New Project

After leaving the Research Base, Chen Jianxiong began helping Fili coordinate the handover of personnel, equipment, weapons, and other items.

Although it seemed that Chen Jianxiong's authority had expanded considerably, Li Qingye still maintained absolute control over the Security Department's personnel, especially the soldier units.

Trust was always limited.

Even if you held someone's life in your hands, you couldn't trust them completely. You still had to guard against them where necessary.

The Fernando family was a powerful force in the area around Darte Port, essentially ruling the local scene.

With pawns like Mada in place, most of the hidden risks facing Homo sapiens Company in the area had disappeared. All that remained was to gain complete control over the Fernando family. Once that happened, Homo sapiens Company could operate without worry in the five provinces of southern Luzon Island.

Some people might find that hard to believe.

But that was the reality in Luzon.

Luzon had never been unified. It was a country in name, but in reality, it was a coalition of families—a smaller version of Tianzhu.

More than two hundred families, large and small, controlled different parts of Luzon. The major families held sway over several provinces, while smaller ones controlled individual islands or towns. Locally, these families were the law, and the Luzon authorities struggled to control them, especially when they were hostile to one another.

Old Du could barely control the areas that supported him. Northern Luzon Island and places like Mindanao Island were essentially semi-autonomous.

As one of the Five Great Families of Luzon, the Fernando family held sway over its core territory. Naturally, Homo sapiens Company could operate there without worry.

That was why Takasugi Hei had previously been so confident of success. In his eyes, with the Fernando family's support, dealing with a backgroundless company like Homo sapiens Company would be a piece of cake.

A little over a week later,

Fang Xin Cheng returned to Calagua Island.

"Boss, this is the list of people we're dealing with." Fang Xin Cheng handed over a list.

Li Qingye glanced through it a few times. "Looks like Manager Jing Lan has let me down after all the trust I placed in him! It wouldn't be appropriate to simply fire these seven people. Give the Legal Department's Wang Xinya the evidence that they embezzled company property. I have a few friends in Darte Port."

"This..." Fang Xin Cheng hesitated.

It was clear that Li Qingye intended to send these people to prison, and Fang Xin Cheng found himself reluctant to do that.

Li Qingye's expression turned stern. "Xin Cheng, remember, you can't be too lenient with these parasites. Otherwise, how will you manage the company in the future? If employees can embezzle company property and get off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, how will that deter anyone?"

"Boss, I was wrong." Fang Xin Cheng lowered his head, deeply ashamed.

Li Qingye shook his head. "Xin Cheng, remember this: if you want to be a good general manager, you have to learn to balance kindness with firmness. Fami hoped you'd let them off easy. He certainly knows how to play people."

At the end, a hint of mockery crept into Li Qingye's voice. "Xin Cheng, if everyone in a company says a senior executive is a good person, do you think he really is?"

"Uh?" Fang Xin Cheng was momentarily at a loss.

Li Qingye handed the documents back. "Every company is made up of people, and people have all kinds of interests and needs. Go back and think it over. You'll understand eventually. For now, let's talk about the company's next steps."

Though he still hadn't figured it out, Fang Xin Cheng committed Li Qingye's words to memory and nodded. "Boss, this is the company's development plan for the future."

Li Qingye took the documents and skimmed through them.

Homo sapiens Company currently had only two businesses: eel fry sales and eel farming.

For eel fry sales, the company planned to sell around 20,000 to 30,000 batches a year, using ten shell companies and its own fishing boats as cover.

As for eel farming, the company currently had three farms. The Calagua Island farm produced around 500 to 600 tons of eels a year, the North Bay farm in Darte Port produced 1,000 to 1,200 tons, and the Coconut Town farm in Darte Port produced 1,500 to 1,800 tons.

International prices for eel fry currently fluctuated between 7,000 and 30,000 US dollars per batch of 5,000 fry, while the wholesale price for mature eels was between 20,000 and 30,000 US dollars per ton.

As the sole owner of the technology, Homo sapiens Company could maintain high profit margins in the eel fry industry, as long as no other company developed a low-cost eel breeding technique.

Eel farming, on the other hand, seemed to be a business that involved a lot of hard work. After factoring in land, equipment, labor, utilities, feed, medicine, and the survival rate of the eels, the total cost of producing a ton of mature eels came to around 5,000 to 8,000 US dollars.

The profits seemed quite good.

In reality, though, the risks were high. For example, this year's eel fry prices had soared, increasing the production cost of each ton of mature eels by around 2,400 US dollars.

Even so, Homo sapiens Company had chosen to continue investing in eel farming to boost local employment.

The farming and processing division currently had the most employees, with a staff of 433.

But Li Qingye was still dissatisfied. After all, Homo sapiens Company had only a little over 700 employees in total.

Fang Xin Cheng was, as expected, not the type to branch out into new fields. His industrial development plan added only two businesses: roasted eel processing and feed manufacturing.

Li Qingye hadn't expected much from Fang Xin Cheng when it came to expanding into new industries in the first place.

During these past few months of research, Li Qingye had studied not only biological weapons and Biological Computer technology but had also set aside some time to work on products with commercial potential.

Judging by the development of industries in the world today, it would be difficult to break into energy or Minerals. Agriculture was the only area where Homo sapiens Company could continue to establish a foothold.

But how best to develop agriculture was another question worth considering.

Luzon had plenty of agricultural resources. The problem was that the international grain traders ABCD held enormous influence there, while Luzon suffered from a severe food shortage. Its land was being used to grow higher-priced cash crops instead.

If the company entered the food production business, ABCD would definitely take notice. Li Qingye didn't want to be targeted by America just yet.

So the company couldn't enter the food production business in Luzon. It would have to take an indirect route.

Li Qingye planned to develop a sugar industry, but not in the traditional way. Conventional sugar production required vast areas of sugarcane or sugar beet fields, which in turn demanded huge amounts of farmland.

The families wielding power throughout Luzon were deeply entrenched. Even with the Fernando family's help, it would be difficult to acquire large tracts of farmland. Rather than compete with farmers for land, it would be better to find another way.

Li Qingye planned to use Gene Recombination Technology to cultivate genetically modified seaweed with an exceptionally high starch content, then use special catalytic enzymes to convert the starch into maltose, glucose, high-fructose syrup, and similar products.

Compared with the limited farmland on land, the ocean was far more expansive, and humanity had done relatively little to develop it.

Starch had a wide range of uses. It could be used to produce sugars and served as a raw material for industrial alcohol, which could in turn be used as fuel. Starch could also be used directly as flour or processed into artificial rice.

This could encompass the food, energy, sugar, and alcohol industries.

Homo sapiens Company didn't need to enter the food industry right away, but its existing Production Lines could be converted to food production at any time. That would be crucial for the future.

People could live without love, houses, and phones, but they couldn't live without food.

Food was the foundation of stability.