Market Conditions

Before he knew it, another half month had passed. Before the Spring Festival of 2018, Li Jinglan had been traveling back and forth across China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

While selling the glass eels, he followed Li Qingye's instructions and operated under different aliases. He even hired several agents in each region to keep Homo sapiens Company from appearing directly.

Japan.

Kagoshima Prefecture, Okinawa Island.

This was one of Japan's three major eel-farming regions, producing roughly 3,000 to 7,000 tons of eel a year.

However, during the glass eel fishing season from December 2017 to January 2018, Japanese fisheries companies caught a total of only about 121 kilograms. Even adding the more than 400 kilograms caught by Chinese fishermen, the total was pitifully small.

Last year, the catch had still reached dozens of tons. This year, it had fallen off a cliff.

Faced with such a huge shortfall, eel farmers across the region were so anxious they could barely eat or sleep.

Among them, Kagoshima's largest eel-farming business, Kagoshima Eel Co., Ltd., was under immense pressure. This year, the company had secured only 16 kilograms of glass eels—not even a fraction of last year's catch.

Just as they were running around in a panic,

Li Jinglan arrived with several subordinates and went straight to more than a dozen local eel-farming businesses, telling them his company had caught a batch of glass eels.

At the news, eel farmers throughout Kagoshima Prefecture sprang into action.

A small trading event was quickly held at a local hotel.

Watching the businessmen swarming around him like flies, Li Jinglan felt a thrill unlike any he'd experienced before. It was like being in Lingnan as an outsider and getting swept up by the locals calling him "handsome" and "beautiful."

Saito Naoto, president of Kagoshima Eel Co., Ltd., looked like a playboy, but was actually very shrewd. Holding a glass of red wine, he was soon calling Li Jinglan his brother.

"Mr. Li, please look after me later. This is a VIP card for the Kagoshima Eel restaurant. I hope you'll accept it." Saito smiled as he slipped him a gold card.

Seeing its design, Li Jinglan accepted it with a grin. "You really shouldn't have."

The other businessmen inwardly cursed Saito for being so devious.

Soon, the more than two thousand batches of glass eels Homo sapiens Company had set aside for the Japanese market were snapped up by the businessmen present.

Saito, who had slipped Li a gold card, was especially successful, securing 850 batches of glass eels for Kagoshima Eel Co., Ltd. He had paid more than twenty million US dollars, but in a year like this, simply getting his hands on glass eels was a win.

After all, glass eels were becoming increasingly scarce on the market, while their farms still had daily maintenance costs, utility bills, and employee wages. Even if they didn't raise eels, they still had to pay those expenses.

What's more, the farms' facilities depreciated over time until they were completely unusable. There was no way around it.

Although agricultural associations in Japan set fixed production quotas for each company, there was still room for maneuver.

For example, Kagoshima Eel Co., Ltd. had an annual production quota of 3,000 tons. But because wild glass eel catches had fallen year after year, the company had produced only around a thousand tons last year, nowhere near its quota.

That made the limited supply of glass eels all the more important.

Whoever secured them—and secured more of them—would naturally be able to dominate the Japanese market.

This seller's market brought Homo sapiens Company more than fifty million US dollars from the more than two thousand batches of glass eels it sold in Japan.

That didn't even include the various gifts Li Jinglan and his companions received.

With his hands full, Li Jinglan decided to press his advantage. He immediately took his people to Min Nan Province and Guangdong Province, the two biggest markets for selling glass eels.

After all, those regions' eel production had long accounted for around 70 to 80 percent of the global total. Though glass eel prices had risen two or three times this year, eel farmers could still make a profit.

Chinese farming companies and individual farmers quickly bought up 15,000 batches of glass eels.

Including the batches sold in other regions, Li Jinglan and his group sold a total of 20,000 batches of glass eels to eel-farming businesses across the country. Each batch contained around 5,000 glass eels and sold for 24,000 US dollars.

That single shipment brought in 480 million US dollars.

The sharp drop in this year's wild glass eel catch had rapidly driven up wholesale prices. As one of the few suppliers with glass eels to sell, the company didn't even have to negotiate. The moment the glass eels went on the market, they were snapped up.

Luzon.

Port of Manila.

The five shell companies Homo sapiens Company had established here shipped glass eels to Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea.

Another five shell companies were based in Hong Kong, where they handled deliveries to China. That included shipments to eel-farming businesses on Taiwan Island.

At the port area in Manila,

Li Jinglan had just returned to Manila and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when he ran into Saito Naoto, president of Kagoshima Eel Co., Ltd., who had flown in from Japan.

After a few words, the buoyant Li Jinglan accepted Saito's invitation, and the two went to Takasugi Sushi Restaurant.

Inside a private room,

Saito poured Li Jinglan a drink and introduced the five people seated there. "Mr. Li, this is Takasugi Hei, owner of Takasugi Sushi Restaurant. And this is Watanabe Motoji of Hibiscus Investment Company..."

"Mr. Li, not many companies can catch glass eels this year. You haven't discovered a new wild eel spawning ground, have you?" Watanabe Motoji asked half-jokingly.

Li Jinglan had drunk a few cups of sake, but he wasn't so drunk that his wits had left him. He laughed and replied, "Come on. Your country was the first to study eels. Surely you know where the glass eels are. Our fishing boats just got lucky and happened upon them."

"Haha, I'm only joking." Watanabe Motoji laughed and changed the subject.

The others hurried to toast him, and they chatted among themselves.

After a few rounds of drinks and several courses of food,

Li Jinglan left with the help of his secretary. Saito, ever attentive to his glass eel supplier, personally saw him to the car.

On the second floor of the sushi restaurant,

Takasugi Hei and Watanabe Motoji, who had seemed drunk just moments earlier, were now completely sober. After brewing a pot of tea,

Watanabe Motoji's eyes showed a trace of thought. "According to our intelligence from various regions, most of the glass eels currently being sold on the market come from eleven companies—six in Manila and five in Hong Kong."

"Have some tea." Takasugi Hei filled both their cups.

"And there's something very interesting about them. All these companies were founded within the last two years. Many are shell companies with no traceable offices or fishing boats."

Takasugi Hei raised an eyebrow. "What do you make of it?"

"I suspect someone has mastered artificial eel breeding technology—and a low-cost method at that." Watanabe Motoji quickly laid out his theory.

But Takasugi Hei shook his head. "A mere guess isn't enough. We need more intelligence."

Watanabe Motoji took a sip of tea. "I know. That's why I'll focus on Homo sapiens Company from now on. It's the only one of these companies with fishing boats and a breeding base."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Watanabe. If it's confirmed they have a low-cost eel-breeding technology, headquarters won't let you down." Takasugi Hei spoke solemnly.

Watanabe Motoji immediately bowed. "Yes!"