Aftermath

A few days after the "accidental" demolition of the academy building, Ling Ying appeared in Caitlyn's office.

"You know, I'm starting to regret letting you go."

Caitlyn spun her pen, looking at Ling Ying with a troubled expression.

"Do you know how much effort the Enforcement Department put into explaining and covering this up for you? If it hadn't been after school and there were few people in the building, and outsiders were clueless, this would have been a huge hassle."

"I..."

Ling Ying was momentarily speechless. At the same time, she scratched her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. After all, her methods had indeed been a bit too rough.

"Sigh, forget it. I'm not blaming you. Besides, sending you there was intended to prevent the situation from escalating. In that regard, you're as reliable as ever."

Speaking of which, Caitlyn's expression brightened. She gave Ling Ying an approving smile.

"So you're saying the attacker used Shadow Magic? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely certain."

Ling Ying nodded at Caitlyn and continued.

"Although it's a bit different from the shadow power used by that Noxian Shadowmancer last time, this time, that... female student's shadow power was mixed with mind-controlling illusionary power. It even made me mistake it for some kind of spatial magic."

"Ah, about this female student you mentioned."

Caitlyn pulled a page from a file beside her and placed it on the desk.

"Claire LeBella, the daughter of a not-so-influential family in Piltover. She has a twin sister, Claire LeBella. They entered Hextech Academy in the same year. I heard they're quite famous in the academy?"

"Ah, indeed. I experienced it myself at the academy. All the male students were infatuated with these two sisters."

Ling Ying spread her hands.

"I learned some information about them from a Family Disciple. But honestly, I don't think they are the masterminds behind this incident. The reason is simple: shadow power appearing in a Noxian Shadowmancer makes sense, but it appearing in a Piltover woman with no magical abilities is quite intriguing. Combined with the intel you gave me before, I suspect it's the hostile force lurking in the academy that made a move. And this is most likely related to Noxus again."

"You're thinking the same as I am."

Caitlyn nodded lightly, then her brow furrowed in confusion.

"But I'm curious about his true objective. Before this incident, we had almost no concrete intelligence, yet he risked exposure to pull this off. If he used shadow power for large-scale destruction, to make a big scene, I might understand. But he only used it to cause trouble for you?"

"If we only consider Claire's perspective, it might be explainable, as she thinks I stole her man... cough. But if there's someone behind her who wields shadow power, then that person's objective might be the primary one. What he wanted to achieve by using those sisters, even at the risk of exposure. If it was to kill me, that would be too wishful thinking. This time, I felt far less threatened than by that Shadowmancer last time."

"So, even though the enemy has revealed themselves, we still have too little intelligence."

Caitlyn shook her head with a wry smile.

"But we can't rush things. Our intelligence war with Noxus has always been back and forth. Their strength should not be underestimated. The Enforcement Department will increase security levels recently. By the way, since they're no longer hiding, we don't need to either. Regular detectives will be stationed at the academy soon. However, you are still our most important trump card, after all, you have more experience dealing with these extraordinary powers."

Caitlyn gave Ling Ying a sweet smile.

"Well then, keep up the hard work, Officer Cecilia."

"Huh?"

Ling Ying was clearly a little surprised.

"Isn't the Ice Festival holiday starting soon? The academy is closed, and I still have to work?"

"But the Enforcement Department doesn't have an Ice Festival holiday, and you already used up your annual leave before, didn't you? So you won't have any days off until next summer."

"Ah?"

"What 'ah'? I think you've been getting too comfortable at the academy and gotten a bit carried away. Hmm, it does look quite comfortable. Have you gotten a little fatter than before?"

As Caitlyn spoke, she suddenly grinned mischievously, stood up, and unexpectedly pinched Ling Ying's waist.

"Looks like the academy's food is good, you've got a little bit of extra padding around your waist."

"Yaaah!"

Two seconds later, Caitlyn's office echoed with Ling Ying's distorted scream, a mixture of shyness and anger.

"Ah, the Ice Festival is almost here."

Jayce glanced out the window at the drizzling rain and the fine snowflakes occasionally drifting by. He seemed to be speaking his mind.

"What? You decided not to go to the year-end ball yourself, and now you regret it?"

Viktor's muffled voice came from amidst the piled-up mechanical parts. There was a rare hint of teasing in his tone.

"Tch, forget it. I was never interested in attending a ball meant for those noble families to socialize. Besides, to be honest, none of the noble ladies at the ball are as pleasing to the eye as our two junior students here."

"Ah, that's true."

Viktor, covered in grease, emerged from behind a huge steel frame. He lifted his right hand, removing the fully enclosed protective mask from his face.

"Speaking of which, they didn't go to the ball either. Why haven't they come over here?"

"Cecilia left a couple of days ago, I think she had something to do. As for Orianna..."

Jayce shook his head.

"Maybe she's got something on her mind? Young girls, who knows? We should focus on figuring out the shell structure design plans that junior student Cecilia gave us earlier. See if we can prepare a surprise before they come back."

Jayce said, picking up a thick stack of blueprints from the workbench beside him and examining them. A few minutes later.

"Actually, I feel the design for this Model 1 Power Armor is daringly ahead of its time in many ways, yet still reasonable. I have to say, Cecilia's talent in this area is astonishing, it's just..."

Jayce looked at the name printed in large font above the blueprints with a helpless expression.

"It's just that I really don't understand why this armor is called Fifty Yuan Brothers..."

"Ah, because that's faith."

Ling Ying suddenly burst in from outside the door and then stuck out her tongue playfully at the two of them.

"Senior Jayce, you don't understand. Leading a large group of Fifty Yuan Brothers to gallop across the sea of stars is one of a maiden's romantic dreams."

"..."

Ling Ying's inexplicable words left the brilliant Jayce completely bewildered. Viktor, however, said with utmost seriousness.

"Speaking of which, junior, we were just looking for you to discuss this matter. This... Fifty Yuan Brothers, some of the structures in your design, such as the miniature propulsion engine on the back, the high-speed turbine, the auxiliary high-efficiency cooling system, the miniaturized transmission engine array, and some other subsystems, we can't figure them out. Although we don't know how you came up with these advanced ideas, junior, they are indeed so advanced that we can't replicate them in reality."

"Ah, I see. It's okay, though. This was within my expectations, after all, I just doodled it down. Since that's not possible, what about the second design?"

"Ah, the second one looks a bit closer to reality."

Jayce picked up another stack of blueprints.

"If this T-60 Power Armor is more in line with Piltover's current technology, then the Fifty Yuan Brothers just now was practically alien technology. I really can't understand how you came up with both designs simultaneously."

"Ahaha, personal interest, personal interest."

Ling Ying chuckled and scratched her head.

"So, is this thing possible to realize?"

"Indeed, the framework and various subsystems are not too difficult. It seems like it can be realized with a little integration of existing technology. In fact, we've already made some progress."

Viktor pointed towards a humanoid frame beside him.

"This is what we and a few others from the same department tinkered with a few days ago. It's the power armor skeleton you mentioned. Some simple subsystems have also been integrated. Next, we just need to forge the main armor, and it should be preliminarily completed."

"That's fantastic."

Ling Ying's voice couldn't hide her excitement. As a power armor fanatic, nothing could be more thrilling than personally participating in the design of a set of power armor. Moreover, even if she couldn't lead a large group of Fifty Yuan Brothers, leading a large group of Steel Brothers Society wouldn't be bad either.

"By the way, didn't we discuss the power system earlier? Here, this is for you."

Ling Ying took out a box from her backpack and handed it to Jayce. Jayce opened it with some doubt. Four dull-colored crystals lay quietly inside.

"These few Drained Crystals can be used for preliminary testing."

"This... junior... our project funding hasn't been approved yet, has it?"

Jayce's expression was clearly surprised. The price of Drained Crystals wasn't exactly high, but it was still something only families with above-average living standards in Piltover could afford. Or rather, only people at that level would have a need for Drained Crystals. After all, technology was advancing rapidly, and more and more daily necessities no longer required the energy of Hextech Crystals to operate. For Ling Ying to suddenly produce four of them was truly baffling.

"Ah, it's nothing, I traded my body for them..."

Ling Ying said casually. However, the speaker was careless, but the listener was attentive. Both Jayce and Viktor wore expressions of stunned disbelief.

After a long pause, the two finally snapped back to reality.

"Junior! You foolish girl! How could you... how could you do such a thing!"

Jayce grabbed Ling Ying's shoulders and shook her vigorously, his face a mask of anguish. Even Viktor couldn't help but reach up and wipe his face beneath his mask. The two of them made Ling Ying instantly realize how much misunderstanding her thoughtless remark had caused. She quickly explained.

"Ah, I was just kidding! I bought these crystals with my own savings. Don't overthink it."

As soon as Ling Ying spoke, Jayce calmed down. However, he still looked skeptical.

"Really, look around the academy. Besides you two, have I ever paid attention to any other guys?"

"That... is true..."

Jayce nodded as if a realization had dawned on him.

"But even so, it's too inappropriate for you to pay for this..."

"Hey, seniors, you know how it is. The approved funds will definitely take a while to come through. But our project is already preliminarily complete, and it wouldn't be good to be held back by funding. If you feel bad about it, you can reimburse me once the funds are released."

"Alright, then we must thank you, junior. After all, this is essentially a research project assigned to us by the academy, and you've gone to so much trouble."

Ling Ying smiled and waved her hand. In her heart, however, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Although she felt she hadn't said anything wrong, the funds for purchasing the crystals had indeed come from her and Caitlyn. Perhaps out of guilt for repeatedly playing with Ling Ying's body, Caitlyn had not only been surprisingly generous but had also allocated an additional sum of money. It even made Ling Ying wonder if this was a prepayment for even more excessive actions to come.

"Speaking of which..."

Her eyes swept across the entire laboratory, but she couldn't find the figure she expected to be there.

"Where's Orianna? Didn't she come?"

"Ah, that..."

Jayce rubbed his temples, saying with some distress.

"She hasn't been here since yesterday. The last time I saw her, her complexion wasn't good, and she seemed to have encountered something. We wanted to ask, but we don't know how to approach a girl's worries, so it seems we'll have to rely on you, junior, to comfort her. If I'm not mistaken, she should be in her dorm right now."

"Ah? Is that so? Why didn't you say so earlier? I need to hurry back and check on her."

Ling Ying said, quickly putting down the two socially inept guys and rushing towards the door. After spending so many days together, Ling Ying had already come to consider Orianna as one of her most important companions. That's why she had been so angry when she saw the fake Orianna in Claire's shadow illusion. Now that Orianna was facing troubles, Ling Ying naturally felt compelled to pay attention.

"Ah, remember to notify me when it's finished,"

After saying this, Ling Ying disappeared in a hurry out of the laboratory door.