Living with Jinx

Early in the morning, Li Ke felt an itch on his face. He reached up and patted it a few times, shifted his body, and went back to sleep.

"Heehee."

But when a silver-bell-like laugh sounded beside his ear, Li Ke's eyes snapped open.

Looking to the side, he saw Jinx propping her chin up with one hand while using a lock of blue hair in the other to brush his face. She pinched the strand and swept it toward his nose.

Li Ke reached up and pushed her hair away. His sleepiness vanished completely. Looking at her, he asked softly, "Since when did we get so close?"

Jinx pulled her hair back and said casually, "We've always been this close, haven't we? You even gave me candy when we were little."

"Did I?" Li Ke couldn't really remember. He sat up and rubbed his face.

He had an incredible capacity to adapt. He'd accepted being transported to another world, getting a Golden Finger, and having Thresh take an interest in him all in a single day. So waking up in the same bed as a mad young lady from the Black Alley didn't seem that strange either.

After all, compared to crazy and dangerous, could Jinx really be more dangerous than Thresh?

Of course not.

Jinx seemed serious as she said, "You did. I remember it clearly."

"Also, Li Ke, you should get up. I'm hungry," Jinx added.

"So?"

"So go buy me some food. I don't have any money," Jinx said.

"I don't have much money either," Li Ke replied.

The money Malson had left him was only enough to cover his meals for a few days. Now that Jinx was included, it would be gone in less than two days.

"Fine, then I'll go get some money. Don't worry, I know the fastest way to get it." Jinx pulled out a gun and twirled a finger around the trigger. Li Ke was genuinely afraid it might go off.

Thinking of Jinx's way of making money, Li Ke sighed.

Whether it was Jinx or Vi, Zaunites usually had only three ways to make money. One was to work honestly for the Skinny Guys and earn a little hard cash. Another was to team up and break into the Skinny Guys' homes to steal things to sell. The last was the most primitive and violent method.

Clearly, Jinx's way of making money was the third.

"I get it. I'll go get food. Wait here." Li Ke got up, took the coat beside him, and put it on.

Jinx flopped back onto the bed again. Hearing him, she raised her legs and propped herself up on the bed with both hands at her slender waist, as if to show him she'd heard.

Li Ke said nothing more and turned to leave.

On the way to the restaurant, Li Ke saw plenty of gangsters. Looking at them and thinking of Jinx lying in his bed, he felt helpless.

What would happen to him if Silco found out Jinx had slept in his bed?

Well.

The best-case scenario was getting shot dead. The worst was Silco sending people to use him as shark bait.

Li Ke had no doubt about that.

When he'd watched War of Two Cities, he'd thought Silco was charismatic and had liked him quite a bit. But now that he'd really come to Zaun and had its memories, Li Ke knew what Silco had brought to the city.

Under Silco's violent rule, people at the bottom of Zaun feared and hated him. They felt no gratitude toward him at all.

No matter how you looked at it, even if Zaun really did become independent under Silco's leadership in the future, what about the suffering of the Zaunites who were suffering right now? How could their pain be eased?

Looking only at the outcome and ignoring the process often meant losing sight of a great deal.

That was why Li Ke sometimes thought it would be wonderful if Silco and Vander could be combined. Then Zaun would surely become a better place. Silco's iron-fisted methods, paired with Vander's ideals, would truly unite Zaun instead of leaving it in its current state.

Reform required blood and suffering, but they weren't the ones paying that price.

"Hey, spare some change, sir. I haven't eaten in three days."

"Sir, want some Shimmer? It's the latest batch. I guarantee this stuff has no side effects!"

"No! Please don't take my child away!"

The voices of suffering reached Li Ke's ears, but he ignored them. He arrived at the restaurant, pushed open the door, went in, and ordered two servings of food.

One was boiled Magic Swamp Frog Leg Meat. The other was bread mixed with crushed stones and impurities.

Carrying the food, Li Ke headed home.

"Wow! Magic Swamp Frog Leg Meat?"

As soon as he came in, Jinx hurried over to him and leaned in. Her little nose twitched as she sniffed the smell coming from the food container. She looked up, excitement shining in her bright blue eyes, and exclaimed, "I haven't had this in ages! How did you know I liked it?"

"Silco never lets me eat this stuff. He says it's dirty, and he usually cooks for me himself. But he's really not much of a cook." Jinx snatched the food container from him. She reached in with two fingers, pinched up a piece of frog leg, held it over her head, opened her mouth, and let it drop in. Then she munched away.

Li Ke: "..."

"Glad you like it. There's bread too." Li Ke handed her the bread beside him.

"I'm not eating that. It's gross," Jinx said, glancing at it with distaste.

The bread she ate came from the Upper City. It was soft, delicious, and sweet. She wasn't about to eat this dry, hard bread.

Li Ke didn't mind. He tore off a piece and put it in his mouth, chewing.

The bread had bits of wood and sand in it. Li Ke swallowed it, then looked at Jinx and asked, "How many days are you planning to stay here?"

"Are you trying to kick me out?" Jinx turned her head toward Li Ke, her expression perfectly calm.

But she stopped eating, and turned her body toward him too.

"Forget it. Stay as long as you want." Li Ke rubbed his cheek, sore from chewing the bread.

"Yay!" Jinx cheered, then reached for more frog meat. She took out a leg and held it in front of Li Ke.

"Eat," she told him.

Li Ke was just about to take it when Jinx pulled away. Then she held it out to him again and looked at him. "Eat."

Li Ke froze for a moment and opened his mouth. Jinx reached out and "shoved" it into his mouth.

The Muddy Frog meat was soft and greasy, with an indescribable fishy smell and a strange texture. As Li Ke closed his mouth, his lips brushed against Jinx's fingers.

"It's pretty good," Li Ke said after managing to swallow.

Jinx beamed.

Li Ke went back to chewing his dry bread.

Late at night, in the heart of Zaun's Black Alley, the area looked far wealthier than the outskirts. A crowd gathered at the center. Wealthy merchants in top hats and tattooed gang members stood before a huge statue, mouths open as purple liquid sprayed down from it.

At the very center stood a tavern. Its strange sign was covered in graffiti, making it look like a bright, wide-open eye. Zaunites called it Fugen Tavern.

Beyond the flashing neon on the first floor, the restless music, and the patrons smoking Shimmer and dealing drugs, a stern-looking woman with a Mechanical Arm walked straight up to the forbidden second floor of Fugen Tavern.

She knocked on the second-floor door. A moment later, a deep voice called out.

"Come in."

She pushed open the door. The second floor of Fugen Tavern was covered in all kinds of strange graffiti. Cute blue-and-pink drawings decorated the books, cups, and all sorts of other things on the desk.

A man sat quietly in an old chair. He wore a fitted vest over a red shirt, and his hair was combed neatly into place. With his back to the woman, he held a mirror and painted something.

A closer look revealed that he was putting on makeup, painting one side of his face in the mirror. That half of his face was covered in scars, but as he moved his hand, they gradually disappeared beneath the makeup. He raised the mirror and angled it behind him. His red eyes glanced at his reflection. Then he lowered the mirror and reached across the desk, feeling for a lighter decorated with two smiling eyes.

He put a cigar in his mouth and lit it.

The man turned his chair around and folded his hands over his stomach. He looked perfectly elegant.

"Back already?"

Silco said.