Twin Cities: I am the man of many myths

Chapter 186 Red and Black

“Thank you all for coming all the way here.”

The fat man in noble clothing walked up to Li Ke with a faint smile on his face. He rubbed his hands and said, "You must be the Lord of Zaun, right?"

Li Ke nodded, and the fat nobleman quickly shook hands with Li Ke, then looked behind Li Ke.

He seemed to have been prepared in advance and accurately called out the name of everyone present.

"Welcome to Noxus, Mr. Silko."

"You are quite tall and handsome, Mr. Tallis."

"Hello, pretty lady."

"Mel. About Your Mother"

Srilan is a very friendly person. He does not have the fierce aura of a Noxian. Instead, he looks like a gentle fat rich man. He even kindly asked Li Ke and others to just call him Kerry instead of Mr. Srilan.

Sriram Kerry.

"Come on, everyone, please follow me. I have prepared a place for you."

Srilan leaned over with a smile and stretched out his hand to signal Li Ke and the others to move forward.

Li Ke looked at the huge fortress in front of him and pursed his lips.

The Immortal Bastion is the center of Noxus. It is said that Mordekaiser is buried in a corner of the Immortal Bastion. This castle, which has existed for thousands of years, contains countless secrets.

The overall layout of the fortress is circular. From the outside to the inside, the deeper one lives, the more noble their status will be. Among the buildings of varying heights, the black tower in the center is clustered together. It is a castle standing in the heart of the central area, surrounded by tall city walls that separate the inside and outside of the Immortal Fortress.

In the middle, streets are stacked up and down, in a jagged pattern, just like the huge open mouth of a wild beast with dense teeth.

This huge castle is really hard to describe in words. It gives people a depressing feeling, which may be related to its main color.

Red and black are the main colors of the Immortal Fortress. This huge steel castle is made of black stones and various black steels, and the bright red color is spread everywhere in the fortress.

The family flag was made of red stone bricks, either painted with red paint or with dried blood. In short, even someone like Jinx, who was always carefree and cheerful, became a lot quieter the moment she entered the Immortal Fortress.

Solemn and depressing, with a sacred and ancient atmosphere, the streets are narrow and secluded, the eaves of the houses have battlements, and the city gates are majestic and grand. Everything here seems to emphasize one thing to the outside world, that is - the power and control of the empire.

"This place is not suitable for human habitation," Jinx muttered softly as she approached Li Ke.

Jinx really thought so.

Zaun is also very depressing and crowded, but the crowded buildings do not bring a sense of depression and oppression. Instead, they add a touch of life breath. But it is different here. Here Jinx only feels uncomfortable.

Li Ke agreed and nodded, looking around.

Srilan noticed Li Ke's eyes. Seeing him looking at the Noxians who were like beggars on both sides of the road, the fat noble smiled and said, "Don't worry about them, Mr. Li Ke. In Noxus, only those who are unwilling to work hard and want to get something for nothing will live like this."

"They brought this upon themselves. If they were willing to join the army or find a job, they wouldn't be left without a place to live and go hungry every day." Srilan's voice was filled with disgust for these people.

Li Ke smiled and said nothing.

Hilco, who was walking behind, gave a mocking smile.

No. Not working hard enough?

The despair in the eyes of these people reminded Hilco of the Zaun people who had been poisoned by the glimmer. Thinking of this, Hilco clenched his fists.

Li Ke was indeed right. His original idea was indeed too extreme. If the people of a country have no hope for life and do not look forward to the future and welcome tomorrow, then the country will not be far from destruction.

Li Ke, changed Zaun.

"Come on, let's go this way." After following Srilan for about ten minutes, Li Ke and his group arrived at the inner city area of ​​the Immortal Fortress.

The buildings here are even more dilapidated, but the people living here are all dressed exquisitely, and from time to time there are helmeted Noxian soldiers patrolling back and forth.

"The dinner will be held tomorrow afternoon. You can have a good rest today. I will bring someone to pick you up tomorrow."

Srilan performed a noble salute on the black stone floor. After he finished speaking, he emphasized: "Dear guests, there are many unsafe places deep in the Immortal Fortress, so please don't run around late at night. If you really want to go out and take a look, please be sure to bring guards with you."

"Then I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, Srilan left with a group of Noxian soldiers.

There were soldiers on both sides of the first floor, so Li Ke and his group came to the second floor. The accommodation environment was, well, not very good, but fortunately the place was large enough and there were many rooms.

"I thought they were going to give us a show of force." Jace opened the window and looked out. After confirming that there was no one there, he closed the window again and turned around to speak.

Among the people coming to Noxus this time, Li Ke and Mel are the main invitees, but Hilco has to come, after all, he has to play the role of the good guy.

Therefore, Jinx, Jayce, and Sevika served as family members and guards respectively.

That's right, Jinx came as Li Ke's relative, and Jace came as Mel's relative.

"A show of force? They won't do that." Meier was wearing a red dress and a big red shawl on her shoulders. She sat on a wooden stool and continued, "Swain is an enemy of the Black Rose. In order to protect Noxus, he personally executed his parents who joined the Black Rose. At this time, the Black Rose invited us to the dinner, most likely to deal with Swain."

"So what should we do? We can't really be here for the dinner, right?" Jace leaned against the wall and looked at Li Ke.

Li Ke opened his backpack, took out a bottle of water and handed it to Jinx.

After arriving in Noxus, it is naturally better to take care of one's own food and drink. Moreover, even if the Noxians would not poison, Li Ke did not intend to use their dirty iron kettle to pour water.

Hilco took over Jayce's words and looked at Li Ke: "Swain or Black Rose?"

"Well, if I really have to choose one, I would probably choose Swain." Li Ke said after helping Jinx unscrew the bottle cap.

He looked at Mel and continued, "You think so too, right?"

"." Meier was silent for a moment, then said: "From the perspective of a Noxian, I choose to support Swain, but as a Piltover person, I do not agree with supporting Swain. Letting Swain and the Black Rose continue to fight each other and deplete Noxus' national strength is the best option for us."

"Swain won't do that." Li Ke shook his head and said with a smile: "He will compromise and give up the power in his hands, so that the Black Rose can step out of the shadows."

"Mel, the rose hidden in the shadows is far more dangerous than the rose that appears in the sun." Li Ke said with certainty.

This is what is written in the background!
Although Li Ke is not a fan of the Riot Universe, he must know the background story of Noxus.

After all, Noxus has been a hot topic ever since League of Legends came out. If you want to talk about countries in Runeterra online, Noxus will always be one of the top two topics.

In the background, Swain divided power into three parts, giving them to Darius and LeBlanc respectively, and accepted all those who swore allegiance to the empire.

Since then, the Silly Beauty was caught by Swain and has been active in Noxus as a "Faceless Man".

"This..." Meier was stunned, then she took a breath and nodded: "If it's him, this situation is really possible."

Swain is too rational, so rational that he is cold. He does not judge things based on emotions, but rather on absolute interests.

"Then why should we attend the Black Rose dinner?" Jace narrowed his eyes and spread his hands.

“To see Swain,” Li Ke said.

"How?"

"Shut up, Jace." Li Ke sighed.

Li Ke already felt that he was not good at politics, but compared with Jace, a science and engineering guy, he seemed to be pretty good?

Jace felt a little unhappy when he heard this, and Li Ke's voice sounded again.

"He will come to us on his own initiative."

Li Ke said affirmatively.

While Bilgewater was fighting with Illaoi, Li Ke accidentally saw a black crow in the sky.

The throne in the Immortal Bastion was destroyed, and a huge desk appeared in its place.

A middle-aged man with white hair was sitting at the table, writing something with his head down.

At the side, a bearded, tall, and lean man spoke up: "Abolish the hereditary system of official positions and titles and abolish the slave law. Swain, my great master, are you really not afraid of death?"

The man's voice was a little sharp and strangely high-pitched. He looked at Swain with a smile and continued, "They won't agree. Even if they respect you and fear you, you are digging up their roots."

Swain looked up, glanced at the man, and said calmly, "It's not up to them to agree."

"Then I would like to ask, what does this announcement mean? In the center of the great empire, there is a corrupt force. It has never been cut off for hundreds of years. At first glance, it looks like a proud flower, but its roots are twisted and spreading in the dark."

“Who do you think I’m talking about?” Swain put down his pen and asked a man sitting on a pile of books in the distance.

"How should I know you? Swain, your thoughts are even deeper than a woman whose husband has died! Who the hell can see through you?" The man laughed strangely and threw the document in his hand to the side casually. Then he put away his smile and said seriously:

"Swain, why can't you slow down? It's too fast, really too fast. You just took the position, and apart from Du Kecao and the Assassin's Guild, there are few people around you who support you."

"No time to slow down, Draven." Swain sighed when he heard the voice. Only in front of this old friend could he reveal his true feelings.

With a faint smile on his grim face, he continued to say to Draven: "If I slow down a step, she will catch up. I can only catch her if I am faster than her."

Draven pointed to the side. "Is that him?"

"Yes, a cult called the Black Rose."

"But I remember that when you killed old Jericho, you completely wiped out the cult, didn't you?" Draven frowned.

To most Noxians, the name Black Rose is very mysterious, and they are a group of unknown existences. But to a general like Draven, he naturally knows that there is a mysterious cult in the Immortal Bastion.

"I thought I had executed her myself, but... that was just her conspiracy," Swain replied.

"Okay, then, what are you going to do about the dinner party hosted by Marquis Polly?" Draven asked again. He smacked his lips, and his mustache swayed comically on his chin. He continued, "The dignitaries from Zaun and Piltover attended this dinner party. Don't tell me you didn't know."

"I don't know how you did it. You locked yourself in this house every day, but you knew everything that happened outside. So, you must know about this, too, right?"

“Yeah.” Swain nodded, then he lowered his head, picked up the pen and continued writing.

"Hey, let me ask you what you're going to do."

"The Twin Cities cannot be involved in this matter, so just treat them as tourists." After crossing out a name on the paper, Swain looked up, closed the paper, and put it in an envelope.

Then he raised his only hand and snapped his fingers. A crow flew over, picked up the envelope on the table, and flew high up.

"Of course, I will meet with Li Ke and tell him that the warlord who attacked Piltover has been punished. In the future, Noxus hopes to cooperate with the Twin Cities and become friendly neighbors."

"It's fucking funny. The small city-state that we could easily crush to death has now become the object of our cooperation." Draven laughed.

Swain glanced at him. If someone else had said something like that, he would have ignored it.

But Draven was different, so Swain whispered, "Things are different now."

"Okay, go do what you need to do. I don't need your protection."

"Okay, my commander-in-chief." Draven snorted and walked out the door.

Not long after Draven left, Swain took out another piece of paper and started writing once again.

At the same time, on a high platform of the Immortal Fortress, a woman who had hidden herself in the dark saw a black crow flying over. Seeing this, her originally lazy body tensed up.

When she stood up, I saw that she was wearing black leather armor. The small black leather buttons were not buttoned, revealing her beautiful waist and abdomen. The upper part was round and wrapped in a black leather armor tube top, and the lower part was a beautiful and firm abdomen. The muscles on her waist were obvious, and there was a large tattoo.

She stepped lightly on the ground with her toes and leaped towards the crow nimbly. She flashed several meters away without making any noise.

The envelope was taken from the crow's mouth in mid-air. There was a long scar on the left eye of the woman under her red hair, running across her eyebrow. This scar did not ruin her appearance, but instead added a unique charm to her.

"Oh, this time, do we need to kill a marquis?"

After tearing the letter into pieces, she looked towards a certain place.

There, a dinner will be held tomorrow, a dinner hosted by the Imperial Marquis.

It was also the last dinner party in his life.

She was no longer going to fail.

(End of this chapter)