Talent is the Cornerstone of Development

Tony arranged for the Cross-World Gate connecting the two worlds to be located at the Stark Industries storage center on the outskirts of New York. The new industrial park Tony was building had not been fully completed, and it was not intended to house the portal anyway.

That industrial park was meant for pharmaceutical production lines. The production machinery replaced by Umbrella Corporation could continue to be used after being refurbished.

The danger of the T-virus was beyond doubt, and Umbrella Corporation's pharmaceutical production lines differed significantly from conventional ones. Some machines were custom-made, so even with the formulas in hand, the machines had to be built before they could be used.

Rather than having Stark Industries manufacture them according to production line blueprints, it was better to prioritize Umbrella Corporation's old production lines and free up manpower to create the first generation of industrial robot production lines.

This was also the plan shared by Duncan and Tony; both companies were focusing on a few key tasks simultaneously so that once the Cross-World Gate was established, they could complement each other.

Umbrella Corporation primarily focused on gathering raw materials for the first generation of industrial robots in the Resident Evil world, while also laying out a global strategy to increase the company's influence and clear obstacles for development. Along the way, they dismantled and refurbished several pharmaceutical production lines to be transported to the Marvel world later.

Stark Industries provided production lines for various products and stepped up the manufacturing of even more.

Umbrella Corporation had a huge demand for high-tech products from Stark Industries, especially holographic projectors, robots, and anti-gravity aircraft, which were truly amazing to ordinary people. The current cost of these items was exorbitant, and the price of building a dedicated production line for them was even more ridiculous.

Stark Industries had no spare capacity to handle other issues after manufacturing so many production lines, and Tony still had to design transport ships capable of traveling between Earth and the moon.

Landing on the moon and developing it was a necessary path to drive the progress of human civilization!

Duncan and Tony walked out of the warehouse side by side. Outside was the gray, hazy night sky of the suburbs, where the moon was only a shadow visible through the dark clouds.

A sedan was parked at the entrance of the warehouse, and Tony took an insulated box out of the trunk.

After placing it on the ground and opening it, inside were inverted wine glasses, a bottle of champagne, and a bottle of bourbon.

"Although I'm not a big fan of alcohol, I can still have a sip of champagne." Duncan had never gotten used to drinking; to him, it wasn't as good as cola filled with sugar. However, today was an exception. He could manage a small sip of champagne to celebrate the two worlds finally opening a channel for communication.

Tony just rolled his eyes, roughly opened the champagne, and poured a quarter of a glass into each.

Then, he sat on the ground, leaning his back against the warehouse wall, looking up at the dim sky and chatting idly.

Tony would talk about how it felt to be a superhero, while Duncan would offer a few armchair theories and complain about the difficulties of managing a company.

"After becoming a superhero, I feel like I can give the public confidence, just like Batman watching over potential criminals, making them afraid to continue committing crimes."

Tony made a slightly comical punching motion and even used the Batman from another world as an example. Soon, he picked up the glass on the ground, used the act of drinking to cover half his face, and said his true feelings in a relaxed tone, "But... I think you do better than I do."

Duncan, sitting to the side, shook his head and smiled, "I just don't put profit above all else. After taking over Umbrella Corporation, I've just been borrowing your inventions and improvising. It was just an accident that gave me the ability to travel between worlds. If I can't drive a civilization forward and only focus on profit, then it would be better not to have such an ability at all."

Hearing this, Tony thought that after Duncan learned he was a clone, his mental state had reached an extraordinary level, which was why he had no interest in money and never touched it.

After spending months in an Afghan cave, Tony had developed a similarly open-minded perspective, but the Battle of New York had left him with severe anxiety, making him paranoid and high-strung every day.

He was already building the Iron Legion, preparing to protect the Earth with a massive number of robots, and he had just met Duncan as he was about to implement the plan.

"Stark Industries can also drive the world forward with the power of a single enterprise, just like Umbrella Corporation!" Tony took another sip of his drink, seemed to think of something, and turned his head to ask, "In a few days, I'm planning to go with Steve and the others to destroy the last Hydra stronghold, so consider it a vacation. If you need anything during this time, you can go find Pepper or Happy."

Hearing this, Duncan spread his hands, "If you guys are going on a mission, then I don't really have a reason to come over, do I?"

He was referring to Alice. If it weren't for business negotiations or to grow closer to Alice, there was really no need to spend time here.

There were still many regional managers over there waiting to discuss cooperation. He controlled androids to attend meetings with these managers, as some important collaborations could not be left to employees who hadn't broken free from the inertia of capitalist thinking.

Umbrella Corporation, which was ushering in its second explosive growth phase, could not give anyone with malicious intent a chance to target them.

"Fine, fine. If you can, bring your little girlfriend next time you come and leave the Avengers party, because you two are the ultimate party-poopers!"

Tony finished his drink in one gulp, patted his backside as he stood up, and took another insulated box out of the trunk.

"What's in this? Anything is fine, just don't tell me it's more alcohol." Duncan also stood up, looking at the box that was identical to the previous one, and waved his hands repeatedly. He really didn't want to drink anymore.

Tony didn't tease Duncan. He placed the box on the ground and opened it, revealing individual metal cases inside, "This is what you wanted: Hydra scientists, plus the body tissues and blood samples of some potential criminals. There are 23 people in total, and their information is in the cases."

Upon learning that the box contained the body tissues of high-level intellectuals, Duncan's eyes lit up. The box was filled with talent!

Umbrella Corporation was in urgent need of talent in scientific fields outside of biology—the kind of genius scholars who were a level ahead of ordinary scientists.

As long as the ultimate goal of loyalty to Umbrella and striving for the eternal glory of humanity was implanted at the start of the cloning process, they would work selflessly until they died.

Shining and burning for humanity until they died of old age could be considered the price for their crimes!

Duncan wasn't a devil; when they could no longer work, he would tell them the truth and let them decide whether they wanted to clone themselves again to continue contributing to humanity.

If they were willing, they would be cloned again; if not, they would be destroyed.

"Good. You can keep sending people over in the future; talent is the cornerstone of development!" Duncan graciously accepted Tony's gift and indicated that the more, the better.

Even Tony, who supported the use of clones, couldn't help but shudder after hearing Duncan say that.

Am I engaging in human trafficking?

After pushing the box to Duncan, Tony shook his hands up and down as if they had been burned, "There should be more after we pull out the Hydra leaders. Let's call it a day; I need to go back and sleep with Pepper!"

Watching Tony drive away, Duncan also took the box and returned to the Resident Evil world.