Chapter 342 - 339: Development (Part 2)

Construction workers in exoskeleton armor quickly disembarked from the Golden Roc Transporter.

They lined up in an orderly fashion, resembling an elite military unit.

Although Hongku Port lacked a high-standard airport, the Golden Roc Transporter had very low runway requirements. A flat, 800-meter stretch of concrete was basically all it needed to land and take off.

"Reporting! The 7530th Engineering Brigade, strength 500, all present and accounted for!" saluted the brigade's commander, Su Lin.

Xu Yingcheng nodded. "Very good, Captain Su. Proceed according to the plan."

"Sir!"

Samaru, who had come along, stared speechlessly at the "engineering brigade" before him. 'Fully decked out in exoskeleton armor, and you're telling me they're construction workers? Does your Homo Sapiens Company really think I'm an idiot?'

Xu Yingcheng smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "No need to be so alarmed, Mr. Samaru. All our company employees are required to undergo some safety training. Bringing along some training equipment isn't too much to ask, is it?"

"Isn't this a bit… much?" Samaru reminded him meekly.

Xu Yingcheng continued with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Not at all, not at all. After all, everyone needs it, and we have a long future ahead of us! Natural and man-made disasters are inevitable. If, by some chance, this port were to be damaged, then our exports of grain and cooking oil to your country might run into problems."

The threat in his words was practically overt.

In response, Samaru could only seethe in silence.

With the population of Suez exceeding 110 million, coupled with its special bread subsidies, the natural population growth rate had soared. The annual demand for grain had risen accordingly.

Meanwhile, Suez's food self-sufficiency rate was showing a year-on-year decline. After all, arable land was limited, yet the population was growing uncontrollably. Without food imports, the country would surely implode.

How much grain does a population of 110 million need?

Based on the international food security line of 400 kilograms per person per year, they needed 44 million tons of grain annually.

Currently, unless Suez converted all of its long-staple cotton fields into wheat fields, it was simply impossible to achieve food self-sufficiency.

Samaru was well aware of this. It was precisely for this reason that he chose to swallow his pride and endure the humiliation.

Right now, none of the world's major grain suppliers offered prices as low as the Homo Sapiens Company. The Homo Sapiens Company sold its blended flour for only 130 Jin Yuan per ton, equivalent to 260 US Dollars per ton.

Even the heavily subsidized ABCD companies couldn't match this price. They would rather use their wheat for animal feed than sell it for 260 US Dollars per ton.

The government and private enterprises of Suez had already signed a total of 37 grain purchase agreements with the Homo Sapiens Company. Next year, the company was expected to sell 12.7 million tons of grain and 2.4 million tons of palm oil to Suez.

These procurement agreements saved Suez at least 8 billion US Dollars.

Faced with such benefits, and given their already low national income, compounded by the ongoing global economic crisis, they willingly endured the Homo Sapiens Company's bullying.

Samaru left, his heart heavy with worry. He would once again have to clean up the mess from the Homo Sapiens Company's little maneuvers.

Xu Yingcheng, however, paid no mind to Samaru's thoughts. 'The Homo Sapiens Company's low-priced grain isn't so easy to get. It's not like the company is running a charity.'

'Since they've taken the benefits from the Homo Sapiens Company, they shouldn't even think about weaseling out of the price.'

Clearly, Samaru and the people behind him understood this. Their only choice was to help the Homo Sapiens Company find excuses and legal justifications to legitimize all of this, preventing anyone from causing trouble for the company.

Although it might seem that others causing trouble for the Homo Sapiens Company had no direct connection to Samaru and his people, the problem was that they were the ones who had signed the agreements. When the time came, they certainly wouldn't be able to escape the consequences.

Besides, the Homo Sapiens Company was not to be trifled with.

...

The engineering brigade arrived at the port. Over a thousand locals recruited from nearby towns were quickly reorganized into ten-person squads, led by more than a hundred New Human employees.

Taking local culture and customs into account, the members of this engineering brigade had all been dispatched from company branches in places like Java, Malacca, and Borneo.

Su Lin looked at the tablet in his hand. It displayed a planned task flowchart, looking a bit like something out of a farming simulation game.

At the port's dock area, with mountains of shipping containers, cement, rebar, and engineering vehicles, they couldn't just operate in a chaotic swarm.

"Third squadron, you're responsible for moving the engineering vehicles to the temporary parking area. Forklift and transport teams, start moving the rebar and cement to Warehouses 4 and 5."

"Yes, sir."

"Understood."

Su Lin then ordered another squadron, "Second squadron, you're responsible for constructing the dock's supporting facilities."

"No problem."

"Fourth squadron, you're in charge of building the temporary living quarters."

"Roger."

"Fifth squadron, your job is to set up the temporary power substation."

"Yes, sir."

The first squadron had already been assigned to manage the local temporary workers.

The entire engineering brigade got busy, with each unit performing its designated function.

As large numbers of engineering vehicles and equipment were moved away, a large area of the dock was quickly cleared. Following pre-set interfaces and connection points, a large crane was rapidly assembled.

Meanwhile, a line of ultra-high voltage transmission towers was extended from one side of the dock to an open area 2.7 kilometers to the west.

A dozen or so shipping containers were hoisted by crane onto this open ground. Inside these containers were pre-designed, modular transformer and power distribution equipment. They didn't require secondary assembly; they could be used immediately after connecting the lines.

The local temporary workers, who had come along as trainees, watched the construction progress and felt the overwhelming power of industrial civilization for the first time.

As if they were assembling building blocks, a power substation rose from the ground.

The New Human employee leading the team was already used to this. Instead, he just reminded them, "Hurry up, don't get distracted."

A few temporary workers quickly attached iron hooks to a rebar mesh that had just been bundled by a high-speed tying machine. This rebar mesh was 30 centimeters thick, 4 meters high, and 4 meters long.

The crane lifted the entire rebar mesh and moved it slowly until it hovered above a trench, flanked by pre-driven steel columns.

"Quick, a little to the left."

The New Human squad leader directed the temporary workers to adjust the rebar mesh's position.

Then he picked up his walkie-talkie. "You can lower it."

"Ksssh… Roger."

The crane slowly lowered the rebar mesh. Soon, it was inserted into the 1-meter-deep trench, fitting perfectly between the two columns.

Another team quickly took over.

First, they used special connecting hardware to lock the two rebar meshes and the columns together.

Immediately, two formwork panel machines pressed against both sides of the rebar mesh, creating a mold frame.

A concrete mixer and a concrete pouring truck then poured seawater-mixed concrete into the middle of the formwork.

On the specialized pouring truck, the outlet of the concrete-pouring pipe was also connected to a smaller injection tube. This tube was used to inject a special solution that accelerated the concrete's curing process.

In less than 40 minutes, the formwork machines began to retract, revealing the fully cured reinforced concrete wall.

Using this series of construction machinery and fast-curing seawater concrete, a single work shift could build 48 meters of wall.

There were six such construction teams in total. If they worked overtime, they could build five to six hundred meters of high-strength wall in a single day.

This was the construction speed of the Homo Sapiens Company. A 500-person engineering brigade, plus some temporary workers, could complete the infrastructure for a city of 100,000 people within a few months.

Possessing such fast and efficient engineering teams and technology, the various infrastructure projects invested in and built by the Homo Sapiens Company were springing up like mushrooms after rain.