Me? The director of the Asylum of All Heavens!

Chapter 19: The Rise of Silko

"Yes, I owe them this." Babette finally lowered her head.

"You've heard about the explosion seven years ago, right?" Babette asked, looking up.

"I heard that a few guys from Dicheng stole some things and accidentally caused an explosion. Then the law enforcement officer took advantage of the situation and wanted to clean up Dicheng, but ended up falling flat on his face." Lin Zizhi said with a sneer.

He knew that the madam in front of him was testing their attitude and trying to judge their stance from their tone.

Therefore, Lin Zizhi tactfully expressed his position in favor of the Black Alley and implicitly expressed his ridicule towards the law enforcement officer.

"Fell flat on their face? You're talking about something that happened later. At the beginning, their attitude was very arrogant. Yes, the attitude of the people in the upper city towards the lower city has always been like this. They despise everything in the lower city and have never taken it seriously." Babette lit her pipe and fell into endless memories.

"Oh? Really? Then why were they so restrained about the Evolution Day attack? I see that it has been a few weeks since this happened, and those idiots in the upper city didn't even send a law enforcement officer to the lower city to investigate the matter?" Harley Quinn asked bluntly.

"Ahem..." Lin Zizhi coughed, reminding her not to talk nonsense and expose her position.

Their current identity was that they were from the upper city. Even though the madam did not ask in detail, she tacitly assumed that they were a force that had some connection with the law enforcement officer.

"You are... Singed's female assistant! I've heard of you. Are you from Bilgewater?"

As expected, Babette became suspicious and asked about Harley Quinn's identity.

Lin Zizhi hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "I forgot to introduce her. She is Harley Quinn from Bilgewater, a professional mercenary, and now employed by me. I am the head of security for the Jiraman family in Piltover. Lin, you should have seen the girl who came with Wei. She is the eldest daughter of our Jiraman family. It was she who used the power of a councillor to secretly release Wei from prison."

"The Jiraman family, so that's how it is. Then everything makes sense. No wonder she dared to sneak into Zaun alone. It turns out that you were protecting her in secret. As soon as I saw you, I felt that you had Ionian blood." Babette agreed with Lin Zizhi's fabricated explanation.

The reason why Babette said this is because Ionia is the country in the game that is based on real Asia and contains the most Asian elements.

Caitlin in The Battle of the Two Cities was intentionally designed by the screenwriter to have an Asian mixed-race appearance, and her father was an Asian man who married into the Gilaman family.

Lin Zizhi's current appearance is more like a mixed Chinese and Russian. Most of the nobles in Piltover are local old families, and only the Gilaman family has fresh exotic blood.

"Ahem, you don't have to worry about our positions. Although I am from the Gilaman family, I am mainly responsible for protecting Miss Caitlin's safety. I have watched her grow up. Caitlin is different from other nobles. She has an extremely strong sense of justice, which drives her to abandon her identity and status and become a law enforcement officer. However, it is precisely because of her overly paranoid sense of justice that she encounters obstacles everywhere in the law enforcement team. Even so, she did not hesitate to let the prisoners go, just to come to Zaun to find out the truth and catch Hilko's evidence. I don't care about politics, I only care about Caitlin's safety. She is with Wei now. Since Wei's sister is Jinx, I must find out if Jinx can really be saved. Of course, I also hope to collect some evidence of Hilko's crimes and help my lady a little bit."

Lin Zizhi cleared his throat and spoke nonsense in a serious manner.

Babette then looked at Harley Quinn.

"Don't look at me, I'm a mercenary. My employer's position is my position." Harley Quinn shrugged and said.

After sorting out their positions, Babette finally dared to speak her mind.

"Yes, the law enforcers haven't been as arrogant as before for many years. This is all thanks to Hilko. No matter how much hatred and dissatisfaction I have towards Hilko, I cannot deny that his actions have effectively improved the environment in Zaun. But this only refers to the overall environment in Zaun. The polarization in the city is extremely serious now. For ordinary people, I really can't say whether it has gotten better or worse." Babette said, tapping her pipe.

"What happened back then?" "Back then, the law enforcement officers pressed on step by step. They even dared to break into the alley and provoke Vandel face to face. Vandel did not want to start a war, so he chose to be tolerant. But this made some people think that he was weak, and Vandel's power was divided. The people who stayed behind were also holding their breath. They believed in Vandel's character and believed that he would not sit still and wait for death, so they prepared for a counterattack without telling Vandel. We have been expecting him to take action, but we didn't expect it to happen so suddenly."

Babette took a puff of her cigarette and sighed deeply.

"Yes, we were all shocked when we heard what happened to Fandel and his children. We don't know where the news came from, saying that Fandel was beaten to death by the law enforcer. When our people arrived, we only found the body of the law enforcer and a raging fire in the warehouse. We were all blinded by hatred, and the people of the city took up weapons and rushed to the bridge. Now that I think about it, the news must have been spread by Hilco on purpose."

"A large group of law enforcement officers were soon sent from the upper city. Apparently, the top leaders of the parliament were also angered by the death of the law enforcement officers. This time, our people didn't even have a chance to rush to the bridge. They were killed by the law enforcement officers directly into Zaun and forced all the way to the Black Alley."

Babette frowned and closed her eyes in pain.

"Let me guess. Hilco must have waited until you were defeated and discouraged before he stood up and brought you hope of victory, right? How did he complete the Jedi counterattack? With his inflammatory speech? With the past grudges between him and Vander? Or... with the alchemical potion - Glimmer, which can turn ordinary people into beasts with powerful strength?" Harley Quinn asked with a sneer.

"Yes, it was a complete conspiracy. Smart people could see through his ambitions at a glance, but we had no way out and no choice but to accept the glimmer reagent he provided unconditionally. He was very good at motivating people, emphasizing to the rebels that the glimmer could give them the power to resist. He told the little people that by using the glimmer, they could experience what it was like to be a big shot that no one dared to mess with. In short, everyone turned into a beast that night, and the dark alleys were completely stained with blood, including those of the law enforcement officers and the people of Zaun. I was so scared that I hid at home and didn't dare to go out at all."

"That battle allowed Upper City to see the power of Zaun's glimmer. They didn't want to suffer any more unnecessary casualties, so they withdrew all their law enforcement officers. Since then, law enforcement officers no longer dared to come to Lower City to enforce the law as recklessly as before. Gradually, the two sides completely severed ties."

"Maybe this is a good thing for Dicheng?" Lin Zizhi asked uncertainly.

"Just when we thought we had won, we discovered that we were just pawns in Hilco's script. When Vandel's forces were fighting the law enforcers to the death out of passion, Hilco did not sit back and wait for us to both lose. He secretly united with some powerful forces in Zaun, shared with them the benefits of fighting against the Upper City, and gained the support of the chem-barons. After that, he bribed the law enforcers and used Vandel and his children as the scapegoats. Now that they are all dead, the parliament can only hastily close the previous explosion case."

"After the incident was settled, Hilco began to take over Vandel's industries one after another. Some of his subordinates were traitors from Vandel's faction, and the remaining resistance had long been exhausted in the war. Those who survived were either physically disabled survivors, or timid and weak guys like me. But what can we do? We can only watch Hilco erode Vandel's power, keep silent, and protect ourselves." Babette lowered her head in shame.

"There will always be people who choose to resist." Lin Zizhi said seriously.

"Yes, but Silko was too good at fighting, and he had plenty of money. All subsequent rebellions were brutally suppressed by him because they lacked a backbone, and even the Fulgrim Tavern was occupied by him. As time went on, the influence of the Glimmer began to emerge. It had terrifying power and was naturally highly addictive. The people who turned into beasts in that battle all succumbed to Silko because of the Glimmer Potion. Silko had the support of the Chem-Baron, used the Glimmer to rule the people of Zaun, and also supported a law enforcer to become the sheriff of Piltover."

"He became the true underground emperor of Zaun. In this gray area beyond the reach of the law, Silko vigorously developed illegal gray industries and entertainment industries to attract nobles from the upper city to spend money. Even my small entertainment venue benefited from Silko's entertainment industry support plan, but he looked down on these businesses and gave all the red-light district businesses to the Alchemy Baron, Madam Margot, to manage."

Babette could not help shaking her head.

"Supporting while delegating power? I guess he relies on the gray industry to attract people from Piltover. This step is not only to raise funds!" Harley Quinn reacted as soon as she heard it.

"He relies on the glimmer to control Bottom City. I guess his next plan is to introduce the addictive sexual glimmer into the noble market of Piltover, so as to control those Piltover nobles." Lin Zizhi said leisurely, and suddenly sneezed.

"I don't know about that. But the development of gray industries by Hilco did promote the employment rate of the people in Dicheng and greatly increased their income. He also asked the doctor to invent alchemical prosthetics to help people with amputated limbs recover. His second-in-command, Sevika, was a beneficiary of these technologies. However, he also gave up this part of the business and handed it all over to the alchemist Baron Smith. In short, many people in Dicheng have benefited from his kindness, so there are fewer and fewer voices against him, and more and more voices supporting him. He packaged himself as an industrialist and secretly accumulated strength."

Babette tried to judge Hilco's merits and demerits as neutrally as possible.

"Silco is a villain, but he is also a hero."

(End of this chapter)