HLM – Chapter 99 Remote Development

After lunch and a brief rest, the two of them headed home in the afternoon.

On the way, Bowen made an international call. “Boss, everything okay back home?”

“All good. How’s the town doing?”

Bowen sighed. “The road construction is going well, and the ranch is fine too. Two ewes gave birth to lambs, and two more are close to delivery.”

“Then why the sigh?”

“It’s Zhuang Ding. There’s a bit of a problem. Ever since you left, it’s been gloomy, hasn’t eaten anything, just drank a bit of water.”

Hearing that, Wang Bo got anxious and shouted, “That’s a big deal! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“We didn’t notice at first. Zhuang Ding looked fine. It was only after we started observing closely yesterday that we realized it hadn’t eaten. Juan tried feeding it dog food, but it just carried the food off and hid it in the grass.”

“Fuck. What’s the point of having you guys around? Where’s the Commander?”

“That little b*tch is fine. Since you left, it’s been eating even more. Just now, it even crapped from being too full.”

“Fuck! That little b*tch!”

“What should we do about Zhuang Ding, boss?” Bowen finally asked.

Wang Bo said, “Leave it be. I know what to do. Just feed it dog food on schedule. It won’t starve.”

Bowen hesitated. “Boss, aren’t you being a bit cold to Zhuang Ding?”

Cold? Wang Bo hung up. His heart ached like hell! But it wasn’t that he didn’t care — he just couldn’t let Bowen know how he was dealing with it.

After dinner that night, Wang Bo told his parents he was going for a walk. As soon as he reached the coast near the village, he opened the sandbox and pulled Zhuang Ding out.

It was midnight in New Zealand. Charlie and the others were sound asleep and didn’t notice the strange occurrence.

As soon as Zhuang Ding caught Wang Bo’s scent, it started barking excitedly.

It stood on its hind legs, hugged Wang Bo with its front paws, and frantically licked his face and neck with its tongue. Its big tail wagged furiously, and it hopped around like it wanted to dive straight into his arms.

Wang Bo squatted down to scratch its chin and underarms — Zhuang Ding loved being scratched like that. It quickly calmed down, making low, contented grunts in its throat like a docile pup.

Once it was soothed, Wang Bo took out some buns, ham, and a roast chicken he had bought that evening.

Zhuang Ding was clearly starving. The moment it saw the food, it lunged like a ravenous beast and gobbled up the entire chicken in no time.

With its belly full, Zhuang Ding finally had time to look around.

It was its first time seeing the ocean. Hearing the crashing waves and watching the water slosh onto the shore, its eyes went wide with curiosity. It stared at the sea and even pawed at the foam as it rolled in.

Wang Bo strolled along the coastline with Zhuang Ding for a while, but he couldn’t take it for long — it was freezing. The sea breeze was strong, and his nose felt like it was about to freeze off.

But Zhuang Ding, a Tibetan Mastiff, showed its resilience to extreme conditions. Despite its short summer coat, it wasn’t bothered by the cold at all. In fact, it started playing with the rolling waves.

Unfortunately, the coastline near Wang’s fishing village wasn’t a sandy beach but a rugged rocky shore, so Zhuang Ding didn’t have as much fun as it could’ve.

After an hour or so, Wang Bo couldn’t stand it any longer. He sent Zhuang Ding back to the castle and hurried home to warm up under the electric blanket.

Shortly after he woke up the next day, Charlie called again.

Wang Bo thought the guy had discovered something odd about Zhuang Ding, but it wasn’t that.

“Wang, good news. The substation is complete — the whole town can now be fully powered. Also, Mobil Oil wants to build a gas station in our town. What do you think?”

This was great news — Wang Bo immediately brightened up.

Like other Western developed nations, New Zealand is a country built on wheels — driver’s licenses can even be used as ID. Gas stations are everywhere. One of the key metrics to gauge how “hot” a highway is is the number of gas stations along it.

Wang Bo had once considered how to bring in a gas station, thinking he’d have to personally lobby investors. He didn’t expect Mobil to offer to build one on their own.

Charlie said, “I suggest we wait a bit. Maybe other oil companies will follow suit. Let’s wait for BP — they offer the highest land usage fees.”

BP — short for British Petroleum — is the undisputed king of New Zealand’s petrochemical companies, owning the most gas stations in the country.

Since all the town’s land belonged to Wang Bo, these companies would have to pay him for land use. And since gas stations are considered hazardous facilities, the fees were even higher.

Wang Bo asked, “How much is Mobil offering?”

“850,000 NZD per year — they’re planning to build a Level 2 station with a daily fuel supply of 14 to 20 tons. It’ll cover 2,000 square meters, with a 500-square-meter canopy and a 400-square-meter station building.”

“What about BP?”

“Around a million,” Charlie estimated.

Wang Bo made a quick decision. “Tell Mobil we accept. They can start construction with confidence. But we won’t sign an exclusivity agreement — we’ll sign a non-monopoly clause instead.”

An exclusivity agreement meant that once a company set up in the town, no similar businesses would be introduced. A non-monopoly clause — basically the opposite — meant the town retained the right to allow others in.

Charlie nodded in understanding. Wang Bo added, “Land usage fees aren’t the priority. As long as they’re willing to invest and agree to the non-monopoly clause, I’m okay with lowering the fee to 600,000.”

Charlie had been right from the start — the most stable way to develop a territory was to build a town. The land use fees from investors alone would be enough to live on comfortably for a lifetime.

But Wang Bo had bigger dreams. He didn’t just want a comfortable life — he wanted to build a world-class town.

Aside from the gas station, Origin Energy also expressed interest in taking over Sunset Town’s residential gas services. That company, based in Australia, held a significant share of New Zealand’s civilian gas market.

Wang Bo agreed to that too. He also transferred another two million NZD to Charlie, instructing him to contact Roger Rosen from EPS Construction again to build small apartment buildings across all areas influenced by the “Heart of the Homestead.”

Charlie exclaimed, “Shit, you’re really going all out to build this town.”

Starting at noon, Wang Bo’s parents began bombarding him with words, repeating one topic over and over — matchmaking, matchmaking, matchmaking!

Wang Bo sighed helplessly. “Mom, Dad, what’s the rush? A man hasn’t even established his career yet, and you want him to start a family?”

“It doesn’t matter what you say. I’m calling Aunt Qiu right now to arrange a meeting with a nice girl for you.”

“…”