Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Information Security
Jiang Miao didn’t pay much attention to Wang Dafu’s West Sea Company. After all, no matter what choices they made, the impact on Hailufeng Company would be minimal.
Besides, Ryukyu and the mainland were separated not just by a vast ocean, but also by unfavorable local sentiment. Even if Jiang Miao wanted to take them down, it would be difficult to find an opening right away.
If he hadn’t gone through the Rokkaido Eel Company this time, it would have been very difficult to even sue them in Ryukyu.
Of course, Hailufeng Company also took this opportunity to rapidly push forward with security and confidentiality upgrades at its eel farm.
The security room was now located directly across from the ingredient mixing room’s entrance, with at least one guard watching it around the clock. They had also installed several surveillance camera systems, each with its own independent power supply. Combined with a new access control system that used facial and fingerprint recognition, plus a mechanical lock, it was certain there wouldn’t be any issues for the foreseeable future.
The company’s eel fry sales for the month didn’t decrease despite the espionage incident.
This was especially true in Ryukyu. West Sea Company’s recent massive purchase of nearly 300,000 kilograms of mature eels had caused local eel prices to soar even higher. Seeing a chance for profit, many Ryukyuan eel farms also purchased fry from Hailufeng Company.
However, as the supply of eel fry increased in February, the domestic market price did see a slight decline, with the average price per fry dropping to around 2.37 Hua Yuan.
After all, many well-informed industry insiders knew West Sea Company was buying up mature eels. They inferred that West Sea Company would soon be selling its own eel fry on a massive scale. Consequently, some farms felt it was unnecessary to purchase large quantities of Hailufeng Company’s expensive fry.
In fact, many Ryukyuan eel farms had already pre-ordered fry from West Sea Company. According to the sales department’s contacts in the Min Nan region, West Sea Company’s proposed wholesale price was about 22,000 Hua Yuan per kilogram of glass eels, or 2.2 Hua Yuan per individual eel.
This was naturally enough to tempt some farm owners into playing the waiting game.
Jiang Miao, for his part, was unconcerned.
’Anyway, in a few months, when West Sea Company implodes and can’t fulfill its contracts, and all those eels just up and die... that’s when the real show will begin.’
...
The February spring wind was as sharp as shears.
Inside the greenhouses at Nanhu Farm, lush strawberry seedlings now covered an area of nearly an acre.
A cold, fine drizzle fell upon the plastic sheeting.
PATTER PATTER...
Jiang Miao accompanied Shuya. Both were clad in protective suits and full-face respirators, and they had to pass through a sanitizing spray zone before entering the block of greenhouses.
For greenhouses used to cultivate fungi, such strict sanitization procedures were necessary to prevent contamination from outside microbes.
Inside the experimental greenhouse for edible fungi.
Shuya checked the first greenhouse but saw no signs of any emerging White Truffles.
Jiang Miao, however, could see the exact condition of each and every grow bag. He took a casual lap around the greenhouse.
After making a circuit herself, Shuya shook her head. "It doesn’t look like it was a success."
But Jiang Miao stopped and pointed to one of the substrate bags. "This one seems to have some mycelia."
Shuya hurried over, raised a magnifying glass to the surface of the substrate, and sure enough, she found many fine, white mycelial threads. "You’re right! Ah Miao, you have such sharp eyes."
"Let’s take a few samples."
"Okay. You can help me take notes."
They quickly coordinated their tasks, extracting five sample vials while recording their visual observations.
They proceeded to check ten experimental greenhouses in a row.
Jiang Miao’s lab notebook was already filled with thirty-seven pages of notes.
Back in the shipping container lab, they took off their protective suits and helmets, replacing them with face masks and gloves.
Jiang Miao patted the notebook in his hand. "Out of the 200 control groups in these ten greenhouses, I believe groups 63, 72, and 95 show the most promise."
Shuya took the notebook and flipped through the data carefully, then asked with a puzzled look, "I understand groups 63 and 95, but the results for group 72 are pretty unremarkable. Did you notice something?"
"Because the substrate for that group was mixed with pine needles and pine cones, not pine wood chips, yet mycelia still appeared. This means that pine needles and pine cones also contain nutrients necessary for the white truffle fungus."
Shuya’s eyes lit up in understanding. "So you’re thinking that certain specific compounds found in pine needles, pine cones, and pine wood chips are what affect the white truffle fungus’s reproduction."
"Exactly. And based on the preliminary results, the concentration of these compounds is likely highest in pine wood chips, lower in pine cones, and lowest in pine needles."
"If we run a comparison, we should be able to get a good idea of what those compounds are."
Shuya nodded. "That makes perfect sense. I’ll get to work on identifying those compounds right away."
"Let’s wait a little longer. Once our new lab is built, we can run the tests in-house. The risk of a leak will be much lower," Jiang Miao said with a smile as he sorted the sample vials into a rack.
In truth, Jiang Miao had already used his appraisal panel to see the few special compounds in pine that played a crucial role in the white truffle fungus’s reproduction.
If that were all, Jiang Miao wouldn’t have bothered giving Shuya a special hint.
During his observation, he had discovered that while the pine wood chips contained all three compounds, the concentration of one oleaginous compound was less than one percent of what was in the pine cones. Meanwhile, a certain mineral compound was most concentrated in the pine needles.
Therefore, looking at the three specific compounds, the advantage of the pine wood was its balance, but it still wasn’t the optimal ratio.
This was perfectly normal. Some symbiotic fungi are particularly picky about their environment and symbiotic partners; even in nature, they can’t always guarantee that all conditions will be optimal.
In agricultural production, "on-years" and "off-years" are a common phenomenon.
And Jiang Miao just so happened to be able to perceive the optimal growing conditions for any living thing.
All he needed to do now was guide Shuya, step by step, through discovery and experimentation. He would lead her to find all the pieces of the "growth puzzle" for the white truffle fungus and then help her put them together. The result would be the technique for artificially cultivating White Truffles.
Over the last half-month of his guidance, Shuya had already found more than half of the "growth puzzle" pieces. The vast majority of these related to research on trace elements, minerals, soil pH, and specific compounds in symbiotic plants.
As for environmental factors like temperature, humidity, and light exposure, they had only run partial experiments. This was mainly due to a lack of proper lab equipment and facilities, so comprehensive testing would have to wait until the new laboratory was complete.
Shuya understood Jiang Miao’s caution, especially after the recent espionage incident.
’As for so-called commercial integrity, that only exists when the price isn’t high enough.’
If they sent the samples to a third-party lab for testing now, then when Hailufeng Company eventually launched its White Truffle products, the lab technicians would surely make the connection to their earlier submissions.
With no profit on the line, they wouldn’t bother to study the data from the submitted samples.
But when the potential profit was great enough, they wouldn’t hesitate to analyze that data themselves or package it for sale to other interested companies.
Profit sways the human heart—a timeless truth.
Offer enough money, and most people will find it difficult to resist the temptation.
Jiang Miao instructed Shuya to keep all her experimental records and information in a personal code that only she could understand, and to avoid recording any important information on computers or phones.
After all, the apps on modern computers and phones were a bunch of rogues, secretly collecting all sorts of user data, often without consent.
Although Jiang Miao had switched all company employees over to domestically-produced phones, desktops, and laptops, he still required that core company data not be stored on any device connected to the internet.
Even for those offline devices, he required the company’s programmers and IT technicians to completely isolate them, both physically and through software.
This included removing Ethernet ports, disabling Wi-Fi components, and blocking any apps that might run automatically in the background.
These computers, used for storing core information, were stripped down to nothing but file editing and management functions; all other apps were erased.
Jiang Miao was doing this just to be safe.
