Homo Sapiens

On the other side of the Earth.

In distant South America.

The vast Redwood Plateau and La Plata Plain.

ADM, Bunge, and Cargill—three of the ABCD companies—joined forces and invested three billion US dollars in research funds. They finally selected a dozen or so wild soybean varieties with good disease resistance and genetically modified them.

As spring arrived in the Southern Hemisphere, it was once again time for the soybean planting season.

These genetically modified varieties had previously undergone small-scale testing in North America, where they proved highly effective at resisting soybean blight.

Thus, the ABCD companies eagerly promoted their cultivation on the Redwood Plateau and the La Plata Great Plains. The Redwood Plateau was planted in early September, while the La Plata Great Plains were planted at the end of September.

After more than a month of growth, the soybean seedlings on the Redwood Plateau were growing exceptionally well.

Bergman, the ADM manager in charge of South American operations, personally went to inspect the soybean fields with a dozen or so of his subordinates.

Bergman pushed aside a few seedlings to check their leaves. He relaxed a little when he saw no spots.

Anthony, the GMO agriculture expert, said with a smile, ”Sir, you have to trust our technology. There won’t be any problems this time.”

Bergman remained noncommittal, as if not wanting to jinx it. Instead, he continued to bury his head in inspecting the growth of the seedlings.

Suddenly, a brown insect landed on his shoulder.

Huh? Bergman subconsciously grabbed the insect.

It was a brown locust. His expression changed, and he quickly asked, ”Hook! What’s the locust situation like around here?”

Hook, responsible for managing the surrounding half-million mu of soybean fields, was stunned for a moment before replying, ”I haven’t received any reports from the workers about locusts.”

Bergman roared in fury, ”Goddammit! Send people to investigate immediately.”

”Okay! Okay!” Hook scrambled to pick up his phone and call his subordinates, dispatching them to check the surrounding area for locusts.

...

Meanwhile.

Inside a secret Three-leaf Oak base on the Redwood Plateau.

Fendi Fernando, head of the Foreign Affairs Division’s South American region, was toying with a locust.

Using pheromone induction, he easily controlled it.

”Sir, the 37 pheromone control stations have released the locust breeding pheromones.”

Hearing this, Fendi Fernando’s eyes narrowed. He instantly crushed the locust in his hand. ”Heh heh, ABCD... This time, I’m going to crush you all.”

He casually tossed the crushed locust into the auxiliary digestion pouch on his back.

The South American Branch of the Foreign Affairs Division was, one could say, on the most dangerous front lines, clashing almost daily with Black Ship and America’s lackeys.

Therefore, the Foreign Affairs Division employees here were all equipped with various auxiliary devices, such as the auxiliary digestion pouch. This allowed them to survive in the rainforest entirely by eating grass and insects.

Having endured so much hardship, Fendi Fernando had long been itching to pull off something big.

Since they had already made a move using the soybean blight, the Foreign Affairs Division naturally wouldn’t use the same method again.

If they continued to cause trouble with soybean blight, even a nation as slow on the uptake as America would notice something was wrong.

Thus, after research and discussion, Fendi Fernando and the other executives of the South American Branch devised another inconspicuous yet highly effective method: locusts.

Starting last year, Fendi and his team had been secretly laying the groundwork. Through pheromone induction, they had caused locusts to lay massive numbers of eggs in the mountain forests and wastelands surrounding the agricultural areas. These eggs were hidden underground.

Now, the time had finally come for these eggs to hatch.

The 37 pheromone induction stations activated simultaneously, releasing special pheromones in all directions.

In October in South America, the temperature and humidity were ideal for locusts. Spurred by the pheromones, the hundreds of millions of eggs hidden in the soil began to hatch.

The eggs completed their incubation almost at the same time.

A sky-blotting swarm of locusts immediately descended upon the tender, juicy corn and soybean fields.

...

Still inspecting the fields, Bergman’s face turned grim as he watched the number of locusts around him grow.

Beside him, Hook was pacing anxiously, constantly on the phone.

Dr. Brownie, the pest control expert, also had a deeply furrowed brow.

”Sir, judging by this scale, there must be at least several hundred million locusts in the surrounding area. We have to arrange for extermination as soon as possible. Otherwise, all the soybean seedlings here will be devoured. Plus, these locusts reproduce incredibly fast.”

However, before Bergman could even speak, his phone rang. He glanced at the number. ”Hello, Jamie, what is it?”

An urgent voice came from the other end of the line. ”Sir, a locust plague! A massive locust plague in Bahia!”

”What? You have a locust plague over there, too?”

”’Too?’ Sir, does that mean there are locust plagues elsewhere?”

”I’m in São Paulo right now, and a massive locust plague has already broken out here. Get your crop dusters in the air and start spraying pesticides immediately.”

”I’ve already arranged it, but the scale of the swarm is enormous. I’m afraid...”

The two spoke for a few minutes. After he hung up, another call came in.

Within half an hour, Bergman received seven calls, one after another, all from farm managers in the Redwood Plateau region.

And the content of the reports was highly consistent: the locust plague.

...

A crop duster flew slowly at low altitude, spraying a wide swath of pesticide.

However, hidden in the surrounding mountain forests, Foreign Affairs Division employees were modulating the pheromones, directing the locusts to quickly evade the crop dusters and reduce the number killed by the pesticide.

Meanwhile, another employee controlled a portion of the locusts, keeping them hidden in the forests and wilderness. Instead of attacking the agricultural areas, they focused on eating voraciously and laying eggs.

After all, the ABCD companies weren’t fools. They would certainly spray pesticides on a massive scale to suppress the spread of the locusts.

That’s where the portion of the swarm hidden in the forests and wilderness came in. They acted as insect hatcheries, continuously producing new locusts.

As expected, with time, the local branches of the ABCD companies began spraying pesticides on a massive scale, greatly suppressing the spread and destruction of the locusts.

However, behind this war between man and insect, Homo Sapiens Company was providing tactical guidance to the locusts.

Many of the locusts didn’t congregate in the agricultural areas at all. Instead, they spread out to cover everything, including cities, residential areas, forests, wastelands, and wetlands.

This caused serious problems for the ABCD companies’ extermination efforts. After all, they could spray pesticides freely over farmland, but they couldn’t do the same in residential areas and forests.

This led to a critical situation.

When the ABCD companies sprayed their pesticides, the number of locusts in the agricultural areas would drop sharply for the first day or two, but they were soon replenished by locusts from the surrounding regions.

Even more frightening, some of the locusts began to develop resistance, and the low-toxicity pesticides became less and less effective.

Inside the branch office building in the Redwood Federation, Bergman watched daily as the locusts wreaked havoc across the entire Redwood Plateau. He was on the verge of a complete breakdown.

The endless stream of loss reports cast a shadow over everyone in the South American Branch that was impossible to dispel.

Just as Bergman was discussing with headquarters how to solve the locust plague in South America,

His secretary hurriedly pushed open the office door.

PANT... PANT... ”Sir, an urgent report from La Plata.”

Bergman’s eyes widened. ”The locusts have spread there?”

The secretary’s face was pale with lingering fear. ”Yes, and the swarm is massive. The La Plata branch has already deployed all their crop dusters to exterminate them, but the effect has been minimal.”

”Damn it!” Bergman collapsed into his chair, his eyes staring blankly at the map of South America on the wall.