The last stop in Asia is The First Sovereign.

There was no obstruction during the divestiture and relocation of the local joint venture factory. In fact, when Chen Fei arrived, all personnel had already vacated the factory area, and all buildings were fully dismantled and ready for collection. The entire process went exceptionally smoothly, with no shady incidents like those at the Bodian Factory.

If someone from another sovereignty handled this business, they might still encounter various difficulties.

During his interaction with the local factory, Chen Fei unexpectedly received a message from the local government. Due to the joint pressure from multiple sovereignties, the material support from The First Sovereign will be significantly reduced, particularly strategic raw materials, and some projects will even face supply cuts.

Chen Fei sighed, good things do not come in pairs, and misfortunes never come singly. When the first piece of bad news arrives, more bad news is sure to follow.

The more you worry about something, the more it comes; this law is very Murphy-like.

The greatest lesson for humanity is that we never learn from our lessons!

Along with this bad news came a box full of plant seeds.

Not some precious materials, but a very important strategic-grade crop: short-staple cotton seeds.

This special cotton produces 3 to 12 millimeter long second-grade short fibers, which are the main material for nitrocellulose and rocket solid fuel. It can also be used in textiles, chemical fiber, papermaking, light industry, and chemical fields. It is an important strategic specialty of The First Sovereign, and other sovereignties completely rely on importing it from The First Sovereign, especially The Federation, which increased its import quota after falling into internal strife.

Although there are a few substitutes for short-staple cotton, neither its yield nor its cost can fully replace it, as this type beats other options in every way.

This box of strategic-grade seeds, sufficient to trigger wars, enlightened Chen Fei.

Self-reliance, struggle, exactly his intention.

When one cannot rely on others, they must find a solution themselves, and this box of seeds is a huge help.

Entering the Life Space, Chen Fei came beneath the canopy of the "Life Tree" and took out the wooden box filled with short-staple cotton seeds.

A vine as thick as an adult's wrist dangled down from the canopy. The tip quickly expanded to the size of a basketball, cracked open into twelve petals like a flower bud, directly swallowing the wooden box, then closed up and shrank visibly, before plunging straight into the ground. The vine thickened, and its tender green surface turned deep brown, beginning to become woody, resembling a banyan tree, and became one of the air roots.

The "Life Tree" has various methods to acquire genetic information; Chen Fei merely chose the most convenient one at the moment.

After standing with his eyes slightly closed for a while, Chen Fei found the method to mass-produce these second-grade short fibers.

A fruit resembling the size and shape of a real rugby ball, filled inside with fluffy short-staple cotton, whose fiber length meets the second-grade standards; its tough husk is rich in fibrous material, allowing multiple uses. If one doesn't mind, these can be used as rugby balls, although they don't match the longevity of natural leather or artificial leather rugby balls, they can withstand a dozen matches without issue.

Each short-staple cotton fruit contains about a kilogram of fiber. It is a seedless fruit, needing no ginning, usable directly as raw fiber material, and naturally cannot be used for reproduction. However, through special hybridized perennial tree yields, the single-season per-acre yield is at least ten times that of cotton fields, and it can ripen three times a year, totaling more than thirty times as much, and can equally bear fruit directly via the "Life Tree." Its vast canopy rains them down continuously, with production only limited by consumed materials; as much as needed can be produced without concern for growing seasons. Such is the sovereignty of "Sagali" civilization crystallization.

This short-staple cotton holds no significance to "Sagali" civilization; it has no place for use, seen as garbage genes. Yet, it is an important factor for Chen Fei, who depends heavily on Firearms, affecting combat capability.

After dealing with the important cotton seeds, Chen Fei carried a few tons of short-staple cotton fruits temporarily yielded by the "Life Tree" back to the upper floors of the Central Building in the core area of "Atlantis."

Louis Landon, who has transferred most of his assets into this city, was taking a break from his busy schedule to catch up on the news.

Though "Atlantis" is physically isolated, communication remains smooth via the Miniature Star Gate Communication Device, and cloud technology can still be employed normally.

"Has the relocation work been completed? Thanks for your hard work!"

Hearing footsteps, Louis Landon turned towards the sound and saw Chen Fei walking into his new office.

Who would have imagined that today's investment would yield such a substantial return?

If it weren't for Chen Fei's help in this ordeal, Louis Industries would suffer great harm, if not being swallowed whole.

Once a vast empire is embroiled in external and internal troubles, it faces the same fate of rapid collapse overnight.

"Some personnel are yet to arrive at Socotra Island. The next step is the factory settlement. Recently, I also received a great gift—a big box of short-staple cotton seeds."

Chen Fei's work list contains a myriad of projects, all requiring his personal attention.

The relocation work of Louis Industrial Company is just one part, although not the most important, it is the most urgent.

"Short-staple cotton seeds?"

Louis Landon was taken aback, and then immediately realized.

In his previous life, his Special Ability was "Super Memory," with which he could remember without limitations on time, quantity, or form, even memorizing massive amounts of seemingly meaningless binary code. Therefore, he was regarded as the Fire Seed of human civilization and protectively continued until the Blue Star Civilization's end.

In this life, although he did not awaken this Special Ability again, he still remembers everything clearly from the previous time. With these memories, Louis Landon successfully established the powerful and large-scale Louis Industrial.

The big boss asked in confusion, "Do you have a place to plant?"

Short-staple cotton is one of the very important strategic resources of The First Sovereign. For things like cotton seeds, other sovereignties wouldn't even think about it. Even if they got them, they would be restricted by various conditions. In some places, either there's not enough land, already under extreme pressure just planting enough grains to fill stomachs, or the soil, sunlight, and climate are not suitable. Factors such as drought, cold, short sunlight, and pest harm are not conducive to cotton growth. Even when such conditions are satisfied, the local area is in such chaos that it's difficult to grow even grains, let alone cotton.

So changing places makes it hard to ensure the cotton's quality and yield.

The Federation's mainland has enough planting areas, but are the Black Uncles still willing to pick cotton? They were promised free watermelons and fried chicken.

Not at all!

The Black Uncles are likely to immediately have murderous thoughts.

Cotton, watermelons, and fried chicken are the Black Uncles' dark history. They refuse to do it even if offered room and board, reflecting how deeply rooted the resentment is in this regard.

"To be precise, it's a place for mass production!"

Chen Fei took out a "rugby ball," or more accurately, a rugby ball-shaped short-staple cotton fruit, with an exact weight of 1.13 kilograms, naturally dried product, full of short-staple cotton inside.

This fruit is just one of the samples from this batch.

"The First Sovereign's short-staple cotton isn't like this, right?"

Landing in Chen Fei's hand, this rugby ball looks ready to be branded and put on sale in a sports goods store.

The First Sovereign's short-staple cotton is at most the size of a baby's fist. If the annual output is insufficient, they have to gather long-fiber cotton scraps to make up for it.

Chen Fei said lightly, "The genes have been modified, and this fruit will be mass-produced uniformly in the future. A batch of equipment is needed for customization, to directly process the fruit in an assembly line."

He held the fruit and exerted force, splitting the tough peel to reveal the fluffy, snow-white cotton inside, the best strategic raw material.

The "Life Tree"'s ability to easily manipulate genetic information made the biologists who immigrated to "Atlantis" jump in frustration; this thing is literally a cheat, more convenient than using instruments for careful gene editing, comparable to playing with building blocks.

The difficulty of using biotechnology for industry and using industrial technology for biology can only be imagined.

"This is easy, Louis Industrial is best at this. Are there many of these samples? Leave a batch to test the equipment."

Handling the mere short-staple cotton fruit is a small matter for Louis Landon. Experienced mechanical engineers can settle it within two days, and within a week, even preliminary assembly line products are out.

"There's plenty!"

Chen Fei waved his hand, and a few tons of short-staple cotton fruit rolled all over the office floor.

Louis Landon said indifferently, "I contacted some old friends who will help with purchasing raw materials, and then I'll need your help."

An entire floor is the CEO's office, and a few tons of "rugby balls" won't take up much space; just have someone clean them up later.

"Deliver to Socotra Island, or pick up in person, just send me a text in advance, and I'll have 'Adam' remind me."

Chen Fei waved his hand and started walking toward the elevator, preparing to find a place to install the previously stored "Spatial Branding" factory and production line, with lots of pipelines needing connection.

While space's closed nature ensures "Atlantis" safety and avoids external interruption, material exchange with the outside world is inconvenient, especially for the import and export of bulk materials, relying on Chen Fei's operation. Although a dedicated passage can be established through a "Stargate", the current only coordinate is limited to the camp on Socotra Island, unable to randomly open anywhere on Blue Star.