Umbrella

'Heh.'

After hearing what the system said, William wore a dead-fish-eyed expression and gave an inward sneer.

He had thought that becoming young and handsome again would let him start over and cast aside his previous life of endless darkness.

Who would have thought this world would be even more dangerous?

Sigh...

After composing himself, William said inwardly in a flat voice, 'Please continue, system.'

[Understood. Reading all of the host's information. Please wait...

Reading complete.

Detected that the host owns a barely surviving timber-processing company.

Therefore, this system will primarily assist the host in developing the company.

The reward package activation quest has been issued. Host, please change the company's name to Umbrella Corporation.]

'Umbrella?'

William froze. Of course he knew what that name represented.

Translated into Chinese, it was Umbrella, or the Umbrella Corporation.

It was the culprit behind the disaster that befell Raccoon City in the Resident Evil game series.

It possessed extremely advanced weapons, military equipment, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and more. It even had armed forces comparable to those of a small country.

While William was still bewildered, the system continued:

[Once the host completes the quest and activates the reward package, this system will continue to answer the host's questions.]

After saying that, the system, which had appeared from who knew where, seemed to return to the depths of his mind and fell silent again.

At the same time, Andre drove the car into the courtyard of a villa, braked to a steady stop, and said:

"I'll park the car in the garage first. Get out and wait for a moment."

"Ah, okay."

Having come back to himself, William had no objections. He unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car.

After glancing at Andre backing into the garage, William turned around and properly looked at his current home.

It was a highly modern two-story villa with gray brickwork and a simple front door.

To the right of the door was a huge floor-to-ceiling window, through which the living room inside could be seen clearly.

What a wonderful environment.

Unfortunately, William was in no mood to enjoy life.

"Beep beep!"

As the car's locking alarm sounded, Andre walked to the door with the keys in hand. While opening it, he reminded William:

"Don't just stand there."

"Mm."

After entering the house, they were still greeted by a simple black-and-white color scheme.

After all, getting Andre, a burly man, to create an artistic interior would probably be harder than taking on hundreds of enemies alone.

"Ugh!"

Andre could no longer stand the smell of alcohol and sourness coming from William. Pinching his nose, he said, "Go take a shower!"

He then went to the bar-kitchen area to the left behind the door and prepared to make some simple sandwiches for breakfast.

"Oh, okay."

As he gradually adjusted, William first returned to his room on the second floor. Ignoring the posters of women plastered all over the walls, he took out fresh clothes and a bath towel, then went to the washroom for a shower.

Five minutes later;

William came downstairs in clean clothes and slippers.

Andre had just put their breakfast on the dining table by the living-room window. When he saw William, he said:

"Come eat, kid."

"Coming." William obediently nodded, walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

?

Andre, sitting opposite him, felt that something was off about the kid.

He was far too obedient.

Could getting blackout drunk really help correct a spoiled rich kid?

"Andre." William, eating a sandwich, suddenly looked up and asked, "How much money do we have left?"

"Why are you suddenly asking that?" Andre's brows instantly drew together, and he said warily:

"Let me tell you this: You can buy a car, but don't even think about those GTRs or AMGs. You might be able to afford one, but you won't be able to maintain it.

"Once you graduate, I'll give you a car."

"Er... no, that's not it." William realized that the other man had misunderstood him.

After organizing his thoughts, he said sincerely, "Andre, I know my former self was truly disgraceful.

"So I've made up my mind. I'm going to revive the Russell Family."

"Mm, I believe you."

Andre seemed to have heard this sort of thing many times before. He took a bite of his sandwich, chewed several times, and continued:

"Once you graduate smoothly, find a decent job, get married, and have children, that'll revive it."

"No!" William got straight to the point. "Andre, I'm planning to revive the company, so I need to pay the property taxes first."

"Urk!" Andre choked so badly on those words that he could barely breathe.

"Andre!"

Seeing this, William quickly stood up, went around the table, and patted the old strongman's back.

"Cough, cough!"

After swallowing the food, Andre asked incredulously, "William! Did I hear that right?! You actually want to restart the company?"

"Yes. If we don't pay the property taxes soon, the government will start auctioning it off." William spoke seriously.

"Hmm..." Seeing that the boy did not seem to be joking, Andre murmured for a moment before saying:

"Your father left around six hundred thousand in savings. You've squandered over five hundred thousand in the past two years, haven't you? There isn't much left."

"What?!" William was startled when he heard that figure.

That was because, from the memories of the courses he had studied during his freshman year, he knew that a professor had once said Halifax City's property tax was around 1.7 percent.

He also knew that the processing plant occupied a very large area, and that the total value of the factory buildings, equipment, and everything else was more than six million.

In other words, the annual property tax was one hundred thousand.

Two years of property taxes...

That was two hundred thousand!

"Heh."

Looking at William's face, Andre smiled, stood up, and solemnly placed one hand on his shoulder.

"William, that's the money your father left behind. I have no right to restrict how you spend it.

"But I have nearly a million in savings of my own."

Upon hearing this, the light of hope reignited in William's eyes. His lips trembled slightly as he asked, "You... you mean...?"

"Kid." Andre, the burly man, revealed a rarely seen benevolent expression.

"I don't know what happened to that head of yours, but I do know that you're far smarter than your unreliable father.

"Lord Russell thought highly of you back then, too. So as long as you truly want to return to the right path, I'll support you no matter what."

"Andre..." William's eyes reddened despite himself.

"All right, you're not a child anymore!"

Andre slapped the top of William's head, then turned to the door, picked up the car keys and wallet, and shouted:

"If you have time to stand there daydreaming, come with me and pay the property taxes first!"

"Oh! Coming!" William hurried to the door as well, put on his sandals, and walked outside.

The two of them then entered the garage and headed to the Nova Scotia Provincial Government Office (Access Nova Scotia) in the suburbs to pay the two years of overdue property taxes.

They also took the opportunity to rename the company, formerly Russell Enterprises, as Umbrella Enterprises (Umbrella Corporation).