It Was Selfish

"Clack—"

The sound came from pressing the catch on the back of the gun.

Her smile faded, and the girl's expression turned cold. Holding the gun in one hand, she reached over with the other and pressed the button on top with a click.

Li Ke hurriedly shouted, "Wait! It's me, Li Ke! Jinx, it's me, Li Ke from the Black Alley!"

"Don't you remember?"

"Li Ke? I don't know you. Let me think—whose lackey could you be? But none of that matters." Jinx suddenly smiled. Her blue eyes sparkled as she looked at Li Ke, and her pink-painted fingernail pressed the button even deeper.

"Wait, look. I still have the pocket watch you gave me." Li Ke was speechless. She hadn't even been altered by Shimmer yet, but she was already a crazy woman?

Who in their right mind would shoot a stranger?

Li Ke reached into his chest and pulled out a pocket watch, holding it up to Jinx and giving it a couple of shakes.

The next second, the gun vanished from in front of Li Ke. A pale arm shot out and grabbed the watch. Li Ke also caught a whiff of a smell that wasn't exactly pleasant, but wasn't unpleasant either.

It was Jinx's hair. Her little head had leaned against Li Ke's chest, and the scent of her hair wafted into his nose.

The smell of machine oil and a faint hint of lemon combined into something less than lovely, washing over Li Ke.

"Oh, now I remember!" Jinx suddenly clapped her hands and looked up at Li Ke. Rising onto her toes, she leaned closer, her small, pert nose twitching. She looked at Li Ke with delight and said, "Li Ke! You're the Li Ke who used to fight with Vi when we were kids, right? I remember you were one of Malson's goons!"

"Milo really hated you guys!"

She suddenly had a lot more to say. After circling Li Ke twice, she excitedly pushed him and shouted, "Come inside. Let's have a nice long talk."

"But this is my home," Li Ke said.

"That's fine. It doesn't matter," Jinx replied.

After pushing Li Ke into his home, Jinx hooked the door shut with her foot, then went over to him and sat down naturally on the wooden bed. She snapped her fingers, and a little graffiti-covered lamp on the nearby table lit up.

She curled up, wrapped her arms around her legs, and looked at Li Ke, her face full of expression. "I can't believe you're still alive."

Looking at Jinx—or rather, Powder—Li Ke felt a little wistful.

In his memories, he and Malson had also grown up in the Black Alley. Their parents had taken part in that uprising under Vander's leadership, and died on that bridge.

So Li Ke and Malson had also been Vander's "children." Vander hadn't taken them into his home like he had Vi and Jinx, but they'd grown up under his protection in the Black Alley all the same.

That was also the main reason the original Li Ke hadn't wanted to join the gang with Malson and prey on the Black Alley. Deep down, he'd always remembered that tall, kind man.

Vander had been Zaun's spiritual leader, but now Silco had become the one leading Zaun. In the original Li Ke's eyes, that was a usurpation. Silco had stolen everything that belonged to Vander.

And now, looking at Powder in front of him, Li Ke felt even more conflicted.

On the one hand, his childhood memories affected him. On the other, his feelings were shaped by having watched the War of Two Cities.

Jinx was a menace, a character who was both pitiable and hateful.

But there was no denying she was a compelling character. Many people said Powder had become Jinx because of the harsh conditions of the undercity. But there was only one Jinx in Zaun.

Li Ke, Malson, Vi, Ekko—who among them hadn't had the same kind of childhood as Jinx? Who could claim they'd grown up in a good environment?

It wasn't her surroundings that had turned Powder into Jinx. It was love.

Whether in Zaun or Piltover, many people in the Twin Cities had things they wanted to say about the world, and an unshakable desire to change it. Vi, Caitlyn, Vander, Silco, Jayce, Viktor, Heimerdinger, Mel, Sevika—even the Alchemical Barons of Zaun—they had all, to some extent, condemned the world and wanted to change it.

But what about Jinx?

She hadn't. She had never complained about the world or condemned it.

Li Ke's understanding of Jinx was that she had no resentment toward the world. As a child, she'd lived a carefree life, with Vander and Vi keeping the dangers of the outside world at bay for her, like great knights guarding a princess.

Young Powder had never worried about her own life. Vander and Vi had protected her so well that even a child raised in the undercity had grown up gentle and innocent.

She didn't care what was right or wrong. She didn't care who was suffering, who was exploited, who was oppressed, who was persecuted, or who had died in an alley.

She only wanted the people around her to stay by her side forever, never leaving her and always protecting her.

All she wanted was to live her own little life.

Even if she hurt everything around her, she only cared about herself. That was selfish. In Li Ke's eyes, it was also hard to put into words.

Because things like this were impossible to explain clearly.

Li Ke could understand it with an example.

Jinx's behavior was just like that of children who clung to their parents and wouldn't let them leave, believing their parents should always be by their side.

But parents had to step away from their children from time to time. They had jobs to go to, and responsibilities toward their friends, their families, and even the people around them.

But children couldn't understand that. In their selfishness, they could only blame their parents for not staying by their side all the time.

So from this perspective, Li Ke could understand Jinx's way of thinking.

She was a spoiled, selfish "madwoman" with a simple, singular goal.

That was why Li Ke wouldn't expect to reason with Jinx. Reasoning with an obsessive madwoman was pointless, just as adults and children didn't see things the same way.

"Yes, I'm still alive." His thoughts returned. Li Ke looked at Powder and nodded.

"It's so good to see you. What about Malson? Nox? Are they still alive too?" Powder rocked back and forth, her two long blue braids shifting slightly across Li Ke's bed.

When she was calm, when she wasn't acting crazy, Li Ke had to admit she was incredibly cute.

Smoky makeup was painted across her pale face, and the tear troughs and bloodshot veins around her eyes gave her a mature, broken look. But her small, doll-like face preserved her innocence and childlike charm. The contrast was striking.

"They're alive."

"Where are they? What are they doing?"

"They joined a gang."

"Haha, that's surprising. I remember Malson was really timid. Why would he join a gang?" Powder buried her face in her knees and asked Li Ke curiously.

"To survive," Li Ke replied.