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 concept in Engineering. Fatty Liao's so-called "help" was actually being pulled on stage to activate the Mechanical Combat Pets with Kraft. They watched two pets fight on stage. Even so, he gained a lot of attention because the event was broadcast live by major news programs.

With the active broadcasting by major television stations, it was only natural that the Mechanical Combat Pets would become an instant hit.

Mechanics 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 suffered from shortcomings in battery life and intelligence compared to the original version, and their combat power wasn't as exaggerated. At best, they had the combat strength of a small cat or dog. However, this was in comparison to Engineering creations enhanced by unscientific power. If they were placed on the Earth's toy market, it would be a complete stomp.

For a full two weeks, at least within New York, most conversations between boys revolved around one word: Mechanical Combat Pet.

This even led to the rise of various pet clubs, where they spontaneously organized different types of pet competitions. The scale was so grand that television stations bought broadcasting rights. Kraft also took the opportunity to collect royalties and even suggested naming the competition the "Pokemon Championship," because the current development was too similar to a Pokemon world in his dreams. The only issue was that he couldn't get the materials for the Pokeball in his dreams, and there were no such magical creatures called Pokemon here.

Unfortunately, this nonsensical name was rejected by the television station and 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 have a built-in electronic chip. It relies solely on these intricate mechanisms interacting 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 a Golden Snitch."

Stark stroked his small mustache under his chin and muttered to himself. His familiarity with Dream Toy Company's products clearly indicated he was already a loyal customer.

"Is that Mohist Mechanism Arts really that amazing?"

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

"According to records, over two thousand years ago, a carpenter named Lu Ban built a mechanical bird out of wood that flew for three days straight. However, there's no concrete evidence for this, so apart from China, not many people believe it."

J.A.R.V.I.S. pulled up all information related to Lu Ban and displayed it for Tony Stark.

"Even so, this Mr. Lu Ban crafted many tools that were considered very advanced for his time."

"That's truly remarkable..."

Stark exclaimed with genuine admiration. He then instructed J.A.R.V.I.S., "J.A.R.V.I.S., 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, that Kraft Lee is not yet an adult."

"Oh, really?" Tony Stark shrugged and said regretfully, "Then forget it. His luck is truly terrible, missing out on an opportunity to experience the joys of men."

Tony Stark wasn't going to alter his party arrangements specifically for Kraft. After all, no matter how intricate his inventions were, they were just toys to amuse people. Thus, once Stark had disassembled the mechanical dragon and understood its principles, he lost interest.

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

However, without the enhancement of Dream Power, the technicality and practicality of the Mechanical Combat Pets weren't very high. Short battery life, inability to accurately capture targets, and stiff movements made them a pipe dream as weapons. Although these shortcomings could be compensated with other technologies, it would be no different from building a new machine from scratch, 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 powers, nor that he had missed an invitation from Tony Stark. However, given his personality, he probably wouldn't have bothered attending, 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 to one of disgust.

He had dreamed of this company, Umbrella, several times before. Each time, they were conducting inhumane experiments, creating a horde of monsters and the Zombie Virus. In his memory, their researchers eventually died at the hands of the monsters they created.

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

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

If you're going to build machines, 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 witness any disgusting scenes.

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

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

I don't understand...

Kraft felt a bit discouraged. He was already quite skilled in programming, especially after creating Alice and Haro. He felt that his computer skills, even if not top-tier, wouldn't be much worse than those hackers in the tide.

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

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

Artificial Intelligence.

An AI far more complex than Haro.

As for Alice...

That girl had unscientific power backing her, so she couldn't be counted.

Given the complexity of this AI, its capabilities would likely far surpass Haro's. This made Kraft forget his disappointment, and he quietly stared at the computer screen, anticipating the white-coated man'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 perhaps even go head-to-head with Stark's AI.

The white-coated man's fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard, and lines 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 image appeared on the computer screen, tears welled up in the eyes of the man in the white coat. He reached out a trembling hand, gently stroking the little girl's face through the screen.

The little girl on the screen, however, coldly and ruthlessly interrupted Dr. Charles's heartfelt display.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Charles Ashford, if my core programming is correct, my name should be..."

"Red Queen."