Faen didn't elaborate on the conflict between Silco and Vander in detail—the main reason being that the Twin Cities of this world weren't purely based on the Arcane worldview. Although there were many commonalities, Faen wasn't sure if there were differences in the details...
But even if he said it, it wouldn't matter much. After all, Faen had said from the beginning that he could only see fragments of the past and future, not the whole picture.
Briefly recounting the past of Silco and Vander to Jinx, Jinx remained silent throughout the process, only a hint of enlightenment flashing in her eyes from time to time, seemingly understanding why Silco sometimes zoned out inexplicably.
"Although Vander's departure was due to the monkey bomb you sent back then, this doesn't mean the relationship and connection between them ended with it."
Hearing Faen mention the monkey bomb, Jinx raised an eyebrow, but wasn't angry. Instead, after a moment of silence, she said, "For so many years, you are the first guy who dares to mention that monkey bomb to my face."
"I am honored." Faen shrugged, then continued:
"You can relay the following words to Silco—as comrades who fought against the Upper City for Zaun together, the fundamental disagreement between Silco and Vander regarding the future path lay in the fact that Vander realized the disparity in strength between Zaun and Piltover was immense. He chose to maintain a fragile peace through compromise to protect the people of Zaun from greater sacrifices. While Silco insisted on radical resistance, believing that only by completely overthrowing Piltover's oppression could dignity be exchanged."
"But within this, the core issue lies in the fact that your current adoptive father, Silco, values personal emotional bonds, while Vander focused more on the survival of the group. Therefore, in Silco's view, Vander's compromise became betrayal and weakness."
"And Silco rose to power in the name of resistance, but ultimately became a new oppressor. He wanted to fight against the Upper City, but encountered the same dilemma as Vander. Both realized the absolute advantage of the Upper City, so he had to compromise, had to use Shimmer to control the Zaun undercity which became more chaotic due to the change of power, thereby plunging more people into suffering."
"At this point, no matter how noble the initial ideal was, Silco's resistance is no longer for the rise and liberation of Zaun. It is for seizing power. In behavior, there is no difference from other Chem-Barons."
Hearing this, Jinx fell into brief thought, then asked calmly, "Then how do you view me?"
Faen didn't intend to discuss too much about what Jinx did and the mistakes she made.
Because through the perception of joy, Faen could feel that under Jinx's seemingly increasingly calm appearance, when she asked "how do you view me", the thoughts in her heart had already begun to fluctuate violently. Obviously, her heart wasn't as calm as it appeared on the surface.
So, Faen simply gave his answer directly: "A powerless resistance of a fragile individual under a grand narrative, a poor person lost between 'Zaun's outcast' and 'Upper City resistor'."
"...Outcast, haha." Hearing this, Jinx chuckled twice, then her body trembled violently, recovering calm after a moment.
"Well said, as if you were watching by the side when those things happened."
Casually playing with her fingers, Jinx seemed not to care, but after saying this sentence, there was no follow-up, seeming to have lost the desire to converse.
Faen didn't try to continue the communication either, because while the current Jinx was calm, the thoughts in her heart had turned into a chaotic storm. Under these circumstances, even if Jinx could respond, in the end, she probably wouldn't even know what she was saying herself.
Not long after, the two arrived at the abandoned factory.
Zeri had already subdued the gang thugs here.
Lying in disorder on the ground, the gang hooligans let out weak wails. Standing there, her equipment constantly emitting green arcs of electricity accompanied by the emotion resonance motor, Zeri's face was full of fighting spirit, making people clearly feel the infinite energy within that not-so-tall body.
Seeing Faen's arrival, Zeri grinned and made a peace sign to Faen, saying: "I did it! Solved them all in one go! So what do we do next? Can't let these bastards go easily; they actually did bad things in our name! And wanted to hurt Zaun workers! This group of hateful Chem-Baron running dogs!"
As she spoke, Zeri clenched her fist forcefully, a look of indignation appearing between her brows.
Seeing Faen's arrival, the gang leader who disguised himself as a worker leader before also coughed heavily twice, spitting out a mouthful of bloody water on the ground, but there wasn't much fear in his eyes, mostly wariness.
"You are the Azure Demon?"
"It's me. What's up?" Faen asked.
"No, not me, but you have a problem."
Although sounding like he had the winning ticket, actually the gang leader swallowed his saliva when saying this sentence. Forcing himself to calm down, the gang leader then said seriously: "I admit we did wrong, and we are willing to pay the price, so let us go, how about it? We surrender, and are willing to help you. I know many secrets of Chem-Barons! This will definitely help!"
Saying this, pausing, the gang leader looked at the workers on the side and said: "Look at these mud-legged people again, what do they know? They know nothing. Even if you put the leaflets in their hands, they don't know how to use them, just muddling along."
"You need someone to help you. We are willing to help you, we are willing to crown you as the new King of Zaun, just like Silco replaced Vander in the past!"
The gang leader looked at Faen emotionally: "You can't rely on these illiterate guys to help you govern Zaun! They don't know the rules of Zaun's operation at all, nor do they know how desperately powerful Piltover is! But we know, gangs are the soil for Zaun's existence, we can help..."
Listening to the gang leader's words, Faen shook his head boringly.
"No matter how much you know, can you know more than Silco?"
Although Faen's voice was full of boredom, it reached the gang leader's ears clearly. Hearing Faen's words, the gang leader froze slightly, then subconsciously looked to the side. Although not very clear, his peripheral vision saw Jinx standing in the shadows not far away, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, watching coldly.
Silco wants to participate in this reform too? No, could it be that this reform is Silco's plan all along? Impossible! Isn't Silco the biggest Chem-Baron in Zaun? Why—
amidst strong doubts, Faen summoned flowing water, drilled into the leader's head from his ear, and after grinding the brain inside into a puddle of paste, Faen looked at the other surrounding gang hooligans.
Noticing Faen's gaze, a look of horror appeared in the eyes of the surrounding gang hooligans. Faen didn't mind, just controlled the flowing water to turn into flying sharp blades to cut all their throats. In a moment, the gang thugs who were still wailing returned to silence.
Watching Faen expressionlessly send all these gang thugs to their graves, Jinx in the distance narrowed her eyes, but still didn't make a sound.
To this, Zeri tilted her head. Although somewhat uncomfortable, she chose to trust Faen. After all, if not for Faen, she might have been deceived and fallen into the trap of these guys.
After dealing with these gang members, Faen looked at the workers on the side.
Compared to facing the gang thugs, Faen's attitude was much gentler when looking at these workers.
"Although this gang leader is an enemy of Zaun, before this, one thing he said was not wrong. That is, begging on knees won't exchange for bread from Chem-Barons; only united struggle can resist their tyranny."
"But... but he is our enemy." A worker raised his hand somewhat timidly and said, "Do we still have to learn from them? Those running dogs of Chem-Barons?"
Looking at the frightened and confused workers, Faen said with a relaxed face: "Of course we have to learn. Rather, precisely because they are our enemies, we must learn their thoughts, understand their thoughts, understand why they do this, and then look at problems dialectically. Only in this way can we always know whether the cause we are undertaking is correct, and whether everything we do is for ourselves or for Zaun itself."
Saying this, pausing, Faen continued: "Chem-Barons call me the Azure Demon, but actually, I come from Faen, from Ionia, Navori Province, the Placidium. When I first stepped on this land, I felt strange and confused about Zaun. Everything here was unacceptable to me."
Hearing Faen's words, everyone around looked at each other. Even Jinx raised an eyebrow, not expecting Faen to say this suddenly.
Looking at everyone around, Faen continued: "Ionia advocates animism, advocates nature as the core, advocates the balance between material and spirit. It is precisely because of this that when I first arrived in Zaun, I felt a heavy discomfort for Zaun's chaos. But slowly, with the help of my best friend and lover, Zeri, I gradually understood Zaun's pain."
Hearing this, Zeri on the side blinked in surprise and pointed at herself, as if saying 'Me?'.
Faen responded with an affirming gaze, then said loudly, as if he deeply believed it himself: "And after fully understanding Zaun's pain, I felt deeply shocked and determined to devote my efforts to the liberation of Zaun—Zaun has virtually become my second hometown!"
"It is precisely because of this that I more urgently hope Zaun can welcome a true rise—no, not rise, but revival! Our ultimate goal is not to contend with Piltover, but to take back the things that should have belonged to us!"
Faen said seriously: "And before they completely recognize reality, we must know what exactly they are thinking, we must understand what kind of enemies we are facing! Only by correctly understanding our enemies can we respond correctly!"
"Then what should we do?" A worker raised his hand to ask.
"Clarify our enemies, clarify our friends." Faen said, "Our current enemy is not Piltover, but the traitors inside Zaun, those Chem-Barons who betrayed us and sold out Zaun's interests! They squeezed our blood and sweat to achieve their extravagant lives, but left us with intensified harsh working environments! These people who have actually betrayed Zaun are our enemies!"
"And those thugs of factories and gangs need to be screened. Some of them are also children of workers, also orphans of the sump. The kind people among them are our natural partners, and also the main force of naturalization abandoning the dark for the light! Let them know what is right and what is wrong, and they will naturally merge into the turbid stream of Chem-Barons, adding bricks and tiles to Zaun's future!"
"And more importantly—do not destroy factories, let alone destroy machines!" Faen said seriously, "Chemical factories are Zaun's industry; they belong to every people of Zaun, not Chem-Barons! So, before the final moment arrives, familiarize yourselves with them, remember every corridor, secret passage, and secret room of the factory. Be vigilant against those traitors and scabs lurking among us."
"Only in this way can we truly revive our hometown, our Zaun!"
In his words, as a battle dancer practicing in the Placidium, Faen used body movements combined with the cadence of tone and changes in expression to hook up the unwillingness in people's hearts bit by bit, as well as expectations for the future and longing for beauty.
No matter how desperate people are, as long as they are alive, there will be more or less hope in their hearts, it's just that some people have gradually lost the ability to feel hope.
Hearing Faen's words, the surrounding workers looked at each other, then involuntarily clenched their fists and shouted for Zaun.
In contrast, on the other side. Listening to Faen's narration, although Jinx felt her emotions were mobilized by Faen and could confirm the operability in the method Faen mentioned. But honestly, Jinx didn't think Faen's words could so easily make the crowd excited and boiling like water...
Thinking this, Jinx sniffed the air as if smelling something, then a look of weirdness appeared on her face.
Damn, the air is laced with joy factor.