Homo Sapiens

Just as the Coca-Cola Company headquarters made the decision to dispatch Caesar and Frank to Hongsawaddy to investigate the matter...

In Yangon, Hongsawaddy.

As the two major local beverage producers...

Venus Company and Shashi Company were also under immense pressure. For the past few years, as Coca-Cola and Pepsi products continuously entered the market, they had only been able to barely hold their ground.

Now, facing the juggernaut that was Qingye Group, they had almost no power to fight back. After all, the price difference was plain to see.

The locals, whose incomes were already pitifully low, were extremely price-sensitive when it came to shopping.

If it weren’t for a few specialty products, Venus Company and Shashi Company would have collapsed long ago.

But the bosses of both companies understood perfectly well that if they didn’t come up with a plan soon, they didn’t know if Coca-Cola and Pepsi would be driven out of Hongsawaddy, but Venus and Shashi would definitely be finished.

Just today, someone from Qingye Group had called them, inviting the two company bosses to Tuwah Port.

Upon hearing this news, both of them immediately rushed to Tuwah Port with their trusted aides.

At the passenger terminal in Tuwah Port.

Wude, the boss of Shashi Company, was a short, middle-aged man. The tall, bespectacled middle-aged man next to him was Jing Hu, the boss of Venus Company.

The two traveled together. After disembarking from the passenger ferry...

They hailed a couple of taxis.

"Driver, to the Qingye Group headquarters," Jing Hu said to the driver.

"Qingye Group? No problem." The taxi driver glanced at the two but didn’t tell them that Tuwah Taxi Company was a subsidiary of Qingye Group.

Sitting in the car, Jing Hu and Wude looked out at the streets of Tuwah Port.

Compared to the dilapidated state of other cities in Hongsawaddy, the roads in Tuwah Port were quite well-paved. This was their first impression.

In reality, they had no idea that because the local underworld and government were both on their side, Qingye Group’s subsidiary, Qingye Construction Company, had contracted all of the city’s infrastructure construction projects.

On one hand, this was to consume the cement produced by another subsidiary—Qingye Building Materials.

On the other hand, it was to legally absorb Tuwah Port’s official government funds.

Thus, the area around Tuwah Port was not only improving the port’s supporting facilities but also constantly building roads. The concrete road leading directly from the port to the Qingye Group headquarters was the first to be built and had recently been completed.

The two soon noticed a railway track being laid on the south side of the road. This was actually to reduce the bumps of road transport, allowing factories and the port to connect directly for logistics.

To the north were residential areas, factories, and the like.

Currently, the glass industry was the pillar of Tuwah Port’s economy; the beverage industry was merely an ancillary one.

In addition to Glass Factory No. 1 (plate glass) and Glass Factory No. 2 (glass bottles), which were already in production, three more glass factories were currently under construction.

For a small city like Tuwah with a population of just over one hundred thousand, the labor force was limited. Literate workers, in particular, were completely siphoned away by the factories in no time.

As a result, Tuwah Port was thriving. Working at the glass or beverage factories, or becoming a construction worker or farm laborer—these were all considered very good jobs.

Qingye Group had been frantically merging various local industries, forming a stable internal economic cycle. Unbeknownst to most, the entire Tuwah Port, and even Deline Province, had fallen under Qingye Group’s economic control.

This level of control was terrifying.

For instance, the Tuwah Taxi Company was a subsidiary of Qingye Bus Company, but few people were aware of this hidden relationship.

Another example was the industrial avenue before them; the land and shops on the north side were all properties of Qingye Real Estate Company.

Aside from a few independent business owners and small landlords, the rest of the locals either worked for Qingye Group or were relatives of employees.

Under these circumstances, coupled with Hongsawaddy’s extremely weak control over its regions, Qingye Group had been able to grow wildly and unchecked in the area.

Of course, to avoid making Qingye Group a target, Liu Zhifan and the other two had also taken various measures.

For example, they used all sorts of complex cross-shareholdings.

In other regions, they used local puppets to establish joint ventures, employed offshore companies, or had Soldiers hold shares independently.

It appeared as though Qingye Group was only dominant in Deline Province, but in reality, it had already extended its tentacles throughout Hongsawaddy, just without revealing itself.

Additionally, in both legitimate and illegal circles, they had propped up numerous representatives and even installed many Soldiers and managers.

In their home base of Tuwah Port, no matter how powerful the forces behind people like Wude and Jing Hu were, they posed no threat to Qingye Group.

When Wude and Jing Hu arrived at the Qingye Group headquarters, they were both rather astonished—not because the building was magnificent, but because it was so shabby.

If it weren’t for the Qingye Group logo and name hanging on it, they would have thought the driver had brought them to the wrong place.

"Jing Hu, let’s go!"

The two got out of the car with their aides and bodyguards and stated their purpose directly to the security guard at the entrance.

A short while later, someone came to escort them upstairs.

「Inside the reception room.」

Liu Zhifan saw the two men, one tall and one short, who were leading the group. He had seen their photos before and said with a smile, "Please, have a seat. Tea or coffee?"

"Green tea," Jing Hu said, sitting down on the sofa opposite him first.

"The same for me," Wude said, secretly observing Liu Zhifan.

After instructing his assistant to pour the tea, Liu Zhifan got straight to the point. "Gentlemen, I know you have backers. But so does Qingye Group."

Jing Hu didn’t mention Venus Company’s business but instead warned, "The distributors for the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo are not to be trifled with."

They both knew perfectly well that they were all just front men.

What they didn’t know, however, was that Qingye Group wasn’t another front; it was the authority itself. Their supposed backers actually had to take orders from Qingye Group.

"There’s money to be made for everyone. We’re reasonable people," Liu Zhifan said with a smile.

Jing Hu stared at Liu Zhifan and said, "Then please have your company adjust its prices back to normal. If this vicious competition continues, it won’t benefit anyone."

"No... I have a better proposal." Liu Zhifan handed two documents to them.

Jing Hu and Wude exchanged a look but said nothing. They intended to see what Liu Zhifan was really up to.

When they opened the documents, their expressions changed immediately.

"Are you sure? You’ll supply us with glass bottles at this price?" Wude couldn’t help but ask.

Liu Zhifan nodded. "That’s the price. The condition is that you advance and retreat with us—kick Coca-Cola and Pepsi out of the Hongshawa Market."

Jing Hu and Wude quickly exchanged glances while mentally calculating the costs. Packaging was the single largest cost component of a bottle of soda.

And according to Qingye Group’s quote, they could get glass bottles for half the price of plastic ones.

This way, their companies’ beverage production costs could drop to about a quarter of the retail price. Their specialty drinks, in particular, would see a huge boost in competitiveness.

But the two still had their doubts.

"If you’re worried about the glass bottle supply, we can sign a long-term contract—three years, even ten is fine—and include a hefty penalty for breach of contract."

Liu Zhifan’s proposal quickly dispelled the last of their doubts.

However, Jing Hu and Wude didn’t know that Liu Zhifan was baiting a hook, using their own power to his advantage.

The fish were the people behind the two men. Liu Zhifan planned to use this cooperation as an opportunity to invite important members of their backers’ organizations to a private island near Tuwah Port for a while.

At the same time, he would get the forces behind the two men to help Qingye Group confront the distributors of Coca-Cola and Pepsi head-on.

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