The One Behind It All

No matter how much Fatty Liao threw a tantrum, Kraft refused to agree to his request.

If this had been back when he had first created Alice, Kraft might have agreed out of impatience.

But after spending this time with Alice, he could no longer see her as merely a robot. There was no way Kraft would agree to Fatty Liao’s request.

Still, to placate his friend, Kraft agreed to make him a simplified version of Haro. Aside from the most basic artificial intelligence, he did not plan to add many functions to Fatty Liao’s Haro. It would mainly be used to help him cheat at games.

Tempted by the prospect of a gaming Haro, Fatty Liao decisively forgot the greatest wish of his life and began shamelessly flattering Kraft.

He was quite skilled at that line of work.

After seeing Fatty Liao off, Kraft and Alice continued to hole up in the workshop. A few hours later, a travel-worn Martin Lee appeared there.

Martin looked at his adopted son with a complicated expression. According to the reports from the people he had arranged earlier, they had planned to seize an opportunity to launch a surprise rescue after Kraft was surrounded by the mobsters. But the sudden rise of bronze walls and iron barriers had kept them outside. By the time Kraft withdrew them, the attackers were already sprawled all over the ground.

Alice’s appearance alone had already greatly surprised Martin Lee, but after the initial shock, he had not thought much of it. No matter how human Alice seemed, it did not mean much to him. In his view, Kraft’s talents should not be spent on strange inventions like that. He should make more "practical" equipment, like those strength-enhancing wristbands.

That was why Martin had wanted to send some enemies after Kraft, to shift his focus toward personal armament.

The first batch of street punks had merely been meant to make Kraft more vigilant. The second batch of mobsters had been the "trial" Martin had carefully prepared to teach him a lesson.

Who would have thought that the "test subjects" Martin had painstakingly selected would be dealt with by Kraft so effortlessly?

That made things rather awkward.

"Can you tell me how you dealt with those Italians?"

Father and son stared at each other for a long while. In the end, it was the guilty Martin Lee who looked away first. He cleared his throat and asked curiously.

The moment Martin Lee received the news, he had rushed over in a hurry. He had not had time to interrogate the mobsters at all.

"Haro, activate combat mode."

Kraft clapped his hands and gave the order.

"Combat mode activated. Combat mode activated."

Haro flapped its wings on the table, and the workshop instantly entered bronze-wall-and-iron-barrier mode again.

Watching rows upon rows of machine guns extend from the walls, Martin Lee’s mouth kept twitching. He had wanted Kraft to make some equipment for self-defense, but wasn’t this way too fucking excessive?!

"Don’t worry, Martin. These guns use rubber bullets, stun rounds, and tranquilizer darts. They won’t kill anyone."

Seeing that Martin’s expression was off, Kraft patted his arm reassuringly.

Is that what I’m worried about?!

Giving Kraft, who had completely missed the point, a speechless glance, Martin pinched the bridge of his nose and explained, "No matter what kind of ammunition you use, if an official organization like the FBI finds out about weaponry on this scale, you won’t get off lightly."

Kraft curled his lip and retorted, "You went and provoked the gangs in Hell’s Kitchen, yet you’re afraid of being watched by official organizations?"

Hearing the resentment in Kraft’s voice, Martin smiled bitterly and rubbed his head. "Didn’t you wish to go back? If you get a criminal record here, it won’t be so easy for you to return. So leave the Magia Gang to me."

Kraft pressed his lips together and said firmly, "My wish is for us to go back together! If you can’t go back, then neither will I! Don’t even think about leaving me behind!"

Moved, Martin Lee hugged Kraft, then said with a smile, "Even so, don’t think I’ll agree to let you go looking for trouble with the Magia Gang."

"Why?!"

Kraft was utterly unconvinced.

"Because the Magia Gang isn’t that simple." Martin Lee’s expression turned grave as he tapped his temple with his index finger. "You might not remember, but I haven’t forgotten. The equipment in the Magia Gang’s laboratory back then was far more advanced than this little workshop of yours, and it was on a much larger scale. What do you think that means?"

Although Kraft’s workshop was only a private operation, with his current funds and technology, its equipment might not have been cutting-edge, but it was certainly above average. Moreover, technology had advanced rapidly over the past few decades. For an ordinary criminal organization like the Magia Gang to have equipment seven years ago that was more advanced than his workshop’s, and on such a huge scale, was clearly abnormal.

"There’s someone else behind them."

Kraft’s expression darkened as well. Compared to Martin Lee, he understood better just how advanced the equipment in his workshop was.

Even if the Magia Gang was New York’s largest gang, building a large-scale experimental base would not have been easy. Not to mention that there were several gangs even more powerful than the Magia Gang. Kraft refused to believe that no major corporation or American government organization had a hand in this.

"Have you found out who it is?"

"Too much time has passed, and the Magia Gang has been obstructing us. I haven’t been able to find any clues." Martin Lee shook his head. "So I’ve begun gradually pulling my people back. Once Hammerhead lets down his guard, we’ll investigate in secret."

"Hammerhead?"

"The boss of the Magia Gang, Joseph Haro. His nickname is Hammerhead."

"Are you calling me? Are you calling me?"

The little green ball extended its arms and legs, then hopped over to Martin and Kraft, waving as it asked.

Martin Lee & Kraft Lee: …

"The little things you make… all have quite the personalities…"

Martin Lee’s mouth twitched as he shot Kraft a sidelong glance.

"Hahaha… right?"

Kraft scratched his head with an awkward dry laugh.

Thanks to Haro’s interruption, the father and son could not continue their conversation.

Martin patted Kraft on the shoulder and stood up. "The Magia Gang isn’t something that can be dealt with in a day or two, so leave it to me for now. You’re still too young. It’s not time for you to shoulder these things yet."

Kraft nodded gloomily. Even though he had absolute confidence in the inventions from his dreams, he did not think he could currently stand against American corporations or even the government.

But one day, I’ll be able to make equipment that can crush everything in its path. And even if I don’t confront the Magia Gang directly, I can still use the technology from my dreams to investigate them in secret.

With his head lowered, Kraft’s eyes shifted slyly. He was no obedient little boy. What did something Kraft Lee agreed to have to do with Doctor Ingenious?

For gathering intelligence, Kraft’s best option was naturally to use his own technology to collect information from the internet.

Alice, a robot more useful for being cute than being practical, did not even need to be mentioned.

As an auxiliary artificial intelligence, Haro might have seemed dim-witted when talking to people, but online, it might not have been able to control everything with one hand, yet ordinary security systems were practically nonexistent to it. Even the New York Police Department’s database was open for it to come and go as it pleased.

If anyone asked how Kraft knew that, it was because he had already sent Haro in for a look around.

On the very first day after creating Haro, Kraft had tested its abilities online. The firewalls of public institutions like police departments and banks could not stop Haro’s intrusion at all. They could not even detect it. Well-known agencies like the FBI, CIA, and IRS were no match for Haro either, though unlike the others, they could detect its intrusion.

Haro could have broken through their defenses by force, but Kraft was not stupid enough to push his luck. The moment he learned Haro had been detected, he decisively had it abandon the intrusion and easily shake off the pursuit.

There were also several databases with even stronger defenses that Haro had failed to breach. Kraft had even nearly been traced by one of them. Fortunately, Haro’s capabilities were reliable enough, and it ultimately escaped the pursuit. But according to Haro’s feedback, the other side seemed to be an artificial intelligence as well.

And the database capable of tracing them back was the only one whose owner Kraft could identify—its location was Tony Stark’s estate in New York.

It had to be said, that playboy might have been annoying, but his technology was genuinely impressive.

After testing Haro’s abilities, Kraft never had it invade anyone else’s network again. It was not because he feared being caught by Stark’s artificial intelligence, but because all the information he needed was in his dreams. There was no need to hack other people’s databases. During the earlier tests, Kraft had only had Haro crack those firewalls. He had not touched any of the data inside.

But things were different now. To gather information on the Magia Gang, Kraft had no choice but to send Haro online again.

Of course, Kraft had no intention of touching those dangerous places for the time being. He would start by taking a look around the New York Police Department.

"Intrusion commencing. Intrusion commencing!"

Haro sat in a concave docking slot made specifically for it, rapidly browsing the New York Police Department’s internal database. On the computer screen beside it, countless characters raced across the display.

"Keyword: Magia Gang. Search complete. Search complete."

Very quickly, Haro packaged up the information related to the Magia Gang and downloaded it onto Kraft’s computer.

"Hammerhead" Joseph Haro…

Gang war in Hell’s Kitchen…

Demon Gang…

Mr. Negative…

Kraft carefully reviewed the information Haro had downloaded. There was nothing related to human experimentation among it. Clearly, it had long since been covered up by that unknown force.

But…

Demon Gang? Mr. Negative?

Kraft scratched his head. Could that be Martin?

His naming sense really was terribly weak…