Umbrella New York Branch

Whether it was because Steve had long been dissatisfied with the conduct of S.H.I.E.L.D., or because others were affirming the "achievements" of the agency, in the end, S.H.I.E.L.D. could not be saved despite Nick Fury's attempts to retain it. A massive amount of vetted incriminating evidence was exposed on the internet three days later, sparking heated discussions among netizens.

When the public discovered that their lives had been under surveillance by a mysterious organization, they became exceptionally angry and irrational. A new round of massive protests began, featuring the "free-man benefits" of looting, smashing, grabbing, and burning, providing a release for the repression deep within people's hearts.

During the protests in the free world, a company named Umbrella was successfully registered in New York. This inconspicuous little company only caught the attention of a few tabloids, with information about this small firm—invested in by a subsidiary of Stark Industries—tucked away in the corners of certain news reports.

Duncan established the Umbrella New York branch in Marvel, but its main business was not the familiar pharmaceuticals; it was architectural design.

After all, most of Umbrella's pharmaceutical products relied on the T-virus. Taking them out now would be competing for business with the pharmaceutical companies of the Marvel world. Big capitalists wouldn't care how good your product was; if you cut off their path to wealth, there were only two outcomes.

Either give them a cut, or die.

It was precisely because of the trouble brought by commercial competition that Duncan chose an industry that didn't attract much attention: architectural design and construction.

Architectural engineering was one of Umbrella's absurd black technologies. The massive structures built underground and on the ocean floor would make any practitioner in the construction industry lose their mind. Any one of these underground projects, which could be called miracles, would win major awards if presented to the public.

The wealthy in America certainly wouldn't mind owning an underground nuclear shelter, especially in an environment where they were encountering one major crisis after another.

The ability to save one's life while maintaining a high quality of life made such underground architecture very appealing to the rich.

Under the subtle promotion of Pepper, the CEO of Stark Industries, Umbrella had already gained a small reputation in high-society circles. The wealthy all wanted an underground kingdom of their own, but the relevant laws had not yet been fully perfected, and Umbrella had not yet brought over designers and engineers from the Resident Evil world.

The current employees of the Umbrella New York branch were partly requested from Stark Industries, and partly picked up from the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D.

After the secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D. were exposed, agents who had worked for the agency and whose identities were confirmed to be clean naturally found themselves out of work.

Agent Hill, who had once served as Nick Fury's deputy, also put on professional attire to work under Duncan, though most of them were just nominal employees; they would still turn against him if the time came.

However, as long as Duncan didn't do anything to harm the world, they would genuinely work, and they only asked for a symbolic salary.

After building the Marvel Umbrella with nothing but empty hands, Duncan felt extremely pleased after his surgery. If it weren't for the fact that Steve, Natasha, and the others still had to deal with the mess left behind by S.H.I.E.L.D. and haggle with those damn politicians, he would have already taken a group of people to the Resident Evil world to reclaim the Umbrella Corporation.

He wanted to let Isaac taste the iron fist of justice from Captain America! He wanted to see if those sandbag-sized fists could knock the sludge out of his brain!

But after calming down, Duncan wasn't in such a rush anymore.

Not to mention that his own injuries hadn't healed yet—it hurt just to walk—Tony also needed to prepare various strange pieces of equipment to modify his armor, because he didn't want to inhale some strange virus and turn into a mindless monster.

Now, in addition to recovering, Duncan spent his days learning how to run a company and manage a team, preparing for the time when he would take over the Umbrella Corporation.

He would occasionally receive invitations from Tony to draw a few tubes of blood from Dr. Banner, who was staying at Stark Tower, to run some tests.

The T-virus was the core asset that supported Umbrella's monopoly. After learning that such a miraculous virus existed in the world, Dr. Banner developed a keen interest in it.

During this time, Banner had temporarily set aside his research on Hulk's blood and had been trying to analyze the essence of the T-virus.

In his view, the T-virus's unreasonable cell repair capabilities and physical strength enhancement surpassed even the Super Soldier Serum injected into Steve.

Because the virus could continuously repair cells, Banner was very clear that the T-virus held the potential to grant humans eternal life!

One month later...

In the high-level laboratory of Stark Tower.

"The therapeutic effect provided by the T-virus is truly powerful; it's unbelievable." Dr. Banner, who looked like a gentle middle-aged scholar, kept marveling at Duncan as he removed his bandages.

The injury that had left his entire left hand nearly severed had healed in just one month after the bone was set and stitched, thanks to the accelerated healing brought by the therapeutic agent. It was truly incredible!

"You guys also have plenty of rapid-healing technologies, and they're much safer than a virus."

Duncan, sitting on the examination bed, also looked at his left hand. The once-severed hand had now recovered as if nothing had happened; only under bright light could one see the faint lines left by the stitches.

Banner said noncommittally, "But they are also much more expensive."

Indeed, the effectiveness didn't matter as much as the price!

Duncan smiled, slowly pulled down his left sleeve, pushed himself up, and jumped off the hospital bed, saying, "The physical exam is over. I should go receive my company. I'll bring the original virus for you to study in a few days."

"Uh... actually, I don't really want you to bring that thing here." Banner's smile was a bit strained at the moment. He didn't want that thing to appear, even if it had high medicinal value. "I don't want to wake up one day and find the world full of zombies!"

"Hahaha, don't worry, there's a serum!"

Duncan laughed brightly, as if he weren't talking about a highly pathogenic and highly infectious virus.

After saying that, he left Banner's laboratory.

He took the elevator up to the top floor of Stark Tower, which was now the headquarters of the Avengers, sponsored by the wealthy Tony.

Tony seemed to treat the Avengers like a little game between friends, contributing his own territory as a "secret base," which gave him a sense of satisfaction.

When Duncan arrived at the top floor of Stark Tower, many people were already waiting there.

Tony was debugging the detection equipment, saying he wanted to explore the mysteries of traveling to parallel universes. He had made many detection devices before, but unfortunately, none had succeeded.

Steve was not wearing his Captain America suit; he was dressed in a simple black combat uniform, along with a gas mask, which was necessary for world-traveling.

Natasha, Barton, and Agent Hill were also wearing similar black combat uniforms, each with a gas mask in hand.

Sam was there too, carrying his flight pack, looking like a lump of black coal.

Bark's seven men and James's six men were also ready. The expression on everyone's face was very solemn because this time when they went back, they would either take their families away from that world on the verge of destruction, or they would destroy the conspiracy of Umbrella's top brass and return the world to a clear and bright state.

The mission might be a nine-death-one-life ordeal, but the goal was exceptionally noble—no longer just for money, but to save the world, just like in a movie, righteous and grand.

"Boss!" Bark and the others stood straight and greeted Duncan.

The others also looked at Duncan, carrying a slight excitement about traveling to another world to stir up trouble.

The last time they went to the other world, the time was too short, and Steve and Natasha didn't feel much. It was different now.

Going over now felt like going into a dungeon with top-tier gear; they could drop a large amount of resources after defeating the boss, which was exceptionally exciting!

After Duncan put on his Marvel black-tech bulletproof vest, he nodded to everyone to indicate that he was ready. "I'm ready, let's go!"