Generally, bulk commodities are traded through international trading platforms.
Prices of bulk commodities naturally fluctuate, given that this is a market worth hundreds of trillions of dollars—the waters run deep.
Some speculators make huge fortunes, while others lose everything down to their underwear.
On international trading platforms, investors, enterprises, and clients from various countries can purchase the commodities they need from all over the world.
These include crude oil, natural gas, agricultural products, non-ferrous metals, iron ore, copper ore, lithium ore, coal, pig iron, steel, and more.
Currently, Li Dong has also invested on international trading platforms, with top traders heavily investing in crude oil, agricultural products, natural gas, coal, pig iron, and other commodities.
His primary investments are in futures.
The futures Li Dong has heavily invested in are bound to surge in the near future because the major superpowers of Blue Star are orchestrating the market to harvest vast amounts of capital and resources for domestic development.
In time, investors who catch wind of this will join the feast, scrambling for scraps behind the giants.
However, most investors in this harvest will see their funds and commodities wiped out, with countless people losing everything. Some may even believe it's just a failed investment, temporary at worst—they can always try again next year.
But time won't allow them to try again.
Li Dong has also purchased a significant amount of spot commodities, such as grain, crude oil, coal, fertilizer, and Nutrient Soil.
These are all essential production materials for the Shelter.
Without grain, would the people in the Shelter really survive on Insect Protein Starch?
Without crude oil, how would machinery operate? How would industrial production equipment function? How would generators produce electricity?
Without coal, how would people stay warm? Burn firewood? There isn't enough firewood for everyone!
Without fertilizer, how would crops in the Ecological Farm grow?
The Nutrient Soil mentioned here specifically refers to Natural Organic Black Soil—essentially black earth sourced from Black Soil regions. Without this Nutrient Soil, how could crops thrive in barren soil and achieve high yields?
Natural Organic Black Soil already has a sizable market presence.
Many people buy it to grow flowers and plants.
Of course, Formula Nutrient Soil and Peat Soil are also selling well.
The prices of Formula Nutrient Soil, Peat Soil, and Black Soil are all quite affordable. On certain shopping platforms, you can buy over ten pounds for just 9.9 yuan, with free shipping—volume discounts are the main selling point.
It's not just various types of Nutrient Soil—even cow dung and sheep manure have become commodities on certain platforms.
Place an order, and they'll arrange logistics to deliver it to you.
On some video platforms, sorting workers have posted videos showing people ordering tons of cow dung or sheep manure online—though this is hardly surprising anymore.
It just makes life harder for the sorting and delivery workers.
Li Dong has purchased nearly a million tons of Peat Soil and Natural Organic Black Soil, mostly imported from abroad. The Great Xia nation tightly controls Black Soil, making large-scale domestic purchases difficult.
But imports are an option—bulk orders are cheap anyway, with the real costs lying in fuel, tolls, and labor.
Many countries with vast Black Soil regions are in this business, even selling a ton of Natural Organic Black Soil or Peat Soil for just a few hundred dollars.
Some countries specialize in selling peat soil, which is also a type of high-quality soil.
Many nations don't place much importance on this—as long as you pay, they'll sell it. After all, many countries aren't industrialized and can't produce industrial goods, so they rely on selling domestic resources to earn foreign currency.
Some small countries are covered in black soil, with layers at least one and a half meters deep—a natural advantage. Unfortunately, they just don't know how to utilize it.
These transactions usually involve bulk quantities, with deals ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of tons at a time. Money flows in effortlessly.
After the apocalypse, these wouldn't just be natural organic black soil or peat soil—they'd be invaluable means of production.
Without these natural organic black soil and peat soil, existing plans would have to be slashed by more than half.
Especially after the Extreme Cold Apocalypse arrives, nearly all black soil on the surface would become wasteland.
What was once fertile land nurturing humanity would turn barren. Developing it would be extremely difficult because the extreme cold would freeze the ground as hard as iron.
After Li Dong and his team inspected the goods at the port and signed off, the grain freighter, originally docked at the grain terminal, began unloading its cargo directly into storage.
For now, the grain was stored in the port's grain silos. Li Dong would then arrange for it to be transported elsewhere.
Moving this batch of grain wouldn't be easy.
After all, it was a shipment of 40,000 tons. If they didn't use waterways and relied on land transport instead, it would be a logistical nightmare.
But the next steps would be handled by professionals—that's what Li Dong paid them for.
If any employees were caught embezzling funds or lining their own pockets, Li Dong dealt with them immediately, sending them to "enjoy public hospitality" (prison).
It wasn't hard to uncover such corruption. Li Dong already paid his staff generously—50% above Pengcheng's average wage.
If they still resorted to underhanded tricks, Li Dong wouldn't hold back.
For employees or managers who performed exceptionally well, Li Dong might even consider allowing their families into the Shelter.
Such a large Shelter couldn't possibly house only a dozen people, could it?
Lone wolves in the apocalypse might seem appealing, but in reality, being cut off from the group was like a fish out of water—they wouldn't last long.
Unless, like those lone-wolf protagonists in novels, they had a "system."
Without one, none of these lone wolves would survive past a month.
Making it two weeks would already be a stretch.
The current Shelter was designed for 10,000 people, with a maximum capacity of 30,000. Any more, and it would be overcrowded.
Not that it couldn't physically fit more, but due to limitations in supplies and energy, exceeding that number would make life uncomfortable.
After leaving the port, Li Dong drove himself to a shooting club in Pengcheng.
This club had been operating in Pengcheng for nearly fifty years and was one of the most popular in the area.
Here, you could handle real firearms—pay, and you could shoot at targets.
It was also one of the few places in Pengcheng where shooting was legally permitted. Running such a business required serious connections; if anything went wrong, no one would escape accountability.
Li Dong's visit this time was mainly due to an invitation from an old friend—not the kind you only drink and feast with, but a more genuine companion, someone he got along with well.
This old friend's family were shareholders of the shooting club, and Li Dong was also a member. He would come here to practice shooting whenever he wanted.
The full name of the club was Pengcheng Divine Eagle Shooting Club.
The Divine Eagle Shooting Club had two shooting ranges: an outdoor range and an indoor range.
The firearms in the indoor range were usually locked with chains and couldn't be taken away, meant for those without gun licenses.
The firearms in the outdoor range, however, were typically unchained and unlocked, but required a gun license to enter and use.
At the outdoor shooting range of the Divine Eagle Club in Pengcheng, many people were aiming and firing at distant targets.
On a long table nearby, various firearms and ammunition were laid out.
Of course, there was someone specifically guarding the long table to prevent any reckless behavior.
The firearms on the table came from all over the world, with so many models that it was impossible to take them all in at once.
Pistols, submachine guns, automatic rifles, sniper rifles, heavy machine guns, anti-materiel rifles, and even autocannons were all present.
Not far from the long table, a tall, burly man with a full beard was whispering to a fair-skinned, beautiful, and slender woman beside him: "Cousin, listen, the buddy I invited this time isn't some ugly misfit. He's well-mannered and cultured, from the same social circle as us."
The slender woman had an exotic beauty, likely with ancestry from the western Xinjiang region.
"Enough, enough. I just came to the shooting range to have some fun. Why are you nagging me about finding a boyfriend like my parents?"
"Hey, I was pressured by your parents too. Last night, your mom and dad video-called me and talked for hours, insisting I introduce you to a boyfriend, saying—"
"Stop, stop, stop. How's your friend's marksmanship?"
"Pretty good. In this club, few can match him. He's very accurate—hits whatever he aims at."
"That impressive, huh?"
"What, interested now?"
"A little. Let's see if we click when he gets here," the slender woman said dismissively.
Her standards were high, and ordinary people couldn't even catch her eye.