Angela

Dream Toy Company and Kraft Lee have become popular once again.

Their new products launched at the exhibition sent boys all over New York, America, and even the world into a frenzy.

In reality, these were a series of mechanical combat pets derived from the mechanical dragon in engineering. Fatty Liao's so-called help was actually being pulled onto the stage to activate the mechanical combat pets with Kraft. He watched the two pets fight on stage. Even so, he gained a lot of attention because the scene was broadcast by all major news programs.

With the active broadcasts from major television stations, it was natural for the mechanical combat pets to become an instant hit.

Mechanical and combat – these two elements held as much appeal for boys as pretty dresses and cosmetics did for girls.

The mass-produced mechanical combat pets still had the flaws of inferior battery life and intelligence compared to the original version, and their combat power wasn't as exaggerated as the original. At best, they had the combat power of a small cat or dog. However, this was in comparison to engineering creations enhanced with unscientific power. If they were placed on the Earth's toy market, it would be an undeniable crushing blow.

For a full two weeks, at least within New York, the main topic of conversation among most boys was mechanical combat pets.

This even led to the rise of various combat pet clubs, where they spontaneously organized all sorts of combat pet competitions. The scale was so vast that television stations went to purchase broadcasting rights. Kraft also took the opportunity to collect royalties and even suggested naming the competition the Pokemon Competition, because the current development was too similar to a world with Pokemon in his dreams. It was just that he couldn't get his hands on the materials for the Poké Balls from his dreams, and there were no such magical creatures called Pokemon here.

Unfortunately, this name, whose meaning was unclear, was rejected by the television station and the organizers.

Inside Tony Stark's private mansion, a mechanical dragon released by Dream Toy Company was disassembled into a pile of parts, neatly arranged on the workbench in front of Stark.

"It doesn't even have a built-in electronic chip. It relies solely on these intricate mechanisms interlocking to make this little guy perform such complex movements... No wonder the price is so cheap. The cost of this thing is probably less than the Golden Snitch."

Stark stroked his small mustache under his chin and muttered to himself. Judging by how familiar he was with Dream Toy Company's products, he was clearly a loyal customer.

"Is that Mohist mechanical arts really that amazing?"

Clearly, he had been fooled by Dream Toy Company's slogan, mistaking this engineering creation for a product of mechanical arts.

"According to records, over two thousand years ago, there was a carpenter named Gongshu Ban who built a mechanical bird out of wood that flew for three consecutive days. However, there is no definitive evidence for this, so not many people outside of China believe it."

Jarvis retrieved all information related to Lu Ban and displayed it to Tony Stark.

"Even so, this Mr. Gongshu Ban created many tools that were very advanced for his time."

"This is truly remarkable..."

Stark exclaimed sincerely, then instructed Jarvis, "Jarvis, remember to remind me to send an invitation to that young fellow when I host my party next week."

"I must remind you, Mr. Stark, Kraft Lee is not yet an adult."

"Oh, really?" Tony Stark shrugged and said regretfully, "Then forget it. He's really out of luck, missing out on an opportunity to experience the joys of manhood."

Tony Stark wasn't going to change the party arrangements specifically for Kraft. After all, no matter how intricate his inventions were, they were just toys to amuse people. Therefore, once Stark disassembled the mechanical dragon and understood its principles, he no longer paid much attention to it.

Besides Tony Stark, S.H.I.E.L.D., which was still called the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, and Hydra, as well as other researchers and factions, had all become more or less interested in the mechanical combat pets recently released by Dream Toy Company.

However, after removing the enhancement of dream power, the technicality and practicality of the mechanical combat pets were not very high. Their poor battery life, inability to accurately capture targets, and stiff movements made them a pipe dream for becoming weapons. Although other technologies could compensate for these shortcomings, it would be no different from rebuilding a new machine, and the cost would also increase.

The main reason Kraft's mechanical combat pets caught the attention of those factions was their low price.

Kraft was unaware that he had narrowly missed interacting with a host of mysterious forces, nor did he know that he had missed an invitation from Tony Stark. However, given his personality, he probably wouldn't have bothered to attend, especially since he had dreamed of new technologies again.

"These guys again."

Seeing the familiar red and white umbrella-shaped logo on the wall, Kraft's expression turned disgusted.

He had dreamed of this company called Umbrella several times before. They were always conducting inhumane experiments, creating a horde of monsters and zombie viruses. In his memory, their researchers eventually died at the hands of the monsters they created.

Unfortunately, Kraft couldn't voluntarily exit or skip dreams. Moreover, he had been consciously trying to learn some knowledge related to biotechnology recently. So, after glaring unhappily at the white-coated scientist in front of him, he obediently stayed by his side, intending to see what new tricks this company was up to.

However, this time, Umbrella's researchers were not conducting human experiments as before. Instead, they were directing laborers to assemble some kind of machinery.

If you're going to do machinery, then I'm all for it!

Although Kraft had been mentally preparing himself after seeing the Umbrella logo, it was best if he didn't have to see those disgusting scenes.

Kraft breathed a sigh of relief, then walked over to the white-coated scientist to observe.

What Umbrella was assembling was a supercomputer. After they finished assembling it, the dream hadn't ended. Instead, the protagonist of the dream – that middle-aged man – continued to type code on this computer.

I don't understand...

Kraft was a bit disheartened. He was already quite good at programming, especially after creating Alice and Haro. He felt that his computer skills, even if not top-notch, wouldn't be much worse than the hackers in Tidal Wave.

But the code written by this slightly balding middle-aged man, he couldn't understand more than half of it.

However, from the overall structure, Kraft could tell what he was writing.

Artificial intelligence.

An artificial intelligence much more complex than Haro.

As for Alice...

That girl had the enhancement of unscientific power, so she couldn't be counted.

Given the complexity of this artificial intelligence, its capabilities would likely far surpass Haro's. This made Kraft instantly forget his disappointment, and he quietly stared at the computer screen, anticipating the white-coated scientist's success.

If he truly succeeded, Kraft would be able to try accessing the databases of those mysterious factions he couldn't enter before, and even go head-to-head with the Stark family's artificial intelligence.

The white-coated scientist's fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard, and strings of characters appeared on the computer screen. Under Kraft's expectant gaze, they eventually transformed into a virtual image of a little girl.

"Angela..."

As the little girl's figure appeared on the computer screen, tears welled up in the eyes of the man in the white coat. He trembled as he reached out, caressing the little girl's face through the screen.

The little girl on the screen coldly interrupted Doctor Charles's heartfelt display.

"I apologize, Dr. Charles Ashford. If my core programming is not mistaken, my name should be..."

"Red Queen."

Thanks to [Thinking of You Tonight], [Yi Ang Yan Han Yang Xiao Nan], and [Jiang Yun Xian] for their tips.

Received notification for next week's recommendation! Thank you all for your support! Keep those recommendation votes coming!

Also, regarding Red Queen, her prototype in the game is supposed to be a younger Alice. I'm using the movie version's setting here, specifically the setting from the second movie, Apocalypse, because Red Queen's settings seemed to have changed a few times in later installments.

Also, are some people's values so twisted these days? When did doing the right thing become something to be despised?

The protagonist simply dealt with a murderer when he had the ability, and you call him a saint? How miserable must your life experiences be to hold such warped views?

Kraft's own attitude was that he could save them or not, and then Alice, who was close to him, asked for help, so he helped. Is there a problem with that? And in the anime, Mingnai was originally a very kind robot; I'm just advancing the plot according to her character.

I hate racial discrimination, but that's not a reason for me to be racially discriminatory. I never intended to portray Kraft as a stupid racist. He's just an ordinary person who's a bit extreme and cynical, not a hero or a villain.

If you can't even stomach this, then I have nothing more to say...

I won't explain this issue again in the future. If it doesn't suit your taste, there's nothing I can do. Values aren't something that can be changed by mere words.

Changed my avatar. It's a photo I took of Zhongyuan a couple of days ago. She's really grown up.