Li Wei followed Caitlyn and the others away alone, returning to the Piltover police station to cooperate with the investigation.
After witnessing his formidable ability to command wind and rain, the students were not too worried about him.
What was more, the female Enforcer who kept insisting on seeking justice for Li Wei was actually the Kiramman family's only legitimate daughter, Caitlyn Kiramman.
She was the daughter of Mrs. Kiramman, a councilor of Piltover's highest council!
With such a powerful background, the Iron Fist Gang and Chief Marcos were clearly no match.
So Li Wei did not rush to have Viktor and Seraphine figure out a way to save him. He merely instructed them, along with the students, not to let this accident disrupt them. They were to quickly form different work groups according to the original plan and begin the Wind Takers' initial publicity and development efforts.
Thus, some time later.
Factory District, Seraphine's home.
"Dad! Mom!"
"I'm back!"
Seraphine hugged a thick stack of documents and excitedly rang her home's doorbell.
She had returned alone.
Yet perched on her shoulder was a small, adorable Blue Bird.
"Seraphine?!" Hearing their daughter's voice outside, the Erwins rushed over in excitement and threw open the door. "You're finally back!"
"Honestly, where have you been? Your mother was worried sick about you!"
Neither of them paid much attention to the Blue Bird perched on Seraphine's shoulder.
Mrs. Erwin lovingly pulled her daughter into an embrace and held her for a long while before finally letting go.
Mr. Erwin, meanwhile, looked Seraphine over from head to toe. Only after confirming that her hair was not messy, no buttons were missing, her clothes were neat, and there were no suspicious marks on her skin did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.
"Seraphine! Where's that boy?"
"Earlier, some Zaunite beggars came looking for us. They said you had sent them, and that you had an episode over in the Zaunite Community—you got a headache and fainted, then... then that bastard Li Wei carried you away!"
"Is that true?"
The old father asked with his eyes wide.
"Yeah!" Seraphine nodded. "I sent those beggars over. Dad, didn't you take good care of them? I promised them jobs and apprentice positions."
Under normal circumstances, Erwin would definitely have had a proper talk with his daughter about that.
His family ran a factory, not a shelter. Why would they recruit people into the factory for no reason?
Those beggars were either too old or injured. Their value had already been squeezed dry, and they should have long since been laid off and sent back to Zaun.
"Cough, cough." This was not the time to think about that.
"Seraphine! Who asked about those beggars? I'm asking whether what they said was true—after you fainted, Li Wei carried you away?!"
By this point, Mr. Erwin's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.
Seraphine merely answered naturally, "Yes! I was unconscious in Mr. Li Wei's arms for quite a while."
"..." The old father's face turned green.
"Nini, that boy didn't do anything strange to you, did he?" The old mother's breathing grew tense as well.
"Something strange... meaning?" Seraphine tilted her head, looking utterly confused.
"Cough, cough." Erwin's old face grew a little hot. "I mean, did he touch you inappropriately..."
"Of course not!"
"That's good..."
"How could Mr. Li Wei touch me inappropriately? I wanted to hold Mr. Li Wei's hand, but he was so reluctant that he wouldn't even let me touch him."
"I had to beg him for ages before he agreed to hold hands with me and keep 'singing' to me."
Mr. and Mrs. Erwin: "..."
"Bastard!" The old father cursed in grief and indignation. "Where is that little bastard? I'm calling the police! I'll have the Enforcers drive him back to Zaun!"
"Dad, there's no need."
"Mr. Li Wei has already been taken away by the Enforcers."
Mr. and Mrs. Erwin: "..."
What had that little bastard done to their daughter that even the Enforcers could not stand it?
No. Calm down. Their daughter was standing right here, perfectly fine. Li Wei could not have been taken away because of her.
Then there was only one possible reason he had been taken away:
"Did someone from the Iron Fist Gang call the police?"
Erwin had been a business owner for over a decade. He knew all too well about the dealings between the Iron Fist Gang and the Enforcers.
Ordinary people all thought the Iron Fist Gang's greatest strength was its fists.
But he knew that the Iron Fist Gang's greatest strength had always been its connections.
"Mm." Seraphine nodded. "That's why."
"Good!" Erwin happily slapped his thigh.
At that moment, he did not care whether Li Wei was innocent or whether he deserved to die.
He only wanted that Zaunite who had inexplicably whisked away his daughter to get as far away as possible.
"Wait." Erwin looked nervously at his daughter.
This foolish child had clearly had her soul stolen away.
Now that she was back, was she planning to ask him, her father, for money and connections to bail that little bastard out of prison?
"Let me make this clear: that's absolutely impossible!"
"Forget that our family's connections with the Enforcers are nowhere near as strong as the Iron Fist Gang's. Even if they were, I would never spend a single coin on that little bastard!"
"Dad..." Seraphine blinked aggrievedly. "I didn't come back to ask you for money."
"Huh? Then you..."
"I came back to make you rich!"
Erwin: "???"
Damn it. Why did that sales pitch sound so familiar?
And why was his foolish daughter, who had never earned a single coin in her life, talking business with him the moment she came home? What kind of bewitching potion had someone fed her?
He immediately had a bad feeling.
"Seraphine?"
"Mm?"
"Did Li Wei take you to some place that looked very legitimate—a university, an auditorium, a theater, something like that—to listen to some lecture?"
"Huh? Dad, how did you know?"
"..."
"Was there someone at that lecture claiming to be a senior professor from Piltover University, talking about major projects like 'turning water into oil,' some kind of 'therapeutic device,' or 'new practical Hextech technology,' and saying they wanted to share them with everyone?"
"That's right!" Seraphine nodded excitedly.
"Did they also give you a huge stack of internal materials and tell you to invest money?"
"Dad, you're really amazing—"
"I hadn't even said anything, and you already knew everything!"
Erwin: "..."
To hell with this!
Li Wei deserved to get arrested!
"Dad!" Seraphine had yet to notice the subtle expression on her father's face. She simply handed the stack of documents in her arms to Mr. Erwin. "Take a look. This is the new project I agreed to work on with Mr. Li Wei."
"Mr. Li Wei and Professor Viktor are planning to invest their technology as shares, then divide the equity thirty-seventy."
"Thirty-seventy, my ass?" Erwin could not hold it in and actually cursed in Zaunite in front of his daughter. "That bastard is not satisfied with scamming money—he wants to scam thirty percent of my shares too?"
"No, not thirty percent."
"We get thirty percent. Mr. Li Wei and Professor Viktor get seventy percent."
"..." Erwin exploded on the spot.
He had only let his daughter go out for half a day, and Seraphine was already capable of squandering the family fortune?
"Seraphine, you... you..."
"Do you really understand any of those projects?"
"I don't." Seraphine answered righteously.
"But I can feel that everyone's souls are bright and warm. Working with them must mean doing the right thing!"
"Hey, hey, Dad, don't leave!"
"Professor Viktor, Lina, and the others are still organizing the detailed technical materials. You should look at the project proposal I brought back first..."
Mr. Erwin ignored her completely.
The old mother also looked at her daughter with heartache, already planning in her heart to find her a highly intelligent son-in-law someday to help take care of her for the rest of her life.
"Mr. Erwin, Mrs. Erwin."
"You should read this project proposal."
But just then, someone actually spoke.
No. The one speaking was not a person, but the bird on Seraphine's shoulder.
And that voice was actually...
"Li Wei?!" Mr. and Mrs. Erwin looked over in astonishment.
Yes, it was Li Wei. Only the voice was Li Wei's.
That bird was naturally Janna.
She was merely using the spiritual connection between herself and the Summoner to communicate remotely on Li Wei's behalf.
As for Li Wei's voice... after recovering her divine power, she had simply regained a minor spell that used airflow to imitate the vibrations of vocal cords.
"Li Wei, you... you..."
How had he become a bird?
No!
Erwin suddenly realized:
This was magic! Magic that only a mage could use!
That boy Li Wei was actually a mage?!
"That's right, I'm a mage."
"So not only do I have a project to bring you, I can also solve Seraphine's long-standing problem of being unable to control her innate magic."
Li Wei presented his greatest gift.
Seraphine had never received formal magical training, which was why she could not control her talent.
And Janna had lived for thousands of years and could be said to know everything. Naturally, she was Seraphine's best possible magic instructor.
"This..." Erwin fell silent.
He seemed shocked, deep in thought, and somewhat tempted.
Then he opened his mouth and cursed at the Blue Bird:
"Get the hell off my daughter's shoulder—"
"If you dare lower your head and look down her blouse, I'll fight you to the death!"
Before you continue