Chapter 4: True Wealth That Can Rival Nations

Adapted for a moment.

Sui Bian returned to his bedroom, sat at the computer desk, faced the old-fashioned screen, and continued to pose his questions to the Red and White Queens.

1. How is Umbrella's military strength?

2. Exactly how wealthy is Umbrella?

Regarding the military aspect, the Red Queen still gave a monotone verbal answer, while displaying related documents and images on the screen so that Sui Bian could grasp Umbrella's current situation more directly.

Umbrella commands a total of 2,744 armed personnel, with 77 in the reserves.

The main armed forces are divided into three tiers, ordered from lowest to highest by equipment and elite status as follows:

Umbrella's Armed Security,

Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Unit (UBCS),

Umbrella Quick Response Force (USS).

Armed Security has 2,544 members, usually retired soldiers or former police officers, tasked with protecting Umbrella's assets worldwide, and they hold formal employee contracts and confidentiality agreements.

UBCS comprises four combat squads, totaling 120 people, most of whom are mercenaries, war criminals, and retired soldiers.

Simply by equipment, pay, and elite level, UBCS outclasses Armed Security in every respect.

In reality, however, UBCS is just a "single-use product" for Umbrella, employed to gather combat data on organic bio‑weapon (B. O. W.) testing, and it has no loyalty.

Lastly come the USS and the reserves.

USS is the company's most elite private army, its members drawn from veteran elite forces of various nations; even senior Umbrella staff cannot access any files concerning the USS.

It currently has 80 members, organized into four squads.

The reserve size varies; at present there are 77, who train year‑round on Lockford Island, and when the USS suffers casualties, the reserves fill in for the fallen or wounded.

In the files, Sui Bian also discovered many familiar faces.

Such as Carlos Oliveira, Michel Victor, Nikolai Ginovyev, all from Resident Evil 3, and—

'Hank'.

Carlos, Victor, and Nikolai left a deep impression on Sui Bian, since Resident Evil 3 was the second bio‑hazard game he ever played.

The remastered version of Resident Evil 3 also entered his collection, but after he spent four hours to clear it…

RNM's Kabi.

Although the Red Queen explicitly stated that UBCS is a one‑time "product" of Umbrella, there are still many people like Carlos and Victor.

Across the many game versions, Carlos always strives to rescue civilians, ensure his teammates' safety, and is loyal and reliable.

Victor is also an excellent squad leader who uses self‑detonation to brutally confront Stalkers.

In the original storyline there is an unnamed UBCS member whose final act before death was still protecting a little girl in his arms.

However, the majority are types like Nikolai, who only care about money.

And 'Hank'.

If the protagonists rely on skill as a supplement and luck as the main factor, then Hank is an absolute powerhouse whose strength is primary and luck secondary.

Hank first appears in Resident Evil 2's fourth Survivor mode, where the player controls Hank wearing an "octopus head" mask to escape the underground lab in Raccoon City.

Along the way he must face zombies, Zombie Dogs, crows, Lickers, giant spiders, vegetative hosts, G‑larvae, and the Tyrant.

Sui Bian admits he is clumsy; he never cleared the original version as a child, and even the remaster requires cheating to beat.

Game levels can be replayed, but real life only gives one chance.

Under such harsh conditions, Hank still manages to escape, proving just how formidable this grim reaper's strength is.

It's just that Hank's teammates and subordinates fare poorly; when faced with near‑death missions, most of the time Hank is the sole survivor.

Later.

Reviewing the files and images, Sui Bian also deduced from UBCS and USS uniforms that this world not only leans toward a game, but is a reset version of a game.

"Looks like there's no Wolf Pack squad," Sui Bian thought.

The four USS squad codenames in the files are Alpha, Omicron, Epsilon, and Zeta.

Each squad specializes in a different field.

Alpha: recover the company's valuable assets, or covertly seize important assets of rival companies.

Omicron: assassinate senior personnel of rival companies, or government officials hindering Umbrella's development.

Epsilon: rescue board members who have been kidnapped or held hostage.

Zeta: provide support to the other three squads.

Umbrella allocates as much as $430 million annually to its private army.

Four hundred million in 1998…

Moreover, USS takes the lion's share of the budget, possessing top‑tier individual weapons and gear, and a full range of sea, land, and air vehicles.

When operating in Africa, the Middle East and other regions, USS even has permission to call in aerial gunships and bombings.

Hmm…

No wonder it's Umbrella.

Next is "Exactly how wealthy".

A very common question, yet it's one Sui Bian wanted to resolve before his transmigration.

The White Queen, responsible for explaining this aspect, also uses uploaded files, data to the computer, and verbal narration to clarify for Sui Bian.

Her voice, like the Red Queen's, is icy, almost devoid of emotion, and her answers are very rigid.

Through the White Queen, he finally grasps the scale of Umbrella and the extent it has reached.

Truly rich enough to rival nations.

Umbrella's publicly listed industries include chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing and sales, industrial machinery production, digital products, health supplements, transportation, tourism, and entertainment media.

In this world, Umbrella is the first company with a market cap exceeding $600 billion, currently valued at $650 billion.

The data also mentions that the United States' gross domestic product in 1997 was 8 trillion dollars, accounting for 27.26% of the world.

Although a company's market cap and GDP are fundamentally different, it still shows that Umbrella, in the public eye, is a "colossal entity" with both strength and reputation.

Privately, Umbrella also has mines and oil fields in Africa and the Middle East, extracting resources for sale.

The colonialism and plunder popular in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries caused vast wealth and resources to pour into the hands of European nobles and families.

Among Umbrella's three founders, Si Binse and Ya Lishanda·A Xifu Te are European nobles; they funded the company with capital, while the PhD biologist Ma Ku Si contributed technology.

In fact, Umbrella is a microcosm of Western nations, relying on domination and monopoly for huge profits, and calling it making the world more "free".

Freedom NMLGB.

Putting aside the aforementioned industries, after the Soviet Union's collapse Umbrella bought massive amounts of weapons and equipment at rock‑bottom prices, sold them to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and also recruited many Soviet weapons experts.

Energy.

Medicine.

Armaments.

Umbrella is an absolute giant in all three sectors, no wonder it is targeted.

— "A towering tree draws the wind, and the wind shakes the tree; a man who seeks a lofty name will have that name bring his downfall."

As for the research institutes, facilities, and military bases under its command…

There are far too many, so Sui Bian had to ask Bai Hou to create a new document, listing the important assets that required substantial manpower and material investment.

① Paris Underground Research Institute.

Location: beneath the headquarters building in Paris, France.

② Sixth Research Institute.

Location: beneath the Irish branch building.

③ Africa Research Institute.

Location: beside the ruins of the Dubaiya tribe in the north of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, West Africa.

④ Lockford Island.

Location: in the Indian Ocean, north of the Saint Lucx Islands.

Exact coordinates: 10°43′S, 165°55′E.

⑤ Antarctic Research Institute.

Exact coordinates: 74°41′S, 164°16′E.

(End of chapter)