NOVEL WEB Chapter 9: Chapter 9
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Chapter 9: Where Is She?
The Undercity doesn't have bathhouses. The old hag's brothel has a place to wash up, but that spot's been taken over by Silco—best to steer clear. Justin and Vi finally found a river with less pollution to wash off the bloodstains and headed home shoulder to shoulder—if that rundown place with no water or electricity could even be called a home.
"Be careful. Step through the water here, don't touch that dry bank. You know Jinx loves making her quirky little gadgets; there are traps everywhere. Stay close to me," Justin carefully led Vi on a roundabout path, avoiding the main entrance. The front door was more of a decoy; step through it and you'd be greeted by two Gatlings shooting blue flames.
This place used to be a coffee shop—a coffee shop in the Undercity, sounds absurd, right? People here don't need coffee to remind them what bitterness tastes like. What they need is alcohol to numb their senses and tobacco to tingle them. Now, of course, it's become something called Shimmer.
Shimmer—a fitting name. A faint glimmer in the dark, fleeting. Initially for distraction, but when the false light fades, it inevitably leaves one feeling lost. So they light it again, over and over, willing to pay any price, just to avoid being swallowed by the dark.
When Justin first found an abandoned coffee shop here, he was quite surprised. He pestered Vander for a long time before Vander, weary of the questions, finally told him that it was built when Piltover's Undercity boundaries were first drawn, made to serve miners with the surrounding shops as a commercial district. Clearly, the miners didn't have enough spending power; it was entirely abandoned by the time Vander was young.
Justin led Vi into a nearby clothing store. After decades, clothes still hung there. The durable ones were long gone. Justin looked around and picked a pink pleated dress with hanging tassels, its colors worn but still showing some of its original finesse and beauty.
"Put it on," Justin said with a bit of mischievousness.
"Me? Wear it? Are you out of your mind?"
"Isn't it better than prison garb?"
"Screw you, I'd rather wear prison clothes." Vi had never worn a dress in her life; such things were not within her consideration. Already in a bad mood about seeing Jinx soon, being teased like this only made her more irritable. She grabbed the dress, yanked it until it tore in two, and tossed it to the ground.
"Stop playing dress-up! Get me to Jinx already!"
Looking at the pitiful dress on the floor, Justin regretfully shrugged. What a beautiful dress, really suited Vi, just not the Undercity. "Don't rush, to get to our secret base, you have to go this way." The coffee and clothing stores were originally separated by a glass wall, now shattered. Glass shards lay scattered across the ground, stained with deep black blood.
"Heading home~" Justin was in good spirits, wondering what Jinx was up to. And what face would she make upon seeing Vi?
"By the way, be careful here as well. There are traps. If you step wrong, you'll get hung up by a rope."
Justin and Vi instinctively looked up...
"..."
"Like him?"
"Like him... Damn, Isaac, what are you doing hanging up there? Didn't Jinx let you down?"
"She's the one who strung me up!" Isaac looked utterly drained. That kid Jinx is a lunatic, just pure madness! He had come over to deliver a message out of goodwill, and she actually hung him up like this!
"Sorry, sorry, I'll take the blame for this one," Justin said, accustomed to taking the fall for her antics. He quickly let Isaac down and handed him a bowl of water. "Are you alright?"
"Do I look alright?" Isaac sat weakly on the ground, trembling as he took the bowl and brought it to his mouth without drinking. "By the way, how did you get back? Have you seen Jinx? She went to Stillwater Hold to rescue you..."
"What?!" Vi leapt forward with a start, fortunately held back by Justin, giving Isaac time to finish his water. The prolonged hanging had deprived his brain of oxygen, leaving him dizzy and not even noticing Vi.
"I told you to trick her..." Justin's heart sank. Jinx better not run into those enforcers! Though she's a bit unhinged, she's sharp enough to recognize something's wrong... right?
"Boss! I made up countless lies, and she didn't believe any of them. She kept saying, 'Justin wouldn't abandon me,' and she strung me up for interrogation, even pointed a gun at me! She wasn't joking; she really fired! The bullet just grazed my scalp!"
"Bang!"
The death of his companions and the likely inquisition he'd face upon returning completely eroded Sheriff Musk's patience. This attacker was a perfect outlet for his frustration. Maybe they could pry some useful information from her to mitigate the council's punishment for their untimely support.
"That was just a warning. If you don't start talking, you'll see your own brains in the next second."
Although tied up, the ferocity on Jinx's face was undiminished. She even leaned her head toward the muzzle, glaring at Musk, and yelled, "Where is Justin?"
"I'm the one asking questions here!" Musk fumed, nearly pulling the trigger, but was stopped by an officer beside him. "Sheriff, calm down. She's a criminal, but we don't have the authority to execute her."
"Caitlyn, this is none of your business!" Musk glared at her. "This scum has taken out so many of our officers. What, because you're the councilor's daughter, you can disregard your comrades' lives?"
"I care! I know she's a criminal..." A hint of sorrow flickered in Caitlyn's eyes. "But we are the police! We can't resort to extrajudicial punishment. Only the law has the right to judge her."
"Hmph." Though still dissatisfied, Musk put down his gun. "Alright, take her back and let the professionals pry her mouth open. I refuse to believe she can remain this obstinate in the interrogation room."
"Where is Justin?" Jinx continued to shout. Musk finally lost his patience and struck her head heavily with the butt of the gun. Jinx's head was split open, yet she continued to glare with bloodshot eyes, gritting her teeth and bellowing:
"WHERE IS JUSTIN?!"