Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 319 Timing

After some maneuvering by the investigators, Murphy managed to remove the British Ministry of Magic from the International Confederation of Wizards.

From this point forward, international sorcerers will no longer have the legitimacy to enforce transnational laws against Murphy.

From now on, any wizard from other countries who wants to deal with him, Murphy, can be guided by him to provoke the British Ministry of Magic.

This move also prevented Dumbledore from using his position as "Grand Master of the International Federation of Wizards" to do anything else.

Anyway, there's no loss in leaving the group—after all, for wizards, international affairs are practically equivalent to the Quidditch World Cup, which is really irrelevant to Murphy.

While the wizarding world has resolved one problem, in Muggle society, Murphy's other fishing scheme is also underway.

……

A banquet is being held at a private villa on the outskirts of London.

The banquet brought together celebrities from all walks of life, but compared to the bustling main hall, a tea room on the other side of the villa was much quieter.

There are only six people here, but each of them is worth more than everyone else in the banquet hall combined.

The seventh chair in the room was empty. The gentlemen were silent, some smoking, some sipping tea, and some resting with their eyes closed.

A moment later, the door was pushed open.

A familiar face walked in, and everyone stood up and shook hands with the person.

"Michael," an old man sighed, "we shouldn't meet. If outsiders see us, it will cause a lot of trouble."

"But I have to come here in person for this matter," said Michael Hurd, the current British Prime Minister.

"What are you planning to do?" the other person asked.

"They managed to fool Major's last hearing, but it won't be easy to get them to show their true colors this time," someone said.

"I don't know what went wrong with Major. Why would he offend the Americans for the sake of Umbrella Corporation? Wasn't he usually so fond of praising American shoes?"

"Whatever, I'll get Congress to pass an antitrust bill and launch an investigation into the umbrella," Michael said, leaning back on the sofa. "This time they won't get away."

"How can you be sure your bill will pass? Won't the Labour Party oppose it?" someone asked. "There are quite a few lower-class people who are supporters of the protection system."

"To be honest, this company is simply incomprehensible!" someone exclaimed. "They might be impressive in technological research and development, but their sales skills are utter garbage!"

"This life-saving medicine, Yunnan Baiyao, only costs a few pounds!"

"Anti-cancer drug, three thousand pounds per vial!"

"They're fucking insane! Sometimes I even suspect they're Communists! What kind of egalitarianism are they promoting!"

Upon hearing this, the others nodded in agreement. "Have any of you tried their anti-aging serum recently?"

"They were all elderly volunteers recruited from nursing homes, randomly selected, but I bribed a few test subjects, and the results were indeed quite good. Umbrella Corporation really has a knack for technological research and development."

"It is said that they are preparing to divide the service into several tiers, with the cheapest tier costing only five thousand pounds."

"That's outdated information," Michael said. "In fact, they're applying for a national strategy to set prices based on individual income. According to them, the price of lifespan is different for different people, so it shouldn't be sold at the same price. In other words, gentlemen, you'll be paying thousands or even tens of thousands of times more than those poor folks for the same thing."

"Absurd!" someone shouted.

"Now it's confirmed, that Morpheus is definitely a Communist!"

"Such a ridiculous application cannot be approved!"

"Of course not, but once they publish the application, they might get a lot of support," Michael said.

"Just take them down before that happens," another person said.

"It seems we've reached an agreement. Now, let's discuss the specific plan."

……

The meeting ended about an hour later, but just over ten minutes later, the recording of their conversation was placed on Murphy's desk.

Even though Michael Hurd seems to be protected by the statue of the Virgin Mary and is not affected by mind-based magic, he does not have the ability to detect the magic around him at any time.

This gave Murphy the opportunity to track and locate these secret gatherings using the Lightning Raven, making it easy for him to slip in something like a fairy coin.

Even if he couldn't obtain the real information about the secret meeting, he could still fabricate one.

The same tricks used to destroy those pharmaceutical companies before can still be used now, but real evidence is naturally better than fake evidence.

"Should we expose this now?" Boris stood next to Murphy, listening to the recordings. "We've already acquired Sky Broadcasting and London Weekend through several shell companies. With this information, we can ruin their reputation and prevent them from taking any further action against Umbrella."

“No rush,” Murphy said. “It’s not the right time yet. If we strike now, there won’t be any explosive moments, and people won’t empathize. We need to make them feel uncomfortable first.”

……

A month later, the British House of Commons passed the new antitrust bill.

At the same time, an antitrust investigation into the Umbrella Corporation was officially launched.

Initially, Umbrella attempted to resist the investigation by citing disruption to normal operations, but after MI5 intervened, most of Umbrella's operations were forced to cease.

In order to cooperate with the re-examination of various safety standards, all medicines produced by Umbrella Corporation have been removed from shelves and recalled, and sales have been suspended.

The Umbrella Corporation is also fighting back desperately, but their self-defense appears extremely weak under the immense pressure of state power.

Subsidiaries were forced to hand over various financial and business documents for review. Although the core of the protective umbrella—the major laboratories—had not been compromised due to strict confidentiality agreements and proactive measures, everyone believed that its downfall was only a matter of time.

Spring has arrived again, and the review of the protective umbrella has finally reached its final stage.

The investigation team submitted a proposal to Parliament recommending that the Umbrella Corporation be split into seven companies and that Parliament establish a department to oversee them.

At this moment, due to the suspension of operations by the Umbrella Corporation, global supplies of Yunnan Baiyao and anticancer drugs have been cut off for five or six months.

The time is ripe.

……

"Please, doctor," a Black man grabbed the attending physician's arm. "My sister is just a child. If she loses her legs, her life will be ruined. Please, please perform reconstructive surgery on her."

"I'm sorry, I understand how you feel," the attending physician, a white woman, sighed. "Your sister's condition is very distressing, but her injuries are too severe. She is bleeding continuously, and her blood vessels and nerves are extensively damaged. There is no way to repair them... at least not now. Only amputation can save her life."

"Isn't there Yunnan Baiyao (a traditional Chinese medicine)? My uncle also had an accident; his injuries were severe, but he's mostly recovered..."

"I'm sorry, we're out of Yunnan Baiyao now. The hospital ran out more than two months ago." The doctor sighed. "We even collected low-concentration Yunnan Baiyao from pharmacies for treating sprains and bruises as a substitute, and we used it cautiously, but we ran out a month ago."

"There might still be some on the black market, but the price has been driven up to astronomical levels..." the doctor said, looking at him. "It would take a lot, a lot of money to gather enough for the surgery..."

"Why?" the Black man asked, confused. "Weren't they everywhere in pharmacies before?"

"I'd like to know why too," the doctor sighed. "Perhaps we should ask our government what they're trying to do."

……

"A parliamentary spokesperson told reporters that the plan to break up Umbrella Corporation will be approved by Parliament by the end of this month, but the process may continue until September next year..."

"Bang!" A bottle smashed next to the bar's television.

"Fuck your Congress! Fuck your capitalists!" a man suddenly yelled, before being dragged away by security guards.

"I heard that his mother passed away from cancer yesterday. The doctor said that if he had access to the protective anti-cancer drugs, he would have had a good chance of surviving."

"Sigh, I heard that a bottle of Yunnan Baiyao spray is being sold for thousands of pounds, and you still can't buy it." Someone sighed, "I should have stocked up on some back then."

"Who says otherwise? Yunnan Baiyao is more valuable than gold these days!"

Just then, the TV presenter received a news report: "We now have a breaking news segment. Oh my God, an insider has revealed that Prime Minister Michael Hurd has secretly authorized the Umbrella Corporation's breakup plan, and his family businesses will receive business segments worth tens of billions of pounds."

(End of this chapter)