Having decided on the next steps, Soona immediately closed her doors to guests—the gold coins taken from Spindlaw's chemical factory were enough for Faen, Zeri, and the others to live freely for a lifetime.
However, this didn't mean Soona wasn't going to continue business; it was just that for Soona and the others now, there were more important things.
Finding a trustworthy middleman, Faen and the others set up their base in a tunnel beneath the district and hired some workers to transport a large amount of steel and processing equipment inside for reinforcement, transforming it into a suitable forging room.
Similar tunnels could be seen everywhere in Zaun. The fundamental reason lay in the Sun Gates—Piltover is located at the estuary of the strait between the Valoran continent and the ancient Shurima continent, making it the most important trade hub in all of Runeterra.
Under these circumstances, during the era of the ancient Shuriman Empire thousands of years ago, this land was collectively called 'Oshra Va'Zaun'.
For convenience, the Piltover Explorers Guild also abbreviated it as 'Old Zaun'.
Later, after countless wars, when Runeterra welcomed peace and prosperity again, Old Zaun also began to seek greater development and interests, building the Sun Gates to strengthen its control over trade.
However, such a super-large project spanning two continents was bound to cause a series of chain reactions. On this point, the dignitaries of Old Zaun chose to conceal it.
The final result was that on the day the Sun Gates successfully operated, severe geological disasters and changes in ocean currents caused half of the original Old Zaun to sink and the other half to rise.
The rising part became Piltover, and the sinking part became today's Zaun.
This origin also created the complicated relationship between the two cities that was difficult to untangle. But for the current Faen, the biggest benefit was that Zaun was filled with countless tunnels. Most of these tunnels were created during the sinking process of Zaun.
Hidden and mysterious, the only problem was that the structure was somewhat fragile and prone to geological disasters. However, considering the black technology of Zaun and Piltover, as long as there was enough money, they could be reinforced with Hextech or Chem-tech.
After spending a high-purity Hextech Crystal, the middleman soon brought many various engineering personnel to further strengthen the tunnel that had already undergone partial modification.
Living in the same district, the middleman also knew Soona. Looking at the raw Hextech Crystal Soona handed over, he smiled and said:
"Looks like you've struck it rich, Soona. But take my advice, don't use this money to help those sump orphans; keep it for Zeri. Like now, buying yourself a secure secret base is much more useful than helping orphans."
"Shut your mouth, Old Anka." Rolling her eyes at her old friend, the middleman who only had a few broken teeth left in his mouth, was covered in deformed sarcomas, and had a chem-tech mechanical arm, Soona said, "It's not like you don't know what Zeri is doing, or do you think she did wrong?"
"Can't say she did wrong, but can't say she did right either." Old Anka shook his head. "Those chemical factories turn workers into consumables to die bit by bit, but without those factories, those workers would die tomorrow... But speaking of which, Little Zeri did a good job last night."
As a middleman, Old Anka was obviously better informed and timelier than Soona: "The chemical factory in the Sump Lower City District 3 was raided by two unknown guys. Judging from the workers' description, one of them should be Zeri, right? This time Zeri didn't choose to destroy the factory but opened the factory's vault... Not bad, not bad, this is much more useful than destroying the factory."
Old Anka sighed with emotion: "You don't know, when Zeri destroyed factories before, many workers were complaining and resentful, thinking it was because of Zeri that they lost their jobs. Now with this opening of the granary, a large number of workers have started thinking about how to find Zeri... By the way, the young man acting with Zeri?"
"He's Zeri's man." Soona shrugged. "Zeri has good taste, found a like-minded boyfriend."
"Big Sister, you approve? Then it seems Zeri's taste is indeed good."
Old Anka seemed somewhat surprised. He knew how high Soona's standards were—for example, proper appearance, good moral character, normal conduct, and so on. This was very ordinary for ordinary people, and there were even no dowry requirements. But in Zaun, this definitely counted as a high standard.
Thinking this, Old Anka said with some sighs: "You don't know how furious Spindlaw is right now. Having so many things snatched away in one go, the entire Sump is full of their spies and running dogs. But your son-in-law is also famous now, the renowned 'Azure Demon'. But if you ask me, you still have to tell him to be careful. Many people have their eyes on him recently... And you know, not all workers are of one mind with us."
"And just simply looting the vault..." Old Anka didn't continue because he knew Soona could understand—this wasn't a long-term method and could easily become an excuse for Chem-Barons to deceive people.
"This is precisely what I worry about the least." Soona raised her eyebrows, then handed the newly copied leaflet to Old Anka and said, "The gift Zeri's little man brought back for Zaun. See how much money it costs to spread it?"
"Distributing leaflets? I'm good at this." Hearing this, Old Anka grinned and said, "I like doing these small jobs with no risk and stable income the most... Hmm?"
As he was speaking, Old Anka glanced at the document. A moment later, he froze slightly, then fell into silence for more than ten minutes.
After hesitating for a long time, Old Anka looked up in confusion: "Are you sure this was written by the Azure Demon kid?"
"Not Azure Demon, his name is Faen. Besides, who else in Zaun do you think could write this?" Soona asked back with her arms crossed.
Old Anka wasn't angry; instead, he nodded in agreement. After another moment of silence, he grabbed the leaflet and said, "Leave this to me, free of charge. But wait a few days, wait for the Azure Demon kid's deeds to ferment a bit more."
"Free? You can do it for free? Even an iron rooster plucking its feathers?" Soona was surprised.
Old Anka hummed, "What iron rooster? That's risk aversion for me. Besides... I'm also a Zaunite. Who doesn't hope Zaun can be better."
Saying this, Old Anka turned and left with the leaflets, seemingly muttering something, but judging by the volume, probably only he could hear it himself.
In the following days, Soona and Zeri constantly tried in the newly established base how to perfectly utilize the energy in these Hextech Crystals using Zaun's technology.
Faen didn't stop his cause. Instead, through the intelligence channels of Soona and many middlemen, he visited factories one by one, discussing many issues such as the salary and treatment of Zaun's slaves and the working environment.
Gradually, the 'Azure Demon', originally named just because of the blue light generated when controlling water, took on another meaning.
When the Azure Demon comes, the Azure Sky appears! (A pun implying justice/clear skies)
This also triggered the common hatred of the Chem-Barons. They began trying to use various channels to block contact between workers and middlemen, and started strict surveillance and censorship on the streets.
To convey their plea for help, after the first successful attempt, other workers silently chose the one thing a Chem-Baron could never take away—the sky.
Whenever night fell, beams of light would project toward the sky from hidden corners of Zaun. The characters printed on the chemical smog only needed simple splicing to form the message that needed to be conveyed.
While the Chem-Barons began discussing how to stigmatize Faen, on the other side...
"The Azure Demon attacked three more factories in the past few days: Valvetin Robotics Factory, Patrolock Air Processing Center, and the Ventilation Station."
With one arm blown off by a bomb in the attack against Vander years ago and replaced by a chem-tech prosthetic, Sevika walked into the office with a face full of calm and boredom, slapping the Zaun Daily onto Silco's desk.
"That guy really has abundant energy. He's only been in Zaun for a week and has turned the whole of Zaun upside down." Sevika said, "Now these black gloves of the Piltovians are scared, asking you, the great King of Zaun, to give a solution."
Hearing this, there wasn't much fluctuation on Silco's face. He just glanced at Sevika, then asked calmly, "How did he attack?"
"Same old way. Frontal assault, slaughtering all resistors, entering the vault to distribute food, and finally packing up the rest to take away. But this trick isn't working so well now because the Chem-Barons have also started transferring assets to those private tunnels."
Pausing, Sevika shook her head: "But it's useless. After all, asset transfer also requires those slaves. Unless they change a place every day, being discovered by the Azure Demon is only a matter of time."
"So they came to you to 'uphold justice'."
Hearing this 'uphold justice', Silco didn't say anything, his face remaining calm. Instead, a sneer came from the beam on the side.
Looking up, a sky-blue braid hung down from the beam. Jinx, with pale skin and eyes full of manic chaos, was casually speaking while scribbling on her hand with a marker:
"Uphold justice? Heavens, they actually came to find you to uphold justice! But I remember when they were dogs for the Topsiders, they didn't think about us... The Rise of Zaun? Sounds nice, but aren't they all just thinking about becoming Topsiders themselves... No, should say becoming dignitaries of the merchant families."
Hearing Jinx's words, Silco and Sevika didn't mind too much. After getting along for so many years, they knew what Jinx's personality was like.
Feeling the silence of the two, Jinx suddenly sneered: "They are indeed unwilling to give up their assets in Zaun, but they are very willing to sell out Zaun in exchange for assets in the Upper City."
"Alright, Jinx, that's enough." Silco shook his head and turned his gaze to Sevika. "That Azure Demon, how do the Chem-Barons plan to deal with him?"
"Planning to further lower the workers' wages and treatment."
Sevika shrugged and said, "And their reason is very sufficient because every attack by the Azure Demon accurately finds their vaults. Leaving aside the effect, I guess quite a few idiots will believe the Chem-Barons' explanation."
Hearing this, Silco nodded.
Silco knew that there were many idiots in this world—very many.
Leaving aside other things, just take those workers who followed the Azure Demon into the vault. Even though the Azure Demon told them to take less, take the part they needed, otherwise it would be a way to disaster. But there was still a considerable number of idiots blinded by impulse trying to take away assets they couldn't handle at all.
Those who took it away and hid it carefully were the smart ones. The stupidest guys even started spending lavishly and leaking secrets that very night, then got found by Chem-Barons and made into examples. Dying themselves was one thing, but they implicated a large group of people.
Under these circumstances, for these selfish idiots, it wasn't surprising that they blamed their stupidity on the Azure Demon's behavior for making them like this.
"Contact the Azure Demon." After pondering for a moment, Silco said, "See what thoughts he has. If possible... make him lower his profile. Zaun's chaos isn't just because of those so-called Chem-Barons."
"You can just call them traitors directly." Jinx hung upside down from the beam with her legs hooked, her face full of smiles as she said, "Just like they only treat you as an idiot holding onto the past unwilling to let go."
Silco ignored Jinx. On the side, Sevika said after a moment of silence, "The Azure Demon's purpose shouldn't be just hitting chemical factories and Chem-Baron assets."
"Hmm?"
Silco raised an eyebrow—wasn't it?
It wasn't that Silco was ignorant, but the Zaun Sump was full of various gangs. People, or rather gangs and organizations, attacking chemical factories like Faen were not rare. It was just that Faen avoided hurting the innocent and shared part of the benefits with the workers.
Seeing this, Sevika took out a few leaflets and placed them on the table in front of Silco:
"This is what my subordinates found this morning. It is said to be written by the Azure Demon himself, and it is also his purpose and philosophy."
"...Philosophy?"
Hearing this, a look of slight surprise appeared in Silco's eyes. Although it sounded strange, Zaun had as many homicidal maniacs and terrorists as you wanted, but those with a philosophy... there really weren't many.
Meeting the surprise in Silco's eyes, Sevika just expressionlessly handed one copy to Jinx on the side, while saying coldly:
"I haven't been to school, but I think what he said is right."
Silco just watched, didn't speak, but the hand placed on the table clenched tighter and tighter as he read.