A time traveler arrives in the Multiverse with an ability that turns confident assumptions into reality. If he believes an ordinary object should perform an impossible task, the rules of the world may simply adjust to make it happen. A bicycle can rise into the sky, common equipment can behave far beyond its normal limits, and even the human body can ignore expectations that should be absolute. The power sounds convenient, but every new idea raises a larger question: if reality keeps obeying what he thinks is “scientific,” how long will it be before no one—including him—can tell where logic ends and imagination begins?
Chapter 3: 003: The Video Went Viral!
“Hi~ Everyone~ This is the ‘Dr. Crafty Hands’ channel…” In Kraft’s personal workshop, he was delivering his opening remarks to the camera. Ever since the production tools he’d ordered arrived, Liao the Fat—who was in desperate need of money—had been urging him to start making what he called the “new gadget.” The item was actually already finished, and Liao the Fat had mostly edited the related production footage; Kraft was now just reshooting the opening remarks and product introduction. “…As you all know, I have a good friend named David who’s on the heavier side.” As Kraft spoke, he gestured toward his stomach. “He’s always wanted to lose weight but couldn’t find an effective way. I’m sure many of you share the same struggle. As his good friend, I decided to help him figure something out—and that’s how this ‘Burn the Ships’ Weight-Loss Kit came to be!” This product was once again inspired by a dream about Shou Gong Geng. Although Kraft is now capable of creating more technically advanced and practical gadgets—such as Dr. Agasa’s anesthetic watch—he intends to use these for self-defense rather than selling them to the public. Besides, if he were to openly sell such dangerous items, he’d likely have the police knocking on his door. On the other hand, Handmade Geng’s whimsical inventions are much better suited for videos—they’re not only safe but also packed with gimmicks. In the videos Kraft posts, those featuring Handmade Geng’s products consistently rank among the most-viewed. Coincidentally, Kraft had recently dreamed up the “Burn the Ships Treadmill” and the “Diet and Fitness Weight-Loss Fridge Lock,” so he decided to bundle them together into a single video. After having Liao the Fat Guy appear on camera to test out the effectiveness of the two new inventions, all the footage for the video was wrapped up. Kraft always leaves the follow-up work to Liao the Fat Guy—he’s the one who basically manages the “Skilled Hands” channel, anyway. After all, Kraft is only responsible for making the products. Although Liao the Fat Guy is a shrewd businessman, he’s still quite reliable as a partner. Once the products were finished, Kraft didn’t bother with them anymore. He holed up in his workshop, experimenting with making “Foot Power” performance-enhancing shoes. After all, most of his current video revenue actually came from his website, while product sales had become a minor source of income. Besides, even if someone bought large items like the “Burn the Ships” Treadmill or the Diet & Fitness Fridge Lock,they’re usually custom-made, so he wouldn’t get involved until after Liao the Fat Guy had finished negotiating with the customer. “Clang—*Boom*!” Kraft kicked an empty soda can, sending it whizzing through the air to slam into a wooden plank in the distance. The plank—which had been specially reinforced—was immediately punched through by the can’s impact, and the can got stuck perfectly in the hole. “It worked!” Kraft pumped his fist in celebration; after several failed attempts, he had finally managed to craft the strength-enhancing shoes. “Hmm… my aim could use some work…” Kraft looked at the can that had nearly flown past the wooden plank and scratched his head in frustration. So why develop foot-strength-enhancing shoes in the first place? Kicking is clearly less accurate than throwing with your hand—wouldn’t it have been better to make gloves? Still, after this project, Kraft had mastered the core technology behind the foot-strength-enhancing shoes, so developing arm-strength-enhancing gloves from it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s just… “I’m running a bit short on funds…” Kraft counted his remaining money and let out a resigned sigh. Renting this workshop had already cost him most of his savings, and making the foot-strength-enhancing shoes was particularly shoe-intensive. Even though Kraft tried his best to choose cheaper shoes, he still spent a lot of money on them—after all, the shoes couldn’t be of too poor quality; if they fell apart after just a couple of kicks, there’d be no point. “Kraft! Something big has happened—!” Just as Kraft was agonizing over whether to rush out another batch of mechanical locks to make some money, Fat Liao, with a laptop tucked under his arm, burst through the workshop door in a hurry. “What’s going on? Did someone discover your collection again?” “Where am I supposed to get the money to replenish my collection right now!” Liao the Fat retorted angrily. “No! This isn’t the time to talk about that—something really big has happened! Our channel has finally made a name for itself!” If Fat Liao was putting the topic of his collection aside, it must be a real crisis—but judging by the beaming smile on his chubby face, it had to be good news, right? Kraft tugged on Liao Fatso’s arm and led him outside; he didn’t much like having other people hanging around his workspace. “So, David, my old buddy, what exactly happened?” Kraft asked as they walked out. “Come take a look at this.” Fat Liao opened the laptop in his hands, played the video they’d filmed earlier, and quickly scrolled down to the comments section. At the very top of the comments section, the pinned comment read: “Interesting idea. I’m going to try this with my bodyguard.” The commenter’s ID: Tony Stark. In front of the username was a flamboyant verification badge—the only one of its kind on the entire internet—proving that this Tony Stark was the genuine article. There’s a rumor about this badge: a while back, Tony Stark got into an argument with someone on this video platform. When someone questioned his identity, he went ahead and bought the entire platform, then added this unique anti-counterfeit badge to his username. Kraft wasn’t sure if this story was true, but the presence of this badge at least confirmed that the person speaking was Stark himself. “So, Stark contacted you?” Kraft asked casually, not taking Tony Stark all that seriously. Although Kraft was still largely limited to replicating inventions from his dreams, he had gradually developed a keen interest in scientific research. Logically speaking, he should have looked up to a genius scientist like Tony Stark,but because of his childhood experiences, he’d never been able to muster much goodwill toward people of a different skin color. Unless he’d spent a long time with them and they’d earned his approval, he wouldn’t look at them any differently. Stark—a white scientist Kraft had never met—naturally fell outside the scope of his admiration. “Why aren’t you excited at all?! This is Tony Stark!” Liao the Fat guy shouted excitedly at the top of his lungs, completely baffled by Kraft’s indifferent attitude. “Don’t be silly, David.” Precisely because he wasn’t looking through fan-tinted glasses, Kraft saw things clearly. “Do you really think it would be difficult for Stark Industries to replicate this little gadget of mine? To Stark, this is just a trinket he’d buy on a whim—like a rattle you’d pick up on the street. Do you really think something like this could get you on Stark’s good side?” Doused with Kraft’s cold water, Fat Liao gradually calmed down. He smacked his lips and said with a hint of regret, “All right, you’ve got a point, but…” Liao the Fat argued with righteous indignation, “I don’t even like playing with rattle toys—I bought that one for my neighbor’s little brother!” Kraft didn’t want to deal with him. You don’t like playing with rattle toys? Then who was that idiot who ran three blocks shaking a rattle toy back then? What happened next unfolded exactly as Kraft had described. The person who contacted Fat Liao was just a low-level employee at Stark Industries—neither as desperate for talent as Fat Liao had imagined, nor as arrogant as he’d feared. It was simply a routine transaction:Liao the Fat carefully quoted a price that wasn’t too exorbitant, and the other party didn’t haggle. He gave Liao an address known to most New Yorkers—the Stark Industries corporate building—and that was the end of the transaction. This made Liao Fat can’t help but sigh with regret… If only he’d known, he would have quoted a higher price. Kraft had thought the matter was settled there, but he still underestimated the attention that a high-profile figure like Tony Stark could generate. Not only did a bunch of unfamiliar—or even complete strangers—suddenly start showing up near his school and home to say hello, but there were also some guys who sounded like con artists. They’d somehow gotten hold of his phone number and email address and sent messages proposing to partner with him to launch a brand and so on. Eventually, reporters even showed up at Fantas, a little-known public high school, to interview Kraft. The interview actually made the front-page headlines of several newspapers, and a TV station even produced a special episode about it. This frenzy left Kraft and Fat Liao, who had never experienced anything like it before, completely dumbfounded. Martin Lee, however, remained unfazed. “That’s just how capital works—it pours fuel on a hot topic to make it even bigger, then reaps the benefits and traffic. Once they’ve cashed in, they couldn’t care less about what becomes of those once-trending topics.” Martin Lee ruffled Kraft’s little head and explained with a smile. “It’s just like when I received the Medal of Freedom. Do you really think the President of the United States cares about rootless drifters like us? He just wanted to set an example to boost his political achievements. It could have been me, or it could have been someone else—I just seized the opportunity and secured quite a few benefits for myself.” Kraft scratched his head in confusion, not quite understanding why Martin was telling him all this. He didn’t really care about any of it anyway—or rather, thanks to the media hype, orders for his “Burn the Ships” weight-loss kit had skyrocketed, and he was too happy to care. “So?” “So, while this hype is still going strong, list two sets of that ‘Burn the Ships’ kit on FEAST to drive some traffic my way. I’ll pay you the full price.” Martin flashed a sly smile as he said this. “So this is the world of grown-ups, huh…” Kraft sighed helplessly. Although he despised Martin’s tactic of riding the wave of popularity, he still agreed. What else could he do? After all, Martin was his own dad, so he had no choice but to comply. After all, he’d pay for it. As for the protagonist’s backstory, it has nothing to do with Cthulhu—he’s just your typical “golden finger” character. Sure, he’s a time traveler, but he’s lost his memory. Mainly, I wanted to write a protagonist who didn’t know the plot, but later on, some parts would require him to understand certain inside jokes… so that’s why I gave him this somewhat melodramatic backstory. Then there’s the issue of alignment. I’ve read quite a bit of Marvel fanfiction lately, and most stories have the protagonist hanging out with various heroes, working with S. H. I. E. L. D. , or playing the role of a mastermind. I wanted to write something different, but I didn’t want to go the pure villain route either. So the character of Mr. Negative—who leans toward neutrality—is a good fit for the protagonist… The protagonist is naturally on the side of good, but to prevent him from leaning entirely toward the Avengers or S. H. I. E. L. D. , I specifically gave him a radical, angry-young-man persona… What can I say? I’m just that kind of quirky person.
