Chapter 373 Whoever Benefits Is Most Suspicious
Intense investigations and research on Tokyo fungi are proceeding in an orderly manner.
The friction between America and the Homo Sapiens Company in the Pacific Ocean, the Ceylon Ocean, and Oceania is also ongoing.
Until a week later.
That is February 12th.
The Tokyo Grand Hotel was booked out for the day.
Edward and Victor, who flew over from North America, and Wu Wei and Aowei, who came from Southeast Asia, each brought their negotiation teams to hold talks at the Tokyo Hotel.
Special representatives from other major powers also attended the trial.
Wu Wei threw a document in front of Victor, with a gloomy sneer on his face: "Could you please explain what's going on?"
Victor did not answer, but opened the document, which showed the research and evaluation of Tokyo fungi by the Biological Research Institute of Sapiens Company.
"This fungus will only reproduce in large numbers when the temperature is between 22 and 37 degrees Celsius and the air humidity is greater than 50%. At the same time, in this environment, its corrosion rate on plastic can reach the fastest, and it can decompose polyethylene plastics such as plastic bags and plastic films in 8 months..."
Wu Wei stared at Victor intently: "Excuse me, where on earth can such environmental conditions be maintained for a long time?"
Everyone present reacted immediately.
The daily temperature is between 22 and 37 degrees Celsius, and the air humidity is greater than 50%, which is the most suitable for the tropical regions on Earth.
To be precise, Southeast Asia, the Redwood Federation of South America and the Central Basin of Africa are the most suitable.
"The temperature and humidity in mid- and high-latitudes are only suitable for the reproduction of Tokyo fungi in summer. The decomposition rate of plastic in these areas is several times slower than that in the tropics, and even dozens of times slower."
Wu Wei's angry voice was like a howling typhoon: "Haha, who gains and who loses is self-evident. I have every reason to suspect that some forces created this fungus specifically to deal with our Homo Sapiens Company."
While Wu Wei was speaking, his eyes were fixed on Victor.
Victor was thinking in his heart: "Wang Defa! Could it really be the board of directors who did it?"
The other envoys from the powerful countries present had different thoughts in their minds at this time.
For example, Lucia's Andre looked at Wu Wei, Victor and others, and smiled secretly in his heart, thinking that Lucia made a lot of money this time.
The reason why Andre thought Lucia made a fortune.
The reason is that Lucia is located in the middle and high latitudes, and most of the country is temperate, subarctic and frigid, with only a small part being subtropical.
Under these climatic conditions, Tokyo fungi only have a reproduction period of two or three months a year, which means that the time it takes for plastic to decompose in Lucia will be three or four times that in tropical areas.
Taking polyethylene, the fastest and easiest to decompose, as an example, a polyethylene plastic bag can be completely decomposed in just 8 months in Southeast Asia, but in Lucia, it takes about 24 to 32 months.
What's more, the fact that plastic is easily decomposed does not mean that the plastic industry will decline.
Andre easily thought that if plastic can be easily decomposed, does that mean that plastic becomes environmentally friendly? This is good for the plastic industry!
If it’s good for the plastics industry, it’s good for the oil industry.
Russia is an oil exporting country, so this is good news for Russia!
Moreover, plastic is easily decomposed, which means that the cost-effectiveness of plastic furniture decreases, which will benefit wood, bamboo, ceramics, glass, aluminum alloy and stainless steel.
Russia is a world-renowned timber exporter, and this is beneficial to Russia's timber industry.
Good boy! The more Andre thought about it, the more guilty he felt. He felt that Lucia had made a huge profit.
Victor had a similar idea.
But he wasn't just thinking about America's environmental advantages and the oil and gas industry, but also about automobiles and electronics.
Now the Tokyo fungus causes the accelerated aging of plastic parts in automobiles and electronic products, and it seems to have a great impact on automobiles and electronic products around the world.
But we need to look at the problem in two ways.
If parts age faster, will they be scrapped faster? If they are scrapped faster, do we need to buy new products? This means that the already saturated electronics and automobile markets will usher in a large wave of new demand.
What is America's problem now?
It’s because too much money has been printed, the market itself is close to saturation, and the external market is also shrinking.
Now, Tokyo Fungus has helped them create a large amount of new demand, which will help the North American automotive and semiconductor industries maintain production and revive North American industry.
Increasing the production scale of related industries will require a large number of industrial workers, which can reduce the unemployment rate and restore the economic cycle.
America is like Qin Shi Huang sitting on the electric chair—he’s so awesome.
You said Tokyo fungus will reduce the service life of cables and medical supplies? That's even better. Just replace them with new materials or bury them underground. This requires both demand and money!
Why was plastic so difficult to eliminate in all walks of life before?
The reason is that the relevant interests of the plastics industry are too huge. If a single region pushes forward, it will easily lead to its own industrial chain being defeated by other regions.
Now it’s okay, let’s change it together.
If you don't change, Tokyo Fungus will teach you a lesson.
The envoy from the Far East was actually muttering in his heart.
It will definitely take them about 3 to 5 years to complete the cable transformation in the southern region. Fortunately, they have carried out underground cable transformation before that.
According to a research report on Tokyo fungi by Sapiens, the fungus decomposes underground plastics relatively slowly, especially buried cables, which may take decades to be completely corroded.
Moreover, the use of potassium permanganate and copper hydroxide can effectively inhibit the reproduction of Tokyo fungus.
At worst, you can spray copper hydroxide and potassium permanganate solution on the underground pipeline corridor regularly.
As for the high-voltage cables installed on towers, they can first be sprayed with specific barrier paint, and then try to find anti-fungal additives or new plastics, and then gradually transform these cables.
Moreover, during this fungal crisis, electrical appliances, automobiles, and textiles will certainly be scrapped at an accelerated pace. At that time, new demand in the Far East and the world will surely increase significantly, which is extremely beneficial to the Far East's foreign trade industry.
Where there is new demand, there is a market, and where there is a market, a large number of industries can be sustained.
As for the problem of reduced plastic service life, it can actually be overcome as long as the benefits are sufficient and there are plenty of alternative products.
Plastic bags? Cloth bags, bamboo baskets, paper bags.
Plastic bottles? Cans, glass bottles, enamel.
Syringes, infusion lines and medicine bags? In a glass, sealed sterilization box.
Chemical fiber? Cotton and linen.
Toothbrush? Pig hair.
Anyway, as long as there is enough benefit, plastic can be replaced by other materials in various scenarios.
Many people think that humans cannot survive without plastic.
That would be an underestimation of human beings.
In the era when plastic was not yet widely used, human beings were still living well.
This time it was just the fungus that forced the vested interests of the entire plastic industry to bear the brunt of the situation. Naturally, there was no way to stop the global wave of plastic substitution.
In fact, the impact brought by fungi is beneficial to disposable plastic products in the plastics industry.
As long as they are properly sealed and disinfected and used immediately after opening, things like disposable plastic bags will be used in large quantities.
There is no need to develop those biodegradable plastics now, Tokyo Fungi can do it directly in one step.
All in all, the impact of Tokyo fungus has both advantages and disadvantages.
…
Of course, at this moment in the lobby of the Tokyo Hotel, the Sapiens company, which had suffered the "greatest" losses, would naturally not give up.
Now all parties present understand.
From the surface, it is definitely the Sapiens company that suffered the biggest loss.
Cables, electrical appliances, computers, mobile phones, cars, airplanes, and communication equipment across Southeast Asia all need to be completely replaced. Although Sapiens is wealthy, it cannot withstand the huge number.
Therefore, Wu Wei asked the Japanese side to compensate the Zhiren Company.
As the most miserable participant, Suzuki Yosuke, the person in charge on the Japanese side, looked at Victor and Edward with a nervous and hopeful expression, hoping that his father would give him shelter.
Victor would naturally not allow his dog to be bullied by Homo sapiens. He shook his head and said:
"Mr. Wu Wu, it is impossible to ask Japan to pay 5 trillion gold yuan in compensation. After all, this incident was just an accident."
Wu Wei said bluntly: "Haha, are you Americans going to help Japan pay 5 trillion in compensation? They are your dogs, so it is normal for their owners to bear joint liability."
Suzuki Yosuke's face turned red when he heard this. He felt extremely humiliated and angry, but he was not as strong as the other person and had no right to speak.
Although Victor did not feel insulted, in order to save some face for Japan, he still explained with a straight face:
"Japan is America's ally. Please don't talk about topics unrelated to the meeting, Mr. Wu Wei."
"Then ask Japan to pay 5 trillion in compensation."
Victor refused directly: "This is impossible. How do you plan to explain your company's entry into a large number of islands in the Pacific without reason?"
"If you think you can protect Japan, then go ahead and give it a try. The serious damage to our company this time was all caused by Japan."
Baker from Britain quickly came out to smooth things over: "5 trillion in compensation is too much, how about 50 billion?"
This guy is good at bargaining and he cut the price by 99%.
Wu Wei slammed the table firmly: "It's 5 trillion, not a penny less."
Suppressing his anger, Victor and Edward exchanged glances for a few seconds, and Victor immediately said, "100 billion in compensation, this is Japan's bottom line."
"We, Homo sapiens, suffered such a serious loss, and you only want 100 billion in compensation? Are you sending away beggars? At least 4 trillion."
The two sides exchanged verbal attacks for more than two hours, with three intermissions during the period.
After a lot of extreme tug-of-war, an agreement was finally reached.
Japan's Suzuki Yosuke played a supporting role throughout the process and watched America sacrifice Japan's interests to appease the anger of the Sapiens Company.
According to the agreement, Japan paid 600 billion yen in compensation to Sapiens, and admitted that the Tokyo fungus was discovered by their researchers. They were required to apologize to the world, and all relevant researchers, including Yoshida Shosuke, were handed over to Sapiens for disposal.
Considering that Japan did not have 600 billion gold yuan at the time, land was used as compensation.
Originally, Homo sapiens wanted Japan's Ogasawara Islands and Minami-Torishima in the central Pacific Ocean.
But America is not a fool. Once Sapiens Company obtains the Ogasawara Islands and Minami Torishima, it means that Sapiens Company will have a foothold in the central Pacific and can cut off the connection between Guam, Ryukyu Islands and North America.
Therefore, the land for compensation was replaced by the Oki Islands on the west coast of the Japanese Archipelago. This small archipelago isolated in the Whale Sea has great strategic value, but it also causes great trouble.
After all, there is no regional branch of the Sapiens Company around the Whale Sea. Even Lucia is just a superficial friend of the Sapiens Company.
Giving this small archipelago to Homo sapiens was actually a last resort.
After all, the other islands such as Tsushima Island, Ryukyu Islands, Ogasawara Islands, and Minami Torishima are too important.
Of course, since the value of the Oki Islands is not enough to offset the 600 billion gold yuan, Japan also needs to open its market to the Homo Sapiens Company and allow the Homo Sapiens Company's ships to resupply within Japan.
As for the "poverty alleviation" work of the Sapiens Company in the South Pacific island countries, America pretended not to see it.
After all, Sapiens is the party that has suffered the "greatest" losses in the fungal crisis. In order to prevent Sapiens from going further crazy, we can only allow it to enter these areas.
After reaching an agreement, all parties hurried back home.
After hearing the results of this meeting, the outside world immediately breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there was no fighting, everything would be fine.
Immediately afterwards, various parts of the world stepped up the disinfection of planes and ships coming from Japan, while preparing to upgrade the plastics industry.
Especially in terms of Homo sapiens.
A large-scale plastic product exchange campaign was immediately launched to reduce losses, and a large portion of the recycled plastic products were sent to methane fermentation plants to produce methane.
