Chapter 322

Once the recording of "Prime Minister plots to annex Umbrella" was released, it shocked the entire European and American world.

The British Prime Minister intended to annex Umbrella's assets?

The identities of the speakers in the recording were quickly dug out by the media.

Besides Prime Minister Michael Hurd, the rest were all top-tier super-rich people in the UK.

And the content of their conversation stung the British public even more deeply.

"Lower class," "poor wretches."

This was what those capitalists called the vast number of British "leeks."

And they even complained that Umbrella's various medicines were sold too cheaply, saying "in sales, they are a piece of shit."

It was imaginable what kind of future awaited the British leeks once they finished carving up Umbrella.

People were extremely angry. Countless people who had missed the best treatment due to the drug ban, and thus lost their loved ones or their health, took to the streets one after another, angrily denouncing the cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness of the Prime Minister and the capitalists.

Although Prime Minister Michael Hurd desperately argued that it wasn't his voice, technical experts soon verified the authenticity of the recording. At the same time, countless British government employees and insiders of the Umbrella incident came forward to expose the truth, using countless facts to corroborate the authenticity of the recording.

Michael and the big tycoons had acted very covertly, but trying to dismember and annex such a huge enterprise could not be done without leaving a trace. His greedy delusion of a snake swallowing an elephant left countless trails.

Although under the influence of the statue of the Virgin Mary, many religious officials helped to cover it up, it was ultimately a drop in the bucket.

The incident continued to ferment, and then someone exposed a strategy document from the American CIA regarding the Umbrella Company.

It included using political pressure to destroy Umbrella's reputation, then uniting with British allies to split Umbrella, and compressing the cost of acquiring Umbrella through continuous devaluation of its asset assessment, so as to spend the least amount of money to transform this competitive and threatening company into their own industry, or destroy it completely to neutralize the threat.

The methods included but were not limited to: political pressure, arresting Umbrella executives, extreme sanctions, commercial infiltration, capital traps, etc.

The sinister and vicious intent and the ruthless and shameless methods left the British leeks in awe.

And coincidentally, these measures could all find their counterparts in the recent actions of the British government.

For a time, public opinion was in an uproar again. Why does our British government treat the American nation like a father, obeying every word, yet treat its own citizens so harshly? Why are they so eager to drive those poor people to their deaths?

What is the logic behind this?

Was the British government elected by the British people, or by the Americans?

"I work ten hours a day, seven days a week, and they only give me 5 pounds an hour, but I am already very grateful to my boss; at least he let me eat my fill."

On Sky Broadcasting's news program, a low-level worker said in an interview.

"But I can't afford meat, I can't afford new clothes, my parents can only live on relief money, we dare not get sick, we dare not go to the hospital, Umbrella's White Potion is the only medicine I can afford, because it is effective, and I don't need to spend too much money to cure myself."

"Those rich people, they can buy the whole of London, yet they still want to grab money from our hands and take away the only medicine we can afford. I don't understand why the world has become like this."

"I only know that they don't treat me as a human. Our Prime Minister treats us as animals, or pests. He thinks that we poor wretches should die silently after being squeezed of the last bit of oil!"

Unlike the appearance of whitewashing peace, the gap between the rich and the poor in the UK has always been at the top of Europe.

Since 1978, the UK's Gini coefficient has been rising rapidly, even faster than the United States across the ocean. The UK is one of the developed countries with the largest gap between the rich and the poor in the world.

And this Umbrella incident nakedly displayed the plunder and exploitation of the lower-class civilians by the top-tier rich.

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

The British people were angry. Even a clay figurine has three parts of temper. Even if I am a leek, you can't cut me so obviously!

Under huge public opinion pressure, Parliament had to suspend the investigation into Umbrella.

At the same time, Parliament once again initiated a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister.

And this time, in the process of voting for a new Prime Minister, a Conservative backbencher—"Patrick Duncan"—suddenly announced his withdrawal from the Conservative Party just before the final round of voting, and founded a new party: the "Livelihood Party."

It aimed to improve social welfare, distribute fairly, and reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, attempting to walk a path different from the far-left of the Labour Party and the neoliberalism of the Conservative Party.

Because of his status as the former Vice President of Umbrella, and his behavior of defending Umbrella's interests during the Congressional investigation into Umbrella, and denouncing the American interference policy, Patrick ushered in a surge in popularity at this time.

His departure from the Conservative Party took away about forty members of Parliament who were dissatisfied with the Conservative Party's increasing orientation toward the United States. At the same time, it also attracted some members of the Labour Party who were more neutral, and absorbed a number of small parties such as the Liberal Democrats and the Social Democratic Party, immediately becoming the third-largest party in the UK, and almost able to compete with the Labour Party.

However, the Livelihood Party had just been established and needed time to develop.

The British Prime Minister was once again served by a Conservative MP, Slit Larson.

As soon as the new Prime Minister took office, he used all his skills to distance himself from the United States, attempting to shift internal contradictions to the outside. He was once extremely tough in diplomacy toward the United States, not only immediately abolishing all decrees against Umbrella but also implementing reciprocal countermeasures against the restrictive measures of the United States and European countries on Umbrella, finally curbing some of the unhealthy trends in the international community against Umbrella.

More than a month later, Umbrella Company resumed normal operations and launched "anti-aging agents" globally.

The original actions of various countries' Ministries of Magic to pressure Muggle society to crack down on Umbrella suddenly met with strong resistance from Muggle society. Muggle society seemed unwilling to cooperate with wizards anymore.

Thus, wizards could only give up. After all, they couldn't use the Imperius Curse to control Muggle Prime Ministers to force them to be obedient, right?

On one hand, the British Ministry of Magic withdrew from the International Confederation of Wizards, and on the other hand, the actions of pressuring Muggle societies in various countries were difficult to advance. Thus, Dumbledore's suppression of Murphy using the Wizarding Confederation was declared a failure.

Austria.

Among the mountains, a pitch-black tower stood majestically.

An old man with white hair suddenly appeared on a mountain path not far away.

He glanced at the tower, hesitated for a moment, but finally walked over.

Along a long-dilapidated stone staircase, he came to a gate. He glanced at the line of text on the door, paused for a while, and was about to push the door.

Suddenly, the gate opened.

A thin house-elf looked at him through the crack in the door.

"Albus, Mr. Dumbledore?"

"It's me. You are... Dalont?"

"Dalont was my father, sir. He died five years ago. I am Damut."

Had even the house-elf sent to take care of him back then died of old age?

After all, fifty years had passed.

"Why are you here, Damut?" Dumbledore asked.

"Two years ago, the master said you would come today and told me to wait for you here," the house-elf said. "I wait here every day at this time. Please follow me, Mr. Dumbledore. The master has also been waiting for you for a long time."

(End of chapter)