Link's terms, the Oregon government quickly agreed.

Two days later, he signed contracts with the State of Oregon and Eastern Pacific.

Contracts in Oregon are more cumbersome. That would require the passage of several counties in the state legislature before it could take effect. However, the state legislature agreed to sell the land before, although the public announcement was more urgent, but it was also considered a complete formality. In the absence of bids, it is also legal for the state to find a specific buyer.

After paying $40 million, Link took advantage of mountains and rivers as the boundary, and a large area of Oregon was burned and a small portion of the unburned forest, a total of about 300,000 acres of land fell into Link's private name.

However, the contract of the Eastern Pacific Company had to be handled separately in the two states. Because in addition to the 390,000 acres in Oregon, there are 120,000 acres of land belonging to California.

That part of the land is still forest. But a few years ago, the California government signed a law banning the deforestation of the state, making it impossible to exploit the forest. The only available land is some of the vacant land left over from previous logging, and it is of little value. So the East Pacific Company also sold to Link for a hundred dollars per acre.

After paying nearly $100 million, Link acquired 810,000 acres of private land at once. This made him truly the largest landowner in the United States. And he left John Mar Long, who was the first before, far behind. John Malone owned more than 1.2 million acres of land. He now owns more than 1.9 million acres of private land.

His newly acquired land is larger than many counties in the United States. But most of these areas will need to be reinvested before he can use them.

However, he had a problem with how to use the land before he bought it. On the mostly gentle slopes, he would use airplanes to sow seeds and plant pastures that would be used to raise livestock. As for areas where multi-cropping forests need to be planted. He will be able to sow seeds in the air, and in a few years he should be able to plant them. If there are places that are really suitable for farming, he will also reclaim them. The climate and soil here are more suitable for the use of agricultural seed bases than desert areas.

As for the specific development, he needs to study it in detail. However, he will basically do a good job of using this place by next spring. He has at least 10,000 acres of pasture planted by next spring. He needs pastures to raise alpacas brought from Peru.

After going to California with East Pacific to go through the relevant formalities, Link stopped by to go to Benehans's laboratory in California.

When he went to the lab. Florin was still busy experimenting.

However, learning that he was coming, Florin quickly got out of the experiment. Florin patted him on the shoulder and said, "I heard Jesse talk about Halloween." Well done!" Now he was getting more and more satisfied with the man his daughter was looking for. Being able to rush out without hesitation in that situation proves that Link is a responsible man.

After he finished speaking, he walked towards the office with Link and said, "I heard that Hannah is much better now." ”

"Yes. She was frightened, had nightmares at first, and was unhappy all the time. But these days are much better. No more nightmares at night. ”

"Children are easily frightened, but if you care about her more, it is easy to forget bad things. ”

When they arrived at the office, Florin poured two cups of hot coffee and said, "You've come just in time." I had good news to tell you and Jesse when the results were confirmed. ”

Link perked up: "What's the good news?"

"We've made some new progress in our experiments! Maybe it will be on the market next year. ”

He has been waiting for the results of the laboratory here for a long time: "What kind of results are they?"

"It's in terms of crop yield research. Florin smiled from ear to ear when he talked about his work, and it seemed that this result was not of general importance to the progress of their experiments. "The last time you invested a lot of money, we recruited a brilliant Russian biologist. He proposed an experimental method to dismember the suspected high-yielding gene segment of the plant, and then use transgenic technology to transplant the dismembered gene fragment to photosynthetic bacteria. That will improve the efficiency of the experiment and the experimental cycle. ”

"You succeeded?"

"Yes, at least we got the results we wanted in the early stages. We have now identified suspected target genes for three major crops: corn, soybeans, and wheat. And an analysis was carried out. We have been experimenting with plants in greenhouses. According to the results of our previous experiments, it is a gene segment that controls the transformation efficiency of substances that control plant yield. With the same nutrients, we found strains that converted 10 to 15% more carbon dioxide. If this efficiency can also be reflected in crops, it can produce at least 10% of the grain production. ”

After a pause, he added, "But that's just an optimistic estimate." The final result will not be determined until the end of the experiment. That's why he hadn't told Link and Jessica about it before.

"That's really something to celebrate. "At this stage of agricultural development, it is definitely a sensational invention to increase the yield by 10%. Link doesn't necessarily want to actually be able to achieve that increase. As long as it can reach 5%, he is sure that he will promote such good breeds and become the cornerstone of his long-term career plan.

But he was also worried, asking, "Is there a problem with Russian scientists?"

Florin smiled and said, "He is a Chechen and has a great hatred of the Russian Federation! And he has been living in the United States for almost a decade." ”

Link listened and said, "That's good!"

He then asked, "There is still no progress in the research of zombie fungi and viruses?"

"We haven't found the results we wanted, though. But experiments with crops inspire us. Previously, we were only able to isolate a few strains with different genes at most. But now we don't need to breed the test subjects we need, and we can directly transplant various dismembered gene fragments into the experimental strains. Hundreds of sets of controlled experiments can be performed at the same time. It's hundreds of times more efficient than before. I think we'll get the results we want very quickly. ”

"If the number of divisions of zombie fungi is also controlled by genes. So will they mutate in the process of division and become uncontrollable again?"

Link remains concerned about this possibility. In the future, if he wants to sell that thing, the whole world will accuse him if it causes a serious environmental disaster.

"It is the telomeres in the gene chain that control the number of bacterial divisions. The telomeres of many cells repair themselves. Or the newly split telomeres regain their length. So bacteria can divide indefinitely. What we're looking for is the gene that controls this telomeric recovery. We believe that this is one of the core genes of an organism, and the possibility of natural variation is low. And with the limit on the number of splits, the likelihood of them mutating is further reduced. ”

It was a bioengineering experiment, and Link didn't know much about it. Since he raised his concerns, the rest is up to the scientists.

And Benehans is a limited liability company, even if something goes wrong. After the liability of this company is paid, it should go bankrupt. As long as he is not involved in commercial crime. In the event of an environmental problem, the company's managers do not need to bear legal responsibility for it.

That's what U.S. law says.

For example, when Meng Sandu knew that it was toxic, he discharged sewage into a source of water. More than 20,000 people were affected. As a result, the victim could only sue Mengsandu Company, demanding hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to establish a medical security system for 20,000 people. The U.S. government will not sue those managers for so many victims. Victims are also unable to prosecute. Because there is no basis for the court to admit it.

Therefore, even if the products of Beni Hans Company cause any harm, at most the company will be the defendant, and if it loses money, if it loses money, the company will go bankrupt. As for the money he earned before, he has already been safe. No one can force him to pull out the money to fill the holes in the company.

Now that I think about it, I am actually very happy to be a capitalist in the United States.

At the same time, he is also concerned about the crops that are being cultivated: "If those crops are transplanted, will there be any bad changes?"

"Theoretically not. Because it was originally a sample of the same gene segment, some base pairs were adjusted. Although it is a change of human intervention, it is completely in line with the laws of natural selection. Therefore, it will not have a bad impact on farm products. ”

"But how to ensure that farmers do not keep their own seeds?" "Farmers keep their own seeds, which is a very big blow to the suppliers of improved seeds, which means that enterprises can only do business once.

Florin frowned and said, "If you want to solve this problem." We may be able to use hybridization to produce a trait that can be guaranteed by the offspring generation, and the second generation of the offspring may produce trait separation. He paused, then added. "Maybe we have other ways to prevent it. But if you want to guarantee the interests of the company. Maybe we need more time to experiment. ”

Even if it was more time, Link couldn't help it. Can only be accepted.

He nodded and said, "Those seeds must not flow out until this problem is resolved." ”

He thought for a moment and said, "In the company's laboratory, the security doesn't seem to be tight enough. I will discuss with Jesse to strengthen the security of the laboratory. ”

"As long as it doesn't interfere with our work, I'm fine!" Florin also understands that sometimes business competition is unscrupulous. It's normal to have commercial espionage and the like, and it's not for nothing that people who buy competitors get the core technology of the other party.

Link nodded and said, "Of course we'll pay attention to that." However, I would like to see some prevention protocols developed within the lab as well. ”

"I'll do it. Florin frowned. What annoys him the most is doing these management jobs, but he knows that he can't do it if he doesn't do it.

Link just stopped by to take a look. Knowing that there was a major breakthrough in the experiment he had been waiting for, he was naturally in a good mood. "If the results of those crops are as expected," he said with a smile. I would advise Jessica to give the lab staff a bonus. Do you have any comments?"

Florin is also a shareholder of the company and the head of the laboratory, and even if he wants to be rewarded, Link can't directly bypass him. He knew that material stimuli were important, and he was an experimentatic who didn't really value money. He nodded and said, "There really should be some incentives." ”

Link talked to him for another twenty minutes before leaving the lab and heading to the airport. He was going to go to Hans's farm.