Ruins: "Entrepreneurship" and "Boy"

Chirp-! Chirp-!

In the dense forest, birds of unknown species were calling out at the top of their lungs.

The damp soil, the mist rising in the early morning, and the towering trees that blocked out the sky all signaled that this was a tropical rainforest somewhere.

The ground was "bustling with activity"; beneath the dead wood and fallen leaves, insects swarmed, following their instincts to hunt or flee for their lives.

Suddenly.

"Swish, swish..." The sound of military boots compressing the soft soil, and then...

"Everything is normal."

"Clear."

A group of soldiers clad in jungle camouflage, equipped with soft body armor, tactical belts, and firearms, maintained a steady distance from one another as they stood guard upon reaching the area.

One soldier scanned his surroundings, confirming everything was in order before reporting into his radio: "Lieutenant, you can bring Mr. Sui and his party over now."

"Copy that."

Hearing the reply from the other end of the comms, the soldier raised his hand and waved, signaling his men to remain on alert.

It wasn't long before this area welcomed a large group of "tourists."

The composition of this "tourist group" was somewhat complex. There were technical personnel—experts and scholars in various fields—wearing cargo pants and vests, carrying various packages and equipment cases. Then there were the soldiers, whose gear and weaponry were far more sophisticated, tasked with security.

However, these soldiers wore pitch-black combat uniforms with a deep red "Λ" (inverted V) symbol on their arm patches, beneath which the words "ATLAS Corporation" were embroidered.

The attire of the man leading them, however, fit the term "tourist" quite well.

Standing about one meter eighty-eight, he wore a black long-sleeved polo shirt and dark gray tactical pants. With his hair slicked back, sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, and distinct Chinese features, it wasn't hard to guess that he was the "Mr. Sui" the soldiers had mentioned.

"Mr. Sui..."

The muscular officer who had arrived with him, wearing a camouflage beret, seemed to have been struggling with a question for a long time before finally blurting it out:

"What exactly exists here that is worth you coming in person?"

"Patience, Lieutenant Krauser. You'll know soon enough."

Mr. Sui...

Or rather, Sui Yang, simply smiled, offering no further explanation to the American lieutenant beside him.

It was no wonder the man was confused; after all, he was the "boss" of Atlas Corporation, yet he had chosen to personally venture deep into the West African rainforest.

But as they continued forward, it didn't take long for all the American soldiers, the lieutenant included, to receive some measure of "enlightenment."

Before them stood a massive stone gate, surrounded by vines. Due to its great age, it was impossible to discern which civilization it belonged to, yet it clearly led deep underground.

!?

The moment they saw the ruins, the Americans were struck with astonishment.

"Mr. Sui! It's ruins, there really are ruins here!"

"Hahaha! That's great! Finally, we have a way to deal with those damned superhumans!"

The experts and researchers belonging to Atlas Corporation were ecstatic, their suspicions confirmed, muttering about "dealing with superhumans."

As for Sui Yang, the man who had organized and planned this operation, he frowned, staring at the ruins not far away with a complex expression.

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

In reality, Sui Yang did not originally belong to this world. More importantly, he was an "old man" of nearly one hundred and fifty years.

He had been a retired soldier. On his way home, a truck tire blew out and the vehicle lost control; as he waited on the edge of the sidewalk, he had no time to react before everything went black. When his vision cleared, he found himself lying in a desert...

Just like that, inexplicably yet "naturally," he had transmigrated, body and all.

His uniform, leather boots, backpack, and even the Mate 60 Pro he had just bought with his severance pay had come with him to this world.

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

After investigating with his broken English, Sui Yang discovered he had transmigrated to 1870, right in the midst of the American West during the gold rush and colonial wave.

He lived in that small town for about five years.

During this time, he discovered that he was not a "source of plague"; aside from natural aging and death, not a single resident of the town had died from an "unknown disease."

At the time, Sui Yang thought this might be a rule of transmigrating between worlds or universes, never realizing his own special constitution.

In the summer of 1876, Sui Yang packed his belongings, carrying enough food, money, and weapons, and joined a group of colonists heading to the West Coast.

Although he had grown accustomed to this land where savagery and opportunity coexisted, the faith and longing in his heart still made him want to return to the mysterious East to see it once more.

However, it was only after he encountered bandits and gangs, fought back, and by chance adopted an orphan named "Arthur Morgan," that Sui Yang realized this world was not simple...

Even though he had spent eight years in the military, it didn't mean he was cut off from the world. On the contrary, he was very keen on various games, films, and tabletop games to pass his rare holidays.

Thus, the name, background, and even the appearance of the orphan he adopted were 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 to repeat incessantly in his mind.

At first, he didn't pay much attention to it, but as he drew closer to the West Coast ports, the repetition of words in his mind became increasingly frequent, even causing splitting headaches at their worst.

In the end, he had no choice but to give up.

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

Naturally, he would also take the opportunity to "rob the rich to help the poor," filling his own pockets while helping others along the way.

At the same time, he took great care in raising and training Arthur Morgan, gaining an assistant who was both like a son and a friend to him.

After accumulating enough capital, he bought 80 acres of land on the outskirts of Seattle to test the waters, using it to build a plantation for cash crops like cotton.

Sui Yang understood that his Chinese face would inevitably invite criticism and trouble, so during his time as a bounty hunter, he also adopted several orphans, teaching and training them with the same dedication.

Once the plantation was built, Sui Yang used Arthur Morgan as the core to form a "security" team, specifically tasked with protecting assets and ensuring the smooth expansion of their operations.

In the twenty years that followed, as the world entered the early 20th century, Sui Yang not only owned the cash crop plantation but also possessed one antimony mine and two copper mines.

In 1914, the First World War broke out on this Earth right on schedule.

Having gradually moved from the front stage to the shadows, Sui Yang had already used his connections well before the war to obtain federal authorization, beginning to sell arms, medicine, and daily supplies to various European nations.

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

Just as he was preparing to use his "foresight" to make the enterprise even larger and stronger by leveraging the Great Depression and the Second World War, he read a headline in the newspaper: "Soldier Boy to Head to the Front Lines!"

New friends are welcome to check out the author's previous book, Light of Humanity: Umbrella.

As for Containment and Control Starting from Umbrella, I do not recommend it for the time being, as that book has many flaws and points of contention.

Finally, thank you all for your support!

Also, the pinned video in the comment section features some classic clips of the "villain" from COD11; feel free to take a look if you're interested.