At the border docks of the Lanes, in the middle zone of the old canned goods factory.
The scorching firelight echoed through the factory along with the sound of iron hammers striking metal objects. Several thugs were forging weapons like saws, longswords, and curved blades for combat in front of a furnace.
Not far from the forging furnace, a roaring machine was continuously pouring a luminous purple liquid into small glass test tubes, which were then carefully placed into wooden crates by a few individuals.
Passing by, Silco casually took a potion from the box, motioning for his henchmen, dragging Vander behind him, to follow him to the iron bridge on the second floor.
Though Vander had already awakened from unconsciousness, his left eye, struck by a monster's powerful blow, still seemed a bit hazy.
"Do you know what this is?" Silco waved the purple potion in front of Vander's only open eye. "Power."
He uttered a word slowly.
"The power of us Undercity people... with this, we have the ability to resist the people of the Upper City."
"With just this?" Vander's tone was weak. "A bottle of broken alchemical potion?"
"I named it Shimmer. Even a faint glow will be our hope to survive... and you've just witnessed its power."
Silco had his men toss Vander next to him, then placed his hands on the railing, looking down at the people below busy producing Shimmer.
Vander spat out a mouthful of blood. "Even if you raise a group of monsters, you can't possibly defeat Piltover... It was true years ago, and it's even truer now."
"I don't need to fight them. I just need them scared."
Silco's expression remained indifferent as he glanced at the second floor, where Deckard was spitting out purple blood and the bald, tattooed henchman was making fun of him.
"You'll end up killing many people... for what? For the sake of reputation?"
"For respect!" Silco emphasized, "and opportunities, everything that the Upper City refuses to give us!"
"You once received respect from me and the entirety of the Lanes... but you're never satisfied." Vander endured the dizziness in his head and retorted.
Upon hearing this, Silco's anger surged, pointing angrily at the collapsed Vander.
"We once shared the same vision, Vander. We both dreamed of freedom! Not just for the Lanes, but the entire Undercity!"
He slowly squatted down, becoming more and more impassioned:
"Why should we be inferior to the people of the Upper City, oppressed by them? Why should the Upper City's garbage be dumped on the Lower City? Why should those industrial facilities producing smog and toxic gases be built in our homeland, tormenting and corroding our people?!"
Various complex emotions flashed across Silco's face. "The ideal we once pledged to make Zaun rise, have you forgotten it?"
Vander fell silent, seemingly recalling the oath he made with Silco and a group of brothers.
Everything for Zaun...
But...
Was that truly the right path?
After so many deaths without making any impact on the Upper City, his heart remained perplexed.
"I once trusted you so much..." Silco's eyes revealed a hint of pain. "But you? You betrayed me."
In the toxic river of Zaun polluted by alchemical waste, a burly man held the neck of a relatively slender man, pressing him into the water.
If the slender man hadn't touched the dagger in the burly man's belt sheath just before dying and fiercely slashed him...
At this moment, there might not have been a person named Silco.
Vander recalled this unforgettable scene, and a strong sense of guilt overwhelmed him. "The things I did to you, I have never been able to forgive myself. You were my brother..."
Silco's breath stagnated, then he sighed deeply. "No, I see you still don't understand."
He pointed to his crimson left eye. "Can you imagine that feeling? Can you imagine your body being contaminated by dirty water, with your nerves eroded by the river's deadly toxins...
"I just hated what you did to me, but as time passed, that hatred faded, and I realized something."
"To defeat powerful enemies, there's only one way: to become the embodiment of their fear, regardless of the cost."
Silco sighed, gritting his teeth, and continued, "I did hate you once, but I've respected you from the beginning to the end until you joined forces with the people of Piltover, willingly became their lackey, completely forgetting the hardships we once endured!"
"I didn't have a choice back then..." Vander weakly responded.
"Even if that's true, you have a choice now." Shilco raised a glimmering object in his hand, his expression gradually returning to calm. "Brother, we can finally fulfill our dream."
He emphasized the word "brother" with added weight.
"You simply don't understand... Piltover is something we can't contend with!" Vander, still clinging to a glimmer of hope, tried to awaken his brother's conscience.
"Do you not regret anything in your heart when those brothers who once resisted the upper city fell one by one before you, mercilessly slaughtered by the enforcers? Do you not regret leading them in rebellion, letting them die in vain?"
"For the sake of resistance, for our future, some sacrifice is inevitable, Vander!"
Silco snorted, stood up, and signaled to one of his subordinates on the iron bridge.
The subordinate slowly pushed open a massive iron gate.
In the room, a chair with metal handcuffs and shackles was placed in the center.
"Silco, if you want to kill or torture me, I can go with you, but I implore you, spare the lanes..."
This plea, delivered in a subservient manner, infuriated Shilco. "You'd rather die for an ideal than fight for it?!"
"Heh... I am no longer the person I used to be," Vander lightly chuckled, his words filled with bitterness and resignation.
"Then let me awaken your true nature."
Shilco averted his gaze and nodded to a bald, tattooed henchman who had approached them.
The bald henchman grabbed Vander's arm, dragging him into a nearby room, securing his hands and feet in the iron restraints of the chair.
"Are you going to use Shimmer on him now?" After securing him, the bald henchman asked Silco as he stood up.
"No, using Shimmer will heal his injuries and significantly strengthen him. No one will be able to stop him then," Shilco shook his head. "Besides, his subordinates will definitely come to rescue him..."
Before Shilco could finish his sentence, a loud bang came from the factory's main gate, followed by a series of gunshots and screams.
"What's happening?" He furrowed his brow, a sense of impending doom washing over him.
Soon after, a subordinate, with one arm severed and most of his body soaked in blood, staggered to Silco. He weakly reported, "There's a mechanical monster, leading Vander's men, breaking in..."
(End of this chapter)