It was night, and a thick, toxic haze surrounded all areas below the middle levels of Zaun. As the mist rose, colorful neon lights dyed the haze into a multicolored dream, attempting to use beautiful colors to make people forget the accumulated toxins within.
However, Zaun's environment during this period was somewhat different from before. Apart from the colorful poisonous fog, beams of flashing lights rose from dark corners from time to time, piercing through the clouds and attracting people's attention.
Noticing these flashing lights, the factory thugs hired by the Chem-Barons and members of the sump gangs would follow the guidance of the lights to their location.
But by the time these people arrived, often only the light source and a letter remained.
Of course, this was only before the leaflets spread. After the leaflets spread, new rebels appeared among Zaun's slaves.
In an abandoned factory—
Standing on a makeshift dilapidated podium, a thin worker leader wearing a single layer of clothing, with greasy, clumped hair and wearing broken glasses with cracks on the lenses, clenched his fist and said:
"We are all workers! We are all sump slaves! We are brothers and sisters! Those damned Chem-Barons squeeze our blood and sweat, weaving their alchemy towers and silk and satin with our health and lives! But they repay us with endless pollution, draining our lives with fourteen-hour chemical factory shifts, trampling on our dignity!"
"They are our enemies! Enemies of all workers! Workers never sink! We should unite! Let our trickle of anger turn into a monstrous flood!!"
The worker leader spoke incessantly, his simple and straightforward words constantly impacting the thoughts of the workers present.
They were all organized by this worker leader—those rebels who saw the leaflets rarely contacted the Azure Demon actively.
Of course, this was also directly related to the Chem-Barons' manhunt and curfew during this period.
On a distant high-rise building, Faen and Zeri observed unhurriedly through tactical goggles.
Although separated by a long distance and it was night, Zeri and Faen could still see the scene in the factory clearly through the black-tech goggles.
Although they couldn't hear what they were saying, Faen could intuitively feel their emotions—the intense emotions generated by this kind of gathering were like a light source in the dark for Faen.
Among them, the workers' emotions were mostly anger and unwillingness. But even so, Faen could still get power replenishment through the 'hope' felt deep in their hearts—just not as effective as pure joy replenishment.
But soon, the two discovered something wrong. Pointing at a group of people approaching rapidly outside the factory, Zeri frowned and said, "It's the Chem-Baron's thugs! Damn it, Faen, let's go help them!"
"Don't rush." Hearing this, Faen shook his head, leaning on the bell tower of the high tower, and said calmly, "Wait and see... let the bullets fly for a while."
Below, in the factory, the worker leader was already giving an impassioned speech.
"Brothers and sisters! Muster up courage, because our thoughts cannot be killed! In today's Zaun, a considerable number of workers are silently waiting for the opportunity according to the method given on the leaflet! Waiting to become part of the tsunami! But no matter what, reform cannot be smooth sailing. So we must be prepared! Prepared for everything—"
Before the worker leader could finish his impassioned speech, accompanied by a rumbling noise, the dilapidated gate of the abandoned factory beside him was kicked open by a pair of big feet.
Looking towards the sound, a burly man nearly three meters tall, with muscles covered in various tattoos, walked in from outside the door.
Looking at everyone present, a trace of excitement appeared in the strong man's eyes. He spat on the ground and revealed a ferocious smile towards the crowd who had no way to retreat.
"Damn, finally let me catch you guys! You slaves are useless one after another when working, but run faster than rabbits one by one! Can't even catch you!"
As he spoke, behind the strong man, the hooligans who came along also blocked the only exit of the abandoned factory tightly.
Looking at these gang thugs hired by the Chem-Baron, the slaves who tried to send out light signals for help showed fearful expressions, then turned their eyes to the gentle-looking guy one after another.
Swallowing saliva, the gentle-looking worker leader took a deep breath and said, "Don't be afraid, brothers. Although they have many people, if we exert our strength in one place, we can definitely escape!"
As he spoke, the worker and the strong man looked at each other. Then the strong man sneered, clenched the short stick in his hand, walked up, raised it high mercilessly, and smashed it down heavily.
A slave couldn't dodge in time and was sent flying directly, his already incomplete teeth flying out and scattering all over the ground.
"Still want to escape? I want to see how you run out! Why not scream louder, see if anyone comes to save you!!"
Seeing the gang thugs had already started, the worker leader didn't flinch. He just wiped the cold sweat from his temples, then adjusted his broken glasses and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Fight them!!"
As he spoke, the workers who were originally fearful also erupted with their scant remaining courage in despair. But seeing their resistance, the strong man didn't show the slightest fear, but sneered and clapped his hands.
Then everyone saw his five fingers on his right arm flip backward, revealing dark gun barrels from his fingertips.
"Fight with my bullets."
As he spoke, gunfire erupted. Bullets broke through the air, landing on the leading worker leader, sending him flying directly.
Flesh and blood cannot contend with steel. After these gang thugs showed their weapons, the already unarmed workers immediately fell into a complete disadvantage.
Although they also had chem-tech augments, most of these augments were work augments purchased with loans from Chem-Barons in chemical factories. There was no comparability with real combat augments.
In the distance, Faen held down Zeri's hair, feeling the girl's agitated emotions, and said quietly, "Calm down."
In the factory, looking at the crowd with despair in their eyes, the strong man sneered coldly. Then he came to the worker leader struggling on the ground, looked at his twitching body and bleeding limbs, raised his right arm indifferently: "Grow some eyes in your next life."
As he spoke, another burst of fire erupted. The worker leader's body rose and fell under the impact of bullets, and soon blood flowed all over the ground.
Then the strong man looked at the rest of the crowd, sneered for a moment, then his face suddenly changed, cursing in a low voice:
"Damn it, is that Azure Demon dead? Why hasn't he come out even after acting like this!"
Hearing the strong man's words, the workers on the side, who were originally dominated by fear like startled quails, also fell into confusion.
But before they could recover, they found several 'worker brothers' around them also showing impatience, walking out of their crowd with bored faces to merge into the group of gang thugs.
Some even started chatting amicably with those thugs.
Hearing the strong man's words, the worker leader who was swept by the 'pistol' and seemed dead beyond doubt also moved his body a few times, then got up from the ground unhurriedly.
Reaching out to take the brand-new glasses handed over by a gang underling, his face was full of boredom and disgust as he said:
"Damn... I hung out with these stinking mud-legged people for so many days just to gather such a batch of idiots. No reaction even like this, I think that so-called Azure Demon is just a coward with no balls!"
Saying this, the worker leader... or rather the gang spy? Shook his body and threw the blood plasma pack inside onto the ground.
Looking at the gang brothers beside him, the strong man grinned: "Who cares, boss. If worse comes to worst, just find a few slaves to fool them. Anyway, those Chem-Barons said it doesn't matter if the corpses hanging on the street in the end are rebels or not, as long as those untouchables know the consequences of resisting them."
"True." Saying this, the gang leader moved his neck twice and said, "Just wasted my time on these garbage during this period... I even arranged a few brothers to mix in as shills."
Saying this, the gang leader said to the few brothers who walked out of the worker pile together: "Don't say I treated you badly, I'll take you to eat something good later!"
As he spoke, the leader looked at the group of 'idiots' who lost their ability to adapt due to continuous changes and sneered: "Although these idiots don't have good brains, they have quite a few fun things at home. Right, Old Waiter?"
Looking at a particularly old-looking middle-aged man in the crowd, the leader revealed an undisguised smile.
Hearing the leader's words, a look of heartfelt fear and regret appeared on the middle-aged man's face. But this didn't arouse the slightest pity from the leader—
"Since your gathering against the Chem-Barons was caught, leave your families to me to take good care of, haha~"
Hearing this, the strong man on the side also laughed along, then said leisurely:
"That Azure Demon is also stupid. With that ability, why hang out with those mud-legged chemical slaves? A bunch of poor bastards, don't they still have to beg Chem-Barons for money in the end?"
"I heard that Azure Demon's little follower has some skills." A small leader followed with a laugh: "Said to be a little girl? I guess this Azure Demon speaks so high-soundingly on the leaflet, but privately plays quite big too~ Which good person brings a little girl out to be a vigilante? Probably used for... hehe when encountering danger."
Just as they were laughing, suddenly a henchman said, "Wait, what is that?"
Following the subordinate's voice and looking to the side, what came into everyone's view was a green afterimage constantly shuttling through the dark factory.
Eyes full of anger, Zeri sprinted without saying a word. The emotion resonance motor detected Zeri's emotional fluctuations and emitted a hum and whistle. Enhanced energy was injected into the combat boots here through the conduit, allowing Zeri to run, sprint, and glide directly on the building's facade through the electrostatic field.
Knowing what happened here before these factory thugs arrived, Zeri felt endless fighting spirit emerge in her heart when she saw the factory thugs.
Although puzzled after being stopped by Faen, she chose to trust Faen. But after seeing the worker leader beaten to death, Zeri indeed almost couldn't control herself for a moment, but was still stopped by Faen.
Although trusting Faen in her heart, watching those 'partners' and 'brothers and sisters' being threatened, hurt, and slaughtered by the Chem-Barons' running dogs helplessly. Zeri could feel pain and anger constantly accumulating in her heart.
Then, she saw that wet 'worker leader' get up from the ground...
Faen's lip-reading translation might not be that precise, but combined with the face revealed by the 'worker leader' in the tactical goggles and the echoing laughter of the gang thugs beside him, Zeri knew Faen didn't deceive her... it was she who was deceived again because of her inner immaturity.
Although Faen repeatedly emphasized this wasn't her fault, but human nature being so. But Zeri couldn't easily convince herself.
"You damn bastards, I won't let a single one of you go!"
Zeri said angrily, and the joy factor reagent integrated on the emotion resonance motor was pushed into her body. Accompanied by high spirits, green electric light burst from her body.
The motor with the Hextech Crystal as the core had an output efficiency far exceeding the spark capacitor Zeri hand-rubbed before by more than ten times, and was more stable and reliable. Zeri under the night was like an arc of death.
Almost in the next instant after being perceived by those gang thugs, accompanied by a piercing pulse, a clearing was directly swept out.
On the building far away, Faen didn't act with Zeri. After all, today was mainly to test the combat performance of Zeri's equipment and let Zeri familiarize herself with how to control it as soon as possible. And these thugs...
To be honest, let alone Zeri in full god-tier gear now, even the previous Zeri holding a dilapidated spark gun could take out these bullying gang thugs one by one through guerrilla warfare.
Hmm, but if that gang leader disguised as a worker leader suddenly turned traitor and sneak-attacked, that would be another situation.
But now changed into a full set of god gear, just the electrostatic field of this set of equipment, ordinary bullets didn't even count as tickling for Zeri; safe in every sense.
Thinking this, Faen nodded, then looked to the side and said, "Alright, watched for so long, should come out now, right?"
Hearing this, Jinx flicked her braids and walked out of the shadows, her smiling face full of curiosity in her eyes: "How did you find me?"