I Think That's Pretty Scientific

Chapter 27: 027: The Free United States

For the next week, Kraft didn’t set foot in the lab, and his dreams—whether they were on cooldown or just wanted to give him a break—went quiet after dumping a flood of engineering knowledge on him. The week flew by, and before he knew it, it was the weekend. “Brother! Hurry up!” Alice had finished getting ready early and was impatiently urging Kraft, who was still dawdling over his breakfast, from the dining table. “What’s the rush? It’s still early, isn’t it?” After shoving the last dumpling into his mouth, Kraft began leisurely clearing the table. “I looked it up online—there are tons of fun activities before the music festival even starts! Some netizens even say those are the real highlight of the festival!” Frantic with impatience, Alice quickly cleared the table, then lifted her foot and nudged Kraft’s thigh with the sole of her foot. “Brother, go get changed already! I’ve got this covered!” “Okay, okay…” In truth, Kraft wasn’t particularly interested in the music itself; he simply went because it was a great way to relieve stress by cheering loudly with a crowd. He’d usually just show up once in a while, cheer for a bit, and then leave, so he wasn’t really familiar with the festival’s specific schedule. Liao the Fat Guy, on the other hand, really enjoyed getting there early. After changing back in his room, Kraft thought for a moment, then slung a backpack over his shoulder and stuffed a few “self-defense items” inside. After all, with a green monster like the Hulk already on the loose, who knew when a red or yellow one might pop up? It was always better to be safe than sorry. By then, Alice had finished getting ready and started urging him again: “Big brother! Hurry up!” “Coming, coming!” Kraft walked down the stairs with his backpack on, pulling out his phone as he went to contact Liao the Fat. “David, we’re heading out. Where are you right now?” “What? Why are you here so early this time?” Liao Fat, who knew Kraft’s habits well, was already on his way to the music festival in his car. He knew Kraft wouldn’t show up this early, which was exactly why he hadn’t waited for him. “Because Alice is really interested in the music festival…” Kraft’s tone was full of resignation. As for Fat Liao, he was absolutely gutted: “Damn it! I actually overlooked Little Sister Alice!” Well, ever since he’d gotten to know Alice a little better last weekend, this fatso had started shamelessly calling her “little sister.” “I’m already on my way,” Fat Liao replied in the same exasperated tone. “You guys just go ahead. We’ll meet up at the venue entrance.” “OK.” Kraft checked the weather and dug two solar-powered skateboards out of his prop case. Since it wasn’t that far anyway, they might as well ride the skateboards there—as long as they controlled their speed and didn’t go overboard. The mass-produced version of the solar-powered skateboard had long been on the market through Kraft’s Dream Toys Company and had actually been quite the craze for a while. Based on this model, they’d also developed a variety of derivative products, such as solar-powered self-balancing scooters and solar-powered wheelchairs. However, these self-balancing skateboards hadn’t won over professional skateboarders; in fact, quite a few people were boycotting them. As a result, Kraft’s customer base consisted mostly of people who weren’t very good at skateboarding. Of course, none of this has anything to do with Kraft—after all, he’s no skateboarding kid, and he’s made his money anyway. “Let’s go.” He handed one of the skateboards to Alice, but she looked a bit flustered: “I—I don’t know how to skateboard…” “You don’t need to know how to skate to use this thing…” Kraft rolled his eyes. “With your body’s natural balance system, controlling this skateboard won’t be a problem.” Although I’m not sure why you’d fall flat on your face when you clearly have a balance system… Kraft silently added in his mind. “Oh…” Alice took the skateboard in a daze, then carefully stepped onto it… “Ahahaha… Big brother! This skateboard is so much fun!” Standing on the skateboard with her arms spread wide to feel the strong wind rushing past her, Alice shouted excitedly to Kraft. “Yeah, yeah… Could you please stop making such a fool of yourself? This is our own product, after all—don’t act like some unsophisticated country bumpkin!” Kraft, holding his forehead, felt utterly exasperated. The two zoomed along on their skateboards and soon reached the entrance to the music festival venue. Along the way, Kraft saw quite a few people like them zipping through the streets on solar-powered skateboards or other similar products. To be honest, Kraft felt a little proud inside. “Kraft! Over here!” Liao the Fat, who had arrived ahead of them, spotted the two of them and called out loudly as he ran over. “Darn it! If I’d known, I would’ve come over on a skateboard with you guys too!” Since solar-powered skateboards were such a great invention, Kraft had naturally gotten one for his good friend Liao Fat. But given his build and the fact that he rarely skated anyway, it never occurred to him to use it as a mode of transportation. He’d only used the skateboard Kraft gave him once—on the way home that day—and after that, it had just been sitting at home gathering dust. “Let’s go. I want to check out what’s going on before the music festival starts.” Tucking the skateboard under his arm, Kraft took the ticket from Liao the Fat Guy and headed toward the venue. The pre-festival activities were indeed very lively, featuring acrobatic performances, game competitions, and fashion shows, among other things. Kraft finally understood why Liao the Fat Guy liked to arrive so early. With that thought, Kraft turned his head away. Sure enough, Liao Fat had already pulled out his beloved handheld camcorder and started filming. The pre-show activities lasted nearly two hours; the memory card in Liao Fat’s camcorder was almost full, and if Kraft hadn’t modified the camcorder to include a solar-powered battery, it would have run out of power long ago. “What a bountiful harvest.” Liao the Fat licked his lips, which had already begun to crack and peel, and put the camcorder away. Just now, in order to film, he hadn’t taken a single sip of water—his condition was no different from Kraft’s when he’d gone into the lab. Kraft shot him a glance that was a mix of disdain and admiration, then handed him the bottle of mineral water he was holding. As the opening ceremony came to a close, a group of vendors appeared out of nowhere and began bustling about, selling all kinds of food and drinks. After fleecing the audience—and helping them replenish their energy and fluids in the process—the music festival finally kicked off in earnest. The opening act was a rock song. Although Kraft didn’t recognize a single member of the band—who were dressed up as all sorts of monsters and demons—judging by the audience’s reaction, they must have been a fairly well-known band. In any case, Kraft was just there to join in the fun, howling along with everyone else for the entire song. It was absolutely exhilarating. He kept belting out a few more songs until he felt completely exhausted, at which point he stopped his meaningless howling. Normally, Kraft would have left right then, but when he saw Alice still cheering enthusiastically for the singer on stage, he didn’t want to be a killjoy. So he just stayed put quietly, listening to the music and occasionally pulling snacks out of his bag to munch on. He stayed there until evening. As the sky darkened and colorful lights lit up the surroundings, the atmosphere at the venue didn’t wane despite everyone’s fatigue—if anything, it grew even more electric. “I really wasted my ticket earlier…” Watching the scene, which was even livelier than during the day, Kraft smacked his lips and muttered to himself. The electric atmosphere continued to build. Aside from one incident where Alice, in her excitement, flung her arm down and nearly scared the girl next to her half to death, there were no further mishaps. Kraft had brushed off the girl’s concern by telling her, “This is a very expensive, high-end prosthetic.” Just as the clock neared ten o’clock and both Kraft and Alice began yawning, the three of them prepared to leave. But just then, a rapid burst of gunfire rang out from a building in the distance. “Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…”