"The Hive?" Seeing William's spirited expression, Halsey couldn't help but retort, "It just feels really unsafe."
"Uh..." William was struck speechless.
It was true. Whether in movies or games, the underground facility in Raccoon City was always the first to be breached.
Unable to refute her, William waved his hand and said, "It's fine as long as the name sounds good."
"Fine then." Halsey blinked, shrugged her shoulders, and stopped teasing him.
"Click!" At that moment, Andre pushed the door open and said hurriedly to William, "Kid, I just spoke with that old guy Frank about the military contracting matter."
"If we give his law firm two million dollars, we should be able to handle the Feds and secure the certificates. It will also allow us to purchase fully automatic weapons and transport them into Canada."
William knew who this Frank that Andre mentioned was; in his memories, he had once been Grandpa's personal lawyer.
If it weren't for Frank, his father might have squandered all their assets, and this lumber mill wouldn't exist.
Moreover, in Canada, one can only purchase semi-automatic weapons without a permit; fully automatic ones are completely prohibited.
Two million dollars was an astronomical sum in 2006, but being able to secure military contracting in Canada was well worth it.
"Alright, transfer the money to him tomorrow." William readily agreed, then stood up, walked over to Andre, and said:
"Accompany me to a construction company in the suburbs tomorrow. Before the permits arrive, let's start converting this place into a military camp."
"No problem." Andre patted his chest.
"Boss." Halsey, sitting on the sofa, raised her right hand lazily and said, "Then I'll go discuss the hospital acquisition tomorrow, too. Just a heads-up, I don't haggle."
Looking at his two highly capable and spirited 'employees,' William felt full of confidence. He nodded and smiled, "Heh, good. No matter what, Umbrella is officially beginning its march into the World!"
—————————
...
The next morning;
William and Andre went to the bank in the city center and transferred two million to Frank's firm, which was far away in Toronto.
The moment Frank received the funds, he called Andre and William. The gist was that if the existing Umbrella (lumber) company were to convert its nature to a private military contractor, a consultant with an ATF license must co-own the company as a shareholder.
After all, as the owner of Umbrella, William did not have an ATF license, nor did he have any prior military experience.
William did not object. Andre existed as both a father figure and a friend to him, and through the system's loyalty monitoring, he knew that this burly man's loyalty was already at maximum. So, there was nothing to worry about.
After confirming everything was correct, Frank set to work negotiating with the federal government to apply for all the necessary documents and permits for Umbrella.
As for Halsey... This female genius, who had already signed a contract and officially become an Umbrella employee, had gone to the seaside Villa where William lived earlier.
She had re-planned the area of William's existing factory and designed a blueprint for a military camp capable of accommodating two hundred people for training and living. When she handed the drawings to William, Halsey just brushed her hair with her hand and said in an indifferent tone, "I was bored at night, so I just designed it in passing."
From then on, William truly believed that Halsey was capable of anything.
...
Afterward, Halsey headed to the Dickson Private Hospital next to the city center park to discuss the acquisition.
William and Andre drove to the suburbs to a construction company called Fly Chicken. The boss was a man in his thirties named Wang Zhaofeng, who was slightly chubby.
Although there were only a few people inside the office, it was one of the largest construction companies on the east coast of Canada. According to Wang Zhaofeng, he only gathered employees when they received orders to save money.
Based on Halsey's blueprints, Wang Zhaofeng guaranteed that construction could be completed within forty days. In the end, including the cost of various building materials and all other expenses, it only came to four million Canadian dollars, equivalent to 2.8 million U.S. dollars.
William thought this price was really cheap. Perhaps it was because he had five billion in his hands, making these few millions feel like a few dollars to him.
He quickly finalized the employment agreement with Wang Zhaofeng's company, and wanting to see just how fast they really were, he promised a bonus of one hundred thousand for every day they finished early. Of course, the quality had to be guaranteed.
...
Since the camp would take at least forty days to finish its renovation, William had Andre scour Nova Scotia Province for veterans and active-duty Police.
William clearly stated two requirements. First, no bad habits, such as alcoholism or heavy smoking. Second, candidates should be in difficult family situations, prioritizing those with family members suffering from serious or terminal illnesses.
He generally explained the concepts of UBCS and USS to Andre. The idea was to temporarily form a regular force of one hundred and a special forces unit of twenty.
William believed that Andre, who came from the Krieg, was absolutely capable of perfectly completing the requirements he set forth.
What shocked William the most was that Andre, already forty-nine years old, still possessed a combat power of ninety-three according to the system's detection. This perfectly suited William's wishes; he needed someone capable to intimidate those mercenaries, and Andre was the perfect candidate.
Coupled with the image of this burly man from the fighting race, one look was enough to give people the feeling that he was the Boss.
...
Next was the matter of acquiring Dickson Private Hospital. The owner and Dean of Dickson Private Hospital, Dickson, initially didn't believe that a nineteen-year-old girl had the ability to purchase a hospital.
However, when Halsey stated that the hospital covered an area of twenty thousand square meters, with a building area of fifty thousand square meters, four hundred and fourteen beds, and various medical equipment with a total value of approximately 77.62 million U.S. dollars...
Dickson, this Doctor over fifty years old, along with more than twenty Doctor shareholders, ultimately could not resist the temptation of the one hundred million dollars Halsey offered and readily agreed to sell the hospital.
...
Thirty-two days later, on July 23rd. The original lumber mill was successfully converted into Umbrella's private military camp.
Four two-story barracks with sixty single rooms each, a two-kilometer parade ground, and a conference hall that could accommodate two hundred people simultaneously. There was an area with steel-frame makeshift buildings for simulating urban warfare, as well as a shooting range, a helipad, and so on. It was fully equipped with all the buildings a small military Base should have.