Chapter 42

William Douglas had never been a kind or generous man; the moments he appeared generous all shared one trait—they involved people who offered him the hope of immortality, and only then did he open his purse. His behavior was called casting a wide net to catch as many fish as possible.

His tolerance of Ye Nan existed solely because Ye Nan had told him about the Blood Orchid. Until he obtained the Blood Orchid, William Douglas had tolerated every action Ye Nan took—but this very tolerance made him uneasy.

In ancient China, many emperors showed great tolerance toward their ministers, ignoring whatever they did—even if their deeds enraged heaven and angered the people—and shielding them from the daggers and arrows of other officials, exhausting themselves in the effort.

These ministers were all corrupt officials, like Qin Hui and Heshen. Why? Because the emperor needed them to exist—as corrupt officials who extorted silver and gold from the common people and other officials. Yet Qin Hui and Heshen failed to see the emperor’s true intent, greedily amassing wealth and eliminating rivals, until finally all their riches ended up in the emperor’s hands—they had merely been temporary custodians of the emperor’s treasure.

All the blame fell on the corrupt officials; all the wealth flowed into the emperor’s hands. This tactic was called the Art of the Emperor’s Heart.

Now, Ye Nan was like Heshen or Qin Hui, and William Douglas, the underground emperor of America, was like the ancient emperor. William Douglas’s current tolerance stemmed entirely from the existence of the Blood Orchid. Once it was found, Ye Nan would lose all value—and be discarded like a worn-out shoe.

Thinking of this, Ye Nan felt as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss, unable to see any path ahead. Blood Orchid, Blood Orchid—if he obtained it, he would surely be abandoned. But if he failed to obtain it, that was no better either. Though he didn’t know why William Douglas had so readily believed him, he was certain Douglas had his own calculations—perhaps he had already sent men ahead to the Amazon Basin, or perhaps he had already investigated.

“Forget it. Take it one step at a time. When the time comes, I’ll plan properly. Right now, I need to strengthen my own power—otherwise, I won’t have even a shred of strength left to fight back.”

Wesker froze upon hearing William Douglas’s voice on the phone, listened for a few more words, then hung up. But after hanging up, his face darkened sharply, and in his grip, the phone turned to powder.

He never expected questioning Douglas would yield this result. He had never dared doubt William Douglas’s word—he knew exactly what kind of man the old man was: patient, cunning, a smiling tiger. Every term describing treachery applied to him. But one thing was certain: once he spoke, even four horses couldn’t drag back his word.

If he said he would give the Umbrella Corporation to Ye Nan, he truly would give it to him. Though he was only one of the directors and didn’t fully control Umbrella, no one could resist William Douglas—that was the confidence of America’s top family.

Since WWII, Americans had used the dollar to pry open the world’s doors. The Douglas family expanded globally alongside American influence. He swung dollars like paper, investing in one company after another he targeted—for him, dollars were as worthless as scrap.

He had absolute faith that those greedy directors could never resist William Douglas’s cash—even his adoptive father Spencer couldn’t withstand him, and ended up thrown out on his ass.

That was why his face had turned so grim. From a man who had just been commanding and imposing, he was now about to become a subordinate to the playboy he despised. His pride forbade this. He even wanted to shoot Ye Nan—the root of all this—but he dared not. He wasn’t afraid of Ye Nan—he was afraid of the man behind Ye Nan: William Douglas.

“Well, Mr. Wesker? What’s your answer?” Ye Nan sneered. Now that he knew the limits of William Douglas’s tolerance, he grew even bolder—he even wanted more, more still. But he knew well: even if he got Umbrella Corporation, he couldn’t digest such a massive company.

Umbrella Corporation publicly appeared as a pharmaceutical company, but in truth it was a multinational arms dealer, secretly conducting mad research on viruses and manufacturing biological weapons sold to governments worldwide—reaping enormous profits.

Wesker fell silent, put on his mirror, and said coldly: “You won.” Then he turned and walked away with effortless grace, leaving only his back. The other bodyguards followed suit, and in an instant, the house grew empty.

“So cool,” Alice suddenly sighed dreamily. After all, Wesker’s every move carried a hard-boiled style, deeply attractive to women. Alice had never seen him before, but now that she had, her mind swam with fantasies.

“A very proud man,” Michelle smiled, her thoughts hidden.

“Wesker is a terrifying man. Don’t underestimate him,” Dr. Ashford said. “When he was a researcher under Marcus, I saw him—he was a man of great talent. But he couldn’t bear that William was stronger than him, so he switched to intelligence work, starting from scratch and rising to where he is now. He’s a true polymath.”

Ye Nan fell silent, listening to their descriptions, then recalled Wesker from the Resident Evil films. He suddenly smiled: “He is indeed a genius—but he can’t match me.”

Though boastful, Ye Nan possessed fierce confidence—not from talent, but from the confidence of rebirth: innate, supreme, looking down upon all beings.

The characters in the films might have been brilliant, might have been blessed with fortune—but one thing they lacked compared to Ye Nan: experience. They still couldn’t escape their own world. Ye Nan had already stepped beyond it.

“So self-absorbed,” Alice sneered at Ye Nan, as if he had defiled her worship of Wesker.

Michelle looked at Ye Nan, her face always smiling: “Mr. Ye Nan is truly reserved and perceptive—understands human nature perfectly.”

“Ye Nan, I entrust my two daughters to you. Please treat them well,” Dr. Ashford said reluctantly. After Wesker’s outburst, he was now certain Ye Nan could protect his daughters, could replace him in caring for them—and his heart finally found peace.