Ruins, "Starting a Business," and "Boy"

Chirp! Chirp!

In the dense forest, unknown birds cried out at the top of their lungs.

Together with the damp soil, the morning mist, and the towering trees that blotted out the sky, everything pointed to this being a tropical rainforest somewhere.

The ground was even more "lively." Beneath deadwood and fallen leaves, dense swarms of insects hunted and fled according to their instincts.

Suddenly.

Rustle, rustle... Military boots compressed the soft earth, accompanied by...

"Everything's normal."

"Clear."

A group of soldiers dressed in jungle camouflage fatigues, equipped with soft body armor and tactical belts, and carrying firearms arrived in the area and spread out to stand guard.

One soldier scanned the surroundings. After confirming that everything was in order, he reported over the radio, "Lieutenant, you can bring Mr. Sui and the others over now."

"Copy."

Upon hearing the reply from the other end, the soldier raised a hand and waved, signaling his comrades to remain vigilant and await orders.

Before long, this area welcomed a large number of "tourists."

The composition of the "tour group" was rather mixed. Some wore work pants and vests, carrying various bags and equipment cases, and looked like technical personnel, experts, and scholars from certain fields. Others were soldiers with more sophisticated gear and weapons, responsible for security.

However, those soldiers wore black combat uniforms. Their armbands bore a dark red inverted V-shaped "Λ" symbol, with the words "Atlas Corporation" embroidered beneath it.

The man at the front, on the other hand, dressed in a manner that perfectly fit the word "tourist."

He was around six foot two, wearing a black long-sleeved tennis shirt and dark gray tactical pants. His black hair was slicked back, and with his sharp brows, bright eyes, and Chinese features, it was not hard to guess that he was the "Mr. Sui" mentioned by the soldiers.

"Mr. Sui..."

At that moment, the muscular officer accompanying Mr. Sui, wearing a camouflage beret, seemed to have wrestled with himself for a long time before finally asking, unable to hold it in any longer:

"What exactly is here that warrants you coming in person?"

"Be patient, Lieutenant Krauser. You'll find out soon enough."

Mr. Sui...

Or rather, Sui Yang merely smiled and did not offer the American lieutenant beside him much of an explanation.

It was no wonder the man was confused. After all, Sui Yang was the boss of Atlas Corporation, yet he had chosen to venture personally into the depths of the West African rainforest.

But after they continued onward for a while, all the American soldiers, including the lieutenant, received some degree of "enlightenment."

Before them stood a massive stone gate leading underground, entwined in vines and so ancient that it was impossible to identify the civilization or architectural style it belonged to.

!?

The moment they saw the ruins, the American soldiers looked astonished.

"Mr. Sui! Ruins! There really are ruins here!"

"Hahaha! Great! We finally have a way to deal with those damn superhumans!"

The experts and researchers from Atlas Corporation, meanwhile, were overjoyed as though their suspicions had been confirmed, even talking about "dealing with superhumans."

"..."

As for Sui Yang, who had organized and planned this operation, he frowned slightly and stared at the ruins in the distance with a complicated expression.

Because that "stone gate" would lead them to another universe.

In truth, Sui Yang had not originally belonged to this world. More importantly, he was nearly a hundred and fifty years old—an old man.

He had originally been a retired soldier. On his way home after leaving the service, a truck suffered a tire blowout and lost control. Standing at the edge of the sidewalk, he had no time to react before everything went black. When his vision returned, he found himself lying in a desert...

Just like that, for no reason at all yet somehow "naturally," he had crossed into another world—body and all.

His uniform, boots, backpack, and even the Mate 60 Pro he had just bought with his discharge pay had come with him.

Afterward, Sui Yang used the survival skills he had learned during eight years of service to escape the desert and make contact with a human settlement in this world.

After conducting some inquiries with his poor English, Sui Yang discovered that he had somehow arrived in 1870, in the American West amid the gold rush and colonial expansion.

He then lived in that town for around five years.

During that time, he also discovered that he was not a "source of plague." Aside from old age, illness, and natural death, not a single town resident had died from any "unknown disease."

At the time, Sui Yang believed that this might simply be a rule of crossing between worlds or universes. He had not noticed his unusual constitution at all.

In the summer of 1876, Sui Yang packed his belongings and brought sufficient food, money, and weapons, joining a group of settlers headed for the West Coast.

Although he had already grown familiar with this land where savagery and opportunity coexisted, his faith and longing still made him want to see the mysterious East again.

However, after encountering bandits and gangsters, fighting back against them, and then coincidentally adopting an orphan named Arthur Morgan, Sui Yang realized that this world was not simple...

Although he had spent eight years in the military, that did not mean he had been cut off from the world. On the contrary, he had always been enthusiastic about all kinds of games, films, and tabletop games to pass his rare holidays.

Therefore, the orphan he adopted had a name, experiences, and even an appearance almost identical to the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2.

The true turning point that made Sui Yang give up on "going home" came the day after he adopted Arthur Morgan, when the words [stay... start a business...] began repeating endlessly in his mind.

At first, he did not pay much attention to it. But the closer he got to the ports on the West Coast, the more frequently the words repeated in his head. At their worst, they even gave him splitting headaches.

So he had no choice but to give up.

Over the next ten years, Sui Yang relied on his exceptional military skills and first worked as a bounty hunter, tracking down criminals...

Of course, he also took the opportunity to "rob the rich and help the poor," assisting others while filling his own pockets.

At the same time, he devoted himself to caring for and training Arthur Morgan, gaining an assistant who was both like a son and a friend.

After accumulating enough capital, he bought eighty acres of land outside Seattle as a test run, using it to build a plantation for cotton and other cash crops.

Sui Yang understood that his Chinese appearance would surely attract plenty of criticism and trouble, so while working as a bounty hunter, he also adopted several other orphans and carefully taught and trained them as well.

Once the plantation was complete, Sui Yang formed a "security" force centered around Arthur Morgan, specifically responsible for protecting their assets and ensuring that they could continue expanding smoothly.

Over the following twenty years, this world entered the early twentieth century. Sui Yang not only owned plantations producing cash crops, but also a stibnite mine and two copper mines.

In 1914, World War I erupted on this Earth as scheduled.

Having gradually stepped out of the spotlight and into the background, Sui Yang had already used some connections before World War I to obtain federal authorization and begin selling arms, medicine, and daily necessities to European countries.

That same year, Sui Yang officially established the fully transformed Atlas.

Just as he continued using his "foresight" and planned to make the company bigger and stronger through the Great Depression and World War II, he read a newspaper report: "Soldier Boy Heads to the Front!"

New readers can check out the author's old novel, Light of Humanity: Umbrella.

As for Containment and Control Starting from Umbrella, it is not recommended for now. It has plenty of frustrating and flawed parts.

Lastly, thank you all for your support~!

Also, the pinned video in the comments contains some classic scenes from the "villain" in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Interested readers can take a look.