Zaun will not become independent under you, but will rise under me

In the room, Silco neither affirmed nor denied. He withdrew his hands from under the table and placed them on top. He stroked his gaunt chin with three fingers, looking at Li Ke without speaking.

"Silco, I mean, Uncle, do you really think you can make Zaun independent and self-governing?"

Li Ke first asked Silco a question.

Silco fell silent. He met Li Ke's gaze. Seeing Li Ke looking at him with a sincere expression, Silco reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, then said:

"To tell you the truth, Li Ke, I don't know if I can truly make Zaun independent. But compared to letting Vander rule Zaun, I believe my chances of success are higher."

The gap between the upper and lower cities was like a chasm today, utterly incomparable.

And now, with the Hex Gates connecting the entire world, Piltover had officially become the pearl of world trade, with constant ships coming and going. In the past, Piltover would hire many workers from Zaun, but recently, many Zaunites had lost their jobs.

The factory owners, swimming in wealth, had adopted assembly lines to replace manual labor. Meanwhile, merchants from all over came and went, and the taxes alone exceeded the entire income of Zaun.

The gap grew wider and wider. Silco sometimes couldn't help but feel that the future was dark, but he still moved forward with determination.

He had no retreat. If he retreated now, he would truly become a sinner of Zaun. He knew this better than anyone.

He even knew that after his death, whether successful or not, future generations would not erect statues for him. He would never be as respected in the hearts of Zaunites as Vander. But so what?

"Glow is our only trump card. With Glow, we can at least make the Upper City wary of us, thereby gaining a voice. Without Glow, we wouldn't even have the right to sit at the negotiating table with the Piltover Citizens."

"But you must have heard the voices outside, Silco. Everyone fears you now and is secretly forming organizations to resist you. You say it's for Zaun's good, but aren't your actions making Zaun more chaotic?"

"It's all just petty squabbles," Silco said indifferently. He picked up the wine on the table and downed it in one gulp. He placed the cup on the table, wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and said in a deep voice:

"They've forgotten the past, forgotten who brought them to where they are today. This is not just Vander's achievement; I have my share in it too."

"But they've all forgotten. In their hearts, Vander is the great hero of this city-state, and I am a traitor. But in reality, none of that matters, because I don't care what others think of me. Or rather, it's better if they fear me." Silco looked at Li Ke calmly and continued:

"Friendliness doesn't earn dignity, Li Ke, but fear does."

Li Ke got a headache.

Silco was not an idealist; he was a realist. In his heart, the current unrest and infighting in Zaun were acceptable to achieve his goals, and he was deliberately instigating them.

If Zaun wasn't in chaos, if it didn't create a big stir, how would Piltover pay attention to Zaun?

One could tell Silco's character by looking at the forums. Some said he was truly working for Zaun, while others called him a drug lord. Opinions on him were polarized.

But in the anime, Silco did indeed exchange "autonomy" from Piltover with the help of Glow. Although Li Ke felt it was unstable and unreliable, as Piltover could flip the table at any time, in the hundreds of years since Zaun split into Pizo, Silco was indeed the only one who had achieved this.

He had indeed won back a little dignity for Zaun.

Therefore, Li Ke suddenly realized that trying to gently persuade Silco to give up and cooperate with him was truly difficult.

Perhaps, besides Jinx, no one could make Silco change his mind.

So, Li Ke took a deep breath and said to Silco, "But have you ever thought that what you're doing now is the same as what the Piltover Citizens are doing to us?"

"You're letting inferior Glow products flood the black market, exposing ordinary people to Glow, and leading countless families to ruin. Have you considered them? You keep saying you want to resist Piltover, but what you're doing now is no different from what the Piltover Citizens did to us."

"Even now, the wastewater they released is less destructive than what you're causing. Yes, Zaun has become richer over the years, but where has all the money and power gone? It's all flowed into the hands of gangs and Alchemical Barons!

Your lives at the middle and upper levels have improved, but what about the ordinary people at the bottom? You say Vander made many mistakes, but when he was in charge, everyone lived well.

Back then, we had to hide from the Skinny Guys, and we could only watch them swagger into our territory. But we didn't have to fight each other over a single silver coin, nor would we kill familiar people around us for a potion."

Silco fell silent. He poured himself some wine, downed it in one gulp, placed the cup on the table, and closed his eyes.

After a long pause, he said softly, "These are necessary sacrifices."

"Sacrifices? Then by what right do you make them sacrifice for your cause?"

"If I don't do this, will their lives get better?"

"At least they won't be worse than now," Li Ke affirmed.

Li Ke knew better than anyone how harmful Glow was. In his memory, after Silco rose to power, within just a few years, the people he knew in Black Alley had all changed.

Some died, some went mad, some disappeared without a trace, and others, like Malson, had to join gangs to survive, only to turn around and harm those around them.

"Stop it. Stop half of the Glow factories for now. You can continue to let your Doctor research Glow, but you can't sell it anymore. I don't care what you do to your own people in private, but if I see Glow circulating in the black market again, I will destroy your factories, every last one."

As Li Ke spoke, he reached out and grabbed a decorative item from Silco's table. It was an iron object, weighing at least fifteen pounds, a huge beast's head. Looking at Silco, Li Ke began to knead the iron object with his hands.

The beast's head changed shape in his hands, eventually becoming a fist-sized iron ball. Li Ke's expression was blank, but the veins on his bare arms bulged as he forcefully bent the iron ball.

CRACK--

The iron ball shattered. Li Ke looked at Silco and placed two pieces of iron on the table, saying, "I've realized that we can't cooperate. Our ideologies are different. Therefore, this is not a cooperation request, but a unilateral threat from me to you."

Silco leaned back, looking at the two halves of the iron ball on the table. His mouth twitched.

This thing wouldn't even deform if it were hit by a bomb, but Li Ke had reshaped it with his bare hands and then broken it in half.

This was something even his Glow Modified Persons couldn't do.

He took a deep breath, and the look in his eyes towards Li Ke changed.

There was no fear in his gaze, but rather a question, filled with—How did you do that?

"Then, let's end it here."

Li Ke finished speaking and looked at Silco, seeing that he was still staring at the iron ball.

Li Ke looked at him and said, "Silco."

"Zaun will not become independent under your hand, but will rise under mine."

"We'll see about that."

Taking Isha with him, Li Ke left the Fugen Tavern.

This place, which he knew yet felt unfamiliar with.

After Li Ke and Isha left, Silco looked at the iron block on the table, reached out to pick it up, and stroked the cracks on its surface, his expression somewhat unnatural.

"Fine, we'll see about that."

Silco muttered to himself.