Chapter 28: Corpse Starch
Denison Henry truly wanted to make the purchase.
The alloy and plastic steel materials themselves, as well as the individual vests crafted from them, already promised him enormous profits.
Back in his hometown of Garbage Town, he was just a merchant, true. But he had greater ambitions; he was chasing the position of an “Agent.”
Garbage Town was a chaotic place, but also a business haven: rich in resources and populous.
There, if one’s business was large enough, manpower sufficient, and military force strong, one could gain enough influence to become an “Agent.”
In the chaotic political ecosystem of Garbage Town, it was the Agents who called the shots.
Each held a monopoly over a unique business, competing yet cooperating, forming vast networks of power.
Henry’s manpower wasn’t enough, and his business wasn’t big enough. But if he could truly secure the alloy and plastic steel business, he would have a unique business.
With the support of the Wasteland Society, enabling him to monopolize, he could quickly amass a significant profit.
The remaining issue was money, which was easily solvable.
The title of Agent was already beckoning to him.
Honestly, if it weren’t for the Governor behind the Wasteland Society, he would have turned around and left by now, then found a way to gather a team to wipe out the Wasteland Society and firmly grasp the production capability of alloy and plastic steel in his own hands.
Unfortunately…
But it didn’t matter; as long as he could secure the exclusive rights to this business, it would be enough.
Henry solemnly said to Patel, “I’ll take all of this batch of goods; I’ll give you the best price. We can also sign a long-term cooperation agreement. Trust me, I can definitely help you sell these treasures throughout the entire wasteland world! We will become the best partners, as long as you sign an exclusive agreement with me.”
“Wait… wait a moment.”
“?”
Henry frowned tightly, “Do you have any other conditions? Just speak!”
Patel quickly waved his hand, “I don’t have any conditions, but I can’t make the decision on this matter!”
Before Henry could speak, Patel continued, “Everything here belongs to the great Governor; I dare not promise you anything casually. Without the Governor’s approval, not a single piece of alloy and plastic steel can be sold.”
“The Governor…”
Henry calmed down and began to have a headache.
Fooling Patel might not be difficult, but fooling the Governor…
The deeds of that Governor named ‘Gu Hang,’ he had heard a bit about.
Eccentric and unconventional, after landing, he didn’t take over the power of the Alliance government but instead ran off to the wilderness to start construction.
Could construction save the entire Fury Owl Planet?
Henry didn’t believe it.
Even though the Wasteland Society had undergone earth-shattering changes in a very short time under the rule of that Governor, such changes alone were still far from altering the entire ecosystem of Fury Owl Planet.
In two years, Governor Gu would probably be dealt with by the Imperial Taxation just like his predecessors.
But before that, he was the Governor, the nominal highest ruler of this planet.
What capital did a small merchant like himself have to fool an Imperial Governor?
Seeing Henry’s tangled hesitation, Patel didn’t know what kind of inner turmoil his ‘old friend’ was going through.
He just grinned and reassured him, “The Governor is a very good man. As long as you sincerely serve him, you will certainly receive generous rewards.”
When Patel said this, he seemed very sincere. But why did Henry vaguely feel that there was an underlying meaning:
“If you’re not sincere enough, you’re done for.”
It should be a misconception; how could Patel have so many thoughts?
Henry took a deep breath and said firmly, “I’ll go see the Governor now!”
…
The great Governor Gu Hang was currently studying a corpse.
Its shape barely resembled a creature, with four limbs, appearing to walk semi-upright, somewhat like a headless monkey with pus-filled abscesses all over its body and completely disproportionate limbs, and an especially swollen chest cavity.
It was very fast, extremely fierce, with sharp claws on all its limbs.
After completing its hunt, it would tear the prey’s corpse apart and then use the pus on its body to corrode and dissolve the prey’s fragments, subsequently ‘absorbing’ them into its own body.
This thing, the locals called ‘Pustule Monster,’ was a common creature on the wasteland.
At that time, while he was taking a nap in his house, he suddenly heard some commotion outside. Then Zhang Chao reported to him that a dozen or so Pustule Monsters had appeared at the expansion site on the outskirts of the camp and attacked the workers.
Although the soldiers guarding the camp arrived quickly and annihilated the group of monsters, three workers still lost their lives.
Casualties, of course, were very unfortunate.
But this was the wasteland.
Gu Hang didn’t focus on what had already happened and couldn’t be changed.
Looking at the monster corpse in front of him, he posed a fundamental question:
“Can this thing be eaten?”
“Uh…”
Yan Fangxu didn’t understand what the Governor was thinking, but he was greatly shocked.
Gu Hang was somewhat dissatisfied with Yan Fangxu’s shock and emphasized, “The most important thing on the wasteland is food! Every day when I open my eyes, I have to think about how to feed the thousands of people in the three camps. We can’t just sit around and wait for resources to run out; we need to find all possible sources of food. I think these things have potential. It’s said that there are many of these on the wasteland, along with things like zombie dogs. If they can all be eaten…”
“Governor, please wait a moment…” Yan Fangxu said helplessly, “These monsters have a lot of highly corrosive pus on them. They don’t look like something that can be eaten, right?”
“How do we know if we don’t try?”
Gu Hang remained persistent, “Of course, I don’t mean for our people to eat them directly. I’ve heard that on most Hive Worlds, they have technology to decompose all organic materials into food. They call it… corpse starch? Anyway, it’s some kind of starch block. I wonder if Fury Owl Planet has this technology? If not, the Quintet certainly has it, and we should try to get it.”
Yan Fangxu was even more helpless.
Brother, I’ve eaten those starch blocks!
That thing is essentially a product of food chemistry, capable of recycling organic waste, including old clothes and other textile waste, discarded wood, industrial organic waste, and even plant fibers and animal limbs, breaking them down into small molecules and refining them into synthetic starch blocks.
Although on some resource-poor, densely populated Hive Worlds, they do recycle deceased bodies and even feces, which is why it’s derisively called ‘corpse starch,’ you don’t have to say it out loud!
After all, generally speaking, the composition of synthetic starch is still normal…
Those small portions, those traces…
If you don’t mention it, we can still be friends.