Homo Sapiens

Xiangjiang, Victoria Harbor.

In his hotel room, Li Qingye did not let his guard down.

After all, this was the information age. In the naturalization documents he kept from Transvaal, his face looked older and his skin was much darker, but the underlying bone structure hadn’t changed much.

If he appeared frequently online, or even took flights too often, it was possible he could be identified using internet technology.

Even after arranging so many misdirections and decoys, he still wasn’t completely at ease.

But he had no other choice for now. For the time being, he could only use the identity of Jack Zhang, and he needed to be as low-key as possible.

An agency in the Harbor District.

For all his previous business dealings, he had used separate companies for each transaction to avoid concentrating too much information in the hands of a single agency.

”Mr. Zhang, regarding the aquaculture company you asked us to acquire in Luzon, we’ve currently found three suitable targets. Here is the relevant information,” the business manager, Lin Ji, said with a smile as he made the introduction.

Li Qingye sat with one leg crossed over the other, his hair slicked back. Combined with his rimless glasses, he looked no different from a middle-aged man in his thirties.

In reality, due to the side effects of his genetic modifications, Li Qingye’s body was already quite old, and his face did indeed resemble that of a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties.

The personality currently in control of his body was his third persona, ”Guan Zhong,” which had been specifically developed for running companies and handling business affairs.

He carefully flipped through the three sets of documents.

”Drop the second target.”

”Kamei Breeding Company?” Lin Ji nodded immediately.

Li Qingye quickly decided on his target. ”Let’s go with the first one, Yada Marine Aquaculture Company. But I need to inspect it in person first.”

”No problem. Our company will arrange it as soon as possible.”

「One week later.」

After landing at Manila International Airport, he was led by Lin Ji and his team to Dart Port, a city on the East Coast of Luzon Island.

The city faced the Pacific Ocean directly. About two hundred-some kilometers to the east lay the Luzon Trench.

The owner of Yada Company was an American, a fifty-something old cowboy wearing patterned shorts and sporting strange tattoos on his arms.

”Hello, Paul.” Lin Ji gave the man a hug, and they exchanged a few pleasantries before introducing their respective parties.

Li Qingye asked a few questions.

According to the introduction, Daya Company owned five fishing boats with a total tonnage of around 24,000 tons. It also had a five-story office building in Dart Port, spanning about 3,000 square meters.

In addition, it had an aquaculture base on the nearby Kalaqua Islands, with property rights to an entire island that was 17.3 square kilometers in area.

On it were 15 large-scale seawater fish farms, plus 82 net-cage farms in the island’s shallow coastal waters.

As for other infrastructure on the island, there was a fair amount.

Of course, the property rights to this island were not permanent. The lease had about 14 years remaining and was restricted solely to development for the aquaculture industry.

After hearing Paul’s asking price, Li Qingye shook his head. ”That’s too expensive. The prawn and pomfret farms generate less than 2 million US Dollars in profit annually, and the fishing boats are practically operating at a loss. For this, it’s not worth 30 million US Dollars.”

”No, no, sir. You have to understand, those five fishing boats are worth 35 million US Dollars...”

Li Qingye scoffed. ”Heh, Paul, are you kidding me? 35 million US Dollars? That’s the price for brand new boats. How many years have these been in use? Is there no depreciation? Besides, you must know the current situation with deep-sea fishing, right?”

Paul was very thick-skinned. ”Those fishing boats are worth at least 20 million.”

”Heh, 5 million at most. Of course, you could always send them to the scrapyard.”

”Ugh...” Paul’s face darkened. Sending these boats to the scrapyard would be asking for trouble, but if he kept operating them, he might not even find a buyer for 1 million, let alone 5 million.

After all, they were old boats. Fuel consumption and maintenance were issues. The downturn in the marine fishing industry was another major problem. With the depletion of global marine fishery resources, the probability of a medium-sized fishing vessel like these returning from a voyage with a total loss was increasing. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be looking for someone to take them off his hands.

As for the fish farms, the year-round profits weren’t much, barely enough to keep things running.

And as he got older, Paul no longer wanted to stay in Luzon.

”Final offer: 12 million US Dollars. If you agree, we sign. If not, goodbye.” Li Qingye laid his cards on the table.

Paul’s brows furrowed, but he knew the current market. An enterprise in such a remote area wasn’t worth much, and the price Li Qingye offered was already the highest among all interested parties.

In the end, unable to hold out any longer, Paul sold the entire Daya Company to Li Qingye as a package deal for 12 million US Dollars.

After acquiring the company through a cross-holding structure of several offshore companies, Li Qingye renamed it Homo Sapiens Company.

The three professional managers he had recruited in Xiangjiang would be responsible for managing the daily affairs of Homo Sapiens Company. These three weren’t particularly outstanding, just average, but Li Qingye had no other choice.

「Kalaqua Islands.」

Kalaqua Island was the largest island in the archipelago, the only one that could be permanently inhabited, and the one leased by Daya Company.

There was a small pier. Nearby was the aquaculture base, along with a staff dormitory building that could house around 120 people. There was also a multi-purpose building containing a staff cafeteria, a billiards room, an infirmary, and a warehouse for daily necessities.

Then there was Paul’s former villa, a seaside house complete with a private beach.

Inside the seaside villa.

Li Qingye summoned the three new managers, as well as two managers who had stayed on from the previous company.

”I have only one requirement: you just need to execute my directives. You don’t need to worry about anything else. Understand?”

”Boss, Paul hadn’t paid salaries for over two months...” the head of the aquaculture base, Zhaxi, reminded him.

”Pay the back wages immediately.” Li Qingye glanced at him, then began assigning roles to the five people present. ”Jing Lan, as general manager, you will be responsible for the company’s overall operations.”

The thin, bespectacled man, Li Jinglan, nodded. ”No problem.”

”Xincheng, you’ll be in charge of financial management.”

The somewhat stoic, middle-aged man, Fang Xincheng, stood up. ”Yes, Boss.”

Li Qingye continued his instructions, ”Jianxiong, you’ll be in charge of security and logistics management.”

The tall and formidable-looking middle-aged man, who had previously worked in the security business, was Chen Jianxiong. ”Thank you for your trust, Boss.”

”Zhaxi, you will continue to manage the aquaculture base and coordinate with the general manager.”

The middle-aged man with somewhat dark skin was Zhaxi, the one who had spoken up first. He was a Luzon local.

Li Qingye looked at the last person, a middle-aged man approaching fifty. ”Kang Nan, you will still manage the fishing boats. However, you won’t be going out to fish for the time being. Move the boats to a port near Kalaqua Island to help transport some things. We’ll adjust your operations later.”

Kang Nan, who had Chinese ancestry, didn’t show much reaction to the change in ownership and immediately agreed.

After the others had left, Li Qingye gave Chen Jianxiong separate instructions, telling him to recruit a security team and procure a batch of firearms as soon as possible.

Luzon did not ban guns, but one still needed to obtain a firearms license.

Finally, he tasked General Manager Li Jinglan with procuring a set of biological laboratory equipment in the company’s name. He was preparing to establish an aquaculture research laboratory on Kalaqua Island.