The Video Went Viral!

"Hi, everyone~ Welcome to Doctor Ingenious’s channel…"

In Kraft’s personal workshop, he was speaking his opening lines to the camera.

As early as the day the tools he had ordered arrived, Fatty Liao, who was desperate for money, had urged him to start making the new contraption he had mentioned. The actual items had already been completed, and Fatty Liao had nearly finished editing the production footage. Kraft was only reshooting the opening and product introduction now.

"…As everyone knows, I have a good friend named David. He’s on the plump side."

As Kraft spoke, he gestured around his stomach.

"He had always wanted to lose weight, but he couldn’t find an effective method. I believe many people share the same problem. As his good friend, I decided to help him come up with a solution, and thus, the—Go-for-broke Treadmill Set!"

This product had also been inspired by a dream about Shou Gong Geng. Although Kraft could now make more technologically advanced and practical devices, such as inventions like Professor Agasa’s Anesthetic Watch, he intended to keep those things for self-defense rather than sell them. Besides, if he openly sold dangerous items like those, the police would probably come knocking.

Fun inventions like Shou Gong Geng’s were far more suitable for videos. They were safe and full of gimmicks, and the product videos Kraft released that came from Shou Gong Geng always ranked among his most-viewed uploads.

It just so happened that Kraft had dreamed about the Shatter the Cauldrons Treadmill and the Diet Fitness Fridge Lock some time ago, so he simply packaged them together into one video.

After Fatty Liao appeared on camera to test the effects of the two new inventions, all the footage had been filmed. Kraft had always left the follow-up work to Fatty Liao, who also basically managed the Clever Hands Channel account. After all, Kraft was only responsible for making the products.

Though Fatty Liao was a profiteer, he was still a dependable partner.

Once the items were finished, Kraft stopped worrying about them and holed himself up in the workshop to try making Power-Enhancing Shoes. Most of his video income now actually came from the website, while product sales had become the smaller portion. Besides, even if someone wanted to buy large items like the Shatter the Cauldrons Treadmill and Diet Fitness Fridge Lock, they would generally need to be custom-made. Kraft would only need to step in after Fatty Liao finished negotiating with the customer.

Clang—Bang!

An empty soda can was kicked flying by Kraft. It whistled through the air and slammed into a wooden board in the distance. The specially reinforced board was smashed clean through by the can, which lodged perfectly in the hole.

"Success!"

Kraft clenched his fist and cheered. After several failures, he had finally made the Power-Enhancing Shoes.

"Hmm… the accuracy is a bit of a problem…"

Kraft looked at the soda can, which had nearly flown beyond the edge of the board, and scratched his head in frustration.

So why had he developed Power-Enhancing Shoes in the first place? His aim when kicking was obviously worse than when throwing with his hands. Wouldn’t gloves have been better?

Still, after making these, Kraft had already mastered the core technology behind the Power-Enhancing Shoes. Developing Arm Strength Enhancement Gloves from it should not be much of a problem.

It was just that…

"I’m running low on money…"

Kraft calculated the money he had left and sighed helplessly.

Buying this workshop had already cost him more than half his savings. Making the Power-Enhancing Shoes had also consumed an absurd number of shoes. Even though Kraft had tried to pick relatively cheap ones, he had still spent quite a lot. After all, shoes that were too low-quality would not work either. If they broke after only a couple kicks, there would be no point.

"Kraft! Kraft! Something huge happened—!"

Just as Kraft was agonizing over whether to rush out another batch of mechanism locks to earn some money, Fatty Liao burst through the workshop door with a laptop tucked under his arm.

"What is it? Did someone find your collection again?"

"How could I possibly have money to add to my collection right now?!"

Fatty Liao furiously retorted.

"No! That’s not what matters right now! Something huge really happened! Our channel is finally famous!"

For Fatty Liao to set aside the subject of his collection, it really must have been something major. But judging from that beaming fat face of his, it was probably good news?

Kraft grabbed Fatty Liao by the arm and dragged him outside. He did not like having other people in his workspace.

"So, David, my old pal, what happened exactly?"

Kraft asked as they walked out.

"Come take a look at this."

Fatty Liao opened the laptop in his hands, clicked on the video they had filmed earlier, then quickly scrolled down to the comments section.

The pinned top comment read: "Interesting idea. I’m thinking of getting one for my bodyguards."

The commenter’s ID was: Tony Stark.

There was also an extravagantly designed verification badge before the ID. This badge was unique across the entire internet and proved that this Tony Stark was the genuine article.

There was even a rumor about that badge. Supposedly, Tony Stark had once gotten into an argument with someone on this video website. When someone questioned his identity, he bought the entire site and added that unique anti-counterfeiting badge to his ID.

Kraft did not know whether the story was true, but the badge at least meant that Stark himself had made the comment.

"So Stark contacted you?"

Kraft asked calmly, not treating Tony Stark as anything special.

Although Kraft could still basically only replicate inventions from his dreams, he had gradually developed an interest in scientific research. Logically, he should have admired a genius scientist like Tony Stark, but because of his childhood experiences, he had never been able to feel much goodwill toward people with different skin colors from his own. Unless he spent a long time with them and they earned Kraft’s approval, he would not think highly of them. Stark, a white scientist Kraft had never even met, naturally fell outside the scope of his admiration.

"How can you not be excited?! That’s Tony Stark!"

Fatty Liao shouted excitedly, completely unable to understand Kraft’s indifferent attitude.

"Don’t be stupid, David."

Precisely because he had no fanboy filter, Kraft saw things clearly.

"Do you think it would be difficult for Stark Industries to copy these little toys of mine with their technology? This is just some casually purchased trinket to Stark, like a rattle drum you buy from a street vendor. Do you really think you can use something like this to get connected to Stark?"

After Kraft poured cold water over him, Fatty Liao gradually calmed down. Smacking his lips, he said regretfully, "Fine, you have a point, but…"

Fatty Liao defended himself righteously. "I don’t even like playing with rattle drums! I bought that rattle drum for the kid next door!"

Kraft could not be bothered with him.

He did not like rattle drums? Then who was the idiot who had run through three streets shaking one?

What happened afterward was just as Kraft had said. The one who contacted Fatty Liao was merely an employee of Stark Industries. There was no eager recruitment like Fatty Liao had imagined, nor was there any condescension. They simply bought something from them. Fatty Liao cautiously quoted a price that was not too outrageous, and the other side did not haggle. They gave him an address that most New Yorkers knew—Stark Industries’ corporate headquarters—and that was the end of the deal.

Fatty Liao could not help but beat his chest in regret… Had he known, he would have named a higher price.

Kraft had originally thought the matter would end there, but he had underestimated the attention someone as prominent as Tony Stark could bring.

It was one thing for unfamiliar people, even complete strangers, to start regularly approaching him near school and his home to say hello. There were also people who sounded like scammers somehow getting hold of his phone number and email address, sending messages about partnering with him to create a brand and so on.

Eventually, reporters even came to Vantas, the obscure public middle school, to interview Kraft. The interviews somehow ended up on the front pages of several newspapers, and a television station even produced a special program about him.

This carnival-like turn of events left both Kraft and Fatty Liao, neither of whom had ever experienced anything like it before, dumbfounded.

Martin Lee, on the other hand, remained calm.

"That’s how capital works. They pour fuel on a hot topic to make it even hotter, then profit from the traffic and attention. Once they’ve harvested what they want, they don’t care what becomes of those former hot topics."

Martin Lee rubbed Kraft’s little head and explained with a smile.

"Take the Medal of Freedom I received back then. Do you think the President of America truly cared about rootless drifters like us? He only wanted to establish an example to improve his political record. That person could have been me or someone else. I merely seized the opportunity and gained quite a few benefits for myself."

Kraft scratched his head in confusion, not really understanding why Martin was telling him all this. He did not care about any of it in the first place. Or rather, thanks to the media hype, orders for his Go-for-broke Treadmill Set had skyrocketed. He was happy about it, if anything.

"So?"

"So, while this wave of popularity hasn’t passed yet, put two of those Go-for-broke sets in FEAST and bring me some traffic too. I’ll pay the full price."

A sly smile appeared on Martin’s face as he said this.

"Is this what the adult world is like…"

Kraft sighed helplessly. Though he looked down on Martin’s habit of chasing trends, he still agreed.

What else could he do? Martin was his dad, after all. He could only go along with it.

At least Martin would pay.

As for the protagonist’s setting, it had nothing to do with Cthulhu. It was just an ordinary golden finger. He was indeed a transmigrator, but he had lost his memories.

Mainly, I wanted to write a protagonist who did not know the plot, but some later content required the protagonist to understand a few references… That was why I gave him this somewhat melodramatic backstory.

Then there was the matter of factions. I had read quite a few Marvel fanfics recently. Basically, they either followed the various protagonists, worked with S.H.I.E.L.D., or went down the behind-the-scenes mastermind route. I wanted to write something different, but I also did not want to take the pure villain route. So Mr. Negative, who was more neutral by design, suited the protagonist better…

The protagonist himself naturally leaned toward the good side, but to keep him from completely joining the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., I specifically gave him an extreme angry-young-man personality…

Can’t help it. I’m just that kind of awkward person.