In the year 1993-1994, under Samuel Young's comprehensive mobilization, Atlas was advancing production at an unimaginable speed. Atlas had numerous departments and subsidiaries. Among them, there were fourteen wholly-owned subsidiaries. In terms of departments, besides general ones like human resources, finance, and transportation, there were also the Communications Technology and Private R&D Department hosting this press conference, and the Bioengineering Department headed by Alexia.
Each department was closely interconnected, with each head being a trusted confidant of Samuel, privy to company secrets, making it hard to determine which was the most important. However, the department with the highest expenses was undoubtedly the Research Department.
In Atlas, the simpler the department name, the more "complex" its actual scale and operations. The Research Department mainly focused on transforming theory into practice, particularly in the military field. Otherwise, how could Atlas have had sunglasses with HUD displays and bulletproof suits made from carbon nanofibers in the 1980s and 1990s?
The head of the Research Department, Zhao Feng Wang, held doctorates in mathematics and physics, having studied at MIT. Initially, his relationship with Atlas was not harmonious, as he had been "half-forced" into working for the company. Fortunately, in the end, Zhao Feng Wang dedicated himself to Atlas for nearly thirty years. Though he had transformed from a once-handsome young man to a "balding" director, he lacked nothing in terms of wealth and fame and had an environment conducive to dedicated research. Far from resenting Samuel, Zhao Feng Wang was actually quite grateful.
More than half of the technology mastered by Atlas was unknown to the outside world and was at an absolutely leading level. One crucial reason Zhao Feng Wang could fully support Samuel was that the day he took office as the head of the Research Department, Samuel placed a well-preserved Mate 60 Pro on his desk.
From 1960 to 1970, Atlas experienced its first wave of rapid development, with a large number of new electronic products flooding the market. Even before Motorola's DynaTAC 8000X was announced, Atlas had become the first company to define what a "personal business phone" was, pioneering mobile communications. Over 35% of the communications base stations in the USA were owned by Atlas.
Had Samuel not been concerned about monopolizing the market too blatantly, drawing the attention of federal government officials with whom he had a rocky relationship, or attracting hostile forces like Vought International, he could have reached his goal of personal assets worth billions a decade earlier.
Returning to 1993-1994, the opening of the first portal and the constant stream of data and physical samples brought back by investigators allowed Zhao Feng Wang's Research Department to break through multiple field limitations. Many new weapons, vehicles, and equipment were still in the design and improvement stages, requiring prototype production for performance and safety testing. However, even without the portal and UDF technology, Atlas had already successfully produced several prototypes of technologies like exoskeletons.
The real bottleneck was the power supply, which needed to support the exoskeleton's long-term operation and combat capabilities while remaining compact. UDF's hydrogen battery technology perfectly solved this problem, allowing Atlas, already ahead of the main universe's technology, to leap even further.
Mass production of exoskeletons and new equipment and vehicles required control over the manufacturing system, production equipment, process flows, material supply, and other aspects. For instance, the Akra plant's arsenal completed its first production workshop on February 6, 1994, capable of manufacturing the improved exoskeletons and related components, albeit with a "meager" monthly output of 14 sets.
Atlas had the prerequisites to complete all mass production independently, but this would take time. Samuel would never decide to sell externally before equipping all of Atlas's military units or dealing with Vought International.
However, Samuel believed that with time, Atlas would eventually resemble the ATLAS Corporation from "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," equipping all its mercenaries with the most advanced weapons.
It's worth noting that the Research Department could spare the manpower and time to design and develop carbon nanofiber gear for company investigators under Samuel's directive. Leon's involvement always reminded Samuel of "Resident Evil 4: Remake." Although Leon in the main universe leaned more towards the original version in terms of personality and appearance, Samuel found the remake's story logic and overall playability superior and more realistic.
Leon's Mozambique Drill reminded Samuel of the "John Wick" series and the high-tech bulletproof suits in it. Leon's incredible luck and "scorched earth" tendencies convinced Samuel that Leon would be perfect for the role of an investigator. Offering high salaries and advanced weapons for Leon to use his sense of justice was a win-win situation, providing valuable intelligence and unexpected gains.
At this moment, Samuel, having momentarily reminisced about the past, set the tablet aside and closed his eyes to rest briefly. Running a multinational enterprise with 160,000 employees and raising two occasionally obedient but often troublesome "brat" sons, not to mention monitoring and guarding against Vought and various forces, left Samuel physically and mentally exhausted every day.
While his strong self-healing and stamina could be seen as a blessing or curse, he knew that a few minutes of rest could rejuvenate him like a full night's sleep for an ordinary person, a "curse" and "shackle" in one. Samuel deeply understood why the Emperor of Mankind would engage in seemingly irrational behavior. Wanting to give up but forced to "work overtime" and "take care of the kids," even with extraordinary mental and physical strength, would eventually drive anyone "crazy."
Regarding the portals, since acquiring this ability, Samuel knew each opening consumed a massive amount of psionic energy and had a "cooldown" period of 414 Earth days. The first portal opened on June 5, 1993, and today, July 12, 1994, with time zone differences, 403 days had passed. There were 11 days left until the next opening.
Just as well, aside from population and natural resources, Atlas had almost exhausted the technological benefits from Earth Zero. It was time to switch to a new target for mutual benefit.
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