Homo Sapiens

Hongsawaddy.

The Rakha Branch.

This border region, which the Homo Sapiens Company had painstakingly developed for over three years, had now become exceptionally prosperous.

After a complete urban transformation, the entire Rakhine State was now home to three major city clusters comprising a total of 32 cities.

The local countryside had been completely absorbed by the cities. The agricultural population now worked on farms or in forestries, and the families of these employees lived in the suburbs.

Of course, the cities built and funded by the Homo Sapiens Company were vastly different from those in other regions.

One of the biggest differences was their size and structure.

Take Ehan City, a northwestern border city in the Rakhine region, for example.

The city was composed of four urban districts and four satellite towns. The eight areas were separated by public facilities like forest parks, wetland parks, and stadiums. Transportation between the districts and towns was handled by subways, light rails, and buses.

Homo Sapiens Company employees didn’t care for owning private cars, preferring to use company-provided rentals or simply take public transit.

Ehan City had a population of 390,000.

It was also a border crossing. Less than a kilometer to the north lay the southern part of Dongba’s Jidapu Port District.

Under the pretext of defending against refugees from the Rain City Region moving south, the Homo Sapiens Company had previously funded the construction of a 25 to 30-meter-high barrier wall here. This wall had recently been completed.

Fortunately, the Hongsawaddy Branch had possessed the foresight to build this barrier wall in advance. Otherwise, Dongba’s scheme would have succeeded.

The barrier was less a wall and more like a great wall.

It stood about 25 to 30 meters high and 14 meters wide. The bottom five meters of the wall were a solid-fill layer. The 20 meters above that were divided into two levels: one for a rapid transit rail and another for defensive installations and supply depots.

The open platform on top of the wall also featured two lanes of traffic.

Guarding the wall around Ehan City were security personnel from the Homo Sapiens Company, who were ”hired” by the local authorities.

The man in charge, Wu Kedi, stood inside a tower on the wall, peering through binoculars at the forested wilderness to the north. Countless tattered tents crammed the open ground on the other side.

”Good thing the Chairman had the foresight to have us build the barrier wall ahead of time, or we’d be in deep trouble.”

The other supervisor, Meng Dagong, looked over the magnetic field surveillance data, his expression grim. ”There are already 1.42 million people gathered on the other side, and the number is still growing. I think we need to close the border crossing. It’s lost its function as a commercial trade window.”

Wu Kedi lowered his binoculars. ”Is Dongba still driving people over here?”

”According to our field agents, they’re still doing it. A lot of farmers who’ve lost their land are being driven in our direction.” Meng Dagong was furious.

While the Homo Sapiens Company could accept these laborers, it didn’t mean they were willing to be taken for a ride.

Apparently, Dongba had no intention of buying food or finding a way to solve its hunger problem. Instead, they planned to drive their poor to the Hongsawaddy Branch and let the Homo Sapiens Company deal with them.

A hint of murderous intent flickered across Wu Kedi’s face. ”They must have a death wish.”

Although furious, Wu Kedi hadn’t lost his composure. After all, acting unilaterally was strictly forbidden within the company. He could only report the matter to upper management.

At the same time, he ordered security to be tightened along the border to ensure the refugees couldn’t break through.

If they came in an orderly fashion, they would be somewhat manageable. The fear was that they would all rush over at once and refuse to comply with the company’s arrangements.

Although the two groups were ethnically similar, with nearly identical diets and cultures, the Rakha Branch—where New Humans now made up 43% of the workforce—was not particularly welcoming to disobedient migrant workers from South Asia.

Among all the various migrant workers, the Chinese were the most popular. After all, their education level was relatively high, the cost of ideological and cultural assimilation was low, and they were typically model employees.

...

Meanwhile, in the Jidapu Port District.

In the area near Rakhine State.

Business investigators from the Foreign Affairs Division had already coordinated with hidden assets on the ground to rapidly expand the influence of various local gangs.

For Dongba, a country with a population of 160 million packed into just 147,000 square kilometers, food supply was indeed a fatal problem.

Although landowners throughout Dongba were extremely hostile toward the Homo Sapiens Company, they still had to face one undeniable fact: they couldn’t beat the Homo Sapiens Company.

Those landowners who had publicly proclaimed their opposition to the Homo Sapiens Company had recently suffered a variety of ”accidents.”

In Dongba’s capital, Dhaka.

Thick smoke suddenly billowed from a luxurious residential area.

Flames reflected against the evening sky, making the sunset glow an exceptionally brilliant red.

Yang Mengjiao, the newly appointed head of the South Asia Region Branch, was on the rooftop of a building in the slums, gazing at the raging inferno.

She turned with a smile and asked, ”Ms. Bam, what do you think of the fireworks display?”

The middle-aged woman, whose fair skin had grown even paler, broke out in a cold sweat. She was clearly of a high caste.

Bam’s voice trembled. ”What do you want?”

”We don’t like it when people arbitrarily drive out the poor. Do you understand?”

GULP! Bam wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. ”This has nothing to do with me! It was all the big landowners!”

Yang Mengjiao shook her head, a wide smile on her face. ”It doesn’t matter. I understand your difficulties, Ms. Bam. And now, haven’t we just solved the problem for you?”

Hearing this, Bam grew even more terrified, her body trembling more violently.

”I hear your son has a company in Britain. You wouldn’t want his company to go bankrupt, would you, Ms. Bam?” Yang Mengjiao reminded her, her smile growing even brighter.

Bam’s psychological defenses finally crumbled. She dropped to her knees and begged, ”Please, spare me! I’ll give you 1 billion Euros!”

Yang Mengjiao took out a handkerchief and offered it to the tear-streaked Bam. ”Ms. Bam, our company is actually very reasonable. We have the utmost respect for private property. We can cooperate nicely.”

As if clutching at a lifeline, Bam hastily replied, ”I’m willing to cooperate! I will follow all of the company’s arrangements!”

”A pleasure doing business with you, then.”

Bam quickly nodded and bowed. ”A pleasure, a pleasure!”

「In less than three days.」

Dongba completely opened its markets to the Homo Sapiens Company, while also providing a series of preferential policies and support.

Almost simultaneously, the various subsidiaries of the Homo Sapiens Company swarmed into Dongba.

They began establishing clothing factories, supermarkets, hardware factories, restaurants, banks, schools, hospitals, ports, and warehouses throughout the country.

These Homo Sapiens Company subsidiaries expanded like wildfire across the country.

The Homo Sapiens Company also stationed a naval escort fleet at Jidapu Port.

Additionally, it reinforced the security forces at the Rakhine State and Qin State sub-branches of the Hongsawaddy Branch.

Many within Dongba had initially been dissatisfied with the Homo Sapiens Company’s entry. But after witnessing this display of force, they were suddenly ”enlightened.” They felt the company’s ”benevolent intentions” and immediately became very friendly and hospitable.

Of course, some people still harbored significant ”misunderstandings” about the Homo Sapiens Company. To address their ”rock-solid” convictions, the company dispatched the Foreign Affairs Division to pay them a personal visit, bearing gifts and showing ”concern” for their well-being.

However, quite coincidentally, these individuals either ”committed suicide” by shooting themselves in the back seven times, died of a sudden heart attack, choked to death while drinking water, or were hit by a car the moment they stepped outside.

The Homo Sapiens Company expressed its deep regret over these sudden accidents and continued to console the families of the deceased.

The deceased are now in a very stable condition, and their relatives have been properly taken care of by the company.

The Dongba media praised the Homo Sapiens Company as a corporation with a strong sense of social responsibility.