Chapter 67

“On February 27, 3029, Longxia implemented a temporary financial policy. Starting March 1, eligible individuals and small to medium-sized enterprises may apply at local banks for interest rate reductions or interest-free loans, with a two-year grace period before principal repayment begins.”

“Longxia has signed a grain trade cooperation agreement with Natal, planning to import 30 million tons of industrial soybeans in 3029.”

“Longxia is fully committed to encouraging crop cultivation and related industries.”

“Longxia Ministry of Agriculture: There is a massive global grain shortage…”

…

For the next two days, the television was flooded with news about the 25-Point Strategic Plan.

…

“Our country is now encouraging farming and supporting farmers in starting their own businesses.”

On March 3rd, Liu Yuming and several staff members from the agricultural technology station arrived at the Pingshui Town government office. Aside from the local officials, dozens of Pingshui residents were also present—each one a top representative of local farming excellence.

After his opening remarks, Liu Yuming handed out a stack of A4 documents. “This is the plan for Changlong’s industrial agricultural park.”

This economic crisis had hit the agricultural and food industries the hardest. Take the canned yellow peach factory, for example: the new crop of peaches rotted, the factory shut down, workers lost their jobs… It was like a domino effect, triggering a chain of economic disasters.

The previous crisis was caused by overproduction. Now, the problem was a lack of raw materials.

With the ongoing Acid Rain crisis, the country couldn’t yet reverse the situation, but it was doing everything possible to find a path forward. The main strategies were: 1) Develop grain-related industries to absorb surplus labor. 2) Temporarily convert related enterprises to focus on agricultural products—for example, turning a canned yellow peach factory into a canned sweet potato factory. 3) Advance hydroponics and high-tech cultivation methods.

In the past, if the entire country ramped up agriculture, it would’ve led to oversupply and sales issues. But now, with the grain crisis and 6 billion mouths to feed behind Longxia, as long as you grow crops, you don’t have to worry about finding buyers.

From December to the end of February, 760,000 people returned to Changlong. As soon as the 25-Point Strategic Plan was released, the Changlong leadership held meetings to discuss it. The final decision: establish large-scale agricultural industrial parks to solve the unemployment crisis.

“How does the industrial park process work?”

“Are there any requirements for investment or payment terms?”

“Should we keep growing wheat and corn…?”

…

Liu Yuming had barely gotten halfway through his presentation when hands shot up all over the room. Of the 67 farming representatives present, 95% had questions.

“You can all go home and think it over…” Liu Yuming was stunned by their enthusiasm.

“Think about what? The state has a policy—we just follow it!”

As the first township in the country to take the plunge, Changlong residents were especially grateful for last year’s land transfer program. Now, even without national policy backing, from a purely economic standpoint, developing agriculture was a guaranteed win.

They didn’t just want to join the industrial park—they wanted to go big and go strong.

Over the next three hours, Liu Yuming explained more details about the park. The investment mobilization went far better than expected.

At 3 p.m., the Pingshui Town meeting concluded.

“Team Leader Liu.” The moment it ended, Wang Mengying rushed over.

“Manager Wang?” Liu Yuming teased. Wang Mengying was one of Pingshui’s largest-scale farmers—they’d crossed paths many times over the past year.

“Team Leader Liu, our family wants to start a feed factory…” Wang Mengying began explaining their plan. They had the capital—what they lacked was raw material procurement.

As soon as she finished, Liu Yuming’s interest was piqued. “That’s doable. Our industrial park has a support program for feed factories.”

Natal was the world’s largest grain exporter. Since the Harma Storm, Natal had banned grain exports and stockpiled enough food for ten years. Their stance on grain was clear: only imports, no exports.

The international community condemned Natal’s selfishness—but there was nothing they could do.

Last winter, due to the El Niño phenomenon and polar cold fronts, Natal was hit by a severe cold wave crisis. Seventy percent of its crops were damaged. On the 10th of last month, the International Meteorological Station issued a warning: Harma Storm is expected to make landfall in Natal this May. Accompanied by the melting of polar glaciers, the disaster there would be even worse than in Mali.

Natal had ample soybeans. Since July of last year, Longxia had been negotiating a soybean trade deal. Natal hoarded its stock and dragged out talks for half a year. But now, with worsening planting conditions and soybeans being a non-staple crop, Natal—after weighing all interests—finally agreed to cooperate with Longxia.

Half a year ago, Natal held all the cards. But now that Longxia has opened up its agricultural sector, many bipolar nations have extended olive branches, offering soybean trade deals. Natal no longer holds the upper hand.

“In the face of the Harma disaster, we should unite and implement a global food-sharing initiative,” Natal’s media issued an international appeal.

A year ago, some underdeveloped countries might have still held out hope for genuine cooperation from Natal. But the past year’s disaster made one thing clear: Natal only cares about its own interests. There’s no real partnership here—this so-called “cooperation” is just Natal’s way of preparing for the looming Harma Storm.

Natal continued its plea: “The Harma Storm is a global disaster. Only through joint cooperation can we overcome this crisis…”

But some hard-nosed nations had had enough: “Ninety percent of us are currently facing a food crisis. We’re really looking forward to Natal stepping up with some actual international food aid.”

Everyone understood the need for global cooperation to weather the storm, but they were fed up with Natal’s empty talk and lack of action.

After all the countries had spoken their minds, Natal played deaf.

The rest of the world: …As expected.

Ignoring Natal’s calls, countries turned to Longxia and began signing cooperation agreements. The key points of these deals included: 1) importing dairy products from unpolluted countries like Xinlan and A’erlan; 2) purchasing frozen meat from unpolluted sources; 3) importing global feedstock materials…

Amid the global crisis, Longxia adopted a new policy: trading grain for goods.

“Once the foreign soybeans arrive, the government will coordinate procurement,” said Liu Yuming, discussing the Industrial Park Project.

“Thank you, Team Leader Liu!” Wang Mengying was visibly moved.

Changlong Industrial Park, Yangcheng Industrial Park, Ganzhou Industrial Park…

Over the next two weeks, the Industrial Park Project rolled out nationwide. From “industrial park infrastructure—material transport—factory recruitment,” this chain of demand finally brought down Longxia’s unemployment rate in March.

Suburban counties and towns launched both industrial and agricultural development projects, while urban neighborhoods began renovating old housing and building elder care facilities. According to economists, these two initiatives alone could indirectly drive nearly a trillion yuan in domestic investment.

Amid this nationwide mobilization, on March 20, Longxia released breaking news: [Morning of March 20, Longxia Agricultural Research Institute successfully developed the Acid Rain Rice Seed—this is the fourth Acid Rain Seed developed by the institute, officially named Chengfeng 04…]

“People in Longnan can finally eat rice again!”

“We’ve been choking down noodles for a year—old rice costs 17 yuan per jin—I could cry!”

“Ahhh! I feel like my head’s about to explode—I literally jumped out of my chair!”

…

The moment Longxia News posted the update, #Chengfeng 04# exploded across the internet.

Rice in the south, noodles in the north—southerners love their rice, northerners prefer flour. Since the food crisis began, southern residents had to swap their rice culture for a noodle-based diet. Longfeng Flour was chewy and tasty, sure—but for those born and raised in the south, nothing could replace rice…

By the end of last year, people were still splurging on overpriced rice at supermarkets just to satisfy their cravings. But by early this year, all that was left on the market was year-and-a-half-old rice—often out of stock. New rice is plump and fragrant; old rice is coarse and dull. People missed the taste of fresh rice more and more. Some even posted despairing messages online, wondering if rice would still exist two years from now…

Now, with the release of the Acid Rain Rice, it was like a beacon in the darkness—a true ray of hope!

As #Chengfeng 04# continued to trend, Longxia dropped another bombshell: [Afternoon of March 20, Longxia Agricultural Research Institute announced the successful development of seven varieties of lettuce family crops, including tomato, leaf lettuce, head lettuce, and spring greens. Research on other vegetables is ongoing.]

“I could cry—our veggie baskets just got a whole lot fuller.”

“Ahhh! We can eat tomatoes again!”

“Lettuce, leaf lettuce, head lettuce… hahaha, it’s all lettuce!”

…

Currently, the main vegetables on the market were lettuce, lettuce, and sweet potato leaves. Other vegetables existed, but most were homegrown by residents. Supermarket tomatoes had reached a terrifying 22 yuan per jin. Now, with Longxia announcing seven new vegetable varieties, it signaled one thing—they were on the verge of achieving basic vegetable self-sufficiency!

“I want spicy hotpot with red oil!”

“Tomatoes, lettuce, sweet potato noodles, leaf lettuce… I can already imagine the hotpot base!”

“Ahhh! I need hotpot now!”

…

The moment the seven types of vegetables were announced, the people of Sichuan Province felt like crying. As die-hard lovers of all things spicy, they hadn’t had a proper hotpot meal in over a year. And it wasn’t just hotpot—dishes like spicy chicken, sizzling fish, boiled pork slices, and mapo tofu had all become luxuries.

Now, watching Long Xia News, they felt a dizzying wave of joy crash over them.

“We can eat vegetables again.” As the whole country tuned in to the news, in Guihua Township of Sichuan Province, Wang Dashun scrolled through the updates, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Wang Dashun was forty-seven this year. He used to work as a porter in Chong City, but after saving up some money, he came back home and started a pig farm. Calling it a “farm” was generous—he raised pigs the traditional village way, about ten a year, selling each for three to four thousand yuan. Life wasn’t rich, but it was passable. Last year, when heavy rains hit Sichuan, his house was on higher ground and avoided disaster, but two of his ten pigs were swept away.

“The price from the Meat Processing Plant isn’t bad. Should we sell?” his wife asked as she stepped outside, just as Wang Dashun finished feeding the pigs.

Raising pigs usually follows a cycle. Since the second half of last year, they couldn’t even feed them with leftover scraps and had to switch to professional feed. But as feed prices kept rising, Wang could only mix in bran and vegetables to stretch it. Pork prices had gone up, but their pigs were getting smaller and smaller…

Over the past six months, he’d sold five pigs. Now they only had one piglet and one sow left.

The sow was pregnant, but malnourished. Whether the piglets would survive was anyone’s guess.

The Meat Processing Plant was offering a good price, and the family had been torn about whether to sell.

“She’s pregnant,” Wang Dashun said, eyeing the sow with hesitation. These were meat pigs, and the sow clearly wasn’t in good shape. Judging by her belly, she might be carrying three.

“Even if she is, we can’t afford to raise them,” his wife sighed.

In the countryside, people usually don’t sell pregnant sows. But with feed costs soaring and even human meals hard to come by, where would they find the nutrition to feed a pig?

“Let’s wait a bit longer,” Wang Dashun said after thinking it over.

He’d been following the news closely. The country was now importing soybeans and talking about developing the livestock industry. It was good that the government cared, but with poor conditions for farming, the industry couldn’t rely on imports alone. Whether this effort would turn things around was still unclear…

Wang Dashun kept wondering whether it was still worth raising pigs. After mixing feed for the two remaining pigs, he didn’t dwell on it. Their son was attending high school in town, so it was just him and his wife at home.

They watched some TV, then went to bed.

At 2 a.m., Wang Dashun was jolted awake by a sharp, high-pitched grunting. He threw on a coat and stepped outside, only to see a massive dark figure in the pigsty. The two pigs had been pushed to the side, and the figure had its head buried in the feed trough, eating noisily.

“Hey! Hey!” Wang Dashun shouted, trying to scare it off.

The dark figure shifted its shoulders but didn’t react otherwise.

Seeing it wasn’t aggressive, Wang Dashun cautiously shone his flashlight at it.

The figure was thin and bony, clearly suffering from long-term malnutrition. But its fur was black and white. As a native of Sichuan, Wang Dashun recognized the species instantly… a panda.

He glanced up at the hill behind his house. The vegetation had degraded by 85%. The mountain was now mostly gray-brown, covered in broken branches and dead wood.

Wang Dashun stared at the dark figure.

The dark figure stared back at him.

The panda couldn’t survive in the mountains anymore. It had come down in search of food.