Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"What if there are people who can't see themselves or the situation clearly?"

"That doesn't matter. Leaking some so-called 'secrets' is part of the plan. In fact, I've prepared a lot of 'secrets' for them."

The contradictions were enough to convince them that some great, unspeakable secret was hidden within.

As for the real secret, it has already been laid out on the table by Lao Xia: the Xia Group will recruit any Longmen person with job skills in a normal and non-discriminatory manner.

Regardless of whether they are infected or not, there is one condition for this "unconditional" recruitment: they must sign a condition of "accepting job reassignment".

These people will be investigated by the secret agents and identified with the help of some familiar infected people before being sent to Ursus Base or the future Kazdel Base. Old Xia's scheme or next step plan is also out in the open, which is to suppress the market with pure technology and material resources and carry out a price scissor dumping.

However, no one found this open conspiracy suspicious. He built such a large enterprise precisely to monopolize trade and make huge profits. So, it was perfectly normal for him to recruit a large number of infected people in order to reduce costs by increasing production and expanding production scale. It was even something he did openly for everyone to see.

"This is the principle of 'blind spots under the lamp.' How could they possibly believe that I really don't have any strange motives, and that I'm genuinely making money and enjoying myself, while incidentally making outstanding contributions to the material prosperity of the Terrans?"

Old Xia chuckled, because he didn't need to do many things himself. As long as the material abundance reached that level, plenty of people would do it voluntarily.

Take improving the situation of infected people, for example. When Lao Xia shouted slogans like the Tower of Babel, no one paid any attention to him. He was even easily regarded as a mortal enemy by nobles and princes who made a living by exploiting infected people. That's how Lao Maomao was ruined.

Learning from Rhodes Island's approach of providing free medical clinics would be useless, because infected individuals still wouldn't be able to afford the medication, and would instead become competitors with Rhine Lab, facing various forms of obstruction. Moreover, this would be completely ineffective in improving the actual social status of infected individuals.

However, if Lao Xia uses cheap oral medications to squeeze every last penny out of them, and then uses even cheaper protective equipment to squeeze every penny out of those infected communities, forcing them into factories and squeezing out even higher profits than simple miners...

In turn, infected individuals will quickly transform from disposable commodities into part of the capital market. If they don't want to be driven bankrupt by Lao Xia's cheap, similar products, they will have to use cheap infected workers. Once infected individuals are transformed from social burdens and waste into workers, their status will undoubtedly rise.

It's as if women's rights truly improved when men were almost all dead and women were forced to work in factories to support themselves due to lower wages. After that, women's social status began to rise step by step. They were no longer someone's appendage, but a labor force and a consumer.

Therefore, the only purpose of rural feminism is to turn women from independent social beings back into appendages and livestock, and they even feel smug about it...

Similarly, when an infected person becomes a qualified worker who can be exploited for even greater benefits than they currently are, their social status will spontaneously improve.

After all, a little bit of empty fame and honor is worthless to capitalists and the new aristocracy compared to real gold and silver.

As for those who still cling to outdated ideas, there's no need for Lao Xia and Talulah to pry open their minds one by one.

Because those guys whose path to wealth was blocked will spontaneously take action to accomplish this, and since they have more power and higher social status, they can use more resources and connections to complete the process.

"And then it was your turn, the one who started it all, to be hung on a streetlight?"

"Who said that? This is necessary initial accumulation. You either exploit others or you exploit yourself. What else can you do? Do you expect a free lunch?"

Old Xia said seriously, "Once they get used to exploiting the infected, I will start upgrading my technology. You know, what I lack is qualified workers and manpower, not technology."

“Once the technology upgrade begins, I will improve the treatment of infected people. The reason given to the public is simple: my equipment is more efficient, and I only need to hire fewer workers. Paying the price of two people to do the work of three people is still in line with the public’s habitual thinking.”

As for the issue that due to high efficiency and automation, the combined workload of these three people is only half that of the original person, it's not convenient to explain to those who just follow the trend.

“If they don’t want to be driven into bankruptcy by me, they have to give back every penny of the profits they’ve exploited. They have to run training courses, otherwise those infected workers who are so poor they can’t even read will not be able to operate my machines.”

"Then they will promote universal education, push for equal rights for infected people and ordinary people, and even in order to curb the further expansion of monopolies like mine, they will be willing to lose some profits to create a moral high ground for themselves."

After all, the losses from implementing an 8-hour workday system in a small workshop that only employs 3 infected people are significantly less than the losses from implementing an 8-hour workday system for Lao Xia, who may have hundreds of thousands of infected employees in the future.

The latter would require Lao Xia to increase his labor costs by at least 50%. If such a large company were to treat everyone equally, he would need to recruit even more people to work, resulting in an actual cost increase of over 200%.

"This doesn't even take into account the internal boundary effects that lead to reduced profits. However, this isn't a problem for me, because as long as technology continues to develop rapidly, I will always find more efficient production methods to reduce costs. Of course, externally, I will still present an image of being willing to lose money to force others to their doom."

“In particular, Lungmen Coin itself doesn’t mean much to me, and the whole group is my sole proprietorship. I can completely fight against them without making almost a penny.”

It's like a socialist state-owned enterprise mixed in with a group of capitalist private enterprises, or like a system that completely obeys individual will and is in a cold war with people, forcing them to quickly enter modern society without any problems in guaranteeing their basic human rights.

"If they die, I'll profit. Moreover, the technological competition and upgrading that results from this confrontation is exactly what I need. You see, I not only actually make money, but I also gain a good reputation. My fellow workers will see me, the one who pioneered highly efficient exploitation, as a savior, or even a beacon against evil factory owners and capitalists..."

"I don't even need to be noble; I just need to be more human than them, and I'll be invincible."

The reason why capitalists are at least better than feudal nobles is that although exploitation is more cruel, at least compared to those nobles who are completely inhuman, capitalists, even if they are almost like devils, are still more human.

Xia Lin and the others' discussion did not affect the liveliness of the venue. Whether they were spies who came with ulterior motives or ordinary people who were genuinely there for the high salaries of this emerging group, their feelings were the same.

That is, faced with fewer than 350 positions released by Lao Xia, the number of applicants on site was clearly more than ten times that, and some people at the end of the line even had four-digit numbers starting with the number nine, almost breaking the five-digit mark.

Fortunately, this was an open-air job fair, and the flattened open space in the old town was enough to accommodate so many people. However, even though the organizers had thoughtfully put up sunshade tents, the sun was still making some of the people feel dizzy.

"Next—" An Su called out, twirling her pen. She was in charge of interviewing the people who had passed the previous rounds of screening. After all, as a thief who had been active in the underworld of Lungmen, she was more than capable of screening out the low-level spies and agents.

Old Xia didn't mind other forces planting spies in this overt organization, but he was very concerned about certain gangsters infiltrating. So, after the initial resume screening, it was Dark Search's turn to screen. After she finished, there was still W to go.

"name……"

"Uh……"

"Hey, name? You should at least give your name for the interview."

"Ah, here it is." The girl with naturally curly hair asked, "Ellafaya, do I need her full name?"

"Uh..." Xiao Ansuo looked at the petite girl in front of him, then glanced down at her resume. "Eilafaya? Graduated from William University with a degree in Volcanology and Geology? PhD? How old are you?"

"1...16 years old..."

"A PhD at 16?" An Suo gasped, utterly astonished by the young academic prodigy before her, a stark contrast to her own poor academic performance. She managed to compose herself before asking, "The department you're going to is..."

"The Geological and Environmental Survey Department... I've heard that you conduct research on volcanic geology, which is something very few companies do. So... I came all the way from Letania to register..."

"Huh?" An Suo quickly looked down and searched for some information before realizing that Lao Xia was just recruiting on the side. Because such a professional scholar could not possibly be a spy, whoever took such a person as a spy, he would definitely accept them generously—what's the difference between this and throwing a meat bun to a dog?

Therefore, departments within the Ursus base that require very high levels of professional skills are also within the scope of recruitment.

Of course, this only applies to specialized positions. For general technical positions, it's still more reliable to have in-house trained technical personnel. "You need natural disaster researchers, natural disaster messengers, and volcanologists, right? Oh, I also have these certificates..."

Sixteen-year-old Xiao Yang hurriedly rummaged through her bag for her certificates and documents, just like an ordinary high school graduate looking for a job.

"Certified Calamity Messenger? High-ranking Warlock? Bachelor of Science in Originium Ecology? Level 1 Navigator in Hazardous Environments?" Even Old Xia, who was already dizzy from all the work, was stunned, let alone An Suo. "Are these all real? Could they be fake certificates?"

"It's all true."

"Uh..." Old Xia looked her up and down, lingering for a moment on her delicate, youthful face that resembled that of a middle school student. He couldn't help but sigh, some people could have made a living based on their looks, but they chose to rely on their talent instead.

If the occasion and conditions weren't inappropriate, he would even have considered writing a letter of recommendation to his advisor, suggesting she enroll in the short-term preparatory course at the Star Alliance Agricultural and Forestry Technology College and consider taking the college entrance exam.

"Although this is not in accordance with the rules, let's have a small interview, which can also be considered part of the written test. If you can pass my test, you can skip the written test and the second round of interviews."

"Okay, okay." The little lamb became nervous, gripping the hem of her skirt tightly with both hands.

"Let's start with something simple..." Old Xia recalled for a moment, retrieved his junior and senior high school geology knowledge from the symbiotic memory area, and then began to ask questions, combining this with his observations of the volcano he had accidentally blasted out while mining...

"Miss Elafaya, with a talent like you joining our company, it's like a tiger gaining wings!"

Old Xia held the lamb's hand tightly, shaking it excitedly. This girl, no, this expert, not only had a very in-depth understanding of volcanic geology, but also clearly had a lot of fieldwork experience.

In particular, it has unique insights into the impact of Originium dust diffusion caused by volcanic and mantle activities on the natural ecological environment, as well as the distribution of atmospheric Originium and the causes of natural disasters.

Although Xiao Yang said that these research reports have not been recognized by the mainstream academic community, many academic bigwigs think she made them up.

In particular, the sections on the mantle origin theory of Originium ore and the differences between volcanic Originium ore and conventional Originium ore.

However, Xia, who personally blasted a volcano and saw the dark golden Originium magma flowing from the mantle and the Originium particles in the air with a content still exceeding 1 mg/L (Terra's safety standard is ug/L, and exceeding 50 ug means 100% infection), believes that although her research report has some speculations and errors, it is very close to the real phenomenon.

"Not at all, your knowledge is also very extensive and has been very inspiring to me. Are you a senior in the geological exploration department?"

The other party showed no knowledge of natural disasters or navigation. Therefore, Xiao Yang believes they might be a senior member of the geological exploration department, a veteran with extensive field experience.

Those who haven't been to Terra Volcano in person can't possibly imagine the scene and unique details just by looking at the textbook.

"No, I'm the owner of this company..."

"what?!"

"The reason we recruited volcano experts is that we recently accidentally triggered an erupting volcano, which has affected mining and agricultural production."

"Huh!?" The little lamb had no idea what it meant to accidentally create an active volcano.

"So it's really great to have an expert like Ms. Elafaya involved."

"Ansor, inform Yelena to process this lady's onboarding. Do you have any objections to the compensation?"

"No, no, I just..." I just couldn't give up on my parents' research.

However, there are very few companies researching volcanoes on Terra, and it's not easy to find an internship opportunity. Professional research institutions are very seniority-based, and although she has a degree, she looks like a junior high school student and has no say at all, let alone go to the site.

Xiao Yang, who didn't want to waste half her life in the office and only get one chance to do an experiment, naturally came to apply for the job.

After all, they are recruiting "site engineers" and "field exploration experts," who are obviously not the type to sit in an office.

"If you have no objections, can you start work immediately?"

"So fast?"

"Ah, I understand. It's normal for you to need to rest for a while to handle things. Just come back within a week."

"Is this really okay?"

"No problem, we have a shuttle bus in a week, which will take you to see the workplace."

"I'm fine..." After that, Yelena took the lamb to complete the onboarding procedures. The lamb asked somewhat nervously, "Excuse me, which senior colleague will I be assigned to?"

"Senior? No, you're the only one in the entire geological department. You could call yourself the minister without any problem..."

"Uh..." It feels like I've boarded some terrible pirate ship.

However, as soon as she entered the geological department's office, Xiao Yang put her previous doubts to the back of her mind. "Is this serpentine peridot?"

She went straight to the specimen shelf that Lao Xia had placed on the Longmen side; these were used to discuss jewelry processing and resale with Shi Huaiya.

Although most of them are gemstones, they are all carved out of igneous rocks, and some are even a type of igneous rock themselves.

For a volcanic geology expert like Xiao Yang, it was almost like a firefly in the dark, drawing her to the specimen shelf.

"Don't touch anything, they're all quite expensive."

According to the appraisals given by the jewelry appraisers found by Swire, the cheapest garnets were all over 10,000 LMT, and the most expensive was a turquoise tourmaline, estimated at over 6 million LMT. These are prices.

As for that blue-purple diamond, about the size of a baby's fist, which had been polished into perfect facets by Lao Xia's industrial machine tools, no one dared to offer a price. It could only be said that this thing was only fit to appear on Queen Victoria's crown. It was suggested that Lao Xia take it as a gift or as a treasure to suppress bad luck in his shop. It would be too much of a loss to sell it for money.

Meanwhile, another unusual applicant appeared at the event. The mysterious Sarkaz youth immediately caught W's attention, and upon discovering a grenade launcher hidden under his coat, W almost made a comical facial expression.

Good heavens, playing with a grenade launcher in the venue where I'm in charge of security!? This is almost turning from an official event into a personal feud.

"Hey buddy, you're pretty good... pulling this trick in front of me?"

"No, I'm not!" The Sarkaz youth, pinned to the ground by the burly Lungmen Guard agents, turned green with embarrassment. This guy was carrying a mountain of trouble.

After all, the "grand undertaking" of blowing up Blacksteel International's weapons lab in Sargon was enough to get him handed over and hanged instantly.

"I...I'm here to apply for a job in the research and development department, specifically the weapons research and development department..."

“We don’t have a weapons research and development department…” W scratched his face. “Can’t you come up with a better excuse? Going to apply for a weapons research and development department job at an agricultural products group, what are you thinking?”

"Uh..." The other person fell silent, not because they had nothing to say, but because there were some things they couldn't say publicly—