Blue Camellia Manor, Duke's Workshop.
"Mm…"
Before Duke sat a glass jar filled with a special physiological solution. Suspended inside were peculiar spindle-shaped objects, narrow at both ends and wide in the middle.
Their surface showed neat striations, while the fibers within were dense and taut, powerful, yet refined.
"Artificial muscle…"
"By simulating human muscle with synthetic fibers, then connecting them with the body's own tissue, we can control them via neural impulses. This strengthens explosive force and physical power, without damaging the host body."
Sitting at his workbench, Duke glanced at a chip he had extracted from the artificial muscle and smirked.
"If I hadn't seen this thing myself, I might've actually believed it!"
"But for Vi, whose muscles have been corroded, this will do just fine."
"That poison though… how in the world was it synthesized?"
He recalled the scene he had witnessed through the power of the Vision: the virulent toxin inside Vi's body was like maggots gnawing at the bone, burrowing deep into her marrow, devastatingly potent, and terrifyingly versatile. Worse still, it spread by more than one route.
Blood, muscle, bone, anything it touched became a highway for infection.
Until the victim melted into a sticky, quivering puddle of jelly.
"This poison… feels oddly familiar."
"Father, the analysis is complete!"
At that moment, Wally finally spoke. His goggles flickered as he presented the crossbow bolt Catherine had given him, transmitting his analysis report to the computer.
"The data has been uploaded to the terminal."
"Edith, display the projection!"
Immediately, a hologram of a plague rat appeared above the table behind Duke, accompanied by a detailed breakdown of the toxin's composition.
"This poison originates from the venom naturally found in plague rats. However, compared to ordinary plague rat venom, this variant is far more violent, frenzied, and contagious."
"Once infected, the poison spreads rapidly, accumulating until it reduces the body into pudding-like slime."
Wally recited his results mechanically. Duke stared at the projection, his thoughts drifting back to that night in Bilgewater before their voyage, when he, Catherine, and Vi had gone rat-hunting in the lower city.
Back then, the oil refinery had been occupied by a mutated test subject of Singed's shimmer experiments, an ordinary lab rat that had undergone unforeseen changes, even developing optical camouflage and stealth.
In the end, Duke had put it down inside the factory.
"This reminds me of something else, someone who specializes in ambushes from the shadows."
Duke stroked his chin. If his suspicions were correct, then the one who ambushed Vi and left her in such a state was none other than the Plague Rat himself, Twitch.
And thinking further, the mutated plague rat king they had once slain… might have been Twitch's kin. His father, or perhaps his mother.
"If it really was him, then the sheer potency of this poison makes perfect sense."
"But… could shimmer truly be this miraculous?"
Duke's gaze lingered on the plague rat projection, his eyes narrowing in thought.
"A serum capable of inducing beneficial mutations, passing them down through heredity, and even awakening latent magical talent?!"
"Nature itself resists human interference. In humans, perhaps it's manageable. But in animals? Heritable mutations are nearly impossible."
"Especially in species whose genetic chains are already stabilized."
"If shimmer could achieve this, then I have underestimated Singed."
Duke remembered the man who had pioneered shimmer, created countless alchemical brews, and even engineered lycanthropy itself.
Where had he gone? Was he still lurking in Zaun?
Or had he already left?
If so, where?
And was Vander's disappearance somehow linked to him?
"The more I think about it, the more questions I have…"
With a wave of his hand, Duke dismissed the hologram and clapped his palms together.
"Wally, prep the sterile room. Gather everything we need for surgery. I'll move Vi here and begin her augmentation procedure."
"As for you two…"
He turned toward Pride and Gluttony. "Head to Zaun. Look for any leads."
"Yes, Father!"
Pride immediately dragged Gluttony, who was drooling at a nearby trash can, out of the room.
"Stop salivating over the garbage!"
"But as your daughter, shouldn't I shoulder the noble duty of keeping Father's lab clean?"
"You're just hungry."
"No, I'm not!"
"Big brother, you have to believe me!"
…
Zaun, Waltz Corridor.
Inside a private garden.
"Look at this sapphire rose, so delicate, so lovely, it breaks my heart!"
The Alchemy Baron leaned on his cane, the respirator valves at his throat bubbling with liquid. Combined with his affected, almost theatrical voice, the sound was unsettling.
"Boss, the Enforcers are still lingering in Waltz Corridor."
A burly man in a soot-gray work suit, carrying a massive chem-tech axe, rumbled in reply. "That rat you took in has caused more trouble than we anticipated."
"But hasn't he been efficient?"
Baron Takeda turned, steam hissing from the vents at his back, his goggle-covered eyes locking on the man.
"This time, that rat has angered the wrong people. The topsiders are not to be provoked, Kurokku."
"But despite everything we've done, aren't we still standing?"
Kurokku fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "You're right."
"And what of the shipment from Noxus?"
"All distributed. The black-market traders say the potion's effects are excellent. They want long-term partnership."
"Good. That's what I wanted to hear."
"Though… two Enforcers traced the trail back to Dark Docks."
"That's your problem." Takeda's boots clicked against polished Demacian stone as he returned to his sofa and sat down.
"I may be your boss, but that doesn't mean I'll babysit every detail. I put Dark Docks under your command, so you protect it. It's our lifeblood. And it's not just our syndicate that uses it."
"Contact the others. Make sure they carry their share of the burden."
"As for those Enforcers, leave them be. They pose no threat. Our priority is to spread shimmer everywhere."
"This potion is crucial to us. Until we crack its formula, there must be no mistakes."
Takeda's gaze hardened, and under that stare, Kurokku involuntarily stepped back.
"And those fools working on deciphering shimmer, how far have they gotten?"
"They say only one final piece is missing. But no matter what they try, they can't complete it."
"Useless trash!" Takeda spat. Then, smirking, he added, "Silco, on the other hand, got lucky. Driven out to Noxus, beaten half to death, yet he clawed his way back to power."
"They say he's even entangled himself in Noxian civil strife."
"That's his business. What matters is shimmer. Tell his envoy that payment won't be an issue, but the goods must arrive."
"Yes, Boss."
"Go to Dark Docks. And deliver the gift I prepared for him."
"He keeps whining that his crossbow is unreliable, doesn't he? I ordered him a custom piece from topside, a blend of clockwork power and alchemical force."
Takeda patted the enormous gift box beside his chair. Kurokku glanced at it and nodded. "Yes, Boss."
When Kurokku left, Takeda returned to the sapphire rose, gazing at its tender petals with a trace of longing.
"Ionia… When will I see you again?"
…
Dark Docks.
Zaun was built straddling the rift that split Piltover into north and south. Dark Docks lay in the southeastern corner of the gorge, originally a smuggler's pier built to avoid Piltover's crushing tariffs. Over the years, it had grown into the largest hub for contraband in the region.
Countless illicit trades took place here daily. Forbidden goods flowed through these docks, some into Zaun and Piltover, others shipped abroad.
Entry was impossible without the right contacts.
Carrying Takeda's gift, Kurokku paid the toll at the gate and descended into the tunnels, following the long stairway to his syndicate's stronghold.
…
"Kurokku, boss!"
The gatekeeper straightened quickly at his arrival.
"Has he been causing trouble?"
"No, just muttering nonstop… and breaking things."
"I see. Go rest. I'll deal with him."
Relieved, the man left as fast as he could. The creature inside this workshop always made his skin crawl.
Kurokku entered the factory.
The stench was overwhelming. The floor was coated in a sticky paste, like melted candy pudding, but closer inspection revealed fragments of bone, animal carcasses, severed limbs, even bits of organs mixed in.
"Oh… finally spoiled!"
The high-pitched whisper echoed through the workshop. Standing in the doorway, Kurokku tightened his grip on the gift box.
"Twitch," he called quietly, "the boss sent you a present."
"Hm?"
A shadow flickered in the darkness, tail thudding against walls and scaffolding as it crept closer. Metal groaned where the massive appendage struck.
"Is it food?"
The shrill voice circled around him, unseen.
"Or drink?"
"Oh, have you seen my flea? I lost him! Such a darling little thing. We had such wonderful times together. But now he's gone!"
The ceaseless muttering pressed in from all directions. Expression unchanged, Kurokku unwrapped the box, revealing a hybrid crossbow of clockwork and alchemical power.
"Not food. A new weapon. The boss said your old one was worn out. He sent this instead."
"Oh!"
A muscular, sinewy tail snatched the weapon, dragging it into the shadows. Wet, slurping sounds followed.
"Don't think you can take it back! I've already licked it, it's mine!"
"It was yours to begin with."
Kurokku tossed the box aside, eyes fixed on the dark.
"But make sure you guard the shipment properly."
"Yes, yes!"
Out from the gloom emerged a hulking rat, gripping the crossbow. Behind him, a tail two meters long lashed the ground restlessly.
"I'll handle everything. You don't need to remind me!"
End of chapter....
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