On My Turf, You Gotta Listen to Me~

"Give it up. There’s no future for you two…"

Kraft’s words struck Fatty Liao’s ears like a bolt from the blue.

"Why?!"

Fatty Liao got so worked up that spit flew everywhere, pointing at Kraft’s nose as he jumped around.

"Could it be that a guy with such thick brows and big eyes actually has improper thoughts about his own sister?!"

"What nonsense are you talking about?!"

With a dark expression, Kraft pushed Fatty Liao’s huge head away. Just as he was about to explain, a group of armed men rushed in.

"Damn it! Fatty, your timing couldn’t be worse!"

Using Fatty Liao’s body as cover, Kraft quickly activated the switches on his wristguards and pulled him behind himself.

"You unlucky bastard, the moment you show up, trouble comes looking for us!"

"No, no, no. We specifically followed this child in."

The leader, sporting slicked-back hair, explained at an unhurried pace, looking as though victory was already in his grasp.

These intruders had far more style than the last bunch. Not only were they free of the random clutter typical of street punks, they even wore matching uniforms—identical black suits. Clearly, they had watched too much The Godfather.

"So… those stray dogs and homeless men from a while ago were your doing?"

Not long after they had moved into the workshop, a stray dog had broken in and been stunned by Kraft’s newly established defense system. A few more had appeared one after another afterward, and eventually even a homeless man had come by. After being knocked unconscious by the workshop’s defenses, they had all been tossed back onto the street by Alice.

He had not paid much attention to it at the time. But thinking about it now, it was clearly abnormal that no attackers had appeared for so long. So they had been testing the waters beforehand.

Kraft pursed his lips. Opponents who used their brains were much harder to deal with than those street punks from before…

Fortunately, this was my home turf now.

"As expected of the genius boy Stark has his eye on," Slicked-Back said, lightly applauding. "Since everyone we sent before failed, it’s always best to be careful."

"Uh… Kraft, did I get you into trouble?"

Fatty Liao asked weakly.

"Mm." Kraft gave a soft snort in reply, then reassured him, "But it’s not a big problem."

"Oh? Do you have some other trick up your sleeve?" Slicked-Back curled his lips, convinced that Kraft was only bluffing. "That so-called ‘kung fu,’ perhaps? But we aren’t unarmed football players."

Slicked-Back displayed the Beretta M92F in his hand, making it clear that he was not completely ignorant of Kraft.

The black-suited men behind him also looked relaxed. And rightly so—more than a dozen armed adults against three unarmed kids? Surely they had them in the bag.

"Brother, what should we do?"

Alice took a few tiny steps over to Kraft and asked quietly. Though Kraft had added quite a bit of equipment to her, she still looked as though she were on the verge of tears.

So the personality adjustments I made for you before were completely useless?

Kraft stared at Alice, who looked like a frightened hamster, with his face full of dark lines.

"Don’t worry! I’ll protect you!"

Blinded by lust, Fatty Liao ignored the armed criminals surrounding them and patted his chest as he eagerly tried to impress Alice.

At a loss, Alice looked at Kraft, then at Fatty Liao, before offering him a polite yet awkward smile.

"Alice, Haro, prepare for battle!"

Kraft dragged Fatty Liao back behind Alice and shouted.

"Battle commencing! Battle commencing!"

A green spherical ornament on Kraft’s desk suddenly unfolded two round wings and emitted a mechanical synthesized voice.

At Haro’s call, steel walls rose around the workshop, trapping everyone inside. Then several openings appeared at the tops of the walls, and more than a dozen machine guns extended from them, all aimed at Slicked-Back’s group.

"D-defense mode!"

Alice, standing in front of Kraft and Fatty Liao, also let out a cry. Her back suddenly opened, and several steel plates and sheets of bulletproof glass rapidly assembled into a massive anti-riot shield in front of her, protecting all three of them.

After removing Alice’s useless wind-up key, the device on her back that had been used to turn it naturally became useless as well. Once Kraft dismantled it, he freed up quite a bit of space. By chance, he had learned plenty of rapid assembly techniques from a bearded man named Rory Swann in his dreams, so he put them to use on Alice.

In fact, most of the steel walls and machine guns that had risen up were based on Swann’s techniques as well. Kraft had simply handed control over to Haro, the artificial intelligence.

"Th-this, this, this…"

The situation had changed too quickly, leaving Fatty Liao too shocked to even speak properly.

"I told you there was no future for you two…"

Kraft shrugged at him and said helplessly.

"Is now really the time to say that?!"

Having regained his ability to speak, Fatty Liao excitedly grabbed Kraft’s shoulders and shook him hard.

"You actually mastered such terrifying black technology without saying a word!"

Seeing Fatty Liao this shocked gave Kraft quite a sense of accomplishment, but now was not the time to show off. He broke free of Fatty Liao’s hands and looked at Slicked-Back, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat.

"Now do you understand what I can do?"

"Hehehe… I think there may have been a slight misunderstanding between us."

Slicked-Back quickly put away his Beretta, took out a white handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from his brow, then roared at his men in Italian, "What are you doing?! Put your weapons away! Now!"

"So they’re Italian mafia… No wonder they were trying to imitate the Corleone family…"

Kraft curled his lip. The moment they fell into a disadvantage, their true colors showed. As expected, he should not have had any hopes for gangsters.

"I am truly sorry for disturbing you. We were only doing a job for money. If we had known Mr. Kraft possessed such strength, we never would have stepped into this mess."

After wiping away his sweat, Slicked-Back recovered some of his earlier poise. But circumstances were stronger than people, so he obediently placed himself in a lower position.

"Then who’s the one really trying to cause trouble for Martin? Why are they targeting him so much?"

Kraft asked curiously. Martin had refused to tell him, and he would not take the initiative to press him for answers, but that did not stop him from learning about it from someone else.

"We usually just work for money. We generally don’t pay attention to our employers’ affairs…" Slicked-Back spread his hands helplessly, but quickly added, "However, I know the man who dealt with us. He’s Black Wolf, a trusted lieutenant of the Magia Gang. I heard the Magia Gang’s business has been getting hit hard lately. Maybe it has something to do with your father?"

"The Magia Gang?"

Kraft froze for a moment, then broke into a brilliant smile.

"Then I know what’s going on. Thanks for clearing that up."

After nodding his thanks to Slicked-Back, Kraft clapped his hands and gave an order to the little green ball on the desk.

"Haro, switch to tranquilizer rounds."

"Tranquilizer rounds ready! Tranquilizer rounds ready!"

Haro flapped its wings and made a series of electronic sounds. The machine guns in the walls responded with the sound of magazines being switched.

Only then did Slicked-Back finally breathe a sigh of relief. He adjusted his collar and gave Kraft a bitter smile.

"The Gambino family will remember your friendship."

Then he and his men entered dreamland together.

"Battle over! Battle over!"

At Haro’s electronic command, the machine guns in the walls retracted one after another, while the steel walls sank back into the ground.

"Brother, those gangsters were so scary~~~"

Alice retracted the anti-riot shield and wailed tearfully at Kraft.

"Didn’t they get taken down right away?"

Kraft rolled his eyes and lightly knocked Alice on the head.

"But they were still really scary…"

Alice answered with a wronged pout, making Kraft completely give up on the idea of using her as a combat unit.

"Bang!"

The workshop door was pushed open again, and the same security guard from last time rushed in with another group of black-suited men.

"Again?!"

Fatty Liao was so frightened that he took a step back, but he soon regained his composure and patted Kraft on the shoulder.

"Quick! Kraft! Take care of them!"

After saying that, he voluntarily hid behind Alice.

"Didn’t you say you were going to protect Alice?"

Kraft gave him a disdainful sidelong glance, then explained, "Relax. They’re on our side."

The head security guard nodded at Kraft and waved to his men. The black-suited men quickly carried away the other group of black-suited men, then silently left without a word.

"Wait! Give Martin a message for me. Tell him to come back when he has time."

Kraft called out to the unnamed security guard. Martin had actually gone after the Magia Gang for revenge without telling him. This time, Kraft could no longer pretend he knew nothing.

"Kraft! You actually made something this amazing!"

Once all the black-suited men had left, Fatty Liao returned to his usual lively self. He picked up the little green ball from the table and turned it over and over in his hands, endlessly praising it.

"Thank you for the compliment, thank you for the compliment."

Haro happily flapped its wings and replied to Fatty Liao.

"Hmph… What’s so special about that…"

Kraft muttered quietly. His standards were far higher than Fatty Liao’s. An intelligent robot like Haro was just a little toy. Those massive humanoid mechs from his dreams were what truly embodied a man’s romance…

Unfortunately, he could not build them yet.

"Oh! It can even move around freely!"

Fatty Liao cried out again as he watched Haro grow arms and legs and run around on the table.

With a face full of dark lines, Kraft smacked the back of his head. "Are you stupid? I already made a humanoid robot as realistic as Alice. What does something like Haro even count for?"

"Oh, right! Alice is actually a robot… I’ve been dumped again…"

After being despondent for less than two seconds, Fatty Liao suddenly sprang beside Kraft and tightly wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Kraft! We’re good friends, right?"

"Yeah… I guess…"

Kraft replied with slight hesitation. Mainly because the look in Fatty Liao’s eyes was seriously unnerving.

"You have to make a cute girl robot for me too!" Green light burst from Fatty Liao’s eyes. "Having a robot maid is my greatest dream in life!"

"Get lost!"

Thanks to thegazi and reader 20170525203433891 for the tips.

Also, can’t you guys pick IDs that are easier on the eyes… I’m really bad at dealing with those long strings of numbers…