Half a Year

After a few days' delay in Hartford City, William, protected by Hunk and other USS personnel, returned to New York, which was only slightly further north than Halifax City.

Because of William's identity as a transmigrator, he naturally knew about the subprime financial crisis that swept the globe in 2007.

And the company that initiated the crisis, Lehman Brothers Investment Bank.

This time, he went to Wall Street on Manhattan Island and, using Umbrella's existing good reputation, borrowed all of Lehman Brothers' stock from every securities company there.

For a period of two years.

This meant that when the time came, William would have to return the same amount of stock plus interest to the securities companies.

To the securities companies, William just seemed like a fool with too much money.

Lehman Brothers' highest trading price was currently sixty-nine dollars, and it was slowly increasing every day. Those securities companies also knew that William intended to short Lehman.

However, the domestic situation in the United States was currently excellent, with the economy reaching unprecedented prosperity.

Especially since Lehman Brothers, as a major player in investments, was unlikely to experience a stock price collapse.

By 2008, they would have to buy back the stocks at a much higher price.

It would be a huge loss.

The brokers wouldn't ask, and William wouldn't explain.

He knew a formula well:

One person's expenditure = another person's income.

Setting aside all other factors, here's a simple example:

Person A's salary this month is 2000, but Person A's monthly credit limit is 1000.

So, Person A's monthly expenditure is 3000.

Person B's income will be 3000, and their credit limit remains 1000.

Then, Person B's monthly expenditure will be 4000.

And so on.

Everything was flourishing.

Everything was tied to borrowing and lending.

The reason for the excellent situation in the United States was that everyone believed they could repay their debts.

Even banks became blind, no longer verifying if borrowers had good credit, and began lowering interest rates to lend money.

Once debt is formed, it creates a cycle.

The cycle will rise, and eventually, it will fall.

If a special event occurs that prevents people from repaying their debts, and the banks cannot recover their money.

Then, it will collapse like a row of dominoes.

And the current United States was at the peak of the cycle.

Those involved are often blind.

The vast majority of people on Wall Street didn't notice, and those who did wouldn't say anything, just keeping quiet.

Because those people had the same idea as William, wishing for a financial crisis so they could make a fortune.

Crisis, crisis.

Where there is danger, there is opportunity.

This was also why William was so annoyed with capitalists before he transmigrated.

But in the end, he became such a person himself.

'The dragon slayer eventually becomes the dragon.'

However, William had his own goals.

He needed money, vast amounts of money to control capital, so that he could act freely when the special event occurred later.

There was one more stop on Wall Street: investing in Apple Inc.

Apple Inc.'s highest trading price was currently only eighteen dollars, which was worlds apart from the price of over three hundred in his original world.

With Apple's current stock issuance of 1.5 billion shares, at an average price of fifteen dollars per share, William was fully capable of becoming the sole shareholder.

Of course, doing so was highly unrealistic, but becoming the largest shareholder was definitely not a problem.

Moreover, Steve Jobs was still alive.

He was also developing the iOS system and the latest smartphones, and it would only take time for the company to become a trillion-dollar enterprise.

The board of directors was stunned by the sudden appearance of the most powerful shareholder.

When invited to a board meeting, this mysterious shareholder simply said:

"Everyone, carry on as usual. As long as Jobs is still in charge."

Furthermore, William privately contacted Jobs and scheduled a time for Halsey to examine him.

He knew the 'Godfather' was fighting a pancreatic tumor, so William placed his hopes on Halsey.

As it turned out, this genius medical doctor did have a way to extend the other's life.

Although it couldn't be cured, it guaranteed that Jobs' condition wouldn't suddenly take a nosedive.

During his time in America, William and Umbrella caused quite a stir, drawing the attention of various capitalists.

He didn't fear anything now; the money the System gave him was completely legitimate. After all, the former Russell family was one of the largest in England, even the world.

Coupled with the fact that Sears Russell in the 20th century was also a prominent figure.

Everyone just assumed William Russell had inherited his grandfather's will and was simply reviving the family.

While William was busy in America, other departments of Umbrella were not idle.

Led by Wang Zhaofeng, the engineering team, with a special bonus, completed the private base very quickly, without delaying the progress of The Hive and the shelters.

Andre also had a group of plainclothes agents scouring the Americas, looking for suitable recruits.

Due to William's previous lack of restraint, Halsey extracted the genes of all armed departments.

Finally, she used Andre's genes to clone an unconscious body for T-virus and vaccine testing.

Further research would have to wait until The Hive was completed, but the wait wouldn't be too long.

DiMarco Company was officially renamed Umbrella Armaments, with all its equipment and over a hundred employees moving from Ontario to Nova Scotia.

Under the 'friendly' greetings of Andre and a group of UBCS, they signed contracts with generous benefits.

From then on, the employees of the armaments company had no complaints. They even found Andre and the UBCS to be truly amiable and kind-looking.

Halsey also took some time to visit the armaments company, handing over the concept and design blueprints for optical camouflage technology to them.

She also modified the production workshop, enabling it to produce more than just guns.

As for William, he was still under the protection of Hunk and the USS, heading to Toulouse, France, in Europe.

From Airbus, he spent 'a little' extra money to purchase a ready-made A380 and hired a dedicated crew.

He also signed a series of maintenance contracts.

With a private jet, William felt only one word...

Awesome!

He could sleep as he pleased on international flights, something first class couldn't compare to.

After spending half a month in France, William headed to his final destination, Ukraine.

Because that's where a huge number of surplus weapons were for sale.

A treasure trove!

Upon arriving in Ukraine, William, through Andre's connections, successfully met Europe's largest arms dealer...

Nikolai Victor Ogryvsky.

He purchased tons of military equipment from Nikolai – yes, tons.

He also bought five An-124 heavy transport aircraft and even obtained the design drafts for the world's largest transport aircraft, the An-225.

In Nikolai's own Russian accent:

"Oh ho ho, my dear friend, as long as you pay enough, I can even get you nuclear warheads."

Hearing this, William could only give a thumbs-up and exclaim inwardly, 'The Warrior Nation isn't just a reputation.'

Regardless of anything, Umbrella hadn't been idle in the past six months, expanding crazily.