Runaway Young Lady

"Where's the money? Is this all?"

"..." Aubrey glared furiously but said nothing.

"Speak!" A kick came flying at him.

"Li Wei! You and Tahm dare rob even me? Just you wait, my brother definitely won't—"

"Won't my ass!" Another hard slap landed on his face. "Tell me which pocket you hid your money in. Take it out yourself!"

"I-I really only brought this much!" Once the Shimmer wore off and Li Wei had beaten him head-on into serious injury, Aubrey unconsciously reverted to being the cowardly fat man who merely looked fierce.

"Aren't you the gang leader's little brother? You only have this few Silver Wheels on you?"

"It's because my brother's the boss that I only carry this many Silver Wheels." Aubrey sounded somewhat aggrieved. "When I buy things at Zaunite shops, hardly anyone dares charge me. Bringing more would be useless anyway..."

"Fuck me!" Zaunite curses and more slaps followed. "You think you're some fucking gangster? You don't pay for things? You want me to become a male escort to pay off my debts?!"

"D-Don't hit me anymore..." Fat Aubrey rolled around in the street from the beating. "Piltover is a society ruled by law! What you're doing is illegal!"

"Illegal my ass!" Li Wei beat the gang boss up viciously before finally stopping in satisfaction, weighing the few Silver Wheels he had "dropped" from his enemy.

To a penniless man like him, this money was actually quite a lot.

Of course, aside from the money, he also seized more than half a bottle of Shimmer that Aubrey had not finished drinking.

The stuff was dangerous, but for someone like him, already with nowhere left to turn, the danger of Shimmer could be ignored.

Li Wei's actions left all the onlookers around him dumbfounded.

Especially his good coworker, Baku.

"L-Li Wei." Baku's face was full of shock.

It was not that he was shocked by how strong Li Wei was—after all, he had never seen Li Wei fight before. Zaunites fought and killed each other every day, so it was normal for someone skilled to occasionally emerge.

Surprised as he was, that was not the most shocking part.

What truly shocked and frightened Baku was that Li Wei actually dared to humiliate and beat Fat Aubrey, the Iron Fist Gang leader's younger brother, like this.

He had even robbed the gang boss in return!

"Li Wei, you've really gotten yourself into trouble now..."

"Trouble or not, it's already done." Li Wei did not care.

He had already offended Aubrey and the Iron Fist Gang beyond repair. Why should he hold back?

He might as well make Aubrey stay in the hospital a few more days, so there would be one fewer enemy when they came looking for him next time.

And while he was at it, he could scrape together some travel money from that bastard.

"But..." Baku still wanted to say something anxiously.

"Cut the crap!" Li Wei glanced at Aubrey sprawled on the ground, then suddenly cursed Baku in an icy voice. "All this talk—you're just afraid I'll run off and not pay you back, aren't you?"

"When you stood there watching me get beaten just now, why weren't you so concerned?"

"Huh?" Baku was stunned.

"Li Wei, what are you talking about? When did I lend you—"

"Listen up!" Li Wei cut him off directly. "I'm not paying back that money. I can't stay in Piltover anymore anyway. If you've got the guts, come collect the debt yourself!"

"You..." Baku seemed to catch on as well. "Li Wei, fuck you! I treated you like a friend and even lent you my wages to spend. This is how you repay me?!"

"You bastard, stop right there!"

"Heh." Li Wei ignored him and turned to leave.

"You were protecting him?" Janna asked.

"Yeah." Li Wei sighed helplessly.

Gangs were enemies with no bottom line. If Aubrey still believed Baku was his friend, Baku might very well be kidnapped and tortured as a hostage by the Iron Fist Gang after Li Wei left.

So he had to "break" with Baku.

Fortunately, Baku was clever enough to know to use the opportunity to distance himself from Li Wei.

"Will that really work?" Janna was worried about the innocent boy too. "Won't they see through it?"

"It should work." Li Wei was quite confident about that.

"With Aubrey's intelligence, he won't be able to figure it out."

Still, he remained worried. Aside from Baku, who could now be considered uninvolved, the one who concerned him more was his younger sister, Lina.

Li Wei knew that the original owner of this body had borrowed usurious loans from the Iron Fist Gang. So those thugs knew where he lived and how many people were in his family.

Not to mention that the Zaunite Community where he lived was originally a stronghold occupied by Zaunite Gangs such as the Iron Fist Gang. Criminal forces were deeply entrenched there, with enemy thugs and lookouts everywhere.

As soon as the badly injured Aubrey was discovered by the Iron Fist Gang, they would come to his door quickly.

He did not have much time left.

"I wonder if Lina has gone to school yet."

If Lina had already gone to school, Li Wei could still rest easy.

After all, no matter how bold the Iron Fist Gang was, they would never dare go to Piltover's highest institution of learning to seize someone.

But if Lina had no classes that morning and was still at home, she might be in danger.

"I need to hurry home and check."

Li Wei unconsciously endured the pain from his wounds and quickened his pace.

Only then did he have time to chat with Janna. "Janna, what's with this sudden extra believer? Who is he?"

"I'm not quite sure either."

"Then do you know where he is?"

"I can't." Janna answered helplessly.

At the peak of the Storm's Fury's strength, she could even spread her divine awareness across the entire ocean and precisely locate her believers amid the vast waves.

But now...

"I can only vaguely sense his direction—"

"It's that way."

As she spoke, Janna lifted a wing.

"That direction is..."

There were many things in that direction: parks, theaters, plazas.

But the only place Li Wei could think of that might be connected to him was—

"Piltover University?"

Across the street, at the Erwin residence.

Erwin had kept the curtains tightly drawn, refusing to let Seraphine look outside.

His daughter had always been well protected. He could not let her see a Shimmer addict having an episode. That would definitely leave her traumatized.

That was what the old father thought.

But Seraphine remained concerned about Li Wei outside the window.

Even though her parents held her back tightly, she still immersed herself in the soul melody Li Wei played outside through the curtains.

But soon enough...

"The music stopped." Seraphine suddenly opened her eyes.

"You can't hear it anymore?" Erwin thought his daughter's ability had gone out of control again.

"No. It's because he stopped singing."

"..." Mr. Erwin and his wife looked at each other, both realizing something with complicated expressions.

They knew the fight was over.

Li Wei must have died.

He might even have been torn into pieces.

As for whether he had been torn into several pieces or dozens of pieces, that depended on just how mad that Shimmer addict had gone.

"..." Erwin let out a long sigh.

Perhaps he should have stepped in earlier. If he had, the conflict would not have escalated into such a massacre.

But he did not think he was wrong either. What would stepping in have changed? There were too many people like Li Wei in Zaun. He could not save them all.

He still had to expand his business, earn more money, and buy a Natural Hextech Crystal to treat his daughter.

He could not concern himself with anything else.

"Right, Li Wei said he has a younger sister attending university."

Erwin thought that perhaps he could repay the usurious debt Li Wei had left behind and support his sister through university. If she was willing to work hard, she could live a happy life in Piltover someday.

That would at least ease his conscience.

As Erwin was thinking all this with mixed feelings—

Seraphine took advantage of his distraction and ran over to pull the curtains open again.

"Seraphine, don't look!!" Erwin hurriedly tried to cover his daughter's eyes.

But it was already too late.

The tragedy outside the window was laid bare before the family.

They clearly saw, across the street—

Li Wei was viciously kicking a pitiful fat man, cursing as he robbed several Silver Wheels from him.

Then he added several more hard slaps, chatted with his friend for a few moments, and finally turned away in satisfaction.

Erwin and his wife: "..."

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, this young man!

He could even beat someone who had taken Shimmer?!

Only then did Erwin discover that there was such a fierce Zaunite man among his apprentices!

"Not good!"

After standing stunned for a long while, the old father suddenly sensed something wrong.

Sure enough, when he turned around, his daughter was gone.

"Dad, Mom!" Seraphine dashed outside like she had cast a sprint spell. There was no time to stop her. "I'm going to find Li Wei! I'll be back later!"

"Seraphine, stop right there!"

Seraphine turned a deaf ear. She had already run out the door.

"You little brat! Do you even know where that kid lives?" Erwin shouted worriedly at his rebellious daughter's back. "Those apprentices all live in the Zaunite Community. It's dangerous there! Something will happen if you go!!"

"Huh?" Seraphine paused slightly, and her steps really did slow down.

"Oh, right. I still don't know where Li Wei lives."

"Dad—thanks for telling me!"

"..." The old father's vision went dark, and he nearly fainted.