Free America

For the next week, Kraft didn't go into the lab. His dreams, whether on cooldown or wanting him to rest, had fallen silent after dumping a massive amount of engineering knowledge into him.

A week passed quickly, and it was suddenly the weekend.

"Brother! Hurry up!"

Alice was all ready and impatiently urged Kraft, who was still dawdling over breakfast at the dining table.

"What's the rush? It's still early," Kraft said, popping the last dumpling into his mouth before slowly and methodically tidying up the tableware.

"I checked online, and there are lots of fun activities before the music festival officially starts! Some netizens even say those are the real highlight!"

Alice, who was incredibly anxious, quickly cleared the table and then nudged Kraft's thigh with her foot.

"Brother, go change your clothes! I'll handle this!"

"Alright, alright..."

Kraft wasn't particularly interested in the music itself. He simply enjoyed the opportunity to cheer loudly with a crowd and relieve stress. He'd occasionally go, cheer for a bit, and then leave. Therefore, he wasn't very familiar with the festival's specific schedule, unlike Fatty Liao, who loved arriving early to participate.

After changing in his room, Kraft thought for a moment, then slung a backpack over his shoulder. He packed a few "self-defense items" inside. After all, with green monsters like Hulk appearing, who knew when a red or yellow one might pop out? It was always better to be prepared.

By then, Alice had also finished tidying up and started urging him again, "Brother! Hurry up!"

"Coming, coming!"

Kraft walked downstairs with his backpack, pulling out his phone to contact Fatty Liao.

"David, we're heading out. Where are you now?"

"What? Why are you coming so early this time?"

Fatty Liao, familiar with Kraft's habits, was already on his way to the music festival. He hadn't expected Kraft to arrive so early, which was why he hadn't waited for him.

"Because Alice is really interested in the music festival..."

Kraft's tone was full of helplessness.

Fatty Liao was even more annoyed. "Damn it! I completely overlooked little sister Alice!"

Indeed, after getting a bit acquainted with Alice last weekend, the fatty had shamelessly started calling her "sister."

"I'm already on my way," Fatty Liao replied with a similarly helpless tone. "You guys go ahead. We'll meet at the entrance of the venue."

"OK."

Kraft checked the weather and then rummaged through his item box for two solar-powered skateboards.

The distance wasn't too far, so they might as well take skateboards. As long as they controlled their speed and didn't go too crazy.

The mass-produced solar-powered skateboards had long been sold by Kraft's Dream Toy Company and had become quite popular. Based on them, various other derivative products like solar-powered balance cars and solar-powered wheelchairs had been developed.

However, these automatic skateboards hadn't been favored by professional skateboarders. Instead, many people were boycotting them, so Kraft's user base consisted mostly of those who weren't very skilled at skateboarding.

Of course, none of this mattered to Kraft. He wasn't some skateboarding prodigy, and he had already made his money.

"Let's go."

He handed one of the skateboards to Alice, but she looked a bit lost. "I, I don't know how to skateboard..."

"You don't need to know how to skateboard for this thing..." Kraft rolled his eyes. "With the balance system in your body, controlling this skateboard won't be a problem."

Though I don't understand why you fall over on flat ground when you have a balance system...

Kraft added silently in his mind.

"Oh..."

Alice dazedly took the skateboard and carefully stepped onto it...

"Hahahaha... Brother! This skateboard is so fun!"

Alice, standing on the skateboard with her arms spread wide to feel the strong wind rushing past, excitedly shouted to Kraft.

"Yes, yes... Can you not be so embarrassing? This is our company's product, after all. Don't act like some country bumpkin who's never seen the world!"

Kraft, covering his forehead, felt utterly exhausted.

The two of them sped along on their skateboards and soon arrived at the entrance of the music festival venue. Along the way, Kraft saw many people like them zipping through the streets on solar-powered skateboards or similar products.

To be honest, Kraft felt a little proud.

"Kraft! Over here!"

Fatty Liao, who had arrived earlier, spotted them and waved them over loudly.

"Damn it! I should have come with you guys on skateboards!"

Kraft had naturally prepared a solar-powered skateboard for his good friend Fatty Liao, but given his physique, he rarely used skateboards and thus hadn't thought of using one for transportation. The skateboard Kraft gave him was only used once on the way back home; after that, it had been left at home gathering dust.

"Let's go. I want to see what activities are available before the music festival starts."

Tucking the skateboard under his arm, Kraft took the tickets from Fatty Liao and headed into the venue.

The pre-festival activities were indeed very lively, with acrobatics, game competitions, and fashion shows, among other things.

Kraft finally understood why Fatty Liao liked to arrive so early.

With that thought, Kraft turned his head.

As expected, Fatty Liao had already pulled out his beloved handheld camera and started filming.

The preliminary activities lasted for nearly two hours. The memory card in Fatty Liao's camera was almost full, and if Kraft hadn't modified his camera to add solar-powered battery life, it would have run out of power long ago.

"What a haul."

Fatty Liao licked his chapped lips, put away his camera. He hadn't had a single drop of water while filming, and his state was no different from Kraft's when he was deep in the lab.

Kraft glanced at him with a mixture of disdain and admiration, then handed him the bottle of mineral water.

As the opening event concluded, a group of vendors seemed to materialize from nowhere, busily setting up and selling various food and drinks.

After gouging the audience for all they were worth and allowing them to replenish their nutrition and hydration, the music festival officially began.

The opening act was a rock band. Although Kraft didn't recognize any of the band members, who were dressed as monsters and demons, the audience's reaction indicated they were quite famous. In any case, Kraft just went along with the crowd, shouting along for the entire song.

It was exhilarating.

He continued to roar along for a few more songs until Kraft felt utterly exhausted, at which point he stopped his meaningless howling.

Normally, Kraft would have left by this time. However, seeing Alice still enthusiastically cheering for the singer on stage, he didn't want to spoil her fun. He simply stayed put, listening to the music and occasionally taking snacks from his bag.

He stayed like that until evening. As the sky darkened and colorful lights illuminated the surroundings, the atmosphere on site didn't wane with everyone's fatigue; instead, it became even more fervent.

"My ticket from before was really a waste..."

Looking at the livelier scene than during the day, Kraft clicked his tongue and muttered.

The fervent atmosphere continued to build. During one point, Alice got so excited that she flung her arm, startling the young lady next to her half to death. Kraft smoothed things over by telling her, "It's a very expensive, high-end prosthetic limb."

As it approached ten o'clock, and both Kraft and Alice started yawning, the three of them prepared to leave.

However, just then, a rapid burst of gunfire erupted from a building in the distance.

"Dada dada dada..."

Thanks to [Thinking of You Night], [Silly Idiot], [Naming is Harder Than Reaching the Heavens], and [Lonely Nether Scar 1] for the tips.

Received a message from my editor today saying that the performance of this chapter has been quite good, and the next recommendation is guaranteed! Thank you all for your strong support! ヾ(o)ヾ

Everyone keep voting, and I'll keep working hard to write. I've already written 50 chapters in my drafts! As long as I can resist opening Steam, the updates will definitely be fine! ()