Chapter 110: The Fish Sauce Processing Plant

Chapter 110: Chapter 110: The Fish Sauce Processing Plant

Liam suddenly remembered another debt he had promised several months ago after handing over the Anti-Mental Power Riot Shirt project to his eldest maternal uncle Theodore and his older sister Isabella to work directly with the Vance Military Medical Group alongside the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

That was the fish sauce processing plant.

The one hundred boxes of East Sea Anchovy Chinsu fish sauce that he had traded from the system stall last time were dwindling at a dizzying speed after being divided among the branches of the Luxe Morsel restaurant chain to marinate grilled meat, braise fish, and mix dipping sauces.

Daniel called to wail in Liam’s ear every single day, saying that upper-class customers on the Capital planet and Altair were now so addicted to the flavor of fish sauce that even when eating boiled vegetables or steamed eggs they demanded pure fish sauce mashed with chili for dipping; many aristocratic madams even secretly bribed the restaurant’s chefs with sky-high prices just to ask for a small decanted jar to take home to cook for their families. If the supply were cut off, that crowd of wealthy diners would tear the roof right off Daniel’s restaurant.

"I cannot keep depending forever on trading for individual boxes in the Trading Hall, the exchange turns still need to be saved to trade for seeds and other high-grade items."

Liam sat leaning his back against the swing chair on planet Sirius while flipping through the research result report that his adoptive mother had just sent over from the Research Institute.

Liam had taken the traditional fish sauce fermentation recipe from Nirvana’s data vault to send to Mrs. Hall, just as planned with Nirvana since the BBQ party the other day. Although the Lumina Galaxy had no anchovy species identical to Earth’s, the ocean of the agricultural planet belonging to Umbra had a low-grade sea-beast species living in schools of millions called the Silver Needle Fish.

This fish species was only slightly larger than a little finger, its entire body gleaming silver like a needle, with soft bones and a natural protein ratio in its flesh three times higher than Earth’s anchovies. Previously, because they were too small—filleting the meat took too much effort while boiling them directly in soup left a pungent fishy smell of the deep sea—fishermen who netted them all took them to be sun-dried, ground into livestock feed or fertilizer for star-beasts.

The biological laboratory combined the traditional sea-salt fermentation method at the golden ratio of three parts fish to one part salt with biological enzyme catalysis technology and automatic microbiological temperature control under the direction of Deputy Director Aurora Hall.

Normally on Earth, fermenting a batch of top-grade first-press fish sauce required sunning, stirring for twelve to eighteen months. However, with the system of oak fermentation barrels integrating microbiological waves to simulate thermal cycles of the interstellar era, the entire process of hydrolyzing protein from Silver Needle Fish meat into amino acids was shortened to exactly twenty-one days while the flavor remained rich, thick, carrying a crystal-clear mahogany-brown color, fragrant with the scent of sea sunlight, and reaching a natural protein level of up to 45 degrees!

"My adoptive mother really works with high efficiency." Liam looked at the food safety testing parameters meeting optimal standards accompanied by the exclusive patent certificate on the screen, curving his lips in satisfaction.

Liam held the complete technological process in his hands, immediately convening a small shareholders’ meeting right in the living room of the Sirius villa that afternoon.

The attendees, apart from Daniel and the remote 3D holographic connections of Logan Cromwell, Alexander Hall, also included Isabella and the muscular chef Sebastian.

The former soldier immediately sat bolt upright like a block of wood when Liam pushed the plan to establish the "Silver Needle Fish Sauce Processing Plant" alongside the share distribution sheet out to the middle of the table, then appointed Sebastian as the Chief Executive Officer with full authority over the plant as well as a shareholder holding ten percent of the management shares.

"Li... Liam, you are telling me to be the Plant Director producing that divine seasoning?!" Sebastian stammered, his large hands covered in calluses from holding woks and holding guns waving repeatedly in a fluster: "That will not work! I only know how to fight alongside cooking in the kitchen; telling me to manage a few dozen people in the tourist area’s kitchen is still manageable, but running an entire industrial manufacturing plant supplying the whole Galaxy, how could I possibly shoulder that!"

Liam leisurely took a sip of warm nut milk, smiling as he looked at his future brother-in-law:

"Why could you not shoulder it? The automatic fermentation process already has my adoptive mother’s machinery system set up into a closed-loop production line, the input supply of freshly caught Silver Needle Fish is contracted entirely by Brother Logan’s marine farm, while commercial distribution and output consumption are handled as a complete package by Daniel’s Luxe Morsel restaurant chain and the supermarket systems of the Hall family, the Mason family. The most important job of the Plant Director is controlling the sensory quality of each batch of first-press fish sauce before bottling for shipment and managing the security discipline of the workers so the secrets of the enzyme technology are not leaked."

Liam looked straight into Sebastian’s resolute eyes, his voice clear on every word: "When it comes to tasting the flavor of fish sauce accurately, distinguishing the salty, sweet aftertaste of fish protein, apart from me, only a head chef standing at the stove every day like you is the sharpest here. As for managing internal discipline and establishing a security network against commercial espionage, if a former personal guard captain who has braved life, death out on the front line like you cannot get it done, then nobody across this Galaxy can do it at all."

Isabella sat beside him, gently grasping her boyfriend’s rough hand as well, smiling in encouragement: "Liam is right. I am opening a fashion weaving mill, you are opening a food processing plant, the two of us are independently building our own careers together. Do you really intend to leave me to be a big boss all by myself, while you just stand in the kitchen swinging a wok your whole life then feel inferior every time we go to a family gathering?"

Isabella’s words struck right at the most secret worry inside Sebastian’s heart. Daniel sat opposite them, chiming in to tease as well: "That is right, Brother Sebastian! If you do not agree to manage the fish sauce plant, in case an outsider comes in to do crooked business mixing plain water with chemical flavorings to sell to my restaurant, who would I know to claim compensation from?"

On the 3D holographic screens, both Alexander and Logan nodded in agreement as well: "Just set your mind at rest to accept it, Sebastian; my side will send people from the initial accounting and legal teams over to help you get familiarized during the first three months."

The passionate blood inside Sebastian seemed to boil over as he listened to his girlfriend’s words of encouragement and the absolute trust of Liam alongside everyone else. Deep down inside, he had always longed for a solid career to be a worthy match for Isabella as a true man in love with a girl as capable, beautiful, and nobly born as she was, so that later when standing before the Martinez family and the elders of the Vance family, he could hold his head high to proudly say he had the strength to shelter and bring happiness to her.

Moreover, with this fish sauce processing plant, looking over the list of shareholders standing behind it—including the technology of Deputy Director Aurora Coronado, the investment capital and consumption channels of the Hall family, Umbra, the Mason family, and the Martinez family—no aristocratic family would dare come looking for trouble even if paid to do so!

Sebastian took a deep breath, his eye rims growing slightly hot; he sprang to his feet, bowing ninety degrees in front of Liam and everyone, his voice booming like rolling thunder:

"Thank you, Liam! Thank you everyone for trusting me! I, Sebastian Clark, swear on my honor as a soldier that I will certainly guard the plant and the quality of every single drop of fish sauce with my life!"

Liam burst into a laugh, waving a hand to tell Sebastian to sit down before signing the electronic contract right on the spot alongside everyone.

Thus, within only a week after that, the first fish sauce processing plant of the Lumina Galaxy was erected right on the southern peninsula of Logan’s agricultural planet.

Thousands of gigantic oak barrels with integrated thermostatic chips, packed full of fresh Silver Needle Fish and pure sea salt, began entering their first fermentation cycle, promising in only one more month to create a new seasoning craze sweeping across kitchens from common households to the upper class.