Homo Sapiens

The train slowly started to move.

From their soft sleeper car, Wang Haoran, along with Mu Ziying on the upper bunk, watched the city slowly recede outside the window. It felt as if they were entering a green world of rice paddies and jungles.

It was the first time they had ever ridden such a slow train.

In fact, the train's speed was already considered fast by local standards.

After being upgraded and renovated by the Qingye Group, not only were the conditions of Hongsawaddy's old railway lines much better, but the speed had also increased to 70–90 kilometers per hour.

This experience, like a throwback to the last century, struck the group of workers, who had all left their hometowns behind, as somewhat novel.

"Excuse me..."

A train attendant pushed a small cart over, introducing the meals in fluent Mandarin. "Lunch is ready. We have curry chicken rice, black pepper steak rice, and braised pork trotter rice. What would you gentlemen like...?"

"How much is one?" Wang Haoran asked quickly.

The attendant smiled and said, "You're prospective employees, so you get the employee discount. It's five Jin per meal, and it comes with a free bottle of lemon tea."

"Uh... so this train belongs to the company?" Wang Haoran pulled a five-Jin note from his wallet. "One black pepper steak rice, please."

"One curry chicken rice," Mu Ziying said, also taking out a five-Jin note.

The attendant deftly handed them two still-warm meal boxes and two bottles of lemon tea. "Thank you for your patronage. The company has many businesses. Any business with a green leaf logo belongs to us."

"I see. Your Mandarin is excellent."

"That's because I'm one of the Kachin People!" The attendant said with a smile, waving to the two of them.

Looking at the green leaf logo on the box, Wang Haoran opened it. Inside was rice similar to Tianzhu Long Rice, a large steak, and some cherry tomatoes and pickles.

He took a bite of the beef and raised an eyebrow. The texture was incredibly tender, and the seared flavor of the beef was rich and full.

"This cheap? It must be that famous Haitian Artificial Beef from Southeast Asia, right?"

Someone from the neighboring compartment muttered under their breath.

Wang Haoran didn't pay it any mind. 'Expecting real beef in a five-Jin boxed meal? That's just daydreaming.'

After all, based on the indirect exchange rate, five Jin was roughly equivalent to 3.6 Hua Yuan. For that price in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen, you couldn't even get a boxed meal, let alone one with beef.

Because the ingredients were high-quality and the company had strict standards for its kitchens, the meal was quite delicious. Wang Haoran finished his food in no time and drank more than half of the glass bottle of lemon tea.

"*BURP*... Ah, that hit the spot!"

Half an hour later, the attendant came back with the cart to collect the stainless steel meal boxes and empty glass bottles.

Wang Haoran struck up a casual conversation. "Ziying, it seems you rarely see plastic bottles or plastic meal containers here."

"That's because production costs are low. Hongsawaddy's glass industry has the lowest production costs in Southeast Asia, and even globally, so they use a lot of glass products."

Mu Ziying replied while scrolling through various Hongsawaddy websites on his old smartphone.

"As for meal containers and plastic bags, I heard they use paper boxes, paper bags, woven bamboo baskets, and stainless steel boxes instead. Hongsawaddy has banned plastic bags and plastic meal containers."

Wang Haoran joked, "Well, that's pretty environmentally friendly."

But Mu Ziying shook his head. "It's not about being eco-friendly. It's because Hongsawaddy's oil production is insufficient. Their limited oil supply has to be allocated for industrial and chemical use, so they need to avoid wasting it on producing plastic bags or fuel."

"Isn't there an oil pipeline?"

"What good is a pipeline? Imported oil costs money. Besides, that pipeline isn't primarily for supplying Hongsawaddy. They probably just don't want to be put in a chokehold. I hear Hongsawaddy's relationship with America is terrible."

Mu Ziying was very pragmatic, perhaps due to his life experiences. He didn't have any illusions about the world.

As they chatted, the train passed by endless stretches of rice paddies and rivers.

That evening, they arrived at their work destination: Mandalay.

Although geographical barriers mean little in the face of modern weaponry, the Mandalay Region was still Hongsawaddy's most important strategic heartland.

This was one of the reasons why the Homo Sapiens Company chose to develop its industrial base here.

Over a dozen heavy industry companies, including Qingye Aviation, Hongsawaddy Steel, Mandalay Aluminum Industry, Donghua Machine Tools, and Donghua Chemical, were all located in the Mandalay Region.

To strengthen the connections between these factories, construction had even begun on a ring railway and expressway around Mandalay.

「The next morning.」

Wang Haoran, still not quite used to the hot southern weather, got out of bed in the temporary dormitory.

Since the first three months were a probationary period, the company hadn't assigned them to the proper family-style dormitories, instead placing them in temporary ones.

The two of them shared a room.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Wang Haoran saw Mu Ziying on his smartphone, making a call.

Because it had been pitch-black the previous night, neither of them had gotten a good look at their surroundings. Now, they could finally take in the environment properly.

To the south of the temporary dormitory was a vast, barren rice paddy. To the north was a road, and across the road was a small town.

Wu Fei, who was in charge of managing new employees, gathered the 27 newcomers. All 27 of them were probationary employees assigned to Qingye Airlines Company.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Wu Fei, the administrator for the Nantian Dormitory. This is my business card. If you run into any trouble, either in the dorms or outside, be sure to find me."

Taking the card, Wang Haoran glanced at it. Wu Fei's name was written in three languages—Chinese, English, and Burmese—along with a phone number, email address, and Ye Mei account (similar to WeChat).

"You can add my Ye Mei account, and I'll pull you into a group chat. This is a company requirement," Wu Fei continued.

"Now, I have a few important things to go over. First, if you have any problems, you can report them to me or your supervisor. If it's something we can solve, the company won't stand by and do nothing. Don't think of it as a bother. The company is your home."

The crowd seemed unimpressed; after all, they had heard such slogans many times before.

"Second, you can arrange your daily lives as you see fit, but do not mention any work-related content to anyone outside the company. I'm sure none of you want to be fired for leaking secrets, right?"

"Third, take good care of your employee ID cards. This thing is more important than your passport. Not only can you use it for internal discounts, but if you have a problem, you can take your card directly to one of the nearby Internal Guard stations, and they will help you too."

Everyone carefully examined the ID cards in their hands. The card was designed like a bank card. The front had a headshot, name, job position, and a string of numbers. The back had a double helix gene sequence pattern, similar to the one on the Jin currency.

"One last thing. Follow me. It's time to eat."

At that, everyone broke into laughter.

Wang Haoran noticed the cafeteria wasn't in the dormitory building but was located in the town.

Walking ahead, Wu Fei explained to them, "The entire town is full of company people. There are farm workers from the agricultural cooperatives, people working in supermarkets and banks, and restaurants and so on."

'The entire town is full of company people?' They had long heard about how dominant the Qingye Group was in Hongsawaddy, but hearing this firsthand still came as a great shock to Wang Haoran and the others.

As they walked into the Nantian Farm Restaurant in Nantian Town, Wu Fei continued the introduction:

"Nantian Town has four restaurants, and you can eat at any of them. If you think the food isn't good, if there's a problem with your meal, or if a server has a bad attitude, you can file a complaint on your Ye Mei account. Don't feel bad about it; the company encourages it. As long as your complaint is reasonable and well-founded, the company will even reward you with points."

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