82 Innocent Milio

Without the power armor's enhancement, Vi was instantly thrown backward by the combined weight of the Atlas armor and the power armor itself.

Losing his balance, Yuan Chen struck Wei in the chest with a palm strike, sending Wei flying once again. He landed on the ground with a muffled thud that was suffocating.

"Stop! Don't hurt Wei anymore!!"

Perhaps because of a shared understanding, even Caitlyn, who is usually calm and uses her wisdom to solve cases, showed a rare emotional fluctuation in her voice.

Almost instinctively, she raised the Peacemaker in her hand. Her pale face, still recovering from the heart palpitations, was flushed with a sickly redness, as if she were about to pull the trigger and pierce Yuan Chen's heart at any moment.

In response, Yuan Chen simply turned his head and looked calmly at Caitlyn. He didn't say anything, just watched quietly.

But it was precisely those clear, dark eyes that filled Caitlyn with unparalleled despair.

She lowered her head, lowering the muzzle of her gun. The brim of her top hat obscured her eyes and the bridge of her nose, leaving only the tip of her nose and mouth out of shadow.

Caitlyn pursed her lips, clenching her teeth as if she wanted to crush them. But in the end, all she could say was in despair, "Please..."

Splash,

Just as Caitlyn was speaking, on the other side, Vi, whose Atlas suit had lost power, with the cubic battery on her back flying off, the gauntlet energy engine stopping, and even her consciousness fading, shakily got up from the ground once again like a cockroach hit by a slipper.

Unfortunately, this time, Wei was not as fierce as before. She couldn't even maintain her balance, let alone launch an attack.

A heavy, painful pressure surged through her entire body; her eyes glazed over, and Wei's body swayed from side to side.

This hazy sensation seemed to remind her of something. Gritting her teeth, she used almost all her strength, but exhausted and severely injured, Wei had no strength left to continue fighting.

With a click, the Atlas Gauntlets on his arms fell to the ground, and his power armor, along with the gauntlets, hissed and spewed steam as it fell to the ground.

Spread your legs apart, arch your spine, and lower your upper body...

With unfocused eyes, Wei's vision was even blurry. Her hazy memories projected past events onto her vision, making her see those bygone days...

This gave Wei a sense of new strength.

With unwavering strength, Wei raised her already battered and fractured arms to her front, adopting a boxing stance.

"I will not... lose my sister."

Looking at Wei, whose will had become so scattered that she could no longer distinguish between reality and illusion, Yuan Chen's face also showed a hint of helplessness.

"A hot-blooded idiot, a cold and aloof beauty... your combination makes me feel like an inhuman, evil villain."

Shaking his head somewhat helplessly, Yuan Chen looked at Caitlyn, whose eyes were filled with hesitation, confusion, and despair, and asked bluntly, "Do you still want to continue fighting?"

Upon hearing this, Caitlyn fell silent, shook her head quietly, put down the Peacemaker in her hand, and raised her hands to indicate her surrender.

This caused a brief moment of chaos among the other officers of the Piltover Enforcers, but the moment the officers began to murmur amongst themselves, the Road Protector were already prepared, stepped forward in unison and manipulated their standard-issue swivel wheels to float around them.

The sharp blades spun violently under the same Wind Axiom, as if they would shred this place into a hell of severed limbs and broken arms in the next moment.

They were all mages.

And, at least the Third Ring Road...

Upon realizing this terrifying fact, the guards almost immediately dropped their weapons, indicating that they had no intention of fighting.

After surrendering, Caitlyn rushed to Vi's side and hugged her, telling her not to push herself.

Feeling the warmth of the person beside her, Wei's tense nerves relaxed slightly before her body collapsed. Fortunately, Caitlyn held her, preventing her from falling onto the hard mining ground.

Looking at the two leaning on each other, Qiyana remained silent—in the past, she would have immediately delivered the finishing blow, letting these people outside of Ixialia understand what true civilization and power were.

But now, looking at Caitlyn and Vi leaning on each other, Qiyana felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She remained silent for a long time, then turned her head away, not wanting to look anymore.

Just then, a hand patted Qiyana's shoulder. Feeling the familiar touch, Qiyana glanced at Yuan Chen, who had placed his hand on her shoulder, a hint of relaxation in her eyes, but she still let out a soft hum and didn't say anything more.

Seeing this, Yuan Chen simply smiled and then said straightforwardly, "Although it was just a simple contact, I have a pretty good understanding of what the so-called progress and civilization of Piltover really are."

Sensing the indifference in Yuan Chen's words, and even the implicit contempt for Piltover, a City of Progress, Caitlyn did not refute him. She simply held the unconscious Vi quietly, waiting for Yuan Chen to decide what to do with them.

"This mining area has been Ixialia's territory since ancient times. Let's leave," Yuan Chen said calmly.

"We will soon be heading to Piltover to deliver our message and prepare for the reception. Or perhaps, for war."

From a personal perspective, I don't think you can win.

Upon hearing Yuan Chen's words, Caitlyn simply nodded, then carefully placed Vi in the cargo bed of the Hextech motorcycle, fastened her seatbelt, and, taking the Atlas Gauntlets and scattered power armor that had fallen to the ground, said to Yuan Chen and the others:

"I will go back and deliver the message as soon as possible."

After saying that, he stepped on the gas and drove off in the direction he had come from.

Yuan Chen didn't seem to care much as he watched the Piltover Enforcers guards flee in panic.

"Didn't you say you wanted to have a proper talk? Why did you let them go back?" Qiyana asked from the side. "Because they're such good sisters?"

Ignoring the oddity in Qiyana's words, Yuan Chen simply said, "Piltover doesn't care about us."

"... What's the meaning?"

Qiyana frowned.

"If Piltover had occupied this place as a nation, they would have sent a high-ranking official to negotiate, not just a bunch of Piltover Enforcers like this..." Yuan Chen said.

"A squad of fully armed soldiers arrived... Were they there to negotiate? No, they were there to drive them away. Just like always, to drive away or kill the natives who were harassing their mining operations, and then retake the place."

"It's not surprising that they did that. After all, Hextech Crystals are the foundation and future of Piltover, the source of all progress. And Hextech Gemstone is the essential raw material for refining Hex Crystal."

"Relying solely on artificial synthesis will reduce their rate of progress by at least three times."

Yuan Chen's face remained expressionless. "Unfortunately, they are unaware of the monster sealed beneath the ore vein... So let us show them and deal with this hidden crisis for them."

As they were talking, Milio picked up the Hextech Cube Battery that had fallen to the ground.

The cube battery flew quite far when it was ejected, and with Vi seriously injured and Caitlyn in a state of emotional distress, she obviously didn't notice that she had overlooked this very important item.

However, Yuan Chen had no intention of going over to return it—he was quite interested in the battery.

The battery has a standard symmetrical hexahedron structure, with its edges restrained by brass. Each face has a small hole, through which Yuan Chen can see the blue energy structure located inside.

Name: Premium Hextech Cube Battery

Quality: Excellent

Effect: A meticulously crafted Hextech battery with extremely high-purity Hextech crystals inside, capable of withstanding, storing, and outputting more high-quality magic.

Seeing the quality of the cubic battery, Yuan Chen nodded thoughtfully.

Vi's Atlas Gauntlets, Power Armor, Cube Battery... their quality is directly related to the purity of Hex Crystal.

In comparison, the materials used for these items, apart from the Atlas Gauntlets, are only average.

Hex Crystal are indeed a special material with immense potential. If development continues along the current path, Piltover's status in Runeterra will rise Runeterra.

Unfortunately, not now.

"The ore veins originate from the condensation and Change Nature of a large amount of magical energy. The magical energy from the core of the world is then re-woven by the Yishuaoken to run a massive Concealment Spell and initiate a new cycle," Yuan Chen guessed.

"In other words, the closer we get to Yishuaoken, the richer the raw stone veins become. If we make good use of this, we can easily seize control of Piltover's technological lifeline to the future."

"A good suggestion." Upon hearing this, Qiyana narrowed her eyes—for Qiyana, power was a poison she couldn't refuse.

"The raw stone veins are somewhat similar in properties to elemental minerals... I will organize scholars to conduct research, it shouldn't be too long!"

"Hmm." Yuan Chen nodded and said, "Next, let's prepare to pay a visit to this rather impolite neighbor."

After speaking, Yuan Chen paused and looked at Milio beside him.

Milio was exhausted a while ago, so he begged Yuan Chen to take him out of Yishuaoken.

Having emerged from the mountains, we're about to head to Piltover, this advanced and "modern" city...

Yuan Chen thought for a moment and said, "Milio."

"Um?"

"Smile."

Upon hearing this, Milio was taken aback, then revealed an innocent smile.

Sensing the intensity of that smile, Yuan Chen nodded in satisfaction.

Piltover doesn't have Rick 5, so there's no need to worry about the house collapsing!

"For now, let's rename your Fire Treasure Pearl!"