This Isn't Scientific!

After that unpleasant dance party ended, Kraft's life finally returned to normal. However, because Tony Stark had caused him a string of trouble with a single casual remark, Tony had already been labeled a "troublemaker" in Kraft's mind. If possible, Kraft no longer wanted anything to do with him.

Sales of the Skillful Hand Brand mechanical lock gradually stabilized after the initial hype faded. Although Tony Stark claimed the mechanical lock was more interesting than a Rubik's Cube, it was still far less accessible. Even so, the money it had earned during this period was enough for Kraft to start attempting more complicated inventions.

"...Failed again..."

Looking at the pile of scrap metal before him, Kraft dejectedly set down the tool in his hand.

Although the funding was in place, Kraft's own knowledge and experience could not keep up. Even when he followed the steps from his dreams exactly, he still made mistakes during stages requiring delicate precision.

Even when luck allowed him to successfully make one or two items, the success rate remained low when he tried to make them again.

"Was I really too impatient?"

Kraft sat cross-legged on the floor and began reflecting on the reasons behind his recent failures.

With the money in hand, he had gotten carried away, asked Martin for help, set up another private workshop, and bought a mountain of tools. In reality, though, he was completely unfamiliar with the equipment. Making mistakes while operating them was only natural.

"I bit off more than I could chew..."

Kraft could not help thinking of that saying. Once he figured it out, he temporarily put aside those overly complex inventions and decided to try making inventions from his dreams that he could barely understand. Then he would progress step by step and slowly improve his skills.

After finding the right method, Kraft's success rate finally rose. The progress he made was also far greater than when he had merely copied things before. This made him even more absorbed in his laboratory, where he spent most of his spare time.

When Kraft got home, he casually tossed his backpack onto the sofa. Just as he was about to run to his little workshop, Martin Lee suddenly darted out from the inner room.

"Don't rush off. I need to tell you something."

"You're actually home?!"

Martin Lee was an incredibly busy man. He usually left early and came home late, and sometimes he would not even be back by the time Kraft went to sleep. Kraft had originally felt bad for Martin, thinking he worked so hard to earn money, but after accidentally discovering his nightclub VIP card, Kraft had started urging him to find someone.

Naturally, Martin Lee had a reason for coming home early.

"I have something to deal with these next few days and need to make a trip out of town. I probably won't be back for around ten days. I've already spoken to Uncle Liao, so just go eat at his place."

"Okay, got it."

Kraft waved a hand. Martin occasionally went on long trips, and Kraft had long since gotten used to it. His friendship with Fatty Liao had also grown stronger through all those meals he mooched off him.

"One more thing. Aunt May's birthday is in three days. She wants to invite you to her place for her birthday party."

Of course Kraft would not refuse Aunt May's invitation, but three days was probably not enough time for him to make her a gift. Besides, the strange inventions from his dreams were not really suitable presents for Aunt May.

Fortunately, Kraft was flush with cash now, so buying a decent gift would not be difficult.

After giving his instructions, Martin Lee hurriedly headed out. Kraft also gave up on continuing his research in the private workshop and instead ran to Fatty Liao's home.

He planned to give Aunt May a set of kitchenware. Fatty Liao's family ran a restaurant, so asking him for advice could not go wrong.

After dragging Fatty Liao to the store and picking out a full set of kitchenware, Kraft packed it into a gift box. The two returned to Fu Man Lou for an authentic Chinese meal, then stayed at Fatty Liao's place to play video games for a while. It was only after the sky had completely darkened that Kraft slowly made his way home with Aunt May's gift in hand.

After washing up, Kraft returned to his room and immediately fell asleep.

Then, after a long time, he dreamed of Professor Agasa again.

Kraft's dreams seemed to evolve. At first, they had been fragmented and incomplete. Later, they gradually became whole. He went from waking up groggy and unable to remember their contents, to remembering the entire dream, and now he could remain lucid within them and freely examine and use the objects that appeared there.

However, Kraft's range of movement was limited. He could not stray too far from the dream's protagonist, and the items he obtained from dreams did not affect the dream characters' ability to use them. It was more like a projection had been copied into his hands.

Kraft had long since become thoroughly familiar with Professor Agasa's laboratory. Whether it was the various inventions piled off to one side, the pile of scientific magazines and assorted materials on the shelves, or even the few detective novels, he had browsed through all of them while Professor Agasa was resting.

So this time, he did not wander around. Instead, he obediently stood beside Professor Agasa and watched what he was tinkering with.

"This is... a recorder?"

After seeing the item in Professor Agasa's hands, Kraft finally relaxed. Professor Agasa's inventions were far more practical than Shougong Geng's, but they often exploded. Although Kraft would not be hurt by the blasts, sudden explosions were not exactly friendly to his poor heart.

Professor Agasa removed all the main components from the recorder, installed them into a new, smaller casing, and then stuffed it into a... Bow Tie?

Kraft watched as the chubby professor added an external speaker, controls, and other components to the Bow Tie in his hands, scratching his head furiously.

"What is Professor Agasa trying to make? Don't tell me he's making another detective gadget for that kid named Shinichi?"

Although he had never met the child named Shinichi, Professor Agasa had spoken with him several times during the manufacturing process. So Kraft roughly knew that such a kid existed. The Anesthetic Watch, Power-Enhancing Shoes, Tracking Glasses, Detective Badge, and so on had all been invented by Professor Agasa for him.

It had to be said that Professor Agasa truly spoiled that kid named Shinichi.

After finishing the Bow Tie that was probably meant for recording, Professor Agasa turned on the old computer beside him and began typing code.

"Huh? It needs code too? So this isn't just a recording device?"

At first, Kraft had thought Professor Agasa was making something like a voice recorder. But thinking about it, that made sense. If it were merely a covert recording device, then a voice recorder would be enough.

Leaning closer to the screen, Kraft examined the strings of code Professor Agasa had typed. He was actually quite skilled with programming, so understanding the code was not difficult.

Kraft's programming skills had become especially outstanding thanks to Fatty Liao, a terrible teammate who loved gaming despite being awful at it. After being dragged down to the point of misery during one of their gaming sessions, Kraft had angrily written cheat software for Fatty Liao. From then on, whenever Fatty Liao encountered a game he could not beat, he came running to Kraft for help. And his demands only grew more ridiculous: cheats that were not too powerful because they would ruin the gaming experience, idiot-proof hacks with adjustable settings, mods that could easily change a game's character skins because the original characters were too ugly, and so on...

Since Fatty Liao was a friend who had mooched meals at his home for years, Kraft basically fulfilled all of that noob's requests. That was how his programming skills had been honed.

"Audio input... audio track analysis... audio adjustment..."

Kraft roughly understood what the program did. Put simply, it recorded and imitated voices, but...

"What was the point?"

Kraft continued scratching his head furiously. Professor Agasa's code was not particularly complicated. The most important audio track analysis section was not much different from software used to compare voices and identify their owners. At best, an imitation produced this way would only be thirty or forty percent similar.

But then Kraft thought about it again. This thing was probably just a toy for that kid named Shinichi. Thirty or forty percent similarity would be enough. It was merely a little underwhelming compared to the previous inventions.

Another useless invention. It could probably only serve as video material.

Kraft thought disappointedly.

Professor Agasa's inventions were often disappointing. Thinking about it carefully, the most practical ones had actually been those detective-game tools for children. But now, at last, even a detective gadget that was not very useful had appeared...

Just as Kraft was thinking this, Professor Agasa had already installed the completed program into the Bowtie Voice Changer. Then he opened a video on the computer and extracted a recording from it for testing.

"Ahem. Hello, my name is Professor Agasa."

Professor Agasa held the Bow Tie near his mouth and spoke.

Kraft: ?????

What had just happened?

Kraft vigorously rubbed at his ears and stared at the Bow Tie in Professor Agasa's hands with an incredulous expression.

The voice that had just come from the Bow Tie was not merely thirty or forty percent similar, as Kraft had expected. It was exactly! The! Same!

No way!

Kraft's worldview had been shaken.

Unlike inventions that lay beyond the scope of his knowledge, Kraft could understand every step involved in the Bowtie Voice Changer. It was precisely because he understood it that he found it unbelievable.

Following Professor Agasa's method, there was absolutely no way this voice changer could achieve such an effect!

This wasn't scientific!

Kraft abruptly sat up in bed. The item had been completed, so the dream naturally ended. Yet even after waking, Kraft still looked as though he were dreaming, his face full of confusion.

No, I have to try it myself!

He threw back the covers, quickly changed clothes, and ran for his private workshop.