"Sir, this is all of Umbrella Corporation's current research progress." Inside Umbrella's West African base, a massive computer screen displayed an enormous amount of data: biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, metal smelting, tempered glass reinforcement, and more—almost all of it high-tech products.
From this alone, it was clear that what Umbrella Corporation had put out into the world did not even amount to a tenth of its data.
In modern society, no company could cover every field of business. Even Stark had to purchase various specialty metals externally when building the Iron Man Suit.
It was not that Stark could not develop those things himself; people simply had limited energy and could not possibly excel at everything.
Umbrella Corporation had only researched these things out of necessity. After all, its real research involved bioweapons viruses. If it frequently purchased all sorts of supplies from outside, it would be easily exposed.
That was precisely why Umbrella Corporation had been able to remain so deeply hidden.
For example, metal smelting and tempered glass reinforcement had been developed to contain test subjects. Umbrella Corporation even had an internally used metal of its own: the TG Series.
TG Series metal had been secretly developed by Umbrella. It possessed extremely high strength while weighing at least half as much as other metals of equal grade.
It also had another extremely important effect: it could evade the vast majority of metal detectors. It could avoid X-ray detection when passing through customs. It could be said that this metal had made a major contribution to Umbrella Corporation's secrecy.
Then there was reinforced glass. Like in some movies, test subjects might smash through reinforced glass with a few blows during an experiment. That might happen at other companies, but never at Umbrella Corporation.
To deal with Tyrant-series test subjects, Umbrella Corporation's reinforced glass was all manufactured in-house and subjected to repeated testing. During construction, it was specially thickened as well.
All of this stemmed from Umbrella Corporation's immense wealth. Some laboratories had to cut corners because their funding was limited and they needed to minimize expenditures and budget carefully.
If these things were put on the market, Umbrella Corporation's value would rise even higher. Setting everything else aside, TG Series metal could easily be used to make weapons, vehicles, and aircraft.
For Umbrella Corporation—or rather, for his own plan to become a god—Spencer had exhausted himself. Unfortunately, fate had not favored him; all his subordinates were traitors.
Otherwise, with the T-Veronica Virus, Spencer might have lived for quite some time. Its fifteen-year integration period would not have been a problem for him.
Whether freezing himself for fifteen years or replacing his organs for fifteen years, he could have managed it.
After all, even a certain drug lord had held on for fifteen years for his daughter.
After leaving Spencer's castle, Shen Fei and Ada went to Wesker's secret base. It stored the data and viruses Wesker had obtained from Umbrella Corporation, along with the Red Queen.
Using Wesker's identity, Shen Fei easily rewrote the Red Queen's underlying code and transferred control of her.
At the same time, he changed the Red Queen's voice to that of a young girl. That was why Ada had begun looking at him strangely.
At first, Shen Fei did not understand what that look meant, but he eventually got it. She was looking at him as if he were a lolicon, which left him speechless.
After spending several days together, the two had become somewhat familiar. Shen Fei asked Ada whether she wanted to change jobs. After all, he was now a billionaire, so providing her with a job would not be difficult.
But Ada refused.
Ada was a freelance agent, something like a mercenary. She worked for whoever paid her. At least, that was what she said. Shen Fei did not know whether it was true, but based on the information he knew, it probably was.
Of course, that was not why she refused. She refused because she liked this adventurous way of life, that sensation of walking along a blade's edge. That was the biggest reason she had become an agent.
Ada was quite similar to Black Widow in some ways, except Ada disliked being overly constrained, which was why she had not joined S.H.I.E.L.D.
"There's no Holographic Imaging System. Looks like I'll have to get a set from Stark." Although the Red Queen was an intelligent system, he still needed a Holographic Imaging System to recreate the kind of setup Iron Man had in his laboratory.
"It won't be easy to take all this back to New York." Looking at the enormous shipping container before them, Ada asked curiously.
For an intelligent system to fully display its capabilities, it required immense hardware. The servers for Jarvis were buried beneath Stark's villa.
Likewise, the Red Queen's various devices, combined together, filled an entire shipping container. That was only the standard configuration. If he wanted other functions, he would need external equipment.
"Don't worry. Something this small can't stump me. Don't you like adventure? This time, I'll let you see what a real adventure is." The shipping container was a simple problem for Shen Fei. He could use Pym Particles. Although he had used up his Pym Particles before and had not made more, he still had Pym Particle darts.
Although he had a favorable impression of Ada—he could even say that he liked her—he could not possibly reveal all his secrets at once.
"It's just a primitive tribe." The Stairway of the Sun was located in a primitive tribe.
Although the world had entered the modern age, primitive tribes still existed in certain parts of Africa. In terms of social systems, these places were the most chaotic.
There was no need to mention anywhere else. Wakanda alone was enough to prove it. Its technology was advanced enough to create camouflage Force Fields, yet its method of choosing a king remained so primitive.
Not to mention that its weapons made from Vibranium were also mainly for close combat. Vibranium hoes—could anyone believe that?
Shen Fei's detailed understanding of the Stairway of the Sun came from a book Ada had previously brought from the castle. It was this very book that had allowed Spencer and the others to find the Stairway of the Sun.
Natural History Survey was the title of the book. It had been written by an explorer a century ago based on his expeditions through Africa. There were seventy-two volumes in total, recording in detail the geography, climate, animals, plants, mineral resources, population distribution, customs, and other matters of the regions he had passed through.
However, because some of its contents were too absurd, people did not take it seriously and instead regarded it as an adventure novel.
Combined with political, wartime, and other reasons, the book could no longer be found on the market.
Spencer had been able to read it because his family was a famous European family that possessed a complete set of Natural History Survey. After seeing the section on the Stairway of the Sun, the young Spencer became curious. He invited his equally young friend Edward, along with biology student Marcus, on an expedition to find the Stairway of the Sun.
In Natural History Survey, the Stairway of the Sun was described as an essential step in a primitive tribe's selection of its king. Only those who ate the Stairway of the Sun and survived could become the tribe's king. They would also gain immense strength, a lifespan of several centuries, and invulnerability to blades and bullets.
That was precisely why the book had been called an adventure novel at the time. In most people's eyes, someone with such abilities could only exist in fiction, never in reality.
But Spencer and Edward had been young dreamers at the time. They wanted to obtain that power. Later, they found the Stairway of the Sun there and extracted the Progenitor Virus from it. That was the origin of Umbrella Corporation.
The Stairway of the Sun here reminded Shen Fei of Wakanda's Heart-Shaped Herb. The two had similar effects.
If this primitive tribe had not died out so early, perhaps it could have developed into a nation similar to Wakanda.
Antibodies to viruses could be inherited. Just like Wesker's son, who was born with an antibody to the virus, these people had the lowest chance of failing after consuming the Stairway of the Sun.
"What is this?" Seeing the strange sight ahead, glowing with an eerie light like countless glass shards floating in the air, Ada could not help stopping.
"An Anomaly Point."
What Natural History Survey did not record was that the Stairway of the Sun was not a plant from Earth at all. It was a plant growing within a permanent Anomaly Point inside a cave that had appeared near this primitive tribe.
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