Inside a massive steel mill. Large machines are unloading iron ore from a heavy-duty train.
Several people are directing the unloading of the machinery.
"Hurry up, hurry up and unload the iron ore from the train."
"Boss, the second train will arrive at the station in thirty minutes."
"What? Arriving in thirty minutes? Damn it, the first train's iron ore hasn't even been unloaded yet, and another one is coming?"
"Ten heavy-duty trains will arrive today."
"What ten trains? Let's not even talk about unloading. Even our steel mill can't accommodate ten trains."
"Boss, don't worry, those heavy-duty trains will temporarily stop at the city's train station. They'll only come to us after we've finished unloading here."
"Sigh, it looks like this iron ore will take several days to unload. Why are we suddenly getting orders of this magnitude?"
"Boss, but it's precisely because of these orders that we get food. The first batch of crocodile meat arrived at the factory today. I never expected them to use crocodile meat to pay for part of the goods."
"It's because we have food that everyone is working so hard. Let's not talk about money for now, the main thing is that we get one to ten kilograms of crocodile meat every day. In this era of famine, food is the real hard currency. If everyone works hard, our team can earn a salary of up to ten kilograms of crocodile meat."
"Yes."
While unloading was in full swing here, Li Chengfu was still waiting on the train.
Li Chengfu looked around. Around him were rows of parked trains.
"Is this the train station?"
The conductor said, "That's right, this is the train station. To be precise, this is the temporary parking area for trains at the station. The station is a bit further ahead."
Li Chengfu said, "Then why are we stopping here?"
The conductor said, "We need to wait here for the first train to finish unloading."
Li Chengfu asked, "When will that be?"
The conductor said, "I don't know. I'll ask them how much they've unloaded."
The conductor picked up a telephone on the train and asked, "What's going on over there? Have they finished unloading the goods?"
A voice came from the other end of the phone.
"I'll ask. Hello. How much iron ore has been unloaded? How much is left? What? Only three-quarters has been unloaded? It'll take another half an hour? Okay, you heard that. It'll take another half an hour to finish unloading. After unloading, I'll have to drive the train to your place. That'll take another fifty minutes. You just wait there. By the way, how are things on your end? Are you hungry?"
"Of course, I'm hungry. I'll eat a piece of fruit to stave off hunger later."
"Wait, don't eat the fruit yet. When your train arrives here, you'll get a portion of braised crocodile meat. From the steel mill."
"What? There's meat to eat? Then I'll save my stomach for it. I haven't eaten meat in so long. By the way, we have another person here. Can we get two portions?"
Li Chengfu, who was nearby, knew that the crocodile meat was dinosaur meat, as he had signed off on the exchange of this dinosaur meat.
Li Chengfu quickly said, "Conductor, you don't need to worry about my meal. I'll go directly into the steel mill when I get there. The steel mill will host me."
The conductor kindly said, "Sir, that's meat. In the current situation in Dragon Country, having meat to eat is really a great thing."
Li Chengfu had to tell part of the truth, "The crocodile meat from the steel mill was provided by the company that placed the order. And I am from that company."
The conductor immediately understood and said, "So, your company provided that crocodile meat, didn't you?"
Li Chengfu nodded and said, "That's right, it's the crocodile meat provided by our company. Part of it was used as payment for this steel smelting."
The conductor's eyes lit up with hope and he said, "Then your company has a lot of crocodile meat! Is that crocodile meat still for sale? How can I buy it?"
Li Chengfu knew that the conductor wanted to buy meat for his family.
Li Chengfu said, "It's not for sale yet. But in the near future, our company will be able to sell a large amount of crocodile meat."
Li Chengfu had already thought that as the development of the dinosaur world deepened, this pretend crocodile meat could be widely sold. At the same time, once the food crops there were harvested, staple grains would also alleviate the famine in Dragon Country.
The conductor's eyes lit up with a smile, and he said, "That would be great. I'll want to buy a whole crocodile then."
Li Chengfu said, "You might not be able to do that."
The conductor nodded and said, "Indeed. Crocodile meat will surely be very expensive then. How could we afford a whole farmed crocodile?"
Li Chengfu shook his head and said, "Don't worry, the price won't be very high then. The reason you can't buy a whole one is that we will sell the crocodile meat in pieces."
As the dinosaur meat could not yet be made public, it could only be cut into small pieces of dinosaur meat.
"If that's the case, that would be wonderful. To be able to produce such a large amount of crocodile meat, it seems you have mastered the technology of raising crocodiles."
"That's right, we've mastered the technique of feeding crocodiles with grass."
"What? Vegetarian crocodile meat? Vegetarian crocodiles? Don't crocodiles eat meat?"
"Hmm? Crocodiles eat meat?"
"That's right. Crocodiles are carnivores."
"Hmm, so crocodiles are carnivores. But the crocodiles in our company are vegetarian."
"Vegetarian crocodiles. Oh, speaking of which, there are indeed some species of crocodiles on Blue Star that are omnivorous. Those crocodiles can also eat vegetarian food."
"That's right, it's those omnivorous crocodiles. We've made them vegetarian."
Li Chengfu chatted with the conductor for fifty minutes.
Finally, the first heavy-duty train came back.
"It's finally unloaded. It's time for us to go."
The conductor started the train and drove out of the temporary parking area.
Fifteen minutes later, the train pulled into the train docking area of the steel mill.
The conductor opened the train door and stepped out.
More than a dozen steel mill workers were already waiting there.
The conductor said, "So many people are waiting for me?"
Li Chengfu also got off the train behind the conductor.
One of the men walked forward and extended his hand.
The conductor thought the man wanted to shake hands with him and quickly extended his hand to shake his.
But to his surprise, the man bypassed the conductor and came to Li Chengfu.
"Welcome to our steel mill. Minister Li. I am Tu Yingwu, the General Manager of this steel mill. Welcome to inspect our steel mill."
"Hello, General Manager Tu. I'm here to observe this steel smelting process. Please show me around inside."