The second round began.
In the very first exchange, Vi tilted her head aside and dodged Sevika's left fist, then countered with a punch to her face.
In prison, there had not been a single moment when she had slackened her boxing practice.
She had thrown punches every waking moment for the sake of this instant. Her fists had grown stronger and stronger. She found the right timing and struck again and again, venting the anger she had carried in her heart for so many years.
In the end, she knocked Sevika down with one kick, stepped on her left arm, pinned her beneath her, and demanded sharply, "Where's my sister? Where is she? What did you do to her?"
"You mean Jinx?"
Sevika's voice was hoarse. She stared into Vi's eyes, then suddenly smiled. "She's working for Silco now. And by the way, the two of them are as close as father and daughter."
Vi froze at once. Her ears rang as if she had been struck by lightning, and she found it impossible to believe.
With a wet stab, Vi felt a sharp pain rip through her abdomen. She looked down and saw that Sevika's left arm had suddenly extended a blade, which had stabbed right into her.
Blood immediately poured from her abdomen.
Having found room to counterattack, Sevika threw Vi off with one motion. Her own condition was poor as well, and she already had multiple fractures across her body.
Every punch from this woman had carried no small amount of weight.
However, the one who won in the end was still her.
The corner of Sevika's mouth curved into a cold smile. She slowly walked toward Vi and watched her struggle to crawl up from the ground. Then she raised her left hand, preparing to finish her off.
At that moment, with a bang, a gunshot rang out. A bullet struck her left arm directly, and the powerful impact interrupted her movement.
It also seemed like a warning.
Sevika sensed something was wrong and immediately pulled back to dodge, but the bullets seemed to be tracking her, firing over one after another, and every shot struck her left arm with precision.
From the corner of her eye, she saw the gunman, but she had no time to think about it. She turned into an alley, accelerated, and left, her forehead already covered in cold sweat.
Caitlyn had finally caught up, only to see this scene before her, so she chose to act at once.
She knew she could try to kill with one shot, but other than adding another corpse, that would get her nothing.
She immediately came to Vi's side. Seeing the blood constantly flowing from her abdomen and her pale face, Caitlyn's heart jolted.
She lifted Vi's clothes and saw a long wound.
The situation was serious. They had to stop the bleeding first.
She carried medicinal powder with her, something Luke had given her specifically to guard against unexpected emergencies.
Seeing her take out a strange-looking little jar, Vi was still fairly conscious for now and immediately asked, "What… is that?"
Caitlyn said, "Medicinal powder. It can help stop the bleeding."
Vi could not help saying, "This is probably gonna hurt."
She had often gotten hurt as a child, so she knew that anything like this definitely would not be simple.
Although she was not afraid of pain, she still wanted to be mentally prepared.
Caitlyn said, "This one doesn't hurt."
"Really? Fine." Vi nodded and braced herself, taking a deep breath. "Do it."
Caitlyn pulled out the stopper and, without hesitation or the slightest reluctance, poured it straight over the wound.
"Ahhh!"
The next second, a scream like a slaughtered pig's rang through the alley, echoing again and again, unable to settle for a long time.
"Didn't you say… it didn't hurt?"
Vi broke out in a cold sweat. She forced herself up and looked at Caitlyn with a blue-green face.
You call this not hurting?
The moment that powder was poured on, she felt like she had already died once.
"His Highness told me it didn't hurt. I've never used it either," Caitlyn said innocently.
"You're something else."
Vi raised her thumb. Then her eyes rolled back, and she fainted outright.
But the bleeding had indeed stopped.
Caitlyn looked at Vi, who had directly passed out from the pain, and blinked blankly, not knowing what to do for a moment.
Judging by the situation, her injury was severe. Stopping the bleeding alone probably would not be enough.
But where could she find a way to treat her right now?
Her understanding of the Undercity was not even as much as her understanding of how to cure Vi's current wound.
"His Highness seems to know medicine…"
Caitlyn suddenly remembered that and could no longer afford to think too much.
She helped Vi up from the ground, adjusted her posture, and set off directly with Vi on her back.
Sevika coughed up a mouthful of blood, endured the pain across her body, and quickened her steps toward Silco's office.
She had to tell Silco that Vi had returned.
She pushed open the office door, but there was no one inside. Sevika suddenly remembered that Silco had definitely gone to watch the performance right now.
The performance was roughly two hours long, and it was almost over by now. Sevika felt helpless, but could only find a way to treat her own injuries first.
The Undercity.
An unknown area.
A basin of cold water abruptly woke the unconscious Silco. His awareness gradually returned, and the pain at the back of his neck remained.
He discovered that his whole body had been restrained to a chair, leaving him unable to move.
When he lifted his eyes, he immediately saw the person in front of him.
"Darms?"
"That's right. It's been a while, boss."
Darms sat across from Silco, the corner of his mouth revealing a faint smile. "Did my little trick fool you?"
Silco quickly grasped the situation and said, "I never cared about your so-called trick at all. Or rather, I never cared about you."
Darms put away his smile and sneered, "And that is why you're here now."
Silco's expression was calm, without a trace of panic. "You definitely weren't the one who planned this. You don't have that kind of brain. Call out the person behind you."
"You still think you're the boss of the Undercity?" Darms raised an eyebrow, laughed angrily, and grabbed Silco's hair.
Silco looked at him with an indifferent gaze, which only made Darms even more furious.
He was extremely unhappy with Silco's arrogant attitude.
"You've been like this since before. A bastard like you never has anyone in his eyes!"
The hand gripping his hair began to tighten.
"Enough. He just woke up. Treat our guest a little more gently, Darms."
At that moment, a man walked out from the shadows and interrupted the furious Darms. With a gentle expression, he introduced himself, "As expected of Silco. You're still this calm in such a situation. My name is Carroll. It's nice to meet you."
Darms stepped aside, and Carroll sat down in his place.
"Say it. What do you want?" Silco looked at him, a trace of wariness appearing in his eyes.
He was not afraid of a brainless fool like Darms. What he feared was a smiling tiger like Carroll.
If all you did was look at his expression, manner, and tone to guess his intentions, you would never know what he was truly thinking.
"What I want is far too much. Prestige, power, money, everything you possess, we want it all." Carroll wore a smile as he spoke slowly.
Silco said, "You won't get those by capturing me."
"Who says?" Carroll smiled, his tone gentle. "Have you forgotten the history of how you rose to power? I remember that before you, there was an underground master named Vander. How did he die? Would you like me to help you remember?"
Silco's gaze flickered slightly, and he said nothing.
These people did not know why he had kidnapped Vander back then. They only knew that he had done it.
But that was indeed the fact of the matter.
After he kidnapped Vander and Vander died, he began absorbing Vander's former subordinates, driving out those unwilling to obey him, and launching reforms throughout the Undercity as a whole.
From then on, Silco's prestige began rising like the sun at noon, and he gradually became the new master of the Undercity.
"Of course, not everyone can imitate your path. Once one Silco appears in the Undercity, there won't be a second."
Carroll raised a hand and helped Silco straighten his messy hair. "Right now, simply getting rid of you isn't enough for us to become the new masters of the Undercity, because you still hold a heavy bomb in your hands, Shimmer. You've used it to buy quite a few hearts in the Undercity."
Aside from his own methods, another reason Silco could become master of the Undercity was Shimmer.
This magic drug, now widespread across the streets and alleys of Zaun, was something many people found impossible to resist.
And Silco was the owner of Shimmer.
So simply getting rid of him was not enough.
They had to obtain Shimmer in order to replace him.
"You came for Shimmer?" Silco now knew their true intentions.
"That's right." Carroll smiled, then sighed somewhat emotionally. "To be honest, in the past, it would not have been easy to capture you this smoothly. We have to thank you for exposing such a huge opening to us. As a father, supporting your daughter's dream truly isn't easy."
Normally, with Silco's cautious personality, he would bring his deputy whenever he traveled, and his movements were unpredictable.
However, ever since he went to the upper city's concert once, things had changed.
In order to prevent others from learning about it, he had not even brought his most trusted subordinate, Sevika.
But because of that, Carroll had learned his movements.
Taking action was also very simple. All they had to do was wait on Silco's inevitable route.
Silco's heart sank. He knew that he had been careless this time.
Carroll, in front of him, clearly knew a great deal about him. It seemed he had been specially investigated.
This group had very likely set their eyes on him long ago.
However, he truly had not noticed during this period.
From the moment that prince arrived in Piltover, to his restless subordinates, then Jinx joining the band, and the appearance of the Firelights, his attention had constantly been divided.
Right now, he could only place his hopes on Sevika. Only if she discovered that he had gone missing would there be any possibility of escape.
"If you're counting on someone coming to save you, I advise you to put that thought to rest." Carroll seemed to see what Silco was thinking. "This place is thirty meters underground in Zaun. Don't you think it resembles the place where you hid back then?"
Zaun was already beneath Piltover, and below that was the sea.
Thirty meters deep meant this place was already under the ocean.
Back then, Silco had quietly risen to power by hiding underground and developing in silence, until he and his alchemist developed Shimmer.
Carroll even knew about this.
Silco raised his eyes and glanced at him, feeling that this person was very deeply hidden.
"See? The histories of our rise are so similar. Since we're so alike, why not share the method for making Shimmer?"
Carroll smiled, revealing the whites of his eyes, and said in a friendly tone, "If you do, out of respect for that, I can let you go."
"Don't bother." Silco looked at him and spoke calmly. "You won't get a single word out of my mouth."
He now also knew that no matter how much Carroll understood him, he could not know the method for making Shimmer.
The method they had thought of was to pry it out of his mouth.
"Is that so? As expected, that's your answer." Carroll stood, not disappointed. "Then why don't we try?"
He slowly took a syringe from his pocket, explaining as he prepared it.
"This is a truth serum we developed especially for you. After testing, ordinary people answer whatever they're asked after being injected with it."
Carroll gave Darms a look.
Darms stepped forward and swung the dagger in his hand. Two cold flashes streaked through the air. The clothes on Silco's right arm were neatly sliced open, revealing his thin arm.
Then Carroll did not hesitate. He inserted the needle directly and slowly injected the truth serum.
As the injection finished, Silco quickly felt his awareness grow heavy. His brain seemed to lose the strength to operate, and his head could not help drooping.
Carroll glanced at him and asked, "What is your name?"
After his voice fell, Silco kept his head lowered and gave no response for a long while.
After waiting a bit, Darms frowned. "Does that thing of yours even work?"
Carroll stepped forward and lifted Silco's chin, seeing that he had not passed out and was conscious.
He repeated, "What is your name?"
However, there was still no response. This time, even he frowned.
"The truth serum isn't taking effect. It's probably because of Shimmer." Carroll analyzed it on his own. "The properties of the two drugs should be conflicting. Through regular Shimmer injections, his body has developed resistance."
"So it's useless?"
"More or less."
Carroll released his hand and said indifferently, "Then we'll use another method once the drug wears off. Let's see how many forms of torture the underground master of Zaun can endure."
The upper city.
After a great deal of effort, Caitlyn finally brought Vi back to the training base.
She laid Vi flat on the sofa, then rested beside her while panting somewhat. Watching Vi's breathing gradually weaken, she fell into an anxious wait.
After all, she did not want to see a living person perish in front of her.
She had not known Vi for long, but Caitlyn felt that she was not a bad person.
Before long, Luke appeared in Caitlyn's field of vision. She immediately went up to greet him. "Your Highness."
On the way back, she had already contacted Luke in advance with the Secret Key.
Otherwise, he should still be at the concert at the Bird's Nest right now.
By the time she managed to see him, the daylilies would have gone cold.
"Where is she?"
Luke asked, then immediately saw the pink-haired girl lying flat on the sofa, breathing faintly.
Sure enough, it was her.
Piltover's future enforcer, Vi.
Earlier, when Caitlyn had used the Secret Key to contact him from Stillwater Hold, Luke had already guessed it.
What he had not expected was that even though the little blue-haired girl had already run over to his side and was getting bullied by him every day, the things that were supposed to happen had still happened.
It was as if everything had been corrected back into place.
Judging by appearances, Vi's injuries were quite severe.
He walked to the sofa at an unhurried pace. Caitlyn immediately brought over a chair, and Luke did not stand on ceremony, sitting down directly.
Looking at Vi's stomach at this moment, where a large amount of powder had solidified, even his eyebrow could not help twitching. "How much did you pour on her?"
Caitlyn said weakly from beside him, "A whole bottle? Did I use too much?"
"No. You did the right thing."
A little pity appeared in Luke's eyes as he looked at the faintly breathing Vi, feeling rather sympathetic.
One bottle, that was basically a lethal dose.
As everyone knew, the main selling point of Luke's medicine was its strong effect, and anything else could be ignored for the sake of efficacy.
So when this kind of medicinal powder was sprinkled on a wound, the pain it produced was quite considerable.
Luke thought for a moment, then asked, "You didn't dump it all on at once, did you?"
"I suppose I did. I poured it all straight on."
Caitlyn answered again.
The sympathy in Luke's eyes grew even stronger.
Looking at Vi, who was still unconscious, he sighed in his heart.
Poor unlucky kid.
If this medicine was sprinkled on slowly, the pain would be spread out and come little by little.
If it was all poured on at once, then everything would be concentrated into a single hit.
If it were him, he would rather have it spread out bit by bit.
In any case, the powder had to be dealt with first. This powder could not only stop bleeding, but also help the injury recover.
After Luke finished handling it, he briefly examined her and said, "A little deeper and it would have stabbed into her organs. But it isn't a big problem. Her physique is different from ordinary people's, and she can endure a lot."
Caitlyn let out a slight breath of relief. "When I saw her pass out, I thought she was going to die."
Luke looked sideways at this girl and thought, Do you really have no idea why she passed out?
However, there was no need to say it aloud and make Caitlyn blame herself right now. Luke said directly, "A simple couple of stitches, then some medicine, and she'll recover very soon."
In his eyes, this kind of injury could only be considered minor. Leaving aside everything else, he still had a pile of precious medicines in his inventory right now.
He could even save someone whose body had been pierced all the way through, much less a situation like this where the internal organs had not even been injured.
Thus, after taking out his own set of medical tools, Luke began a simple minor operation.
As for Caitlyn, she stood at the side, watching Luke cast his spell with total concentration.
Watching his practiced and professional technique, she felt an inexplicable sense of safety in her heart.
This man was far too reliable.
Very soon, the surgery was completed. Luke went through the entire process smoothly and naturally, without even breaking a sweat.
This made Caitlyn, who had already prepared a handkerchief and was waiting beside him to help wipe his sweat, feel just a little disappointed.
"She's basically fine now. After lying down for a while longer, she should wake up."
Luke examined her again and confirmed that there were no issues.
After the surgery, Vi's complexion visibly recovered, and her breathing became even, as though she had fallen asleep.
In fact, Luke also noticed that there were several sprains, minor fractures, and bruises on her body. Clearly, she had been through a fierce fight.
So he helped deal with those as well.
At this point, Caitlyn gathered herself and nodded.
"Now tell me what happened."
Luke poured two drinks, handed one to her, and asked casually.
Caitlyn took it. She knew that since things had come to this, there was no point hiding it from Luke any longer.
After taking a sip to quench her thirst, she began explaining everything in full detail.
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