Homo Sapiens

After receiving the tip from Wang Muyi, Zhang Bowen said gratefully, "Old Wang, if you ever need me in the future, I’ll do everything I can to help."

"Haha, we’re all on the same team. Don’t mention it." Wang Muyi laughed and waved his hand dismissively.

As a seasoned veteran, Wang Muyi naturally understood the importance of connections. Although it was easy to offend people within the company after becoming a supervisor, he wasn’t too worried.

For one, his superior, Brian, was tough enough.

For another, Wang Muyi was also building his own faction by organizing things like a Huaguo expatriate association and other social gatherings.

Li Qingye was actually crystal clear about the situation with internal factions, but he knew it was an inevitable part of human nature. As long as it didn’t affect work or the company’s interests, there was no need to interfere openly.

Within the Homo Sapiens Company’s system, the Spider Web Managers and the Soldiers were the company’s core strength. As long as the core remained stable, no one else could stir up any real trouble.

Wang Muyi’s team and Julie’s team completed their survey of that section of the highway, then continued on in a dedicated minibus, turning onto a rural road heading toward Manila.

Suddenly, a message popped up on Wang Muyi’s phone.

He glanced at the company’s internal work communication app and instantly knew the supervision department was launching another surprise inspection.

"Driver, head to Malagondon Town."

"Malagondon?" The driver glanced at the GPS, turning the steering wheel as he nodded. "Got it."

The minibus turned around. The driver was clearly used to these sudden changes of plan.

The minibus swayed and bumped along the poorly maintained rural road for over an hour. By the time they finally arrived in Malagondon Town, it was almost noon.

This small town was on the southern coast of Manila Bay and fell under the jurisdiction of the Manila District.

"Let’s get some lunch first," Wang Muyi suggested.

Julie nodded in agreement.

Using the company’s internal app, the driver quickly found the Fengrao House restaurant in Malagondon Town.

The restaurant was very easy to find, right next to the local Fengrao Supermarket.

He glanced at the deserted Cola-Bee Fast Food joint not far away, then at the packed Fengrao Fast Food. Even though the place across the street was also a chain opened by a wealthy Huaguo businessman, Wang Muyi didn’t want to argue with his wallet.

Entering Fengrao Fast Food, Wang Muyi held up his employee card. "Waiter, we need a private room for fifteen."

"This way, please." The waiter was sharp-eyed and immediately noticed the rank on Wang Muyi’s employee card. He quickly smiled and led them to a private room on the second floor.

After opening the door to the room, the waiter turned on the air conditioning.

Wang Muyi flipped through the menu. "One Set Meal 12, plus two lemon sodas."

The others knew the rules. They were still technically on the clock, so everyone ordered for themselves. Alcoholic beverages were forbidden. In fact, Wang Muyi didn’t like to drink anyway, so he fully approved of the company’s mandatory rule in this regard.

The waiter quickly took down their set meal orders, noting each person’s seat number, and filled two order slips. "It’ll be just a moment. Your food will be right out."

"Boss, what project are we here in Malagondon to survey this time?"

Wang Muyi shook his head. "I don’t know. Don’t go asking around. We’ll be notified when we get to the site."

Another employee turned and asked, "Team Leader Julie, aren’t you from Manila? Is there anything famous around Malagondon?"

Julie smiled and shook her head. "I never left the Manila urban area before I graduated, so I’m not very familiar with this place."

As they chatted, the waiter returned with a small cart, delivering their set meals and drinks.

Wang Muyi’s Set Meal 12 consisted of steamed rice, black pepper termite mushrooms, grilled eel, and stir-fried water spinach. At the internal employee price of 30 Pesos, it was one of the more expensive options.

He picked up a piece of the black pepper termite mushroom and popped it into his mouth. Ever since trying termite mushrooms for the first time, Wang Muyi had been hooked on them.

As one of the pricier edible mushrooms, termite mushrooms had a delicious, savory flavor with broad appeal—far more so than truffles, which had a much more peculiar taste.

If it weren’t for the mountain of paperwork required to export to Huaguo, coupled with the inconvenience of returning home recently, Wang Muyi would have been tempted to get a batch of these termite mushrooms to sell back there.

After all, Haitian Agriculture’s current output of termite mushrooms was so large that they could supply them to their own fast-food chains as a budget-friendly ingredient.

It was a similar situation with the eel.

Everyone’s set meal was slightly different, but the formula was basically the same: a staple + a mushroom dish + a meat dish + a vegetable.

For example, Julie’s Set Meal 7 was pasta with mushroom gravy, black pepper steak, and cherry tomatoes, also priced at 30 Pesos for employees.

This steak was a synthetic steak made from carrageenan, beef trimmings, and meat tenderizer.

During the synthesis process, a supercomputer used muscle-fiber restructuring models to re-weave the beef trimmings into something almost identical to a whole cut of meat. Then, using precise fat-injection technology, beef fat was infused into the woven meat to create an exquisite marbled pattern.

As a result, this synthetic steak, which cost about 8 Pesos to produce, was nearly indistinguishable from a real Wagyu steak in terms of appearance, texture, and nutritional content.

There was even a cheaper "flavored" synthetic steak, made entirely from duck meat and beef tallow, that cost only 3 Pesos per serving to produce.

Julie had tried both types of steak and couldn’t tell the difference between them.

Wang Muyi, who had eaten Australian Wagyu at a Western restaurant in Manila, actually found his own company’s synthetic steak to be more delicious. After all, the synthetic steak was benchmarked against top-tier Wagyu, so the ordinary Australian Wagyu he’d eaten naturally couldn’t compare.

As someone with a dialectical materialist mindset, Wang Muyi wasn’t about to argue with his wallet.

After all, the difference between his company’s synthetic steak and a top-tier natural steak was minuscule—the flavor, texture, and nutritional content were all nearly identical.

Faced with a price difference of over a thousand times, why would he be a sucker and pay for so-called ’soul,’ ’authenticity,’ or ’sentiment’?

Although many Western restaurants in Manila looked down on Haitian Agriculture’s synthetic steak, considering it a form of self-deception for the lower classes, the poor, in turn, mocked the upper class for being suckers.

At least many of the poor who had just climbed above the poverty line were very pragmatic. They didn’t care if meat was synthetic or natural; as long as it was guaranteed to be safe and cheap, they were willing to buy it.

Many people even gave this synthetic steak a special name—"Haitian Beef"—to distinguish the ones made by Haitian Agriculture from those produced by other companies.

The thoughts of Wang Muyi, Julie, and the others actually represented the views on synthetic food held within Homo Sapiens Company and among the lower classes of Luzon.

Take Julie, for example. Having previously lived in the slums where even occasionally eating meat scraps salvaged from swill was a luxury, how could she possibly look down on synthetic food?

Only those who have lived through hardship can understand just how hard-won everything they have now is.

Julie never wasted a single scrap of food, because she knew the taste of hunger.

Being able to happily eat her fill here was one of Julie’s former dreams. Every meal she ate was filled with gratitude.

For many people, working at Homo Sapiens Company was about living a more decent life.

But for Julie, it wasn’t just about life and money; she was also working to see that beautiful future.

After all, Homo Sapiens Company was a beacon of light in her life. If the company hadn’t appeared, she might still be living in the slums, eventually marrying some man who was also poor, and repeating the fate of her parents.

She worked herself to the bone in the supervision department, driven by both the incentive of money and the support of her convictions.

Perhaps she was simply protecting that beautiful dream in her heart.

Human dreams grant us courage and strength.

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