The Capitalist's Mouth

At the beginning of the viral outbreak, the police were the first group to bear the brunt of the virus, as they were forced to deal with crazed citizens while completely in the dark.

Because the outbreak point was in a high-traffic area and the crazed individuals were unarmed, the police could only attempt to restrain them.

In the process of subduing their targets, some careless officers inevitably ended up being bitten by the crazed zombies.

Through continuous, repeated biting, the first batch of secondary infections was born.

The police here had likely witnessed their own comrades die and come back to life, watched them devour people alive, and even had to personally shoot those "crazed" companions themselves.

One look at their state was enough to know that they had endured far more than they ever should have.

"What are you doing? Everyone, relax, lower your guns! Take it slow, don't let anything go off!" Duncan couldn't quite understand this sudden, tense standoff; after all, he wasn't an American and didn't fully grasp how deep their crisis awareness ran.

Under his mediation and reconciliation, both sides lowered their weapons.

The officer who had spoken first still looked agitated, staring at Duncan as he said again, "Tell us the truth!"

There was a hint of teeth-gritting resentment in his voice; the lower classes of the great America had a tradition of suspecting the elite, much like how they suspected that masks and vaccines were conspiracies.

Duncan heard the hostility in the other man's tone, but he didn't mind. After all, once he reclaimed control of the Umbrella Corporation, this city would become his private territory. That was the one good thing about the free world: everything was for sale.

"Those monsters were created by a highly pathogenic virus. This virus was stored in an underground biological laboratory on the outskirts of Raccoon City and is the property of the Umbrella Corporation..."

As soon as they heard that the man-eating monsters were caused by an Umbrella virus, someone immediately began to curse in agitation.

"Motherfucker, Umbrella Corporation!"

"So it was all a conspiracy by the Umbrella Corporation! They will pay the price for what they've done!"

"Damn the Umbrella Corporation..."

Sam, who had come from Marvel, looked at Duncan with some confusion. Didn't he also open an Umbrella Corporation in the Marvel universe?

Sam understood the plan for this operation; Duncan's goal was to seize control of this world's Umbrella Corporation. Speaking ill of the company in front of these people now—even if he did take control, wouldn't it be hard to clean up the mess?

Duncan's face, hidden behind his mask, was smiling. He said this specifically to create a reversal effect. If he had tried to distance Umbrella from the incident right from the start, people wouldn't have believed him.

He had to make them believe it was the truth first, then provide a reasonable explanation, in order to build a more convincing lie.

Seeing that the people present had cursed enough, Duncan signaled for them to calm down and said, "Calm down, guys. Although the virus belongs to the Umbrella Corporation, it wasn't the Umbrella Corporation that released it."

When the people around heard this, they didn't fall silent; instead, they began to question Duncan.

"You say it wasn't, so it wasn't?"

"Then tell us who released the virus!"

"It must be the Umbrella Corporation. They even built the city walls in advance! They have some ulterior motive!"

Kid, you actually hit the nail on the head!

Duncan glanced at the agitated young man holding a pistol. The truth was indeed that, but he couldn't admit it. "The Umbrella Corporation's viral research lab in Raccoon City is located in the suburbs, buried a hundred meters underground. All air and tap water systems have undergone rigorous screening; there is absolutely no possibility of a virus leak!"

Seeing him speak up for the Umbrella Corporation immediately angered these sensitive police officers, and even Kendo felt that something was off with Duncan.

It didn't reach the point of disgust, though. After all, the entire Raccoon City only had its current scale thanks to Umbrella's funding. If one day the Umbrella Corporation withdrew its capital or went bankrupt, this city of over a hundred thousand people would rapidly decline.

The Umbrella Corporation left the citizens of Raccoon City who didn't work for them with complicated feelings.

"You're speaking up for Umbrella—you wouldn't happen to be one of their people, would you?" A young officer stepped forward, looking at Duncan with suspicion.

The others were the same, beginning to question Duncan's identity.

There was no need to hide his identity, so Duncan admitted, "That's right. Not only am I with the Umbrella Corporation, but I am also one of the twenty-one core shareholders!"

After his identity was exposed, the police fell into silence.

They had originally thought Duncan was just an employee of the Umbrella Corporation—a regular employee, or perhaps a higher-level one, but nothing more.

However, being one of the core shareholders of the Umbrella Corporation was no ordinary status. The meaning behind it represented not just hundreds of billions in assets, but an exalted social status far removed from that of ordinary people.

Even the heads of some small nations had to be respectful when meeting a core shareholder of Umbrella. In this world, the Umbrella Corporation was a force that transcended the national level, covering every aspect of society, much like the Samsung Group in the Great Universe Nation.

Kendo was older; after his initial surprise, he didn't feel anything special. In fact, he was quite happy. Since Duncan was a core shareholder of the Umbrella Corporation, he certainly wouldn't be short on the final payment for the guns.

If he buttered him up, he could probably get the money even if he didn't have the goods!

"Ahem!" Duncan cleared his throat to bring these silent people back to their senses. He took off his gas mask, revealing a face with a rather serious expression. "It is precisely because I am a core shareholder of the Umbrella Corporation that I say this incident was not intentional! The virus has existed in this world for over thirty years, and in those thirty years, there has never been a problem. However, due to the recent turmoil in the international situation, a large number of commercial spies have infiltrated the company. We already have sufficient evidence to prove that this incident is related to those spies."

It was all complete nonsense!

Duncan's words didn't fully convince the police, in whose hearts the seeds of doubt had already been planted. Just as the officers were about to say something, Duncan continued righteously.

"I know you don't fully believe my explanation. How about this: I promise as a core shareholder of Umbrella that after this is over, you can all visit our underground Hive base once. That way, you will see how high the security level of the Hive really is."

"Not only that, but the Umbrella Corporation will not shirk its responsibility. We will provide substantial compensation to the victims of this incident, hunt down the culprits, and bring everyone justice! It is also time for the Umbrella Corporation to undergo reform. To prevent another Raccoon City incident, we will subsequently disclose some of our data, providing a channel for public review and allowing everyone to supervise us together!"

Duncan's speech was extremely vivid, showing empathy for the victims and making many promises.

Finally, he took his Umbrella Corporation ID out of his pocket and handed it to the bewildered Kendo. "Mr. Kendo, this is my work ID for the Umbrella Corporation. I give it to you as a token of trust. If there is any aspect of the follow-up process that is not handled properly, you can hand it over to the media and let the law judge me!"

Looking at the ID with Duncan's photo in his hand, Kendo nodded blankly. After this combination of verbal punches, let alone the others, even James, who knew the truth, was stunned. Subconsciously, he felt that the Duncan who said these things must be a great philanthropist.