"The details of what happened at the Grandstone Mine have all been found, and they're right here."
Li Ke sat at his desk, looking at Silco, who was sitting in front of Renata, taking the document Renata handed him.
After opening it and glancing at it a few times, Silco frowned deeply.
"So this isn't the first time miners have heard strange noises?"
Renata replied, "We've already sent people to ask all the miners who have worked at the Grandstone Mine. The oldest of them said that the Zaunite for the past two generations all believe that the mine is haunted, and that the large, regular stone wall was built by the previous generation of Zaunite to block it up."
"Seventy years ago, it was common for miners to sleepwalk at night in the Grandstone Mine. Several Zaunite fell to their deaths in the mine while sleepwalking, and some miners would run into the mine like madmen in the middle of the night. The mine foreman at the time was afraid, so he chose to block up the tunnels and only mine on the outside, which reduced the occurrence of such incidents."
"And for decades after that, the miners working at the Grandstone Mine never heard any more strange noises, nor did any more miners sleepwalk. They never dared to go deeper or break through the stone wall."
Renata paused, then continued, "But according to Renni's intelligence, her behavior of losing consciousness at the Grandstone Mine and heading deeper into the mine is very similar to those sleepwalking, insane miners from back then."
"Li Ke, what do you think?" Silco looked at Li Ke.
Li Ke frowned, completely unaware of what had happened.
The idea of a haunted mine immediately made Li Ke think of rats and Zac, but Li Ke quickly dismissed the thought.
Because rats don't have this ability. It's true that Twitch is a monster born from alchemy, but Li Ke believes that its physical strength is probably not even as good as that of a normal human. Twitch is actually just a larger rat that has acquired human intelligence.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be hiding in the sewers eating human garbage after mutating.
It's completely incomparable to Dr. Mundo and Zac.
Dr. Mundo still doesn't know which ditch he's hiding in, but Li Ke is certain he's not hiding in the mine.
As for Zac the Demon, he does indeed possess extraordinary power, but Li Ke remembers seeing online that Zac is a kind hero, and beneath his terrifying exterior lies the heart of a sunny boy.
Therefore, the cases mentioned by Renata can be directly ruled out as Zac's doing.
So who could it be?
Who was causing trouble in Zaun during this period, lurking in the shadows?
Li Ke pondered silently, and suddenly, a possibility came to Li Ke.
"Urgot?"
"?"
Silco looked at Li Ke and asked, "Who is that?"
"A Noxians, if he were... no, it probably wouldn't be him." Li Ke's voice trailed off, and then he lowered his head to think.
No, it won't be Urgot either.
Because Li Ke remembered that Urgot had made a movie back then, and he made a point of learning about Urgot's story.
Urgot is Noxus's chief executioner, possessing terrifying power. However, due to a single word from a scheming individual, he was cast into Zaun, becoming a pawn in the power struggles of those in power.
Urgot arrived in Zaun after Swain seized power and gained control of Noxus. He was then imprisoned by Alchemical Baron, where he endured a dark and torturous period.
But the war between Noxus and Ionia has only just begun, and Li Ke is already keeping an eye on the war on the islands. After all, his Golden Finger relies on Deity like Ahri.
Swain is currently fighting in Ionia, so Urgot couldn't have done this, because the timeline doesn't match up at all.
Or is it an official issue?
Just like the cases of Renata and Silco, the former was clearly a hero created based on Silco, but her timeline of becoming a hero conflicted with Silco's timeline.
Hiss!
Li Ke felt a headache coming on. The League of Legends universe was vast, but not perfect. This was because the designers responsible for creating the heroes' stories and backgrounds were different people who didn't even communicate with each other. They would just release heroes and settings according to their own preferences, which resulted in a lot of bugs when you looked closely at the storyline of the League of Legends universe.
The reason for retconning books is the same: it's the official way of making the universe more complete, even though they're getting increasingly messed up.
Anyway, this has really caused Li Ke trouble.
"Let's call Vander and go see for ourselves, Silco," Li Ke said after thinking for a moment.
The ability to directly render someone unconscious cannot be an ordinary being; at the very least, it must be a mage. And for a mage to appear in Zaun at this time makes no sense.
Li Ke does not allow outsiders to be present in Zaun at present.
"Okay, I'll go get Vander right now." Silco nodded, then looked at Renata, "What are you standing there for?"
Renata stiffened, her crimson pupils fixed on Silco. White metal fingers flicked from her Alchemical Limb, pointing at her face, and she said grimly, "Me again?"
"Otherwise what?"
"Okay, I'll go." Renata smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile.
At 4:00 PM sharp, Li Ke, Vander, Silco, Singed, Jinx, and Vi all arrived at the scene.
Malson led his team to surround the mine, while Singed bent down and touched a nearby stone, beginning to study it.
"Any discoveries?" Li Ke asked Singed.
The reason for seeking out Singed was, of course, because Singed was the scientist from both cities who knew the most about the "mysterious unknown".
Although Heimerdinger lived a long time, he only memorized and learned what interested him, unlike Singed, who was proficient in a wide variety of things.
"There really is one discovery." Singed narrowed his eyes, rubbing the mud and sand he had collected from the ore between his fingertips, and continued, "Li Ke, there is blood in these stones."
"Blood?"
"Yes, and it's not dried blood, it's fresh blood, and it seems to be the blood of multiple organisms," Singed said seriously.
He stood up, looked at Li Ke, and said, "Don't go in yet. Give me ten minutes. I need to analyze what kind of creatures' blood is in here."
After saying that, Singed took out a test tube, threw the mineral fragments into the bottle, and began to shake it.
He started conducting experiments on the spot, Jinx came forward to help him.
Eight minutes later, Singed's expression gradually turned serious.
"The analysis is complete, Li Ke. The blood in these ores comes from rats, bats, various insects, and, moreover, humans and the blood of some other creature whose identity cannot be determined." Singed frowned. "It can be called blood, but the activity is far too strong. I've dissected thousands of creatures, but I've never seen blood like this before."
"This last type of blood has a higher internal activity than the beast blood I created from Vander's body."
It's important to understand that what's described as blood within Vander's body is more accurately described as a burning, mixed form of Shimmer, with an activity level even higher than that of Shimmer that is constantly burning.
Singed looked at Li Ke and continued, "So are you sure you want to go in? Li Ke, this is very dangerous. I suspect that all this blood is sprayed out by that 'creature' when it was hunting and killing other creatures, and there's a mysterious power in this blood. Perhaps that's why Renni was bewitched."
"The more blood in a place, the stronger its power."
Singed said seriously.
"Singed, do you think we can just ignore this? It seems to me that simply abandoning the mine and building a few more walls won't solve the problem."
"I really can't do anything about it. If my guess is correct, that creature is constantly getting stronger. Decades ago, people could isolate it from the outside world with just a stone, but now, it can't be sealed off with just a few doors."
Singed bent down, inserted the instrument into the mud, and after taking it out, put the mud from the instrument into a test tube. After glancing at it, he said, "Although it's still very little, this land has already been deeply affected by it."
"If you stay here long enough, you'll be influenced by it, and one after another, there will be examples like Renni, and this trend is constantly expanding," Singed said earnestly.
"Then wouldn't I be the one who should go in even more?" Li Ke said.
"Didn't you ask the goddess? She should know what happened," Singed said after thinking for a moment.
Li Ke's expression became even stranger. Of course, he communicated with Janna immediately, but all he received was a vague reply from Janna.
Janna told Li Ke that she had indeed sensed a strange, faint power in Zaun, but she was also too weak to detect, find, or observe it. However, Janna said that the aura felt somewhat familiar to her.
The aura of Zaun was familiar to Janna, yet she didn't recognize it.
That's truly terrifying to think about.
If things are really as Li Ke thinks, then running away is the worst option.
Because if the opponent continues to grow stronger and absorbs blood to become more powerful, then even if Li Ke's Soul Strength suddenly increases by twenty points, he still won't be a match for the opponent. He would just be kicked to death like a stray dog running by the roadside.
By then, the entire Zaun will be destroyed. Unless Janna regains her power and is fully revived, no one can stop this disaster.
Therefore, we cannot escape it; we can only face it.
Li Ke took a deep breath, raised his hand, looked at Vander and said, "Let's go, Vander, let's go in together."
Vander nodded and went into the mine first.
Li Ke then looked at Silco, "The rest of you are waiting outside."
He looked at Silco, Silco understood what Li Ke meant.
He caught Jinx, who was trying to sneak up on Li Ke.
Upon entering the mine, Li Ke and Vander quickly arrived at the place Renni had described.
Li Ke stood before the boulder, his brow furrowed, a pungent smell of blood emanating from him, along with strange lines appearing before Li Ke.
This must be the effect of elemental affinity, allowing Li Ke to see the "magic" in the air.
Zaun is a place lacking in magic, but the magic before him was chaotic and frenzied, like a wild beast charging wildly before Li Ke's eyes.
"Can you smell it?" Vander was very sensitive to the smell of blood; his nose twitched as he asked Li Ke.
"Hmm, a very pungent smell of blood."
"Singed is right, there are living things in here." Li Ke reached out and touched the stone surface, then punched the large stone wall with all his might.
"Boom!"
The mine trembled, the stone walls cracked and crumbled, Li Ke and Vander crawled inside. Then, both of them held their breath.
Before me lay a vast underground world, or rather, the Grandstone Mine as it should have been. As a mine, the Grandstone Mine was far too small to be a mine that had been exploited in Zaun for decades.
Before them lay darkness, the pungent smell of blood mixed with the stench of decay making both Li Ke and Vander uncomfortable. At the far end of the mine, however, a faint red light emanated.
Li Ke stepped forward and reached the edge of the deep pit that was emitting a red glow. Then, he frowned.
"This"
Before them lay a massive abyss, roughly twenty meters in radius, its depths unfathomable, filled with a flowing red liquid. Though it resembled blood, it was more like boiling, burning lava.
"Is there a volcano down there?" Vander asked instinctively, looking down at the ground. But he quickly shook his head and said, "No, there can't be a volcano under Zaun. Otherwise, the massive explosion hundreds of years ago would have caused an even greater disaster."
"So, what is this, Li Ke? You seem to know something," Vander asked Li Ke in a deep voice.
At this moment, Vander felt the frenzied atmosphere in the pit, and his body was trembling with tension, as was Li Ke's.
Who knows what kind of thing is lurking beneath that red liquid!
"Darkin."
"Vander, this is Darkin."
Li Ke said with a complicated expression.
That's right, the cause of all this isn't the heroes who haven't appeared in Zaun yet, but the Darkin!
There's a Darkin beneath Zaun?!
"Wait for me here, Vander."
Before Vander could speak, Li Ke leaped out and plunged into the abyss.
It wasn't that Li Ke Kelu was reckless, but rather that Janna had said she was weak, but the other side was also weak, and neither side could find out the other's true situation. This was probably why it had remained silent and lay dormant in Zaun.
Li Ke needs to investigate, get close to it, and then take this information to Soul Blossom to find Ahri.
Now, only Ahri can help him.
Seeing Li Ke jump down, Vander was shocked and reached out to grab Li Ke, but he missed. He quickly lay down and looked over, and saw Li Ke's figure land on a protruding rock, gripping the wall and slowly moving towards the bottom.
"Oh shit!"
You want me to stay here?
Go to hell!
If anything really happens to you here, Jinx will hate me to death!
With a ripping sound, Li Ke looked up and saw Vander using his large claws to wedge himself into the wall and slide down.
"Alright then, let's go take a look together." Seeing Vander follow him down, Li Ke smiled.
Hopefully, this Darkin is currently at its weakest point; the best-case scenario, of course, is that it is still asleep.
Otherwise, Li Ke really doesn't know what Zaun would dare to use to resist the Darkin.
After all, every Darkin possesses the power to destroy a nation.