When Li Ke returned home, Jinx was tinkering with weapons with Isha.
Little Isha cleverly made a grenade that looked exactly like Jinx. It was round, with an open mouth on top, and the sharp metal teeth were painted in various colors, making it look just like a little monster toy with an open mouth.
But this thing is no toy. The grenade that Isha made has an blast radius of at least five meters, not to mention the shrapnel and marbles inside. In other words, if Isha throws this thing in a densely populated area, it would be no problem to easily kill or injure twenty or so people.
However, Isha has not yet mastered the essence of the Flame Chompers.
After all, the grenades Jinx makes are not only electrified, but also have an adsorption effect. This means that if someone is thrown by the grenade and is nearby, they will be struck by the electric current, paralyzed, and unable to escape the blast radius.
But it's not surprising. Zaun has only produced one Jinx in all these years, who managed to create a weapon from a bunch of junk that could fight against the Upper City people. Her talent and ability are beyond doubt.
"Li Ke, Wei said you found me a mother."
As soon as Li Ke made a sound, Jinx looked at him, immediately went up to him, put her hands on her hips, and said...
"What? Looking for Jinx's mother?" Li Ke was stunned. What was all this about? When did I go looking for Jinx's mother?
"Vi said that you and Silco brought a middle-aged woman to the Capitol, and that woman even stayed in Silco's office." Jinx blinked her Big Eyes at Li Ke, then continued, "What does she look like? Is she pretty? Hey, Silco hasn't had a woman in so many years, I thought he was like Vi."
After reconciling with Vi, Jinx discovered a whole new world. She realized that the world wasn't just about men and women, but also women with women. And what about men with men?
Therefore, Jinx was worried about Silco's condition, after all, it was abnormal!
But now that I look at it, Silco isn't such an abnormal person after all.
"What are you thinking? You believe everything Vi says?" Li Ke chuckled, reached out and shoved Jinx on the forehead, then went into Isha's room and squatted down to look at the hand grenade she was making.
Isha proactively reached out and handed the grenade to Li Ke, her face beaming with a "Praise me, little one!" expression.
Li Ke took the grenade, smiled, and reached out to ruffle Isha's hair.
Jinx then ran over and pressed him for details about Silco.
Then, Li Ke told Jinx that Renata was there to make money for Zaun and told her about the woman.
The little sponsor's strategy was to listen attentively to everything Li Ke said, find everything he said interesting, and provide maximum emotional value.
In mid-November, Li Ke, Viktor, and Jayce arrived at an abandoned mine in Zaun. They went deep into the mine and hid the Hexcore, which was in a metal box, in a certain place.
Jayce came out and suggested that they should build another iron gate to seal off the area, which would be more secure, but both Li Ke and Viktor rejected his suggestion.
A magnificent gate towers above the abandoned mine shaft; isn't that practically announcing that something is inside?
While Zaun is improving, most people haven't truly given up their traditional trade of stealing and robbing. Haven't you seen Vi still leading her team around Zaun every day?
Therefore, leaving it alone is the best course of action.
Besides, Li Ke stuffed the iron box into the stone with his Riot Games, and then filled it with a few more stones, so there was no reason for him to be discovered.
There shouldn't be any problems if Wei arranges for a few more people to patrol this area.
Time flew by, and December arrived quickly. Renata had been working at the Parliament building for more than half a month. During this time, she produced several plans for the future direction of Zaun, three of which were approved by Silco and put into implementation.
These are: to promote Chemtech, to rid Chemtech of its terrible and ugly connotations, and to remove Piltover's preconceived notion of Chemtech as a word that exudes an aura of rust and decay.
Renata wanted to make Chemtech equally elegant and captivating, so as to profit from the wealthy Piltover people. In Renata's eyes, Zaun's alchemy was no less advanced than Hextech, especially alchemy potions. When used properly, they could bring mental pleasure and heal injuries. Importantly, alchemy potions were inexpensive to make, but expensive to sell.
The second suggestion was that Renata believed Zaun should use the Sun Gates to establish diplomatic relations with the major powers throughout Valoran, taking a few Piltover merchants with them. This would allow the major powers to know not only Piltover but also Zaun's reputation, as Zaun is rich in mineral resources, which are scarce resources that can be sold at high prices to countries currently at war.
The third proposal was that Renata suggested reforming the mining and factory systems, moving away from the Glasc Factory Rules which removed some of the stricter rules, rather than the traditional, conservative rules of Zaun.
As a result, Silco paid more attention to Renata, and her arrival accelerated the industrialization of Zaun.
She only had a superficial grasp of her family's alchemy, but she taught herself the art of alchemy.
This ability is exactly what Zaun needs most.
At the gate of Piltover Hex Gate, Mel looked at Ambessa, who was accompanied by only two or three people, and said calmly, "Mother, don't come to Piltover again. You are not welcome here."
Ambessa didn't speak, but looked at Mel with complicated emotions, feeling a mix of feelings about Mel's actions in rescuing her.
Would I be moved? Of course I would. As a mother, it's impossible not to be moved by my daughter's help.
However, Ambessa was more disappointed in Mel, feeling that he was not living up to his potential.
After climbing through the Hex Gate, Ambessa watched Mel turn and leave below, and sighed.
"Still too soft-hearted."
As she spoke, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.
In Zaun, as the year draws to a close, a new community has appeared in the Sump, right above the Hotarubi Community.
The construction of this community was a major undertaking, taking a full month to clear away the former Abandoned Junkyard and land, and a brand-new air purifier was placed in the central square of the community.
The new air purifier has reduced noise and decreased efficiency to reduce energy consumption, but it is already a fourth-generation air Purification Device. Its energy efficiency is more than enough to maintain the air quality in this community. It may not be as good as Hope Community, but here, when you go out at night, your lungs will feel clean and cool.
The frigid air scraped against my throat and lungs like a knife, as if expelling all the toxins from my lungs that had been polluted by the air.
The community is called New Life Community. It was the first community built with funding from the Zaun Council after the establishment of Zaun, and its residents were originally workers who lived on the Zaun docks.
December 25th, today, it snowed in Zaun!
Although there were only tiny snowflakes, they still made Jinx and Isha happy.
"It's snowing! Li Ke, it's snowing!"
It's rare to see snow in Zaun; this is only the second time Jinx has ever seen snow in her life.
It was the first time little Isha had ever seen snow. She ran outside in a silly manner and stood in the snow, imitating her older sister's actions, opening her mouth and sticking out her little tongue to lick the falling snowflakes.
Jinx's tongue was stained with a bit of it, which instantly turned into ice water. She instinctively swallowed it, then her little face scrunched up, and she started spitting on the ground, "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, it doesn't taste good!"
"Are you kidding me? Snowflakes falling from above are bound to be a bit polluted and have a metallic smell." Li Ke looked at Jinx's chubby face with amusement and walked over to put his hat on her.
A blue cat-ear hat covered Jinx's small face. She raised her hands to press down on the hat and looked up. Above her was Piltover.
Starting a few days ago, Piltover began preparing for Progress Day, with many tourists from other regions arriving early to participate in Piltover 'Piltover annual grand festival.
The streets were decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the crests of various prominent families were displayed as badges on the commercial street. A large group of merchants came to Ecliptic Vault, having deposited their money in the bank early to avoid the fatigue of carrying heavy bags of cash.
"Li Ke, the New Year is almost here, and I'm going to set off a big firework display this year!" Jinx suddenly grabbed Li Ke's hand and said earnestly.
She had set off fireworks on Progress Day before, but she only ever celebrated by herself.
Progress Day is a festival for Piltover residents, but a source of pain for Zaunite.
No one would go with Jinx to join in the fun on that day, not even Silco. Silco was always sullen on Progress Day, sitting alone in his office all night. He was in a bad mood every year on Progress Day, and Jinx didn't dare to bother him at that time.
Everyone would huddle indoors, drinking alone, listening to the clamor emanating from the magnificent city above the gorge.
But this year is different, because in this year, Jinx met Li Ke.
This year, she'll definitely have someone to celebrate Progress Day with!
Progress Day should have belonged to Zaun!
"Okay, what kind of fireworks do you want to set off?"
"I'll make it myself! I'm going to make a firework that can outshine Piltover's Progress Day, and I'm going to launch it while they're setting off their fireworks, scaring them to death!"
"Anything else?" Li Ke asked Jinx.
"There's more?" Jinx was taken aback.
"We also need to celebrate, Jinx. This is the first New Year since Zaun's New Life Community, and we're going to have a big celebration. It's also time for us to prove to Piltover that we can do better without them," Li Ke said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Just two days ago, Li Ke, at the conference building in Zaun, gave a speech on the festival activities celebrating Progress Day.
The council members of Zaun unanimously approved it, and even Jayce, the interim council member, participated in the meeting and expressed his approval.
It's been over a month since Jayce arrived in Zaun, and he hasn't lost weight. Instead, he's been hanging out with Ekko, going to bars for drinks every day after work. Moreover, Councilman Talis has become somewhat unkempt, no longer caring so much about his personal image, which has resulted in him having a rather frighteningly long stubble lately.
Silco agreed to hold the festival, but thought the name "Progress Day" was inappropriate, so he changed it to "New Life Day".
Piltover celebrates their Progress Day, while Zaun celebrates its own New Life Day!
"Will that be exciting?!" Jinx's eyes lit up.
Li Ke smiled, bent down, grabbed a thin layer of snow, mixed it with mud, and slapped it onto Jinx's cheek. "I promise!"
"Ah! Li Ke!"
"Don't run!" Jinx shivered from the cold, screamed, and bent down to dig in the snow.
Li Ke immediately turned and ran, shouting as he did so:
"Don't mix stones into the snow, Jinx! That's not how you have a snowball fight!"
"I don't care! It won't hurt if it hits you!"
Jinx was holding up a huge rock, about the size of two people's Riot Games, with a little unmelted snow on it. And she called that a snowball?
Isha giggled as she watched, then bent down and started making snowballs. Holding two irregular, muddy "snowballs" in each hand, she chased after Li Ke and Jinx.
This year, Zaun is sure to be very lively.