Therefore, these Enforcers all wore air purification masks modified from reusable internal filters.
"This damned and awful environment, besides these rats in the gutters, I really don't know who else can endure all this!"
An Enforcer complained while roughly pulling a scrawny man standing by the roadside, then grabbing his collar and demanding, "Tell me, where are those kids who caused the explosion hiding?!"
"What explosion? What kids?" the scrawny man asked back, full of confusion.
"No questions!"
The Enforcer casually threw him into the middle of the street, then stepped on his head, and said coldly, "Don't play dumb! You bugs in the gutters must have hidden those kids!"
"I… I really don't know…" the scrawny man, whose head was being stepped on, struggled and said with difficulty.
"Stop wasting words with them, just seal the shops!"
A slender Enforcer captain holding a document calmly ordered.
As soon as he finished speaking, these Enforcers rushed into the street-side shops like hyenas, dragging out the people inside, then closing the shop doors and putting up seals.
"Damn it! What right do you have to do this?" a man in the crowd shouted angrily, "This is Zaun!"
"Whether we have the right isn't up to you,"
The Enforcer captain looked at the man coldly; his voice, filtered through the air purification mask, became hoarse and muffled.
"You want to frame me?!"
The man clearly understood the implication and, furious, was about to rush out of the crowd to attack the Enforcer captain, but a sturdy Enforcer behind him directly held his neck in an elbow lock, rendering him unable to move.
"Control them!"
The Enforcer captain immediately ordered the Enforcers, then added, "Don't kill anyone."
Don't kill anyone.
This phrase was interesting, as it could be understood from two angles. One was to tell these Enforcers not to be heavy-handed. The second… as long as they didn't beat anyone to death, they could do as they pleased!
In the ears of the Piltover Enforcers, who always looked down on Zaunites, they naturally interpreted this order as the latter.
Someone pulled out the Enforcers' standard weapon—a bat—and maliciously stared at the Zaunites who wanted to rush forward. If anyone dared to charge, they would definitely not have a good outcome!
This finally managed to somewhat suppress the chaotic scene, after all, no one wanted to be beaten for no reason. In Zaun, if you were bedridden for half a month or a month, your job would definitely be taken by someone else.
"Framing? Idiot! Do you think you're a Piltoverians? Will a judge even hear your accusation?"
The Enforcer captain walked up to the man and punched him in the abdomen. Then he scanned the surroundings with a cold gaze, warning viciously, "Listen! You gutter rats, none of you are getting away with this. Hand over those kids to me as soon as possible! Next time, I'll be back!"
After speaking, he waved his hand and led the Enforcers towards the next avenue.
The onlookers gradually dispersed. They didn't understand who these aggressive Piltoverianss were talking about when they mentioned "those kids." What kind of Zaun children could make the Piltover Enforcers so unreasonable?
Durin quickly left the crowd, quickening his pace to leave Sixth Avenue, taking shortcuts through alleys to quickly return to his residence.
He certainly didn't want to cause trouble.
About an hour later, Durin returned to Ninth Avenue through various alleys, and then to the Slums. He found the familiar middle section of alley 56. The smell of cooking wafted through the alley; it seemed it was almost five o'clock, and everyone was starting to prepare dinner.
Durin arrived at the fourth two-story house and went up to the second floor via the stairs.
As Durin took out his key to open the door, the neighbor's door suddenly opened.
The neighbor, Amy, cautiously peeked her head out, and upon seeing Durin return, she softly said, "Mr. Durin, you haven't had dinner yet, have you! I cooked a little extra dinner, it would be a waste to throw it away, let's eat together!"
"…"
Durin immediately fell silent. He understood that the other party still needed something from him and wanted to borrow money.
Seeming to notice Durin's hesitation, the neighbor, Amy, quickly said, "I just want to simply invite you to a meal."
Grrr!
At this moment, Durin's stomach suddenly growled.
Durin thought for a moment and decided not to refuse his neighbor's kindness: "Alright! Then I'll impose."
The neighbor, Amy, immediately smiled and quickly pulled the door fully open.
As night fell, in the neighbor Amy's room, the aroma of cooked grain lingered at Durin's nose.
An oil lamp hung on the wall.
Dinner was laid out on a small wooden table: wild vegetable paste, sorghum flour cakes, and fish soup.
Wild vegetable paste, one bowl per person, Durin's was the thickest; sorghum flour cakes, Durin had one whole, while the neighbor Amy had half. Fish soup, Durin had a full bowl with a large piece of tender fish.
Such a dinner was already considered a lavish meal in the Slums; even the neighbor "Uncle Wright's" family of three might not eat so luxuriously.
Durin estimated that this meal would cost about 12 copper circle coins. Normally, when she invited him to eat, it only cost 6 copper circle coins, definitely not as extravagant as tonight.
"Eat!" the neighbor, Amy, said.
Durin said, "Thank you then!"
Slurp!
Durin swallowed a large mouthful of wild vegetable paste, then took a bite of the sorghum flour cake.
Actually, the sorghum flour cake wasn't ground very finely, and even when made into a cake, it was a bit rough on the throat. But it had to be said, habit was truly a powerful force. After more than half a year, Durin had gone from not being accustomed to it to being used to it now.
The neighbor, Amy, ate in small bites, cherishing every mouthful.