Homo Sapiens

September 26, 2020.

Within the Eastern Island Zone of the Nanyang Region.

Mindanao Island.

The region’s largest malignant tumor now looked as if it had undergone radiation therapy.

Through the covert operations of the Homo Sapiens Company, the five great families and various shell corporations rapidly established an unprecedentedly tight-knit system across the large island’s cities and towns.

Due to its geographical location and high elevation, Mindanao Island is one of the few habitable tropical agricultural zones in the Nanyang Islands.

The probability of it being hit by typhoons is much lower than that of Luzon Island or the Mishan Islands.

The island’s average elevation is quite high, with numerous mountains and sub-plateaus ranging from 500 to 1,500 meters. In a region dominated by a tropical rainforest climate, these highlands actually become suitable places for human habitation.

However, Mindanao Island had previously failed to develop due to the presence of splinter factions and powerful family clans.

Only after the Homo Sapiens Company made its forceful entry into the region did the area gradually begin to develop.

Located on the western part of the island, Sanbao Yan is one of the region’s major cities.

The Kawit Hotel is a major local hotel in Sanbao Yan and one of the Kawit Clan’s assets. This clan is a mid-sized family on Mindanao Island.

In the top-floor office of the hotel, Mabai Kavite set down the third-quarter operations report with a gloomy expression.

”Sam, do you think the hotel and plantations can stay in business?”

The manager, Sam, sitting upright and tense, hesitated. ”Chairman, the market for our bananas and pineapples is still alright. It’s just the rice inventory...”

Mabai Kavite, of course, understood Sam’s unspoken meaning: their recent attempt to speculate on rice prices was, for all intents and purposes, a total loss.

What was even more troublesome was that news of the Kawit Clan’s rice speculation had spread like wildfire across Mindanao Island. The locals now held a major grudge against the Kawit Clan.

He stood up, pulled back the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling window, and gazed down at the street below. Many of the poor were scrambling to buy cheap rice from the Fengrao Supermarket.

The sight was more painful to him than death. Mabai’s face darkened. ”A bunch of worthless peasants, bought off by a tiny handout. No wonder they’re destined to be poor.”

Hearing this, Sam could only respond with a dry laugh and silence.

After venting his frustration, Mabai began racking his brain. His family had lost billions of Pesos on rice, and while they hadn’t borrowed from banks, the debacle had drained the clan’s liquid capital.

What made Mabai feel even worse was that the clan’s other businesses—hotels, supermarkets, and real estate—had also taken a significant hit.

After all, the locals weren’t fools. ’If the Kawit Clan dares to speculate on rice, then we’ll boycott the Kawit Clan’s businesses.’

With the Homo Sapiens Company’s shell corporations and the five great families working together, the locals naturally wouldn’t choose the Kawit Clan’s businesses when they had other options.

Facing this comprehensive suppression, the Kawit Clan was trapped in a crisis, beset by troubles both internal and external.

After talking with his manager, Sam, for over an hour, Mabai still hadn’t found a satisfactory solution.

”Summon the heads of all the hotels and supermarkets tomorrow. We’ll hold a video conference.”

”Yes, sir. I’ll go notify them shortly.” Sam quickly escaped the oppressive atmosphere of the office.

In the empty office, Mabai took a sip of coffee. His gaze, fixed on the distant harbor, was filled with ruthlessness and venom.

’Damn those five great families. Since you’re determined to wipe us out, don’t blame me for what comes next.’

He put down his coffee, picked up the phone, and dialed an international number.

BEEP... BEEP...

”Hello... who is this?”

A slight smirk touched the corner of Mabai’s mouth. ”Mr. Hamlet, this is Mabai from Mindanao Island.”

”Oh... so it’s Mr. Mabai. It seems you’ve made your decision.”

”Yes. The bananas and pineapples are ready. Do you need to come inspect the goods?”

The person on the other end of the line was silent for a few moments. ”...On the 29th, I’ll come over to check the quality of the bananas.”

”Okay. A pleasure doing business with you.”

”To a successful partnership.”

...

In an inconspicuous little building less than seven hundred meters from the Kawit Hotel.

On the surface, it was an internet cafe, but only the bottom three floors were open to the public. The top three floors were for internal office use.

As the station chief and one of the Spider Web Managers under the Homo Sapiens Company’s Security Division, Yang Meishu was responsible for local commercial intelligence gathering.

”Report. The target just made an international call. The content of the conversation was...” a Soldier reported to him.

Flipping through the transcript, Yang Meishu saw that every word Mabai had spoken on the phone was meticulously recorded. Based on his experience and other intelligence, he quickly deduced a few possibilities.

He swiveled his chair to face the map on the wall.

”The Kawit Clan has seventeen banana plantations on Mindanao Island. The ones showing recent abnormalities are the Batu Town Plantation, the Yashan Plantation, and the Kawit Town Plantation...”

He quickly marked the specific locations of these plantations on the map.

”To secretly bring in two hundred men, they’ll have to use unconventional means. The most likely method is by submarine, which means they’ll need suitable hydrographic conditions...”

Yang Meishu pulled up a hydrographic map of Mindanao Island and soon found a potential location. ”The coast near Yashan Village can accommodate a transport submarine approaching within one kilometer of the shore. Plus, there are no cities within a fifty-kilometer radius, only a few small towns...”

Although he had found the most likely spot, he didn’t jump to conclusions and continued to search for other possible locations.

After more than an hour of analysis and screening, he locked onto seven coastal landing points that were suitable for a submerged approach and relatively concealed.

Then, Yang Meishu quickly reported the matter to headquarters via the internal fiber-optic network, attaching his analysis.

Chen Jianxiong, who was personally overseeing the Luzon Branch, was in the Security Division’s secret base along with Ovi, Zhang Jerry, and others.

After reading Yang Meishu’s report, a murderous glint appeared in Chen Jianxiong’s eyes. ”So, they’re finally coming? Two hundred men? They’re really putting down a stake.”

”The Kawit Clan... they must have a death wish! It seems they didn’t learn their lesson from last time!” Zhang Jerry’s face was full of sinister malice.

Chen Jianxiong then used a bio-computer to investigate the various factions in the Pacific Region.

Among the messages fed back from commercial intelligence stations and dedicated lines, he quickly found several useful pieces of information.

[Western Pacific Base 3—2020.09.19, three submarines departed from this base. The submarines are special transport models. This transport included... as well as a large quantity of light weapons and equipment for foreign trade...]

”Right now, these three transport submarines are...” Chen Jianxiong opened the underwater pheromone and sonar monitoring system.

This system was centered around a network of submarine fiber-optic cables, with numerous biological detectors deployed on the seabed around the Western Pacific.

These biological detectors could pick up changes in seawater temperature, pheromones, and sound waves.

Although the presence of oceanic trenches prevented the underwater monitoring system from extending too far off the East Coast, it was difficult for any ship or submarine to evade detection once it came within about 150 kilometers of the coast.

The enemy’s submarines might have impressive noise-reduction technology. But no matter how advanced it was, it was useless.

The Security Division had long ago attached genetically modified, pheromone-releasing barnacles to the submarines and ships of the various factions.

Sound could be suppressed with technology, but the pheromones released by the barnacles had not been discovered.

Any submarine infested with these genetically modified barnacles was basically a firefly in the night sky the moment it approached the coverage area of the underwater monitoring system.

The moment these three transport submarines neared the coastal waters of the Western Pacific, they were exposed to the Security Division’s surveillance.