"Why are there gunshots over there? What's with all the commotion?"
Hospit was sitting in the warehouse office, sipping liquor, enjoying the peaceful life brought by the Zaunites’ strike that had halted the warehouse operations.
After all, this wasn’t his responsibility.
But then he suddenly heard noise coming from the bridge above.
"Don’t tell me those Zaunites are charging the bridge again? So persistent."
Hospit downed the liquor in one gulp and slumped into his chair, completely relaxed.
He didn’t think those dumb and foolish Zaunites could cross the bridge—his cousin had just sent over a batch of new firearms yesterday.
Those Zaunites without guns or manpower—how could they stand a chance?
Bang!
Just as he was daydreaming about where to go for afternoon tea and picking up his cousin’s favorite Noxian craft beer to spark some camaraderie, a huge force suddenly lifted him up.
"Yo, Boss Pete, good afternoon."
Renni grinned as she grabbed him by the neck.
"You’re! Damn Zaunites! How did you—!"
As he snapped back to reality, Pete saw that he was surrounded by a group of people,
All of them reeked of a pungent odor.
No doubt about it—they were those despicable Zaunites!
How could they have made it here!
Ah!!
Before he could figure it out, a fist smashed straight into his face.
This pampered noble was knocked unconscious instantly.
"What a fragile Piltover man."
Sevika remarked casually.
"Big Sis, we’ve finished the inventory. A lot is missing. Looks like they’ve already shipped out a whole boat."
The underling who had questioned earlier had followed after all.
He held a list in his hand—just finished tallying the warehouse stock.
"Missing? You’re sure you didn’t count wrong?"
Sevika’s heart skipped a beat as she heard that.
Seeing the underling shake his head, she immediately spoke up.
"Hurry and take the list to Silco."
Then she turned to Renni, who was still holding the Piltover old man, and shouted.
"Renni, stop playing around. Are there any other warehouses nearby?"
"There is. Over there is a warehouse storing goods from Shurima, owned by the Kiramman family."
"Let’s go! See if there are any supplies!"
...
"Huff~ huff~"
Luo Huan sat on the ground taking deep breaths, gnawing on two meat strips.
That burst just now had drained a lot of her magic power.
She was feeling mentally exhausted.
"Uncle Vander, are you okay?"
She glanced at Vander, still standing at the head of the bridge, and asked.
But Vander didn’t answer. He was staring at Silco, who was standing on the big statue, directing the brothers to set up makeshift defenses, and taking deep breaths of Piltover’s fresh air.
"Hahahaha, hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
Laughter erupted from him.
Though he was laughing, tears kept streaming from the corners of his eyes.
"We crossed the bridge, brothers. We finally crossed the bridge!"
He showed no signs of Glimmer’s side effects at all. With his huge hands, he suddenly lifted Luo Huan high into the air.
"Thank you, Luo Huan, thank you! Hahahaha, we finally crossed the bridge!"
As he spoke, the burly man gently set Luo Huan down, then sat on the planks of the Day Bridge, laughing and crying.
Before his eyes, he no longer saw Luo Huan, but the dozens of brothers and sisters who had trusted him and Silco completely, sacrificing themselves to charge the bridge.
"We finally made it."
Silco merely glanced over, then wiped away the tear at the corner of his eye and turned back to continue directing everyone.
"Yeah, we crossed the bridge."
Luo Huan also sat beside Vander, looking at the Day Bridge now littered with enforcers and a few Zaunites, and spoke.
This… this could be considered fulfilling her parents’ wish.
Wiping the tears from the corner of her eye, she murmured softly.
A gentle sea breeze blew through, dispersing the strong stench of blood from the bridge.
At some point, Corin Reveck had walked over and now looked at the crying Vander in amazement.
"This is practically the perfect Glimmer test subject."
Behind him, other Zaun brothers and sisters who had taken the same dosage of Glimmer at the same time were sprawled all over the ground, panting.
Some even had drool trickling from the corners of their mouths, looking dazed.
Compared to Vander, who was full of life and even reminiscing with clear thoughts, it was just absurd.
In any other place, he could be called the exclusive “coffin-dragging king,” a pointy-headed legend of drug resistance.
...
Inside Piltover Council.
"Those damn Zaunites! They actually charged through! And they took over the warehouse that was supposed to ship goods to Noxus! They even captured my brother!"
Hoskarl roared with bloodshot eyes, completely discarding any noble demeanor.
"What the hell are those enforcers doing! The Hos family just sent a batch of equipment over! And they still couldn’t stop those useless Zaunites!"
His eyes fell on Councilor Kiramman—clearly, he suspected her family had embezzled the equipment he sent, and maybe even hinted to the enforcers to let the Zaunites pass.
Otherwise, how could those rabble, who had nothing but brute force and lived in such filthy conditions, possibly charge across the Day Bridge past well-equipped and well-trained enforcers?
"Councilor Hoskarl, mind your tone."
Old Cake glared back coldly.
The enforcers' crushing defeat had already dealt a blow to the Kiramman family, and now she had just received news that the Shurima goods warehouse under the Day Bridge had been seized by the Zaunites.
Her mood was already on the verge of snapping. After barely calming the family, she rushed over for the council meeting.
And now this guy had the nerve to shout in her face! If she didn’t know that arguing now was pointless and that they had to rally forces to deal with the Zaunites,
She would’ve flipped the table and stormed out already.
"What exactly happened here?"
Heimerdinger, who had been called over to preside, was a bit stunned. He had just been in the middle of a brand-new mechanical construction experiment when someone knocked and summoned him.
The moment he walked in, it was this chaos—this scene really reshaped his impression of these two councilors.
"Zaunites rioted, broke through the Day Bridge, enforcers were defeated and retreated…"
He muttered the contents of the report before him in a low voice, his eyebrows rising.
"Why did they riot again? What was the reason?"
He brought up the question that hadn’t been asked earlier.
Devoted to science as he was, Heimerdinger was no fool—he just had almost no information about Zaun.
Ever since Piltover and Zaun split, he hadn’t been back there in a long time.
Under the councilors' deliberate control, that information bubble had been inflated to the limit.
"Does that even matter, Councilor Heimerdinger?"