Chapter 63 Caitlin, please save your trouble
The Gilaman family has always been headed by women, so Mrs. Gilaman has always wanted to train her only daughter well, letting Caitlin follow in her mother's footsteps and become a future Piltover councillor.
But now it seems...her daughter is probably not cut out for this.
This child is so naive:
Give Zauners a raise? Why?
Piltover is the richest mountain city in the world. Even if you Zaun people are unwilling to come, there are still Shurima, Noxus, Ionia, Bilgewater... a lot of foreign workers are willing to come.
You have no core competitiveness and are just a spare part that can be replaced at any time. Why should I give you a salary increase?
Is it because of my kindness?
"But that's what Jace did." Caitlyn also gave a positive example.
"That was just a special case!" The mother explained helplessly: " Jace Tallis is the most outstanding talent in Piltover. He has the qualifications to be a little willful."
"Moreover, you only know that his family increased the salary of apprentices, but you don't know that his family is now making Hextech cores—"
“It’s not easy to produce this thing.”
"Even the most ordinary workshop workers must have considerable technical ability. Those Zaun apprentices are nominally 'apprentices', but in fact they are all the best, most capable and most experienced mechanics and technicians from Zaun."
"These people are not ordinary workers who can be easily replaced. They are worth this high salary!"
"This..." Caitlin was slightly stunned.
Now everyone in Piltover knows that Boss Jayce is a good man who treats his workers well.
But after her mother said this, she felt that her old friend's image was a bit hypocritical.
No, this has nothing to do with Jace! She knows Jace, he is a good person. He really wants to help others within his ability.
"These are all excuses—" Caitlin angrily exposed: "You are using this as an excuse to describe Jace as an unrepeatable special case."
"This way you can continue to employ Zaun people with the lowest salary without any guilt, and refuse to offer even a little benefit to improve the problem!"
"That's enough!" The mother frowned seriously, "Caitlin, what do you know! Do you think you can just raise your salary if you want to?"
"The Tallis family has the exclusive patent advantage of the core Hextech technology. Do we have it? You have raised the cost of employing people, but your peers have not followed suit. What should you do?"
"I..." Caitlin had never been involved in the family business.
She also doesn't know how much money her family has, what industrial advantages it has, or whether there is room for improvement to increase workers' treatment.
So when it comes to this specific issue, she is completely powerless to refute it.
"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this." Mrs. Gillaman felt that her daughter's thoughts were a little dangerous.
She didn't intend to let Caitlin think about it any further: "Since you are asking about the Iron Fist Gang, let's talk about the Iron Fist Gang in detail."
It has been analyzed before that gangs like the Iron Fist Gang are bound to exist.
So instead of rejecting it, it is better to utilize and control it.
"The Iron Fist Gang is actually an 'agent' supported by all the big families, including our Gilaman family."
"It, like other Zaun gangs, is a tool that helps us maintain order in the Zaun community."
"Maintain order?" Caitlin said indignantly: "Mother, I have seen what the Zaun community looks like!"
The Zaun community is like a festering sore in Piltover.
It's poor, chaotic, dirty and dark there, and no dog would want to go there except the people of Zaun.
“Is this the order you want to maintain?”
"That's right." Lady Giraman nodded calmly: "Since the existence of the Zaun people is indispensable, and they are bound to create chaos."
"Wouldn't it be nice to keep the chaos contained within the Zaun community and prevent it from spreading to the entire Piltover?"
"Caitlin, you don't want to open your window every morning and see a row of beggars, drug addicts, and homeless vagrants lying outside your house, right?"
"The existence of the Zaun gang is to give these Zaun people 'a place to go'. To prevent them from appearing in front of the people of Piltover every day and affecting everyone's daily life."
Caitlin thought.
Then, she was shocked by a terrifying thought that made her break out in a cold sweat.
Yes, there are so many Zaun migrant workers in Piltover, but she usually doesn't see any beggars, drug addicts, or homeless people from Zaun on the streets of Piltover.
So where did all those optimized Zaun people go?
Have you all returned to Zuan?
No, as a law enforcement officer, Caitlyn knew that the number of apprentices who were deported back to Zaun through formal channels each year was far less than the number of apprentices entering Piltover.
However, the vast majority of these apprentices have no chance of obtaining legal Piltover status and are destined to be deported.
So...where did the difference go in the end?
If the Iron Fist Gang is their “destination”, then what is this “destination”?
Mrs. Gillaman restrained herself from going into detail on this point.
Because she was worried that if she told the truth, Caitlin would not be able to bear it.
Where did the Iron Fist Gang take those Zaun people who were eliminated by the enterprises?
It’s actually a very good answer:
Those who are good-looking can be sent to brothels.
Those who are average looking but still able to work were sent to work as bonded laborers.
Contract workers were paid lower prices, so even these “obsolete goods” with reduced labor efficiency could still be squeezed to produce oil.
She looks average and can't do anything, then...
Drug development needs volunteers.
Hospitals need organ sources for surgery.
The Noxian Mage Guild is in constant need of living people as research material.
The scientific madmen in Zaun even opened an alchemy shop that specialized in collecting corpses.
There are plenty of places to go.
There is always one suitable for them.
Mrs. Giraman once said that illegal immigrants in Zaun are like ants in a garden, and no matter how many law enforcement officers are sent, they cannot catch them all.
That's because law enforcement officers' actions of arresting illegal immigrants are law enforcement, and law enforcement actions only cost money, not make money.
Of course, something that doesn't make money cannot last long.
But if we turn law enforcement into "doing business", turn illegal immigrants into "commodities", and make "catching Zaun people" a profitable thing...
Then this work can form a positive feedback cycle and continue endlessly.
After all, as long as it is profitable, let alone catching a few illegal immigrants - even if it is the tens of millions of indigenous people in the entire New World, they can patiently exploit them all.
"In short, the existence of the Iron Fist Gang is necessary..."
Of course it is necessary.
These dirty things cannot be done by Piltover law enforcement officers, but only by agents like the Iron Fist Gang.
Otherwise, how can Piltover have the nerve to call itself civilized and advanced and call itself the city of progress in Runeterra?
Mrs. Gillaman was afraid that her daughter could not bear the truth, so she concealed it.
She just admonished her daughter earnestly:
"Caitlin, just let everyone save their worries."
"If the Iron Fist falls, Piltover will only be in a worse situation. The vacuum it leaves will be quickly replaced by new gangs, as if nothing has changed."
"This is the order of Piltover—"
"Caitlin, why did you want to ruin it?"
"I..." Caitlin was speechless.
It was obvious that what her mother said were all nonsense, but she didn't know how to refute it.
Can doing the right thing be wrong?
Caitlin was in pain. People who are awake are always in pain.
Her ideals were shattered.
What should I do? Should I lie down and admit defeat, and then willingly wade into this stagnant water and become part of the same dirty world?
"No! I don't agree!"
Caitlin gritted her teeth and looked at her mother unwillingly:
"If this is the order of Piltover, then I must... find a way to change it!"
"Stop messing around!" Mrs. Gillaman did not give in: "Caitlin, no matter what you say, I will never sign this investigation order for you!"
"If you don't sign, I will go to other congressmen tomorrow!" Caitlin stood up angrily.
"Other congressmen? Well, go and look for them..." The mother couldn't help laughing: "You can't even convince your mother, so how can you convince other congressmen?"
Caitlin didn't listen.
She just put away the documents and left resolutely.
"By the way -" Madam Gilaman said as if she could read minds: "If you want to try your luck with Senator Heimerdinger, then I advise you not to have too high expectations."
"Although he is a Yodel, he is a simple scientist, not a business owner, and he has no family."
"But Professor Heimerdinger has been a senator in Piltover for 300 years and has never had any conflict with us. It's not because we please him, but because--"
"He never meddles in other people's business."
Caitlin paused, her expression desperate.
But she finally left a firm sentence:
"I will stick to it, Mother!"
