"Good afternoon, gentlemen, I'd like to ask you something!"
Hearing someone inquire, the two drunken gang thugs turned around in confusion, seeing a young man with half his face covered by a mask. From his skin tone, he was East Asian.
They immediately thought he was a country bumpkin who had smuggled himself into Zaun from Ionia!
Their faces immediately showed displeasure: "Get lost! Kid! Don't bother us!"
Durin did not get angry. Instead, he took out a small pouch containing twenty-odd copper circle coins in his hand and said in a low voice, "I want to know about Janet. This money is for your drinks."
"Huh?"
The two paused, sized up Durin, then nodded, "Alright, but it's not convenient here. Let's talk outside."
Durin nodded in agreement.
So, he followed the two into a deserted alley next to the pub, where the mottled walls were covered with exaggerated graffiti, and the muddy puddles on the ground were filled with various foul wastes.
The gang thug who had spoken earlier showed a malicious smile and deliberately spoke in a strange, taunting tone: "Fool! Don't you know this is the 3K gang's territory? Whether I answer your question or not, if I rob you, isn't your money mine anyway?!"
"…" Durin was speechless.
The two gang thugs chuckled. The one who had spoken drew a dagger from his waist and pressed it against Durin's abdomen. His dark face, with a Mohawk hairstyle, was almost touching Durin's nose tip as he said, word by word, "So, hand over all your money!"
Durin looked down at the sharp dagger, then at the gang thug trying to threaten him, and couldn't help but laugh.
Robbery again? Such familiar and endearing Zaun talk.
This guy didn't think getting his face so close to someone else's was cool, did he?
"Hey! Phil, later we'll strip this kid of his clothes, shoes, that backpack behind him, and his shield. If he dares to resist, we'll throw him into the coal mine tonight…"
The dark-skinned gang thug turned to his companion behind him and quipped. His accomplice, hearing this, also let out a malicious cackle, clearly having done this more than once.
"3K gang? Never heard of it!" Durin laughed, then suddenly reached out, grabbed the other's turning head, and slammed it violently against the wall.
In an instant, the sudden burst of violence and swift speed directly smashed the man against the wall, leaving him with a bloody, disfigured head, and he immediately collapsed.
The other gang thug, named Phil, had no idea Durin would suddenly attack and was instantly frozen on the spot.
Durin's expression also changed from the previous smile to ferocity in an instant, his gaze fixed on the man with ruthless eyes. He kicked away the dagger on the ground and then coldly said to the remaining person, "From now on, I ask, you answer."
"Mm-hmm."
Phil had never expected that the 'yellow-skinned pig' he had intended to bully would, in the blink of an eye, transform into a fierce tiger.
He could only nod frantically at Durin, fearing that this fellow might kill him without a word, sending him to meet his great-grandmother.
He was both shocked and angry. Shocked by the opponent's decisive and ruthless methods just now, he presumed Durin had killed no fewer people than himself, and his combat skills were definitely superior.
His anger, naturally, was directed at his unconscious companion. Why on earth did he have to provoke an Ionian!
Normally, just some trash talk would suffice, but he had to intentionally seek trouble.
"First, the Janet you just mentioned, is she a red-haired woman, fully Chem-Tech modified? And she has a younger sister at home?"
"Yes, yes! That's her."
Phil was afraid that even a slight delay would displease the other party.
Durin nodded thoughtfully, it seemed he could save himself the trouble of finding someone.
"Then what did you mean by Janet coming into a windfall?" Durin continued to ask, "Roughly how many days ago was this?"
His tone was calm, as if carrying a comforting power, seemingly meant to put people at ease.
This was Durin's passive specialty, [Chatting While Walking], taking effect, combined with the on-site physical threat. This two-pronged approach directly broke through the opponent's psychological defenses.
Phil swallowed, his voice trembling slightly: "Two days ago, we saw Janet buy 5 liters of Shimmer at this pub. This liquor is very expensive, 2 silver lun coins per liter. But it's just right for suppressing that crazy woman Janet's brain."
Under Durin's cold gaze, he dared not lie a single word, his legs bent, trying to make his body as low as possible, not exceeding the other's height, completely daring not to move.
Durin frowned deeply, looking down at the other's head, and said in a deep voice, "You mean the last time you saw her was two days ago?"
"Yes." Phil replied.
"Has she moved?" Durin asked. "Or rather, have you seen her sister disappear?"
"...Not really," Phil's voice was a bit weak, indicating he wasn't entirely sure himself.
"Then do you know who she sold that valuable item to? Or who gave Janet that sudden windfall?" Durin's voice gradually intensified: "Think carefully, do you know or not? Or are you intentionally hiding something from me?!"
"How dare I?!"
Phil broke out in a cold sweat, his body began to tremble, and he spoke at an extremely fast pace: "It's just that Janet, that crazy woman, isn't normal in the head. Last month, she accidentally killed a teammate she was working with. Who would dare get close to her now? We can barely avoid her… As for her sister, she's been a natural consumptive since birth and can only survive with a respirator. If she were to move, she would definitely hire someone to transport that life-saving respirator."
"So, her sister is still at home? But Janet is nowhere to be found?"
Durin scoffed, a mocking expression on his face, and continued: "Do you think I'd believe that? Are you treating me like a three-year-old child?"
His voice wasn't actually loud, but to Phil, it sounded like the whisper of death, scaring him so much that his body trembled and his legs instantly went soft.
Thump!
Somehow, he found himself kneeling in a puddle of mud, his expression panicked and uneasy as he said, "That's truly the case, I… I… I remember! I just heard a rumor, which is… Janet has been looking for a fresh, matching lung organ for her sister recently. Uh, I estimate she'll go to the Border Market."
"Why?" Durin asked again.
"Because… in the Border Market, anything involving fresh internal organs is part of Chem-Baron Karyna Vireze's industry."
Durin fell into contemplation. What the other party said was largely consistent with the information he obtained from Mr. Wes: Janet indeed had a seriously ill sister confined to bed.
It seemed that Janet's motive for the crime had been unexpectedly revealed to him.
As for Chem-Baron Karyna Vireze, whom the other party mentioned, Durin had also heard of her. She was a maverick who never participated in the conflicts between other Chem-Barons. She loved all kinds of rare and exotic plants, cultivating them in her own greenhouse cultivation tower.
In Zaun, cultivation towers were symbols of wealth and status. The wealthier the Chem-Baron, the more they liked to build cultivation towers. The fresh oxygen provided by greenhouse cultivation towers ensured that they, like the people of Upper City, did not have to breathe the toxic Chem-Tech green haze.
But this female Chem-Baron had a peculiar hobby: she enjoyed developing various new chemical products, and many of the chemicals circulating in Zaun's Undercity were created by her.
Buying a fresh internal organ from her would not be cheap; it would likely be an astronomical sum.
Since the other party might appear in the Border Market, he might as well go and see.
So Durin silently left the area. He wore a baseball cap and a face mask, carried a black backpack and a shield, and had a scimitar sheath hanging from his lower back.
Upon reaching the familiar elevator, after paying one copper circle coin, he stood to one side inside the elevator. Soon after, the protective iron gate of the elevator was forcefully closed.
The elevator began to ascend slowly. Durin watched as Zaun's uneven iron trellis bridges and its distinctive buildings continuously shrunk before his eyes.
The number "4" displayed in the center of the door changed to "5" with the crisp sound of a wind chime.
Durin had reached his destination—the Boundary Markets.
This place was like a bustling pedestrian plaza, with various makeshift shops and stalls built all around. There were artifacts from Shurima tombs, oddly shaped fish from the ocean, mechanical scrap from Upper City, and even oversized swamp crabs.
Vendors were hawking, customers were browsing, a group of children in old clothes ran past, and nearby, people were cheering and shouting around a live boxing match, with gang members collecting money nearby.
The lively scene was no less vibrant than Piltover during the day.
Fortunately, Durin had a personal portrait photo of Janet; otherwise, finding someone in Zaun with just a name would truly be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
There were many passages between the buildings in the Boundary Markets, usually marked by residents themselves. Passersby were all wary and indifferent.
After walking for about half an hour, Durin suddenly saw a tall, red-haired woman with a strangely large suitcase emerge from a bar by the roadside not far away.
The moment he saw her, Durin was drawn in by the strong aura she exuded. A powerful desire for money was revealed in her every action and gesture.
Hmm… she was very much like a vulture circling in the sky, silently waiting for an opportunity to descend once it spotted a decaying corpse or one about to die.
Her height stood out in the crowd, nearly two meters tall, with the hair on both temples shaved clean, leaving only long red hair in the middle, combed back into a ponytail.
Part of her left cheek was covered by polished pure iron machinery, and her pair of purple eyes were somewhat hazy, seemingly a bit overwhelmed by alcohol. Her neck was covered in deep purple veins resembling a spiderweb.
Under the streetlights, her body gleamed with a strong metallic luster. She wore a black studded leather jacket and denim shorts. From beneath her uneven cuffs, two steam-powered mechanical arms were visible, and behind her was a backpack-sized steam-powered boiler.
Beneath her denim shorts, only the upper part of her thighs, connected to mechanical prosthetics, showed skin; further down, they reflected a captivating metallic sheen.
Excellent, a moving 100 silver lun coins has appeared.
I finally found you!
Durin thought to himself, silently following Janet's departing figure. They maintained a distance of fifteen meters, ensuring he wouldn't lose her.
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