Out of Control

"So can someone tell me how the hell I'm supposed to find this crystal...?"

Ling Ying sprawled lifelessly across a café table, letting out a long sigh. She had been in Piltover for nearly a week now. Even with Ezreal and the others helping her, finding the crystal the Cloaked Figure had mentioned remained incredibly difficult. Drained Crystals could be found in both the exchange and the commercial plaza, but most crystal merchants fell silent the moment they learned Ling Ying was not a Piltover citizen. Even those profit-driven Black Market Dealers looked at her as if she were insane after hearing her requirements for the crystal. Perhaps, in their eyes, being so particular about buying scrap was simply unreasonable. In short, the scene Ling Ying had imagined—walking into the market and immediately taking away the glowing crystal that resonated with her from afar—never happened.

"Ugh..."

Just as Ling Ying was lamenting the hardships of life, the café doors were suddenly shoved open with unnecessary force. Two burly men in black, both nearly six feet tall, poked their heads inside and swept their eyes across the room. Then they stepped in, planted themselves firmly in place, and stood on either side of the entrance like guardian statues.

Just as Ling Ying was wondering which big shot needed such a grand entrance, a somewhat familiar voice drifted into her ears.

"Boss! One Super Extra Strawberry Sundae! And if it's not sweet enough this time, you might as well close this place down!"

A flamboyantly dressed woman soon entered Ling Ying's sight along with the voice. Ling Ying realized that not only did the voice sound familiar—this woman looked familiar too.

What a small world. It was the Young Lady of the Midalda Family, Sophie Midalda.

"Yo!"

Sophie had clearly noticed Ling Ying sitting directly opposite the entrance. After a brief flicker of surprise, she let out an exaggerated laugh.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here? What a coincidence, isn't it? What's wrong, homeless stray dog? You still have the mood to sit here drinking coffee?"

With a malicious expression, she walked straight to the table across from Ling Ying and sat down. The four black-clad bodyguards followed closely behind and took up positions at her back.

"Look at you. I thought you had some real backbone. So what happened? Didn't Brother Ezreal throw you out just like that? A woman like you is nothing more than a toy to him. In looks, in wealth—what could you possibly have that compares to me? How could you ever win his favor? Ahahaha..."

As Ling Ying watched that heavily powdered face prattle on with such smug self-satisfaction, she suddenly felt nauseated for no reason.

"What, is that all the courage you have? Did I scare you speechless? Ahahahaha..."

"No... with all due respect..."

Ling Ying waved a hand.

"Ma'am, at your age, could you stop calling him 'Brother' every other sentence? It's disgusting."

"You!"

Ling Ying's words left the woman choking. Her already unnatural face immediately turned green and purple in patches, like a bitter melon that had been left out for days. Everyone knew Sophie Midalda was only twenty-two, but she had inherited her father's rather unfortunate features and had poor skin, making her look far more mature than her years. For Young Lady Sophie, who spent lavish amounts of time at beauty salons every week, age had always been her greatest taboo.

"No one has ever dared to speak to me like that. No one."

Sophie spoke with a dark expression, enunciating every word.

"But considering your current situation, I'll treat it as the final barking of a pathetic defeated dog. This is the second time. If I hear anything like that again, I'll show you what happens when you offend the Midalda Family. I've already looked into you—a savage from Shurima. An outsider like you could be found dead in a sewer the next day, and no one would say a thing."

"Oh, I see. That does sound pretty scary."

Ling Ying leisurely finished her latte, then propped her chin on one hand and gave Sophie a serene smile.

"Then I'll call you something else, Aun...ty."

The moment Ling Ying said it, the atmosphere inside the café dropped to freezing point. The other customers, who had been waiting to enjoy the show, immediately jumped to their feet and ran for the door. Even someone with no sense could tell that a bloody storm was about to break. Watching drama was one thing, but no one wanted to witness—

"Get her."

Sophie's face had evolved from a bitter melon left out overnight into one rotten enough to ooze. Her lackeys swarmed Ling Ying the instant she gave the order. Several fists the size of sandbags came smashing down, only to strike empty air as Ling Ying nimbly ducked beneath them. Her lower body twisted, and she swept her leg into the knee joints of the two men closest to her.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound rang out, and the two towering men collapsed with twisted expressions. They clearly would not be getting back up anytime soon. Perhaps the remaining two had been frightened by that flashy instant takedown, because they froze for several seconds before hurriedly reaching into their pockets for something. Naturally, Ling Ying gave them no chance. She pushed off the ground with both hands and sprang up in an instant, driving a fist into one man's face. In the gap between strikes, her body rolled and twisted as nimbly as a fish, her long arms locking around the other bodyguard's neck. Then Ling Ying lifted both feet off the ground and slammed the man's body viciously into the floor.

"Crow Sits on an Air—ah! Ow, that hurts!"

Ling Ying's rather reckless fighting style sent her crashing solidly onto her backside. Compared to the four men writhing around on the floor, though, that was nothing.

"Whew. Miss, attacking people at the slightest disagreement isn't a very good habit."

Ling Ying dusted off her clothes and sprang to her feet, only to find that she was facing not just Young Lady Sophie's stunned face, but also the dark barrel of a gun.

"Bang!"

In the instant Ling Ying froze, the pistol fired. A bullet wreathed in electrical energy struck her in the chest, effortlessly blasting a hole through her body before passing straight through. Its remaining momentum was enough to bore a deep bullet hole into the café wall.

Ling Ying fell straight backward. Sophie looked at the Hextech Revolver in her hand, its barrel still hot, her expression a complicated mix of emotions. There was surprise and shock. It seemed she had realized that she had just killed someone. But very quickly, those emotions were replaced by a trace of delight and pride.

"Hahaha! Country mutt! Piltover isn't a place where the biggest fist rules! Times have changed long ago, ahahaha..."

Sophie laughed so hard her whole body trembled, as though killing someone were an immensely pleasant thing to her.

"Hey! You useless trash."

Sophie put away her gun and kicked the groaning bodyguards on the floor twice.

"I really don't know why the Midalda Family keeps you worthless idiots around. Every one of you looks the part, yet you couldn't even beat one woman. I had to dirty my own hands. Get up already! You two! Go outside and see if there are any commoners watching. Get rid of them immediately! If they won't listen, give them some money and tell them to get as far away as possible. You, go notify my father right now and have him pull some strings. It was just some outsider wild dog who died. If this is handled properly, the Enforcement Department won't cause us trouble. And you, stay here with me. Once we make sure no one saw anything, carry the body out."

The four bodyguards groaned as they climbed to their feet and went to carry out their orders. One whose leg had been broken by her kick crawled away on hands and knees. Sophie casually pulled over a chair and sat down, seemingly trying to calm herself.

"Is that how this ends?"

An incomparably sinister voice sounded behind her. Sophie instantly began trembling as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. She mechanically turned around and saw the face she had believed could never possibly come back to life.

"N-No way... How are you not dead?!"

Sophie's face was now filled with complete terror. After all, someone getting shot in a vital spot and still standing back up was truly horrifying. Her gaze slowly lowered to Ling Ying's chest, where she had shot her, and then she saw something even more terrifying. Some kind of filthy black substance was writhing and twisting within the wound, replacing the missing flesh and gradually filling the gap. In just a few minutes, the traces of the Hextech Revolver's shot had nearly healed completely.

Only one thought remained in Sophie's mind: this thing wasn't human!

Ling Ying truly did not count as human. She stepped toward the terrified, frozen Sophie, then grabbed her by the collar and lifted her into the air as easily as if she were a chick.

"You seemed to be laughing quite happily just now."

Ling Ying's terrifying Vertical Pupils fixed tightly on Sophie, like a predator watching its prey. Her gaze brimmed with savagery and intense killing intent. Behind her, two spectral currents of energy intertwined—one an eerie purple, the other a profound black.

"I hope that next, you can make me laugh too."

"No!! No! I'm a Midalda... I can't..."

"Hello! Caitlyn? Can you hear me? Hello? Oh, damn it, it's broken again. Those guys in the Technical Department really are unreliable."

The Piltover enforcer with messy pink hair shouted as she violently shook the communicator in her hand like a tin can.

"I can hear you, Vi."

A calm female voice came through the communicator, tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"Before complaining about your colleagues, you should realize that you need to be more patient. The signal relay for portable communicators still isn't perfect, but it's only been less than thirty seconds since you started calling."

"Aha, I always thought that was one of my personality highlights."

Vi casually ran a hand through her hair.

"Anyway, I'm reporting the case."

"Go on. How's the scene?"

"The suspect has already been subdued. We'll escort her back to the Enforcement Department shortly."

"And? Was the Midalda Family's Young Lady, the one the Cafe Owner reported, rescued?"

"She was."

Vi paused, glanced at the bloodstained body bag beside her, then continued.

"But we didn't save her."

"What do you mean, you didn't save her? Wait, you mean..."

"She's dead. Torn into several pieces. The boys from Criminal Investigation came out of the scene vomiting."

Silence instantly fell over the other end of the communicator. After a long while, Caitlyn's voice came through again.

"Who was it? Who would kill someone in such a cruel manner?"

"You've hit the point. That's what feels strangest to me. That Young Lady's body looked like it had been forcibly torn apart with brute strength. But the suspect is a girl who looks no older than twenty. Quiet and gentle, and quite pretty too. She didn't resist at all during the arrest. If she hadn't been covered in that Young Lady's blood, I never would've believed she was the culprit. Of course, I don't fully believe it even now. I feel there's something more going on here."

"Yes, indeed."

Caitlyn agreed from the other end of the communicator.

"But speaking of brute strength, is that girl an alchemically enhanced human? Or did she use some kind of biochemical drug?"

"Ah, as expected of my partner. You thought the same thing I did. But we can rule out the first possibility. The suspect doesn't have any alchemical equipment on her. As for biochemical drugs, I heard from Paul and the others in Forensics that nearly all existing strength-enhancing drugs cause intermittent hallucinations and madness. That girl doesn't look like she has either of those symptoms. Still, we'll have to run tests after we get back to the department before we can draw any conclusions."

"All right. Bring the suspect back first."

Caitlyn sighed.

"Ah, the Midalda Family's Young Lady is dead. That Old Man definitely won't let this go. The Enforcement Department is going to be busy now."

"Hey! That's your problem. If you ask me, that arrogant Young Lady finally ran into someone she couldn't handle and got herself killed..."

"Vi..."

"All right, all right, I know! I'm a cop, so I can't be biased, right? You've said that so many times my ears are growing calluses."

"Then you should remember that we're police officers, not cops."

"Hey, same thing, same thing. There's no difference. You Piltover scum... Piltoverians just love nitpicking over words. That's it for now. I'm hanging up. See you soon."

"Vi, I heard—"

A second before Caitlyn could start complaining, Vi decisively pressed the end button on the communicator. Then she turned around and looked through the thick glass at Girl in the carriage. Like an exquisite doll, she sat there blankly, expressionless and utterly motionless.

"Let's go."

Vi looked away from Girl and gave the coachman a signal. Soon, accompanied by the neighing of horses, the carriage sped onto the broad Stellar Boulevard, racing toward the Enforcement Department.