Homo Sapiens

April 28, 2019.

A massive influx of capital.

Meticulous management.

An ever-improving supply chain.

Combined with the powerful technology of the Homo Sapiens Company.

The cities in the southern part of Luzon Island began to undergo noticeable changes. This transformation wasn’t just reflected in residents’ incomes, but more importantly, in an uplifted sense of morale and vitality.

Engineering projects—building roads, houses, and bridges—aggressively absorbed the local labor force. Cities and rural areas that originally had a labor surplus found their workers siphoned away by these massive undertakings.

If it were merely an increase in income, it would have been of little use to the local economy. After all, money only demonstrates its value when it can be used to purchase goods.

Take Huaguo’s Lingnan Province, for example. Why is it that despite the considerable amount of funds flowing into the Chaoshan Region through overseas remittances each year, the local standard of living struggles to improve?

The reason is that the amount of goods available for purchase did not increase.

Suppose the locally produced goods amount to 10,000 tons, and the total capital held by residents is 100 million yuan. The average price of goods would then be 10 yuan per kilogram.

But if the total capital held by residents increases to 300 million yuan while locally produced goods remain at 10,000 tons, the average price of goods would naturally rise to 30 yuan per kilogram.

This is "remittance-driven inflation."

There are only two ways to solve this specific type of inflation: one is to increase local production of goods, and the other is to increase the volume of imported goods.

In the Chaoshan Region, it was only after the rise of internet shopping that they were barely able to alleviate the high prices caused by the shortage of local goods, and only then by resorting to online purchases.

Meanwhile, the southern region of Luzon Island was now employing a two-pronged approach.

Fengrao House expanded its volume of imported goods while also partnering with Haitian Agriculture to boost local production. On top of that, improved infrastructure significantly reduced losses during transportation and storage.

For instance, the mangosteens previously sold at Fengrao Supermarket were very expensive, even those produced in surrounding areas. This was due to poor transport routes and inadequate preservation technology.

Now, the highways have been widened and are continuously extending to various towns and villages. This infrastructure upgrade has led to a reduction in transportation costs.

Of course, Coral Construction Company doesn’t do business at a loss. These new highways are all toll roads. Unless you’re a vehicle from an affiliated company, you’d better pay the toll.

The Homo Sapiens Company didn’t invest in all these highways for everyone to use for free. Otherwise, their competitors could also use this infrastructure at no cost, which would be tantamount to aiding the enemy.

「Lima South City.」

An LPG filling station in the suburbs.

Many people were waiting in line, but the station was a bit unusual today. Employees from the Jade Energy Company were promoting new gas cylinders and stoves to the customers.

Lu Min, who ran a Chinese restaurant in the city, used a significant amount of gas each month. He held a promotional flyer, his face a mask of indecision.

Switching to methane gas was indeed cheaper than LPG, but it required replacing his stove and gas cylinders, which made him hesitate.

However, Lima South City’s economy had been developing rapidly, and customer traffic at his Chinese restaurant had increased by nearly twenty to thirty percent. His gas consumption was naturally soaring. After mulling it over for more than ten minutes, he finally made up his mind.

According to Jade Energy’s pitch, for the same calorific output, methane gas cost only about 60% of the price of LPG. If he was worried about price hikes, he could sign a long-term supply contract.

Lu Min signed a one-year contract. An employee then took the new cylinder and stove and followed him back to his restaurant to make the modifications.

The others who made the same choice as Lu Min were all high-volume gas users, such as restaurants, small workshops, slaughterhouses, and food shops.

When Lu Min’s local wife heard they had to replace the new stove, she cursed angrily. But since the contract was already signed, she could only hold her nose and accept it.

The employee finished installing the new stove. After opening the gas valve, a pale blue flame flickered to life from the burner. Only then did he begin his detailed instructions:

"Boss Lu, the methane stove and this cylinder are a specially matched set. Don’t try to connect them to anything else. Also, if this cylinder is lost, a brand new 30-kilogram one costs 1,200 Pesos."

"What kind of cylinder is this? Why is it so expensive? Your company isn’t trying to scam us, are you?" Lu Min’s wife immediately demanded.

The employee didn’t get angry. Instead, he shrugged and said with a smile, "Methane gas isn’t the same as LPG. A regular cylinder can’t hold much methane."

Methane cylinders were indeed different from regular LPG cylinders. Methane is very difficult to compress into a liquid at room temperature. If you tried to force methane into an LPG cylinder, you would either only manage to fill it with gaseous methane or you would cause the cylinder to rupture.

The methane cylinder developed by Jade Energy, however, used a Crystal Sponge as its inner liner. This was combined with soundproofing and shock-absorbing layers, a steel shell, and an internal sonic generator that allowed the storage liner to continuously release the stored methane.

The sonic generator could be powered by dry-cell batteries or plugged in, and its energy consumption was extremely low.

This type of cylinder was also extremely safe. If the sonic generator wasn’t activated, the cylinder wouldn’t release any gas even if the stove’s valve was open. You have to press the switch on the sonic generator for it to release methane.

Even in the event of an accident leading to deflagration or explosion, the cylinder’s temperature sensor would automatically cut off the sonic generator if it detected the cylinder’s body temperature exceeding the warning threshold, preventing any more methane from being released.

This was why the methane cylinders were relatively expensive.

Jade Energy was promoting methane gas in major cities because its methane plants had begun production. Currently, three plants were operational, with another seven under construction.

One of these plants was located near Lima South City. Its annual methane output was around 40 to 50 million cubic meters, with room for further upgrades and expansion.

The raw materials for the methane plants were household waste, discarded plastics, dead branches and leaves, waste residue and liquid from food factories, starch, and sugar.

Under normal circumstances, starch and sugar were not used as raw materials for gas production.

Instead, the main raw materials for the methane plants were dead branches and leaves from plantations, waste residue and liquid from food processing, and organic household waste.

The Lima South Methane Plant, for example, currently used a mix of raw materials for gas production: 12-16% organic household waste, 5-8% discarded plastics, 21-30% waste residue and liquid from manufacturing enterprises, 35-50% dead branches and leaves from plantations, and 10-15% trimmed grass and branches from forest farms.

Basically, the fermentation tanks at the methane plants were all operating at full capacity. Even if the produced methane couldn’t be sold immediately, it could be stored.

Of course, when other raw materials were plentiful, the wood and plastic from the waste stream weren’t used for methane fermentation either; they were set aside as reserve materials.

Starch and sugar were raw materials to be used only out of necessity in emergency situations.

By replacing LPG with methane, Jade Energy had reduced its gas production costs by about 86%. Previously, coal had to be imported from Australia for gas manufacturing, but now they could gradually reduce those coal imports.

However, since coal prices were still relatively cheap, Jade Energy did not stop importing it. They simply stored the surplus coal in several small mining areas near the ports.

When it comes to resources, as long as the price is right, it’s always better to use imports.

After all, coal doesn’t expire, whereas the US Dollar is constantly being devalued by quantitative easing. It was much safer to convert US Dollars into stockpiled resources.

Hoarding a huge pile of US Dollars—now that would make you a real sucker.

If a conflict with America ever broke out, they could issue a single sanction and make all the US Dollars you’re holding unusable.

What’s the difference between money you can’t spend and scrap paper? In fact, it’s worse than scrap paper; at least scrap paper can be recycled.