Cyberzaun, Machinarium

Refusing the ground crew's offer of supplies and shelter, Enoch leaned against the front hatch, quietly waiting for the girl to climb out by herself.

After waiting for a long while, the sound of mechanical hinges opening and closing was heard from behind.

"Did I do something wrong?" Jinx sat outside the cockpit, hugging her calves, with her long braids gently resting on Enoch's shoulders.

Gently pulling the girl's hair, Enoch nodded gently, "From a normal value perspective, yes, the behavior just now can be considered as torture."

"Then do you hate me?" Jinx asked in a low voice. Her tears had already stained her originally pretty face. The girl could only wipe them heavily, trying hard to force a smile, and stood in front of Enoch in a flattering manner.

"No," he took the girl's hand and gently pulled her into his arms, "I like you so much, don't you remember? We are both bad guys, so we will never separate."

"I'm sorry, I... I screwed up again." Jinx cried silently in Littlefinger's arms, with only occasional sobs coming out. "I'm just... why am I always hated by everyone? Why can those people be so high and mighty and accuse me?"

"I admit, I lost control, I wanted to drag that Piltover girl into this..."

"It's okay." Enoch held the girl tightly in his arms. "I understand you. I also want to keep you by my side."

"Then you have to tie it tighter." Jinx rubbed Little Finger's chest hard for a while, and then she cried like a kitten.

"Thank you"

Chapter 106 Collateral Damage

When Wei finally got off work, she almost immediately rushed to Little Finger's office in anger.

"You can't go in now." The blonde secretary stopped the bull-like woman and forced her to stop at the door.

"Move aside, I know Littlefinger, I know him very well, and I want to see him now."

"I remind you." The suddenly rising tone interrupted Wei's actions. Seeing the pink-haired tomboy stop temporarily, Tamara returned to her normal tone.

"I remind you that since the end of the One-Day War, the law enforcers no longer have the power to enforce the law in Zaun. You have no right to yell here, especially to your boss. You should maintain basic respect."

After staring at Tamara for a while, Wei fiercely took off her blue law enforcement uniform and threw it aside, saying word by word, "Now, please go and inform Littlefinger that an old friend is here to see him."

"Wait a moment." Tamara turned around lightly, picked up the walkie-talkie on the table and asked for instructions, then nodded to Wei: "You can go in, Mr. Enoch is waiting for you inside. He asked me to remind you to keep your voice down, because someone is resting."

With a snort, Wei pushed open the tightly closed door.

Enoch was still the same as Wei remembered, sitting behind his desk, spinning the cup pretentiously day after day.

But the situation on the other side was a little beyond his imagination. Jinx was curled up on the sofa with a thin blanket covering her, and her clothes were scattered everywhere.

The weak expression of the girl in front of him shocked Wei. It was rare for her to open her mouth but say nothing.

After calming down, Wei quietly walked around the clothes on the ground and slowly walked in front of Enoch.

“Please have a seat”

Wei slammed the chair in front of the table away and hammered it angrily, breathing heavily but not knowing how to start.

"Sorry," Enoch stood up and cleaned up the mess on the floor. "I wasn't supposed to see any guests this afternoon, so the office is a bit messy... What do you want to say?"

"What's this? Since when did you have no psychological burden about killing people?" Wei tried to lower his voice, sounding like a lion roaring.

"I don't deny that what happened today was indeed excessive, but believe me, at the moment, no one thinks this is a relaxing and fun thing."

He reached out and took a bottle of Demacia craft brew and handed it to Wei. "I know clearly that what I did was unjust, so you don't need to blame me anymore."

"I just don't understand why she has changed so much." Wei leaned dejectedly on the desk, staring at Jinx's relaxed little face after she fell asleep. She didn't look crazy at all now.

Enoch gently put his coat on Wei who had taken off her coat. "Then why do you have so many tattoos?"

"To remember, to stay sane..." Wei replied sullenly, biting the cap off the bottle and taking a gulp. "Vander taught me to be an upright person, but I found... it's too difficult for me."

"Because you are the strongest one, he has high expectations of you as well." Enoch looked at the stunned Wei for a while.

"You're the kind of person who can get up on your own after falling into the mud, so I hope you go to Piltover. I really think you can become the sheriff. Compared to you, both Jinx and I are much weaker than you, so after she fell into the mud, she could only try to reach out and grab the star that belongs to her, and in the process, she inevitably dragged others into the water."

“I don’t want her to continue like this.”

"No one wants this, but she thinks she has no other way to prove herself, so...all I can do is stay with her."

Wei glanced at Littlefinger who was helping to clean up beside the sofa and warned in a low voice: "I think if you continue to spoil it like this, Jinx will drag you down with her and drown. I don't want to see that day, but she doesn't want to see me now, so you have to take good care of her. I don't want to see anything happen to you."

"How can I manage it? She is the first person who relies on me and the only one who will not leave me. Do you think I am too powerful? I am just an asshole. It is best not to have too high expectations of me."

Wei was slightly stunned. "You have a very clear self-positioning. Anyway, thank you for accompanying her... You know where I live, and you are always welcome to bring her over."

"Thank you." Enoch and Wei hugged each other like old friends. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he whispered to Wei, "Both Zaun and Piltover are not clean. You have to be vigilant. My secretary is probably a spy. So, apart from Jinx and me, don't believe any secret information from me."

Patting Wei's back heavily, Enoch regained his usual smile, picked up the bottle of wine next to him and handed it to Wei. "I guess Miss Caitlin is not feeling well now. Please give me an apology."

After looking at Enoch solemnly, Wei took the bottle as usual, nodded, and walked out, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Wei turned to look at Enoch and said, "We captured a few pirates alive from the group that robbed Noxus during the day. We intend to put them in jail like before. But Max asked me to test your opinion, so..."

"Hang them!" Enoch said without hesitation, "They are pirates. There is no need to sympathize with them. Give them a good meal and then just hang them."

“I thought you would let them go.”

"No way. I won't abuse them, but that doesn't mean I will be kind. I know what I'm doing."

"Okay," Wei nodded and put her hand on the door handle. "One last question. If one day, she...she doesn't lose control, but goes completely crazy, what will you do?"

"I don't know, but I'll definitely take good care of her."

………………

"Welcome, mother, you are here in a hurry this time."

Mel Midalda and his adjutant were waiting quietly at the dock, looking at the Noxian soldiers lined up, feeling a little dissatisfied.

"I saw a good show on the road. To be honest, I was the one who got it this time. You never told me that Piltover had such powerful weapons." Lady Midalda looked at her daughter with satisfaction.

"Don't mention this anymore. The powerful weapons you think belong to Piltover. They are from Zaun."

"That's great. We have even more reason to talk to their owners, in the Noxian way." Midalda didn't care. She probably knew more about Zaun's weapons than her own daughter.

"We have just ended the unrest. You've only been in Piltover for a minute and you're ready to stir up trouble that is not easy to calm down? This is a city of technology, not your battlefield." Senator Mel retorted to his mother with a headache. It was obvious that it was difficult for the fox to keep up with the wolf's thinking.

"Don't worry, little girl. We won't do anything to your playground." Another charming woman walked slowly out of the darkness of the cabin. "I will make him cooperate with us willingly."

Chapter 107: Cassiopeia du Coca

Sometimes liking or hating someone is more of an instinct.

The woman who just got off the boat immediately put Mel on high alert. He looked at his mother in confusion. Mel really wanted to know what was happening in Noxus now. How could such a venomous woman take a boat to Zaun with his mother?

Given my mother's past personality, a woman who could be reminiscent of a fox or a poisonous snake would most likely be taken as a target by her.

Meier quickly gathered his thoughts and realized that he might be too tired these days. He cleared his throat and showed his usual calmness: "Welcome to Piltover, ma'am. I believe you will find a suitable place for you in this city of evolution."

The charming woman covered her mouth and chuckled. This simple action easily attracted the attention of everyone around her. The woman was very satisfied with her influence and gently shook hands with Mel. "I am Cassiopeia du Cocao. It's a pleasure to meet you. I believe that as you said, you will make me get what I want."

"Du Kecao..." Meier hesitated. If he remembered correctly, this surname represented a powerful general who led Noxus to expand to Shurima. Along with his great name, there were also legends of assassinations.

No one knew how the two were connected, but Mel still politely invited them to move into the manor that had been vacated long ago.

"I heard that you seem to have found a treasure. Would you like to show it to me?" Cassiopeia walked side by side with Mel without any hesitation, like a pair of harmonious sisters.

"Yeah, your vision is good, but it doesn't seem to be the best? I saw those flying things in the sky on the way here. I heard that a Zaun made them?" Lady Midalda followed slowly from behind, slightly raised her chin, and looked at the gorgeous private dock proudly.

"He is a Zaun alchemist baron named Enoch. Heimerdinger once said that his work was crazy, as strange as oranges growing on a grape trellis. Moreover, most of the weapons he designed were not designed for victory, but for conquest... I have never understood the adjectives used by these researchers, but... I have some understanding of it. A few days after the One-Day War, many people fell into nightmares. The roar of those machines was lingering, and the sound of the tracks rolling over the road could silence the busiest commercial street."

Mel sighed bitterly, she really didn't expect that there would be such weapons in the lower city, and the fact that they easily broke through Piltover's defenses really caught her off guard. Fortunately, Heimerdinger as a trump card suppressed Hilko's greed to a certain extent, otherwise the two cities would not be in a stalemate now, but Zaun would be squeezing Piltover.

"This is really interesting, Mr. Enoch...right? Could you please introduce me to someone?" Cassiopeia stopped and looked at Mel seriously.

After a confused pause, Mel said uncertainly: "It's difficult. He rarely attends meetings and is now busy with the reorganization of law enforcement officers. But I will send him an invitation, but..."

"It's a request for a visit." Cassiopeia interrupted Mel's words and corrected her, "I want to go to his laboratory. It must be very interesting."

"I'll arrange it as soon as possible." Mel nodded, looked at the woman and waved with a smile, boarded the specially prepared airship, and left the platform.

"You'd better be careful." Mrs. Midalda slowly stood beside her daughter and whispered, "Although this woman is an ally, don't believe everything she says."

"In the end what happened?"

Councillor Midarda waved his hand, and all the soldiers around him evacuated from the dock. When there was no one around, he looked at his daughter tiredly, "Your brother died because he was on the wrong side. I came here to see if the Hex you mentioned can help the family."

"Hex is not a weapon," Mel subconsciously refuted her mother. She remembered how her mother chopped off the heads of enemies one by one when she was a child, regardless of their pleas for mercy.

"Then turn it into a weapon!!" Mrs. Midalda turned around and stared at her smart but too kind daughter without any doubt. "We are in trouble."

"Jericho Swain suffered a great loss in Ionia. His own hand was chopped off, and 7% of the soldiers he led died without even seeing the enemy. Originally, this was a good opportunity to attack him, but I didn't expect that this damn guy got the support of Darius... He is now purging those who disagree with him, including our family.

Cassiopeia... this woman is very mysterious, she doesn't seem to be serving Du Kecao closely, that's why she followed me here."

"She wants Hextech? But I don't think she's in a hurry." Mel was a little surprised. After all, the woman didn't even ask about Jace.

"She wants it, but she's not in a hurry. Magic is not difficult for her to obtain. What she wants is Little Finger Enoch."

Mrs. Midarda looked at the astonishment on Mel's face with satisfaction. "You didn't expect it, did you? I know that Zaunite better than you do, because he just went around Demacia and left behind a lot of troublesome iron cans. He also defeated Swain personally."

He pointed to the Huey helicopter patrolling over the city and the port. "It is said that he and his men were sitting on that thing and blew up the mage army. Less than half a year later, I saw with my own eyes that he took out something even more deadly. That guy just hovered next to my ship and provoked me..."

"I'd say he's more Noxian than you are in some ways."

"If you mean more professional killing, I don't really look like a Noxian."

"No, thinking, my daughter, his way of thinking is very... strange." Lady Midarda sighed and explained to her daughter, "When he broke through the proud army of Noxus in less than a morning, someone ordered a study on him, to study his weapon design concepts, defense methods, and whether he could serve Noxus. Before we came here, we already knew where he lived, his favorite food, spices, and drinks."

"Some people think that since he can stay in a poor place like Zaun and become a thug for an ambitious man, he may join Noxus. As long as the people around him can be controlled, he can be put on a suitable collar and made to serve the empire, so the woman can't wait to use her fists to pull him to her side."

"And you? My naive daughter, you foolishly became Cassiopeia's stepping stone."

Chapter 108: Visiting Members of Parliament

"Thank you for your reminder and advice." Mel adjusted his sleeves and asked casually, "Why don't you go find him? Instead, you use Hextech to weaponize it. Don't you always claim that you only want the best?"

Medarda sneered, looking at his daughter who was still used to being cautious and probing. "A wolf will not stay with a fox unless it is to avoid bigger hunters. Similarly, a normal person will not keep a madman around unless it is out of responsibility. No matter how precious the madman is to him, a normal person will be driven crazy one day."

"The staff collected comprehensive information and concluded that he was a paranoid inventor... Obviously, they came to this conclusion from the perspective of a normal person."

"In Noxus, if you want to understand a general, you don't need to collect information about him. I always look at what kind of people his adjutants or his confidants are. There can't be naive saints under a brutal commander. Similarly, Du Kecao basically doesn't have elites other than assassins. Their blade is the tongue. He has never produced a student who is eloquent."

Mel pondered for a moment, feeling that there was something else behind these words, as if he was not just talking about Baron Enoch of Zaun. "You mean, that woman doesn't represent her own family, but some other organization?"

Mrs. Midarda nodded with a little satisfaction. It seemed that her daughter was just too smooth and not tough enough, but not stupid.

"I didn't say anything. I've been at sea for a long time. Let me take a rest and try the special desserts here."

Looking at his mother pulling the pretty boy who came from some theater, Mel paced aimlessly on the platform, thinking about how he should deal with the next problem.

Obviously, someone who appears to be an ally may not necessarily be an ally, and so someone who appears to be an enemy may not necessarily be an enemy.

Gently turning the family ring on his finger, Mel suddenly realized that even now, his understanding of Bottom City was still limited. Perhaps he should visit the young man that Piltover has always wanted to ignore.

………………

Enoch was holding Jinx in his arms, admiring the newly erected gallows on the docks.

This thing can be said to be a very unmodern product. After all, hanging people up like bacon and letting them drift in the sea breeze can easily affect the mood of nearby residents.

But at the moment there is basically no one opposing it in the two cities. Zaun has always been indifferent to this matter. These sea rats can sit together to discuss business, but if you pick up a knife and kill them, they will not have too much psychological obstacles.

Under normal circumstances, someone in Piltover would probably say that this method is too cruel, but now these people in Piltover have been under high pressure for a while, and they urgently need a channel to vent - recently the zoos and museums in traditional tourist hotspots are very deserted, but the shooting range is packed every day.

Therefore, this rare execution successfully diverted the public's attention, and the Enforcement Bureau, after a period of turmoil and personnel replenishment, once again regained its ability to protect the public. This is really good news for the people of Piltover.

However, the crowd at the execution ground stood in an interesting way. No one maintained order, but the crowd spontaneously split into two groups. One side was well-dressed, with a proud look on their faces, while the other side was dressed like nouveau riche, with gold and gems all over their bodies, shouting loudly and carelessly, and their rough hands were covered with gems, sparkling in the sun.

With a helpless sigh, Enoch lay on Jinx's back, hugged the girl, and rested his chin lightly on the girl's head.

"What's wrong? Don't you like watching?" Jinx glanced upwards and skillfully pulled the boy's hand to her belly.

"I have no interest in executions. What worries me is that Hilco has successfully separated Piltover and Zaun, and the division is growing."

"Isn't that a good thing? They don't like us anyway."

"Not good... Both cities are too small. If they are separated, they will be easily swallowed up." Enoch sighed and bought two handmade blue bird amulets from a passing child and gently pinned them on the girl's hair.

"Do I look good like this?" Jinx fiddled with the little bell, and the bluebird made a crisp sound in the air.

Bending his head and kissing the girl, Enoch deliberately put his lips close to Jinx's ear and said, "No matter what you look like, you are the most beautiful in my eyes... How about we try to change the style someday?"

"That depends on your performance." Jinx smiled smugly, fiddling with the bluebird pendant she had just put on, secretly thinking about how to get a short skirt, but she changed the subject without leaving any trace, "When did you believe in this thing?"

“If this blue bird can help the two cities put aside their prejudices and truly become one, I don’t mind building a huge sculpture that can be seen from the port.”

"Then you have to wait. I think a lot of people want to kill you."