"Indeed," William agreed wholeheartedly with Halsey. After all, 148 was immensely helpful in containing mental influence-type anomalies, and this psionic-shielding alloy would be no different.
"Oh, right," he then asked, "Does this alloy have a codename or an alias? Calling it 'psionic-shielding' all the time is a bit of a mouthful."
"A codename? An alias? Not yet," Halsey shook her head slightly.
Then she poked William's side with her right hand and asked with a smile, "How about… you name it?"
"Alright…" William feigned contemplation for a few seconds before saying, "Then let's call it 148."
"148???" Halsey was utterly bewildered. She tilted her head to look at William and said,
"Hey… I didn't even ask why you called 049 '049' before, and now you're calling this alloy '148'…
Tell me! Are you hiding something from me?!"
As she spoke, Halsey's right hand was no longer gentle; instead, she pinched William's side with her fingertips.
"Hiss!!"
Even with his super-healing ability, William could still feel pain, especially this electric-shock-like sensation caused by fingernails.
After a sharp intake of breath, William immediately jumped off the chair.
Standing by the desk, he rubbed his side and complained, "Catherine, ever since we officially got together, you've become more and more unrestrained!"
"Hmm?"
Hearing his complaint, Halsey's eyes narrowed slightly. She turned her office chair to face William and asked, her tone heavy, "What did you just call me?"
"Nothing," William immediately changed his tune.
Sigh…
Married life, men need to be more tolerant…
William even felt a bit of longing for the original owner of his body, for the joy of 'being surrounded by flowers.'
"Forget it, if you don't want to say, then don't," Halsey waved her right hand, no longer dwelling on the 049 and 148 issue.
She also stood up, gently rubbing William's pinched waist, and softly said, "Alright, it's late. Let's go back to our room and sleep."
Seeing Halsey return to her docile demeanor, William could only give a helpless wry smile and nodded, "Mmm."
---
...
Mid-July 2015, three full months had passed since the outbreak caused by Anubis.
During this period, Umbrella conducted a saturation-level memory modification on the human population of Earth.
The general public believed that Egypt had suffered a meteorite strike, which caused the deaths of tens of millions of people.
Any information on the internet containing keywords such as 'Egypt barrier,' 'giant blood curtain,' 'Anubis,' etc., was accurately deleted by artificial intelligence.
This outbreak caused a one-tenth reduction in Egypt's population, and the survivors faced difficulties such as unemployment, hunger, and homelessness.
Having lost the landmark Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx, Egypt also lost its value as a tourist destination.
Even though Anubis chose to give humanity a chance, the lives of the remaining ninety million Egyptians became a living hell.
In light of this, William implemented various aid programs for Egypt and called for UNSC to establish shipyards and military bases in Egypt, among other things.
Although Egypt gradually began to be absorbed by Umbrella, William's actions provided basic living security for ninety million people.
Moreover, Wang Zhaofeng, the supervisor of Umbrella's engineering team, had been overseeing Egypt's modernization construction since May, while also providing a large number of employment opportunities.
In mid-May, William held a meeting with UNSC, arranged by Andrei.
The main topic of discussion at the meeting was the anomaly 'Anubis.'
Regarding this, William stated that the Egyptian incident had been perfectly resolved, and 'Anubis' had been eliminated by Umbrella's Spartan forces.
He also provided 'evidence.'
In essence, the so-called evidence was actually the corpse of a divine Anubis's clone.
To prevent UNSC from falling into panic, Umbrella concealed the existence of divine-level anomalies from them.
.
In addition, various weapons and equipment made from 148 (referring to the psionic-shielding alloy) were distributed to the various units subordinate to Umbrella.
Among them, B-class agents in the frontline units each possessed special equipment made of 148, such as warheads and shielding helmets.
.
Whether other anomalies were afraid of 'Anubis' or for other reasons, no new anomaly reports were made during these three months.
---
...
Date: August 12, 2015.
Location: Minos Island.
As the birthplace of Umbrella's Spartans and the sole base for constructing divine bodies, Minos Island had a large garrison of USS and UBCS personnel.
The commander of the island's forces and research personnel was Colonel Allan Kent.
And Ivan Russell, the designated heir of Umbrella, had been undergoing Spartan-style training on Minos Island for nearly four months.
Due to his special status and age, Kent could not allow Ivan to undergo all the training, but his academic studies were never neglected.
Even with special treatment, no one on Minos Island would gossip, as Ivan was only four years old.
As for Ivan's physical combat instructor, it was Athena, hailed as the Goddess of Victory by the soldiers, who seemingly showed no 'leniency' towards Ivan.
11:23.
The beach on the east side of the island.
Minos was still sunny today, and the beach near the sea had a large number of barbed wire fences and various training obstacles made of wooden stakes.
"Splash ~ Splash ~"
"Ooh ~ Ooh ~"
Accompanying the soul-stirring sound of the waves were a flock of seagulls crying out in the sky above the sea.
And also…
"Wiggle your butts and run for me! Faster!"
"Yes, sir! Yes, sir!"
The usual shouts and responses during training.
Looking in the direction of the sound.
Several USS personnel in instructor uniforms, driving two Warthogs, were shouting at the second-phase Spartans wearing black short-sleeved shirts and shorts.
Among the second-phase team, whose average height was above 185 cm, a boy only 160 cm tall was particularly conspicuous.
This boy was William's son, Ivan.
Ivan's skin was much darker now than when he first arrived at Minos, and his original golden long hair had been shaved into a buzz cut.
Moreover, compared to the other Spartans who were somewhat out of breath, Ivan's expression remained unchanged, and the beads of sweat on his forehead seemed to be due to…
The heat.
Suddenly, a USS on the vehicle raised his hand and shouted, "Stop!"
Ivan stopped running with the team, standing in place, awaiting orders.
Then a USS with the rank of captain jumped off the Warthog and slowly walked to the front of the team, surveying everyone with a satisfied nod.
"Very good, your fifty laps around the island this time were faster than usual, very well done.
There's still half an hour until lunch is ready, so you can all dismiss and rest now!"
"Yes, sir!" Ivan and the Spartans responded in unison and loudly.
After dismissal.
Most of the Spartans left in groups, either walking to the base complex on the west coast or choosing to swim to cool off.
"Phew," Ivan also let out a soft breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
After a few seconds of rest, he turned and headed towards the nearby rail transit station, preparing to return to the base on the west coast.
However, he hadn't gone far when he saw Athena, dressed in sportswear, waiting for him ahead.
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