After acquiring Marvel, William learned that Halsey had spent two hundred million on a hospital back then...
She really was a spendthrift!
Thinking back to the cost of the Sparta Mjolnir Armor, and making a simple conversion based on this world's prices, one suit cost as much as an Aegis-class guided-missile destroyer...
He felt relieved.
Two hundred million?
Hah.
That was merely Halsey's "appetizer."
"Our boss doesn't want to be disturbed."
"Sorry for the trouble. I just wanted to ask whether he needed any services."
"Hm?" Hearing the argument, William stopped spacing out while looking out the window and instead turned around to peer through the gap between the USS.
A hot-looking female server was arguing with the USS at the front.
The USS at the front had a stern face and rarely smiled. He was shorter than the other USS.
But this seemingly ordinary bodyguard was actually the strongest "Reaper" William had drawn so far—Hunk.
Andre had also noticed what made Hunk different and appointed him captain of William's personal bodyguards.
Ever dutiful, Hunk had directly stopped the approaching server outside their defensive line.
That had led to the scene just now.
After seeing William turn around, the server immediately became enthusiastic and said:
"Sir, would you like any service? Perhaps some hot coffee or something?"
"..."
Hearing this, William couldn't even be bothered to respond. He turned back around and waved his hand.
The four USS immediately understood what he meant and stepped forward together. Hunk still spoke in his emotionless tone:
"Miss, our boss doesn't need anything. Please leave."
"This... all right." The server looked disappointed and had no choice but to turn and leave.
With his right elbow propped against the armrest and his fist supporting his chin, William gazed out the window. Of course, he knew what that server had been thinking.
A nobody becomes a somebody.
William had indirectly learned through the people at Marvel that James Cameron was looking for investors in Washington D.C., so he had planned to visit the director while he was in the area and discuss things with him.
But after what had just happened, he decided to move up his plans to buy a private jet and build a private airport in Halifax City.
Aside from the harassment, his personal safety was still the top priority.
Umbrella was currently famous only in Halifax City. If he continued traveling like this in the future, he might not live to see another day.
Fortunately, Umbrella had its own Engineering Team. Transforming all the land he had acquired into a large private military base would only take "a few minutes."
Afterward, William, Hunk, and the others took a flight to Washington and met that long-famous director, Cameron.
William knew exactly how formidable this director was.
In the Original World, Avatar alone had changed the landscape of Hollywood and the entire film industry.
The box-office profits had been enormous, not even counting the series of related revenues.
Moreover, Cameron was not yet a top-tier director. He had only made one major film, True Lies, and afterward, no investor had dared to hire him again.
The reason was that large-scale productions cost too much.
Although his films were guaranteed to make money and had good reputations, the investors didn't actually get to keep that much.
They respected Cameron, but didn't dare to use him.
But William wasn't afraid.
He wasn't short of a few hundred million. He could simply invest in the film himself.
It was only after contacting Cameron that William learned the man wasn't preparing the so-called Avatar. Instead, he wanted to make Starship Troopers 2.
Through their conversation, William discovered that this world's Starship Troopers had never received a sequel.
Unlike the Original World, where the sequels had gotten progressively worse and ruined a great title.
William had no objections to that.
Especially since Cameron had earned the title of "King of Sequels."
In the Original World, Aliens 2 and Terminator 2 had both pushed their respective series to their peaks.
But William had his own requirement: the original cast had to return.
Money wasn't a problem.
Most importantly, William really liked the romance between the protagonist, Johnny Rico, and the deceased Dizzy Flores.
Aside from having Dizzy Flores brought back to life, William didn't interfere with the script at all, giving Cameron an extremely free hand creatively.
After finalizing Starship Troopers 2 with Cameron, William still had no intention of returning to Canada, because he had a pile of things to handle in the United States.
First, he contacted Wang Zhaofeng and told him to build the military base as quickly as possible. It had to include runways and hangars where large transport aircraft could take off, land, and be parked.
The base wasn't meant to accommodate a few hundred people, but at least ten thousand.
The construction of The Hive and the plans to build containment facilities in uninhabited areas also had to be expedited.
As for government permits, William handed those over once again to Frank, the lawyer.
Andre continued fulfilling his duties as a colonel, routinely training the UBCS and USS so the two units could work in harmony.
At the same time, he expanded the search for soldiers from one province to all of North America.
Veterans with family difficulties and strong combat abilities were the primary candidates. Those who passed the tests would be recruited into the UBCS, and after passing regular assessments, they would eventually be promoted to the USS.
After relaxing in Washington for several days, William traveled under the protection of Hunk and the other USS to Hartford City, Connecticut, on the eastern coast of the United States.
They hadn't come here for sightseeing. This city was home to Colt, one of America's old-line arms manufacturers.
William certainly wasn't going to recklessly acquire Colt.
It wasn't realistic to swallow up a company that had existed since the nineteenth century.
But a small arms company called Dimaco in Ontario, Canada, had happened to be acquired by Colt.
And Dimaco was precisely William's target.
At first, Colt's senior executives were unwilling to sell it. After all, their ambition was to win the contract for Canada's standard-issue military rifle.
However...
The price William offered was simply too tempting.
With Canada's army consisting of sixty thousand soldiers and the country's circumstances, annual firearm orders topped out at around ten million. On top of that, Colt had spent only a little over one hundred million when acquiring Dimaco.
William offered two hundred and fifty million, striking the greedy hearts of those capitalists head-on.
With ready money sitting right in front of them, refusing it would practically invite divine punishment.
Thus, after several days of negotiations and the Colt executives' feigned reluctance, William successfully obtained ownership of Dimaco.
William certainly wasn't rich with nothing better to do...
Well, perhaps he was. If he didn't spend it, the money would go to waste anyway. Besides, everything would reset four months later.
One of the main reasons William acquired Dimaco was to let Halsey demonstrate her ability as an "all-purpose lubricant."
With an existing factory and equipment, the USS could be the first to receive suits with Optical Camouflage, while the factory could also design Standard Weapons for Umbrella's armed forces.
William believed that Halsey could certainly develop the weapons and equipment from the Halo series as well.
Although William couldn't yet acquire a high-end military technology company like Lockheed Martin, he would be able to make a large-scale investment after some time.
He could vaguely see the C-130, F-22, and F-35 waving at him.
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