I Think That's Pretty Scientific

Chapter 20: 020: WAAAGH!

After issuing his final command to the Devil Gang’s subordinates, Mr. Negative cracked his neck, removed the Heart Demon mask from his face, and exhaled a long, heavy breath. As he exhaled, Mr. Negative’s pitch-black skin gradually returned to its original color, and his white suit turned black once more. Martin Lee walked out of the Devil Gang’s headquarters, walked around two blocks, got into the Ford he usually drove, and headed home. After the previous battle with the Magia Gang—which had left both sides battered—his Devil Gang, while not having lost as many business channels and territories as the Magia Gang, had still spent a considerable amount of money and depleted a large portion of its ammunition reserves. It would normally have taken quite some time to slowly recover, but fortunately, Kraft had introduced a new type of solar technology that significantly accelerated the Devil Gang’s recovery. Even so, the Devil Gang wouldn’t be able to make any major moves for the time being. Martin Lee had been staying with the Devil Gang for the most part, handling the final cleanup, which had only just been completed. Although he hadn’t succeeded in getting his revenge this time, Martin Lee wasn’t in a hurry. Although it appeared to be a case of mutual destruction, there was a key difference. To use an analogy, the Devil Gang was like a patient suffering from excessive blood loss—as long as they received a blood transfusion, they would recover quickly. The Magia Gang, on the other hand, was like a patient whose limbs had been severed; even if they were reattached, they would never regain their former agility. So once the Devil Gang recovers, the next strike against the Magia Gang will be a sure thing. However, Martin Lee didn’t want to eliminate the Magia Gang so quickly; instead, he wanted to stir things up to see if he could lure out the mysterious force behind them. Of course, these were matters to be considered later. After working nonstop for over half a month, Martin Lee just wanted to hurry home and get some rest. After parking his car in the garage, Martin pushed open the front door. “Put those fish sticks down! You stupid dog!” “You think you can take back food that’s already in my paws? You must be living in a dream!” “Come here, you cat!” “Kill the dog! Someone come save me from this dog!” As soon as Martin Li pushed open the door, he heard a commotion coming from inside, but the two voices arguing sounded very unfamiliar. Just as he was wondering if Kraft had brought a classmate home to play, he saw a black cat chasing a yellow dog as they charged down the stairs from upstairs—both wearing bright red scarves around their necks. Pets? Martin Lee paused in surprise. Knowing Kraft as he did, that kid definitely didn’t have any spare time to take care of a pet. So Alice has a pet? Martin furrowed his brow; he’d been spending all his time with the Devil Gang lately and didn’t feel particularly close to Alice, the robot. Just then, the robot girl he’d been muttering about came running down the stairs in a fluster. “You two, stop it right now! If this keeps up, no one’s getting any snacks!” “Wow!” “It’s clearly that stupid dog causing trouble!” The cat and dog, who had been chasing each other, stopped simultaneously and began arguing with Alice. “I’m so much bigger than Beya, but we get the same amount of snacks. Is that fair?” “Shut up! You stupid dog!” “Stop arguing! Oh! Uncle Martin, you’re back!” Only then did Alice notice Martin Lee, standing nearby with his hair tousled by the wind. She quickly left her two pets, who were still shoving at each other, and greeted him. “What… is going on here?” Martin pointed at the cat and dog arguing in English and asked stiffly. “Oh, these are Mr. Quinn and Miss Beya—my brother and I bought them from the pet store a few days ago.” “That’s not what I’m asking! How on earth can they talk?!” Martin, frantic, pointed forcefully once more at the cat and dog—who had fallen silent and were now looking in their direction—and emphasized each word one by one. “Oh, oh, that’s my brother’s invention!” Alice explained belatedly. “It’s that red scarf—when they wear it, it lets animals talk!” Alice pressed her hands together beside her cheeks, her voice brimming with admiration. “My brother’s invention is just amazing!” Is this even a question of whether it’s amazing or not? Martin Li’s mind was in turmoil, as if a storm had swept through and a thousand horses were galloping. How on earth did that Kraft kid pull that off?! “Where’s Kraft?!” Martin couldn’t wait to find his adopted son and get to the bottom of this. “My brother isn’t home from school yet, is he?” Alice glanced at the digital watch on her wrist, then let out a little gasp. “Oh! It’s already this late! I need to start making dinner!” “Uncle Martin, why don’t you watch TV here for a bit? Beya and Quinn, you two better stop fighting!” Alice hurriedly gave a couple of instructions, then scampered into the kitchen. Martin Lee: … Quinn: … Beya: … A human, a cat, and a dog stared at each other for a moment, but it was the dog who spoke first: “So you’re my big brother’s dad? What should I call you?” Quinn tilted his head, sticking out his tongue with a cute, goofy expression. “You dumb dog, didn’t you hear Alice call him Uncle Martin just now? We should just call him that too!” Beya, the little black cat, nimbly leaped onto Quinn’s back and smacked him right on the back of the head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Quinn hesitated for a moment, deciding not to argue with Beya just yet. “Since he’s Big Brother’s father, he’s the head of this household. Shouldn’t we use a special title for him—something like ‘Grandpa’ or something?” “No, just call me Martin…” Martin Li, exasperated, rejected that unfortunate title, then crouched down and asked the two pets with great interest. “Could you understand human speech before you put on this scarf?” “Wow! Just as I expected from Big Brother’s father!” Quinn’s eyes widened. “Big Brother asked us the exact same thing after he put the scarves on us.” After a brief pause, Quinn continued, “We couldn’t understand it before—we could only grasp a little of what you humans were saying. But now, even if we take the scarves off, we can still understand you.” “I see…” Martin reached out and ruffled Quinn’s doggy head. “That’s really impressive.” In a situation like this, Martin couldn’t think of any other words to describe Kraft’s invention besides “impressive.” Even Mr. Negative couldn’t contain his curiosity when faced with such a magical occurrence. He turned on the TV but didn’t pay it any mind, instead engaging in a casual, off-the-cuff conversation with Quinn. Beya, on the other hand, remained true to her aloof feline nature, sprawled out on the couch and busily grooming herself. “Huh? Big Brother’s back!” Quinn, who had been chatting with Martin, suddenly sat up straight, turned his head toward the front door, and then quickly ran to the entryway, where he crouched down. “Big Bro!” As soon as Kraft walked in, Quinn came running up to greet him, tongue hanging out as usual, and excitedly circled around his feet. “Big Bro, your father—Old Man Martin—is back!” Quinn reported to Kraft while circling him, and it was clear he hadn’t taken Martin’s refusal to heart. “Oh? I see.” Hearing the nickname “Old Man Martin,” Kraft twitched the corner of his mouth, then reached out to ruffle Quinn’s head before walking into the house. As soon as he entered the living room, he saw Martin looking at him with a complex expression. “What’s up?” “How did you do that?” While Martin had been surprised by the strength-enhancing wristbands, the workshop’s security systems, and even Alice the bionic robot—and had managed to make sense of them—this scarf that made animals talk was truly beyond his comprehension. I’d actually like to know how this works, too… Kraft rubbed his nose and replied somewhat helplessly, “I can’t really explain it. I just had a feeling it would make animals talk, so I made it.” “So, did you get the inspiration from a dream again?” Martin rolled his eyes and asked. “Something like that,” Kraft said, sitting down next to Martin. “I can’t really explain the details. Anyway, I just woke up one morning with a sudden urge to make this scarf, so I went ahead and made it.” Actually, Kraft had tried many times before to tell Martin Lee about the things that happened in his dreams, but for some reason, whenever he tried to bring it up, a strong sense of resistance would well up inside him. The most he’d ever managed was to tell Martin that he’d gotten inspiration from his dreams, so over time, Kraft had simply given up on explaining it. “All right…” Martin Lee rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Animals talking is certainly神奇, but it’s no big deal. Still, let’s keep it under wraps as much as possible—don’t let anyone else find out. There are plenty of intelligence agencies in the U. S. , and it’d be trouble if they got wind of it.” “Don’t worry. I always take off my scarf when I take them out.” Kraft nodded. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead; he just figured that if word got out, people might treat them like monkeys on display, just like in the Stark incident before. He was just trying to avoid that kind of hassle. “Breaking news! A green monster has appeared off the coast of Brooklyn! New Yorkers, please take cover immediately! Here’s footage captured by our reporter on the scene!” Just as Kraft was petting his dog and chatting casually with Martin Lee, the TV suddenly blared with the anchor’s urgent voice. Immediately afterward, the screen cut to a severely shaky shot showing a massive green figure rampaging through the city, with military planes and tanks firing at it from all sides. The chaotic footage lasted only about ten seconds before the screen went black; the final image showed the green monster fleeing toward the coast. “Meow!!!” “Whoa! What on earth is that?!” The dog in Kraft’s arms jumped up suddenly, and the little black cat beside him arched its back, its fur standing on end—both clearly terrified by the green monster on TV. “Haro! Search for related information!” At Kraft’s command, the red Haro—which had been perched atop the TV, pretending to be an ornament—spread its wings and projected a virtual screen onto the wall with its pea-sized eyes. At the same time, the living room ceiling opened up, and several screens dropped down. The images on these screens switched rapidly, so dazzlingly fast that it was impossible to keep up. “Search beginning, search beginning.” “Kraft!” Martin Lee, standing nearby, jumped to his feet “What have you done to our house?!” I adjusted the timeline for the Hulk’s first appearance. I won’t even mention the comics—but if we go by the movie timeline, Banner should have turned into the Hulk 3 to 5 years before Iron Man appeared, which would make the time span way too long. I got a message from my editor yesterday saying next week’s chapter will be a real showstopper. Thanks so much to all you guys for your support! () I’ve already written all this month’s updates and scheduled them to post automatically—I’m too lazy to go back and edit them now—so I’ve decided to try posting twice a week starting next month, specifically next Tuesday. Of course, that means each chapter will only be 2K words long, and I’m not sure how long I can keep it up, but I’ll do my best to stick with it. Since this lazybones is trying so hard, please vote and favorite this story as much as you can~