Chapter 33 – The Big Project: Portwide Extermination
"A big deal?" Yang Wendong raised his brows, intrigued. Still, he didn't forget basic manners. "Please, come in, Mr. Wang."
"Thank you." Wang Zhixian stepped inside, took a brief look around the office, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Mr. Yang. Looks like you've officially started your business."
Yang smiled. "You flatter me, Mr. Wang. This can hardly be called a business yet. I still live and work here in the same space."
Wang glanced at the cardboard mats along the wall and the small pillow resting on a cabinet, yet he still praised him sincerely. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. These days, more and more Chinese entrepreneurs are making a name for themselves in Hong Kong. Even newspapers cover their rags-to-riches stories. Many of them started just like you—from zero. Who knows, maybe in a few years, you'll be one of them."
Yang brought over a cup of hot tea from the table. "Haha, that's a long way off. Pest control is just a small business. It's enough to make ends meet, nothing more."
"That may not be true," Wang replied. "Even extermination has potential for a much larger market—it all depends on whether Mr. Yang has the vision and capability to seize it."
Yang raised an eyebrow. "What kind of market are we talking about?"
Wang leaned forward. "Think about it. In Hong Kong—or anywhere really—people worry about rats in warehouses, yes, but what they really fear is rats in transport hubs."
Yang's mind quickly connected the dots. "You mean ships and airplanes?"
"Exactly," Wang nodded. "If a warehouse has rats, sure—it might lead to some financial losses. A few crates get chewed, you write it off.
"But if a ship or aircraft has rats on board? That's potentially catastrophic."
Yang nodded thoughtfully. "I've heard that. But I always assumed these transport companies already have top-tier pest control systems in place. After all, in such sensitive areas, they can't afford mistakes. Cost wouldn't be an issue, right?"
That was the paradox of rodent control. Was it difficult? Yes and no.
If you were willing to invest, you could eliminate all the mosquitoes in an area. Rats followed a similar rule. With enough time, manpower, and money, they could be driven out.
For aircraft and ships, that logic applied perfectly. Since those sectors generated high profit, companies didn't care about cost—they cared about results.
But warehouses and homes were different. As long as losses stayed within an acceptable margin, most people just tolerated rats.
In fact, Yang's bamboo tube traps had sold well precisely because they were cheap. A five-dollar metal trap was a hard sell in a society where even food was hard to afford.
Wang chuckled. "Mr. Yang, I must say—it's fascinating how someone from the shantytown knows so much."
Yang grinned. "I make my living exterminating rats. I'd better know a thing or two."
Truthfully, with just a few evenings on the internet in his past life, he'd gathered more industry knowledge than most people in the 1950s could in years of book study. He didn't have expert credentials, but he had breadth, and that was more than enough.
Wang nodded, impressed. "No wonder you've done so well."
He continued, "Planes, we can leave aside. What I'm talking about today is ships. You mentioned earlier that these vessels have strict controls—but in reality, that's not always the case.
"Many cargo ships head out with rats still on board—not because owners won't pay for pest control, but because they don't have the time."
Yang's eyes narrowed. "Ah… you mean during loading and unloading, the rats sneak aboard, and there's no time to clean up before departure?"
Exactly.
This was an era before standardized containers. Loading cargo involved manual labor, crates everywhere, and chaotic dockyards. Rats could easily sneak into a vessel's hull during these operations.
Wang nodded. "Right. In fact, a French cargo ship recently suffered a full blackout in the Pacific. Turns out a rat chewed through the wiring inside the control panel. Shorted the entire power grid.
"It didn't cause a disaster, but it could have. Incidents like this happen several times a year around the world—even with airplanes. A rat gets into the wrong panel, and the whole flight has to be grounded."
"Rats are truly terrifying in those environments," Yang agreed. "So… you want me to handle pest control aboard ships?"
Wang smiled slyly. "Would you be willing?"
"It's not about willingness," Yang said. "It's about logistics. Ships dock for only a short time. There's no way I—or my staff—can board every vessel before it leaves. Even if we could, ship interiors are a whole different environment."
"You're right. That's not what I had in mind." Wang leaned back. "We don't need to exterminate on the ships themselves. What we can do… is handle the dockyards."
Yang paused. "Dockyard pest control?"
"Exactly."
Now it made sense.
Wang explained, "The complaints have come from multiple international shipping companies. The docks are overrun. Even though the port authorities have tried pest control before, the moment they reduce their efforts, the rats come back.
"This time, Kowloon Wharf Group plans to launch a public tender. My boss has the right contacts and wants to bid—but before anything else, we wanted your opinion."
Yang thought for a moment. "Exterminating rats at the dockyards isn't that hard. In the past, the docks did it themselves. And as long as you're willing to spend, any place can be cleaned up.
"The problem isn't the rats inside the docks. It's the outside rats."
"Exactly," Wang said. "Tens of thousands of people live around the dock area. Poor infrastructure. Bad sanitation. It's a breeding ground."
Yang sighed. "There's no real solution. When thousands live nearby, with no sewage systems, trash everywhere, it's impossible to keep rats out forever."
Wang nodded. "Still, my boss wants to try. Even if we just clean it up temporarily, that's still a win. The Kowloon Wharf Group is going forward with the tender, and we're going to bid.
"The only question is—will you lead the project?"
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10