Chapter 348 - 345: Despicable! They're Giving Money to Everyone

They watched the receding form of Giant Rhino 1 as it departed.

The crude, metallic form, the unstoppable brute force—the sheer terror and awe inspired by the colossus assailed every member of the inspection team.

At this moment, they had no choice but to admit that the Homo Sapiens Company's power was simply immense.

"I now have complete faith in your company's canal project!" The first to recover was none other than Matt Lu's uncle, Yidefu.

Xu Yingcheng smiled. "Gentlemen, just imagine: once the Second Suez Canal, the Northern Canal, and the Southern Canal are complete, the entire Suez Region will enter a brand new era."

The men present were no fools. They naturally understood that the completion of these three canals would inevitably spur the comprehensive development of the Suez Region.

Take Saiyi, for instance, who had always been an opponent. He had seen through the strategic ambition behind the Homo Sapiens Company's plans for the Southern and Northern Canals.

The Southern Canal would traverse the southern Suez Region, then enter Meroe, South Meroe, and Chad, finally reaching the Atlantic Ocean near Africa's Guinea Bay.

The Northern Canal, on the other hand, would traverse the northern Suez Region, pass through Numidia and the Abd Wad Republic, and ultimately connect to the Atlantic through the Moore Republic.

In other words, the two canals were, in reality, massive waterways that would cut across the northern and southern parts of the Sahara Desert.

Since they would be filled entirely with seawater, the tropical desert climate of the Sahara would be no cause for concern, and the channels could be dug as wide and deep as desired.

Saiyi understood geopolitics. He knew that once the Homo Sapiens Company completed these great canals, never mind America—even France, which held sway over Africa, would be powerless before them.

It wasn't that the Sahara Region lacked resources. On the contrary, the largest desert on Earth concealed considerable natural wealth.

The problem was transporting those resources out. After all, landlocked nations like Chad didn't even have railways and had to rely on decrepit road networks. Such poor infrastructure was insufficient even for shipping food and daily necessities, let alone mineral resources.

Furthermore, these were impoverished and remote regions. The appeal of the Homo Sapiens Company was immense; the moment one of their branches was established locally, countless locals would surely flock to them.

Saiyi had seen through the Homo Sapiens Company's strategic ambitions, but what of it?

In this world, might ultimately makes right.

From this series of planned projects, Saiyi knew the Homo Sapiens Company was determined to have the Suez Region.

With such massive investments and infrastructure projects, the Homo Sapiens Company would certainly establish a branch with full autonomy in the Suez Region.

The thought of the Homo Sapiens Company's methods made Saiyi shudder with lingering fear. He especially recalled Xu Yingcheng's earlier veiled threat—anything that stood in the company's way would surely be crushed.

The members of the inspection team who had previously voiced opposition were now silent.

Xu Yingcheng smiled. "Gentlemen, let's move on to the next project. Our company's latest technological achievement is on display there."

Yidefu, who was already inclined to cooperate, seized the opportunity to smooth things over. "I can hardly wait! Manager Xu, would you mind giving us a small hint beforehand?"

"Haha, that would spoil the surprise. You'll all see when we get there."

A short while later, a pontoon boat appeared in the canal, extending steel-frame bridges to either side.

Drenched in sweat from the sun, the inspection team members quickly boarded their SUVs. The convoy crossed the steel-frame pontoon bridge and headed for the coast further north.

About ten minutes later, the convoy arrived at the nursery of the Agricultural Technology Division.

Matt Lu got out of the car and helped his uncle, Yidefu, alight.

Gazing at the lush green paddy fields before them, Yidefu walked down an earthen embankment and squatted for a closer look. "Is this... rice?"

A few employees from the Agricultural Technology Division quickly interjected, "Honored guests, please don't touch the seedlings. They're poisonous—just a few grams are enough to kill an adult."

Matt Lu, who had been about to pluck a leaf, froze. A strained smile crept onto his face. "Manager Xu, you should really put up a warning sign."

"Don't worry about it," Xu Yingcheng said dismissively. "There's hardly anyone out here in the Red Sea Province. Our paddies are all located on uninhabited desert plains, so no one ever comes by."

As for anyone with ulterior motives who might come to harvest it, well, if they were poisoned, the Homo Sapiens Company could hardly be blamed.

Yidefu asked curiously, "If the leaves are poisonous, the grains themselves aren't, are they?"

"They're poisonous too," Xu Yingcheng replied, shaking his head.

"What?" Yidefu was baffled. "They're poisonous too? Then how can you eat it?"

Matt Lu seemed to have an idea. "Perhaps the poison is neutralized by cooking it at a high temperature."

"You're thinking too simply, Matt Lu. The toxic protein in Sea Rice-14 can withstand temperatures of 240 degrees Celsius. Normal cooking methods can't detoxify it."

GULP. Matt Lu stared at Xu Yingcheng, completely baffled. "Manager Xu, then what's this rice good for?"

"It's extremely useful. Sea Rice-14 can be grown in seawater, it's a perennial, and a single planting can be harvested continuously for five years. In tropical regions, you can get three harvests a year, each yielding 800 kilograms per mu."

Saiyi, who had been listening from the sidelines, gave a hollow laugh. "The yield is certainly impressive, and its other advantages are excellent, but what good is rice you can't eat? Is it for making organic fertilizer?"

Xu Yingcheng's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Who said you can't eat it? Our company has a proprietary detoxification technology that can remove one hundred percent of the toxic protein from the grains."

'I knew it,' Matt Lu thought, the realization dawning on him.

Yidefu, for his part, wasn't bothered by the Homo Sapiens Company building such a dependency into their system.

After all, the GMO seeds from the big four agricultural corporations had similar mechanisms: reduced yields if seeds were replanted, resistance to specific proprietary pesticides, or even genetically modified weed seeds secretly included in the seed coatings.

The Homo Sapiens Company creating poisonous rice and a corresponding detoxification technology was clearly their way of retaining a controlling hand.

Xu Yingcheng smiled and explained, "Gentlemen, don't get the wrong idea. The reason we developed poisonous rice was for pest and bird resistance."

'Heh, what a bullshit explanation,' Saiyi cursed to himself.

Yidefu, however, asked, "Manager Xu, can this rice really be grown in seawater? Without any need for fresh water?"

"None at all. That's precisely why the canals connect directly to the ocean. They will serve as transportation channels and as irrigation systems for the paddy fields."

It suddenly dawned on all of them.

They recalled the Homo Sapiens Company's recent lease of 40,000 square kilometers of desert in the Red Sea Province.

If that was the case, then 40,000 square kilometers of rice paddies, yielding three harvests a year... the total output would be astronomical.

And that didn't even account for the inland desert plains that would become accessible after the Northern and Southern Canals were completed.

One had to remember that of the Suez Region's one million square kilometers, 95% was comprised of desert, Gobi Desert, and arid mountains—a truly vast expanse of wasteland.

Even if they didn't convert all that desert into seawater paddies, transforming just one-third would amount to over two hundred thousand square kilometers.

At that moment, they finally understood how the Homo Sapiens Company could maintain a high quality of life for its eight hundred million employees.

The company's plans for the Suez Region alone, once completed, could produce hundreds of millions of tons of rice annually. Divided among the 110 million people of the Suez Region, that would amount to several tons of rice per person, per year.

At this moment, any thought of resistance had vanished.

The Homo Sapiens Company could simply use its wealth to win over the populace, overwhelming the local leadership and leaving them utterly helpless.

'How despicable! The Homo Sapiens Company is just going to throw money at everyone!'