1960197019931994

1993–1994.

During this year, Atlas, fully mobilized by Sui Yang, "produced" at a speed beyond outside imagination.

Atlas had numerous departments and subsidiaries.

Among them, fourteen subsidiaries were wholly owned. Aside from general departments such as HR, finance, and transportation, there was also the Communication Technology and Private R&D Department that had organized this press conference, as well as the Bioengineering Department headed by Alexia.

Every department was closely interconnected. Their respective heads were all Sui Yang's trusted confidants, privy to company secrets, making it difficult to determine which was the most important.

But if one had to name the department with the greatest expenditure, it would be the R&D Department.

It was unclear how other companies operated, but at Atlas, the simpler a department's name, the more "complicated" its actual scale and operations were.

The R&D Department was chiefly devoted to turning theory into reality, particularly in military industry. Otherwise, how could Atlas have possessed sunglasses with HUD displays and bulletproof suits made of Carbon Nanofiber as early as the 1980s and 1990s?

As for Wang Zhaofeng, the head of the R&D Department, he held doctorates in both mathematics and physics and had once studied at MIT in the United States.

However, this double PhD's relationship with Atlas had not been harmonious in the early days. After all, Wang Zhaofeng had been "half-kidnapped" into taking a position at the company.

Fortunately, the final result was that Wang Zhaofeng worked diligently for Atlas for nearly thirty years.

Though he had gone from a spirited, handsome young man to a balding department head, he lacked neither wealth nor fame, and he had an environment where he could devote himself wholeheartedly to research and development. Rather than resent Sui Yang, Wang Zhaofeng was quite grateful to him.

More than half of the technology Atlas possessed was unknown to the outside world, and all of it stood at an absolute leading level.

One important reason Wang Zhaofeng had been able to fully support Sui Yang was that, the moment he became head of the R&D Department, Sui Yang had placed a well-preserved Mate 60 Pro on the double PhD's desk.

From then on, during the years from 1960 to 1970, Atlas ushered in its first wave of rapid development, and large numbers of new electronic products began entering the market.

It even preceded Motorola's announcement of the DynaTAC 8000X, becoming the first company to define what a "personal business phone" was and pioneering mobile communications.

Moreover, more than 35% of all communication base stations in the United States belonged to Atlas.

Had Sui Yang not worried that going too far and establishing a monopoly would draw the attention of federal officials with whom he did not have the best relationship, or that overly conspicuous monopolistic behavior would invite a siege from hostile forces including Vought, he could have achieved his goal of reaching a hundred billion in personal assets ten years early.

Back to 1993–1994.

The opening of the first Space Gate, along with the data and physical samples continuously sent back and brought back by Investigators, allowed the R&D Department led by Wang Zhaofeng to break through restrictions in multiple fields.

Many new weapons, vehicles, and pieces of equipment were still being designed and improved, requiring prototypes to be manufactured and tested to ensure performance and safety. But for technologies like the Exoskeleton, Atlas had already successfully produced several prototypes even without the Space Gate and United Defense Force's technology.

The real obstacle and bottleneck had been a compact power source capable of supporting the Exoskeleton's prolonged movement and combat while providing sufficient endurance. The Hydrogen Battery technology used by the UDF perfectly solved that problem.

This allowed Atlas, already superior to the Main Universe's technology, to pull even farther ahead.

Mass-producing Exoskeletons, as well as manufacturing new equipment and vehicles, required control over a whole series of links, including manufacturing systems, production equipment, processes, and material supplies.

For example, the armory at Accra Park only completed its first production workshop on February 6, 1994. It was capable of manufacturing Exoskeletons improved by Wang Zhaofeng's team and their related components, but its monthly output was only a "pitiful" fourteen sets.

Atlas had the prerequisites to independently complete all mass production, but that would require time.

Furthermore, before all of Atlas's military units completed their upgrades, or before Vought International was dealt with, Sui Yang would never decide to sell them externally.

Still, Sui Yang believed that with the passage of time, Atlas would eventually become like the Titan Company from the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare that he still found so regrettable, allowing every one of its mercenaries to be equipped with the most advanced weapons.

It was worth mentioning that the reason the R&D Department could spare the manpower and time to design and develop Carbon Nanofiber for the company's Investigators was actually at Sui Yang's instruction.

Leon joining them always made Sui Yang inadvertently think of Resident Evil 4 Remake.

Although Leon of the Main Universe leaned more toward the original version in both personality and appearance, setting nostalgia aside, Sui Yang felt that the Remake had better story logic, stronger overall gameplay, and greater realism.

Moreover, Leon's Mozambique Drill in the Remake reminded Sui Yang of the John Wick series, as well as the high-tech bulletproof suits in John Wick.

And Leon's absurdly heaven-defying luck and "Sanguang" trait also convinced Sui Yang that Investigator work would suit him perfectly.

Sui Yang provided an absolutely high salary and weapons and equipment that allowed Leon to uphold the justice in his heart. In return, Leon could bring back intelligence and even unexpected additional gains. It was definitely a win-win.

"..."

At that moment.

Having briefly lost himself in memories of the past, Sui Yang locked the tablet screen and set it aside, then closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

Managing a multinational corporation with 160,000 employees while educating two "bear cubs" who were obedient one moment and troublesome the next, not to mention keeping watch over and guarding against Vought and all sorts of other forces...

Sui Yang was exhausted in both body and mind every day.

He could not be bothered to judge whether his powerful self-healing and endurance far beyond ordinary people were good or bad. He only knew that a few minutes of rest for him had the same effect as an ordinary person sleeping for an entire day. It felt more like a kind of "curse" and "shackle."

At the same time, Sui Yang also deeply understood why the God-Emperor of Mankind had made certain incomprehensible decisions.

Wanting to slack off but having no choice except to "work overtime" and "take care of children"—even with extraordinary mind and body, one would become "abnormal" sooner or later.

Lastly, there was the Space Gate.

Ever since gaining control of this ability, he had known that every activation consumed a massive amount of Psychic Power, and that its "cooldown" was 414 Earth days.

The Space Gate had first opened on June 5, 1993. By today, July 12, 1994, excluding factors such as time differences, a total of 403 days had passed.

Eleven days remained until the next opening.

Perfect timing. Aside from population and natural resources, Earth-01's technology had nearly been picked clean by Atlas. It was time to find a new target and learn from its strengths to make up for their weaknesses.

(End of Chapter)