Camille's decision to kill her own brother had severed the last vestige of weakness within her. The once vulnerable woman was now nothing but a shadow of darkness and cold.
In Li Lin's eyes, the current Camille had become nearly invincible, aligning perfectly with his mental image of "Lady Gray" However, she was not entirely without vulnerabilities.
Li Lin knew that Camille's former lover had long since passed away. The only thing that could be used to threaten her now was the Ferros family.
Li Lin was reluctant to exploit this, but given the current circumstances and Camille's actual intentions, he had no choice. Lady Gray was never a suitable shadow ruler. Though she claimed to maintain stability in the twin cities, her actions spoke otherwise.
Were the twin cities stable? No, they were not.
Without Li Lin's intervention, Zaun would have been threatened by the Chem-Barons, Renata Glasc, unstable Chemtech, and the transformation of Vander into Warwick, the Zaunite menace. Piltover faced Hextech smuggling, Noxian invasions, Council and noble family monopolies, corruption, and Jinx's widespread destruction.
Even when the Ionian demon, Khada Jhin, arrived to wreak havoc, Camille, leading elite enforcers, couldn't apprehend him. All these factors threatened the stability of the twin cities.
Since Camille took over the Ferros family and became Piltover's shadow ruler, none of these issues had been resolved. She hadn't even contributed as much to Piltover's stability as Caitlyn, the future sheriff.
Camille had always been selfish, acting primarily for the Ferros family, even when considering the twin cities. Her narrow focus and power struggles were short-sighted and detrimental.
Li Lin understood her, knowing she was unaware of the impending global crisis. This was why he opposed her plans for Piltover's control so vehemently.
"I've almost set the twin cities back on track, and you want to mess it up? Enough is enough."
Despite her dissatisfaction with Li Lin's strong stance, Camille had no choice. His arguments were valid, and he genuinely cared about the twin cities, aiming to elevate them.
There was another reason for her compromise: she couldn't defeat Li Lin. Not only in terms of individual strength but also because of his recent support for Zaun, with numerous advanced robots beyond her capability.
Moreover, she had heard rumors of Li Lin's connection with the legendary wind goddess, Janna.
Reflecting on the past year, Camille realized how far Li Lin had come, from a clock repair shop worker to his current status. Neither Piltover nor Zaun had ever seen such a prodigious talent.
Perhaps Li Lin could indeed bring about the transformation and lead the twin cities to the pinnacle of the world.
The next day, under Camille's directive, the Ferros family announced the "passing" of their head, Stevan. His grandniece, Abel Ferros, was named the new head of the family.
Cassandra, filled with anxiety, rushed to Li Lin's room early in the morning, almost discovering his secret rendezvous with Caitlyn the night before. She wanted to know what had happened the previous night: why had Stevan died right after Li Lin attended his gathering?
Despite her dislike for Stevan, Cassandra couldn't believe he was simply killed off. Li Lin, sticking to his agreement with Camille, explained that Stevan had died suddenly of a heart attack during the banquet. The unexpected event had caught everyone off guard.
Relieved that Li Lin was not involved in Stevan's death, Cassandra advised him to prepare for the upcoming funeral.
The news of Stevan's death shook all of Piltover, especially the prominent council members and influential families. They knew the Ferros family controlled the city from behind the scenes. With Stevan's death, they had hoped to seize power, thinking Abel would be an easy target.
However, when they saw Camille at Stevan's funeral, their ambitions quickly turned to fear.
Lady Grey no longer concealed her movements, and with a naive young girl becoming the head of the family...
They could guess why Camille was no longer hiding her true identity.
Stevan's funeral was extremely grand, with nearly all the notable families of Piltover sending representatives to bid him farewell. This was Camille's final tribute to her brother.
The Kiramman family was represented by Cassandra, Tobias, Li Lin, and Caitlyn.
Kai'Sa, not being part of the Kiramman family and considering various factors, was not invited by Li Lin to attend the funeral.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Lin met many people he had never encountered before.
For example, Jarro Medarda, the son of Medarda family head Jago Medarda, returned from an expedition in Shurima, much to his old father's relief.
There was also Professor Lamel, a renowned archaeologist from Piltover University.
He is Ezreal's uncle and the primary leader for future excavation activities in the Howling Abyss, known in the great brawl as the shopkeeper for the red team.
Next to him were a young couple, chatting and laughing with him.
According to Jayce's introduction, they were also famous archaeologists from the Archaeology Institute, just returned from Shurima, and relatives of Professor Lamel.
Li Lin then realized they were Ezreal's parents. Their disappearance during an archaeological expedition in Shurima had set Ezreal on his path as an explorer.
Li Lin felt conflicted about whether to prevent Ezreal's parents from continuing their archaeological ventures in Shurima.
In the original timeline, Ezreal searched for them for many years without success, likely due to their untimely demise.
It was not in Li Lin's nature to turn a blind eye, but he didn't know during which expedition they would disappear, making it difficult to dissuade them.
After careful consideration, Li Lin decided against meeting and persuading them.
The funeral was not an appropriate time, and he had no reasonable excuse to warn them.
He couldn't just say he knew the storyline and that they would perish if they continued their archaeological work, could he?
Moreover, they had chosen the path of archaeology and dared to venture into dangerous places like Shurima, aware of the potential risks.
Even if Li Lin warned them about possible death, they would likely dismiss it with a laugh and not take it seriously.
After a nearly full day of activities, Stevan was finally buried in the "family cemetery" behind Blue Mist Manor, marking the end of the funeral.
...
...
Now, for the first time, the twin cities were truly stable, with all threats thoroughly dealt with.
Li Lin could finally focus on advancing the technological level of the twin cities.
Regarding Piltover's "distorted" system—family power, leading to city-wide corruption and decadence—it couldn't be changed overnight. It would require gradual improvement of laws, with the help of councilor Cassandra.
The immediate priority was to enhance the twin cities' combat capabilities to prepare for upcoming global crises.
Over a month had passed, and Li Lin handed over the designs for daily household furniture to Cassandra for production arrangements.
Additionally, Zaun, rich in oil, had many mines in the sewers where this strategic resource was discovered.
Li Lin dispatched people and mechanical soldiers to continue exploring for oil in the sewers, finding new mines with high yield and quality.
However, these mines belonged to the former Chem-Baron Adrien, so Li Lin had sent people to negotiate a purchase.
With ample oil and two refineries, Li Lin could replace the expensive Hextech Hovercycles and Hextech Motorcycles with ordinary motorcycles for production.
Besides bicycles for daily travel, motorcycles would become a significant convenience for people.
As for cars, given Piltover's dense and crowded buildings and road conditions, it seemed unlikely to be feasible.
Unless Piltover expanded outward and redeveloped the main urban area, it might achieve a car-centric transport system like Earth.
The development of the upper city was orderly, and Zaun was even more so.
The first temple of the Wind Goddess had been established in the middle plaza, with devout followers selected by Li Lin and Janna serving as bishops and priests, guiding the daily prayers of worshippers.
According to AI statistics, there were currently over twenty thousand registered followers of the Wind Goddess, and the number was rapidly increasing.
The Piltover temple had yet to be built, and many upper city believers frequently took the lift to the middle plaza for worship.
Janna's divine power was quickly recovering, soon to surpass its peak.
Thus, Li Lin expedited the production of a new batch of mechanical soldiers and set them to build wind power stations on a large scale in Piltover's canyon.
With Janna's help, this power station would provide most of the twin cities' electricity, far exceeding the current tidal power station and several thermal power stations combined!
Moreover, the Kiramman family's expedition team returned with the first batch of minerals from Shurima that could be used to extract fusion elements.
Combined with special magical materials mined by Rumble from the outskirts of Bandle City, Gaboga's energy problem was solved.
In just a few weeks, Li Lin's focus on Gaboga's right arm, the so-called "Gaboga's Fist," would be completed.
If future world crises were set aside, everything in the twin cities was thriving.
The era of change had arrived.
(End of this chapter)
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