Replacement

The territory patrol activity concluded, and the androids were temporarily handed over to AI management. Duncan finished his workout and received a meeting request from the heads of the other Umbrella Corporation branches.

Rising from the bedroom that served as his office, Duncan moved to the conference room and sat at the head of the long table.

With all personnel in place, the meeting began.

The figures of the branch heads were projected onto the seats on both sides via holograms, and they all greeted Duncan in unison.

"Skip the pleasantries. Report your work progress first." Duncan looked at the regional heads, his gaze deep and expressionless, yet it exerted immense pressure on those present.

His eyes automatically drifted to the head of the London branch on the far right, a man with his hair slicked back.

Meeting his gaze, the London branch head sat up straight and said, "The first phase of the London branch's mission is complete. Some employees at target companies have been replaced by clones, and our people have successfully infiltrated them. A portion of the supplies has also been procured; the first batch will be shipped to Manhattan Island via cargo ship."

Duncan then shifted his gaze to the head of the Paris branch.

The Paris branch head stated, "We have contacted the Dassault Family, but they hope to speak with you in person."

"Then there is no need to pursue them!"

Duncan flatly rejected the invitation for a face-to-face meeting. The Dassault Family was a merchant clan within France with some influence. When many capitalists were besieging Umbrella Corporation, they chose to sit on the sidelines, so they had a modicum of value for recruitment.

Their family owned quite a few overseas islands in France, which could serve as overseas bases for Umbrella to house specific laboratories and facilities.

The current expansion momentum of Umbrella Corporation had already made many people feel pressured. To establish public laboratories and military bases overseas, they had to borrow the names of others.

The Dassault Family was a good choice, but not the only one.

The other heads continued to report their situations. The heads of the Africa branch and the São Paulo, Brazil branch reported to Duncan on the cultivation of clone soldiers.

The combat effectiveness of hastily produced clones was worrying, so Duncan adopted the suggestion of a scientist from the Siberia branch: extend the cultivation period to three months, have the clone soldiers undergo two months of military training, and then throw them into a war-torn zone for one month of live combat.

After one round of screening, those who remained were the elite!

The head of the Nairobi, Africa branch would send the clones cultivated by his branch to third-world war zones, using the name of the Black Stone Clan to seize control of parts of the conflict-ridden regions.

Most of the clones cultivated by the Nairobi branch were Black, as these people living on the African savannah possessed athletic abilities superior to other races, and after memory implantation, their obedience had also improved.

Using Black people as a template was intended to allow the clone soldiers to operate safely under the public eye without their identities being questioned, while providing a marginal boost to their combat effectiveness.

The clones from the São Paulo, Brazil branch were cultivated using the same method, except their targets for combat training were the numerous drug traffickers entrenched in that chaotic country.

The remaining branch heads were mostly handling public-facing work, such as establishing factories and procuring materials.

Once the mission reports were finished, they moved on to the actual topic of the meeting.

"We cloned the bodies of the deceased related to the incident, and from the memories of the clones, we found the mastermind behind the last attack on you... It's just that the identity is somewhat special."

The head of the Nairobi branch said this, a hint of nervousness appearing on his dark face as he spoke the name.

"It is Mossad."

"Mossad?"

Duncan, who had been keeping a straight face, couldn't hold his expression anymore upon hearing the name. After a moment of stunned silence, he chuckled softly.

In the past, he might not have recognized the name, but after becoming the owner of Umbrella Corporation, he had to understand these things.

Mossad was the intelligence agency of the Jewish state, known alongside the CIA, the KGB, and MI6 as one of the world's four major intelligence agencies.

It was filled with complexities and hidden agendas, but this undoubtedly proved that Umbrella had been targeted by certain regional organizations.

What was the Jewish state? A manufactured entity. And who was backing it? None other than the US!

Since it was certain people in the US who wanted to take down Umbrella, he would put this matter aside for now. In any case, they couldn't topple Umbrella Corporation through public means.

Once the first phase of Umbrella Corporation's project was finished and they began the development plan for the second world, those parasites hindering human progress would fail completely.

Time was on the side of Umbrella!

Seeing Duncan chuckle, the heads of the various branches perked up, looking at him with anticipation.

Noticing them watching him, Duncan reined in his smile and said, "I know. Leave this matter alone for now and continue with your tasks. If the meeting was only for this, then we can adjourn today."

Hearing this, the branch heads were stunned, then displayed panicked expressions, stammering.

The Paris branch head asked, "We've been targeted by Mossad; shouldn't we take some action?"

"If the base is discovered, we will be in a passive position."

"Should we continue with the previous plan?"

"I agree as well..."

The current state of these branch heads was like mice terrified by a cat, squeaking incessantly.

Duncan could also see that behind Mossad might be the US, the most powerful region on this planet at present.

Compared to developed nations, Umbrella Corporation still had many gaps to bridge. Since ancient times, the US government and its merchants had been mutually opposed yet interdependent.

Merchants did not want to be regulated, and regional authorities did not want to see merchant forces become too powerful, affecting their authority.

One or two hundred years ago, during that turbulent period when the Earth was full of strife, the British Empire issued a 15-year Royal Charter, allowing unscrupulous merchants to commit countless crimes on a global scale.

The history of the Resident Evil world was not much different from the history of the original world. Historically, a series of tragedies had occurred due to the insatiable greed of merchants.

Perhaps in the eyes of some power-holders, the current Umbrella Corporation was like the former East India Company—a global monopoly possessing immense wealth. Once wealth accumulated to a certain degree, it was likely to breed ambition.

When a monopoly enterprise expanded to a certain scale, politicians who felt threatened and were incited by greed would inevitably step in to take a bite out of the fat cat.

He was a businessman before, but now he is a politician.

The heads of the various regions are like snakes; faced with any movement from the outside world, they are either terrified and want to crawl back into their holes, or they use their own venom to kill the enemy in one strike.

They have never forgotten the plan to exterminate humanity, squeaking and chattering in the hope that Duncan would take action early to formulate a new plan of contempt, wiping out all people and forces that pose a threat to Umbrella.

Duncan narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers on the conference table twice, summoning the Red Queen.

"Replace them."