Sarah looked at the drunkard on the ground and said to Jiang Chuan, "Why did you smash his hand?"
Jiang Chuan put away his pistol. "He insulted me. This is the punishment he deserved."
Sarah kicked the man on the ground. "That'll teach you to bully newcomers. Serves you right."
Sarah addressed the people in the room. "Roland just arrived, and this is how we welcome him? Flans brought this on himself. From now on, I don't want to hear about or see anyone bullying newcomers again."
"Yes, boss!"
"All right, break it up. Someone stay behind and take Flans to get patched up."
Jiang Chuan sat in a chair, drinking the cheap beer in his glass. "Is this your tavern?"
Sarah shook her head. "I'm just friends with the owner. Besides, most of my brothers live in Rat Town. This is basically our meeting place."
Jiang Chuan nodded. "Your gang is a mixed bunch. That makes them hard to manage."
Sarah toyed with her red hair and smiled. "These people will risk their lives for you if you pay them. They just need the money. Besides, why wouldn't I use such cheap labor?"
Jiang Chuan set down his glass. "What if they betray you?"
Sarah smiled. "They don't know anything about the core plan, and I wouldn't tell anyone anyway. I have to kill Gangplank with my own hands."
Jiang Chuan smiled. "Good. I look forward to the day you get your revenge. Revenge always tastes so sweet."
After Jiang Chuan and Sarah had had quite a bit to drink, Jiang Chuan asked, "Can I stay here?"
Sarah looked at him in disbelief. "You don't have a place to stay?"
Jiang Chuan took the few silver coins he had and put them on the table. "This is all the money I have. Where could I stay? I didn't even ask you for the bounty on the Slut Ripper. If I'm going to be your right-hand man, the least you can do is provide room and board."
Sarah rolled her eyes at him. "There's a bed in the storage room next to mine upstairs. You'll have to make your own food. I can't cook."
Jiang Chuan smiled. "That's no problem."
No one in Sarah's small gang knew what her plan was, and no one could betray her. The red-haired bounty hunter, who no one would believe, trusted only the guns in her holsters.
Jiang Chuan watched the motley crowd in the tavern. They were all outlaws; any one of them might be a wanted criminal from another kingdom. Here, no one cared whether you lived or died. You either soared to the heavens or wound up in Bilgewater's filthy gutters. Countless thieves, villains, and thugs roamed freely through Bilgewater. The place was full of crime, yet no one came to hunt down the scoundrels. Jiang Chuan smiled. "Everywhere has its dark side. This place is just where all the darkness gathers."
Sarah took Jiang Chuan upstairs. He looked at the bed in the storage room, so battered it was barely recognizable as a bed, and smiled bitterly. "Could I have a blanket and a pillow?"
Sarah went to her room and brought out a blanket. "Make the bed yourself. I'm going to sleep."
Sarah shut the door without a second thought, leaving Jiang Chuan to tidy up the shabby storage room.
Sarah stared out the window at the bright moon, lost in thought.
She didn't believe that Roland had helped her purely out of a desire to see her get revenge. There had to be something he wanted from her—or perhaps what he stood to gain by helping her was far more precious than what she would get. In Bilgewater, if you told someone on the street or in a tavern that a stranger had offered to help you get revenge in exchange for nothing but a broken bed and two meals a day, they'd slap you and call you a liar.
Sarah murmured to herself, "What do you stand to gain, Mr. Roland...?"
Meanwhile, Jiang Chuan lay on the broken little bed, wondering where the precision rune was. In the official videos, Ryze fought alongside Sarah, but they never said where the rune was or what it was called.
Jiang Chuan frowned. "Could it be in Gangplank's hands? There are countless islands in Bilgewater. Finding a rune would be like looking for a needle in the ocean. My only lead is Sarah, and her main goal is to get revenge on Gangplank. Ryze will definitely come to seize it then. Magic, arcana, technology... The worldbuilding here is such a headache!"
The nations and regions of Runeterra were all different. Though Demacia and Noxus were the two great powers of Runeterra, Demacia had always been on the defensive. Noxus's strength came not only from its military might, but also from its openness, something no other region could match. Unlike Demacia, which banned magic, Noxus welcomed anything that could help the empire. Technology and magic, two vastly different disciplines, had merged perfectly in Zaun and Piltover, as if they had always belonged together. And this continent faced countless threats: the Void's invasion, the Dragon King's revenge, and the Darkin's hatred could all leave it devastated.
It was like a delicious cake with everyone else eyeing it hungrily. That wasn't exactly a fortunate situation.
Jiang Chuan thought of Ryze and the one rune he had yet to collect: Inspiration. The Inspiration rune was on a Troll. That also explained how one particularly crafty Troll had become the Troll King.
As Jiang Chuan thought, he gradually drifted off to sleep. In his dream, he returned to Earth and lived with his family. The smiles of the people around him were familiar, yet indistinct.
Early the next morning, Sarah woke Jiang Chuan. "Get up and make breakfast!"
Jiang Chuan shook his foggy head. "Shouldn't you say, 'Get up and eat'? Couldn't your heart be as big as your chest?"
Sarah smiled flirtatiously. "I thought I told you I can't cook. Want to find out if my heart is as big as my chest? Why not try?"
Jiang Chuan waved her off. "No, mornings aren't the right time for that. Evenings are."
Sarah glanced at Jiang Chuan, smiled, and headed downstairs. He got dressed, went to the kitchen, made two breakfasts, and carried them down to the first floor.
Sarah sat downstairs and smiled at Jiang Chuan. "A grown man who can make breakfast? You weren't a male employee at a brothel before, were you?"
Jiang Chuan smiled. "Want me to show you the skills I learned at the brothel?"
Jiang Chuan sat down, set the food in front of Sarah, and began to eat heartily.
Sarah tasted the food on her plate and said in surprise, "Not bad! From now on, you're my personal chef."
Jiang Chuan rolled his eyes at Sarah. "Can't you eat without talking?"
Sarah finished breakfast at her leisure, then asked, "Why did you come to Bilgewater?"
Jiang Chuan smiled. "How do you know I'm not a local?"
Sarah pushed the food around her plate. "People from Bilgewater couldn't make food this refined. Besides, in Bilgewater, even breakfast is beer. You're drinking milk. That makes me curious."
Jiang Chuan took a sip of milk and smiled. "You don't need to know where I'm from. Just know that I came to Bilgewater to get home, and helping you get revenge is only the first step."
Sarah smiled. "Bilgewater's ports lead to the whole continent. There are ships to Noxus, Demacia, Ionia, Zaun, Piltover—everywhere. Yet you chose to stay in Bilgewater. You're not from this world, are you?"
Jiang Chuan cleared away some plates and smiled. "That's right. You can call me Lady Beard's envoy, or you can call me a Summoner. I personally prefer the latter."
Sarah smiled. "A Summoner? Was that disgusting dog of yours summoned by you?"
Jiang Chuan snapped his fingers and summoned the bounty hunter before him—Sarah.
Sarah vanished from her chair and appeared in front of Jiang Chuan. There was barely an inch between them. Jiang Chuan smiled. "This is what a Summoner is. You're one of the people I can summon, too. But you can't tell anyone about this secret. I mean you no harm. You can trust me completely, can't you?"
Sarah calmly watched the man before her. She knew that another person lived inside this body, which looked like that of a local from Bilgewater. That person was beyond her control, and there was no way she could control him. Worse, he could control her!
Jiang Chuan looked at Sarah's beautiful face. "I'm worthy of your trust, and I trust you, too. This will be our secret."
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