabric-making process still needed improvement.
• Jiang Miao asked the factory to produce fabric in July for employee Mid-Autumn Festival gifts, and Shu Ya requested samples for allergy testing.
• Jiang Miao instructed Huang Guangye to prepare for expanded production, submit a staffing report, and increase the workforce to five hundred before the end of the year.

Jiang Miao and Shu Ya toured the bus company's solar-powered hub and the Sha Keng Ruins Museum, where they learned about the ancient settlement and bought souvenirs. At a nearby food stall, Jiang Miao discussed Hai Lu Feng Company's salmon-farming advantages with Gu Haijing and observed Fengmei Delivery's growing dominance in Shanmei.

• Wang Hanbo reported strong May passenger traffic and revenue, adequate staffing, and daily solar generation at the bus hub to Jiang Miao and Shu Ya.
• Jiang Miao showed Shu Ya the Sha Keng Ruins Museum and explained the ancient tribe's artifacts, burial site, and history.
• Shu Ya bought a conch and Jiang Miao bought crocodile-hide armor at the cooperative's souvenir shop before they visited the Colored Shell Tribe food stall.
• Jiang Miao explained to Gu Haijing how Hai Lu Feng Company shortened salmon farming cycles to reduce costs and compete with imported salmon.
• Jiang Miao saw Fengmei Delivery riders collecting food as the narration described the company's quality controls, employee treatment, and competition with Kangaroo Delivery.

Kou Hui discovered that boric-acid treatment made soy silk fabric extraordinarily airtight, and further tests showed the modified material could make freight airships lighter and cheaper. After reviewing the transport economics, Jiang Miao approved a subsidiary to develop and manufacture cargo airships.

• Kou Hui accidentally contaminated artificial spider silk with boric acid, then found that the treated fabric had become unusually airtight.
• Meng Feng and Yang Yuanzhen’s tests showed that boric acid and a soybean-derived amino acid formed a nanostructure that sealed the fabric’s gaps.
• The researchers found that modified soy silk could greatly reduce airship weight and hydrogen leakage, making hydrogen-powered freight airships substantially cheaper to operate.
• Gu Huaiying and Qin Hanming argued that airships could cut Hai Lu Feng Company’s transportation costs by avoiding road tolls and carrying large loads over direct routes.
• Jiang Miao approved the freight-airship project and instructed Gu Huaiying to prepare a dedicated manufacturing subsidiary.

Jiang Miao inspected Hai Lu Feng Company's expanding Sponge Battery production and learned about Nan Dian Group's microgrid plans to reduce electricity costs. Back at headquarters, he considered Goldwind Technology's request to inspect Sponge Batteries and Artificial Spider Silk, whose high strength and rigidity could improve wind turbine blades.

• Jiang Miao visited the Battery Division's Gongping Town factory, where Lei Bo reported improved Sponge Battery performance, lower costs, current output, and plans for three new factory phases.
• Jiang Miao visited Nan Dian Group's Shanmei dispatch center, where Jiang Lincai described an islanded operation test supporting microgrids and lower electricity transmission costs.
• Liu Deming told Jiang Miao that Goldwind Technology had requested an inspection of Sponge Batteries and Artificial Spider Silk, and that it had accepted Hai Lu Feng Company's payment terms.
• Jiang Miao learned that Goldwind Technology was interested in a patented Artificial Spider Silk material whose treated fibers could surpass carbon fiber in stiffness and make wind turbine blades lighter and more efficient.

Lu Di and Wang Tao tested Da Jiang Innovation’s T40 drones with Sponge Batteries and modified soy fiber components, finding major gains in endurance and payload. They discussed the need to adopt Hai Lu Feng Company’s technologies quickly as they considered improved drones and Hai Lu Feng’s plans to manufacture airships.

• Lu Di oversaw tests of Sponge Batteries and modified soy fiber components, which reduced T40 drone weight and substantially increased endurance.
• Lu Di and Wang Tao discussed a tester’s propeller injury and decided the new, dangerously rigid propellers should use protective cages or be replaced with the original material.
• Wang Tao learned that Hai Lu Feng Company’s high-performance second-generation Sponge Batteries were already in use, though he and Lu Di did not know they could be adapted into incendiary weapons.
• Wang Tao and Lu Di discussed the cost advantages of Sponge Batteries and the competitive need to launch improved drones for Qiongzhou’s growing cargo market.
• Lu Di told Wang Tao that Hai Lu Feng Company had registered an airship-manufacturing subsidiary and might use Sponge Batteries and modified soy fiber to increase airship capacity.