Swimming, Fitness-Interested?

After handing Happy the do-or-die weight-loss package, Tony Stark had basically forgotten all about Kraft. It had only been a small diversion in his unpretentious, dull life as a rich man, not much different from the magazine cover girls he forgot after sleeping with them.

But a few weeks later, Stark suddenly noticed a startling change in his bodyguard Happy.

Staring at Happy, whom he had not seen for several days, Stark asked in surprise, "You actually succeeded in losing weight?"

As he spoke, Stark patted Happy’s belly, which had shrunk by a whole size.

His surprise was entirely justified. As Stark’s bodyguard, Happy’s job was far too leisurely. Other than driving for him and blocking reporters, he basically had no other duties. And whenever Stark got hit by inspiration and buried himself in the lab, Happy got a vacation of indefinite length.

Back then, Happy had been a burly man with eight-pack abs. Wasn’t it this damned decadent lifestyle that had changed him?

Happy had considered getting back into proper training, but laziness was one of the original sins. Without work pressure, Happy could never stick with it for long before giving up.

It was not until Stark gave him that weight-loss set, making Happy mistakenly think Stark was dissatisfied with his work ethic, that he finally resolved to train himself ruthlessly.

And yet…

"What kind of fitness coach is so amazing that they got you to lose all that blubber? You suddenly got so skinny that I’m not even used to it."

Listen to that. Was that something a human being would say?!

Happy’s lips trembled as he pointed at Stark, too furious to speak. His eyes were full of accusation.

Mr. Tony Stark was utterly bewildered, having no idea what his bodyguard was getting so worked up about.

"Isn’t it because of that damned gift of yours?!"

After holding it in for so long, Happy finally roared it out. Once he got started, he endlessly complained to Stark about how hard he had worked lately and how miserable his life had been.

And you had already forgotten all about it!

Happy’s glare at Stark grew even angrier.

"Oh, all right, I apologize, Happy… I didn’t expect that kid’s weird invention to work so well, and you misunderstood what I meant…"

Tony Stark raised a hand and gently soothed his bodyguard and friend, though his tone was a little strange. He was clearly holding back laughter.

"You’re still laughing!"

"Sorry, Happy…"

Not wanting to provoke Happy any further, Stark quickly covered his mouth. But the amusement in his eyes could not be suppressed. After holding it in for a while, Tony Stark, who had always been used to letting loose, ultimately failed to restrain himself and burst into laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, Happy, this is just too funny… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

After laughing himself silly, Stark finally placated Happy with his usual, effective money power. But because of this incident, Stark became interested in Kraft’s inventions again.

"Jarvis, pull up the channel of that little guy who invented the weight-loss treadmill."

After sending Happy away, Stark had Jarvis pull up Kraft’s Clever Hands Channel while he still remembered it, then began browsing through its old videos.

Most of the videos Kraft uploaded were knockoffs of Shou Gong Geng’s work. The technical content was not particularly high; the main appeal was the bizarre and amusing ideas, so Stark mostly watched them for entertainment.

Until he discovered Kraft’s videos about Mohist mechanical locks.

"Hm? This puzzle is pretty interesting."

With Tony Stark’s intelligence, he immediately saw the ingenious design principles behind the mechanical lock Kraft displayed in the video. He quickly turned off the video because he did not want it spoiled. Things like this were only fun when he took them apart himself.

"Jarvis, buy me every type of… mechanical lock, was that what they were called? Get them all for me… Forget it, just get me one of every product!"

Stark waved his hand grandly, unleashing his money power and beginning a shopping spree on Kraft’s channel.

Then major New York media outlets suddenly discovered that Tony Stark, their favorite news subject, had somehow developed a habit of pulling several strangely shaped little wooden blocks from his pocket to fiddle with during his free time. Sometimes, even when beautiful women came up to strike up a conversation, he barely paid them any attention.

Playboy Tony Stark had changed his ways!

This major discovery drove media outlets across New York and even the entire United States wild. Headlines and television programs began discussing Tony Stark’s recent changes and conducting all sorts of in-depth analyses into their cause. Naturally, some people traced the little wooden blocks that made Stark ignore beautiful women back to their creator.

It was Doctor Ingenious Kraft Lee again!

This discovery made the media frenzy even louder, especially after Tony Stark said in an interview, "These little wooden blocks are pretty interesting, much more fun than Rubik’s Cubes. That kid Kraft has some great ideas. If he graduates from college successfully, the doors of Stark Industries will always be open to him." New York’s media then swarmed into Chinatown, digging up everything related to Kraft.

Fortunately, Martin Lee’s influence was already considerable at this point, enough to shield him. The media only dug up public information. Their darker history after escaping the Magia Gang, as well as things like their previous abduction for human experimentation, had all been hidden by Martin. Very little information made it into the reports, sparing Kraft a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

But Kraft was still harassed to the point of exasperation. He could not even go to school now and could only hole up at home and in his workshop doing research. No matter how much he liked making things, being forced to keep doing it all the time would become tiresome. Not to mention the flood of mechanical lock orders Stark had stirred up…

Kraft wanted to stuff every one of those mechanical locks down Tony Stark’s throat!

Just when he was sinking into distress, Martin Lee stepped forward again.

"Don’t look so worried, Kraft."

Martin Lee smiled as he sat beside Kraft, wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and gave him a gentle pat.

"Didn’t you always say your experiments lacked funding? This is a great opportunity!"

Seeing that Kraft still looked confused, Martin patiently explained.

"Your mechanical locks are different from the previous weight-loss set. They have a broader audience, and Stark, the media darling, has even advertised them for you. As long as you expand sales of the mechanical locks, even if they don’t replace Rubik’s Cubes, you won’t have to worry about funding anymore. And later, you won’t need to spend energy manufacturing the locks yourself. You just need to release a new blueprint every now and then, and leave the rest to the factory."

Kraft’s eyes immediately lit up, but he quickly deflated. "Where am I supposed to get that much money to set up a factory and expand production…?"

"Have you gone stupid from making things all day?" Martin laughed and smacked Kraft on the head. "I’ll provide the capital, and we can recruit workers from the shelter. You just handle the designs and wait to collect your share of the money."

"Oh! Martin! I love you to death!"

Kraft happily jumped up, wrapped his arms around Martin’s neck, and shouted.

Back when Martin Lee had told Kraft that his business was picking up and he had made a lot of money, Kraft had not really understood what that meant.

To him, making a lot of money probably meant Martin could move them into a nicer residential area in Chinatown and still have extra money to help the homeless.

After all, Martin himself only drove an ordinary-looking Ford, not even a sports car. How rich could he possibly be?

But when Kraft saw Martin make a single phone call, and the company, factory, trademark, sales channels, and all the other work related to the mechanical locks were swiftly settled within only a few days, he finally realized that the "a lot of money" his adoptive father spoke of might really be a lot.

Selling all those jars and bottles was actually that profitable?

In truth, Kraft did not really know what business Martin was doing now. He had never paid attention to such things. All he knew was that Martin had once sold some jars and bottles, as well as oddly shaped statues and the like. They were supposedly antiques.

Though surprised by Martin’s ability to make money, Kraft soon became happy again. At least he no longer had to worry about the shelter bankrupting Martin. And once the mechanical lock factory was up and running, he would have enough money to try out those more advanced inventions from his dreams.

As for the Clever Hands Channel that had brought him so much trouble, Kraft was ready to abandon it.

"You can’t—!!!"

Upon hearing the news, Fatty Liao lunged forward, grabbed Kraft’s thigh, and began wailing.

"We agreed on a mutually beneficial partnership! You can’t just abandon me like this! And wouldn’t that be too cruel to all the fans who support you?"

Kraft was helpless in the face of Fatty Liao’s shameless persistence. But Fatty Liao had been his partner during the early days of their venture, so abandoning him like this did not seem right. Besides, his final point made sense. He could not casually give up the fans subscribed to his channel just because of that troublesome Stark.

"All right, all right. I’ll still make some videos about fun inventions and give them to you. I don’t care how you handle the rest."

Kraft impatiently shook his leg.

"Get off me already. You’re heavy as hell!"

"I knew it, Kraft, you’re a loyal man! You’re Zuo Botao reborn, Guan Erye returned to the world!"

With a speed utterly unsuited to his build, Fatty Liao sprang to his feet. His mournful fat face instantly switched to a radiant smile as he happily patted Kraft on the back and praised him without shame.

"Get lost!"

Literally translated, puzzle means an intellectual game or an unsolved mystery. Abroad, the term is basically used as a general label for puzzle games, props, and similar things.

My English is actually pretty terrible. This was knowledge I picked up from watching videos online.

I made a cover. It barely counts as a preview, or maybe a spoiler? Of course, Kraft dreamed of more than just these few things. It’s just that the props belonging to several characters are more important.