At night, New York was a world where heaven and hell coexisted. The rich indulged in endless luxury and pleasure, while the working class crowded into tiny rooms of just a few square meters, hoping for the dawn of a better life.
It was a city where opportunity and danger existed side by side, like a treasure hidden within violent currents. Every person sailed alone in a wooden boat through those waters, dreaming of claiming the treasure buried beneath, but one wrong step was enough to destroy both boat and life...
And as the "holy land" of brand promotion from all over the world, Times Square in New York, known as "The Crossroads of the World,"
was the darling of this city. Every day, more than 350,000 people passed through or stopped there, making it the commercial square with the highest foot traffic in the world and one of the best windows for "capturing global attention."
Under those conditions, there was no doubt that any brand able to appear in Times Square would inevitably gain enormous exposure.
After a full week of preparation, Advanced Idea Mechanics' launch event in New York drew fewer than twenty media outlets to attend.
And among them, many were reporters from small and medium newspapers. There were not even many from mid-tier outlets.
As for the famous news organizations, they had not even bothered to show up. Clearly, those people had basically treated this press conference as nothing more than a clown performance.
But for Killian, having people come at all was already enough.
And besides, Times Square never lacked publicity. At this moment, his eyes were burning with excitement, because this would represent the true beginning of his journey in the Marvel Universe...
What Killian had not expected, however, was that although the invited reporters from those major media outlets had not personally come, they had already secretly sent assistants or interns to keep watching the so-called product launch in private.
After all, everything in the promotional material sounded far too science-fiction-like.
If they had come in person and it turned out to be all empty nonsense, then as leaders in the news industry, they simply could not afford that embarrassment.
But while many believed it was just a promotional gimmick, if they came secretly instead, then there was no real downside.
After all, their assistants could also snap photos of the reporters from the outlets that did attend. That way, the next day they could write things like: So-and-so media outlet's reporters have questionable intelligence, even an April Fool's joke was enough to fool them.
...
Meanwhile, as the lights at the venue came on, Killian walked onto the stage in his gray-white suit.
Seated in the audience before him were the reporters from more than twenty media outlets across different states.
And of course, if he performed well enough, there were also tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of people outside watching him through the giant screens under the spotlight.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Killian, founder of AIM."
"This time, I want to sincerely thank the elite media professionals from the invited newspapers present here, as well as the tens of thousands of viewers on site."
"Thank you very much for coming to our company's press conference. And what I can guarantee right here is that you will absolutely not regret your choice to be here today."
Looking at the hundreds of people before him, along with the constant stream of people outside, where tens of thousands kept stopping to watch him on the giant screens, Killian felt incomparable glory at this moment. A feeling of being the one destined to stand above all others, of holding the world in his hand, kept gathering inside him.
And as Killian's words fell, laughter rose from the audience.
As for how much of it was amusement and how much of it was mockery, that was impossible to say.
But for Killian, none of that mattered. He looked straight at every person before him, kept his smile, and continued,
"My original plan for this launch event was to divide it into two parts."
"The first part was to introduce our company and its founding philosophy."
"And the second part was to introduce and demonstrate the product."
"However, after looking around, most of the people here seem to be young, and perhaps like me, a bit impatient. Probably not interested in all those old, repetitive, vague things."
"Coincidentally, I'm the same. So I've decided to go straight to introducing our product."
"The star of today, and the future private health consultant for every person, is the medical service robot, Baymax."
As Killian's words fell, the spotlight that had originally been shining on him vanished and instead focused on the red-and-white suitcase in front of him, which everyone had assumed was simply luggage.
And it was only because of that beam of light that everyone finally noticed the case.
For a moment, whispers filled the venue without end.
"My God, I don't know why, but I feel like that suitcase is about to surprise me."
"No way, right? That's a robot. Even if it's a medical robot, there's no way something like that could already exist."
"A medical robot? Could this really be God blessing us? Has the age of technological explosion arrived?"
"None of that matters. All I know is that this founder is seriously handsome."
...
Looking at the venue suddenly growing noisy, Killian made no move to control it.
Instead, under everyone's gaze, he took out a small knife from his pocket and cut a small wound into his own arm.
And so, the same expressions of disbelief that had appeared in the laboratory were once again recreated at the scene.
As the red-and-white suitcase unfolded, everyone finally realized that the suitcase itself was entirely red, and the so-called white part was actually today's true protagonist.
And just like during the previous test, Baymax completed a full treatment and bandaging process on Killian under the stunned gazes of the audience.
"Sir, if you are satisfied with my service, please give me a positive rating so that I may return to rest."
After finishing the treatment, Baymax politely spoke to Killian in its adorable and friendly voice.
"Sorry, Baymax, but this time you may need to rest a little later. Our friends in the audience are still watching you."
In response to Baymax's words, Killian smiled and gestured for it to look toward the crowd below, who were already frozen in place with shock.
"Hello, everyone! I am your personal healthcare companion, Baymax!"
After hearing Killian's words, Baymax turned its gaze downward. Upon seeing everyone below, it waddled forward with its chubby steps, took two steps ahead, and spoke.
"Impossible!!"
"No way!"
"Fake! It has to be fake! There's definitely someone inside!"
...
In an instant, waves of disbelieving voices rose one after another, pushing the atmosphere at the venue to another peak.
Some of the reporters who had originally skipped the invitation and had only been secretly watching from below immediately stood up and began shouting.
(End of Chapter)
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