The Noxian War Ends, Li Ke: Zaun, I'm Back!

Li Ke landed on the ground and looked at the corpse in front of him. Judging from the clothing, Li Ke deduced that the corpse on the ground was Ionia. The face was severely burned, and the facial features were not visible. Otherwise, Li Ke could have made a deduction from the appearance.

The reason Li Ke doesn't think he's Noxians is because Noxians clothing is often tinged with red or black; red and black symbolize iron and blood, and are the signature colors of Noxus.

Following the road, Li Ke found himself Advent what appeared to be a village in Ionia, which had been burned to the ground, leaving only a charred ruin.

Is anyone there?

Li Ke, unfamiliar with the area, looked around the village and called out.

Unfortunately, without locals to help him find his way, Li Ke didn't even know where Zaun was. He could only guess that he was in Navori, because the war between Noxus and Ionia took place in Navori.

Li Ke knew nothing else.

However, Noxus had clearly left no survivors in the village, so Li Ke could only follow the footprints on the ground and rush towards where there might be people.

With his Soul Strength greatly increased, Li Ke's running speed was terrifying. He darted through the forest, covering hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.

Moreover, Li Ke didn't feel any effort at all; Ahri had given him the Charisma skill, Kindred had given him the Recovery skill.

The Lamb's Respite enhanced Li Ke's regenerative abilities. To be honest, if it weren't for the Guardian's Sea separating Ionia and Zaun, Li Ke truly felt he could have made it to Zaun!

But the sea...

There are still many dangers. The fishing port of Bilgewater often catches huge sea monsters that are tens of meters long, or even close to a hundred meters long. Li Ke doesn't think he can swim across. Therefore, he must find a boat, even a small one, which is better than swimming back to Zaun.

After a long and arduous journey, Li Ke quickly arrived at a village that was on fire.

Narrowing his eyes, Li Ke watched as the Noxians burned, killed, and looted in the village. Without hesitation, he transformed into a shadow and rushed into the town.

"Kill all the men, leave the women and children alive!"

"Kill all the old people too!"

The Noxus squad commander, carrying a long sword, shouted the order, raised the sword from his back, and slashed straight at the old woman in front of him.

But just as the knife was about to fall, everything went black in front of him, and then, there was something white that could glow—it was Li Ke's Riot Games.

Soul reconstructed, body reshaped, Li Ke's current level of whiteness is no less than Jinx's. He threw a Riot Games, and Li Ke stared dumbfounded at the miserable scene before him, then shook his wrist.

Li Ke felt that if this punch landed on Vander, it would instantly kill Vander. If it hit his head, causing Vander's head to explode, then his father-in-law number two would be truly dead beyond any doubt.

Wait, why did I use Vander as a unit of measurement?

Li Ke lowered his head in thought, but his hands didn't stop moving. Li Ke grabbed the Noxians who was stunned by the suddenness of the incident and the indescribably bloody scene, and crushed his jaw as easily as crushing a piece of tofu.

Show no mercy to Noxians, kill them all on sight, that's for sure. It's only because Li Ke can't beat Swain, otherwise he would have killed Swain too.

Don't talk about how charismatic Swain is, or how great the threat posed by the Void is.

For that warmonger, unless you can make him feel an insurmountable gap and induce true despair, he will do everything in his power to make Noxus rise.

Noxus's rise was built upon the suffering of other nations.

With warmongers, your mouth is for cursing, not for negotiating peace; your hands are for wielding knives to chop, not for shaking hands with them. Wait a minute... if we go find Swain now, we can take him down, right?

But after thinking about it, Li Ke decided against it, because it would be a waste of too much time. Putting aside whether he could even find Swain, he didn't even know where he was, so how could he look for someone?

Back to the present,

Li Ke mercilessly slaughtered everyone in the village dressed in red and black. In half a minute, the entire Noxus squad of several dozen men was wiped out by Li Ke.

They couldn't even transmit messages; they could only watch in terror as a blur streaked past, followed by the explosion of Noxians's head.

This scene was so terrifying that the rescued Ionia let out a blood-soaked scream when they saw Li Ke approaching.

"No, don't crush my head!"

In front of Li Ke, a pretty girl with dark brown hair and black pupils lowered her head, clutched her head, and screamed.

Li Ke: "."

"I'm here to help you." Li Ke squatted down, a smile on his face.

Ahri's charm skill activated!

The girl looked up, her face flushed as she looked at Li Ke. Her eyes still held fear of Li Ke, but she dared to speak to Li Ke.

"You, you're also from Ionia? Which faction are you from? Did Brother Muya successfully ask you for help?" the girl asked blankly.

"Ionia? No, I'm from Zaunite." Li Ke said to her, standing up, looking around, stretching his arms, and saying, "I helped you, I saved your lives, so how about you do me a favor?"

"We're fine, but we don't have any money."

"I don't want money, you just need to tell me where the Noxus harbor is," Li Ke said to the girl with a smile.

"???" The girl was taken aback, and looked at Li Ke, saying, "What are you going to do?"

"We'll steal a boat and then go home," Li Ke said.

"You... can you stay and help us? Noxus has invaded our homeland, so many people are dead... you... you're so powerful..."

Li Ke shook his head and refused the girl's request.

"Listen, they are human too, and you are human too, but when faced with them, all you do is run away. I find this very strange, because you are not weak, neither physically nor in terms of strength. Many of you even know magic, right? But all you know is to give up, to run away, and not to fight back. Since you are unwilling to pick up weapons and fight back, and want to be sheep to be slaughtered, why do you expect external forces to help you?"

When Li Ke said this, there was a hint of disdain in his eyes.

The Ionia revere peace and nature, to an extreme!

They clearly possess overwhelming combat power, yet they talk about balance, nature, and avoiding war, while allowing others to kill their compatriots, or even kill them.

No, is this even human?

Ionia's fighting strength is no joke. Take Xin Zhao for example. What did he do before? He was just an ordinary Ionia fisherman! But what did he become after he took up arms and started fighting back?

He became an invincible monster in the Noxus arena, the royal steward of Demacia, and a monster capable of facing Valoran's most elite troops and taking the king's head from among the Dauntless Vanguard!

Ionia are naturally drawn to magic. The natural elements here are so abundant that every Ionia's physique is improved from birth to adulthood, granting them incredible power.

This is why Ionia has so many high-level combatants; their average skill level is truly exceptional.

But even Ionia, this very nation, was nearly destroyed by Noxus!

It wasn't until the teenage Irelia appeared and charged into battle, cutting off Swain's arm, that this group began to consider rebellion, and then... Noxus lost the war.

The girl was stunned, staring blankly at Li Ke.

Hearing Li Ke's words, a fire suddenly ignited in her heart.

Li Ke exhaled a breath of stale air, wiped the blood from his mouth, and continued in a deep voice, "Go west. Lead these people to the west of Ionia. If you're lucky, you'll encounter a girl wielding a blade. She'll lead you in a rebellion against Noxus. If you're unlucky, the worst that can happen is death, right?"

"Alright, now it's your turn to tell me, where is the nearest Noxus harbor?"

The girl reached out and pointed in a direction.

Li Ke smiled at her and said, "Thank you."

After saying that, Li Ke rushed straight towards the spot the girl pointed to.

He disappeared before her eyes.

Li Ke doesn't intend to get involved in the war between Noxus and Ionia because he doesn't have time to waste. For Li Ke, it's just a matter of closing his eyes, opening them, and being resurrected.

But what about Jinx?

Li Ke dared not think about it. In the year since he died, what would Jinx think and do? Li Ke was genuinely worried about her.

Therefore, he didn't have time to help the Ionia drive Noxus away.

But if we're going to steal a boat, let's steal the big one!

Noxus and Ionia, Li Ke naturally leans towards Ionia; what else could he do?

Do you actually like Noxus, that warlike nation? Ionia has the potential to be an ally in the future, but what about Noxus?

To be allies? No way!

Noxus only annexes other countries; they never cooperate with others. In that country's dictionary, there is no such thing as an alliance; there is only submission.

It took Li Ke more than an hour to reach the bay, where he saw rows of warships.

A massive warship caught Li Ke's eye.

That boat was about twenty meters high and a hundred meters long. If this boat were brought back to Zaun...

"Hiss, "Li Ke gasped, then shook his head.

Forget it, this kind of boat can't be sailed by one person alone, not even by a dozen people.

Wait a minute...

Li Ke squinted; his eyesight was extraordinary. Standing on a tree trunk, he placed his hand on his forehead and looked at the black cages on the large ships along the coast.

Were they prisoners?

Alright, now I have someone to steer my boat.

Li Ke smiled.

As the year drew to a close in Zaun, Silco took a stack of documents from Renata and began to read them carefully.

"Noxus temporary ceasefire?" Upon seeing the headline, Silco looked up at Renata with a questioning gaze.

Renata is an incredibly useful secretary; Silco now needs to consult her and communicate with her on many matters.

Renata replied, "The intelligence is accurate. This intelligence was gathered by spies from the Clan Ferros. The Noxians suffered damage to their coastline in Fae'lor, with over a dozen warships sunk. The largest of these, the Drekan Victory, was also captured. Therefore, the Noxians have now consolidated their forces and are searching for the cause."

"It happened overnight?" Silco was a little incredulous.

Since Ambessa left, both cities have been keeping a close eye on Noxus, as they are also worried that Noxus might attack Piltover and Zaun after winning the War of Ionia.

They're quiet now because they're out of manpower. With attacks on Demacia to the west, Freljord to the north, Shurima to the south, and Ionia to the east, it's no exaggeration to say that Noxus is at war with the entire world right now.

Therefore, if they win the Noxian-Ionian War and are free to deal with the situation, then Zaun and Piltover will be in great danger.

Gathering intelligence in advance and preparing for a confrontation with the Noxians is very important.

Renata shook her head, a hint of disbelief in her eyes, and whispered, "Not overnight, but within an hour."

"What?"

"In just one hour, the Noxians harbor fell completely, and their enemy was only one person."

"."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like someone who likes to joke around?" Renata asked Silco.

Silco shook his head, then said with a headache, "If Ionia has such fighting power, why is it being driven back by Noxus? Such monsters..."

Silco suddenly fell silent. They had a monster like that in Zaun once too.

Thinking of Li Ke, Silco looked up, closed his eyes, and said, "I understand. Give this intelligence to Vander and have him go to Piltover with the Piltover enforcers. We need to learn naval warfare in advance."

"Also, tell Jayce to speed up the construction of the warships. We don't have much time left. Regardless of whether Noxus wins or loses in the Noxian-Ionian War, we need to prepare in advance."

"I understand," Renata nodded.

The Sump, Hope Community.

In Viktor's house, Jinx looked down at the little robot beside her, then at Viktor, and looked up to ask, "Is it ready?"

"Yes, it's basically done," Viktor said.

Jinx smiled, stood up, patted the robot's head, and then said to Viktor, "Thank you, Viktor, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Jinx nodded and turned to leave.

Viktor hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up, "Aren't you going to tell them? Are you just going to leave like this?"

"Let's not talk about it anymore, everyone has their own lives now," Jinx replied.

She grinned, turned around, waved her arms wide, steadied herself, brushed her hair from her forehead, pursed her lips, blew out a breath, and said in a high-pitched, joyful voice, "Caitlyn is chasing after Vi every day, Silco and Renata are practically living together, Vander is doing well working in the military camp, Little Dot and Zeri are together every day, and Isha has accepted you now."

"Everything is fine, isn't it?"

"They'll be sad," Viktor said.

"I know, but I've been so sad, I can't take it anymore." Jinx faced Viktor, her hand behind her back as she gripped the doorknob and opened the door. She bent down, raised her other hand to her lips, extended her index finger, and said happily to Viktor, "Shh, don't tell anyone. You've helped me so many times, please help me one last time."

After saying that, Jinx closed the door.

"Well"

Viktor sat on the stool, touching the Hextech sensor. With a gentle flick of his index finger, the little robot started moving.

He closed his eyes and whispered, "I hope you meet Li Ke over there, Jinx."

"Janna, you won't stop me, will you?"

In the house where she used to live with Li Ke, Jinx sat at her desk, writing letters to several people: Silco, Vander, Vi, Isha, and herself.

"No." The bluebird appeared on Jinx's desk and looked at Jinx calmly.

Throughout Zaun, the only one constantly watching Jinx is Janna.

She knew best how Jinx had gotten through that year; she showed strength to outsiders, but in the quiet of the night, she would toss and turn, clutching her Li Ke doll.

He kept muttering to himself.

Don't cry.

He won't let you cry.

Janna is indeed Deity, but she also has human emotions. She knows that for Jinx, living is the most painful thing.

She has lived a strong life for a year, suffered a sad year, and despaired a year. Now, she is going to find her happiness, and Janna has no reason to stop her.

Even if Li Ke finds out, he will scold her and get angry.

"Thank you, Janna." Jinx smiled at the bluebird, then lowered her head to continue writing the letter.

After doing all this, she put on a beautiful dress and pretty boots, wore the Pocket Watch and necklace around her neck, and the bracelet on her ankle, because Li Ke said he liked her feet.

She put on the cat-ear hat and closed the door.

Taking advantage of the slightly cool weather and the perfect sunshine, she walked towards the higher ground in Piltover.

They hopped and skipped around, having a wonderful time, and sang lovely songs all the while.

In the afternoon, Vi arrived at Jinx's house. She made a special trip to prepare dinner for Jinx so that she could have a meal right after returning from the Li Ke statue.

Vi pushed open the door and entered Jinx's room. Hmm, no one was there; she was probably working at the factory right now.

Just as Wei was about to close the door, she suddenly noticed several envelopes on the table.

Stepping forward, Wei glanced at the envelope curiously. She didn't intend to pry into her sister's privacy; she just looked at the envelope, not its contents.

But as she approached and looked down, Wei saw her own name.

--Written for Wei.

In an instant, Wei panicked, picked up the envelope, tore it open, and glanced down at it.

No, don't.

"No, no, is anyone there? Someone help! Someone help!"

Wei jumped out of the window and ran into the street, shouting loudly.

This immediately caught the attention of the law enforcement officers in Hope Community, and Vi urged them to go find Silco as soon as possible.

Moments later, all the law enforcement officers in Zaun were mobilized.

Viktor listened to the commotion outside, his hand holding the wrench paused, then he sighed again, saying nothing.

A small boat from Bilgewater sailed towards Zaun across the strait.

On the bow of the ship, a dark-haired young man was standing with his eyes closed, enjoying the cold wind and the fishy smell of the sea air. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes and became happy.

"We're here. The smell of metal and Chemtech... Hmm, that's the smell! Haha, it's only been half a month, but it feels like I haven't been back for ages!"

Li Ke squinted, poked his head out from the deck, and gasped for air.

"Black-haired brat, how many times have I told you! What you're doing is dangerous!"

One of the crew members saw Li Ke's actions and shouted a reprimand.

Li Ke smiled at him and obediently returned to the deck.

The reason he didn't take the big ship was because Li Ke later discovered that the ship wasn't suitable to bring back to Zaun, since it was too Noxus in style. So, Li Ke chose to stop in Bilgewater and then sold the warship to the pirates on the Isle of Bilgewater.

The people of Bilgewater readily agreed and paid a hefty price for the ship. Li Ke distributed a sum of money to the Ionia on board, letting them choose for themselves, before boarding a Bilgewater merchant ship to return to Zaun.

Now, after drifting at sea for more than half a month, Li Ke has finally arrived in Zaun.

I opened my arms and breathed in the familiar scent.

Li Ke said with a smile:

"Zaun, I'm back!"

"Jinx, I'm here!"

He shouted loudly.