I Think That's Pretty Scientific

Chapter 49: 048: Windmills and the Fake Veteran

Tom & Jerry. Chinese Title: Tom and Jerry. This timeless, world-famous animated series. Since the cat in the show always ends up in such a miserable state, Quinn is a loyal fan of this cartoon. In contrast, Beya really dislikes it and often rants about wanting to scratch the faces of the director and screenwriter. Even so, she often finds herself laughing while watching the cartoon. So even though Kraft hadn’t been able to watch this cartoon before and had little interest in it once he could, he’d still watched quite a few episodes alongside the family pets and Alice. He’d even seen the episode from his recent dream before—he even remembered its title: *Progress and Mechanization*. Oh, and there was another one set in the same universe called *Controlling the Life of a Mouse*. The dream mainly depicted the manufacturing process of that mechanical cat—something that hadn’t been shown in the anime. However, that contraption held no significance for Kraft. Not only was it completely impractical, but both episodes featured scenes where it went out of control—Kraft would have to be out of his mind to build such a ridiculous contraption. Actually, a long time ago, Kraft had already wondered whether the worlds in his dreams were real, because his dreams had featured far too many fantastical realms of the sort typically found in fantasy literature. To that end, he’d even gone out of his way to read many books on parallel worlds, planes of existence, and the “Three Thousand Worlds,” but in the end, he realized that regardless of whether these worlds were real, they didn’t seem to have much to do with him personally. On the contrary, he could actually gain quite a few benefits from them, so he stopped dwelling on the matter. It was just that this time, he suddenly dreamed of a fantasy world he’d encountered in the real world, which left him slightly shocked… Well, not just a little—he was extremely shocked. But after the initial shock… it didn’t seem like such a big deal after all. He ate when he should, slept when he should, and played when he should—his life went on as usual, and Tom from the TV show didn’t suddenly jump into the real world because of it. “Brother, are you okay?” This morning, contrary to his usual routine, Kraft didn’t rush to the lab; instead, he went to the living room to watch *Tom and Jerry*. Unable to suppress her concern, Alice approached him and asked softly. “Huh? I’m fine,” Kraft snapped out of his reverie, smiled at Alice, and said, “I was just looking for some inspiration from the cartoon. Breakfast is ready, right?” “Mm-hmm. Today’s breakfast is congee with preserved eggs and lean pork~” “That sounds great!” Having easily brushed Alice off, Kraft didn’t dwell too much on last night’s dream and returned to his usual routine. Except for the occasional time when Alice dragged him to the shelter to lend a hand. One day, as Kraft was tinkering in his lab as usual, Angela’s alarm suddenly went off. “High-priority target, Benjamin Parker, is in critical condition near the Wegmans supermarket on Queens Avenue.” “What’s going on?!” Kraft, who had been tinkering away in the micro-base, dropped what he was working on and steered his SCV toward the helipad. “Get me a Banshee!” At that moment, he didn’t care about being exposed or not—saving a life was the priority. Worst-case scenario, he’d just make a run for it with Martin later. While Angela prepared the Banshee as ordered, she suggested, “According to my calculations, we can make it in time using solar-powered hoverboards, and I’ve drawn up a preliminary plan to minimize the risk of exposure.” Immediately afterward, Angela quickly laid out her plan. Kraft hesitated for a moment. “Are you sure this will work?” “Even if it fails, it’s not irreparable—the outcome won’t be much different from using the Succubus.” Angela analyzed calmly. Kraft thought it over and nodded. “Let’s do it your way,” he said. With that, he hurried out of the micro-base. Once outside the base, Kraft—now back to his normal size—took the helmet and backpack handed to him by the robotic arm, then stepped onto the solar-powered skateboard Angela had prepared for him. He pushed the throttle all the way to the max and sped off toward Queens Boulevard. “I hacked into all the nearby cameras and recording devices and have roughly pieced together what happened…” While marking the optimal route for Kraft on the helmet’s display, Angela reported the situation at Uncle Ben’s. “Damn you, Peter Parker!” After hearing Angela’s report, Kraft couldn’t help but curse. If someone had swindled his paycheck, he should’ve just punched the guy out and taken it back! What the hell kind of revenge is that—using a robber’s hand to settle the score?! Even with superpowers, he’s still a total loser! Although he wasn’t sure what was going on with Peter Parker, his performance in the underground boxing ring gave him a rough idea that he’d had some kind of extraordinary encounter and his physical abilities had been enhanced. No wonder he’d been acting so strangely lately. But that didn’t stop Kraft from looking down on him. Under normal circumstances, he’d have just mocked him a bit, but since this good-for-nothing had put Uncle Ben in danger, Kraft wanted nothing more than to shove him into the “All or Nothing” treadmill and lock him in there for a month. Kraft’s solar-powered skateboard could keep up with a car, yet it didn’t need to use the vehicle lanes. Plus, since the route Angela had mapped out for him often took unconventional paths, he quickly arrived near Queens Boulevard. It was also thanks to the fact that he’d been working out lately; otherwise, given his previous physical condition, he might not have been able to complete the route Angela had planned. “Uncle Ben…” Peter Parker clung to Uncle Ben, who lay in a pool of blood, sobbing uncontrollably. His heart was filled with remorse and self-loathing. As he watched Uncle Ben’s breath grow fainter and fainter, Peter became so overcome with emotion that he cried out loudly. “Uncle Ben! No! The ambulance is on its way! Uncle Ben, hang in there a little longer!” But Uncle Ben showed no sign of regaining consciousness despite Peter’s cries; the hand resting on his shoulder slowly slipped away. “No—!!!” “Get out of the way, you idiot!!!” Just as Uncle Ben was about to draw his last breath, Peter heard Kraft’s slightly muffled roar ring in his ears, followed immediately by the frantic alarm of his spider-sense. Before Peter’s mind could process what was happening, his body acted on its own. He ducked suddenly as a skateboard whizzed past his hair and slammed into the wall of the shop across the street. At the same time, a figure wearing a safety helmet and carrying a shoulder bag crashed down not far from him. After rolling over twice, the figure quickly got to his feet and rushed over to Peter Parker’s side. “Get out of the way! Uncle Ben can still be saved!” Kraft yanked off his helmet with one hand and grabbed Peter Parker with the other, trying to pull him away. But Peter Parker was no longer the same person he used to be; Kraft’s meager muscles weren’t enough to budge him. Fortunately, Peter had heard Kraft’s words clearly, and clinging to a sliver of hope, he quickly stepped aside to make room. Kraft yanked the backpack off his back, pulled out a device that looked somewhat like an electric iron, and placed it on Uncle Ben’s chest—he had already stopped breathing. Goblin Pacemaker XL. Not only did it have a higher success rate than the standard Goblin Pacemaker, but it was also less prone to exploding. What’s more, the one in his hand had been optimized with other Dream Realm technologies, further increasing its success rate while reducing the chance of explosion and significantly diminishing its explosive power. Kraft pressed the switch, then gripped the Goblin Pacemaker XL and gave it a firm push and pull. A blue flash of electricity shot through the device, and Benjamin Parker’s heart, which had stopped beating, began to beat again. “Ha—huff—” After an uncontrolled deep breath, Uncle Ben suddenly opened his eyes. Kraft breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it worked; otherwise, he would have had to resort to other measures.