Chapter 341 - 338: Development (Part 1)

「December 23rd.」

Bitter winds blew across the Northern Hemisphere.

Yet in Suez, situated northeast of the Sahara Desert on the northwestern coast of the Red Sea, the sun was still shining brightly.

Suez had previously sold the operating rights for a port and railway to the Homo Sapiens Company. Now, the company's headquarters had tasked the United Construction Group with planning and building the project.

The port was located in the southern part of Suez's Red Sea Province, near a cape named Hongkula Cape.

The United Construction Group planned for the port to be built in the bay south of Hongkula Cape, naming it Hongku Port.

At the moment, Hongku Port was still a desolate wasteland. The area hosted only a small fishing village with a population of less than five hundred people in total.

Although Suez has a population of 110 million, most of its people are concentrated in the Nile River Delta and the long, narrow Nile River Valley Plain. Other regions are sparsely populated.

Although the Red Sea Province is close to the Red Sea, it is arid with little rainfall year-round. This is due to the influence of the subtropical high-pressure belt and the absence of high mountains or plateaus that would otherwise create orographic precipitation.

For a technologically underdeveloped region lacking any significant mineral resources, it's only natural that it isn't heavily populated.

The Suez authorities established a special office in Hongku Port to help the Homo Sapiens Company coordinate local development work.

Of course, while its official purpose was coordination, it was also intended for surveillance.

Both sides were perfectly aware of this, but the Homo Sapiens Company pretended not to notice. After all, when it came down to it, strength was the only thing that truly mattered.

As long as the Homo Sapiens Company's fist was strong enough, the other side would never dare to harm its local interests.

Without strength and deterrence, extravagant promises are useless. When the time comes to backstab, the other party will do so without a moment's hesitation.

Therefore, the Homo Sapiens Company's External Affairs Division never bothered with empty pleasantries. Instead, it leveraged the power of the Foreign Affairs Division and the Foreign Security Division to directly coerce others into submission.

In this jungle, there was never any room for warmth or tenderness, only naked conflict and self-interest.

Uphold the law of the jungle.

Enforce the principle of the strong dominating the weak.

Employ shameless and despicable means.

This is the true path to survival.

...

At the temporary docks of Hongku Port.

Samaru, the head of the Suez special office, stood on the third-floor walkway of a building made from shipping containers, gazing out at the distant bay.

On the sparkling surface of the bay, a behemoth of a ship was hard at work.

"Is that the Sea Plough? The one that dredged the channel in the Malacca Strait?"

His assistant, Matt Lu, quickly replied, "That's the one. I hear it's nuclear-powered. It arrived at Hongku Port last night and has already dredged two 100-meter-wide nearshore channels."

"Such incredible power..." Samaru muttered, his voice a mixture of envy and alarm.

The Sea Plough was currently dredging the seabed near the temporary docks, repeatedly digging and discharging the sand and silt onto the coastal mudflats.

A temporary deep-water zone—2 kilometers long, 500 meters wide, and about 40 meters deep—had already been excavated in this area.

While Samaru was lost in thought, three Malacca-class Transport Ships appeared on the distant sea. Escorted by three Manila-class Frigates, they slowly followed the channel cleared by the Sea Plough, entering the temporary deep-water zone one by one.

"Huh? What's this..." Samaru quickly raised his binoculars.

Matt Lu, who had also raised his binoculars, quickly recognized the Manila-class Frigates, as well as the Malacca-class nuclear-powered transport ships that had recently sparked huge controversy in the global shipping industry.

He quickly explained, "Those are Malacca-class nuclear-powered transport ships."

"More nuclear-powered vessels. Is the Homo Sapiens Company really going to make them standard across the board?" Samaru said, a worried look on his face.

After all, with so many nuclear-powered vessels coming in and out of Hongku Port, an accident causing a nuclear leak would be a major disaster.

But Samaru sighed to himself. The Homo Sapiens Company was simply too powerful; he had no way to stop them.

He continued to watch through his binoculars. The three Malacca-class Transport Ships were of different types: one was a container ship, one was a self-unloading bulk carrier, and the third had numerous Sea Eagle Fighters and drones parked on its deck.

'Why are there fighter jets? Could one of them be an aircraft carrier?'

Seeing this, Samaru's brow furrowed.

According to their agreement, Hongku Port was only a commercial port, not a military one.

However, the agreement also contained a supplementary clause that permitted the Homo Sapiens Company's warships to resupply, undergo repairs, and dock at Hongku Port.

Clearly, the Homo Sapiens Company had exploited a loophole in the agreement, converting a Malacca-class Transport Ship into an aircraft carrier. Now they were deploying it to Hongku Port, carrying 60 Sea Eagle Fighters and 120 drones.

A short while later, Samaru found Xu Yingcheng, the manager of the Hongku Port Management Company.

"Xu, what's the deal with those fighter jets?"

Pouring him a cup of coffee, Xu Yingcheng said with a smile, "Mr. Samaru, there's no need to worry. The Malacca No. 7 is just temporarily docked here. After all, the Red Sea is crawling with pirates. For security, we had no choice but to take this measure."

'Heh, yeah, right,' Samaru thought, instantly recognizing the insincerity in his words. If the Homo Sapiens Company weren't so damn powerful, he would have started shouting curses.

Xu Yingcheng continued, "I hope you can understand that we mean well. Our company has many nuclear-powered transport ships, and if pirates were to hijack one, the consequences would be extremely grave."

Hearing this explanation, the corner of Samaru's mouth twitched as he scoffed inwardly:

'What pirate would dare hijack one of your transport ships? You forced America out of Southeast Asia! Besides, those ships are armed with Phalanx CIWS and cluster cruise missile launchers. You're the only ones in the world who mount heavy weapons on civilian transports.'

However, on second thought, Samaru had to admit that these nuclear-powered transport ships did indeed require military protection.

He was conflicted for a moment, but finally gave a reminder, "Xu, I know you need to protect those nuclear-powered transport ships, but building a military port here is absolutely forbidden."

Xu Yingcheng smiled and waved a dismissive hand. "Mr. Samaru, rest assured, our aircraft and security personnel won't come ashore. They will perform their escort duties at sea."

"I hope you keep your promise. Don't make things too difficult for me," Samaru said with a sigh of resignation.

Such was the helplessness of the weak. Even when being bullied, they had to force a smile and play along.

In the deep-water zone of the temporary docks, the Malacca No. 7 had already moored to one side and dropped anchor.

This ship, the Malacca No. 7, was more than just an escort carrier; it was also a special power-generating vessel. To enhance its power supply capabilities, it was packed with six thorium-based molten salt reactors, with a total generating capacity of 300 megawatts.

A generating capacity of 300 megawatts, if run at full load, would play a crucial role in accelerating the initial construction of Hongku Port.

After all, the Suez authorities would certainly not agree easily to the construction of a separate nuclear power plant here.

Furthermore, the construction speed could never keep up with the port project's timeline.

Directly deploying a nuclear-powered transport ship as a temporary power station was, by contrast, the most cost-effective approach.

Once the Malacca No. 7 finished mooring, the other two Malacca-class Transport Ships began unloading construction vehicles, building materials, and daily supplies onto the docks.

Fortunately, the area was dry with little rainfall year-round, so there was no need to worry about materials like cement and rebar getting wet; they could simply be stored out in the open.

Arriving at Hongku Port at almost the same time as the transport ships were a team of 500 construction workers and dozens of construction engineers.