Homo Sapiens

Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour.

Li Qingye, in his hotel room, did not let his guard down.

After all, this was the information age. Although his identity documents retained from his naturalization in Transvaal showed an older face and much darker skin, his bone structure hadn't changed significantly.

Frequent appearances online, or even frequent air travel, could lead to him being identified through network technology.

Even with all the deceptive and misleading measures he had arranged, he was still uneasy.

However, he had no other choice for now. He could only use the identity of Zhang Jack for the time being, but he needed to keep a low profile as much as possible.

A proxy service company in the port area.

Before this, for many of the businesses he handled, he had used separate companies to operate them, avoiding concentrating too much information in the hands of a single proxy company.

"Mr. Zhang, the aquaculture companies you asked us to acquire in Luzon have yielded three suitable targets. Here is the relevant information," introduced Lin Ji, the business manager, with a smile.

Li Qingye, with his legs crossed, slicked-back hair, and rimless glasses, looked no different from a man in his thirties.

In reality, due to the side effects of Gene Modification, Li Qingye's body was already very frail. His face indeed resembled a man in his thirties or forties.

The personality currently in control of the body was the third personality, "Guan Zhong," specifically developed for managing companies and handling business affairs.

He carefully reviewed the three documents.

"Discard the second target."

"Kame Aquaculture Company?" Lin Ji nodded immediately.

Li Qingye quickly decided on his target: "The first target, Yada Marine Aquaculture Company, but I need to inspect it in person."

"No problem, our company will arrange it as soon as possible."

A week later.

After disembarking from Manila International Airport, he was led by Lin Ji and others to Darte Port, a city on the east coast of Luzon.

This area directly faces the Pacific Ocean, with the Luzon Trench about two hundred kilometers to the east.

The owner of Yada Company was an American, wearing floral swim trunks with strange tattoos on his arms, a seasoned cowboy in his fifties.

"Hello, Paul." Lin Ji gave the other man a hug, then exchanged pleasantries and introduced their respective situations.

Li Qingye inquired about some details.

According to the introduction, Daya Company owned 5 fishing vessels with a total tonnage of about 24,000 tons. Additionally, it had a 5-story office building in Darte Port, approximately 3,000 square meters.

Furthermore, on the nearby Calamian Islands, there was an aquaculture base with ownership of an entire island, covering an area of 17.3 square kilometers.

It housed 15 large-scale marine farms, and there were also 82 net cage farms along the island's shallow coast.

As for other infrastructure on the island, there was no shortage.

Of course, the ownership of the island was not permanent; it had about 14 years remaining and was limited to aquaculture development.

After hearing Paul's asking price, Li Qingye shook his head: "Too expensive. The annual profit from those shrimp and pompano farms is less than 2 million US dollars, and the fishing vessels are operating at a near loss. Even so, it's not worth 30 million US dollars."

"No, no, sir, you must know that those five fishing vessels are worth 35 million US dollars..."

Li Qingye scoffed: "Heh, Paul, are you joking? 35 million US dollars? That's the price for new ones. How many years have they been used? Don't you need to factor in depreciation? And you can't possibly be unaware of the current state of deep-sea fishing, can you?"

Paul, with thick skin, replied: "Those fishing vessels are worth at least 20 million."

"Heh, at most 5 million. Of course, you can choose to send them to the scrapyard."

"Uh..." Paul's face darkened. Sending those ships to the scrapyard would be asking for trouble, but continuing with them, let alone 5 million, not even 1 million might be offered.

After all, these were old ships; fuel consumption and maintenance were issues. Moreover, the current downturn in marine fishing was a significant problem. With the depletion of global marine fishery resources, the probability of a medium-sized fishing vessel returning empty-handed after a voyage was increasing, which was why he was looking for a buyer.

As for the farms, the annual profit was not much, barely enough to maintain operations.

And as he got older, Paul no longer wanted to continue in Luzon.

"My final offer, 12 million US dollars. Sign if you agree, otherwise, goodbye." Li Qingye laid his cards on the table.

Paul frowned deeply, but he knew the current market. Such industries in remote areas were indeed not worth much, and the price Li Qingye offered was the highest among all interested parties.

Finally unable to hold out, Paul sold the entire Daya Company to Li Qingye for 12 million US dollars.

Li Qingye used several offshore companies with cross-shareholding to acquire the company and then renamed it Homo sapiens Company.

The three professional managers he recruited in Hong Kong were responsible for the daily affairs of Homo sapiens Company. These three managers were not particularly outstanding, just average. Li Qingye couldn't do anything about it.

Calamian Islands.

Calamian Island was the largest island in the archipelago and the only one suitable for permanent residency. It was also the island contracted by Daya Company.

There was a small pier, near which was the aquaculture base, an employee dormitory building that could house about 120 people, and a comprehensive building containing an employee cafeteria, a billiard room, a medical clinic, and a warehouse for daily necessities.

Then there was Paul's small villa, a beachfront property with a private beach.

Inside the beachfront villa.

Li Qingye summoned the three managers and the two managers who had stayed on from the previous company.

"I have only one requirement: you just need to execute my instructions. You don't need to worry about anything else, understand?"

"Boss, Paul hasn't paid salaries for over two months..." reminded Zaxi, the head of the aquaculture base.

"I'll send them out right away." Li Qingye glanced at the other person, then began assigning positions to the five individuals: "Jing Lan, as General Manager, you'll be responsible for the company's overall operations."

The thin man with glasses, Li Jing Lan, nodded. "No problem."

"Xin Cheng, you'll be in charge of financial management."

The somewhat dull middle-aged man, Fang Xin Cheng, stood up. "Yes, Boss."

Li Qingye continued his instructions: "Jian Xiong, you'll be responsible for security and logistics management."

The tall and imposing middle-aged man, Chen Jian Xiong, who had previously worked in the security company business, said, "Thank you for your trust, Boss."

"Zaxi, you'll continue managing the breeding base and cooperate with the General Manager's management."

The dark-skinned middle-aged man was Zaxi, who had spoken first. He was a local from Luzon.

Li Qingye looked at the last person, a middle-aged man nearing fifty: "Kang Nan, you'll continue managing the fishing boats. However, you don't need to go out fishing for now. Transfer the boats to a port near Calaguas Island to help with some transportation. We'll adjust the business afterward."

Kang Nan, who had Chinese ancestry, didn't show any particular reaction to the change in bosses and immediately agreed.

After the others left, Li Qingye spoke to Chen Jian Xiong privately, asking him to hire a batch of security personnel and procure some firearms as soon as possible.

Luzon did not prohibit firearms, but a permit was required to carry them.

Finally, he instructed General Manager Li Jing Lan to procure a batch of scientific research equipment for a biological laboratory in the company's name. He planned to establish an aquaculture laboratory on Calaguas Island.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀), please collect.