Chapter 347 - 344: You Know Nothing About My Power

It had been a week since Matt Lu reported the deep cooperation agreement back to Cairo.

This so-called deep cooperation agreement sparked fierce debate in Cairo. There were supporters and opponents, but the majority remained ambivalent.

The twenty-year grace period offered by the Homo Sapiens Company was the main factor, effectively dismantling the psychological resistance of some.

Although they knew they were like frogs being slowly boiled by the Homo Sapiens Company, that was still a problem twenty years in the future.

Considering the current natural population growth rate in the Suez Region, the population was projected to reach about 130 million in ten years and potentially 160 million in twenty.

Of the current 110 million people, 40% were already living in poverty, while the vast majority of the remaining 60% were just barely scraping by.

They had to import food, oil, natural gas, and daily necessities. If they didn't find a solution soon, they wouldn't need another power to intervene; they would implode on their own.

Rather than wait for the inevitable, a "deep cooperation" with the Homo Sapiens Company seemed like the better option.

As for the wealthy, they weren't stupid. The Homo Sapiens Company offered excellent benefits, so working for them wouldn't be a bad deal at all.

If they truly craved freedom, at worst, they could just move their entire families to Europe and America.

No matter what they chose, the result wouldn't be too bad.

This naturally lessened many people's opposition.

After heated debate, the authorities in Cairo finally made a decision. They would first assemble a special delegation to visit Hongku Port for a period of observation.

The idea was to pack the delegation with opponents, letting them witness the Homo Sapiens Company's arrogance and tyranny firsthand.

If, by the end of it, over 75% of the delegation's members agreed to the deep cooperation agreement with the Homo Sapiens Company, then everyone would be happy.

Hongku Port.

Matt Lu personally welcomed the 150-member delegation at the temporary airport.

Meanwhile, two channel-digging ships that had sailed from Southeast Asia also arrived, mooring at docks 12 and 13 of Hongku Port.

When Xu Yingcheng heard that the Cairo delegation had arrived, he took a group of people to the coast 3.4 kilometers north of the port.

The delegation's leaders were completely baffled. One of them, a middle-aged man with a long face, whispered to Matt Lu:

"Matt Lu, what does the Homo Sapiens Company want to show us?"

"Uncle Yidefu, I'm not sure either." Matt Lu shook his head.

"Heh, are they trying to scare us with giant cannons?" another big-bearded man said with a smirk.

The opposition leader, Saiyi, warned, "Mut, shut up!"

Although they strongly opposed the Homo Sapiens Company, that didn't mean they were willing to confront them head-on. Making sarcastic jabs in a public setting like this was practically a death wish.

The big-bearded Mut quickly apologized, "Mr. Saiyi."

After standing on the beach under the scorching sun for more than ten minutes, the crowd was already drenched in sweat.

Xu Yingcheng, however, appeared calm and composed under the harsh sunlight. A New Human's body contained a Symbiotic Insect, which could perform photosynthesis directly through the mitochondria, so being in the sun actually made him feel more energetic.

He had, in fact, intentionally brought the group to the beach to bake in the sun.

After waiting for more than half an hour, the channel-digging ship, the *Giant Rhino 1*, finally arrived, having adjusted its parameters and slowly approaching the coastline.

Matt Lu looked at the colossal ship before him, a look of confusion on his face.

But he soon understood why the *Giant Rhino 1* had come over here.

The catamaran-hulled *Giant Rhino 1* slowly sank 45 meters, until nearly 80% of its massive frame was below the surface.

Then, its two thorium-based molten salt nuclear reactors ramped up to full capacity, the surging electrical power driving its propellers and pushing the hull closer and closer to the shore.

As it drew nearer to the coastline, the water grew shallower, and the ship finally hit bottom 1.3 kilometers from shore.

This meant the *Giant Rhino 1* was about to start digging the channel.

Its drill bits and reamer teeth, forged from high-strength hard alloys, plunged into the soft seabed silt, rapidly pulverizing the mud, sand, and rock in its path and spewing it out to either side through dredging pipes.

Because the seabed sediment was relatively soft, the 1.3-kilometer distance was cleared in less than 20 minutes.

On the shore, the delegation members had long forgotten the scorching sun, their eyes fixed on the colossal ship as it advanced, inch by inch, toward the coast.

Only when the *Giant Rhino 1* breached the coastline and began moving inland did they seem to wake from a dream.

Once on land, the seawater that continuously flooded the newly carved channel behind it allowed the *Giant Rhino 1* to maintain some buoyancy. However, this buoyancy was nowhere near what it had in the open sea. In response, hidden compartments on its deck opened, extending enormous tracked chassis to either side.

THUMP! The five-meter-high tracked chassis slammed onto the ground, leaving a twenty-meter-wide impression.

At the same time, the ballast tanks at the bottom of the hull began to pump out some seawater, increasing the ship's overall buoyancy and reducing its total weight.

With all these adjustments made, the *Giant Rhino 1* continued its advance inland.

The roar of its cutters pulverized every obstacle in its path, turning them to dust and slurry that it spewed onto the barren plains on either side.

In the *Giant Rhino 1*'s wake, it left behind a massive channel 120 meters wide and 45 meters deep.

The channel was already filled with seawater, and the loose topsoil on its banks was collapsing in large sheets as the water washed against it.

GULP. Matt Lu swallowed. He was only just now realizing that this kind of vessel could actually operate on land.

Yidefu, Saiyi, Mut, and the others were also thunderstruck.

Although they had seen footage of the *Sea Plough* at work in various online reports, watching it from mere feet away was a completely different experience.

Dwarfed by the *Giant Rhino 1*, they were struck by their own insignificance.

Xu Yingcheng walked over and introduced with a smile, "This is our company's Giant Rhino-class channel-digging ship. It's mainly used for excavating canals and waterways. They can pulverize anything that stands in their way."

A cold sweat beaded on Mut's brow; he barely dared to breathe.

Forcing a laugh, Saiyi quickly changed the subject. "Manager Xu, is this ship also nuclear-powered?"

"Of course," Xu Yingcheng confirmed without hesitation.

Saiyi managed a strained smile. "Your company's technical expertise is truly formidable."

Yidefu was also curious. "Manager Xu, what's the ship's excavation speed?"

"Two to three kilometers per hour in soft sediment, and five hundred to eight hundred meters per hour in rock strata."

A murmur of astonishment swept through the delegation. The speed was simply incredible.

To put that in perspective, the Suez Canal is only 171 kilometers long. At that rate, the *Giant Rhino 1* could dig from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean in just four or five days.

No wonder the Homo Sapiens Company was bold enough to propose so many canal projects. They had clearly come prepared.

Although the banks of the channel carved by the *Giant Rhino 1* would collapse, reducing the depth at the edges, the central channel would maintain a depth of twenty to thirty meters—more than sufficient.

At that depth, allowing passage for transport ships under 10,000 tons was no problem at all.

Besides, the channel could be widened with a second pass.

Compared to railways, large canals boast immense shipping volume at a fraction of the cost.

For inland areas, a major canal passing through could revitalize huge swathes of land along its route.

Seeing the shocked expressions on these hicks, Xu Yingcheng chuckled to himself. 'You have no idea what the Homo Sapiens Company is capable of. This is merely a sliver of our power.'