章 1: Chapter 1: Ruins, "Startups," and "Boys"
Caw—! Caw—!
In the dense forest, unknown birds were singing loudly.
Along with the damp soil, the mist rising in the early morning, and the towering giant trees that could block out the sky, all these elements symbolized that this place was somewhere in a tropical rainforest.
The ground was even more bustling. Under the fallen wood and leaves, countless insects followed their instincts to hunt and escape.
Suddenly.
"Rustle, rustle..." The sound of military boots compacting the soft soil, and...
"All clear."
"Secure."
A group of soldiers, dressed in jungle camouflage combat uniforms, equipped with soft body armor and armed belts, holding firearms, arrived in this area and maintained sufficient distance for vigilance.
One soldier scanned the surroundings, confirmed everything was correct, and reported through a handheld radio: "Lieutenant, you can bring Mr. Young and the others over."
"Roger."
Hearing the reply from the other end of the communication, the soldier raised his hand and signaled his comrades to continue to be on guard and await orders.
Soon, this area welcomed a large group of "tourists."
The composition of the "tourist group" was quite complex. There were technicians wearing work pants and vests, carrying various packages and equipment boxes, looking like experts and scholars in some field. There were also soldiers with more sophisticated equipment and weapons responsible for security tasks.
However, these soldiers wore jet-black combat uniforms with a deep red "Λ" symbol on their arm patches, and below that was embroidered with "ATLAS Corporation."
The leader's attire, on the other hand, was very much in line with the term "tourist."
Standing around 1.88 meters tall, he wore a black long-sleeved tennis shirt, dark gray tactical pants, and had black slicked-back hair. With sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, a typical Chinese face, it wasn't hard to guess he was the "Mr. Young" the soldiers referred to.
"Mr. Young..."
At this moment, a muscular officer wearing a camouflage beret, who came here with "Mr. Young," seemed to have been pondering for a long time before finally asking, unable to hold back any longer:
"What exactly is here that's worth you coming in person?"
"Be patient, Lieutenant Krauser. You'll find out soon."
Mr. Young, or rather Samuel Young, merely smiled without giving the American lieutenant much explanation.
It wasn't surprising the other party was confused. After all, he was the "boss" of ATLAS Corporation, yet he chose to personally venture into the depths of the West African rainforest.
But as they continued forward, it wasn't long before all the American soldiers, including the lieutenant, got some degree of "clarification."
What appeared before them was a massive stone gate, surrounded by vines and so ancient that it was impossible to discern what civilization it belonged to, leading underground.
!?
Seeing the ruins, the American soldiers were astonished.
"Mr. Young! It's a ruin, there really is a ruin!"
"Hahaha! Great! Finally, a way to deal with those damned superhumans!"
The experts and researchers from ATLAS Corporation were overjoyed, as if their speculations had been confirmed, and they talked about "dealing with superhumans."
As for Samuel Young, who organized and planned this operation, he frowned slightly and gazed at the ruins with a complex expression.
Because that "stone gate" would lead them to another universe.
In fact, Samuel Young originally didn't belong to this world. More importantly, he was nearly 150 years old.
He was once a retired soldier. On his way home, a large vehicle had a tire blowout and lost control. Standing on the sidewalk, he didn't have time to react before everything went black. When his vision returned, he found himself lying in a desert...
It was just so inexplicable, yet "rightfully so," that he crossed over, and it was a physical crossing.
His uniform, boots, backpack, and even the Mate 60 Pro he just bought with his severance pay, all came with him to this world.
Next, using the survival skills he learned from eight years of service, Samuel Young successfully escaped the desert and contacted a human settlement in this world.
After a rough investigation with broken English, he discovered that he had crossed into 1870, during the gold rush and colonization wave in the American West.
He then lived in that small town for about five years.
During this time, he also found that he was not the "source of the plague." Apart from the usual birth, aging, sickness, and death, none of the townspeople died from "unknown diseases."
At that time, Samuel Young thought it might be the rules of world or universe travel, completely unaware of his special constitution.
In the summer of 1876, Samuel Young packed his belongings, carried enough food, money, and weapons, and joined a group of colonists heading to the west coast.
Although he had become familiar with this land of wilderness and opportunity, his faith and longing still made him want to return to the mysterious East for a look.
However, when he encountered bandits and gangs and fought back, he accidentally adopted an orphan named "Arthur Morgan," only then did Samuel Young realize that this world was not simple...
Even though he had been in the army for eight years, it didn't mean he was isolated from the world. On the contrary, he was very keen on various games, movies, and tabletop games to pass the rare vacations.
Therefore, the orphan he adopted, in name, experience, and even appearance, was almost identical to the protagonist in "Red Dead Redemption 2."
The real turning point that made Samuel Young give up on "going home" was the day after he adopted Arthur Morgan. Words like "stay... start a business..." began to repeat in his mind.
At first, he didn't pay much attention. But the closer he got to the port on the west coast, the more frequently the words repeated in his mind, to the point where he even had severe headaches.
So he had to give up.
For the next ten years, relying on his superior military skills, Samuel Young first served as a bounty hunter capturing criminals...
Of course, he would also do some "robbing the rich to help the poor" things along the way, helping others while also filling his own pockets.
Meanwhile, he took care of and trained Arthur Morgan, who became a close assistant, almost like a son.
After accumulating enough capital, he bought 80 acres of land on the outskirts of Seattle to try his hand at building a plantation for cash crops like cotton.
Samuel Young understood that his Chinese face would attract many objections and trouble, so during his time as a bounty hunter, he also adopted several other orphans and taught and trained them carefully.
When the plantation was established, he formed a security team centered around Arthur Morgan, responsible for asset security and smooth expansion.
In the following twenty years, the world entered the early 20th century. Samuel Young not only owned plantations for cash crops but also had a bismuth mine and two copper mines.
In 1914, World War I broke out on this Earth as scheduled.
Samuel Young, who had gradually moved behind the scenes, had used some connections to obtain federal approval before the war, starting to sell arms, medicine, and daily necessities to European countries.
In the same year, Samuel Young officially established the transformed "ATLAS."
As he continued to utilize "foreknowledge," taking advantage of the Great Depression and World War II to prepare to make the company bigger and stronger, he read a newspaper with the headline "Soldier Boy Goes to the Front!"
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