City of Progress

"I'm telling you, Old Man Haggs, what are you up to so early in the morning? I told you last time not to call the police just because you can't open your front door or your cat goes missing. Besides, that cat of yours is clever as anything—it's never actually gotten lost."

The young Piltover patrolman Mattel spoke helplessly to the old man dressed like a boatman standing before him. Because of this man, he had been forced to rush from the city to the shore first thing in the morning without even having time for a cup of coffee. What was more, whenever the old man called the police, it was usually nothing urgent.

"Hey, you make it sound like this old man causes trouble for you lot every day. But this time, I really ran into something big!"

The old man named Haggs widened his eyes.

"It was bizarre, I tell you. But let me say this first—you're not going to be scared, are you?"

"We won't. Go ahead."

Mattel exchanged a look with the colleague beside him, then nodded.

"Though we're only the lowest-ranking patrolmen, we've received professional training from the Enforcement Department. We won't be scared."

"Oh, good."

The old man nervously looked around, then lowered his voice mysteriously.

"I'm telling you, I went down to the ship's hold this morning, and I ran into a sea monster on the beach nearby."

"A sea monster?"

"That's right! A sea monster."

Old Man Haggs nodded with great certainty.

"It was the strangest thing. This old man has never seen anything like it before. Its lower half looked like a beautiful woman, but it had no head and no face. Its upper half was a huge clump of seaweed and all sorts of other junk. It looked terrifying—I nearly passed out from fright... What are you laughing at?"

"Ah, nothing. I just suddenly thought of something happy."

Mark quickly composed himself and coughed twice, then turned to his colleague.

"Put it in the incident report. Situation at the beach has been resolved. Conclusion: the caller was frightened by a clump of seaweed..."

"What seaweed? That was a sea monster! A sea monster!"

"Fine, change it to: due to his advanced age and poor eyesight, the caller mistook a clump of seaweed for a sea monster. Let's wrap up and head back for some coffee."

"Hey! Damn it, you can't do this. She stole something from me too. You have to deal with that, right?"

Mattel turned back with a helpless look.

"Fine. What did you lose, sir?"

"Fresh water. Two whole barrels! I'd prepared them for going out to sea. She carried off the water and the barrels... What are you laughing at now?"

"Alright, alright, we understand the situation."

Mattel patted his colleague on the shoulder, signaling him not to take it too far. Then he spoke to Haggs with a straight face.

"But honestly, a sea monster... a situation this big is beyond the likes of us lowly patrolmen. We'll go back and file a report for you. Then the Enforcement Department's elite can come deal with it personally. Maybe even the Chief Constable will come herself. She's a real beauty—you'll be in for a treat, old man."

With that, Mattel left with his colleague without looking back, leaving Haggs standing there in a daze. Until he heard hearty laughter drifting over from the distance.

"HAHAHAHA! A sea monster! I'm dying!"

Splash!

The cool fresh water pouring over her body made Ling Ying feel as though every cell in her body had come back to life. It also washed away the last strip of nori clinging to her hair. At her feet lay a huge pile of seaweed she had cleaned off herself, lush and green, brimming with life.

"Ugh, what exactly happened?"

Ling Ying shook her head hard, trying to remember something. Yet her memories stopped at the moment she had been swallowed by that mountain-sized giant octopus. When she regained consciousness again and opened her eyes, the ship was gone, the monster was gone, and the octopus was gone. She had awakened alone on the ocean, floating alongside a huge clump of seaweed. She had clung to that seaweed and drifted across the sea for several days, until Ling Ying felt she was about to turn into a high-salt salted fish herself. Finally, today, she had spotted land and made it ashore. That was the first piece of good news. As for the second, Ling Ying knew she had probably reached her destination: Piltover. How did she know? Well, because she could vaguely make out words like "Piltover Grigori Daily Necessities Company" on the bucket she had brought over.

"Piltover, huh."

As Ling Ying took out a spare dress from her Storage Bag, she sifted through everything she knew about Piltover. But when she realized that all she had were scattered bits and pieces she had read about the League universe before crossing over, none of which were useful, she simply gave up thinking and sighed instead.

"Anyway, I hope nothing goes wrong here."

"Lilia Lance."

The middle-aged registration clerk casually glanced over the registration form handed to him.

"Occupation... mercenary?"

The clerk gave Ling Ying a skeptical look, seemingly wondering how such a delicate-looking girl could have such a fierce profession. As for Ling Ying, her face remained perfectly calm. She did not feel there was anything wrong with using the information of some unlucky mercenary she had swallowed. Fortunately, the clerk did not dwell on that detail. He swiftly scanned the rest of the form before asking, "Purpose of your visit to Piltover?"

"To do business."

"Business? Piltover doesn't have those adventure commissions or bounties of yours."

"I understand. But you know, some lucky mercenaries... occasionally have good merchandise they need to sell, and I think Piltoverians are far better at recognizing quality than people elsewhere."

"Haha, that's true."

The clerk was quite pleased by Ling Ying's flattery and nodded before stamping her registration form.

"You may enter. And one more thing—if you want to sell something, you'd better go to the exchange in the western part of the city."

Ling Ying thanked him and stepped through Piltover's gates. After walking through the entrance passage for several minutes, a magnificent and bustling streetscape unfolded before her. The buildings along the streets were all made of bright alloys and colorful stained glass, complemented by exquisite structures and towering spires. They gleamed beneath the sunlight like castles. The streets were paved with smooth, even marble slabs, and even the streetlamps on both sides stood within crystal-clear glass covers. From afar, they resembled crystal lanterns. This sight, along with the passersby in all manner of clothing moving through the streets, gave Ling Ying the surreal feeling that she had entered another world.

"Just what you'd expect from the City of Progress. This aesthetic is probably one of a kind on the entire continent."

Ling Ying walked through Piltover's streets, curiously observing the things around her while considering her next move. That Cloaked Figure had told her to come to Piltover and briefly mentioned that she should look for crystals, but he had not told her where to begin. Ling Ying felt like she had clearly entered the Main Quest area, yet among the countless NPCs before her, not a single one had a marker over their head.

"Hm?"

All at once, Ling Ying's expression changed slightly. She pulled the Storage Bag from inside her shirt and untied its opening. The Void Crystal rolled into her palm. Strange veins of energy flowed and wound across its somewhat cloudy surface, brightening and dimming like Neon Lights.

Ling Ying stared at the crystal for several seconds. It somehow looked familiar. Then a vaguely familiar voice drifted past her ears, drawing her attention away.

"Huh? You are..."

Ling Ying turned toward the voice. The first thing she saw was a head of striking golden hair, followed by a young, handsome, somewhat familiar face.

The explorer, Ezreal. He held a bag containing bread and other food in his left arm, looking as though he had just finished shopping.

...Fate could be truly wondrous sometimes.

"Ah, here we are."

Ezreal stopped in front of an old-looking house.

"Aha, it looks a little run-down. I haven't repaired it since my parents disappeared, and, well, you know, I spend all year traveling and hardly ever come home... Anyway, come in."

As Ezreal turned the key, a living room with extremely simple furnishings came into Ling Ying's view. It was so sparse that the room seemed almost empty. Ling Ying followed Ezreal's gesture and sat on the sofa, while he carried the bag into the adjacent kitchen. Soon, a series of clatters came from inside. After a short while, Ezreal poked his head out from the kitchen.

"Um... Miss Lilia, do you prefer black tea or green tea?"

"Uh, black tea, I suppose."

"Oh, okay."

Ezreal withdrew his head, and another round of clattering sounded from the kitchen moments later.

"Here, coffee."

"?"

"Sorry, I suddenly remembered that I don't know how to make tea. I don't get many guests here, so I don't really have anything to entertain them with. Ahaha..."

"No, it's fine. This is quite good."

Ling Ying lifted the coffee and took a sip. A flavor she had not experienced in a long time lingered in her mouth, stimulating her somewhat numb taste buds. It felt as though she had returned to her old university days—one cup of coffee, one book, and an entire afternoon spent sitting in the library.

"Good coffee."

Ling Ying smiled faintly and turned to Ezreal.

"Then I suppose we can talk now. There are some things we're both interested in, aren't there?"

An hour later.

"Ah, I see. After I disappeared, those monsters quickly scattered? And then Piltover's naval fleet rescued you halfway through the journey?"

"That's right. There were quite a few casualties aboard as well, but most people were fortunate enough to survive, thanks to you..."

Ezreal seemed about to say "thanks to you," but perhaps he felt it would be rude, and quickly shut his mouth. Little did he know that Ling Ying was not concerned with that at all. Her attention had already shifted to the coffee table before them. The Void Crystal Ling Ying had brought and the fragment pendant Ezreal carried were both flashing brightly and dimly atop it, as if happily responding to one another. Yet their two owners were at a complete loss.

"So you don't actually know where this thing came from either?"

"So you don't know what it really is, either..."

Ling Ying and Ezreal sighed at the same time. Ling Ying had hoped to learn more about the crystal from Ezreal, since the Cloaked Figure had stuffed it into her hands without explaining much else. Ezreal's answer was that he had long since asked specialized organizations and personnel to conduct comprehensive tests on it. The results showed that it was merely a Drained Crystal—the Piltoverian term for Hextech Crystals whose energy was nearly depleted. At most, it was somewhat unusual and contained energy fluctuations that could not be measured precisely. As for Drained Crystals, their numbers in Piltover, where Hextech Industry was highly developed, could not be underestimated. Moreover, Piltover allowed technology companies to sell them to civilians—Large Devices could no longer use them, but they could still be used in Daily Life Utensils. Na... ah, no, Hextech Crystals really were that durable. In summary, the information Ezreal provided was better than nothing. As for what Ezreal wanted to know—the crystal's origin—Ling Ying knew that it came from the Void, but she could not say it aloud. If she told an ordinary person something like that, they would probably take her for a lunatic or a con artist. But someone as knowledgeable as Ezreal would very likely believe her, then naturally begin to suspect her identity. And Ling Ying's identity could not withstand much scrutiny.

"Icathia."

"Huh?"

"More precisely, the desert around Icathia. Back when I was a mercenary, my team and I once ventured deep into that desert in search of treasure."

After weighing it over, Ling Ying decided to at least indirectly tell Ezreal some harmless information.

"Because it lies so close to Icathia, everything in that desert has more or less been eroded or altered by the Void. I happened to find this crystal there. So I'm guessing it may have been affected by Void Power as well. Didn't you say those experts found this crystal somewhat unusual? Perhaps that's what makes it unusual."

"Oh, the Void... Ah!!"

Ezreal cried out and jumped straight out of his seat, nearly knocking over the half-finished coffee in front of him.

"Don't make such a fuss."

Naturally, Ling Ying knew what he was worried about. Honestly, if it had been Ling Ying herself, learning that something she had carried around for years was related to the Void would probably have sent her shooting straight up to the ceiling. Of course, that referred to Ling Ying back when she was still human.

"This thing itself should be harmless. Look, mine is much bigger than yours, and I've carried it around for a long time. Nothing has happened."

"Ah, is that so..."

Ezreal sat back down, but his eyes remained fixed on Ling Ying—particularly on her long hair and Eyes, whose color bore a striking resemblance to the crystal. There seemed to be some suspicion in his gaze.

"Ahem..."

"Ah, sorry. That was rude of me."

Ezreal hurriedly looked away.

"Um, then if that's the case, my parents may have left me this crystal fragment because they had also been near Icathia?"

"Maybe, but that's only one possibility."

"No, this information was already more valuable than everything I'd done all these years! I've been studying the notes they left behind, but I hadn't made any progress. Who would've thought..."

Ezreal's tone suddenly became excited.

"Miss Lilia, do you... or your teammates, still remember how to get to..."

"Don't even think about it."

Ling Ying decisively poured cold water over Ezreal's hopes, speaking in a grave tone.

"I didn't tell you this so you could go throw your life away. What Icathia represents might be something people from Piltover don't understand, but you've spent time in Shurima too. Aren't the Void Creature attacks that happen from time to time enough to make you realize how dangerous the Void is?"

"But weren't you..."

"That's why all my teammates died. I was the only one who survived."

"..."

Ezreal choked on his words, his mouth hanging open as he failed to say anything for a long while. Though Ling Ying's utterly expressionless lie was somewhat shameless, it clearly worked. After a long silence, Ezreal finally let out a bitter laugh and shook his head.

"You're right. Icathia, the Void... those aren't things I can get involved with right now. It's funny. I thought that if I wandered the world on aimless adventures and became famous enough, my parents would notice me and come back to my side. I even thought I'd surpassed them, but it turns out they'd already explored realms no mortal could ever reach..."

"Ah, sorry, I started rambling again. In any case, thank you for the information, Miss Lilia. It was a pleasure talking with you."

"I feel the same."

Ling Ying nodded lightly, then rose to her feet. By Earth's customs, saying that basically meant it was time to see the guest out. However, something Ezreal said made Ling Ying stop in her tracks.

"Um, now that I think about it, forgive me for asking, but do you have somewhere to stay in Piltover?"

"..."

Ling Ying froze for a moment, then slowly turned back around. She looked at Ezreal with a faintly resentful gaze.

"Ah, ah, I didn't mean to offend you."

Thinking he had said something wrong, Ezreal hurriedly waved his hands.

"Of course, staying at an inn is fine too, but inns in Piltover are pretty expensive... Do you... have enough money on you?"

Ling Ying stared at Ezreal, her eyes seeming to grow even more aggrieved.

"Ah, ah, what I mean is, if you don't mind, you can stay at my place. As you can see, my home... is quite big..."