Twin Cities: I am the man of many myths

Chapter 78: Kidnapping Victor
"Li Ke, we need a lot of talent now. Zaun has a lot of work to do. We must develop our industry. In the past, we were always strangled by Piltover and were suppressed and fell behind because our productivity could not keep up."

Hilco let his hair down and sat at the bar with Li Ke and Vander. He turned sideways to look at Li Ke who was sitting in the middle and continued in a deep voice:
"We can no longer rely on Piltover for everything like before. Even snacks and candies have to be "imported" from Piltover." Hilco stretched out his hand and said, "For this, industry must be developed."

"I understand this, but Hilco, this is something you have to do. I'm not afraid of you making fun of me, but I know nothing about science or industrial development." Li Ke nodded and said to Hilco.

Li Ke is not a high-ranking official. If he doesn't understand something, he simply doesn't understand it. What he needs to do is to control the general direction. As for matters in other aspects, he can leave them to capable people.

"I understand. I'll take care of it." Hilco nodded, but he had a rare headache. He rubbed his black hair and said helplessly, "I didn't expect that one day I would regret what I did so much."

"Why, are things becoming difficult and giving you a headache?" Vander said with a smile on the other side of Li Ke. He picked up the wine and drank it.

Although he has lost his sense of taste, after drinking too much, Vander will feel dazed. He enjoys this feeling and feels as if he is still alive and still a human being.

Rather than a monster.

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Each period has its own plan. You told me this, Hilco. If it was Black Alley under my leadership, there might be a lot of talented people now, and they wouldn't be driven away by you to settle in Piltover. But the problem is, if it was Zaun under my leadership, we wouldn't be able to get any money out now."

"The solidarity of the poor is admirable, but not worthy of praise," muttered Vandal.

Li Ke sat in the middle, thought for a moment, and said, "Let the chem-barons disperse. Starting tomorrow, there will be no more chem-barons in Zaun. Their people will still be provided for their use, but they must change their jobs and let them lead people to do real business and give back to Zaun. Otherwise, they will all hang themselves on street lamps."

"Before, we were afraid that they would cause trouble, but under the guidance of the Lotus Gang, the people of Zaun are now united enough, and people are no longer afraid of them. If they are unwilling, let Vander go and talk to them." Li Ke reached out, patted Vander's shoulder, and said with a smile: "Then they will definitely be willing."

"Does this mean I've found a job?" Vander joked.

Xierko nodded, hummed, and then said: "Okay, I will push for this matter. Let's start with Ren Ni. She shouldn't refuse. After all, she has a child. People with weak points are the easiest to convince."

"You definitely wouldn't have said persuade before, but rather words like control, dominate, and threaten," Vander raised his eyebrows.

Hilco has really changed.

His behavior and personality have changed a lot.

"The trade needs to be reformed and alcohol smuggling needs to change direction."

"How about selling it to Demacia?"

"You can give it a try. That place is not as bright as people say. There is still a lot of corruption."

"The problem of mineral resources and weapons is easy to solve. Without the Piltovers' exploitation, we can be self-sufficient."

"Electricity is a problem. Many of our areas still rely on Piltover for water and electricity. It will cost a lot of money to change it. Alas."

"There is also the issue of schools. When gang activities decrease, there will be many orphans on the streets. Gathering them together and opening a school will cost a lot of money."

Hilko lowered his head, rubbed his hair with one hand, and wrote with a pen in the other hand. From time to time, a lot of things were written densely on it.

Li Ke was there to help give some suggestions and the two of them discussed the matter.

Fandel watched this scene, his eyes filled with memories.

It was the same with the three of them back then, he was responsible for fighting, Hilco was responsible for planning and development, and she was in charge of logistics and manufacturing weapons.

Shaking his head, Vander came back to his senses.

What is written on the paper are the problems that Zaan will face in the future.

Autonomy is not difficult for Zaun now. With Lick and Vandal, Zaun's military force has completely suppressed Piltover. The difficulty lies in how Zaun will develop after gaining autonomy.

The biggest problem facing a city-state is not how it was born, but how it will go after its birth.

"The fight is over. Let's add a few more clauses to the agreement with Piltover and ask them for money. We are too poor."

"How about going to the upper city to rob?" Vander said after thinking for a while.

What the people of Zaun are best at is going to the upper city to make money. Wei has done this before, and as an old father, Vandel has naturally done it as well.

Let’s go to the city to make money!
This is what Fandel often said in the past.

Hilco glanced at Vander and shook his head.

"After self-government, Zaun will be a true city-state. The leaders will take the lead in going to the city to make money." Hilco refrained from mentioning stealing or robbing, and continued, "How will other places view us then? We must learn to recognize our identities at different times, Vandel."

Fandel nodded. "I was just saying that."

"Finally, we need an academic scientist who understands the situation in Zaun and has experience of living in Zaun and knowledge of Piltover." Hilko put down his pen, feeling that this condition was too confusing.

Zaun has no shortage of talented scientists. Jinx, Ekko, and even Marsam can pick up a wrench and make things.

But the problem is that when building a city, you can't really follow the wild methods. Although Zaun used to use this method, if you still follow this method when establishing a city-state, you will have to repair equipment every few days. What kind of thing is this?

The wild approach is powerful and can create miracles, but it is not sophisticated enough. The academic approach is sophisticated, but it follows the rules and requires a lot of resources.

Therefore, academic knowledge is very important.

Heimerdinger is an outstanding scientist with comprehensive knowledge and rich experience, but the problem is that he has only been in Zaun for too short a time!

The suggestions he put forward were often from Piltover's perspective, which was not acceptable. The economic gap between Zaun and Piltover was as big as the gap between heaven and earth, and the chasm was too deep to be filled.

Jinx and Ekko are very inexperienced, and they can't contribute much to "industrial construction". They have no problem making weapons and special technological products, but do you want them to use their wisdom to build Zaun?

Hmm. As for the theory of air purification device, did Hilco remember that it was Li Ke who didn’t understand science who proposed it?

That takes time. Jinx and Ekko need to change their previous way of thinking and start learning again. This takes a long time. And Hilco doesn't want Jinx to change because her brilliant ideas can create miracles for Zaun.

Zaun needs to change, but its core still depends on talents like Jinx.

So, is there a scientist who has both the strength of Zaun and the meticulousness of Piltover?

Damn, even if there is such a person, there is no way he would come to Zaan, right? !

There are various reasons why great scientists like Heimerdinger and Singed would come to Zaun. Otherwise, why would scientists be willing to come to Zaun?
Poverty, chaos and suffering!
Hilco, who was having a headache, didn't notice that Li Ke's expression beside him gradually became strange.

Not
What conditions are Hilco setting for me here?
It would be better to just point out the name directly!

There is actually only one person in both cities who has experience of living in Zaun and has the rich scientific concepts and knowledge of Piltover!

"Cough!" Li Ke coughed.

Hilco looked up at him.

"I actually know someone like you are talking about."

"Oh?" Hilco's eyes lit up.

"His name is Viktor. Interestingly, he is also from Zaun. Moreover, he is Singed's apprentice?"

"I've never heard Singed talk about this."

"Are you and him the kind of people who can sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk?" Li Ke was speechless.

Hilco thought about it and found that it was true.

Li Ke went on to say, "He meets all the conditions you mentioned, and more. He is a genius, a super genius who is no less than Jayce. Hextech was created by him and Jayce together."

"I haven't heard of this." Silko thought he knew Piltover very well.

Li Ke said: "How could the people of Piltover give the fame and fortune of such a thing to a Zaun person?"

"Right."

Hilco nodded, and then said: "Well, go find him and invite him back."

After hearing this, Fandel said, "That sounds nice, but you don't let me rob you of your money, so you go and rob people yourself?"

"Invite him, Vander. I just invited him to visit Zaun." Hilco said speechlessly, "He is also from Zaun. How can it be called kidnapping if I ask him to come back and visit?"

Li Ke found it funny.

invite.
It sounds good, but in reality, it’s kidnapping, right?
"Then Li Ke, please go and invite Mr. Victor in person." Hilco looked at Li Ke.

Li Ke raised his cup and nodded, "I haven't been to the upper city yet."

"Come on, you two, finish this glass of wine, we should leave."

Hilco nodded and said softly, "For Zaun."

Vandel picked up the cup with his claws, and a sentence popped up in his mind subconsciously: "Also, the riverbed and bubbles."

He was really doing this subconsciously, as the scene brought back sad memories.

Hilco paused, glanced past Li Ke at Vander, raised his glass with a smile, and said, "Riverbed and bubbles."

"?"

"What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"That's right, you don't understand." Vander drank his wine and laughed.

(End of this chapter)