Homo Sapiens

Bantun Island.

At a small port on the island’s western side, a specially designed underwater passage led to a submerged platform made of Coral Cement, situated at a depth of about 35 meters.

The Albacore-001 slowly docked at the platform. A docking module then rose from beneath the platform, inserting itself into the submarine’s underside. The module immediately began to drain the water from within, testing the seal for any leaks.

Once it was confirmed there were no leaks, Xu Yingming, escorted by Soldiers, entered the transport bay in the Albacore-001’s belly.

After the two hatches between the transport bay and the docking module opened, a capsule elevator inside the bay began to descend at a steady speed.

This type of elevator wasn’t pulled by cables; instead, it used a rack-and-pinion system to move up and down. It possessed its own considerable power source and was built to withstand the pressure of water hundreds of meters deep.

The capsule elevator descended 18 meters from the Albacore-001 into a watertight transfer chamber, after which the two hatches above closed in sequence.

Emerging from the capsule elevator, Xu Yingming was led to an underground transport hub where he boarded a tram heading toward the island’s interior.

As Li Qingye’s core research base and the location of his main body, Bantun Island was naturally defended to the death.

Even Xu Yingming had no idea where the island was located. After all, the Soldiers had only told him its name: "Spider Nest Base."

The submarine traveled deep underwater, offering no visible landmarks. He wasn’t even qualified to enter the cockpit, confined instead to a designated passenger cabin.

As for personal items like communicators, none were allowed. He even had to change into clothes prepared by the Internal Affairs Department.

Inside the underground base on Bantun Island.

When Xu Yingming arrived at the conference hall, other people were already present.

The Spider Web Managers in attendance included Harry Fernando, Cavendish Lopez, Chen Jianxiong, Mike Dutte (of the Duterte Clan), Sun Yaozu (of the Tusun Clan), and Ovi (a Lieutenant General of the Luzon Navy).

These were all core members of the Luzon Branch.

Xu Yingming was once again secretly astounded by the power of Homo Sapiens Company.

Phil emerged from a side door, saying as he walked, "Colleagues, let’s give our warmest round of applause to welcome the boss."

CLAP CLAP CLAP...

Li Qingye smiled and waved his hand. "Alright, everyone be seated."

Everyone took their seats in an orderly fashion, their expressions grave.

"I’ve called this meeting today for two reasons. First, so you can all get to know one another. You’re all colleagues now, and we want to avoid any friendly fire."

He continued, "Second, to address the impending food crisis."

’A food crisis?’ Xu Yingming hadn’t paid much attention to this. Then he suddenly recalled how the Aquino Clan had recently urged them to sell off their stockpiles of rice and corn as quickly as possible.

Chen Jianxiong stood up and walked over to a mural on the left-hand wall. Holding a device that resembled a smartphone, he pressed a few switches, and the mural instantly transformed into a large screen.

"This is intelligence our Security Department gathered from Manila, Xing Island, and New York. ABCD has become aware that we’re expanding the area for rice cultivation in Luzon. They’re preparing to hold a secret meeting soon to discuss food prices in Southeast Asia. Both the Marcus Clan and the Aquino Clan have received invitations. It seems they plan to pull the same old trick again."

A series of documents appeared on the large screen.

Chen Jianxiong continued, "In addition, ABCD has contacted a number of fertilizer and pesticide companies. This includes 17 manufacturers, such as Bayer, Dow, DuPont, Maple Potash, and BASF, who will use various pretexts to drive up the prices of fertilizer, pesticides, and agricultural machinery in Southeast Asia."

The rising cost of pesticides and fertilizers would obviously increase the production costs for farmers in Luzon, forcing them to switch to higher-value cash crops.

"Furthermore, eight international corporations, including United Fruit Company, will soon begin to gradually raise their purchase prices for certain crops, including bananas, pineapples, sugarcane, mangosteens, and wax apples."

"You’ve all seen the situation," Li Qingye said calmly.

As members of the great clans who had once cooperated with ABCD to plunder Luzon, Harry, Cavendish, Xu Yingming, and Sun Yaozu naturally understood ABCD’s three-pronged attack.

Although ABCD would incur short-term losses with this strategy, once they successfully destroyed Luzon’s food self-sufficiency program, Luzon would be a dish served on a platter for them to devour as they pleased.

This was because Luzon had a food deficit of 7 to 8 million tons, and there were very few grain-producing countries in the world capable of supplying that quantity.

Moreover, there was a major issue with Luzon’s dietary habits: rice was the staple food, while corn and flour were merely supplementary grains.

Currently, the world’s largest rice exporter is Tianzhu, with annual exports of around 11 to 12 million tons. The second largest is Siam, exporting 6 to 8 million tons per year. The third is An Nan, with an annual export volume of 4 to 6 million tons.

Following them is America, with annual exports of around 5 million tons; Baki with around 3 million tons; and close behind is Hongsawaddy, which can export approximately 2.5 million tons.

Although the combined export volume of these regions amounts to a scale of 31.5 to 36.5 million tons...

The problem is that much of this rice is already pre-ordered. A sudden increase in orders of a few hundred thousand tons might be manageable, but once demand breaks the million-ton mark, it becomes very difficult to acquire spot goods.

To guarantee the food supply for a population of 100 million, it’s difficult to withstand fluctuations in international grain prices without a stockpile of 20 to 30 million tons of rice, and Luzon lacked sufficient national grain reserves.

Of course, ABCD’s three-pronged attack wouldn’t take effect immediately. To complete the entire plan, they would need at least one or two quarters to finish their "harvest."

"Boss, the Xu Family’s warehouses still have 240,000 tons of rice and 360,000 tons of corn kernels in reserve," Xu Yingming was the first to stand and declare his loyalty.

In fact, the warehouses of the various great clans held considerable grain reserves.

Li Qingye smiled and said, "Mm, I’ll have Gafei take the lead in establishing a secret civilian organization. We’ll call it the Luzon Food Security Association. It will centralize control of the grain in our possession. ABCD wants to play, don’t they? Then we’ll play a little game with them."

The group took stock of their assets.

They currently controlled 6.27 million tons of rice, 8.36 million tons of corn kernels, 1.33 million tons of wheat flour, and 420,000 tons of seaweed starch.

Furthermore, another of Homo Sapiens Company’s shell corporations—the Qingye Group—controlled vast farms and plantations in Hongsawaddy and held about 820,000 tons of rice reserves.

Before the end of the year, after the rice harvests in various regions, another 2 to 3 million tons of rice and 3 to 4 million tons of corn would be added to their stockpiles.

’Wage a food war?’

ABCD could only bully those fragmented comprador nations. Against a highly centralized country with sufficient arable land, their methods weren’t guaranteed to work.

The Luzon Food Security Association, as envisioned by Li Qingye, would plan to increase Luzon’s total grain reserves to 30 million tons within the next three years. This would include 15 million tons of rice, 3 million tons of wheat, and 12 million tons of corn.

As for where these reserve grains would come from...

It was very simple. Since ABCD wanted to start a food war in Southeast Asia, Li Qingye would have the Fernando and other clans use their own shell corporations to seize the opportunity and purchase all that low-priced rice, wheat, and corn.

Regarding the matter of Luzon’s farmers being unwilling to plant rice—this was not a factor that ABCD could directly control.

In the territories controlled by Homo Sapiens Company, what landowners and farmers chose to plant had to be approved by the farmers’ association. It wasn’t a matter of simply switching to more profitable cash crops on a whim.

Otherwise, Homo Sapiens Company would let them know the meaning of an iron fist, ensuring they couldn’t even transport their agricultural products out of the local area.

After all, the local ports, shipping lines, highways, and railways were all controlled by Homo Sapiens Company from behind the scenes. No matter how high the purchase price, it was useless if the goods couldn’t be shipped out.

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