Homo Sapiens

Li Gu Ming’s defection had instantly clarified the situation on Xing Island.

Although the Homo Sapiens Company had yet to formally establish a management system for its various branches, its branches and subsidiaries in Luzon, Siam, Hongsawaddy, and Ceylon had already begun the integration process.

The formalization of the Homo Sapiens Company was expected to be officially announced on June 15th.

This would mark the birth of the first mega-corporation in the history of human civilization on Earth.

But this development only captured the heightened attention of major world powers and regional hegemons. Ordinary people and private enterprises were still busy with their own affairs.

Take the world’s major shipping companies, for instance.

This was especially true for world-class shipping companies in the Asia Region, such as Evergreen International, Cosco Group, China Ocean Group, Eastern Sea Emperor, Hanjin Shipping, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Kawasaki Steamship Company.

These days, they were holding meetings almost daily, and the topics of discussion were the Malacca Strait, the Lombok Strait, the Sunda Strait, the Kra Canal, and the Dangweng Canal.

Meanwhile, the New Luzon Shipping Group, which was in the know, was already sailing its transport ships through the Kra and Dangweng Canals.

Out of safety concerns, many shipping companies had reservations about the Kra Canal. They had no such worries about the Dangweng Canal, but its current limitation was that it could only accommodate vessels up to the 30,000-ton class.

Furthermore, geographically speaking, the Dangweng Canal was essentially an inland waterway for Siam and Hongsawaddy, so a large portion of the traffic consisted of their domestic river vessels.

The Kra Canal, therefore, became a shortcut that many shipping companies had no choice but to consider.

The first shipping company to take the plunge was Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.

The head of the Mitsui Conglomerate, Mitsui Fushige, personally gave the order for the shipping company to send an oil tanker to test the waters of the Kra Canal as soon as possible. After all, the people of East Japan weren’t afraid of a little nuclear radiation.

Following the head office’s command, a fully loaded 200,000-ton oil tanker, the *Kirishima*, slowly approached the western entrance port of the Kra Canal.

Mishima Qinglan, captain of the *Kirishima*, was deeply unsettled.

”Captain, the canal management company sent over a navigator,” called out Second Mate Hirota Otake.

”Go and bring them aboard.”

”Aye.”

「Twenty minutes later.」

Two navigators boarded the oil tanker and made their way to the bridge.

”Which one of you is Captain Mishima?”

Mishima Qinglan was stunned to hear Japanese spoken with a Tokyo accent, but he quickly replied, ”I am Mishima Qinglan, captain of the *Kirishima*.”

”Hello! I’m Navigator Meng Lin. Here is the fee schedule,” said Navigator Meng Lin as he handed over the document.

Mishima Qinglan quickly took it. The schedule was written in English, Chinese, and Japanese. The single-passage toll for the Kra Canal was calculated based on the ship’s displacement: 40,000 Jin Yuan for every 10,000 tons, with any amount less than 10,000 tons rounded up.

The *Kirishima*’s full displacement was 211,000 tons, so the total fee came to 840,000 Jin Yuan.

Mishima Qinglan found the fee acceptable; it was only equivalent to 84,000 US dollars.

Detouring through the Malacca Strait would add 1,200 kilometers to the journey and increase transport costs by 120,000 US dollars. Detouring through the Sunda Strait would add 4,000 kilometers and cost an extra 400,000 US dollars.

However, when Mishima Qinglan saw the clause on the schedule stipulating that payment must be made in Jin Yuan, he asked with some embarrassment, ”Er… I don’t have any Jin Yuan on hand. Can I use US dollars or euros?”

”Don’t worry. You can sign the payment order on behalf of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and they can pay our company in Jin Yuan later,” Meng Lin said with a wave of his hand. ”If you don’t feel you can make that decision, you can use the satellite phone to contact your company.”

Mishima Qinglan paused for a moment, then nodded. ”I understand.”

As for whether Mitsui O.S.K. Lines would try to default on the payment later, the Homo Sapiens Company wasn’t worried. No one could get away with stiffing the Homo Sapiens Company.

A short while later, Mishima Qinglan finished communicating with his head office and signed the payment order.

Meng Lin took the payment order. ”Alright, weigh anchor and prepare to enter the canal.”

The other navigator picked up a radio and communicated briefly with the canal’s west entrance control tower.

The Kra Canal was 100 kilometers long, with the channel divided in two.

The *Kirishima* was now entering the northern channel. The two channels were actually part of a single waterway, separated only by pillars and wire mesh down the middle.

The western channel had a depth of 35 meters and a width of 200 meters. A channel of this scale could easily accommodate even 300,000-ton class vessels.

Mishima Qinglan saw numerous workers on the levees on both sides, installing navigation beacons.

Traveling at 12 knots, the *Kirishima* spent two hours passing through the western channel. They were now entering the Sunrise Channel.

The so-called Sunrise Channel was actually the 8.4-kilometer-long section created by the nuclear explosion. Here, the channel wasn’t split into north and south lanes but was just a single, wide waterway.

The channel here was between 700 and 900 meters wide, with a depth of 100 to 120 meters in the center.

As the captain of the first foreign vessel to visit Sunrise Lake, Mishima Qinglan witnessed a truly shocking scene.

Within a 10-kilometer radius, all the trees had been completely destroyed, leaving behind only a few charred stumps. Especially in the area near Sunrise Lake, large patches of the ground had been vitrified, glittering under the sun.

GULP! Mishima Qinglan couldn’t help but swallow hard. ”Navigator Meng, are you sure this area is safe?”

Meng Lin pulled out a Geiger counter and pointed to the reading. ”Don’t worry! The radiation levels here are much safer than Fukushima. It’s only 17% higher than in a typical sea area, and it will return to normal levels in a few months.”

”Heh heh…” Mishima Qinglan gave a dry laugh.

The other navigator offered a reminder, ”Watch your course and don’t cross the buoys in the middle. There’s a container ship approaching.”

”Thank you for the warning.” Mishima Qinglan immediately sounded the ship’s horn and fixed his gaze on the channel ahead.

In the middle of Sunrise Lake, they encountered a 6,000-TEU container ship from New Luzon Sea Transport. The two vessels slowly passed each other, about 200 meters apart.

Twenty-three minutes later, the *Kirishima* entered the eastern channel of the canal. This section was 52 kilometers long, divided into north and south channels, each 200 meters wide with a depth of 33 to 38 meters.

Along the way, the *Kirishima* encountered many other ships.

They also saw another channel being excavated in the distance.

Mishima Qinglan was astonished by the Homo Sapiens Company’s efficiency and planning. From his perspective, the Kra Canal’s current traffic capacity was already extremely high.

However, he didn’t know that a channel without separate, parallel lanes was considered substandard and unsafe by the Homo Sapiens Company’s internal standards.

Furthermore, the Homo Sapiens Company’s excavation costs were so low that they had no need to skimp and save like the Suez and Panama Canals.

「Two and a half hours later.」

The *Kirishima* successfully transited the Kra Canal. Compared to the detour around Malacca, it not only saved 1,200 kilometers of travel and fuel but also reduced the voyage time by 60 hours.

Safety was also significantly improved. After all, the Malacca Strait was known for pirates, whereas the areas surrounding the Kra Canal were managed by the Homo Sapiens Company’s branches. If pirates came here to cause trouble, they would most likely be turned into Soldiers.

After receiving Mishima Qinglan’s report, the headquarters of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines immediately made a firm decision: all of their transport ships carrying oil and natural gas from West Asia would be rerouted through the Kra Canal.

With maritime shipping costs soaring, the pressure on East Japan’s imports and exports continued to mount. If they could save on transport costs, what did a little nuclear radiation matter?

When it came to tolerating radiation, other shipping companies truly couldn’t compare to the three major shipping corporations of East Japan.

Other companies were extremely worried about the nuclear radiation in the Kra Canal, concerned their ships would become contaminated with radioactive material. They could only watch helplessly as Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and New Luzon Sea Transport sailed merrily through the Kra Canal.