The agitated green liquid within the thick transparent tank seemed to sense the emotions of the onlookers and began to ripple restlessly.
Li Lin quickly glanced and approached a middle-aged couple on the other side.
If his guess was correct, they were likely the alchemical scientist who adopted Zac in the background story.
With Viktor holding Jayce on the other side, Li Lin had enough time to converse with them.
He courteously extended his right hand. "May the Gray never rise to your door. I'm Li Lin, a craftsman from the Kiramman family. May I inquire about your identities?"
The couple exchanged glances and, finally, the man stepped forward to shake hands.
"May the Gray never rise to your door. I'm Narek, and this is my wife, Ceryn. We were technicians in an alchemical laboratory."
"But we didn't know the lab was funded by Baron Takeda. Otherwise, we wouldn't have worked there..." Ceryn added promptly, as if fearing any misunderstanding.
"We won't delve into that now. Let's discuss his matter first," Li Lin pointed to the green liquid in the tank. "You mentioned... his name is Zac, right?"
He deliberately slowed his pace, using the personalized pronoun "he" to bridge the gap with the couple.
Of course, the effect was quite good.
Seeing Li Lin being amiable, the expressions of Narek and Ceryn relaxed under their face masks.
"Yes, yes, Zac, he's our son," Ceryn quickly replied.
"Can you briefly tell me about him?"
Li Lin had a general idea of Zac's background story, but he had forgotten some details, such as being captured by Takeda.
However, real-world events differed from the background, and he needed a more detailed understanding of Zach's character and how it aligned with the background.
With Li Lin's inquiry, Narek's eyes brightened, and he immediately began narrating, "It all started when a group of kids playing in the sewers first discovered Zac. They were playing by the edge of a sewer pool when they found some stones thrown back at them."
Once this incident spread, the residents of the sewers named this peculiar pool the "Venom Pool."
Later, a group of alchemical scientist forcibly extracted the liquid from the pool and brought it to their own lab.
They conducted various experiments and discovered that the green gel-like alchemical liquid could mimic the mental stimuli they experienced.
After numerous targeted experiments, even deliberately provoking Zac, many scavengers enhanced by alchemical technology died.
While most alchemical technicians believed it was a specific neural reflex, Narek and Ceryn questioned the ethical aspects of the experiments.
After an in-depth investigation, they found that the experiment was secretly funded by the chem-baron Takeda Saito, aiming to create an obedient and fearless enforcer.
Simultaneously, they learned the true name of this project—Zaun's Amorphous Combatant, abbreviated as Z.A.C.
Originally, Narek and Ceryn were considering how to act when they coincidentally found that Zac not only responded to external stimuli but sometimes acted autonomously.
This further confirmed that he was an intelligent, sentient being rather than just a mass of alchemical poison.
However, their research group leader did not share this view.
After subsequent events, Narek and Ceryn could no longer tolerate the experiment.
Just as they were carefully planning a long-term rescue to release Zac, Li Lin happened to lead the enforcers to eliminate Takeda.
Yet, before they could rejoice, the enforcers quickly sealed their alchemical lab and transported Zac to Piltover University.
They spent all their savings to inquire for a long time before "coincidentally" meeting Viktor at the academy.
As for how Narek and Ceryn, non-Piltover University personnel, managed to enter...
Li Lin turned to look in the direction of Jayce and Viktor.
At this moment, Jayce was furious. "Viktor, how could you do this? It's a violation of the academy's rules! If the academy finds out, you'll be expelled!"
Out of resonance as fellow Undercity residents and Viktor's compassion, he specially forged identity cards for Narek and Ceryn.
Luckily, they didn't have alchemically enhanced bodies; otherwise, they would have been exposed immediately.
"Calm down, Jayce. They are, after all, Zac's parents..."
Viktor wore an expression of helplessness, evidently accustomed to Jayce's loud arguments.
Moreover, what I did goes against the academy's rules. If your secret research on Hextech crystals were discovered before, wouldn't you also be expelled?
Jayce opened his mouth wide, suddenly speechless. After thinking for a while, he hesitantly retorted, "Well, it's different... we've achieved results in our research!"
"How is it different? Without Li Lin's help, you wouldn't have obtained any research results in a short time."
Victor leaned on his cane, strolling slowly to Li Lin, Narek, and Ceryn's side. "As long as no one reveals this, the academy won't find out."
"Yeah, we promise not to disclose this!"
"We won't let our benefactor lose his job."
Ceryn and Narek pleaded separately. Jayce, with a gloomy face, remained silent for a long time. Eventually, he sighed, looked away, and waved his hand at them.
"Fine, let Victor escort you out. For his sake, I won't report this to the academy... but you can't interfere with our experiments."
"But..."
Ceryn's face turned anxious, but Li Lin promptly interrupted, "Jayce, I remember you are against human experiments, especially those involving Chemtech. It's a suppression of human free will." He crossed his arms and sneered.
"That's right." Li Lin glanced back at Narek and Seruni. "You two wait here."
Immediately, he walked straight to the thick glass incubator containing Zac, manipulating the Hextech instrument on the side with a few movements.
Jayce suddenly had a bad premonition. "Li Lin, what are you doing?"
He hurriedly ran to Li Lin's side, wanting to stop his actions, but it was too late.
With a hissing sound, gas leaked out, and the incubator beside them slowly opened, and the dark green liquid inside flowed slowly to the ground.
Not only Jayce, but even Victor's expression changed. "Li Lin! Why did you open the incubator?"
"Are you insane?" Jayce rebuked, turning back. He quickly tried to press the emergency button on the experiment table, but Li Lin stopped him in time.
"When will you change your temper?" Li Lin stared at Jayce without kindness, then pointed to the green liquid on the ground. "Take a look for yourself."
Jayce frowned, not turning back yet, but heard the exclamations of Victor, Narek, and Ceryn.
Of course, their tones were only astonishment, without any fear.
Not only that, there was also a gurgling sound of viscous fluid piling up in the laboratory.
Jayce immediately turned around, his eyes widening in shock. His face instantly showed amazement.
In front of him, there was no pile of alchemical poison stacked on the ground. Instead, it was a monster with a nose and a face, complete limbs, and an extremely strong physique!
"Don't be afraid..."
Only hearing the dark green humanoid creature in front of him, trying to split its mouth into a smile, it seemed to be trying to imitate a human smile. At the same time, it spoke with a resonant voice.
"Zac is not a monster."
(End of this chapter)
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TN: I got tempted to changed the last line into "Zac is not a bad slime!" lol
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