CHAPTER 115 - Traces of Twitch

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Li Lin activated the lighting on his powered armor and peered into the corner. His current location was about two meters above the underground sewer floor, emanating a foul odor and the sound of flowing water.

Ensuring his position, Li Lin squatted down, reaching into the hole while avoiding a direct leap to prevent splashing in the filthy liquid below.

With a "squelch" as his foot touched the slightly viscous sewage, Li Lin couldn't help but shiver involuntarily, even with the respiratory filter mask, he could still discern a distinct smell.

Fortunately, the sewer system of Zaun was crafted by the skilled artisans of Piltover's prominent families, providing ample height for him, suited in armor of about 1.8 meters, without the need to stoop.

However, the narrow two-meter-wide passage made it somewhat challenging for two adults to walk side by side, a limitation emphasized by Caitlyn due to the overcrowded conditions.

"Ugh... Disgusting!" Li Lin suppressed the urge to retch forcibly. "I'll have to discard this armor once we're out..."

Li Lin wondered how the enforcers of the investigation team managed in such an environment this morning.

"Hey, how's it down there?" Caitlyn's voice came through.

He quickly scanned both ahead and behind. The illumination revealed a few meters ahead, but beyond that, it was still pitch-black.

For now, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

However, Li Lin was well aware that Twitch had a skill in the game called "Ambush." Although he didn't know how this "invisibility" worked in reality or whether Twitch could make himself entirely unseen like in the game, Li Lin remained cautious, activating "Data Mind" just in case.

"No issues for now," he responded to Caitlyn, looking upward.

"Alright, I'm coming down. Get ready to catch me."

Li Lin looked up at the opening, raised his hands, and reduced the distance as much as possible.

As Caitlyn adjusted her position and slid down, she landed neatly in Li Lin's arms.

"Need help down?"

"Of course, what a question."

Caitlyn glanced at the muddy ground beneath her, a moment of hesitation flashing across her face. However, upholding her professionalism, she bit her lip and allowed Li Lin to lower his arms, gently landing on the ground.

"Tch, good thing I wore long boots today," Caitlyn muttered, surveying her now unusable attire.

She felt as frustrated as Li Lin about discarding the clothing after this mission.

Shortly after, Caitlyn, having swiftly readjusted her state, patted the armored arm of Li Lin, then moved behind him, raising her gun to assume a vigilant posture.

"Since you're in armor, take the lead. I'll watch our backs."

Li Lin nodded, "If you notice anything unusual, be sure to alert me. The suspect uses a crossbow and alchemical poison."

"Got it."

With Caitlyn's response, he started walking ahead.

This filthy and relatively uninhabited environment served as a haven for numerous creatures – bloodthirsty flies, plague rats, shadow rabbits, jade-armored beetles, and even the young offspring of swamp frogs.

Throughout the journey, Li Lin and Caitlyn maintained silence, keeping a high level of vigilance. Caitlyn found it challenging to concentrate due to the environment and the influence of various creatures.

As for Li Lin, he feared that Twitch, with his "Ambush" ability, might suddenly jump out from some corner and throw an alchemical poison bottle at them.

Thankfully, this section of the sewer had no other branches; they only needed to focus on one direction.

After walking for over ten minutes in the dim and foul-smelling environment, they finally exited the cramped and oppressive sewer passage, arriving at a relatively spacious transit platform.

After confirming the absence of any anomalies around him, Li Lin gestured for Caitlyn to leave the passage. She climbed onto the cleaner platform, furrowed her brows, and stomped her feet.

Afterward, her gaze swiftly surveyed the surrounding environment.

She noticed a small item rack made from a metal frame and decaying wooden boards, likely salvaged from some garbage heap.

In the cleanest corner of the platform, a lump of dirty, crumpled fabric and damp newspaper suggested it was the killer's resting spot.

A large pile of shattered glass bottles lay haphazardly near the sewage, mixed with the green liquid residue of alchemical toxins corroding instruments from the factory below.

As for the glass jars mentioned in the investigative report, filled with fingers and toes, graffiti-covered love novels, tightly sealed chewing gum, and unlabeled green liquid-filled bottles, the enforcers took them back to the Council as evidence.

"This is the hiding place the enforcers of the investigative team mentioned..."

Caitlyn's eyebrows furrowed as she walked to the "bed" in the corner, carefully searching for any possible clues on the ground.

Li Lin, not particularly adept at investigative thinking, silently stood by her side, activating his weapon system, vigilantly scanning the several branching sewer channels.

As a transit platform, the danger level here was much higher than the passage they had traversed earlier.

After a while, Caitlyn stood up, lowering her gaze to summarize the issues she had found:

"Judging by the marks left on the ground, the height of the killer is probably around 1.4 meters, and the average height of Yordles is generally not more than 1 meter. So, we can conclude that he is a Yordle."

In reality, it was just a mutated giant rat...

Li Lin wanted to tell Caitlyn that the survivor Marlo's description of the killer was correct. However, judging from Caitlyn's performance at the office today, convincing her of this seemed unlikely unless she witnessed it herself.

After some thought, Li Lin abandoned the idea.

They lingered on the platform for a while after gathering enough intelligence.

Once Caitlyn had thoroughly investigated, she followed the decaying metal steps along the wall, leading to the surface.

Unfortunately, the sewer platform seemed long abandoned, and the stairs were cut off halfway, preventing them from reaching the surface.

"This should be the place where the sewer scavengers live, right? No wonder the facilities on this platform are all abandoned with no one to maintain them."

Li Lin sighed.

It had been more than half a year since the five-year agreement with the council members.

Although the Undercity was relatively stable under Silco's control, the hostility of the Zaunites towards Piltoverians had not diminished.

Even though he had urged Silco and Vander to promote themselves and the influence of the Kiramman family, the effect was minimal.

As long as the fundamental environmental issues in Zaun were not resolved, the conflict between the two city-states would not ease.

Li Lin was well aware that the main source of pollution was the Hextech crystal production factory owned by the Ferros family.

Even though he had modified it to produce energy crystals with less pollution, it only reduced the production but did not eliminate it.

After all, upgrading a product was not an overnight process.

Even though the Ferros family, as a major shareholder, had invested in power plants and planned to position the improved energy crystals as high-end products, there were still many places that needed Hextech crystals, and until electricity became widespread, it couldn't be completely banned.

"Now I really don't want to confront the Ferros family. How about researching an air filtration device first..." Li Lin muttered to himself.

A soft call from Caitlyn nearby brought his attention back to reality. "Li Lin, what are you staring at? We should move on to the next location."

Li Lin looked up, and Caitlyn was already at another intersection, waving at him. "Come on, I can basically determine the direction the killer escaped."

(End of this chapter)

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