Da Vinci

Kraft gleefully teased Alice for quite a while. In the end, Martin Lee, his face full of exasperation, made the decision and told him to remove that rather pointless wind-up key.

"Aren't you supposed to be her big brother? Is that how you act like one?"

Martin gave Kraft a sharp knock on the head and scolded him with an amused glare.

"Okay, okay... I get it..."

Kraft rubbed his head and muttered as he removed the wind-up key from Alice's back again.

"Th-thank goodness!"

Overwhelmed with joy, Alice threw her arms around Martin Lee.

"Thank you, Uncle Martin!"

After that, everything was simple. With Martin's current influence, getting Alice some identification papers was incredibly easy.

However, Kraft did not immediately arrange for Alice to attend school.

For one thing, he wanted to observe her for a while longer. Although he had already uploaded most common knowledge into Alice, making her appear no different from an ordinary person, she was still fundamentally a robot. It was better to watch her for a while.

Honestly, if not for the trouble it would cause, Kraft did not think it would be much of a problem even if Alice's identity were exposed.

The second reason was naturally her age. Though he had claimed the title of older brother, Alice's apparent age was older than his. He could make her a new body, but Kraft did not think there was any point. It would be better to wait two years until he was older himself, then attend ninth grade with Alice.

"That works too." Martin Lee sampled the meal Alice had prepared and said to Kraft, "I'm often away from home. With Alice here to take care of you, I can worry a little less."

As he spoke, Martin glanced at the robot girl, who was eating with obvious enjoyment, and felt speechless once again.

A perfectly good robot, yet she even had to eat... I really don't understand what young people these days are thinking.

Still, her cooking really was good.

Martin chuckled, shook his head, and continued enjoying the food on the table.

Of course Alice's cooking was good. Kraft kept urging Martin Lee to get married because he wanted a caretaker who could cook Chinese food, didn't he? So when uploading data into Alice, he had stuffed in a whole pile of recipes as well.

Next time, I should ask Fatty Liao whether he can get me the recipes for a few of Fu Man Lou's signature dishes.

Kraft rapidly shoveled food into his mouth, still making plans in his head.

After finishing a lavish lunch, Martin Lee watched Alice voluntarily start doing housework and felt much more at ease.

Ignoring all the bizarre quirks built into the robot, she was at least extremely practical. He could leave Kraft at home without worry and devote himself fully to his plan for revenge against Maggia.

"I still have work to do, so I'll be leaving first."

Martin Lee patted Kraft on the head and reminded him of something.

"If you have time, prepare a few more trump cards for yourself. I've had some business conflicts with others lately, and they might come looking to cause you trouble."

"Again?"

Kraft frowned. This was not the first time something like this had happened. Otherwise, why would he have made strange equipment like the Anesthetic Watch for himself? It was because he had experienced similar situations before.

But those had all happened much earlier. After Martin established the shelter, such things had not occurred again.

"Aren't you a tycoon now? Why would anyone still come looking for trouble with you?"

"It's precisely because my influence is greater now that these things happen more often. It's just that my previous opponents were not very strong. Before they could get to you, my men had already dealt with them. But this opponent is different..."

Martin Lee rubbed Kraft's head, crouched down, and said with a serious expression, "I need to mobilize a large number of people to deal with them, so there may be some gaps in security on your end. Will that be a problem?"

Having depended on each other for so long, Martin Lee knew Kraft well. His adopted son was not nearly as mild-mannered as he looked, so Martin had never treated him like an ordinary child.

"Not a problem at all!"

Kraft confidently patted his chest as he replied.

"Don't worry. I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve!"

"Like that Kung Fu you somehow learned?"

Martin raised an eyebrow and teased him.

"Hehe..."

Kraft awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

After that dance, Martin had curiously asked Kraft what was going on. Naturally, Kraft had not hidden anything. He took out the Arm Strength Enhancement Bracer he had made and demonstrated it for Martin. He had even wanted to make a set for Martin, but Martin refused.

"People with trump cards aren't limited to just you."

That was what Martin had said back then as he meaningfully patted Kraft on the shoulder.

After giving Kraft his instructions, Martin Lee left the house. What he had told Kraft was both true and false.

Maggia's retaliation was within Martin's expectations, but claiming he did not have enough manpower to ensure Kraft's safety was a lie. Martin simply wanted to see what his adopted son could do, while also digging a small trap for whichever Maggia members came to raid the house.

"Is something dangerous going to happen?"

Alice had overheard most of their conversation. After Martin left, she cautiously moved closer and asked in a low voice.

"Relax, relax. It's nothing serious."

Kraft did not take Martin Lee's warning too seriously. He had great confidence in his inventions. Besides, after such a long period of peace, Kraft was no longer as vigilant as before. He had become far more relaxed than he had been in the past.

"But I should still upgrade your weapons."

Although he was not too concerned about Martin's so-called business rivals, Kraft was the sort of person who left no loose ends. Or rather, he wanted to become a wise man who left no loose ends, so he would not forget the necessary precautions.

After all, aside from a pair of rocket fists that were more cliché than practical, Alice's only offensive weapon was that wrist-mounted soybean machine gun meant for comedy.

"Huh? I-I have to fight too?"

Alice frantically waved her hands, her face full of panic.

"I can't do it! Fighting is way too scary!"

It really was strange. Kraft had slightly adjusted Alice's personality when uploading her data, yet in the end she still had the same soft and adorable personality she had possessed in the dream.

Kraft could do nothing about that. Artificial intelligence was still far too profound for him, and he did not dare tamper with it too much.

"Don't worry. I'm only improving your ability to protect yourself, just in case."

After gently comforting Alice, Kraft stood and stretched lazily.

"I'm going to take a nap. This afternoon, I'll head to the workshop and help upgrade you."

"Yawn... Then I'll sleep too. Did Big Brother prepare a room for me?"

Alice yawned as well, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and asked.

Kraft: "..."

What had Dr. Shinonome been thinking? What kind of robot needed to sleep?! And how did she even make that yawning-and-tearing-up physiological reaction happen?

Although Alice had been assembled entirely by his own hands, Kraft felt that some of her scientifically inexplicable functions were mysteries he would not understand even if he mastered every piece of robot-related knowledge in the world.

"Come with me."

Shaking his head to cast aside those random thoughts, Kraft led Alice to an unused room and took out an inflatable mattress, a pillow, and a blanket from the cabinet.

"Make do with this for now. After I upgrade you this afternoon, I'll take you shopping for some daily necessities."

"Okay~"

Even though Kraft had set Alice up as a Chinese immigrant, she still retained some habits and verbal quirks unique to people from Japan. However, none of that was a big problem, so Kraft did not pay much attention to it.

If anything, it made her even cuter.

After helping Alice tidy up her room a little, Kraft returned to his own room and immediately fell asleep.

Kraft had developed the good habit of taking afternoon naps because he could occasionally obtain all sorts of knowledge in his dreams. However, it had also brought a bad side effect: when he woke up in the morning, he still liked to go back to sleep. Otherwise, he would never have made himself that screaming-chicken alarm device.

As Kraft drifted into dreamland, a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, with thinning hair atop his head, appeared in his dream.

My luck has been pretty good these past few days.

Seeing that standard white lab coat, Kraft's eyes lit up. That outfit basically indicated that this dream was taking the science route, and the middle-aged man before him was a new face he had never seen before.

That filled Kraft with considerable anticipation.

"Big Brother, it's time to get up."

Alice, awakened by the alarm clock, climbed out of bed, went to Kraft's room, and gently knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Kraft's voice came from inside, and he did not sound to be in a very good mood.

Alice pushed open the door and poked her head through the gap.

Kraft was sitting on his bed with a dark expression, looking thoroughly furious.

"Did I wake you up?"

After Kraft had groped her all over with those "salty pig hands" before, Alice was still quite afraid of him. She carefully asked, worried that Kraft would take out his morning temper on her.

"...It has nothing to do with you."

Seeing Alice's hamster-like expression, Kraft vigorously rubbed his cheeks to make his face look less grim, then comforted her gently.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kraft rolled out of bed. As he calmed the rage in his heart, he led Alice toward his workshop.

What the hell was a solar-powered flashlight?! And that shitty You Die Three Thousand... that could be called an invention?!

White lab coat, bald head, and the appearance of some big-shot scientific genius, yet he turned out to be a goofball like Shougong Geng? No! His inventions were even worse than Shougong Geng's!

This is infuriating!

And you still had the nerve to call yourself Da Vinci!