Da Vinci

Kraft gleefully teased Alice for quite a while. In the end, Martin Lee, with black lines practically covering his forehead, made the decision and had him remove that rather pointless wind-up key.

"Weren’t you going to be her brother? Is that how you’re going to act?"

Martin gave Kraft a knock on the head and scolded him with an amused smile.

"Alright, alright… I get it…"

Kraft rubbed his head and muttered as he removed the wind-up key from Alice’s back again.

"Th-That’s great!"

Overjoyed to the point of tears, Alice threw her arms around Martin Lee.

"Thank you, Uncle Martin!"

The rest was simple. With Martin’s current influence, getting Alice identification papers was incredibly easy.

However, Kraft did not immediately arrange for Alice to attend school.

For one thing, he wanted to observe her for a while longer. Although Kraft had already uploaded most common knowledge into Alice, making her seem little different from an ordinary person, she was still fundamentally a robot. It was better to watch her for a while longer.

In fact, if not for the trouble it would cause, Kraft did not think there would be much of a problem even if Alice’s identity was exposed.

The second reason was naturally her age. Although he had claimed the title of older brother by seniority, Alice physically appeared older than him. He could make her a new body, but Kraft felt that would be pointless. It would be better to wait two years until he was older, then attend ninth grade with Alice.

"That works too." Martin Lee sampled the food Alice had prepared and said to Kraft, "I’m often not home. With Alice taking care of you, I can worry a little less."

As he spoke, Martin glanced at the robot girl happily eating beside them and felt speechless again.

A perfectly good robot, and she actually has to eat… I really don’t understand what young people these days are thinking.

Still, her cooking was genuinely good.

Martin chuckled, shook his head, and continued enjoying the dishes on the table.

Of course Alice’s cooking had to be good. Kraft nagged Martin Lee about getting married every day because he wanted a caretaker who could cook Chinese food, didn’t he? So when he uploaded data into Alice, he had also stuffed in a whole pile of recipes.

Next time, I should ask Fatty Liao whether I can get recipes for some of Fu Man Lou’s signature dishes from him.

Kraft wolfed down his food, still making plans in his heart.

After finishing the sumptuous lunch, Martin Lee watched Alice voluntarily begin doing the housework, and his heart settled considerably.

Setting aside all the bizarre flaws on this robot, she was at least extremely practical. He could now leave Kraft at home without worry and devote himself wholeheartedly to his plan for revenge against the Magia Gang.

"I still have work, so I’ll be leaving first."

Martin Lee patted Kraft on the head and reminded him.

"If you have time, prepare some more trump cards for yourself. I’ve had some business conflicts with others recently, and they may come looking to cause you trouble."

"Again?"

Kraft frowned. This was not the first time something like this had happened. Otherwise, why would he have made strange equipment like the Anesthetic Watch for himself? It was because he had experienced similar things before.

However, that had all happened relatively long ago. Ever since Martin established the shelter, such incidents had not occurred again.

"Aren’t you some kind of tycoon now? Why would anyone still come looking for trouble with you?"

"It’s precisely because my power has grown that these things happen more often. It’s just that my previous opponents weren’t particularly strong. My men dealt with them before they ever got to you. But this opponent is different…"

Martin Lee rubbed Kraft’s head, crouched down, and said seriously, "I need to mobilize a large number of people to deal with them, so there may be some oversight here on my end. Will that be a problem?"

Having depended on each other for so long, Martin Lee understood Kraft well. His adopted son was not as gentle and refined as he looked, so Martin had never treated him as an ordinary child.

"Not a problem at all!"

Kraft confidently patted his chest as he replied.

"Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve!"

"Like that kung fu you learned from who knows where?"

Martin raised an eyebrow and teased.

"Hehe…"

Kraft sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

After that dance, Martin had curiously asked Kraft what was going on. Naturally, Kraft had not hidden anything and showed Martin the arm-strengthening wristguards he had made. He had even wanted to make a set for Martin, but Martin refused.

"People with trump cards aren’t just limited to you."

That was what Martin had said then as he meaningfully patted Kraft on the shoulder.

After explaining everything to Kraft, Martin Lee left the house. What he had told Kraft was both true and false.

Retaliation from the Magia Gang was within Martin’s expectations, but saying he lacked the manpower to guarantee Kraft’s safety was a lie. Martin simply wanted to see what his adopted son was capable of, while also digging a small trap for the Magia Gang members who came to attack his home.

"Is something dangerous going to happen?"

Alice had overheard roughly what they said. After Martin left, she carefully approached and asked in a low voice.

"Relax, relax. It’s not a big problem."

Kraft did not take Martin Lee’s warning too seriously. He had great confidence in his inventions. Besides, after such a long period of peace, Kraft was no longer as vigilant as before. He had become much more lax than he used to be.

"Still, I should strengthen your armaments."

Although he was not particularly concerned about Martin’s so-called business rivals, Kraft was the type who left no loose ends. Or rather, he hoped to become a wise man who left no loose ends, so he would not forget the necessary precautions.

After all, aside from a pair of Rocket Fists that were more stereotypical than practical, Alice’s only other attack method was that wrist-mounted pea-shooter machine gun meant for comic relief.

"Huh? I-I have to fight too?"

Alice frantically waved her hands.

"I can’t do it! Fighting and stuff is way too scary!"

It was strange. When Kraft uploaded data into Alice, he had slightly adjusted her personality, yet she still ended up with the same soft and adorable personality she had in the dream.

Kraft had no solution for that. Artificial intelligence was still far too profound for him, and he did not dare make too many changes.

"Don’t worry. I’m just improving your ability to protect yourself, in case something happens."

After gently comforting Alice, Kraft stood and stretched lazily.

"I’m going to take a nap. This afternoon, I’ll head to the workshop and help upgrade you."

"Haah… Then I’ll sleep first too. Did you prepare a room for me, Brother?"

Alice yawned as well, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and asked.

Kraft: "…"

What was Dr. Dongyun thinking? Why the hell would a robot need sleep?! And how did he even make yawning cause tears?

Although Alice had been assembled entirely by his own hands, there were certain unscientific functions that Kraft felt he could not understand even if he mastered all the robot-related knowledge in the world.

"Come with me."

Shaking his head to cast aside those random thoughts, Kraft led Alice to an unused room and took an inflatable mattress, pillow, and blanket from a cabinet.

"Make do with this for now. After I finish upgrading you this afternoon, I’ll take you shopping for some daily necessities."

"Okay~"

Even though Kraft had set Alice as being of Chinese descent, she still retained some habits and verbal quirks unique to Japanese people. However, that was not a major issue, so Kraft did not pay much attention to it.

If anything, it made her cuter.

After helping Alice tidy up the room a little, Kraft returned to his own room and immediately fell asleep.

Since he could occasionally acquire all kinds of knowledge in his dreams, Kraft had developed the good habit of taking afternoon naps. Of course, it also had a downside: he had grown used to going back to sleep after getting up in the morning. Otherwise, Kraft would not have made himself a screaming chicken alarm device.

As Kraft drifted into sleep, a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, with sparse hair atop his head, appeared in his dream.

My luck has been pretty good these past few days.

Seeing that standard-issue white lab coat, Kraft’s eyes lit up. The outfit basically indicated that this dream was going down the science route, and the middle-aged man before him was also a new face he had never seen before.

That filled Kraft with considerable anticipation.

"Brother, it’s time to get up."

Alice, awakened by the alarm clock, climbed out of bed, went to Kraft’s room, and gently knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Kraft’s voice came from inside. He did not sound like he was in a good mood.

Alice pushed open the door and poked her head through the gap.

Kraft was sitting on his bed, his face dark and his expression furious.

"Did I wake you up?"

After being thoroughly groped by Kraft’s "wandering hands" before, Alice was still quite afraid of him. She cautiously asked, afraid that Kraft would take his morning anger out on her.

"…It has nothing to do with you."

Seeing Alice’s little hamster-like expression, Kraft vigorously rubbed his cheeks to make his expression less unpleasant, then comforted her gently.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kraft rolled out of bed. As he calmed the anger in his heart, he led Alice toward his workshop.

What the hell was a solar-powered flashlight?! And that damn Deathbringer 3000… That could be called an invention?!

White lab coat, bald head, looking like some bigshot from the science side, yet he turned out to be a joke inventor like Shou Gong Geng? No! His inventions were even worse than Shou Gong Geng’s!

I’m so pissed!

And he had the nerve to call himself Da Vinci!

Da Vinci was the Hong Kong and Taiwan translation for Da Vinci.

Thanks to Feng de Aoxiang, storm, reader20201019091405921501373—my eyes are spinning from checking all those numbers—Feimei de Xianyu, Yongshi Linghua, and Serenade Remix for the tips.

There’ll be a recommendation next week. Apparently, whether I get another recommendation depends on how this one performs, so everyone, please remember to vote and bookmark! Please~ This is really important to me~