Dream Toy Expo (Part 1)

Several days had passed since the shooting at the music festival. No one had discovered what Kraft had done, and once the buzz around the shooting faded, his life returned to peace.

Except Fatty Liao, that lecherous bastard, still came pestering him for the Gnome Invisibility Device from time to time.

But after learning that the invisibility device only lasted a little over ten seconds, he gave up on it himself with a disappointed look.

Soon, school break arrived. Once the vacation was over, they would need to arrange for Alice to enroll in school. Fortunately, Kraft had been growing rapidly lately. At first, he had been half a head shorter than Alice, but now he was less than three centimeters shorter. By the end of summer break, he would surely catch up to her. That way, once they got to school, he would have more confidence as Alice’s older brother.

"Kraft, are you ready? The expo’s about to start. Our star can’t be late."

Martin Lee’s voice came from outside. Kraft tugged at the uncomfortable collar around his neck and answered, "Coming!"

Kraft had originally planned to spend his vacation holed up in the laboratory, but Martin Lee ruthlessly shut that down. Even when Kraft used the Hulk as an excuse to threaten him, Martin refused to let him stay cooped up in the lab all the time. To give him something to do, he had Dream Toy Company hold a large expo during summer break and forcibly dragged Kraft along to serve as the mascot.

Thus, Kraft put on that uncomfortable little formal suit again and got into Martin Lee’s car.

"Ha ha ha ha—woof! Awooo—! Woof!"

The moment he got into the car, Quinn, who had been placed in the back, poked his head through the gap between the seats and howled nonstop.

"What’s wrong with him?" Kraft turned to ask Alice, who was sitting beside him. "Didn’t we just feed him? Does he need to go to the bathroom?"

Since they were taking Quinn and Bea to Dream Toy Company’s expo, the scarves around their necks had been removed long ago and replaced with ordinary collars. As a result, Kraft had no idea what Quinn was howling about.

"Maybe Quinn wants to sit in the front too."

Alice stroked the little black cat lying in her lap and said with an amused smile, "Bea just meowed a few taunts at Quinn, and then Quinn started making a fuss."

As if to support Alice’s explanation, Quinn gave a timely "Awoo!" and began shaking his head up and down.

"These two… can they really argue even when they don’t speak the same language?"

Kraft’s face darkened. Then he turned to Quinn, who was still fussing. "Stop it! You’re way too big. How am I supposed to let you sit up front? Stay in the back like a good boy. When we get home tonight, Alice will make you something tasty."

Bribing that stupid dog with food had always worked like a charm. Quinn immediately stopped fussing and obediently lay down in the back.

With the support of several dream products created by Kraft, Dream Toy Company, which he and Martin had founded together, had now gained a modest reputation around the world.

Especially after mastering engineering, the various mechanical pets launched by Dream Toy Company had become hugely popular with children. It could be said that Kraft had become a shared idol among young people across America.

Given Kraft’s trouble-averse personality, he actually disliked putting himself in the spotlight. But Martin Lee had his reasons as well.

With the scale of Martin Lee’s current businesses, it was impossible for the American government not to be keeping an eye on him. But why didn’t most official forces come looking for trouble? Wasn’t it because he had built up enough of a public reputation through the media? There would still be overt and covert probes, of course, but compared to that, it helped avoid far more minor troubles.

So Kraft was ultimately persuaded by Martin. After all, he was only making toys. It was not like that would make him especially conspicuous.

Martin Lee drove Kraft and Alice to the expo venue. The event had not officially opened yet, but there were already quite a few people inside, most of them Chinese.

To bring more traffic to Chinatown and ensure the expo went smoothly, Martin Lee had naturally chosen to hold it within his own sphere of influence. Chinatown residents naturally received special treatment and could enter early.

"Hey! Kraft!"

Besides their fellow Chinatown residents, some employees from Martin’s shelter and Peter Parker’s group had also been allowed in early.

"Aunt May, Uncle Ben, welcome."

Kraft ignored Peter Parker, who had greeted him, and stepped forward to hug Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

"Hey! Kraft! I’m talking to you!"

Peter Parker was extremely displeased at being ignored.

"If you just want to express your amazement and admiration for my brilliant mind, then there’s really no need."

Kraft rolled his eyes and turned toward Peter Parker.

"Who would admire a little brat as full of bad ideas as you?!"

Peter gritted his teeth furiously. Remembering all the times Kraft had tormented him half to death, he could not help feeling overwhelmed with sorrow.

"So? What did you call me for?"

"Can’t I call you for no reason?! I was going to congratulate you! But now! Forget it!"

Whenever Peter faced Kraft, he lost his usual timid manner and instead turned into an irritable young man.

But no matter what state Peter was in, Kraft was never afraid of him. After bullying him for so long, Kraft’s psychological advantage was simply too great.

So he ignored Peter Parker’s roaring once again and looked around on his own. "Where are Ned and Mary? I remember inviting them too. Didn’t they come with you?"

As he spoke, Kraft shot Peter a contemptuous look. "I set you up this much, and you still couldn’t ask Mary out? What a disappointment, Peter."

"They’re already here! They’re just looking around inside! I only stayed with Aunt May to wait for you!"

Peter adjusted his glasses, which had gone crooked from agitation, and continued roaring his explanation.

"So… you left your crush behind and let her go on a date with your best friend?!"

Kraft’s eyes widened, and he wore an expression of utter shock.

"It’s not a date! And David and the others are there too! Cough, cough…"

After roaring nonstop, Peter Parker was starting to feel short of breath, and his throat was painfully dry.

"Enough, Kraft! Stop picking on Peter all the time!"

Martin Lee, who had been talking with the Parkers nearby, could not stand it any longer. He reached over and smacked the back of Kraft’s head.

"Tch!"

Seeing Martin intervene, Kraft rubbed the back of his head and let Peter Parker off, giving him a look that said, You got lucky this time. It made Peter Parker’s teeth itch.

Since the expo had not begun yet, Kraft planned to take Alice for a lap around the place first and look for Fatty Liao and the others while he was at it.

Previously, Kraft had only casually handed Martin Lee some technologies that could be mass-produced. He did not really know what kinds of products they had come up with, so he could take this opportunity to see what products his own company actually had.

Thanks to Jiang Yunxian, Hope x2, Li Maoran, Doubi’s Secondhand Goods, and Qianqiuyu 11 for the donations.

Regarding the recent abundance of slice-of-life scenes: before the plot really got going, New York was fairly peaceful. If I didn’t write slice-of-life scenes, what was I supposed to write…? Besides, I’ve already written past Chapter 50, so there’s no way to revise it now. If you don’t like slice-of-life scenes, then wait a couple more days. Stark is about to get blown into a broken face anyway… ┑(￣Д￣)┍

And as for Fatty Liao, he’s actually just a very common type of character used to highlight the protagonist, like Ned beside Spider-Man, Wang Pangzi beside Hu Bayi, Zhu Bajie beside Sun Wukong, and so on…

If you don’t like him, it’s probably because my writing isn’t strong enough to make him stand out. I know original supporting characters in fanfiction tend to be unpopular, but I arranged this character because I wanted to practice my ability to create different kinds of people. So I won’t remove him. Besides, I already suffered for changing the outline in my previous book, and I’m not going through that again. I can only ask everyone to bear with it. Once the main plot begins, Fatty Liao’s scenes will be greatly reduced.

Starting the weekend after next, I’ll have to stay in the neighboring city every weekend and bring Zhongyuan with me. I’ll have to buy it another whole set of supplies to use over there too… It hurts my wallet…