"What are you arguing about again?"
Abigail walked into the living room holding a coffee pot, only to hear Wilson cursing. Seeing William merely shrug, her sense of relief quickly vanished when she noticed the still-smoking detection ball and the burnt carpet he pointed at.
Letting out a loud scream, she rushed over and poured the coffee onto the fire to extinguish it. Then she glared at William and angrily said, "You jerk! There's a fire, and you're just sitting there doing nothing!"
"Hey, shouldn't we be talking about why there's a weapon in the living room?" Wilson said irritably, turning his attention to William and Abigail. "What if it accidentally hit someone?"
"Idiot," William shot Wilson an annoyed look and replied, "It's meant to hit people."
Wilson froze for a few seconds before realizing what William meant. "So you're saying your home has been invaded before?"
"My home was attacked, and you're happy about it?"
"Hehe." Wilson awkwardly shook his head under William's glare, but his expression betrayed a hint of schadenfreude.
While there hadn't been human intruders, there had been vampires.
Although Nissa, before being subdued, had only come close to entering the main building of the estate, it was enough for William to overhaul the internal defense systems of the estate and castle.
The defenses no longer relied solely on titanium-alloy combat robots.
Anyone not authorized or personally brought in by William's family would be warned upon entering the estate. If they ignored the warnings or posed a threat, Sunday would immediately neutralize them with an electric shock.
As for devices like detection probes, William had always liked using such tools, so naturally, he also guarded against them.
Any probe not controlled by Sunday would be destroyed outright.
Noticing that Wilson was still full of questions—and that his expression clearly conveyed a certain gloating pleasure—William retrieved another detection ball from the basement. This one had significantly reduced battery life, operating speed, and detection range. He handed it to Wilson and promptly kicked him out of the estate.
Wilson, who had his own tasks, didn't linger. As soon as he left the estate, he drove straight to Buckingham Palace to meet his grandfather.
Before Philip, Charles, Richard, and several cabinet members and high-ranking military officials adorned with stars on their shoulders, Wilson reported everything he had learned from William.
After Wilson's report, he demonstrated the baseball-sized detection ball, controlling it with just voice commands to make it fly rapidly around the room.
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Raising their glasses, they celebrated and discussed how these detection balls could prevent vampires and werewolves from retreating to regroup in secret.
But their optimism was interrupted by Philip's heavy sigh.
He looked at them and said, "You're celebrating too soon. From now on, no one will be able to use force to subdue the Devonshire family."
"What do you mean?" Richard asked in confusion, pointing at the detection ball floating mid-air. "Are you saying this is just a distraction? Did he really create red mercury?"
Philip appeared dazed for a moment, but there was a hint of delight in his tone as he replied, "What do you think?"
Richard's face turned incredulous. "How is that possible?"
Philip's confident expression prompted Richard to rub his temples in an attempt to calm himself. He asked in disbelief, "This can't be true. Unless he's gone mad?
Possessing such a weapon and not hiding it, but instead flaunting it—he's asking to be killed."
"Do you have proof? Can you kill him?" Philip retorted mockingly. "Do you dare to kill him now?"
"A nuclear device the size of a baseball, with no radiation, undetectable by current technology—
he could plant one in the sewer, a small stream, a park lawn, or the soil under a tree in any city of a hostile nation.
With that, who would dare to kill him?"
After saying this, Philip solemnly looked at Richard and said, "He stayed holed up in his estate for two full months, and I was worried the whole time.
Now, suddenly, he's coming out with a big publicity stunt. Richard, tell me, what was he doing during those two months?"
Richard was about to question how a private individual could produce such a weapon without state-level resources. But then he remembered the production of the Mark III armor and other items William had brought out. Despite searching for so long, they had found no clues about his manufacturing facilities.
Reluctantly, he had to admit that William might indeed have the capability to produce it.
While pondering this, Philip continued, "Just watch and wait. If William goes back to his old ways—being indifferent to his businesses, sitting on a mountain of lucrative technologies but never releasing them—then my guess is wrong."
The room fell into a tense silence.
After a long pause, seeing no one speak, Wilson finally asked in a low voice, "But if he starts making high-profile public appearances, does that mean he really has red mercury?"
"Sigh."
Hearing his father Charles sigh deeply, Wilson immediately understood. Everyone in the room already knew the answer; they simply didn't want to admit it.
"Enough. It's all just speculation for now," Philip said with a wry smile, shaking his head. "Actually, it's not all bad.
We've never been able to touch him anyway. If that's the case, then William's precautions aren't aimed at us.
His rise might not be entirely harmful to us. At the very least, economically, we might soon recover from our current struggles."
"Without evidence to pin on him, that's all we can hope for," Richard said helplessly. "Let's just hope most of his plans will benefit exports.
Otherwise, I can't imagine any English company being able to compete with him."
"Then negotiate with him. At the end of the day, it's all about interests," Philip said, tapping the table. "What's good for English capital is good for England. Am I right, Richard?"
"Does it matter what I say?"
As Prime Minister, Richard naturally disagreed with Philip. His position required him to balance the needs of the people with those of capital, not to favor one over the other.
But without evidence or leverage, there was little he could do. Moreover, not all decisions were his to make.
"Then we wait. Wait to see what William's next move is."
After sending off Richard and the others, Wilson hesitated and asked, "Shouldn't we instruct them to keep this confidential?"
"Haha, there's no need," Philip said, patting Wilson on the shoulder. "That kid William wanted us to know.
Even if I warned those people, they'd still spread the word."
Turning to Charles, Philip asked, "How many shares of England Electric do we hold?"
Charles thought for a moment. "About 7%. After William acquired 68% of the shares, there's been no movement.
Our fund sold off about 4% in the past six months."
"Buy it back," Philip ordered firmly. "Even if we lose money, purchase a large amount.
If my judgment is wrong, then treat it as an investment. In a few years, the stock price will still rebound."
"Agreed." Charles nodded after some thought. "If your judgment is correct, we'll ride the wave and make a huge profit."
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American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1452)
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Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 703)
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