So, the next day, a World-famous tax evader, Ian Quinn, was caught in Washington.
The guy woke up on a park bench, surrounded by a tight perimeter. A bunch of reporters and onlookers were taking photos outside the cordon, while IRS officials and police officers in powered exoskeletons were recording his sleeping posture at close range.
Norman immediately instructed the judicial authorities to make sure this was an ironclad case—so the next day, the IRS searched through decades of bills from The Group, roughly estimating that this guy had evaded at least $12 billion.
Good grief, this guy donated $8 billion to charity, but evaded over $10 billion himself!
Unlike Osborn, who never evades taxes—anyway, once the taxes are paid, the U.S. government still has to use even more money through various channels to buy things from Osborn.
On the other hand, even if these tax payments are turned into relief funds and distributed to the people below, their expenditures on living, medical care, and so on eventually go back to Osborn. Not to mention that Norman is now actively promoting universal healthcare. As Osborn's business grows, the destination of these tax payments becomes increasingly closer to going back to Osborn.
A proper virtuous cycle.
As for whether there is any problem with this? Of course not, everyone's life is getting better and better.
Harry didn't forget to disgust this guy on TV, saying to the vast media: "I still remember a few months ago, I was chatting and laughing with Mr. Quinn in Malta, I didn't expect that a few months later, he would become a tax evader."
"Osborn declares to all fellow citizens and officials of various countries: Osborn will absolutely not evade taxes! We are legal businessmen!"
Consequently, the image of the legal businessman, Osborn, rose sharply—which country doesn't like companies that pay their taxes in full?
As for some countries where the tax rates are too outrageous, Osborn can just export goods to them from the United States; if they don't buy, it's their own loss.
"Although I knew this guy was definitely the type to be a big tax evader, I really didn't expect him to have evaded so much."
Sitting opposite Harry, Dr. Franklin Hall sighed.
Dr. Hall and Ian Quinn were alumni back at Cambridge, and they were both very interested in gravitonium.
The difference was that Quinn had the family fortune to search the World for this thing, while Dr. Hall could only keep his research theoretical—though Dr. Hall's research on this thing was clearly more in-depth.
And because of his research on gravitonium, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been monitoring him—they even moved him to the United States, which saved Harry some effort in inviting him to Osborn.
Harry said: "This is not beyond my expectations. When I met him in Malta, he was full of praise for the xenophobia and tax policies there."
"That does sound like something he would say." Dr. Hall smiled, "So why did Mr. Osborn suddenly think of contacting me?"
"On one hand, I hope to invite you to record some courses on relativity for the online academy, to expand Osborn's teaching staff."
"On the other hand, I am very interested in gravitonium, Dr. Hall."
Harry didn't intend to split his words into two parts; Dr. Hall definitely wouldn't refuse something like teaching a class, and being coy would only make it seem like he had ulterior motives.
Upon hearing the word gravitonium, Dr. Hall laughed mechanically as if he had detected a keyword. Harry didn't even need to listen to know what he was going to say:
"That thing only exists in imagination, and my research is also based on hypotheses."
Harry waved his hand, and the holographic projection in the room began to move.
"Indeed, but this thing is of huge use for space navigation. I believe you understand that without me having to say it." Harry said, while pulling up NASA's Mars project.
In fact, it's not just space navigation; technology to manipulate gravity has huge effects in every aspect, and could even trigger a technological singularity.
Harry continued: "We plan to send 250 pioneers to Mars—I believe you have also heard of this project."
"And even with the support of Osborn's engines, it would still take 100 days to send these pioneers to Mars. And that's just Mars, Doctor, a barren Planet that can't even be called habitable."
"But those Aliens could come to New York from who knows how many light-years away in just a few hours. We are too far behind."
After listening, Dr. Hall rubbed his chin, seemingly thinking, but what he said next left Harry speechless:
"But this substance is too dangerous."
Speaking of which, in the original work, this doctor held that same mindset, pitting S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ian Quinn against each other, determined to detonate this thing and bury it deep in the seabed.
But just because you don't touch this thing doesn't mean others aren't eyeing it. If you have resources and don't use them, are you just waiting for others to drive a fleet to Earth and attack?
Harry thought for a moment and said: "Doctor, what you say makes sense, but do you know what Osborn's technology would look like if converted to military use?"
"Nuclear fusion, orbital airdrops, high-energy lasers, individual exoskeletons..."
"These things are enough for me to take over the government of a small country within a day and turn them into puppets of Osborn."
"But now, the whole World is gradually coagulating under the influence of these technologies. Now they can conceive of a Mars colonization plan together, upgrade power grids, and develop outer space resources."
"I really need this thing to upgrade our technology and research. I also agree with your thoughts, but I still hope you will join our research team."
Rather than preaching, it's better to present reality: the reality is that Osborn holds a lot of dangerous technology, but the World hasn't fallen into war because of it; rather, it's getting better and better.
Dr. Hall was stunned after hearing this, then said: "You aren't even going to try to lie to me?"
Harry shook his head.
Inviting Dr. Hall was because he understood this thing best, but that didn't mean his research team didn't have the ability to do this research.
Harry could use his psychic powers to monitor Dr. Hall's thoughts to a certain extent. At present, it seems the doctor's sentiment toward Osborn isn't too bad—at least he wouldn't detonate the gravitonium over a disagreement.
The New York incident had already changed Hall's view of these studies a lot—for example, he was now very unhappy with S.H.I.E.L.D.; he knew it was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research on the Tesseract that attracted the Aliens.
Looking at the still hesitant Dr. Hall, Harry said:
"However, gravitonium indeed still only exists in fantasy. Dr. Otto and Dr. Selvig are very interested in this thing. I hope you can exchange some ideas."
Perhaps these two doctors could change Hall's view of Osborn; even if they couldn't, Harry had intended to have them research gravitonium anyway.
Faced with this request, Hall didn't refuse, though it was clear he might be thinking of instilling his own ideas into the doctors.
"Very good, they will welcome you joining—also, don't forget to prepare the course, Doctor." Harry stood up and shook hands with Hall.
"I'm quite happy to do that."
The two shook hands in a friendly manner—this result wasn't bad; as long as he nodded once, it was a good thing.
Next, Harry had to prepare to go abroad. He had to go to the Daisy Vein first, and then to London.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"