Homo Sapiens

With the conclusion of the Southeast Asian rice war, Hongsawaddy surpassed An Nan in one fell swoop to become the world’s third-largest rice exporter, simultaneously suppressing the rapidly climbing international price of rice.

This even led to the Jin yuan trading at a premium in international markets.

In fact, the Jin yuan had been performing very strongly for the better part of the past six months.

The main reason was that Hongsawaddy’s rapid test kits and new medicines were in high demand and short supply on the international market. Many regions and companies no longer cared whether the Jin yuan could be exchanged for Gold; they just wanted to procure more of the new drugs and test kits.

Meanwhile, Qingye Bank had been continuously issuing more Jin yuan.

From January to September, they had increased the supply for eight consecutive months, issuing a total of 31 billion Jin yuan. September saw the largest increase, with 12 billion issued in that month alone.

The reason for this massive issuance was mainly a promise from Luzon that this entire portion of Jin yuan would be absorbed by the Homo Sapiens Company. They guaranteed it would not be exchanged for Gold, but would instead be used to purchase rice and soybeans from Hongsawaddy.

Thus, this portion of the Jin yuan was, in effect, pegged to rice and soybeans.

With the signing of this trade agreement, Luzon surpassed Huaguo to become the country with the largest foreign exchange reserves of Jin yuan.

Meanwhile, the grain merchants of Siam, An Nan, and Tianzhu also suffered considerable losses from speculating on rice.

They had previously collaborated with the ABCD to suppress rice prices, hoping to join them in profiting from Luzon’s downfall.

Now that Luzon had repelled the ABCD’s offensive and secured Hongsawaddy as a stable grain supplier, it was impossible to drive up rice prices in other regions.

They had not only failed to get a piece of the pie, but had hurt themselves in the process.

Worse, they now faced a powerful new competitor.

The grain merchants of Siam, An Nan, and Tianzhu were now in utter despair.

Of course, rice prices didn’t plummet; after all, there was a general global food shortage this year.

This was mainly because North American soybean production had fallen by more than 50 million tons. Furthermore, it was uncertain whether planting could resume next year, as land afflicted by a fungal crop infection carried a risk of reinfection if not properly sterilized.

What was more frightening was that after the outbreak of downy mildew in North America, researchers discovered that this newly mutated soybean blight seemed to have a particular affinity for genetically modified soybeans.

Natural soybeans, on the other hand, would only suffer a 30% yield reduction at most if sprayed with fungicide in time, unlike the genetically modified varieties, which were a total loss.

Therefore, fearing the spread of the North American downy mildew, soybean-producing regions in South America were already planning to temporarily halt the planting of GM soybeans, switching to natural varieties or other food crops altogether.

The downside of natural soybeans, however, is their lower yield.

In this chain reaction, corn and rapeseed, substitutes for soybeans, saw the highest price hikes.

Prices for other grains rose in tandem. Rice prices certainly wouldn’t fall, but further increases would be difficult.

After all, the global market for rice consumption is relatively small. Outside of Asia, few regions use rice as a staple food. Even if other regions purchased it, it would likely just be used for animal feed.

This was why the rice speculators felt like the sky was falling when they saw Luzon’s food supply stabilize.

Luzon is one of the few regions in the world that relies on rice as a staple but has insufficient domestic production, requiring massive imports.

Losing this market was a devastating blow to the rice industry.

As for East Japan and South Korea, while their food self-sufficiency rates were extremely low, they had food supply networks established worldwide, and many of their procurement contracts were long-term.

To prey on these two, you’d first have to get past their overbearing patron, America. Otherwise, small-time grain merchants from places like Siam and An Nan had no hope of shaking up the rice market.

Having lost an easy target, these small-time rice merchants found themselves lacking leverage when negotiating with buyers.

...

「Manila.」

In the wake of the rice war, another wave of people went bankrupt.

Bankruptcies among the common folk were of little consequence, as the Homo Sapiens Company and the families under its covert control would quickly absorb the available labor.

However, many of the lesser tycoons experienced a direct fall from fortune.

Take Jollibee, for example, once the largest Western-style fast-food chain in Luzon.

The Chen Clan behind it had participated in the rice speculation, and now, not only was their reputation in tatters, but their liquid assets were completely drained.

Aik, a manager from the Manila Commercial Bank, personally led a team to Jollibee’s headquarters to confront its chairman, Chen Ming.

"Mr. Chen, will your company be able to repay the 4.2 billion loan by the end of the year?"

The white-haired Chen Ming wore a bitter expression. "I’ve lost. I’ve lost completely. Jollibee is on the brink of bankruptcy."

He hadn’t wanted to get involved in the rice war. But tempted by a few bad influences and persuaded by his own son, he had lost his head.

In truth, Chen Ming’s hand had been forced.

Jollibee’s Western-style fast food was not only competing with KFC and McDonald’s, but had also come under intense pressure from Fengrao Fast Food in the last two years, causing its market share to steadily decline.

Compared to two years ago, the number of Jollibee’s stores had decreased by 32%, and its annual revenue was down by 48%. In the first two quarters of this year alone, it had lost 1.2 billion Pesos.

Facing such dire straits, Chen Ming finally decided to risk it all, taking out loans to speculate on rice.

And that was when the Homo Sapiens Company targeted him, leading him right into a trap.

Aik produced a document. "Mr. Chen, since your company is unable to repay the loan, my only option under the contract is to freeze all company assets and proceed with liquidation by auction."

Chen Ming could only remain silent.

Business warfare was just that cruel.

One small misstep could instantly wipe out the results of decades of hard work.

Many tycoons shared Chen Ming’s fate.

Some couldn’t accept the harsh reality and committed suicide. Others were left utterly dejected, as if their backbones had been ripped out. A few went mad with hysteria, attempting to attack the bank’s collectors, only to be shot and killed by security.

Through this culling, the wealth within Luzon became further concentrated in the hands of the Homo Sapiens Company.

In the underground conference room of Neihu Manor.

"Cheers!" Gafei said, swirling the champagne in his glass.

Xu Yingming took a small sip of his champagne. "A complete victory. From now on, the ABCD will definitely think twice before underestimating us."

"Things are mostly settled on my end, too," Zhang Jerry said, then popped a piece of seared lamb into his mouth. "I took advantage of the situation to purge a number of Converts and outside influences."

Gafei set down his glass. "The boss is very pleased with this operation. However, we’ve also completely burned our bridges with America. We need to be on guard for them to stir up trouble."

Wiping his mouth, Zhang Jerry gave a cold smile. "They’re already making their move."

"Oh? You have intel?" Gafei asked, concerned.

Zhang Jerry nodded. "The security division has received confirmed intelligence. It’s an operation planned by the Southeast Asian Black Ship, managed by Victor. The target is over on Cianlan Island. They’ve also activated seven deep-cover Converts to support the operation. Two hundred Seals will be infiltrating."

"What are the boss’s orders?" Xu Yingming asked.

Zhang Jerry replied calmly, "The boss ordered Blood Blade to assist me. We’re to make sure they never leave Cianlan."

Hearing that Blood Blade was being deployed, Xu Yingming joked, "Blood Blade is taking action? Sounds like they’re about to become fertilizer for the rainforest."

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