Cyberzaun, Machinarium

"Dancing Corridor, I'm going to look for Little Finger. He'll have news about my sister."

Chapter 70: Zaun in Turmoil (Part 2)

Enoch is not in a good mood now.

On the one hand, there were new graffiti on the table, and on the other hand, the girl who was supposed to jump out first was gone.

"Hey, where's Jinx?" Enoch stopped Tamara who was about to hang up her windbreaker and asked stiffly

"I do not know."

"You don't know? What do you mean by that? How could you not know?" Enoch frowned. "I asked you to help Jinx these two days, but now she's gone. You say you don't know?"

Tamara bowed her head and apologized, "Miss Jinx went out this morning. She didn't tell anyone, but..."

"Just what? Stop hemming and hawing and tell us all the bad things that happened at once."

"Jinx went to the warehouse this afternoon to borrow the experimental weapon 'Katyusha' rocket launcher. The guy who helped said that she wanted to install it on a ship... but not our ship."

Enoch took a deep breath and waved his hand to let Tamara leave. Seeing the door close, Enoch finally couldn't help it and smashed the wine jug beside him to the ground.

"Damn it, damn it"

Throwing himself heavily on the sofa, Enoch closed his eyes tiredly and rubbed his temples gently. Now the pardon he had worked so hard to prepare was no different from waste paper. If the situation got worse, he might have to write Jinx's name on it.

There was a faint sound of clothes rubbing against each other from behind, and a pair of small hands gently touched Enoch's temple from behind, kneading his tense nerves with a little force. Enoch leaned back on the chair with his head tilted back, staring at the girl's restless eyes above his head.

"I'm sorry, I just saw that you were too busy these two days, so I wanted to help you... Don't be angry, okay?"

"Hmm" Feeling the girl's gentle massage, Enoch adjusted his mood "Can you tell me what you did?"

"I saw you were busy with prison stuff lately, so I found a boat, drove it to the prison gate, blew it up, and then I left. No one saw me, and I didn't leave any graffiti. I did everything you told me to do before."

"Then why did you hide? I thought I couldn't see you anymore."

"I didn't. I just stood behind the bookcase for a while. I just... just wanted to hear what you talked about with that woman when I was away."

Enoch reached up and gently stroked the girl's cheek. Jinx also rubbed her hand in response, her usually lively blue eyes became silent, and she looked lost.

"It's okay, there's no need to hide from me, we can solve this together."

..............................

"How should we solve this problem?"

Caitlin was pulled by Wei and ran across several blocks, carefully arriving at the dance corridor, watching Wei waiting and standing in front of a store that had been closed for a long time.

The store door in front of me was covered with unattended plants, and even the gate was entangled by some branches and leaves.

"Let's go in." Wei was sure that there was something here that could help her. Even though Enoch no longer had a shop here, this was still a base for her and Baobao and their activities.

"How do we get in? The door should be locked from the inside. We can't even pick the lock." Caitlin looked at it for a while and shook her head in disappointment.

"You can also pick locks?" Wei looked at the female law enforcement officer at the side curiously. "A young lady like you can also pick locks?"

"I've been trained," Caitlin said, trying to sound righteous.

"Haha, you're so cute." Wei chuckled, reached out to touch the dusty sign, pressed the button at the back lightly, and the door opened half-dead to both sides.

The goods on the shelves had long disappeared, and a thin layer of dust had accumulated. The only thing left in the room except for a table was a huge graffiti.

From the floor to the walls to the ceiling, all painted with abstract monsters with sharp teeth, this room looks like a horror theme park in an amusement park.

Caitlin leaned towards Wei imperceptibly, "There's nothing left."

"No." Wei stared blankly at the monkey portrait on the table, paused for a moment, and gently pressed the button where the eyes were.

"Little Finger is very insecure. He likes to prepare a lot of things in his place, a lot of unnecessary things."

There was a loud rumbling sound, and a hidden opening appeared in the wall behind the table. A ladder extended downwards, and a faint light shone from inside.

"Oh," Caitlyn exclaimed, and Wei picked her up by the waist and jumped into the open cave in a princess-like manner.

"What are you doing?" The blue-haired girl jumped up and frantically fixed her clothes while trying to jump away from Wei.

Unfortunately, the handcuffs prevented the officer from moving.

"Because I have to get you down from up there, otherwise how are we going to climb the ladder if we're tied together?" With a smug laugh, Wei used her arms a little to pull Caitlin to her side again and walked towards a wooden box on the side.

"Although I don't know what Little Finger is thinking, he is used to hiding something in every place, tools, weapons, medicine." Wei lifted the wooden cover with great effort and reached out to take out a few oil paper bags from the separated straw.

"Let's just cut this thing open first, okay? I can't run away"

After a long time of effort, the handcuffs that bound the two people together were finally removed, leaving half of the handcuffs hanging crookedly on each of their wrists, like some strange decorations.

Caitlin looked at the remains on her left hand in wonder, coughed lightly, and turned to Wei who was still searching, "What are you doing?"

"Find something that's handy," he said, throwing a black object over.

Catherine staggered to catch the weapon that was running towards her and looked at the rifle in front of her. There were some rails installed on the gun body, which seemed to be convenient for installing additional things. The nylon handle could be easily extended to adjust the distance.

"What is this? I've never seen anything like it. Where's the ammunition?"

Wei looked up and pulled the wooden lid that had been thrown aside. "Let me see... This thing is called AR-15 Beowulf. It's printed like that on the wooden board. As for the ammunition, it should be here. Look for it yourself."

Caitlin walked forward complicatedly, looking at the grip, scope, vertical handguard, and magazine placed on the wooden box. After a few attempts, she finished assembling the rifle and gently turned the large-caliber ammunition in her hands.

I never knew there was such a thing in the downtown. It is faster than the lever-action rifle used by the law enforcement officer. Why...there is such a dangerous weapon in the downtown.

Ha, you guys look down on Zaun. Littlefinger has so many good things here, but you just don't know what they are. Wei proudly showed off the electric shock gloves she had just put on to Wei, "You should have seen my previous boxing gloves, they were really powerful."

Honestly, Wei now looks like a silly kid showing off his treasured card collection, not caring whether the other party likes it or not.

"Thank you so much for your advice," Katrin said, installing the accessories on the gun one by one. "Now, it's time to report to the upper city."

"Wait a minute, I have to go somewhere else. I'm sure I can get some information there." Wei said hurriedly, "Maybe we can even find out who did the bombing. Are you coming?"

Caitlin slung her rifle behind her back and tugged at her uniform, "Lead the way."

Chapter 71: Zaun in Turmoil (Part 3)

Caitlin watched with a complicated expression as the person in front of her stuffed the strange green piece of meat into his mouth. Sometimes she even scraped the edge of the bowl with the piece of meat, hoping to get more yellow sauce.

Perhaps it was because the law enforcement lady's eyes were too dazzling, and Wei belatedly picked out a piece of meat that was just covered with sauce and handed it to the Piltover girl in front of her.

"Do you want to eat?"

"No, thank you." Thanks to Mrs. Gillaman's words and deeds, Katrin finally controlled herself and did not say anything embarrassing or unpleasant.

"What are you doing? You said you were going to get some information? But you're eating here..." Caitlin held back for a moment, then remembered that she had bought this thing with her own salary, so she finally gave up on the elegant way of saying it. "Eating slop here."

"This is my breakfast. Don't you Piltover people eat it? You should try it. Jellicle is a master at making this."

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you. Have you been lying to me? I feel like you're running around like a headless fly." Caitlin turned around anxiously, falling into deep anxiety.

"You can't say that." Wei waved the sign in her hand proudly at Caitlin. "If you want to get what you want, you have to find the right method first."

Just as Vi took Caitlyn through the Zaun tunnels towards the brothel, Piltover was in an uproar under the morning light.

The law enforcement officers were busy all night, and the consequence was that at least half of the shops were closed today. Citizens exchanged this gossip with each other, which they got from nowhere. For a time, the people of Piltover were in a panic, and the councilors had to hold an emergency meeting early in the morning to discuss how to calm the situation.

The meeting soon turned into a blame game, with councillors blaming each other for insufficient prison funding and inadequate security. The meeting only paused for a moment when Sheriff Max was summoned.

"Robbered cargo ships, attacked Stillwater Prison, killed prison guards, prisoners stormed Piltover, so many things happened, and you tell me you have no clue? I doubt your ability! Officer Max"

Councilman Polpok was the angriest one. After all, his business was most closely connected with local shops, and after the accident, he had suffered the greatest loss in property.

Councillors Hoskal, Surrey and Kewold exchanged glances implicitly and remained silent. Anyway, their businesses were not affected and instead they were supplemented by new channels. They did not care about the turmoil.

"I'm very sorry." Max lowered his head and explained quickly: "This incident happened very suddenly. I have done my best to prevent further harm and arrested some of the escaped criminals. I will deal with the remaining problems as soon as possible."

"Do you have a suspect, Sheriff Max?" Councilwoman Gillaman asked softly. She was really scared when her daughter ran to the downtown alone. Fortunately, she received the signal she left behind later. But even so, she wanted the riots to be quelled more than anyone else.

"Sorry ma'am, we're still investigating," Max said, suddenly remembering the uninvited guest who appeared at home a few days ago and said slowly, "But we have a suspicion, and I will find out as soon as possible."

After leaving the parliament in embarrassment, Max did not waste any time and immediately found the seemingly leisurely-looking Hilco in private.

"What are your people doing? Blowing up a prison in broad daylight? Are you crazy? Are you listening to me?"

"Calm down, my friend. I'm here to help you solve the problem, not to listen to you yelling." Hilco slowly roasted his cigar without even looking at the sheriff who was pushed back to his seat by Sevika.

"The council is very angry. They want everyone who escaped to come back. I only have two days." Secretly suppressing his anger, Max stood up and said goodbye. Before leaving, he secretly warned Hilco: "I hope you can manage your people well. Just like you promised, the lower city is under your control."

Looking at the sheriff who was leaving, Hilco pondered for a while, raised his head and blew out a smoke ring, then told Sevika, "Go and get those people here, it's time to knock them down."

........................

When Sevika found Enoch's office, he was braiding the hair of a girl sitting at the desk.

"Good morning, would you like a cookie?" Enoch did not stop what he was doing. He stuck his head out from behind the girl and nodded to the woman who came in through the door as a greeting.

"I don't think you'll be able to eat such greasy food later." Sevika snorted at Jinx who was staring at her fiercely, "Silko wants to see you, at the old place."

"I see." Enoch replied softly, "Wait until I finish dealing with this."

"Go now, no excuses allowed," Sevika opened the office door, "You have no choice, because some evildoer did it."

Enoch handed the unfinished braid to Jinx and gently touched the girl's forehead. "Stay here and I'll be back in a while, okay?"

Only when Jinx nodded angrily did Enoch follow Sevika who was leading the way in front of him, "I will follow you."

..............................

"Look who's here! Our genius inventor has arrived." Finn, who had a metal chin, was playing with the lighter in his hand. When he saw Enoch coming in, he immediately started to act sarcastic.

It's understandable, because Jinx has been giving him a lot of trouble. If it weren't for Jinx, Finn wouldn't have installed a metal chin.

But that doesn't mean Enoch has to endure the troubles of this troublemaker.

"If you don't know how to talk, just shut up. Be careful not to get your tongue caught in the wind... or you might lose your food."

The Alchemist Baron sat down and looked around: "Does anyone else have any opinions about me? You can raise them as soon as possible."

Everyone silently avoided Enoch's gaze. After all, everyone present was more or less involved in the business of smuggling Enoch's factory products. When they were making a lot of money, there was no need to be so blind as to provoke the financiers.

After waiting in silence for a while, Hilco took Sevika into the office. As the door closed, Hilco looked at his men around him, slowly lit up his cigar, took a puff, and then uttered his first words of the day.

"It seems like everyone is very active, which is good. It would be even better if someone could take the initiative to explain to me why it's so lively... Who of you is going to speak first?"

Seeing that no one spoke, Finn closed his lighter and took the lead. "You know me, Hilco. I'm just doing some normal logistics business. I have nothing to say. But it's not necessarily the same if there's a lunatic in the family."

"You know me, Hilco. I have been busy with the Weiguang matter according to your wishes. I have nothing to say." Renni, with an alchemical device on her face, continued to speak, nervously distancing herself from the matter.

"I don't have much to say. You know me, Hilco. I just stayed in the oxygen bar and didn't go anywhere." Escalypse explained quickly, carefully looking at the faces of the people around him.

Hilco nodded slightly and turned to the last person who was silent: "So what can you tell me? Enoch"

Chapter 72: The Alchemist Baron's Meeting

"In fact, I don't have much to say. Everything is going on as usual. I don't see any need to be surprised. We have no control over what the upper city does. We will search for two days as usual and the matter will be over."

Enoch tapped his fingers on the table in front of him, looking nonchalant.

The alchemist barons present looked at each other, exchanged glances silently, and secretly looked at Hilco who was sitting in the main seat and smoking a cigar silently.

No one knew what Hilco was thinking. He hid behind the rising smoke and said nothing. He just picked up the document with one hand and looked at it casually. After Enoch finished speaking, he just snorted and didn't make any comments.

After a moment of silence, Finn, who couldn't sit still, closed his lighter and started to attack Enoch: "Everything is normal? A prison was blown down by your weapon, and the prisoners who escaped are running around everywhere in Zaun. It's less than an evening. Which of you here hasn't been troubled by this group of people? The reason is that someone insisted on pampering a madman."

Finn said, leaning on the table and pressing towards Enoch. "I think some people are only suitable to stay in the factory and are not suitable to make any requests. We don't need people who don't have a big picture view."

"Big picture? How interesting. I'm surprised to hear this word from you. Can you please tell me how this smuggling gangster plans to develop himself? Can you tell me if you have any other clients besides the pirates in Bilgewater?" He didn't even look at Finn. This guy is just a wild dog picking up food everywhere. There's no need to show him a good face.

"I think the girl you raised is a big problem... We don't really need too many dangerous elements among us," Escaillot said, following behind. Most of his business is oxygen bars and transport planes, and these two places are most likely to be affected by unrest. "What type do you like? I can help you find a bunch of them in Zaun, or from Piltover... We can all give them to you directly, how about it?"

"Mr. Escariot, my dear friend, what have I done to deserve your humiliation? ... Do you want me to throw away my most beautiful pearls and exchange them for a pile of coarse stones? Please pay attention to every word you say, because it can bring friendship or a sharp knife in the back."

Iscariot turned his head away, not daring to make eye contact with Enoch. He could only listen silently to Enoch's increasingly dangerous tone.

"I have generously shared my works with everyone here, and I don't care what you do with them, but now you want to interfere with my only precious collection? This is not a good sign. Maybe I should follow tradition and bleed a little for those who don't respect me?..."

"We originally came together because we were dissatisfied with Piltover's exploitation of Lower City. What about now? You are all so scared that you can't sit still when Piltover makes the slightest move? I think now is the perfect time..."

"Be careful with your tone..." Hilco on the side finally spoke, interrupting Enoch's words softly: "You did something wrong, you should have been punished. I should have let you execute that girl yourself as punishment."

Hilco slowly exhaled a smoke ring, seemingly not noticing Enoch slightly retracting his prosthetic arm under the table. Sevika quietly took two steps forward and stood between Enoch and Hilco.

"But I understand that a boy can easily act on his emotions, so I want you to deal with all the prisoners who have fled to Zaun, including the gangsters who have interfered with our business."

Hilco put out his cigar in the ashtray in front of him and waved his hand to signal everyone to leave. Just when Enoch was about to push open the door, he deliberately warned: "Don't forget what we relied on to get to this point. Let me see your loyalty."