Following Asa return from the Arklay Mountains, the R.P.D. promptly announced an emergency lockdown of the water source at Raccoon City's Victory Reservoir.
Backed by quarantine certification from the health department, the city government confirmed that the relentless wave of murders within the city was caused by citizens drinking from the Victory Lake reservoir.
However, the lockdown was clearly too late. The waters of Victory Lake reservoir circled the entirety of Raccoon City, and the first cannibalism cases had broken out a month ago; during that time, the city's water supply had relied entirely on the reservoir.
Realizing this and understanding that the situation was beyond salvation, Mayor Michael Warren sighed inwardly and ordered Raccoon City General Hospital to devote all efforts to researching a viral vaccine.
He wanted to run, but he couldn't.
Asa had personally obscured his personal information within the Umbrella Corporation.
However, he still possessed the authority to come and go freely with an access card, and security personnel would find everything normal during inspections.
"Mr. Miller, I'll be needing you to handle the legwork from here on out."
Inside a hand-ground coffee shop, Asa was dressed in casual summer wear, sitting across from a blonde man in a well-tailored suit.
Curtis.
Asa had met him in this coffee shop a few days ago, and they were meeting again today.
Only this time, their paths were intersecting.
Establishing a company wasn't something Asa could handle alone. To that end, he had sought out a senior lawyer with years of experience in the industry and entrusted him with full power of attorney.
That lawyer was none other than Curtis.
"I have no other requirements, only that it be done as quickly as possible."
Asa plan was simple: establish two separate companies, 'Umbrella Pharmaceutical' and 'Watchdog Security,' which would be wholly owned by a holding company registered in the Cook Islands.
Since Asa chose to form a Class C Corporation with a complete legal identity, 100% owned by a Cook Islands Exempt Company, all debts, litigation, and liabilities of the subsidiaries would be borne independently. The security and pharmaceutical companies' liabilities would be completely separated, ensuring no cross-contamination of risk.
Furthermore, Asa could register the patents for Zombrex and other drugs under the Cook Islands holding company. The subsidiaries would only be granted exclusive usage rights, which were non-transferable and could be terminated by the parent company at any time.
A man must have dreams. Western Europe, Eastern Europe, South America, Antarctica, Africa—there were still many world-ending pathogens waiting for Asa to collect, which is why he chose the Cook Islands to register his primary entity.
In this era, by using a law firm specializing in such matters, international couriers and faxes were enough for Asa to complete the registration of the holding company without ever leaving Raccoon City.
One major advantage of registering a holding company in the Cook Islands is its refusal to comply with judgments from foreign courts, including freezes, confiscations, and asset recovery orders. Legally, this circumvented the risk of a forced government takeover.
Of course, in the end, whether one could keep what they held depended on their own strength.
The overall structure was roughly as follows: a Cook Islands holding company controlling two operating companies within the United States. They would first obtain legal state-level licenses for security and pharmaceuticals before considering expanding nationwide or even worldwide.
Curtis designed a complete process for Asa: establishing a pharmaceutical company in Colorado, purchasing a factory and laboratory in Raccoon City, and creating an all-in-one R&D, production, and sales pipeline.
This was necessary. To sell antiviral drugs locally, one could never bypass FDA regulations: building a factory, filing applications, conducting pre-clinical research, obtaining FDA approval, and going through three phases of clinical trials—expanding from 50 people to several hundred, and then large-scale verification.
Finally, a formal New Drug Application (NDA) would be submitted, reviewed again by the FDA, and ultimately approved for market.
Curtis explained that under normal circumstances, the entire process could not be completed in less than three to five years.
In contrast, the approval for a security company would be much simpler. The private security industry is primarily regulated at the state level; the whole process takes about a week to obtain a state security service license and a Federal Firearms License (FFL). After that, Asa would only need to recruit personnel with individual armed security licenses to officially begin operations!
Asa wasn't worried about the security company, and as for the pharmaceutical side, he was already prepared.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As the Raccoon City crisis gradually erupted, the dire situation combined with the only drug capable of saving the day would surely accelerate the FDA's approval process.
However, there was no need to explain this to Curtis. After finalizing the bylaws, Curtis drove Asa to the chosen location for the pharmaceutical company.
From raw materials to capsules, laboratory output alone wouldn't be enough to scale production.
"The owner of this factory was unfortunately eaten by a brown bear while vacationing in the Arklay Mountains half a month ago. The factory is currently in his wife's hands; she doesn't know how to run a business, so she wants to sell it as quickly as possible."
Curtis explained the backstory, and Asa nodded repeatedly as he listened.
This capsule factory, located in the eastern suburbs of Raccoon City, was built against a mountain. To head into the city, one could take the main urban road directly in front of the main gate.
"The factory starts right inside the main gate. The facilities and equipment only stopped working a few days ago. We have a guardhouse, raw material warehouse, finished product warehouse, office area, quality control center, and a power plant."
Curtis introduced each part to Asa, finally pointing to the solid dosage building in the center of the complex.
"That is the actual production line: raw material pretreatment room, granulation and drying room, mixing room, capsule filling room, and inner packaging room. The entire site, including the equipment and the raw materials in storage, is priced at a total of $2.1 million."
In terms of market value, this production line was indeed not expensive because it didn't involve the production of pharmaceutical raw materials; otherwise, Asa five million dollars wouldn't have been nearly enough.
It had to be said that Curtis had come well-prepared.
Asa had contacted him on Monday, and within just a few days, he had found such a fully equipped facility.
What more was there to say? Buy it!
After considering how to turn the vaccine into an antiviral drug, Asa had already figured out a laboratory method for preparing the effective antiviral substance.
Using the Hope Reagent as raw material, he could prepare 50g of the effective antiviral substance with negligible time cost.
A single Zombrex capsule prepared by Asa would contain about 10mg of the active substance. A box of Zombrex would contain 12 capsules, with the remaining space in the capsules filled with other low-cost fillers.
In other words, one vial of Hope Reagent could produce 40 boxes of Zombrex capsules, enough for a full course of treatment for 40 people.
As long as his nutrition kept up, Asa could produce blood 24 hours a day to synthesize the Hope Reagent. Even if all 500,000 residents of Raccoon City were infected, as long as the capsule manufacturing process was fast enough, Asa was confident he could provide enough Zombrex capsules for everyone before they turned.
The establishment of the pharmaceutical and security companies was completed quickly. Asa only needed to cooperate with Curtis's work—signing, faxing, taking photos, and signing again—while Curtis handled the rest.
Asa enjoyed this capitalist convenience. By paving the way with money, he didn't have to lift a finger for the entire process, and the factory was secured through negotiations with the owner.
"Congratulations, Mr. Shen. You are now the owner of two companies."
After some time, Curtis sent a message of congratulations.
With that, the two subsidiaries were established.
Umbrella Pharmaceutical: Astral Sea Therapeutics Inc., abbreviated as AST.
Watchdog Security: Everwatch Protective Solutions Inc., abbreviated as EPS.
Asa had once considered the name 'Overwatch,' but it felt like it might be disbanded at any moment, so he eventually decided against it.