Two days later.

Maria Hospital.

Zhou Yi said to the old man before him, "Don't worry, the related medical technology has become very mature."

This Qin Mo was the oldest new human he had ever seen.

In the Wasteland Era, an ordinary person needed some luck and genetic gifts to live to 65.

"I'm not worried; I've lived long enough. Seeing Qin Shu grow up and do well in the company satisfies me completely."

Qin Mo had sparse hair and was a small, shriveled old man with a slightly hunched back, yet he spoke with clear articulation.

It was such an inconspicuous ordinary person who came up with Jade Soup.

Its ingredients mainly included dried, flaky mushrooms, sun-dried beans and bones, but at its core were the naturally shed mycelia of explosive mushrooms, which are the clusters of hyphae that insert into the soil.

According to the evaluation of Electromechanical Life professionals at Coral Port, it was an edible, non-toxic food material rich in calories, capable of quickly replenishing energy for flesh-and-blood life forms.

Jade Soup was a new invention previously unheard of, not only highly valuable for consumption, but also inexpensive to produce (including the explosive mushroom mycelium), easy to store in its dry form, and had great potential for widespread distribution and promotion.

With its originality and universality, Jade Soup directly propelled the company's [Food] rating to A-tier.

A-tier means standard, representing the best criteria and benchmarks for that category.

Coral Port wanted to collaborate with Wasteland Development Company on production and distribution, hoping to share the rights to set this standard.

But Zhou Yi was also pleased to see this development.

Because the population size of Jade City was too small, it was fine for simple food processing, but it was impossible to achieve scaled and technical standardization under the current conditions. With the entry of Coral Port as a trade hub, this shortcoming could be directly addressed, and mass production and sales could be quickly initiated.

Qin Mo and Qin Shu had made a great contribution, and Zhou Yi was determined to resolve the difficulties faced by the two inventors.

He returned his attention to Qin Mo: "Da Vinci said that you have chosen enhancement transformation surgery?"

"Chairman."

The old man smiled, revealing his darkened teeth: "I still prefer my own things. Having foreign objects drilled into my body always feels off to me."

"That's fine."

Zhou Yi nodded.

Currently, enhancement surgery was divided into three categories: enhancement transformation, enhancement organ transplant, and prosthetic replacement.

Enhancement transformation was based on the transformation of existing organs, implanting and fixing the Light Imprint Structure within to create enhanced body organs. The advantage was less rejection reaction, but the surgery was complicated, and the technology and material costs were substantial.

Enhancement organ transplant, as the name suggests, involved transplanting pre-cultivated enhanced organs into the body. The advantage was a simpler surgical process, but the disadvantage was a strong postoperative rejection reaction, a higher level of stress response, and a greater amount of medication required.

Prosthetic replacement meant replacing parts of the body with electromechanical prostheses; Qian Su was one example. The advantage was fulfilling the basic functions of the organ, but the downside was continuous wear during operation, requiring regular maintenance or even replacement.

Qin Mo had chosen enhancement transformation.

A hidden concern was his advanced age and poor physiological condition, which meant there was a certain failure rate for the enhancement transformation surgery.

Da Vinci had made a contingency plan: "If the transformation surgery fails, I will implant a small prosthetic lung alongside the existing ones to create a dual-lung structure."

"This could relieve the pressure on the lungs and reduce trauma."

To ensure the success of the surgery, Da Vinci recommended ordering Light Imprints of the third generation or above, E-grade.

Zhou Yi said outright, "If we're buying, we'll buy the best, the fifth generation."

"Yes. However, choosing a medical Light Imprint of E-5 grade 'Regulation' will cost 500 Light Seeds."

"Buy."

Da Vinci continued, "I will need an assisting physician for the transformation surgery to control the risks. So, I will contact Holy Mountain through the control vehicle to find at least one doctor from that field to conduct the surgery remotely with me."

"This will bring additional labor costs, ranging from 10 to 50 Light Seeds, payable to the medical institution of the assisting physician."

Zhou Yi nodded, "No problem, just give me a list when it's over. Safety is the most important."

"Yes."

When he saw the list later, Zhou Yi couldn't help but sigh at how high the costs were.

Apart from a set of Light Imprints and an assisting physician, an entire set of extracorporeal artificial lungs, nearing blood transfusions of the same model, several oxygen tanks, and disposable medical supplies were needed... Just this one surgery would take up 800 Light Seeds.

Even if one opted for the cheapest medical materials, a single enhancement surgery would still cost at least 200 Light Seeds.

This was far beyond what an ordinary person could afford.

Various equipment, props, and materials were successively delivered to Maria Hospital.

After Qin Mo was admitted to the hospital, he also began to rest and condition his body.

...

Only then did Zhou Yi turn to deal with the partnership with Coral Port.

Red Kestrel had sent over their proposed terms.

"Coral Port hopes to jointly operate the 'Jade Soup' food product with us, to share the patent recipe and to complete the patent registration. They will handle the centralized processing, which could reduce costs to a minimum, ensuring the largest consumer group possible."

"They provide the trade channels, by Coral Port's ships entering over 200 cities and covering more than 500 settlements, they could rapidly and extensively distribute this food product."

"Every city's sales bill will be summarized monthly, providing a clear picture of specific sales amounts and various costs."

"They will bear all costs, and we will each take 50% of the net profit."

One thing Zhou Yi liked about Mechanical City was that everything was well-equipped.

They were proceduralists, with every step clear and distinct, which made dealing with them reassuring.

This was essentially Wasteland Development Company investing its patent into the partnership.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but be curious, "Why are they putting in so much effort to share the patent?"

"For the rating."

Red Kestrel said, "Currently, Coral Port has a trade credit rating of B+, and it's a regional industry leader with substantial strength in many subdivisions of the trade sector, including Bulk Commodity Logistics and the Sugar Industry, both of which are rated A."

"They excel in long-distance, heavy-load transportation to reduce shipping costs and have unique technologies, experience, and warehouse management in this area."

"On the other hand, half of the sugar available to us comes from sugar factories at Coral Port. They buy beetroot and sugar cane as raw materials and process them into high-quality, inexpensive granulated and cube sugar."

"Coral Port's strategy is to dominate the low-price market, securing a larger market share with narrow profit margins."

"They have sugar factories that can be slightly modified to produce the dry packs for Jade Soup, which indeed gives them an advantage."

The drone emphasized, "Most importantly, they are striving to break into the ranks of A-level cities and need enough A-level industry ratings as well as sufficient influence and size. Therefore, the ability to sell Jade Soup on a large scale and at low cost is of great significance to them."

"They assessed Jade Soup and thought that the quantity of explosive mushroom spores in it was actually too much. Reducing it to a tenth of the current level would be enough to replenish strength without causing widespread sweating and overheating. This could further reduce costs."

Zhou Yi scratched his head as he listened.

The problem was that the number of explosive mushrooms was limited now... there was no way to expand on a large scale.

He pondered for a while, then steeled his heart.

If he was going to do it, he decided to go big!

"Red Kestrel, contact the person in charge at Coral Port for me."

A moment later.

Red Kestrel emitted an electronic sound, "Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Jin Yi from the Coral Port Program Department, responsible for the food industry-related program work. I will be in charge of the negotiations for the partnership on Jade Soup."

Zhou Yi shared his plan.

There was a long silence on the other end.

"You want to jointly manage the local explosive mushrooms, the core raw material, with us. That's not a problem, but I need to conduct an on-site inspection and pass the audit process. Are you available now?"

"Available."

"Great, I expect to arrive at Jade City in eight hours and look forward to meeting you."

"Alright, I'll be waiting."

While waiting, Red Kestrel reminded him again, "Lord Sha Hai has invited you twice already to discuss a potential in-depth partnership. You can go over now if you have time."

"No rush. Let's wait until things with Jade Soup are settled."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and said, "Do this: fly over there for me and briefly inform them of our situation. Let Lord Sha Hai understand that I am currently unavailable."

Red Kestrel flew westward.

An hour later, it returned, saying, "I have conveyed our situation to Lord Sha Hai, and they said there's no hurry; they will wait for news from our side. However, Duke Beidu and Steel Refining Lord were both present, which doesn't seem like a small matter."

Zhou Yi nodded.

He would deal with those matters later.

Securing this major customer at Coral Port was critical right now.

Seven hours and fifty-four minutes later, a medium-sized commercial jet with a white base and blue markings arrived above Jade City and began to circle slowly. A small electromechanical life descended from the plane.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Jin Yi. It is a pleasure to meet you."

The emissary was from the core program department of Mechanical City; it was very small, with two antennae and a body alternating in black and yellow, vibrating its wings at a high frequency.

Jin Yi was an electronic bee.

Zhou Yi also smiled and said, "Hello, welcome."

He escorted the electromechanical life to Mushroom Forest, where, accompanied by Sun Chonglai, they inspected the growth conditions of the explosive mushrooms.

Jin Yi hovered over the explosive mushrooms, projecting white light from its electronic compound eyes to scan and record the mushrooms.

About half an hour later.

"The species has been confirmed; it is a subspecies of the self-destructive explosive mushroom."

"The self-destructive explosive mushrooms vary depending on the environment they originated in, with differences in fertilizer, soil, water, and air."

"As an ingredient, it's a very special category, and its unique flavor is also very important."

The electronic bee flew up to Zhou Yi, "Mr. Zhou, are you sure you want to share the management of this subspecies with us and entrust us to carry out large-scale cultivation?"

"Sure."

Zhou Yi said firmly, "Only by doing so can we increase the yield of Jade Soup. Also, the production of explosive mushrooms here has reached a bottleneck, and I hope that with our experience, you will be able to expand their production."

"Thank you for your trust and good will. Please wait a moment; I'll submit the request for program department approval."

This time, the approval took less than half an hour.

"Approval has been granted. Here is a supplementary cooperation agreement added by the program department according to the Jade City agreement, regarding the explosive mushroom project..."

The power of A-level food was significant, and Coral Port was indeed eager to progress.

Zhou Yi carefully checked each item in the agreement; Red Kestrel also highlighted the key parts. Confirming there were no issues, it was a fifty-fifty split of net profits.

After signing his name, the order was finally on solid ground.

Zhou Yi had a clear vision.

He hid the part where the explosive mushrooms could transform Light Seed through building life, using them only as raw materials.

In this way, Recursive City's delivery, Chuneng City's Light Soot Sand, Coral Port's Jade Soup, and explosive mushrooms all formed stable industry partnerships with different Mechanical Cities.

Together with the patent profits from Wise Mushroom, the fixed output from the sediment belt, and the anticipated return of Breaker Haruk in the winter... these diverse sources of Light Seed revenue would provide the company with a solid economic foundation.

By now, the company's next step could also begin.

Zhou Yi took out his notebook and wrote with a signing pen.

— Develop a technology.

Jin Yi flew high into the sky, returned to the official jet, and after a circle, headed south toward Coral Port.

Zhou Yi then called Lie Hai, and, riding on Hunter, he set off for Sand Port City to meet with Lord Sha Hai and company.

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