"The Tour of His Domain"

The talent Tony had brought in had been handed over to the lab for training. Clones with a higher degree of completeness took a long time to develop, so Duncan couldn't make use of these highly skilled people just yet.

The robot production line was still being assembled. Once humans had set it up, it could take shape on its own and even build itself.

A few days later, Duncan attended a summit, meeting with regional leaders to discuss cooperation and security. Some parts of the talks were unpleasant, while others went smoothly.

Umbrella Corporation was willing to help developing regions grow quickly, providing technologies that Europe had been keeping under lock and key. In return, those regions had to cooperate with Umbrella Corporation in setting up factories and hiring workers.

Duncan no longer lacked products to sell abroad. He could make smartphones, home computers, and all kinds of everyday goods.

It was a little underhanded, but Umbrella was now like a hardworking porter, endlessly hauling technology from the Marvel Universe into the Resident Evil world. Any product that had proved successful in the market, he copied wholesale—without paying patent or copyright fees.

With so many means of production in hand, Duncan had no reason to worry about failing to grow.

Tony's Stark Industries could also copy technology from the Resident Evil world. But the Marvel Universe had relatively normal, well-established laws, and antitrust laws severely limited Stark Industries' expansion, forcing it to focus on a narrow range of fields.

So Stark Industries and Umbrella Corporation could only complement each other. Stark Industries focused on industrial and cutting-edge technologies, while Umbrella Corporation developed biotechnology and its real-world businesses.

Only by earning more money could they fund more research.

Once the portal had been stable for a while, Stark Industries would send scientists to the Resident Evil world. There, with ample funding behind them, they could do research and enjoy the blissful life of never having to worry about their budget.

A secret global summit began in a city in Poland.

Duncan attended the meeting and negotiated cooperation with leaders from various regions.

At this point, some developing regions were eager to attract foreign investment and spur growth. They had no objection to Umbrella Corporation building factories there—in fact, they welcomed it.

The first round of talks went relatively smoothly. Then the representative from the Bear region made his concerns known, asking Umbrella Corporation to show more sincerity.

It had been almost twenty years since the big brother had fallen, and the Bear had only just managed to stabilize its internal situation. The only products it could offer in any significant quantity were energy and agricultural goods, leaving it almost cut off from the international community.

Umbrella Corporation was using new technology to seize the energy market, nearly cutting off the Bear's market for its energy products. If Umbrella's headquarters hadn't been in America, the Bear would have led the charge against it, holding military exercises every few days.

That evening, while taking a break, Duncan considered how he could compensate the Bear. If he let the Bear get pushed too far, it might really trigger a third world war.

The odds were low, but not zero.

So he needed to provide opportunities for the Bear and for other countries that relied primarily on energy exports.

The meeting continued the next day. At the negotiating table, Duncan proposed a solution: Umbrella Corporation would charge a token amount in rubles and provide the Bear with the means to produce some consumer goods, along with a development plan. They would also sign a trade agreement, under which Umbrella would steadily purchase various bulk commodities from the Bear each year.

The Bear was still subject to sanctions from all over. Given Umbrella Corporation's scale and future prospects, this proposal was more than reasonable. The means of production and trade agreement would give the Bear time to adjust and find its own path to regional development.

The Bear didn't take long to accept. What it valued most wasn't the trade agreement, but the production resources and development plan for consumer goods. Umbrella's decision to break through the West's tacit sanctions also showed the Bear that the company was sincere.

The Bear's consumer market still relied mostly on imports. It had only recently switched from socialism to capitalism, and consumer goods remained scarce. Things that were commonplace elsewhere became luxury goods once they reached the Bear, beyond the means of ordinary people.

With the Bear satisfied, the other regions that had built their fortunes on energy had little choice but to accept Umbrella Corporation's offer with a smile.

The subsequent handover of cooperation arrangements was no longer Duncan's concern. His android took a plane from the airport back to Raccoon City. The regional summit had lasted only six days.

Once he had finished taking care of everything on his plate, he found himself with nothing to do.

After recruiting a batch of talented people from around the world, the heads of the various departments had found their jobs much easier. They had also begun learning to handle simple matters themselves, and over the past few months, they had gradually adapted to the new way of working.

The priority was expanding the company's influence and improving people's quality of life. Making a profit had become secondary.

Duncan wasn't particularly controlling. He had delegated every responsibility he could, and now, for the moment, he had nothing to do.

With nothing else on his hands, he decided to take a tour of his domain.

The android moved and gestured without the slightest stiffness. Its ability to pass for a real person was all thanks to Tony's neural signal reception and artificial intelligence technologies.

Inside the Hive, Duncan could put on a pair of signal glasses and exercise while using his thoughts and an intelligent assistant program to control the android.

It was like Tony controlling the Mark 42 armor, Prodigal, in the basement lab of his mansion while the suit was on the first floor.

The process was like a video call. It wasn't difficult to focus on two things at once.

At one in the afternoon, no one noticed a low-key SUV leaving the company. Duncan drove into Raccoon City, where major construction projects were underway, and wandered around.

Umbrella's construction crews were all hard at work. Expanding Raccoon City and replanning its land required a large number of workers.

There was a construction site on every street in Raccoon City. The city's first priority was meeting the need for housing, followed by commercial and entertainment facilities.

Like many large American cities, Raccoon City had a small population and a large area. Even with the influx of outsiders, it was still spacious.

The current construction projects were all for the future. Raccoon City would inevitably grow into a major city with a population of several million, and the housing allocation program would also require a large number of homes.

People were still streaming into Raccoon City every day. The train station and airport were packed, and before long, the city's population would reach 200,000.

Once it reached 500,000, the existing housing would become scarce.

After driving along a number of streets, Duncan arrived at Raccoon City's central plaza.

The shopping district around the plaza was thriving thanks to the arrival of so many tourists. At the center of the plaza, the holographic GG Billboard cycled through ads for several famous international clothing brands.

The holographic GG Billboard drew more traffic than the screens in Times Square. Many people would upload the footage they took to the internet, while some tourists became unofficial promoters, showing off their photos after they returned home.

As a result, the billboard's ad rates were charged by the second, and the monthly rental fee was also quite steep.

A gorgeous model in a bizarrely styled long dress stood in midair, striking seductive poses for the tourists around her. But most of the women below had rather plump figures, and the slimming clothes advertised by the brand didn't tempt them to buy. They only made them want to take pictures.

The appearance fee and monthly rental for this clothing ad came to 1.8 million dollars. Adding sound would double the price.

Tourists were always eager to try new things. In this city, they didn't have to worry about their safety. They could take pictures without a care in the world, capturing their smiles in keepsakes.

Some enthusiastic tourists even pulled Umbrella Security Company guards patrolling the streets into photos with them. The Umbrella logo on their uniforms had become something worth admiring and remembering, too.