"What did you say?!" Vi could not help speaking up after all.
"I said, I rather admire Silco. For the Zaunites to have gained a leader like him—someone intelligent, iron-fisted, and steadfast in his beliefs—from among those shortsighted, greedy, vermin-like Chem-Barons was already a stroke of luck."
Li Wei repeated himself for emphasis, then promptly covered his ears.
Sure enough, the next second, familiar Zaunite curses came crashing through the many walls between them:
"Fuck your mother! Luck? You call that the Zaunites' luck? That despicable, ruthless little bastard?"
If Silco's appearance had been a blessing for the Zaunites—
Then what had her adoptive father, Vander, the former leader Silco had overthrown and murdered, been? The Zaunites' misfortune?
"I think you're nothing but a piece of toilet paper with no eyes and no brain! All you know how to do is lick that bastard's asshole!" Vi cursed furiously.
"Calm down," Li Wei replied quietly. "I mean, compared with the other Chem-Barons, Silco is already quite good."
"Since you're a Zaunite too, you should know what kind of scum those Chem-Barons are, right?"
Li Wei had analyzed this before.
These Chem-Barons represented Zaun's most backward relations of production. All they wanted was to depend forever on Zaun's cheap labor, supplying Piltover with low-value minerals, chemical raw materials, and mechanical parts in exchange for a few scraps.
In truth, they were economic vassals who managed Zaun on behalf of Piltover's capital, Piltover hunting dogs wearing Zaunite skin.
So Piltover's businessmen ate the meat, Zaun's Chem-Barons drank the soup, Piltovans received the leftovers, and Zaunites were left to serve as the ingredients.
That was why most Chem-Barons, though they called themselves Zaunites and cursed the Piltovans, had no desire at all to fall out with Piltover's lords.
"Don't assume that Chem-Barons are enemies