“Oh~ Uncle Vander, does this beer taste good?"
At a time when the entire Fogen Tavern was engulfed in gloom, Luo Huan walked in.
Silco followed in right behind her.
That eerie eye swept over everyone present, locking eyes with the people who had looked up, drawn by its presence.
Everyone instinctively averted their gaze.
And when Vander, who had also been drawn over, saw Silco, his eyes slightly lit up. He was just about to say something.
“Did you let this beer soaked in toxic gas rot your brain?”
Luo Huan’s clear voice trembled slightly.
She strode up to the bar in three quick steps, stomped one foot on a chair, and slammed her hand down hard on the wooden countertop.
Looking down from above at Vander,
Still young, with a burly frame worthy of the nickname "Hyena" given by the people of Zaun, Vander now looked like a dead dog.
When he lifted his head to look at Luo Huan, who was clearly tiny compared to him yet jumped right into his face, he couldn’t even meet her gaze, his eyes dodging reflexively.
“Look into my eyes, Vander! Tell me! How can you even drink this stuff!”
Luo Huan’s eyes flared red.
The excitement she once felt from gaining power had now turned into genuine rage.
“Think about my parents who just died! Think about Aunt Elora! Think about Uncle Scout! Think about all those aunts and uncles who died fighting at the bridge for Zaun! Answer me! You’ve got the nerve to sit here and drink in silence! How dare you!”
The moment Luo Huan thought of the corpses of the parents who had taken her in as their own, now sinking in the river, the fury surged straight to her head.
Damn it, my only lifeline died charging the bridge with you, and you’re seriously just sitting here drinking yourself stupid!
Vander’s murky eyes darted away. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t get any words out.
He just turned his face away and lowered his head, but Luo Huan wasn’t letting him off.
She grabbed Vander’s head with both hands and forcibly made him look at her.
“Answer me!”
Luo Huan’s voice was trembling, her glowing red eyes erupting with her fury.
Their eyes locked.
Vander looked at Luo Huan’s furious face, his fists clenched tightly—then slowly loosened, and his shoulders slumped.
His mouth moved slightly, but only two words came out.
“I'm sorry.”
That snapped something inside Luo Huan. Behind her, Silco also turned his head away.
“Coward!”
“You’d rather sit here like a lump of trash than fight for Zaun! What about all of you!”
Luo Huan kicked the towering Vander to the ground, then stood atop the bar, looking down on everyone in the tavern.
“What about you! Do you all want to wait around here to die just like him? Go back to those gas-filled sewers underground and rot away? Do you all truly want to be those damned Piltover dogs for generations to come?”
“Are you deserters too? Cowards? Want to crawl and be dogs?”
Her eyes met every single person’s gaze.
Those who once followed Vander opened their mouths as if to argue, but seeing him sitting on the floor, and the other angry Zaun brothers now standing, they shut their mouths.
Two streams of tears fell from the corners of Luo Huan’s eyes.
“Aunts and uncles... I’m scared.”
She tightly hugged herself with both arms and spoke to everyone present.
“Aunts and uncles, my mom used to tell me that the air in Zaun used to be really fresh, and that the flowers smelled sweet.”
My dad told me that Zaun used to be as beautiful as the Upper City, that we didn’t need to wear these filthy rags and work in the sewers.”
“What a wonderful life that must have been.”
The corners of Luo Huan’s lips lifted slightly. Her voice trembled, tinged with a trace of lightness, but then her tone sank again.
“But I was born breathing this toxic air, eating whatever came out of the sewer, wearing these muddy rags.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“I’m scared that my children will breathe this poisonous air just like me, born inferior from the start!”
“I’m scared Uncle Vander will turn into a coward, and the aunts and uncles will all become cowards and stop fighting.”
“I’m scared that if I don’t do something, if none of you do something,”
“Then the future children of Zaun will only ever know that this is what we are—people with cheap lives!”
“Children born in Zaun will always be lesser than those damned Piltover people!”
“Born to be trampled underfoot by those damned Piltover people!”
Luo Huan’s final words were almost a scream, her piercing voice stinging everyone’s ears.
The atmosphere in the tavern sank instantly, a deep, indescribable fury igniting in every person’s heart.
Yes—if not for themselves, they had to think about their children!
And what were they doing now? Mourning here?
Unknowingly, everyone’s fists clenched tight.
“Aunts and uncles, have you forgotten why you rebelled in the first place?”
“Are you scared now? Have you already lost your nerve?”
“Do you mean to say that my parents, and everyone who died resisting those damned Piltover scum for Zaun, all died for nothing?”
Luo Huan spread her arms and waved them up and down twice, locking eyes with everyone present, tears still streaming from her eyes.
“Aunts and uncles, are you willing to fight again—for yourselves, for Zaun, for the children, for the future?”
“Are you willing to follow me for Zaun and tear down that damned Piltover?”
“Are you willing to cross that cursed bridge, kill those Piltover dogs, and avenge our Zaun people?”
“Are you willing to take back everything that belongs to Zaun!”
Luo Huan’s posture straightened as her words continued, her voice growing louder. She clenched her fists and held them before her chest.
Everyone unconsciously lifted their heads with her movement and instinctively took a step forward.
With her speech, the entire tavern fell silent, dozens of eyes focused solely on her.
Luo Huan scanned the crowd. Her face turned red, and the tears at the corners of her eyes stopped.
She stepped down onto the bar floor, raised her right hand above her head, and shouted loudly.
“For Zaun!”
Silco was just about to raise his right hand when another voice rang out first.
“For Zaun!”
The still-young Sevika, eyes blazing, stepped forward and shouted loudly at Luo Huan.
Then, everyone in the tavern raised their right hands and shouted together: “For Zaun!”
Behind her, Vi also raised her hand, shouting at the top of her lungs.
The other three followed, shouting with excitement.
Only Powder, who had been clinging to Vi’s arm the whole time, looked up, her eyes shining with a light never seen before as she stared at Luo Huan standing atop the bar.