The Man Behind the Scenes

Even though Fatty Liao threw a tantrum and rolled around on the floor, Kraft still didn't agree to his request.

If it were when Alice was first made, Kraft might have just agreed out of impatience.

However, after spending some time with Alice, he could no longer see her as just a robot. Therefore, Kraft had no intention of agreeing to Fatty Liao's request.

Still, to appease his friend, Kraft agreed to make him a simplified version of Haro. Apart from basic artificial intelligence, Kraft didn't plan on adding many features to Fatty Liao's Haro, mainly so he could cheat at games.

Enticed by the game-playing Haro, Fatty Liao promptly forgot his life's greatest wish and began fawning over Kraft with a sycophantic smile.

He was very skilled at this.

After seeing Fatty Liao off, Kraft and Alice continued to stay holed up in the workshop. A few hours later, a travel-worn Martin Lee appeared.

Martin looked at his adopted son with a complicated expression. According to the reports from the men he had stationed earlier, they had planned to find an opportunity to launch a surprise rescue when Kraft was surrounded by the Hand, but they were blocked by a sudden rise of iron walls. By the time Kraft retracted the walls, the attackers were already lying on the ground.

Alice's appearance had already surprised Martin Lee greatly, but after the initial shock, he didn't dwell on it too much. No matter how human-like Alice seemed, she held little significance for him. In his opinion, Kraft's talent shouldn't be entirely dedicated to these strange inventions but rather to creating more "practical" items like the Arm Strength Enhancement Bracer.

This was why Martin wanted to send some enemies to attack Kraft, to divert his attention to personal weaponry.

The first group of thugs was only meant to put Kraft on alert. The second group, the Mafia, was the "trial" Martin had prepared for Kraft to teach him a lesson.

He hadn't expected that his carefully selected "test subjects" would be so easily dealt with by Kraft.

This put him in a rather awkward position.

"Can you tell me how you dealt with those Italians?"

The father and son stared at each other for a long time. It was Martin Lee, feeling guilty, who finally broke eye contact. He cleared his throat and asked curiously.

Martin Lee had rushed over as soon as he received the news and hadn't had time to interrogate the Mafia members.

"Haro, activate combat mode."

Kraft clapped his hands and commanded.

"Combat mode activated, combat mode activated."

Haro, on the table, flapped its wings, and the workshop instantly entered its iron wall mode again.

Watching the rows of machine guns extending from the walls, Martin Lee's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He had wanted Kraft to make some self-defense equipment, but this was just too much!

"Don't worry, Martin, these guns only use rubber bullets, tasers, and tranquilizer darts. No one will get killed."

Seeing Martin's troubled expression, Kraft patted his arm reassuringly.

Is that what I'm worried about?!

Giving Kraft a speechless glance for missing the point, Martin pinched the bridge of his nose and explained, "No matter what kind of bullets you're using, if an official organization like the FBI finds out about such extensive armament, you'll be in serious trouble."

Kraft pouted and retorted, "You're going around provoking gangs in Hell's Kitchen, and you're afraid of being noticed by official organizations?"

Hearing Kraft's resentful words, Martin smiled wryly and ruffled his hair. "Isn't your wish to go back? If you get a criminal record here, it won't be so easy to return. So, leave the Maggia business to me."

Kraft pursed his lips and said decisively, "My wish is for us to go back together! If you can't go back, then I won't go either! Don't you dare think about leaving me behind!"

Touched, Martin Lee hugged Kraft and then said with a smile, "Even so, don't think I'll agree to you going after the Maggia."

"Why?!"

Kraft was a thousand percent unconvinced.

"Because the Maggia isn't that simple." Martin Lee's expression turned serious, and he tapped his temple with his index finger. "You might not remember, but I do. The equipment in the Maggia's laboratory back then was much more advanced than your little workshop, and on a much larger scale. What do you think that signifies?"

Although Kraft's workshop was just a private operation, with his current funds and technology, its equipment could at least be considered above average, if not cutting-edge. Furthermore, technology had been advancing rapidly in recent decades. It was abnormal for an ordinary criminal organization like the Maggia to have equipment seven years ago that was more advanced than his own workshop and on such a massive scale.

"They have someone backing them."

Kraft's expression also turned grim. Compared to Martin Lee, he understood the technological sophistication of the equipment in his workshop better.

Even if the Maggia was the biggest gang in New York, it wouldn't be easy for them to possess a large-scale research facility. Moreover, there were several even larger gangs above the Maggia. Kraft didn't believe there was no involvement from major corporations or official American organizations in this.

"Did you find out who it is?"

"It's been too long, and the Maggia's people have been obstructing me, so I couldn't find any leads," Martin Lee shook his head and replied, "So, I've started to slowly withdraw my people. Once Hammerhead lets his guard down, I'll investigate discreetly."

"Hammerhead?"

"The boss of the Maggia, Joseph Harold, his nickname is Hammerhead."

"Are you calling me? Are you calling me?"

The little green sphere extended its limbs and hopped in front of Martin and Kraft, waving its hands and asking.

Martin Lee & Kraft Lee: ...

"These little guys you made... they all have quite a personality..."

Martin Lee's mouth twitched, and he shot Kraft a sideways glance.

"Hahaha... Right?"

Kraft chuckled awkwardly and scratched his head, looking very embarrassed.

Because of Haro's interruption, the father and son's conversation couldn't continue.

Martin patted Kraft's shoulder and stood up. "The matter of the Maggia isn't something that can be resolved quickly, so let me handle it for now. You're still young; it's not time for you to bear these burdens."

Kraft nodded dejectedly. Even though he had full confidence in the inventions from his dreams, he didn't think he could stand against the corporations or even the official organizations of America at this point.

But sooner or later, I'll be able to create items that can flatten anything. And even if I don't confront the Maggia head-on, I can still use the technology from my dreams to investigate them in secret.

Kraft, with his head lowered, slyly rolled his eyeballs. He wasn't some obedient good boy. What Kraft Li promised had nothing to do with Clever Hands Doctor.

If he wanted to gather information, the best solution for Kraft was naturally to use his own technology to collect data from the network.

Alice, a robot whose cuteness far outweighed her usefulness, was out of the question.

As an auxiliary artificial intelligence, Haro might seem slow-witted when interacting with people, but on the network, it was at least capable of covering the sky with one hand. Ordinary security defenses were nothing to it, and it could come and go from the New York Police Department's database as it pleased.

You ask how Kraft knew? That's because he had already sent Haro to take a look around.

On the very first day Haro was created, Kraft tested its capabilities on the network. Firewalls in public institutions like police stations and banks were no obstacle to Haro's intrusion; they couldn't even detect it. Even more famous agencies like the FBI, CIA, and IRS were no match for Haro, though they were more capable of detecting its intrusions compared to other departments.

While Haro could have brute-forced its way through their defenses, Kraft wasn't that reckless. Once he knew Haro had been detected, he immediately ordered it to abandon the intrusion and easily evade pursuit.

In addition, there were a few databases with even stronger defenses that Haro failed to breach. Kraft was even almost caught by one of them, but thankfully, Haro's abilities were reliable enough that it successfully escaped pursuit. However, based on Haro's feedback, the other party also seemed to be an artificial intelligence.

The database capable of counter-tracking was also the only one Kraft could definitively identify the owner of – the location pinpointed to Tony Stark's estate in New York.

He had to admit, that playboy, though annoying, had some seriously solid technology.

After testing Haro's capabilities, Kraft never had it hack into anyone else's network again. It wasn't out of fear of being caught by Stark's artificial intelligence, but because the information he needed was in his dreams, making it unnecessary to hack into other databases. During the previous tests, Kraft had only had Haro crack firewalls; he hadn't touched any of the data inside.

But now, things were different. To gather information on the Maggia, Kraft had to send Haro back onto the network.

Of course, he wasn't planning to touch those dangerous places for now. He'd start by browsing the New York Police Department's databases.

"Invasion commencing, invasion commencing!"

Haro, nestled in its custom-made concave docking station, rapidly browsed the New York Police Department's internal database. On the computer screens surrounding it, countless characters flew by at lightning speed.

"Keyword: Maggia. Search complete, search complete."

Soon, the data related to the Maggia was packaged by Haro and downloaded to Kraft's computer.

"Hammerhead" Joseph Harold...

Hell's Kitchen turf war...

Demon Gang...

Mr. Negative...

Kraft carefully reviewed the data Haro had downloaded. It contained no information related to human experimentation, clearly indicating it had already been covered up by that unknown entity.

But...

Demon Gang? Mr. Negative?

Kraft scratched his head. Could this be Martin?

His naming ability was truly terrible