120: Chapter 120 Umbrella's Sixth Core

"Need you ask? You are, of course, the supreme Founding Commissioners! Furthermore, every Founding Commissioner holds three privilege slots to recommend ordinary members. How about that? Are you satisfied?" Lin Tian replied with a smile.

"Only three slots!" Elizabeth pouted, looking somewhat dissatisfied.

"Sean, you must understand that something like 'Longevity' must absolutely not be allowed to spread unchecked! Once it is fully exposed, the order of the entire world would crumble in an instant!" Lin Tian patiently explained the stakes to her.

"Therefore, you must be extremely cautious with the three slots in your hands. However, rest assured, I have already included Uncle Rockefeller and Aunt Laura on the list of official members. As for the specific positions to give them, I still need to ponder that further."

Then, Lin Tian turned to look at Anna.

"Of course, Mr. Edison's talent is fully qualified to receive the title of a C5-level scientist."

Hearing this, Elizabeth and Anna finally beamed with satisfaction.

Afterward, the group began a heated discussion about the details of the organizational structure.

During this time, Elizabeth and Anna also personally lay inside the medical pod to experience it.

After coming out, the two girls were like cheerful orioles, chattering away as they exchanged notes on the miraculous changes in their bodies.

In reality, at their prime age of eighteen, they were already very healthy. The medical pod merely cleared away trace toxins remaining in their bodies and incidentally repaired some extremely minute DNA damage.

After the experience concluded.

Lin Tian had the three girls step out of the secret room first. With a thought, he directly retracted the massive medical pod back into his personal system space.

To be honest, he could not fully trust even this impregnable underground vault.

If this medical pod suffered even the slightest damage, he wouldn't even know who to call for repairs.

Therefore, keeping it in his system space—where time was absolutely frozen and only he could open it—and carrying it with him was the most foolproof choice.

Watching the heavy vault door slowly close, a cold sneer curled the corners of Lin Tian's lips. If some short-sighted traitor ever dared to come here to seize the medical pod in the future, the expression on their face would surely be priceless when they exhausted all their strength to blow open the door, only to find it completely empty inside.

...

Leaving the Umbrella Laboratory building, Lin Tian dispatched a car to send the three girls home safely.

He could guess with his toes that after Elizabeth and Anna returned home, they would undoubtedly be unable to wait to spill everything.

Sure enough, Lin Tian had just returned to Lin Manor and hadn't even had a chance to sit down when Rockefeller's call came in, urgent and frantic.

"Is what Sean said... really true?!"

On the other end of the line, Rockefeller's breathing was as heavy as an old ox pulling a millstone.

"Uncle Rockefeller, do you think someone with Sean's personality would joke about something like this?"

Lin Tian couldn't help but chuckle as he listened to the old fox's agitated voice.

"Bruce! Stay at home and wait for me; I'm coming over immediately to talk in person!"

With that, Rockefeller hung up the phone with a "snap."

Barely ten minutes later.

Rockefeller, not even bringing his personal driver, gripped the steering wheel himself and sped all the way into Lin Manor.

Upon meeting, Rockefeller didn't even have time to drink a sip of water and asked straight to the point:

"The phone lines might be tapped; it's not safe. Give me the bottom line—did you really obtain alien black technology? Or perhaps legendary divine artifacts like the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant?!"

"That's pretty much the gist of it."

Lin Tian had long since cleared all the servants from the hall, leaving only the two of them—one old and one young—in the space.

"Then, I now formally extend an invitation to you in my capacity as the supreme Chairman of the 'Umbrella Committee.' Uncle Rockefeller, are you willing to join?"

"Umbrella? Hahaha! To be able to live two hundred years longer out of thin air—only an idiot with water in his brain would refuse!"

Rockefeller threw his head back and laughed, agreeing without the slightest hesitation.

With Rockefeller's official induction.

Six of the nine absolute core members of the Umbrella Committee had been confirmed: Lin Tian, Rockefeller, Anna, Elizabeth, Jiang Meier, and Lin Tian's father, Lin Shi.

At most, there were only three core seats remaining.

Once these nine seats were filled, the core circle would absolutely not expand further unless someone died unexpectedly.

Because for a secret that defied the heavens like this, the fewer people who knew, the better.

As for the low-level peripheral temporary workers, Lin Tian could recruit as many as he wanted.

Even the top scientists and business titans of this era could not be considered irreplaceable, precious assets in front of the Umbrella Committee.

Because as long as he held the trump card of "Longevity," he had plenty of time to slowly harvest the supreme geniuses of every era!

"I intend to ask Uncle Rockefeller to serve as the Vice Chairman of the Committee, responsible for coordinating our organization's global financial operations from now on."

"Managing money? No problem!"

Rockefeller nodded readily; this was his old trade that he had been doing his whole life.

"Besides that, we must drape the organization in a layer of mystery!" Lin Tian said, rubbing his chin.

"A sense of mystery?"

Rockefeller didn't quite follow.

"Yes! Only the mystery of the unknown can inspire awe. For example, during core gatherings, we must wear uniform pure gold masks, use secret hand signals, and even perform some cryptic initiation rituals!"

Listening to Lin Tian describe it.

An image of an extremely evil cult gathering immediately surfaced in Rockefeller's mind. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked in a lowered voice:

"Bruce, does it really have to be this villainous?"

"It's a must! We need to create an illusion for the outside world: that the Umbrella Committee is a super secretive force that has lurked in the shadows for hundreds of years, with unfathomable foundations!"

Rockefeller pondered it carefully and felt that this strategy of borrowing the tiger's might was indeed effective.

"Fine! Then I'll go find a top-tier craftsman and have a gold lion mask made for myself. Bruce, since you like Chinese Kung Fu so much, why not get a gold panda mask?"

Hearing this suggestion, Lin Tian rolled his eyes speechlessly:

"What the hell is a gold panda! Have you ever seen a glittering gold panda?!"

"Don't you always say you're as harmless as a giant panda? But then again, Bruce, does a bear with black and white fur and natural dark circles really exist in this world?"

Rockefeller was full of curiosity, looking just like a curious baby.

"Uh... of course there is, it's our Huaxia's national treasure."

Lin Tian awkwardly brushed it off.

He had originally wanted to get a cool, high-class Egyptian god Anubis mask, but it had been forcibly derailed by Rockefeller into a national treasure giant panda.

"Forget it, forget it. Since it's all made of pure gold, who can tell if it's black or white? Let's just call it the mysterious Eastern Divine Bear!"

Subsequently, the two huddled together, whispering as they discussed secret hand signals and mysterious ritual procedures.

Originally, Lin Tian had even intended to borrow some of those SAN-dropping evil god rituals from the Cthulhu mythos of his past life.

But on second thought, everyone was a proper business person; if he really made it that ghostly and terrifying, it would be hard to deal with the aftermath if new members were scared into mental illness.

"Oh, by the way, Uncle Rockefeller. Did that bunch from Freemasonry really come looking for you back in the day?"

Lin Tian suddenly changed the subject, throwing out the question that had been bottled up in his heart for a long time.

Hearing the words "Freemasonry," Rockefeller's face instantly turned deathly pale, and he asked nervously:

"Bruce! Could it be that those lunatics have set their sights on you recently?"

Lin Tian hurriedly shook his head to deny it:

"No, no, no. I just heard Sean mention it in passing, saying she saw a group of weirdos in black cloaks come to the house to find you when she was a child."

"So it was that big-mouthed Sean." Rockefeller finally let out a long sigh of relief. Subsequently, his expression became unprecedentedly grave:

"Bruce, take my advice! If one day those people really come knocking, no matter what tempting conditions they offer, you must resolutely refuse! Once you get involved with them, you have plunged into an irredeemable, bottomless abyss!"

Speaking to this point, he nervously glanced left and right, leaned into Lin Tian's ear, and muttered a piece of extremely shocking top-secret intelligence in a voice as faint as a mosquito's.

After hearing it, Lin Tian's pupils contracted violently, and his expression changed instantly.

"Are you saying that even that super family dominating Europe is one of them?! What exactly are these lunatics aiming for?!"

"No one can clearly state their true plot. The rumors circulating in the outside world are all smoke screens they deliberately released to confuse the public. If it hadn't been for that Morgan incident that shook the entire USA back then, this terrorist organization would have long ago quietly swallowed up our USA completely!"

Rockefeller said with lingering fear.

Lin Tian's expression was also so gloomy it was almost dripping water.

"Bruce, I am very optimistic about the Umbrella Committee you have established. Given time, our achievements will absolutely not be lower than Freemasonry. But before that, absolutely, absolutely do not go out of your way to provoke them. Those guys are far more extremely dangerous than you imagine!"

Rockefeller advised repeatedly, earnestly and well-meaningly.

Looking at the old fox's terrified expression at the mere mention of them, Lin Tian nodded solemnly.

He knew in his heart. Being able to scare a super tycoon like Rockefeller, who stood at the apex of the North American pyramid, to this extent was enough to prove how terrifying Freemasonry's internal power was.

Although the Lin family was currently sharp-edged, they still seemed somewhat thin before such a behemoth that had been deeply cultivated for hundreds of years.

However, Lin Tian was not without confidence. Freemasonry's main battlefield was, after all, in Europe.

And within the USA, there was not a lack of local forces capable of contending with them.

For example, that equally mysterious—Skull Society!

According to intelligence mastered by Lin Tian, the Skull Society, founded in 1832, was a top-tier secret elite society native to North America.

They were extremely xenophobic, strictly selecting only 15 elites from third-year students at Yale University every year for membership.

Their alumni network almost monopolized North America's political, business, and educational circles.

From it, not only had three USA Presidents emerged, but also multiple federal supreme justices who held the power of life and death!

Perhaps this was the source of confidence for why Rockefeller dared to refuse Freemasonry's recruitment back then, yet could still live so comfortably.

After understanding these little-known core secrets.

Lin Tian swore secretly in his heart: One day, he would build the Umbrella Committee into the ultimate hegemon that could trample both Freemasonry and the Skull Society under its feet!

Of course, one must eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time.

The Skull Society had at least operated for over half a century to reach its current scale.

The Umbrella Committee had only just set up a makeshift team; wanting to reach the heavens in one step was obviously unrealistic.

Therefore, Lin Tian decided to proceed with a two-pronged approach.

While secretly developing organization members, he would also frantically expand his own commercial empire.

He had to use massive wealth and supreme prestige to forge an unshakable golden body for himself!