I Think That's Pretty Scientific

Chapter 17: 017: The Man Behind the Scenes

No matter how much Liao the Fatso threw a tantrum, Kraft refused to grant his request. Back when he’d first built Alice, Kraft might have agreed out of sheer impatience. However, after spending time with Alice, he could no longer view her simply as a robot, so there was no way Kraft would grant Liao the Fat’s request. Still, to appease his good friend, Kraft agreed to build him a simplified version of Haro. Aside from the most basic artificial intelligence, Kraft didn’t plan to add many features to Liao the Fat’s Haro—it was mainly intended to help him cheat at video games. Lured by the prospect of a gaming-oriented Haro, Liao the Fat guy promptly forgot about his life’s greatest wish and began fawning over Kraft with a sycophantic expression. He was quite skilled at this sort of thing. After seeing Liao Fat off, Kraft and Alice continued to holed up in the studio. A few hours later, a disheveled Martin Lee showed up there. Martin looked at his adopted son with mixed emotions. According to reports from the men he’d previously dispatched, they’d originally planned to seize an opportunity to launch a surprise rescue once Kraft was surrounded by the Black Hand. Instead, they’d been blocked outside by a suddenly erected wall of bronze and iron. By the time Kraft had retracted the barrier, the attackers were already lying dead on the ground. Alice’s appearance had already taken Martin Lee by surprise, but after the initial shock, he didn’t give it much thought. No matter how human-like Alice appeared, it didn’t mean much to him. In his view, Kraft shouldn’t be devoting all his talent to these bizarre inventions; instead, he should be creating more “practical” gadgets, such as the arm-strengthening wristbands. That’s why Martin had arranged for some enemies to attack Kraft—to shift his focus toward personal weaponry. The first batch of street thugs was merely meant to put Kraft on his guard; the second batch of mobsters was the “trial” Martin had prepared specifically to teach Kraft a lesson. He never expected that the “test subjects” he’d handpicked would be so easily disposed of by Kraft. Now things were getting pretty awkward. “Can you tell me how you took care of that group of Italians?” Father and son stared at each other for a long time, but it was the guilty Martin Lee who looked away first. He cleared his throat and asked curiously. Martin Lee had rushed over as soon as he received the message and hadn’t had time to interrogate the Mafia members. “Hello, activate combat mode.” Kraft clapped his hands and gave the order. “Combat mode activated, combat mode activated.” Haro on the table flapped its wings, and the studio instantly reverted to its impenetrable fortress mode. Looking at the rows of machine guns extending from the walls, Martin Lee’s mouth twitched uncontrollably. Although he’d asked Kraft to set him up with some self-defense gear, this was way too over the top! “Don’t worry, Martin. These guns use rubber bullets, stun rounds, and tranquilizer darts—no one’s going to get killed.” Noticing Martin’s uneasy expression, Kraft patted him on the arm reassuringly. Is that what I’m worried about?! With a rather exasperated glance at Kraft, who had completely missed the point, Martin pressed his fingers to 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 an arsenal this massive, you’re in big trouble.” Kraft pursed his lips and retorted, “You’ve already gone and messed with the Hell’s Kitchen gangs—why are you worried about getting on the radar of official organizations?” Hearing Kraft’s resentful words, Martin gave him a wry smile and ruffled his hair. “Isn’t your wish to go back home? If you end up with a criminal record here, it won’t be so easy to return. So just leave the Magia Gang business 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 I won’t go either! Don’t even think about leaving me behind!” Moved by his words, Martin Lee gave Kraft a quick hug, then said with a smile, “Even if that’s the case, don’t expect me to let you go picking a fight with the Magia Gang.” “Why?!” Kraft was utterly unconvinced. “Because the Magia Gang isn’t that simple.” Martin Lee’s expression grew grave as he tapped his temple with his index finger. “You may not remember, but I certainly haven’t forgotten. Back then, the equipment in the Magia Gang’s lab was far more advanced than this little workshop of yours—and on a much larger scale. What do you think that means?” Although Kraft’s studio was just a private workshop, given his current funding and technical expertise, the equipment inside—if not the very cutting edge—was at least above average. Moreover, with the rapid pace of technological advancement over the past few decades, it was clearly abnormal for an ordinary criminal organization like the Magia Gang to have used equipment seven years ago that was more advanced than his own studio’s—and on such a massive scale. “There are others behind them.” Kraft’s expression darkened. Compared to Martin Lee, he understood far better the technological sophistication behind the equipment in his own workshop. Even if the Magia Gang were the largest crime syndicate in New York, it wouldn’t be that easy for them to establish a large-scale testing facility—not to mention that there were several even more powerful syndicates above the Magia Gang. Kraft simply didn’t believe there was no involvement from major conglomerates or U. S. government agencies in all of this. “Have you found out who it is?” “It’s been too long, and with the Magia Gang interfering, I can’t find any leads,” Martin Lee shook his head and replied, “So I’ve started gradually pulling my people back. I’ll wait until Hammer lets his guard down before investigating covertly again.” “Hammerhead?” “The boss of the Magia Gang, Joseph Harrow—his nickname is ‘Hammerhead.’ ” “Are you calling me? The little green orb stretched out its arms and legs, hopping and skipping over to Martin and Kraft, waving its hands as it asked. Martin Lee & Kraft Lee: … “These little guys you’ve made… they’ve all got quite a bit of personality…” Martin Lee twitched the corner of his mouth and shot Kraft a sidelong glance. “Hahaha… right?” Kraft scratched his head with a dry laugh, looking quite embarrassed. Because of Harlow’s interruption, the father and son’s conversation came to a halt. Martin patted Kraft on the shoulder and stood up. “The matter with the Magia Gang isn’t something that can be resolved overnight, so leave it to me for now. You’re still young—it’s not time for you to take on this kind of responsibility yet.” Kraft nodded gloomily. Even though he had complete confidence in the inventions he’d seen in his dreams, he didn’t think he was ready to take on American conglomerates—or even the government—just yet. But sooner or later, I’ll be able to build a gadget that can take on anything—and even if I don’t clash head-on with the Magia Gang, I can still use the technology from my dreams to investigate them in secret. With his head bowed, Kraft’s eyes darted around slyly—he was no obedient little angel. What did Dr. Craft have to do with the promises Kraft Lee had made? When it came to gathering intelligence, the best approach for Kraft was, of course, to use his own technology to harvest information from the internet. As for Alice—that robot who’s more about cuteness than practicality—let’s not even go there. As a support AI, Haro might seem a bit clueless when interacting with people, but online—while he might not be all-powerful—he can at least bypass standard security measures with ease. Even the NYPD’s database is no obstacle for him; he moves in and out as he pleases. If you’re wondering how Kraft knew this, it’s because he’d already sent Haro in for a tour long ago. On the very first day Haro was built, Kraft tested its capabilities online. Firewalls at public institutions—police departments, banks, and the like—couldn’t stop Haro’s intrusion at all; they didn’t even detect it. Even well-known agencies like the FBI, CIA, and IRS were no match for Haro, though they were able to detect its intrusion compared to other departments. Although Harlow could have breached their defenses with a brute-force attack, Kraft wasn’t that reckless. As soon as he realized Harlow had been detected, he decisively ordered it to abandon the intrusion and easily shook off the pursuit. In addition, there were several databases with even more formidable defenses that Harlow failed to breach. Kraft even nearly got caught by one of them, but fortunately, Harlow’s capabilities were reliable enough to successfully shake off the pursuit in the end. However, based on Harlow’s feedback, the opponent also appeared to be an artificial intelligence. That database—the one capable of counter-tracking—was also the only one whose true owner Kraft could identify: its location traced back to Tony Stark’s estate in New York. It has to be said that while that playboy is annoying, the technology he possesses is truly top-notch. After testing Harlow’s capabilities once, Kraft never let it hack into anyone else’s network again—not because he was afraid of being caught by Stark’s AI, but because all the information he needed was in his dreams, so there was simply no need to hack into other people’s databases. In previous tests, Kraft had only had Harlow crack those firewalls; he hadn’t even touched the data inside. But now things were different. To gather information on the Magia Gang, Kraft had no choice but to send Harrow back online. Of course, Kraft had no intention of touching those dangerous areas for the time being; he’d start by taking a look around the New York Police Department. “Intrusion beginning, intrusion beginning!” Harrow sat in its dedicated recessed connection slot, rapidly scanning the New York Police Department’s internal database. On the computer screen beside it, countless characters were racing across the screen. “Keyword: Magia Gang. Search complete. Soon, the information related to the Magia Gang was packaged by Harrow and downloaded to Kraft’s computer. “Hammerhead” Joseph Harlow… Hell’s Kitchen shootout… The Devil’s Gang… Mr. Negative… Kraft carefully reviewed the materials Harrow had downloaded; there was nothing related to human experimentation among them—it was clear that such information had long since been covered up by that unknown force. However… The Devil Gang? Mr. Negative? Kraft scratched his head. Could this be Martin? His sense of naming is really pretty lame…