Countries around the world were busy dealing with the plastic replacement efforts brought on by the fungal crisis.
For a time, America, the Homo Sapiens Company, and other world powers all reduced their frequency of stirring up trouble around the globe.
Of course, the Homo Sapiens Company took the opportunity of upgrading power grid equipment to expand its trade and influence in Africa and South America.
This forced America and France to divert some of their energy to solidifying their economic colonies in South America and Africa, to prevent the Homo Sapiens Company from charging into their backyard.
As for Kangaroo Country and New Zealand, which were also in the Southern Hemisphere, America was not too concerned.
For one, because these two places were separated from other regions by vast oceans, it would take at least a year or two for the fungus to spread there.
For another, Kangaroo Country and New Zealand were extremely fearful and hostile toward the Homo Sapiens Company, so there was basically no chance they would align themselves with it.
Therefore, America paid more attention to the South America region. After all, poor and remote backwaters like those in South America were the most vulnerable to the Homo Sapiens Company’s usual tactics.
Once the Homo Sapiens Company established a branch in South America, the security of North America would drop significantly.
In reality, America was still unaware that Three-leaf Oak, which had been clashing with them in the Latin America Region, had already developed a considerable number of secret bases in the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Rainforest.
Although Black Ship suspected that Three-leaf Oak was backed by the Homo Sapiens Company, they still underestimated the company’s recruitment efficiency and expansion speed.
At this point, Three-leaf Oak had already established 57 secret bases and 3,827 secret strongholds throughout Latin America, with 470,000 New Human employees operating covertly across the region.
This massive scale was like a snowball rolling downhill, its power and influence growing with each passing day.
「South America.」
「Little Venice.」
This small South American country, due to its extremely poor relations with America, naturally did not receive any economic aid from them.
But they understood that if they couldn’t complete the upgrade and overhaul of their power system soon, their domestic petrochemical, steel, electrolytic aluminum, electronics, and communications industries would all be crippled.
After all, Little Venice was in the tropics, a typical tropical rainforest climate zone, and it was very close to the American Canal Country’s canal. The East Japan fungus was estimated to arrive there soon.
After weighing the pros and cons, they still decided to cooperate with the Homo Sapiens Company.
Although the Homo Sapiens Company’s penchant for stirring up trouble was very worrying, Little Venice had no other choice. Unless they were willing to go grovel before America, their only option was the Homo Sapiens Company.
In fact, it wasn’t just Little Venice. The Redwood Federation, Pampas, and Bolivar were also seeking cooperation with the Homo Sapiens Company, hoping to bring in its power to counter America’s tyrannical dominance in South America.
Fortunately, the Homo Sapiens Company did not want to further provoke America recently, so it only set up some ordinary branch offices in South America while increasing its economic infiltration.
Secretly, it also had Three-leaf Oak dispatch some personnel to pose as "local" businesses and actively infiltrate the upper echelons throughout South America.
According to the Homo Sapiens Company’s strategic plan, their approach to South America was either to engage in minor skirmishes or to deliver a single, decisive blow.
If they were to establish a fully-authorized branch in South America at this time, although it was feasible, it would also easily alarm neighboring powers and force them to join forces with America.
Therefore, there was no need to make a move now. Instead, they had to continue weaving their web. When the time was right, they would unleash an all-out offensive.
The flirtatious exchanges between the South American countries and the Homo S’apiens Company prompted America to also increase its economic aid to the region.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Africa.
The Homo Sapiens Company was not so courteous toward France. The open strife and covert struggles between the two in North, West, and Central Africa—spanning from economics and culture to proxy wars—had nearly reached a fever pitch.
The local factions backed by both sides were fighting fiercely.
...
「At the same time.」
「Whale Sea.」
On the Ino Islands, previously ceded to the Homo Sapiens Company as compensation.
When the local residents heard the islands had been sold to the Homo Sapiens Company, they didn’t show any overly strong emotions.
The East Japanese people’s obedience to and worship of the strong is one of their national characteristics.
What’s more, the benefits at the Homo Sapiens Company were excellent. Coupled with the economic crisis affecting East Japan, the domestic economy was sluggish. The national pension for ’23 had to be cut by about 30%, while prices had risen by about 241%.
This exacerbated internal discontent, especially for those at the bottom with already low incomes, who felt immense pressure. Many could only afford to eat soy sauce on rice, with miso soup and dried salted fish each day.
With such terrifying pressure in their daily lives, many people were no longer in the mood to care about how the Homo Sapiens Company had acquired the Ino Islands.
On the contrary, many East Japanese people were just packing up and leaving. They didn’t want to stay in this hellhole for a second longer. Wouldn’t it be better to go "lie flat" at the Homo Sapiens Company?
By the time five Golden Roc Transporters arrived at the small airport on the Ino Islands on March 28th, the islands, which originally had a population of only a few hundred, were already overcrowded. Many people had flocked there with their entire families.
Sen Shangqiang, who was in charge of taking over the islands, couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on when he saw this scene.
"Simon, hurry up and organize some people to get this under control."
Simon, who was munching on a tomato, nodded. "OK."
Sen Shangqiang had been to the Ino Islands before. It used to be a national park with just a small fishing port and a population of less than four hundred.
Now, he used his pheromone-sniffing ability and preliminarily estimated there were over twenty thousand people here. Fortunately, they had all brought emergency food, instant noodles, and the like.
Sen Shangqiang thought for a moment, then took out his phone, found the number for the head of the Lucia Branch, and called them to ask for help preparing a shipment of food.
Along the Far Eastern coast of Lucia, which had not yet fully thawed, a considerable number of fleets from the New Luzon Shipping Company were already active.
In fact, the company’s fleets had never stopped sailing along Lucia’s Far Eastern coast, even during the previous winter.
Normally, Lucia’s Far Eastern coastal region had a freezing period of about one hundred days each year, during which ordinary transport ships could not navigate at all.
But the Homo Sapiens Company’s nuclear-powered transport ships were different. Since they were designed and built to aircraft carrier specifications, their hulls were extremely strong, allowing them to break through the ice on their own.
Forget the Far Eastern coast of Lucia; the company’s nuclear-powered transport ships could sail unimpeded even through the Arctic Ocean in winter.
Sen Shangqiang’s request was quickly approved by the Lucia Branch, which dispatched two nuclear-powered transport ships to head over as a pair.
They transported not only food and daily necessities, but also a batch of building materials, simple container homes, and a large quantity of lumber and methane gas.
On the Ino Islands, Sen Shangqiang and Simon were rushed off their feet.
After a preliminary count, there were about 24,000 people on the island, all migrant workers who had come with their families.
To prevent chaos, Sen Shangqiang had no choice but to first conscript the able-bodied young men into a temporary workforce and organize various preliminary infrastructure projects.
And the first project Sen Shangqiang prepared was the construction of a temporary airstrip to facilitate the landing of subsequent Golden Roc Transporters.
The Homo Sapiens Company did not place too much importance on the Ino Islands.
In the future, it would only serve as an air and sea transit hub, as well as a monitoring center.
As for stationing security forces, there was no need.
On one hand, if a war were to break out, such an isolated island had no buffer zone whatsoever, so it would be useless no matter how heavily fortified.
On the other hand, before a formal war began, no power would dare to touch the place, even if it were undefended.
Stationing a few coastal patrol ships and a battalion of security troops would be sufficient.
Only if the Homo Sapiens Company could establish a relatively large, fully-authorized branch in the Northeast Asia region in the future would the Ino Islands have the potential to be upgraded into a military base.