Homo Sapiens

Just as major pharmaceutical companies around the world were once again fuming over several new drugs from the Homo Sapiens Company.

Another group of people in Xiangjiang were popping champagne to celebrate.

Inside a private room at the Peninsula Hotel.

A big, greasy-faced man held up his champagne for a toast, his face wreathed in smiles. ”Thank you for your consideration, Young Master Li. This is just a small token of my appreciation.”

Across from the big man, a slick-haired young man gently clinked his glass. ”President Lin, you’re too kind.”

Though he spoke politely, Young Master Li accepted the small box.

Seeing this, the big man’s smile grew even wider. He went on to introduce the gourmet dishes on the table, and they chatted for over half an hour.

Seeing that Young Master Li was nearly finished eating, the big man asked with a grin, ”Young Master Li, my company needs to order a batch of precision components soon. I was wondering if you might be interested?”

”What kind of components does President Lin need?”

”Just some bicycle parts. Here are the detailed specifications.” The big man pulled a document from his briefcase.

Young Master Li took it and flipped through it casually, a smile touching his lips. ”President Lin has a good eye. Our company happens to have a few partners who specialize in producing these kinds of special components. It’s just that...”

”Please, Young Master Li, speak freely.”

”The price of raw materials for these components has risen sharply recently. I’m sure President Lin is aware.”

The big man took the hint and pulled another document from his briefcase. ”These are the fifty million you won at the Venice Entertainment City last night, Young Master Li. I’m just returning them to their rightful owner.”

”I’ve really troubled you, President Lin. This saves me a trip.” Young Master Li casually accepted the check, then asked with a chuckle, ”How much do you need, President Lin?”

”Five hundred tons.”

Young Master Li’s brow twitched. ”That’s too much. Other people need some too.”

The big man’s eyes darted. ”How about four hundred, then?”

”Three hundred. And I’ll handle transportation to Xiangjiang Port.”

”Three hundred?” The big man gritted his teeth. ”Alright. A pleasure doing business with you.”

The two clinked their glasses again.

By the end of the meal, both guest and host were thoroughly pleased.

「That evening.」

At the Kwai Chung Container Terminal, west of Victoria Harbor.

The big man and a few of his close buddies appeared, bringing along more than twenty security guards.

Looking at the twenty containers that had just been unloaded from the dock, the big man asked breathlessly, ”Dabiao, is this the shipment you ordered? Is it reliable? Whether we eat gruel or meat from now on depends on this haul. You better not be screwing me over!”

”Relax! I’ve known Young Master Li for over a decade. The old man of the Li Family and my late father were thick as thieves. To put it in mainland terms, they were ironclad buddies,” the middle-aged man with cornrows continued, boasting of his far-reaching connections.

After the container trucks hauled the goods to a warehouse.

Dabiao, the big man, and the others, who had been following in their car, entered the warehouse.

As soon as Dabiao walked in, he addressed the dozen or so technicians he had hired. ”Masters, tonight’s late-night meal is on me. You’ll get triple pay, and when this is done, a big red envelope for each of you.”

”Boss He, I can start right now.”

”I’ve already brought my equipment. It’s the fastest and most accurate stuff available.”

Dabiao nodded in satisfaction. ”Then I’ll leave it to you, Masters. I’m going to arrange for the meal. Please get started.”

”Take care, Boss He!”

After leaving the warehouse, Dabiao ordered one of his men to buy the late-night meal, then sat in his Mercedes with the AC blasting, quietly awaiting the test results from inside.

Meanwhile, inside the warehouse, the twenty containers had been opened. Inside were rows of wooden crates, which in turn held items wrapped in bubble wrap and tape.

The customs declaration form listed them as bicycle parts.

Several workers, hired as movers, used a forklift to move the wooden crates out of the containers.

After prying open the crates and tearing off the bubble wrap and tape, they revealed rows of bicycle chains.

Master Ding, the technician in charge, took a few of his apprentices and used hydraulic shears to randomly cut off ten links from the chains.

The other two inspection teams were doing the same.

They inserted the samples into a mass spectrometer, and the results came out in no time.

”Master! It’s 50% iron, 10% niobium, 10% indium, 10% terbium, 10% europium, 10% dysprosium...”

”The composition matches on my end.”

”No problems over here.”

Master Ding signed the inspection form. An employee supervising nearby quickly resealed the special chains and affixed a ”Passed Inspection” label.

”Stop dawdling. The next batch is coming soon,” Master Ding urged his apprentices.

「Two hours later.」

Eighteen crates of parts had already been inspected.

In the Mercedes, Dabiao listened to his subordinate’s report, a look of relief finally appearing on his face. Though he had sworn up and down that there would be no problems, if something had actually gone wrong, he would have taken a massive loss this time.

”Fat Cat, do you believe me now?”

”I believe you, I believe you! Brother Dabiao, your connections are truly vast. Just pretend what I said earlier was bullshit. Please look out for your little brother here in the future.” The big man immediately started sucking up to him.

The other close buddies also chimed in, flattering Dabiao.

One of them, a young man with a Ding-Dang Cat tattoo on his arm, pulled a box of cigars from his pocket. ”Brother Dabiao, have a smoke!”

”Oh? Caribbean cigars? B-zai, you’re finally getting it.” Dabiao took the cigar box, pulled one out, and lit it. ”WHOOSH... Not bad. Worthy of being top-shelf stuff at two hundred dollars a stick.”

”Brother Dabiao, how much can we make on this deal?” B-zai asked curiously.

Dabiao blew a smoke ring. ”Do you know how much a ton of refined, high-purity rare earth metals from the north costs right now?”

”I think over five hundred thousand Huayuan?”

Dabiao feigned surprise. ”Five hundred thousand? That was last month’s price. This month, it’s already shot up to around two million. When I ordered this shipment, after adding in processing, shipping, and ’tea money,’ it came out to 3.7 million per ton.”

B-zai counted on his fingers, his head spinning. ”3.7 million per ton? But the Precious Metals Bank over at the Homo Sapiens Company is only buying it for 320,000 Jin per ton. If you convert that based on the price of gold, that’s a loss!”

The big man, who was standing outside the car to avoid the smoke, heard B-zai’s analysis and burst out laughing. ”B-zai, how about I trade you 200 million Hong Kong dollars for 100 million Jin? I’ll even take a small loss on the deal, for you.”

”Uh...” B-zai thought that based on the international price of Gold, trading 200 million Hong Kong dollars for 100 million Jin really did seem like the big man was getting the short end of the stick.

Dabiao’s mouth twitched. ”With an intellect like yours, you shouldn’t be playing with this kind of investment. Just go back to inheriting office buildings and collecting rent! Or you could just invest a little money with us, and we’ll give you a dividend.”

”But you can’t make money on this investment...” B-zai still hadn’t caught on.

Another one of their buddies couldn’t take it anymore and cursed with a laugh, ”Idiot! Jin is real gold! Yesterday’s black market rate was one Jin to 15.7 Huayuan, or 20.4 Hong Kong dollars. That fat bastard’s two hundred million Hong Kong dollars wouldn’t even get you ten million Jin.”

”What? How can the difference be so huge?” B-zai’s face was a mask of shock.

”Why else do you think Brother Dabiao had his old man step in?”

Dabiao and his crew saw the profits to be made from this price difference, and of course, so did others. As a result, quite a few people in Xiangjiang were now in this line of business.

The scale of these operations varied, from billions of Hong Kong dollars down to just a few hundred thousand. Many sharp-nosed speculators had already made their first fortunes.

Of course, a major player like Dabiao wouldn’t just take the Jin from tens of tons of refined rare earth elements and exchange it for other currencies on the black market. He’d use the Jin to purchase products from the Homo Sapiens Company and then make another profit on the price difference.

This time, Dabiao had smuggled 32 tons of refined rare earth elements, which could be exchanged for roughly 10.24 million Jin. The profit margin was around 35%, but if he purchased a batch of new drugs from the Homo Sapiens Company, that margin could be even higher.

Birds die for food, and men die for wealth.

In the face of such enormous profits, who wouldn’t be driven mad?