Industrial Park Completed

During the New Century opening ceremony in Raccoon City, Umbrella Corporation showcased its own strength.

Facing an Umbrella Corporation that crushed them in every aspect of power, some smaller enterprises wisely chose to join or submit. After the New Century opening ceremony concluded, a steady stream of small businesses sent in expressions of interest for cooperation, all of which were handed over to some of the company's new recruits to handle.

Duncan was now urgently seeking management talent; even if some interests were lost due to negligence during the training process, it didn't matter. Umbrella could afford the loss.

His own ability to handle corporate affairs wasn't particularly high; he was merely sacrificing short-term gains for long-term investment, all while holding the key to success.

Just as there were enterprises that realized the gap and chose to cooperate, there were others unwilling to face the facts or those who coveted the technology of Umbrella Corporation.

Infiltration attempts against Umbrella Corporation became increasingly frequent. The inspection department led by Bark grew busier, and they transferred many capable subordinates from the Umbrella security department to assist.

With the inspection department occupied, the Raccoon City Police Department became busy as well. Even street patrol duties were outsourced to Umbrella Security, and vehicles from the security department could be seen patrolling the streets at all times, ready to apprehend anyone acting suspiciously.

Citizens, having been won over by Duncan's "money-sprinkling" tactics, did not harbor much resentment toward Umbrella's security personnel; on the contrary, they welcomed them.

After a busy period, the industrial park in the suburbs was completed, taking a total of seven months.

Because it was near Meimen Bridge, Duncan, too lazy to think of a name, simply called this industrial park Meimen Industrial Park. Named after the city's transportation bridge, it served as a metaphor for the industrial park acting as a bridge between two worlds.

On the day the industrial park was completed, a large amount of metal materials was transported into the building. The pre-fabricated Arc Reactor was also rushed to the industrial park for assembly, prepared to completely replace the old power generation system.

The city's electricity had been free since the day Duncan made those three promises. The cost of Raccoon City's daily power consumption was not insignificant, and such meaningless waste needed to be curbed as soon as possible.

Ten days later, the Arc Reactor was assembled. Duncan's android and media reporters arrived on-site to let those troublemaking energy companies witness the startup ceremony of the Arc Reactor.

Skipping the meaningless speeches, the cold fusion reactor was "ignited," and blue arcs of electricity flooded the entire power room.

Electricity was transmitted through cables to every corner of Raccoon City, finally allowing thousands of households in the city to shine with light once again.

The stable power output shocked the scientists of the Resident Evil world. The cold fusion technology, which they had only theorized about, was now displayed right before their eyes. Just how powerful was Umbrella's technology?

Once the real thing was placed before them, some conservatives who still held onto wishful thinking completely defected to Umbrella's side. Others, unwilling to let go of their interests, began spreading rumors on the internet that the cold fusion technology was flawed and posed huge safety risks.

The "war" between international mega-corporations also plunged the global situation into turmoil.

In particular, some regions that relied on energy as their main source of income naturally felt great dissatisfaction toward Umbrella.

Letters of negotiation were sent to Umbrella Corporation one after another, leaving Duncan somewhat overwhelmed.

Facing the negotiation invitations sent from various regions, he temporarily postponed dealing with them.

That night, he put on his Iron Man Armor, left The Hive base, and under the cover of darkness, arrived at Meimen Industrial Park.

In the current industrial park, only five hundred clone security guards were patrolling and guarding the area; the internal workers had all been moved to other construction sites.

Duncan walked into the circular transfer center. It was still empty; apart from the bright incandescent lights overhead, there was only a giant rectangular frame in the center of the transfer center. That was the location of the "gate."

With a slight movement of his mind, the frame rippled like a stone dropped into a calm lake, eventually stabilizing into a massive gate twenty-five meters high and twenty meters wide.

On the opposite side of the gate was also a vast interior space, but unlike the empty transfer center, this side was different.

The gate opened this time was special—it was a two-way passage. After Duncan opened the gate, the other side could also see the gate.

Tony, wearing a T-shirt, had been standing behind the gate waiting. Seeing the gate suddenly swing open and naturally spotting Duncan in his armor, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Clapping his hands, the previously quiet warehouse became lively at the sound of Tony's applause, and the sounds of various machines starting up filled the hall.

By the time Duncan took off his armor and entered the noisy warehouse from the quiet transfer center, his ears were almost deafened by the stimulation.

"It's finally started!" Tony greeted Duncan with a look of relief.

He had made so many preparations; if he hadn't occasionally seen Duncan wandering over to his side, he would have almost suspected this was just a dream.

Duncan watched the unmanned transport vehicles entering the portal in an orderly fashion, feeling very satisfied, and said, "Yes, the future is beckoning to us! Did you watch the video I sent you? How was my speech?"

The video was the recording of him provoking the capitalists at the hearing and announcing the future development direction of Umbrella Corporation.

To achieve the goal of "humanity's glory lasting forever," Tony's power was crucial because he was a cheater, a man cursed by knowledge.

As long as he set his mind to it, he could accomplish anything. Even regarding the inter-world portal, Tony already had some ideas.

"It was pretty good. I didn't expect you to have a talent for public speaking. It's boring just watching like this, how about we go outside and have a couple of drinks?" Tony also wanted to have a good chat with Duncan; their previous meetings had all been about cooperation and development.

Using the video as a conversation starter, Tony also wanted to talk to Duncan about the future. Duncan's remarks in that video had shocked him deeply.

Humanity... After becoming Iron Man, Tony had also been worried about the survival of humanity, but all he had been doing was trying to be a good hero, using himself as an example to activate the kindness in more people's hearts.

He felt he was doing quite well, and indeed, many people dreamed of becoming heroes because they looked up to him.

Peter Parker from Queens was the best praise for his heroic career.

But after watching Duncan's speech video, he realized he could do more.

Duncan could sacrifice corporate interests and lose money to bring change to the world, but what about Stark Industries?

After thinking for a long time, Tony could only shake his head slightly. The Umbrella Corporation in the other world was too unique; Stark Industries could not yet compete with global capital, and he needed time to develop.

Duncan made an expression that showed he felt the same way and said, "Sure!"

The two walked through the large crowd of machinery.

Duncan looked at the unmanned transport vehicles driving past them. On the vehicles were three layers of cylindrical robots arranged neatly. These robots were tracked, highly modular engineering robots.

These robots were the first generation of industrial robots showcased in the holographic advertisements during the New Century opening ceremony.

These industrial robots were highly modular and could be adapted to complex factory environments. Their multi-module components allowed them to handle various tasks that required flexible hands to complete.

With artificial intelligence control, they could replace human labor and achieve true full automation!

These unassuming robots had taken a lot of Tony's energy. His technology was fine; the difficulty was just how to reduce the cost to a level suitable for mass production.

In the end, the cost of each robot was around one hundred thousand dollars, with a conservative lifespan of thirty years.

Most of this batch of robots were handmade, and they would manufacture new companions on the assembly line, working together for Umbrella until they were scrapped.