"To be honest, I still don't quite understand why you can't accept Leo's death...... I mean, even if you make Leo look like this, you have to hang Leo's breath, so it's better to let Leo sleep well. ”

"If it doesn't happen to you, you don't always feel it."

"Anyway, Sinjid, you've always been my teacher."

"Maybe after I graduate from the Yodel Academy of Sciences, I'll be able to save Leo."

"Yes, no one can say what will happen in the future."

cough cough ......

In the dark room, Victor, who had woken up from his sleep, clutched his chest and got out of bed, with a circle of fresh blood stains on the corners of his mouth and collar.

Victor leaned silently against the base of the wall, wiping his body with the handkerchief that had been washed countless times on the side of the pillow, and soon the white handkerchief was stained with deep blood again.

Every time he coughs up blood, he always has a feeling that his life is passing rapidly, and as his body gets worse and worse, maybe there will be no problem in replacing the word 'feeling' with 'fact', after all, the blood in the human body is limited, and if you keep coughing up blood, even if you can't cough up, you will leave this world because of excessive blood loss.

The person who is dying should be what he looks like now, this picture is not human, not a ghost, and he is even afraid of face-to-face contact with the mirror, he has not looked in the mirror for a long, long time, because the last time he looked in the mirror he scared himself.

"If something doesn't happen to you, don't you always feel the same way?"

Victor, who had calmed down slightly, smiled self-deprecatingly.

Everything in the dream must have happened a long time before he left Zaun, but he could remember very clearly, the sleeping Leo, the hopeful but paranoid Sinjid, the crazy but creative alchemy laboratory, and the clockwork ship he left for Sinjid.

"Teacher Singid, I can't even save myself, I'm afraid I can't save Leo, it's a shame to accidentally say big things."

Putting down the dirty handkerchief, Victor found that his arm seemed to be much weaker, and he even felt struggling to hold a handkerchief.

The fact that his body should not have decayed so quickly may have something to do with the fact that he was no longer determined in his will, and Victor fell into shame and panic, silently enduring everything until the desire to escape the pain by suicide, which was forced by the whole world to despair.

Before the last breath, people always have to try to move forward.

Victor opened the curtains, the starry sky outside the window was dim, the cold moon was on the head, this sleep from day to night, and he wasted precious time invisibly.

Without remorse, Victor began to dress, washed his face briefly, combed his hair in the broken mirror, washed his handkerchief, and ate two pieces of bread at random, Victor left his room and went to the laboratory.

The laboratory is not far from Victor's residence, and it is a three-minute walk to Hex's laboratory, and when Victor opens the door to the laboratory with the key, there is no one in the laboratory, only the test traces of the Atlas fist and Hex's claws.

As usual, Jace didn't stay in the lab to study their common subject, Victor could understand, after all, Jace was different from him, Jace had an enviable strong physique, and could easily wield a sledgehammer weighing more than a dozen pounds to forge metal ingots, Jace didn't need to use the Hex Rune Core to improve his physical condition, he needed to.

The security door of Hex's laboratory slowly closed, and in the silent and uninhabited laboratory building, a window was like a sudden firefly, echoing the bright moon in the quiet and cold night.

……

"What!? Hextech militarization? No, absolutely not! ”

After the candlelit dinner, Jace was left in the upscale tavern by Councillor Myrdalda, and with the afterglow of red wine, the flattering Councillor Myrdarda lived up to his expectations and made a request that he absolutely could not accept.

Joke aside, his willingness to agree with Heimerdinger's ideas was not only due to pressure from the president of the council and the president of the Yodel Institute of Technology, but also because the Atlas gloves and Hex's claws were too dangerous to be used as weapons of violence.

Now he is being asked to further modify the Atlas gloves and Hex's claws to make the two tools that serve the workers more efficient tools for killing?

Jace shook his head and said with a determined expression.

"Councillor Myrdalda, I created Hextech to improve people's lives and make it easier for workers to live, how can you ask me to transform these two tools of production into weapons? Doesn't that make me a war maniac? I can grant you all the other requests, but this is absolutely not possible. ”

In the face of this young talent in front of him, Mel seemed very patient.

"Mr. Tallis, you created the Atlas Gauntlet and Hex's Claws for the people of Piltover, right?"

Jace nodded.

"Yes, as a part of Piltover, I want to make life good for the residents of the progressive city."

Mel's expression was solemn, and Sakura's lips opened slightly.

"Of course, I know how admirable your intentions were, but now our people are being slaughtered by the Zaans.

At this time, the Zaun people used alchemy experiments to transform a group of extremely powerful alchemy warriors, they are not afraid of death, bloodthirsty and dangerous, there are many of them, even the magistrates are not their opponents, the heavy firepower purchased from the Noxian Empire is not enough to defend the entire progressive city, and the empire has rejected our trade request to purchase heavy firepower,

In this case, without a new weapon to defend the innocents of the progressive city, the progressive city will inevitably pay a terrible price, and with the brutality of the Zuans, if the magistrates are all defeated, the entire progressive city may be destroyed in one fell swoop.

Watching the people of Piltover die tragically at the hands of the Zauns, Mr. Tallis, is this the outcome you want to see? When the city of progress is full of corpses, what workers can benefit from Hextech? ”

Jace frowned, kneading his brow with his right hand, and was silent.

Mel placed his hand on the back of Jace's left hand and held it softly in Jace's somewhat surprised eyes.

"People will always take a stand for their position, and in the eyes of Mrs. Piltover, you are not a war maniac, you are a hero, a great hero who saved Piltover."

"But, but, what about the people of Zuan?"

Mel stared at Jace without blinking, and she saw weakness in Jace's eyes.

"The Zaun are war criminals, invaders, our enemies, and any mercy is cruel to oneself in the face of the enemy, Jace, think of the magistrates who died in the raid, what did they do wrong? Are they just standing guard for the harmony and stability of Piltover and are about to be killed by the Zaans? Did the Zaun take our feelings into account when they killed us? ”

“……”

"I know it's still hard for you to accept the suggestion of the militarization of Hextech for a while, so let's do your own research on related products first, improve the Atlas fist and Hex's claws,

If the law enforcement team can suppress the riot in Zaun, you can destroy those hidden Hex weapons, I will never force you to show those dangerous weapons, if the law enforcement team cannot resist the attack of the Zaun, you can show everyone your ability, and then I will stand up for you and mass-produce Hex weapons,

With this achievement, I'm sure I'll be able to convince all the legislators to get one more seat, Jace, what do you think? ”

"Parliamentarian Myrdarda ......"

"When no one is around, call me Mel."

Speaking of this, Jace can no longer say no more refusal, and if he refuses, the woman in front of him will definitely turn against him.

“…… Mel, I see. ”

Receiving Jace's reply, Mel smiled with satisfaction and stood up and kissed Jace lightly on the cheek.

Jace froze, looking a little silly.

"I've always believed in your integrity and kindness, Jace, you're not just a scientist, you're a good man with empathy, and Hex's weapons are dangerous, but I believe that with your supervision and management, they can be used to protect Piltover's path."

After speaking, the woman walked into the bathroom with her hips crossed, and the frosted glass door closed gently, leaving a deep gap.

"It's not very peaceful in the progressive city these days, I wonder if Councilor Tallis is willing to protect me for one night?"

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Jace, who was a little dry, took a sip of the red wine in the glass and drank the red wine in the glass, rubbing his hands at a loss, but it was difficult to take his eyes out of the gap that he was not paying much attention to, as if it was a bottomless black abyss.

The blue-haired girl in his mind flashed away, thinking of the childhood sweetheart who grew up with him, Jace was a little hesitant, but considering the power of the Mydalda family, it seemed that he had no other choice now.

Moreover, it is not certain whether his childhood sweetheart likes him or not, and in the days after he was tried by the council, the girl did not care much about him.

Speaking of which, Congressman Tallis ...... These words seem to sound quite nice, but who would have thought that the outcast of the academy referred to by Wanfu would one day sit in that inner circle and be respected by everyone?

"If Congressman Myrdarda needs me, it's an honor for me Jace Tallis."

……

Zu'an, Trench District,

This is a mechanical processing factory affiliated with a certain alchemy baron, specializing in the production of a clockwork mechanical toy that is popular in the upper city.

Since the outbreak of the war between the two cities, most of the factories have ceased production, and after the resources and forces were integrated by Hilko to strengthen the warriors, these factories began to produce alchemical weapons, which were used to ration the enhanced warriors and enhance their combat effectiveness.

Lester walked through the workshop filled with yellow-green alchemy exhaust, and Caitlin in a breathing mask followed closely in a maid's outfit,

For Caitlin, the mere presence of such an environment was an unbearable ordeal, but in the man's mouth, there were tens of thousands of Zaun workers who worked in the factory for more than ten hours a day, with less than four days of rest a month, and a month's salary that could not even afford a ticket to the Pierce d'Velop.

Caitlin, who was still a little uncomfortable with the maid's knee-length skirt at first, finally found that compared to her bare knees and calves, the gaze of the man in Zuan made her more confused, and under the man's gaze, the shame brought by the maid's knee-length skirt was not very concerning.

The workers on the factory floor also noticed the young girl, and after a few fierce glances, they retracted their gaze in fear, it was not easy to distinguish who was easy to mess with and who was not easy to mess with, and there were many old gangsters who threw poison and weapons to shoot black guns, but no one would be stupid enough to provoke the distinguished guests who were personally received by the alchemy baron.

"Baron Finn, can you tell me what the situation is?"

As a die-hard supporter of Hilco, Finn knew that the man in front of him was the envoy of the Noxian Empire who decided the fate of the drill, so he naturally did not dare to slack off in this situation - although it was difficult for him to understand why such a noble task would drill into the sewers without a breathing apparatus.

"That's right, there are many workers on night duty who always say that there is a big rat that can talk to people living in the sewers of the factory, which scares a lot of people, and I have sent people into the sewers many times to probe but have found nothing, and there is no way to pass people at the end of the sewers, so this matter can only be stopped.

My lord, maybe this is just the crazy babble of the workers, I don't think it can be taken seriously. ”

Lester smiled.

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not, the important thing is that Hilco asked you to cooperate with my actions, right?"

Finn bowed his head respectfully.

"Of course, I'll cooperate with you."

"That's fine, take me to the sewers, right?"

"Please come with me."

Caitlin silently followed behind Lester, she had heard Lester say that she wanted to meet the talking rat before today, but she didn't expect that she would actually take herself into the sewers of Zaun,

For Mrs. Piltward, the sewers of her own house were disgusting enough, let alone the sewers of Zaun, which was the sewer of Piltover, which was a terrible environment she could not have imagined.

Most crucially, she wears high heels and white stockings.

"Caitlin, if you don't want to go down, you can stay here."

In a vertical sewer with an indescribable smell that even a respirator could hardly save the nasal cavity, the man in front of him turned his head with a smile and gave himself a choice.

"As your valet I will follow you."

Caitlin didn't hesitate to give her own answer, for him, where a man can go, she will definitely go.

"In that case, let's go."

Lester was the first to climb the stairs into the sewers, and Baron Finn, who was not wearing the appropriate gear, gave Caitlin a complicated look in his eyes, gritted his teeth and followed.

Caitlin was the last to enter, and when she landed on the ground, she was shocked to find that the foul-smelling sewer floor was clean. (End of chapter)