After inspecting Delphi, William returned to Halifax under Hank's protection.
Not long after arriving home to rest, he received some explosive news.
That is, Lehman Brothers' stock price began to plummet within a few days, dropping from its peak trading price of 120 all the way to 50.
The reason was that some people had performed operations similar to what William did a year ago.
Short selling and dumping.
High-end investors seemed to have smelled a crisis, selling off their holdings at the peak or borrowing shares from securities firms to sell.
This move caused panic among retail investors, who followed suit and began selling off in waves.
This action hit other listed companies like falling dominoes, directly causing turmoil in the stock market.
Furthermore, news outlets began reporting heavily on the flood of subprime mortgages caused by excessive credit, which had already made it impossible for various investment banks to recover loans.
All of this caused the United States, which was extremely dependent on borrowing, to fall into turmoil.
At this time, people began to remember William.
That founder of Umbrella seemed as if he had known these things would happen in advance.
They then began to analyze William's various past operations.
Such as becoming a major shareholder in Apple, Microsoft, and various arms companies.
Retail investors concluded that there must be some deep-seated reason for William to do this.
Subsequently, investors began to follow suit, either continuing to sell off bank stocks or buying stocks in companies like Apple and Microsoft.
Within just one week, the market value of the companies in which William held shares doubled.
As for the idiots on Wall Street, they actually split into two groups.
One group instantly threw themselves into Umbrella's embrace, claiming that William's previous behavior was a warning to everyone.
That he was a prophet and a pioneer.
As for the group that insisted on criticizing him, they could only complain about why William didn't just say it outright to give investors some mental preparation.
When William, who was working from home, saw the reports complaining about him, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
A year ago, when he sold his Lehman Brothers stock, he hadn't hidden it, and he had no need to explain anything to the general public.
Besides, even if he really had issued a statement warning that there would be a crisis next year, that it was a bubble economy and they should save money immediately to prepare...
No one would have believed him.
With the usual style of the Americans, they would have mocked William first and then said:
"We, the United States, have the ability to resistance any crisis! We have the most perfect system!"
And so on.
But it was useless to say anything now; William had already made a fortune.
The thirty billion William had gained from selling Lehman Brothers had remained in his account untouched until now.
Adding the roughly ten billion remaining in system funds, along with the upcoming update reset...
Subtracting the necessary amounts to maintain Fleet construction and normal company operations, William would have sixty billion in available capital.
Everything he had done was for this moment.
According to the trajectory of the original World...
The US Government, adhering to a policy of non-intervention in the stock market, and US think tanks miscalculating that investment banks like Lehman Brothers were 'too big to fail,' directly led to the complete collapse in '08.
In the end, they had to use seven hundred billion from the national treasury to bail out the market.
That was the course of the original financial crisis.
The crisis in William's current World was similar to the original World yet different; for example, Lehman Brothers' stock price plummeted several months early.
But that didn't matter.
He was going to use that sixty billion dollars to 'throw money down the drain' first.
Didn't the US Government wait a year before bailing out the market?
Then William would 'help' everyone through the difficulties a year early, stabilizing stock prices and the anxious hearts of investors.
After all, he was flattered by investors as a 'prophet' and had strong influence.
And so, on September 1, 2007.
William gave a speech on Spring Garden Road in Halifax.
He stated that Umbrella would selflessly assist the turbulent stock market and hoped to cooperate with major companies for self-rescue.
Most capitalists scoffed at William's speech.
They couldn't wait to stay out of it.
Bail out the market with your Umbrella? Forget about it.
Moreover, these people believed that William, being a capitalist himself, was definitely faking it to trick the masses.
If William dared to be truly selfless, the capitalists would eat shit on a live broadcast.
The fact was...
On September 2, the day after William finished his speech, a full fifty billion in funds was poured into the stock market.
Although the effect wasn't very obvious, it greatly encouraged the restless hearts of investors, who even began to think Umbrella was more reliable than the government.
Seeing this, the capitalists didn't actually eat shit.
Instead, pressured by public opinion and fearing their own companies would plummet due to bad reputation, they had no choice but to be dragged into the water by William to bail out the market together.
This was exactly the result William hoped for.
He wasn't afraid of running out of money; it would be replenished in a few months anyway.
But other companies capable of competing with Umbrella didn't have a so-called system; if their liquid capital was thrown into the stock market, it would be gone for real.
When global enterprises were stuck in the mire, Umbrella would take the opportunity to annex them on a large scale.
At that time, those giants would have no strength left to resist.
William wanted to use military and economic means to completely control the entire World. Only then could he unify the technology and power of all humanity to assist him in containing those anomalies.
———————
...
Time: October 11, 2007.
Location: Athens, the capital of Greece.
William, with his hair slicked back and wearing an exquisite suit, was standing on the podium of a certain venue.
On both sides of the podium were senior officials of the Greek government, including their President, the elderly Mr. Karolos Papoulias.
In front of the podium were Hank and the Alphas protecting William's safety, and further ahead was a group of reporters with their hands raised, waiting to ask questions.
William looked around with a smile and finally fixed his gaze on a female reporter who looked relatively pleasant.
He gestured toward her with aristocratic grace and said, "Miss, please state your question."
The female reporter also stood up politely, looking at the draft in her hand and asking:
"Hello, Mr. Russell.
I want to know, since you are now a Canadian and your ancestors were British aristocrats, why did you help our bankrupt Greece in the first instance?
Shouldn't you have helped your home country or the birthplace of your ancestors first?
Thank you."
"Haha," William chuckled lightly and explained calmly:
"My home country's stock market is very stable, and the people trust the government and Umbrella, so there will be no problem getting through this crisis.
As for Britain, there are still many families helping to support it, but if they ask for assistance, I will help without hesitation.
As for Greece, known as the cradle of Western civilization, it is a country I have long admired.
Of course, you are also the only country to declare bankruptcy.
As Umbrella views customers as our most precious wealth, as long as we have the capacity, we will certainly provide selfless assistance.
So, I have come."
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