The Hive

"Lord Russell left this for you?!"

Andre instantly lost his ability to think straight and no longer questioned it. "All right! Since it's from Lord Russell, I won't ask anything else."

"Mm."

William knew the best way to deal with Andre was to bring up his grandfather.

Then he reminded him, "Andre, money isn't an issue. Be sure to hire the best lawyer and get the military contractor's business license as soon as possible.

That way, I can have my own private army."

"Don't worry, kid. Don't you trust me?"

After laughing loudly, Andre took out his phone and left the office. He planned to rely on the connections he had built up before to resolve the problem William had mentioned.

Afterward, only Halsey and William remained in the office.

Halsey, however, sat on the sofa without the slightest reserve. Leaning against its soft backrest, she looked at William and asked with a smile:

"Boss, is it time for my research next?"

"That's right." William sat at the other end of the sofa and handed her a stack of documents from the file folder. "I looked into the list of things the Biological Laboratory needs to purchase. See if anything is missing."

"Okay."

Halsey accepted the documents and rapidly skimmed through them, reading ten lines at a glance while muttering something under her breath.

Her voice was very soft, though, and William paid it no mind.

Half a minute later, Halsey tossed the stack of documents aside. "Mm, it's more or less complete. Even if I told you what's missing, you wouldn't understand."

"Uh..." The corner of William's mouth twitched slightly. After taking a moment to recover, he continued:

"There aren't many private hospitals in Halifax City. The largest is Dixon Hospital, beside the park in the city center.

Use your status to approach them and try to buy the hospital. Money isn't an issue."

"Oh?" Halsey placed the tip of her left index finger against her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Is it to throw people off the scent?"

"Well... yes." William nodded.

He had once thought that talking to highly intelligent people was easy. Now, he only felt that people like this were somewhat terrifying.

She could foresee everything and see through everything. She was not the silly, sweet girl she appeared to be.

That was William's assessment of Halsey.

Just then...

Halsey braced both hands against the sofa and leaned her body toward William. In a cold tone, she asked:

"So, Boss, in order to create Super Soldiers like Sparta, what is your bottom line?"

"Bottom line?" William froze.

"That's right." Halsey spoke solemnly. "When you brought up Super Soldiers with me in the car, the general plan and steps had already been laid out in my mind."

As she spoke, Halsey sat back properly again. She raised her left hand into a fist, then extended her index finger.

"The first point is to select the children with the best genes among humanity. They cannot be older than fourteen.

(She extended her middle finger.)

The second point is to perform comprehensive modification surgery on the selected candidates, working on their bones, muscles, and nervous system."

At this point, Halsey lowered her hand and stared intently into William's eyes.

"Even without specific experiments and research, I believe the mortality rate of the second step will exceed fifty percent.

"That's why I'm asking: what is your bottom line?"

"Heh." William chuckled softly. "My bottom line is...

"No matter what, we have to create Sparta. Are you satisfied with that answer?"

Hearing this, Halsey instantly returned to her harmless smile. "So you have no bottom line~"

"More or less." William did not deny it.

No matter what, he had to support Halsey in completing the Spartan Program.

Put nobly, Spartan Warriors could secretly protect all of humanity, and even the safety of Earth.

Put selfishly, Sparta could keep him alive.

"That's wonderful~"

Halsey sat fully on the sofa and kicked her snow-white legs excitedly. Squinting with a smile, she said:

"I thought I'd never be able to research freely in this lifetime. Just for that, you're my boss now, Mr. William!"

"Uh..." William rubbed his temples, closed his eyes, and said helplessly, "It's William Russell. Russell..."

"All right, Boss William~" Halsey still did not change how she addressed him.

"Forget it." William gave up on communicating normally with this inhuman being and returned to the serious topic. "Go make contact with Dixon Hospital tomorrow. Given your status, they should be very willing to take you seriously.

"Remember, money isn't an issue."

"Ah, ah, I know." Halsey rubbed her ears.

"And one more thing." William continued:

"I'm planning to build a huge hidden facility directly beneath Halifax City for your research.

"As for researchers and the like, you probably know more people than Andre and I do. There's no rush to hire them until construction is complete."

"You... aren't you trusting me a little too much? I'm starting to feel embarrassed."

After hearing William's grand plan, Halsey showed an uncertain expression for the first time. Even her swinging legs settled on the ground, while she tucked both hands between her legs and fidgeted somewhat awkwardly.

Indeed.

From Halsey's perspective, William seemed to have boundless trust in her for some unknown reason.

Halsey was only nineteen, a young genius with some renown in scientific circles.

But there were plenty of geniuses. She was not the only one.

Seeing her expression, William realized only then that he was viewing things from God's perspective and already knew she possessed this ability.

"Heh."

Then he chuckled softly, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Halsey encouragingly.

"All right. To use an ancient Chinese idiom, don't belittle yourself."

Halsey looked at her slender hands and answered softly, "Mm..."

After remaining silent for a moment, she returned to normal and asked:

"By the way, wouldn't building a huge facility beneath the provincial capital cause a commotion?"

"It's fine." William waved his hand as he explained:

"Canada is a federal country, and the provinces are relatively independent of one another.

"I plan to keep donating construction funds to Halifax City to gain its goodwill and gradually obtain control over the entire city.

"In the early stages, I'll hire an Engineering Team from China to develop my own construction team. It should be completed within a year to a year and a half.

"By then, my private army should already be sizable, and the workers involved in construction won't dare leak anything.

"Besides, I can pay them enough. Those workers will be more than happy to work themselves to the bone for my company.

"After all, who would turn down money?"

"Mm." Halsey agreed with this view. She knew how fast an Engineering Team from China could build things, and she volunteered:

"I know Halifax quite well. I'll design the blueprint for this facility."

"Really? That's perfect."

William had been worried about this very issue, but Halsey's arrival had perfectly filled the gap.

She was practically a universal lubricant.

"By the way, have you thought of a name for this facility?" Halsey asked curiously.

"Of course." William smiled faintly. "It will be called The Hive."