"Very good."
Edgar seemed quite satisfied with Vogelbaum's reply, then continued, "Given that the CIA and every arms dealer in the United States are suspected of having abducted Soldier Boy, we need to move up the plan to bring Homelander Messenger into the public eye.
Ms. Stillwell, notify the media team, especially the comic and novel editors working out Homelander Messenger's origins and how he displays his superpowers. They must portray Homelander Messenger as an omnipotent superhero, the most powerful in history, without equal."
"I understand." Madelyn nodded lightly and proactively suggested, "Sir, I think dropping the 'The' from Homelander Messenger and using the title Homelander would sound smoother."
"As long as it satisfies the board and keeps the company profitable, you may decide such matters yourselves." Edgar had no objections.
"Very well, leave it to me."
--
While Vought's upper management discussed who had orchestrated the attack, in Accra City, the capital of Ghana—ten thousand kilometers from New York and five hours ahead of it—it was already sunset.
The orange-red glow painted the clouds, and combined with the pleasant tropical climate, golden beaches to the south, and an emerald ocean, the place looked like a vacation resort no matter how one viewed it.
If it had not been in Africa, Accra would have been favored by tourists from all over the world. But it was tied to negative words like war, disease, and robbery...
Even though Ghana ranked at a relatively high level across Africa in public security, education, sanitation, healthcare, and other areas, no one dared risk their own safety to come here, and they kept their distance.
However, without the outside world noticing, Accra had quietly undergone a qualitative transformation.
Looking down over the city, its central districts and streets had been enclosed by conspicuous black-and-yellow warning barriers, because those areas were undergoing large-scale renovation, reconstruction, and development.
At many construction sites, the skeletal frames of hundred-meter-high towers, apartments, and office buildings had already risen.
Other sites were continually excavating downward, apparently trying their best to improve—or even rebuild—the city's underground power, water supply, and electrical systems.
Furthermore, the construction crews seemed not to know fatigue. Even as the sky gradually darkened, nothing could stop them from working through the night under the lights, continuing construction with overtime after overtime.
If one looked closer, one would find that despite this being Africa, more than seventy percent of the construction crew members had light yellow or white skin.
Judging by the conspicuous red "Λ" insignias on their uniforms and protective gear, it was not difficult to guess that they were Atlas employees, belonging to one of the company's largest, most widespread, and most heavily funded departments—
the Engineering Department.
The Engineering Department had multiple branches, such as the Combat Engineers, who operated alongside ARS companies, possessed higher authority, and knew core secrets, as well as the regular personnel gathered in Accra City to build infrastructure.
Ever since Accra Park, responsible for producing and testing a new generation of weapons, had been completed, Atlas had used the park as its center to begin radiating outward and expanding, continuously summoning engineering personnel stationed around the world to this place.
After all, Accra was closest to the ruins containing the Space Gate, making it the most suitable location to develop into a base second only to Seattle.
Between 1993 and 1994, Atlas's arrival had directly driven rapid economic growth in the area.
Many family members, relatives, and friends had followed the engineering personnel to Accra, intending to settle there long-term, and had instead become the primary consumer group in the region.
The remaining thirty percent of the construction crews were locals strictly selected by the Human Resources Department through a series of examinations and tests.
Ensuring the selected local employees possessed loyalty was the foremost concern. Next, they could not be hot-tempered and needed positive traits such as helpfulness, honesty, and trustworthiness.
Of course, this was not aimed at any particular place or people. No matter where it was, Atlas followed the same process when recruiting new employees.
The company treated every team and employee who had truly integrated into its core equally. For example, the elite forces of the ARS 3rd Infantry Company supporting Leon had been equipped with mechanical skeletons and the latest individual weapons earlier than Hunter Company, led by Arthur Morgan.
Likewise, most Universal Soldiers who could be deployed directly into combat and missions were assigned and arranged by Hunter Company.
Feelings such as comparison and jealousy could not truly be eradicated, but Atlas turned those emotions into healthy competition.
Whichever company or department had the best "performance" that year could receive corresponding equipment, weapons, and rewards. Even those at the bottom would receive consolation prizes personally paid for by Sui Yang. There was no empty promise-making.
But the prerequisite for everything was successfully becoming an employee with a legally binding contract with Atlas, and in reality, ninety percent of people failed at this step.
As for Accra's local population, due to numerous factors, the actual figure was far higher than ninety percent.
Aside from infrastructure construction, which Atlas excelled at and seemed to "love" most, public security in Accra City had also improved significantly.
Continuing to observe from a bird's-eye view, one could easily spot pairs of "soldiers" patrolling the streets from time to time, carrying firearms and wearing dark navy combat uniforms.
If traffic congestion was discovered, these "soldiers" would also take on the role of traffic police, rushing to the scene to direct and clear traffic.
These soldiers, all wearing armbands marked with a red "Λ," were actually Atlas's regular mercenaries, providing contracted services to certain non-governmental clients.
In principle, a private company had no right to interfere with a city's public security.
But after Accra's police department, as well as emergency services and public departments such as firefighting and hospitals, received sponsorship from Atlas measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, every problem was readily solved.
Personnel providing emergency services were disbanded and reorganized, with Atlas taking responsibility for their training, selection, and appointments.
If not for principles of sovereignty, international consensus, and the restrictions of various international laws, Atlas and Sui Yang were fully capable of "buying" all of Ghana.
For the time being, none of this had drawn significant attention from the outside world, but given the efficiency and pace of the sweeping reconstruction and reorganization, it was only a matter of time before the outside world learned of it.
However, Atlas's Public Relations Department had already begun preparing response plans to deal with all kinds of tricky topics fabricated by the media for sensationalism and traffic, such as, "Titan is interfering with another nation's sovereignty! Desecrating democracy!" and "Titan Company is attempting to legalize colonialism!" and so on.
In response, Sui Yang only wanted to quote the words of the "villain" Jonathan Irons from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, as a final summary—
"Drop a few bombs, overthrow a dictator, and declare democracy atop a field of ruins? Give me a break. People need protection, rules, boundaries, security, and the infrastructure that supports it all."
Irons's classic quote was pinned in the discussion section.
(End of Chapter)
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