Chapter 12 Seraphine

the next day.

The sporadic sounds of engines broke the tranquility of dawn, and the whole city was gradually waking up under the rising sun.

The apprentices in Zaan finally finished their night shift and were able to go home and sleep.

They were like a group of exhausted ants, slowly pouring out of the factory.

Small vendors who also came from Zuan gathered at the factory gate early in the morning and set up breakfast stalls that were as crowded as flies.

The food sold at the stalls is all cheap food that the locals of Piltover wouldn't even look at, such as Gromp, sewer rats, stinky cheese sauce sandwiches, and second-hand fried bread slices. The only thing that matters is that the quantity is large enough to fill you up and provide enough calories.

Levi picked and chose from the selections, and finally chose the cheapest and most durable piece of black bread.

Then, like his co-workers... they gathered in groups of three or four, found an open space on the curb and sat down, eating and chatting while enjoying the fresh exhaust fumes from the road.

"Levi, don't eat that crap! The black bread sold here is harder than a rock. Is that something a human should eat?"

As soon as Levi sat down, someone patted him on the shoulder from behind.

When he turned around, he saw that it was his co-worker who was as thin as a monkey, Baku, who was also from Zaun.

"Get lost! Who are you calling a nobody?" Levi thought he was joking with him: "Black bread is not good, then why don't you treat me to something good!"

"It's my treat." This guy who was very stingy in the original owner's memory actually agreed without hesitation.

Then Baku actually sat down next to Levi and waved a hot, soft sandwich in front of him.

"Fuck, with eggs and ham?!"

Li Weizhen was shocked by this luxurious package.

A sandwich made of soft toast, eggs and ham.

As soon as you hold this thing in your hand, the eyes of people around you will obviously change.

"You're really asking for favors, are you taking the wrong medicine?" Levi looked at Baku's brain suspiciously.

“Bah! Daddy feeds you like this, and you still have so much to say.” Baku laughed and scolded him: “Just take it if I treat you. Anyway, I don’t think we will have the chance to have breakfast together like this in the future…”

After laughing for a while, this guy finally couldn't laugh anymore.

"I say, Levi..." Baku forced the meat and egg sandwich on Levi, snatched the piece of black bread from his hand, and bit it angrily:

"Why the hell didn't you tell us that you borrowed money from those loan sharks?"

"Now they have come to the factory... Even Mr. Erwin can't protect you!"

“…” Levi couldn’t help but remain silent.

He knew why Baku suddenly became so emotional.

Because in the world of Zaun apprentices, anyone who gets involved with the high-interest loans of the Zaun gangs is basically finished.

In Baku's opinion, if he left today, he might never be able to go back to work in the factory.

"Don't worry, I have a way..."

"Don't worry! Do you have any tricks? Those bastards have never been lenient in their attacks. If you owe them high-interest loans and cannot pay them back, the consequences will be more terrible than death!" Baku couldn't help but curse.

Then he continued to talk to himself: "Levi, are you stupid? Why are you still working at this time? Pack your things and take your sister back to Zuan!"

"At least if I go back to Zuan I can avoid those bastards. Otherwise..."

"I know, I know..." Levi agreed with mixed feelings.

He knew he couldn't convince Baku that he could still turn things around.

So Levi had no choice but to assure him: "I will return to Zaun in the next two days...don't worry."

“Hmm…” Baku lowered his head and took another bite of the black bread. This time he chewed it for a long time before speaking again: “Be careful when you return to Zaun. Don’t die there…”

"In any case, live well. Maybe when I get the identity of Piltover in the future, I will have the chance to bring you to Piltover as well."

"Bah, what are you dreaming about." This time Levi was sure that this guy was joking again.

How could the official identity of Piltover be so easy to obtain? Even if he could get it, he would not be able to bring people from Zaun.

The threshold for legal immigration from Zaun to Piltover is extremely high, and the cost is extremely high. That amount of money is not affordable for Zaun people, even ordinary Piltover families cannot afford it.

"Well..." Baku thought about it seriously and said, "I have a solution."

"By then, I will be a Piltover citizen. I can adopt you as my son and marry your sister. I will call you brother-in-law and you will call me dad. We will go through the family immigration channel, which will cost less."

Levi: “…”

"Fuck you!"

…

Across the street, next to the factory, stands a garden house with an independent courtyard wall.

This is the home of Mr. Irwin, the factory owner.

He was having breakfast with his wife, and his beloved daughter was sitting next to them.

The girl was about 16 or 17 years old, with thin lips, a straight nose, and big blue eyes that seemed to be able to speak. Her long pink hair, like a waterfall, fell on her shoulders, making her milky skin look smooth and white.

Coupled with her gorgeous princess-like dress, this girl's style looks different from others.

It's like I came from a mansion in a modern metropolis and came here to change my shape and form.

"Ah, ah... open your mouth, dear~ it's time to have breakfast."

The girl held a piece of fresh tuna fillet on her fork and fed the pet cat in her arms with a doting look on her face.

But the fat cat just lay lazily in her arms, not even bothering to open its mouth.

"Alright, Seraphine!"

Mr. Irving put down the newspaper and called his daughter's name unhappily:

"You've almost turned this cat into a pig - stop feeding it and eat your own meal first!"

"You are so old, but you still need someone to teach you how to eat."

"Yes, Dad~" Seraphine stuck out her tongue mischievously, and then put down the fat cat that had eaten too much.

The two maids who were serving on the side immediately came forward, one took the cat from her arms to help take care of it, and the other removed the remaining half plate of tuna and took it back to the kitchen to throw it away.

As for Seraphine, she picked up the knife and fork reluctantly, and hesitated and chose between the quinoa chicken breast salad, oil-free scrambled eggs, Black Forest smoked ham slices, and caviar nigiri sushi in front of her.

In the end, he took a few bites of chicken breast and vegetable salad, then put down his knife and fork listlessly.

"You kid...don't eat more!"

"Look at you, you've become so thin."

Mrs. Irving scolded her daughter distressedly, but Seraphine just rubbed her eyes with a haggard look:

"I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't sleep well last night... I really don't have an appetite."

“This…” Both Mr. and Mrs. Erwin looked nervous: “Seraphini, did you hear those ‘voices’ again?”

"Yeah." Seraphine nodded haggardly.

She was born with the special ability to listen to the "voice of the soul" and can hear the "melody" of other people's souls.

This magical talent, which is similar to mind reading but has more mysterious effects, is undoubtedly the best gift God has given her.

But unfortunately, Seraphine has no ability to control her talent.

So this gift became a curse.

She could always uncontrollably hear the melodies of the souls of the people around her, but those melodies were not elegant or rhythmic, but full of darkness and pain, heaviness and torture.

These chaotic noises tortured Seraphine all the time, and gradually she dared not even go out. Otherwise, the more people she saw, the more painful melodies she would hear.

But even though she hid at home day and night like this, those voices still followed her like a shadow.

“Oh…” Mrs. Irving felt really distressed when she saw that her daughter couldn’t even sleep well.

She couldn't help but look at her husband: "Honey, how is the method you mentioned before going? "

"You mean the Hextech magic hearing suppression device?"

"It has not been successfully developed yet... The density of mana in artificial hex gems is not enough, and they cannot successfully drive the device to operate... I am still researching how to solve this problem."

"What's so good about this..." Mrs. Erwin frowned. "Since it's a problem of magic energy density, if artificial hex gems don't work, then we can try using native hex gems."

"You can try it if you want..." Mr. Erwin sighed, "Honey, you know what the original Hextech gem is."

"That thing is so expensive that there is no one to buy it! We have worked hard for half our lives and have only opened a small factory. If we really buy one, I am afraid we will have to sacrifice our entire factory."

"Just throw it in!"

"Is your factory more important than our daughter?"

"I..." Mr. Erwin said with a painful look on his face: "I need to think about this more!"

"What are you considering? We fought so hard to stay in Piltover, just to let Nini live a good life here. But now she is so miserable that she can't even go out. What's the point of this money?"

"You can't say that. How can money be useless? Haven't we suffered enough from not having money in the first half of our lives?"

Although he had been rich for more than ten years, he still couldn't stop crying when he thought about the past.

I dreamed about those things in the middle of the night, and when I woke up, even my pillow was wet.

"Lack of money is the most difficult disease to cure..." Erwin smiled bitterly.

"Bah!" The lady had a different opinion: "You stingy old man, you only remember your 'illness'! What about our daughter?"

"Do you want money or Seraphine?"

"I... I just want to wait and see... Our audio business has been getting more and more prosperous. Even the nobles of Noxus have started to come to Piltover to place orders with us. I want to give it another try. If we can expand the factory in the next two years and make more money, we can afford to buy raw hextech crystals!"

"But screw you! We can afford it now! You old bastard, I think you only care about money and not your daughter!"

As the couple argued, they even started speaking their hometown Zuan dialect, which they hadn't spoken in years.

"Dad, Mom, stop arguing!"

Seraphine tried to mediate the fight, but to no avail.

In the end, for some reason she suddenly trembled and hugged her head tightly, which calmed down her parents who were about to strangle her.

"Nini!" The couple immediately gathered around her nervously: "What's wrong? Did you hear those 'voices' again?"

“Hmm…” Seraphine covered her head in pain.

Her talent was activated uncontrollably again.

Countless soul voices came from all directions, some from factories, some from the streets, and some from ports, shops, and apartment buildings farther away...

There are happy ones, there are joyful ones, but there are more heavy ones.

"Hey!" Mrs. Erwin glared at her husband in annoyance: "What are you still standing there for? Go play some music!"

Beautiful music can alleviate Seraphine's symptoms and help her relieve pain.

This is also one of the reasons why she loves music.

"Wait--" Just as the couple were trying anxiously to relieve her pain, Seraphine suddenly raised her head.

"What's wrong?" the couple asked worriedly.

"I...heard singing."

"Singing?" They haven't played any music yet.

"Yes, there is singing!"

Seraphine suddenly looked out the window blankly:

"Over there, right over there!"

She walked to the window excitedly and drew aside the curtains: