A Farce

The current president of Umbrella Corporation, who had been missing for nearly a week, reappeared and crashed the live-streamed hearing in a rather unconventional manner.

The capitalists involved in attacking Umbrella gradually calmed down after their initial panic.

They saw no reason to fear a young man; with "the whole world" now targeting Umbrella, victory should rightfully belong to them.

Even if Umbrella Corporation was powerful, the tide was irreversible—the world had suffered under Umbrella for far too long!

As long as Umbrella existed, market activity would continue to decline until it became a global super-monopoly, indirectly controlling the entire world, forcing everyone to act according to Umbrella's whims.

They could not allow such an entity to exist; it would not only cause world development to stagnate and eliminate healthy competition, but it would also breed ambition.

The dozen or so capitalists in the gallery quickly reached a consensus: even if they had to resort to underhanded tactics, they could not let Umbrella continue to grow.

Duncan walked slowly toward the area where the Umbrella team was stationed. Upon seeing him, the department heads greeted him one after another, though Susan remained slumped in her chair.

"Boss, I... can I resign?" Susan offered an ugly smile, the fine lines on her face becoming clearly visible with the expression.

Pressure makes people age; there were once academicians who turned gray rapidly due to the stress of the pandemic.

This was no time to talk about dedication; Susan was truly under immense pressure.

Duncan agreed without much thought. Before arriving, he had already learned about the state of Umbrella Corporation during his disappearance through the Red Queen.

Susan was truly nothing more than a figurehead. Even with the assistance of the Red Queen and pre-set programs, she had failed to handle matters effectively.

While it wasn't a total disaster, there was little worth noting. Take today's hearing, for instance—given Umbrella Corporation's influence, they could have simply ignored it and posted a notice on their official website; there was no need to pay it any mind.

When he first took over the company, Duncan had mapped out Umbrella Corporation's connections and resources. In this neck of the woods in the United States, they could do whatever they wanted; as long as they weren't starting a war, almost anything could be suppressed.

Upon his return, he had contacted several U.S. congressmen, along with others who had ties to Umbrella, and easily barged into the hearing venue. The security guards outside hadn't dared to stop him; instead, they had to greet him politely as he entered.

This farcical hearing was largely driven by old European aristocrats who could no longer tolerate Umbrella Corporation's interests and were attempting to seize its resources.

They tried to use public opinion to pressure Umbrella, perhaps intending to turn internal employees against the company through coercion or bribery later, and finally, by buying off congressmen, creating financial crises, and sabotaging Umbrella's assets, they hoped to force the breakup of the company.

Simple methods are often the most effective!

However, this method was ineffective against Umbrella Corporation's core industries; it could only force the company to cut off business sectors that were expendable anyway.

But now that Duncan was back, he would not let such things happen.

Umbrella Corporation was a vital aid in his journey toward the stars and the cornerstone of his travels through parallel universes; he could not let it be ruined by a few short-sighted vampires.

Duncan had the bodyguards who followed him take Susan away, then sat in her former seat, looked at the chairman on the dais, and smiled: "Mr. Chairman, you may continue!"

The chairman on the stage narrowed his eyes, looked at the group in the gallery, and only after they nodded did he say: "Very well, we will now hear from Mr. Gallup, a former U.S. military officer."

As the moderator, he was no paragon of fairness and justice either. He played a petty trick here: he didn't let Duncan catch up on the progress of the meeting and jumped straight into a new agenda.

Mr. Gallup, his buzzcut frosted with white, turned on his microphone. With his eyes fixed on the prepared script, he read in a monotone: "Umbrella Corporation is a multinational monopoly and the largest transnational military organization. Its internal security team has reached a scale of 100,000 personnel, and its armed forces..."

During Gallup's recitation, the audience watching the live stream successfully learned exactly how powerful Umbrella Corporation's armed forces were through his words and the pre-prepared video materials.

Umbrella Corporation's business covered military industry, and the weapons and equipment for its security teams were always supplied internally.

Some of the high-powered missiles and armed helicopters sold externally were standard equipment, and they even possessed military-grade armored vehicles.

The visible armed forces alone were enough to launch a small-scale war, and they held a crushing advantage over some smaller nations.

The point was that Umbrella Corporation possessed a complete industrial chain and massive capital; even if a war were to break out, their logistics could sustain them for quite a while.

All this power was laid bare during Gallup's monotone reading.

To this, Duncan remained calmly in his seat. Everything Gallup said was true; he couldn't refute it, and in fact, it wasn't even detailed enough.

Umbrella stored a large number of special weapons in several underground bases, ranging from high-yield explosives to massive stockpiles of firearms and ammunition.

Umbrella's military factories frequently shipped finished weapons to these underground bases, though no outsiders knew about it.

After Gallup finished reading the script, his gaze suddenly sharpened. He looked at Duncan and posed a pointed question: "The armed forces held by Umbrella Corporation clearly exceed normal limits. If you need protection, you should cooperate with the military or the police rather than developing private armed forces. What is the reason for doing so?"

It was now Duncan's turn to speak, and the cameras turned toward him.

"I think it is necessary for me to reiterate a fact: Umbrella's headquarters is in the United States, and the vast majority of our security team is also here... According to the rights granted to every citizen by the laws of the United States, the security department we currently possess is completely compliant and legal."

Halfway through Duncan's sentence, his microphone cut out. This left him feeling helpless, and he lost interest in debating with these people.

These people would never follow the rules; rules were only used to constrain the weak.

From the front row, a middle-aged white man interrupted: "Excuse me, Mr. Duncan, you said that most of your security team is here. What is the purpose of their existence, and why not cooperate with the military and police?"

Duncan sighed and shook his head, pulling the transparent phone Tony had given him from his pocket—it was just a rectangular block of glass.

Many of the programs pre-installed on it allowed the Red Queen to take control, and the ability to hack electronic devices was a standard feature of the phone.

Ten seconds later, the loudspeakers in the conference hall fell under Duncan's control.

The middle-aged white man, who had been waiting for an answer, tried to continue his questioning, only to find that the speakers had gone silent—a familiar occurrence.

Duncan held the phone up as a microphone and stood up, walking toward the center of the hall so the cameras could not ignore him.

"End this farce! Is the only meaning of your existence to serve your own interests?"

Duncan was about to start casting his spell.