Inside a recording studio; behind a wooden desk sat a brown-haired host in his forties or fifties, wearing a flamboyant tie.
To the host's right was a comfortable, long sofa.
Sitting on the sofa was William, dressed in a pitch-black suit, legs crossed, maintaining a gentle smile on his face.
Behind them was a deep blue city nightscape, and in front of them were the film crew and a group of audience members invited to watch the talk show.
"Conan Talk Show". This Conan was not that Conan.
It was one of the most popular talk shows in the United States, and that host with a slightly flamboyant style was none other than the man with an IQ of 1, O'Brien.
Today was May 20th, 2009, ten days away from William's birthday, which also meant he had been living in this World for almost three full years.
Perhaps because the colonization plan was progressing smoothly, or because the appearance of anomalies was no longer as frequent, and Soldiers were only suffering injuries without any casualties, William was in a pretty good mood.
He also had a decent impression of the talk shows that Brother Long and Brother Jie from his original World had been on, so he accepted the invitation to record.
"~~!" The opening music of drums and Sakaar played on set.
Accompanied by the pleasant tune, Conan tapped his hands rhythmically on the wooden desk, then leaned his left elbow on the table and said to the camera:
"Good evening, everyone. I'm your old pal Conan. Today's guest... has quite a big background."
"He firmly holds the number one spot on this year's Forbes list, and he also owns a company that has brought Earth into the interstellar era."
"More importantly! In ten days, he will only be twenty-two years old. My God!"
"Look at him, becoming a trillionaire at such a young age, while I, at forty-six, am still sitting behind this broken wooden desk hosting a show, and have to be bullied by my wife when I get home. Sigh..."
Conan raised his right hand to cover his face, and bursts of laughter came from the audience.
"Alright, no more jokes!" Conan changed his expression, smiled, looked at William, and shouted in a drawn-out tone:
"Please welcome the owner of the Umbrella corporation — William Russell!"
"Clap, clap~!" Conan and the audience stood up and applauded.
William also stood up, first waving to the audience and the camera, then facing Conan and shaking hands with him to show respect.
And said: "Heh, I am honored to be on your show, Conan."
"The honor is mine!" Conan smiled and said.
Everyone sat back down.
Then Conan looked at William, raised both hands with fingers spread, and asked with an exaggerated expression:
"William, I want to ask a question that represents all the audience members here and in front of the TV screens!"
"How did Umbrella acquire so many epoch-making black technologies 'overnight'? How did you do it?!"
"Like those ten space warships last year, and this year's space colonization city, this is simply not something that can be built just by spending money, right?!"
"Ah, that question." William still maintained his smile and responded calmly: "Classified."
"Uh..." Conan was stunned.
"Alright, I won't joke anymore." William shook his head and smiled as he explained:
"Our family has possessed cutting-edge ideas and innovation for generations, but we were limited by the times decades or centuries ago."
"When the time came after 2000, these technological constraints gradually lifted, allowing our family to change the landscape of the World."
"And one more thing, which is the most important point, is that Umbrella is 'people-oriented'."
"Umbrella can have its current glory because there are countless unsung scientific researchers behind it; it is they who have allowed technology to progress."
Speaking of this, William smiled at the camera and said: "Of course, we at Umbrella also welcome talent from all fields to join us, guaranteeing absolute high benefits and high salaries."
"Hey, hey, why are you advertising now?" Conan was successfully diverted by William, and said with feigned anger:
"William, you have to pay us extra compensation; you can't just take advantage for free."
"Heh, alright." William waved his hand indifferently.
The audience laughed again.
Conan also laughed along, then continued to interview William: "Let's not discuss those technological issues anymore."
"Let's talk about the one aspect I want to know the most: just how much money do you actually have?"
"Forbes estimates your assets to be ranked number one in the World, estimates, but what is the actual number?"
"This, ah." William raised his hand to pinch his chin, shrugged, and spread his hands:
"To be honest, even I don't know exactly how much money I have. Moreover, our family has never been able to disclose our assets, so forgive me for not being able to answer."
"Don't even know how much money you have yourself..." Conan's body slumped into his seat, his facial expression looking as if he had received a huge blow.
He said: "I want to experience that for once too..."
———————
The time William needed to be on stage was neither long nor short, ten minutes; after all, inviting guests was just one segment of the talk show.
For William personally, participating in a relaxing recording session was considered a pastime in the 'bright' society.
Otherwise, facing the 'darkness' every day, sooner or later, he would be consumed by it.
Arriving backstage. Hank and the Alphas were still the same, sitting on chairs provided by the staff, waiting for him.
Seeing William approach, the Alphas all stood up, straightened their suits, and prepared to escort their boss away from here.
Looking at his dedicated bodyguard partners, William asked with a smile:
"Kept you waiting... Oh? Right, I heard there's a bar downtown with good chicken wings. How about I treat you all, and we go have some fun?"
The Alphas nodded in unison without hesitation, all looking at Hank, and Hank still agreed expressionlessly: "Okay."
William had long been accustomed to Hank's cold exterior and warm interior, and said: "Since everyone has no objections, let's set off."
"Yes, boss."
However, not long after leaving. "Buzz - buzz -" William felt a series of vibration alerts coming from his suit's inner pocket.
Immediately, he fumbled for the Bluetooth headset that could connect to Serana's chip, put it on his ear, and asked Serana, who was in his inner pocket:
"Serana, is there some kind of emergency?"
"Yes." Serana's voice came from the headset:
"I noticed a cult organization several months ago and dispatched several Agents to infiltrate the organization."
"And today, an Agent finally gained the organization's trust and successfully made contact with their upper management."
"Judging from the data the Agent just transmitted back, it is confirmed to be at least a Keter-class anomaly."
"Keter?" William's expression darkened.
The word Keter hadn't appeared for a long time; even the vast majority of anomalies contained within this year were Safe-class, and even Euclid-class were only in the single digits.
It seems it's time to work again.
"Alright, I understand." William said, and then ordered the Alphas beside him:
"The fried chicken plan is canceled; now we are returning to the fire spirit."
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