Angela

Dream Toy Company and Kraft Lee were on fire again.

The new product they launched at the exhibition had driven boys all across New York, America, and even the entire world into a frenzy.

It was actually a series of mechanical battle pets derived from the Mechanical Dragon at the core of Engineering. As for Fatty Liao’s so-called help, he had really just been dragged onto the stage to activate the mechanical pets with Kraft and watch the two battle pets fight. Even so, he had become quite the celebrity, since the event had been broadcast by all the major news programs.

With television stations eagerly broadcasting it, it was only natural for mechanical battle pets to explode in popularity.

Machinery and combat—their appeal to boys was no less than that of pretty dresses and cosmetics to girls.

The mass-produced mechanical battle pets still suffered from inferior endurance and intelligence compared to the original version, and their combat power was nowhere near as outrageous. At best, they could fight like a cat or small dog. But that was compared to Engineering creations empowered by supernatural forces. Put them on Earth’s toy market, and they were nothing short of a dimensionality-reducing strike.

For two whole weeks, at least throughout New York, there was only one topic of conversation among most boys: mechanical battle pets.

All sorts of battle pet clubs even sprang up as a result. They spontaneously organized competitions of every kind, and the scale became so massive that television stations went to buy broadcasting rights. Kraft took the opportunity to collect a licensing fee and even suggested calling the event the Pokemon Competition, because the current development was far too similar to a world in his dreams that had Pokemon. It was just that he could not obtain the material for Poke Balls from that dream, and there were no magical creatures called Pokemon here.

Unfortunately, the television stations and organizers rejected the meaningless name.

Inside Tony Stark’s private mansion, a Mechanical Dragon sold by Dream Toy Company had been dismantled into a pile of parts and laid out neatly on the workbench before Stark.

"There isn’t even an electronic chip inside. These intricate mechanisms alone can coordinate with one another and make this little thing perform such complex movements… No wonder it sells so cheaply. Its production cost is probably lower than a Golden Snitch’s."

Stark stroked his little goatee and muttered to himself. Judging by how familiar he was with Dream Toy Company’s products, he was clearly already a loyal customer.

"Is that Mohist mechanical arts really that impressive?"

Apparently, he too had been fooled by Dream Toy Company’s advertising slogan and mistaken this Engineering creation for a product of mechanical arts.

"According to records, more than two thousand years ago, a carpenter named Gongshu Ban once built a Mechanical Bird out of wood that flew in the sky for three days straight. However, there is no conclusive evidence for this, so not many people outside China believe it."

Jarvis pulled up all the information related to Luban and displayed it for Tony Stark.

"Even so, this Mr. Gongshu Ban created many tools that were extraordinarily advanced for his time."

"That really is remarkable…"

Stark sincerely sighed, then instructed Jarvis, "Jarvis, remember to send that kid an invitation when I hold my party next week."

"I must remind you, Mr. Stark, Kraft Lee is still underage."

"Oh, really?" Tony Stark shrugged and said regretfully, "Then forget it. His luck is truly terrible. He missed an opportunity to experience a man’s happiness."

Tony Stark had no reason to alter the arrangements for his party specifically because of Kraft. No matter how ingenious his inventions were, they were merely toys meant for amusement. So once Stark had dismantled the Mechanical Dragon and understood its principles, he did not pay it much attention.

Besides Tony Stark, S.H.I.E.L.D., still called the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, Hydra, and various other researchers and organizations had all developed some interest in Dream Toy Company’s newly released mechanical battle pets.

However, without the empowerment of dream power, the mechanical battle pets were not particularly advanced or practical. Their poor endurance, inability to accurately lock onto targets, stiff movements, and other flaws made turning them into weapons little more than a fantasy. Although other technologies could compensate for those shortcomings, that would not be much different from building an entirely new machine, and the cost would rise as well.

The main reason Kraft’s mechanical battle pets had caught the attention of those organizations was their low price.

Kraft did not know that he had narrowly passed by a whole host of mysterious organizations, nor did he know that he had missed an invitation from Tony Stark. But given his personality, he probably would not have bothered attending anyway, especially when he had dreamed of new technology again.

"Those people again."

When he saw the familiar red-and-white umbrella-shaped logo on the wall, Kraft’s face showed an expression of disgust.

He had dreamed about this company called Umbrella several times before. Every time, they had been carrying out inhumane experiments, creating piles of monsters and zombie viruses. In his memories, their researchers had ultimately died at the hands of the monsters they created.

Unfortunately, Kraft could not leave or skip dreams at will. Moreover, he had recently been consciously trying to learn knowledge related to biotechnology. So after glaring unhappily at the lab-coated man before him, he obediently followed him, intending to see what this company was plotting this time.

However, Umbrella’s researchers were not conducting human experiments this time as they had before. Instead, they were directing laborers in assembling some sort of machine.

If you’re working on machinery, then you’ve got my attention!

Although Kraft had been mentally preparing himself ever since seeing Umbrella’s logo, it was naturally best if he did not have to watch those disgusting scenes.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Kraft walked over to the lab-coated man and began watching.

Umbrella was assembling a supercomputer. Even after they finished assembling it, the dream did not end. Instead, the dream’s protagonist—the middle-aged man—continued typing code into the computer.

I can’t understand it…

Kraft was somewhat shaken. He had always been quite skilled at programming, especially after creating Alice and Haro. He had thought that even if his computer skills were not at the very top, he would not lose by much to those hackers in Tidal Wave.

Yet he could not understand more than half of the code written by the slightly balding middle-aged man before him.

Still, from the overall structure, Kraft could tell what he was writing.

Artificial intelligence.

An artificial intelligence far more complex than Haro.

As for Alice…

That girl had supernatural power backing her up, so she did not count.

Given the complexity of this artificial intelligence, its capabilities would likely far surpass Haro’s. Kraft immediately forgot his disappointment and stared quietly at the computer screen, eagerly awaiting the lab-coated man’s success.

If he truly succeeded, Kraft would be able to try breaking into the databases of those mysterious organizations he had been unable to enter before, and perhaps even challenge the artificial intelligence at Stark’s home.

The lab-coated man’s fingers danced rapidly across the keyboard, strings of characters appearing on the monitor. Under Kraft’s expectant gaze, they eventually formed the virtual image of a little girl.

"Angela…"

As the little girl’s figure appeared on the screen, tears welled up in Dr. Charles Ashford’s eyes. Trembling, he reached out and gently stroked the little girl’s face through the screen.

But the little girl on the screen coldly interrupted Dr. Charles’s heartfelt display.

"Sorry, Dr. Charles Ashford. If there is no error in my core programming, my name should be…"

"Red Queen."

Thanks to Xiangni’s Night, Yi’ang Yan’e Yang Xiao Nan, and Jiang Yunxian for the donations.

I received notice about next week’s recommendation! Thank you all for the support! Don’t stop sending recommendation votes!

As for Red Queen, her prototype in the game should have been the heroine Alice as a child. Here, I’m using the movie version’s setting—more specifically, the setting from the second movie, Apocalypse—because Red Queen’s setting seemed to have changed several more times in the later films.

Also, have some people’s values really become this twisted? Since when has doing the right thing and helping others become something deserving of contempt?

The protagonist merely dealt with a murderer when he had the ability to do so, and you call him a bleeding heart? How miserable must your life experiences have been for you to develop such warped views?

Kraft’s own attitude was that he could save her or not save her. Then Alice, who was close to him, asked for help, so he helped. Is there a problem with that? And Mingnai was originally a very kind robot in the anime. I was simply advancing the plot according to her established character.

I hate racial discrimination, but that does not give me a reason to be racist. I never intended to write Kraft as a stupid racist. He is just an ordinary person who is a little extreme and a little angry at society—not a hero, nor some kind of villain.

If you still cannot stand that, then I have nothing more to say…

I will not explain this issue again in the future. If it does not suit your tastes, there is nothing I can do. Things like values cannot be changed through words alone.

I changed my avatar. It was a photo I took of Zhongyuan two days ago. He really has grown up.