Arcane: Twin Cities Mechanic

"???"

The concern and worry in Caitlyn's eyes deepened.

Did that bullet turn his brain to mush?...

"Don't use look at me like that; do as I say," Li Lin scolded her, his tone firm. "This is my new invention, trust me."

Caitlyn hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly. "I hope this gun is as amazing as you say."

She gripped the gun's handle tightly, took a deep breath, and tried to clear her mind as she mentally mapped out the structure of the alleyway.

The gunman was roughly 20 paces away, in a room about 4 meters above the ground.

The other person was about a dozen meters away from here, and at their normal speed, they would arrive in just a few seconds...

Right now, I'm on the same side as the gunman, and his gun is probably aimed right at us.

Even though they said they wouldn't kill me, I can't trust what the enemy says.

There's a good chance that as soon as I step out of cover, I'll be shot through the body...

What should I do?

Caitlyn's mind raced, quickly considering every possible course of action.

Suddenly, she noticed the metallic wall above the alleyway and came up with a viable idea.

"Li Lin, what caliber is this revolver of yours?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Well, I modified a regular revolver, so it should be about 10 millimeters," Li Lin replied.

Li Lin noticed that Caitlyn's gaze kept hovering around the walls above them and guessed her intention, becoming somewhat alarmed. "Hey, I'm not lying to you. This gun uses energy bullets, not kinetic ones. Are you thinking of bouncing a bullet off the metal wall to hit that person? I'm not sure if that will work..."

"We won't know unless we try, and we don't have any other options, do we?" Caitlyn replied calmly.

She knelt down, extended her arm, and squinted slightly with her left eye, aiming the gun at a diagonal position above herself.

She took a deep breath and held her breath.

Then, her slender white index finger gently squeezed the trigger.

At the same time, the Hextech revolver emitted a faint blue glow from the energy core's location as it vibrated slightly.

After a brief delay, with a muffled sound, a blue energy sphere shot out of the barrel at high speed.

However, the moment it hit the metal wall, the energy bullet exploded with a "sizzle," illuminating the dim alley with a shimmering blue light.

The sudden counterattack startled the gunman, and he immediately ducked his head. "Damn! What the hell did you do?!"

On Caitlyn's side, she furrowed her brow as she realized her plan had failed. This attack had likely alerted the gunman, but it also gave her an idea of the revolver's approximate power.

Even she was surprised by the weapon's effectiveness, and it was highly likely that the enemy would now be cautious.

To escape this predicament, she needed to take some risks...

Relying on her exceptional intelligence and the gunman's angry outburst, Caitlyn quickly calculated her next move. She also had a rough idea of the shooter's position from his cursing.

Using the shockwave of the energy bullet should deal with that guy...

Caitlyn took a deep breath, held her breath, and without further hesitation, she rolled swiftly towards the side of a nearby trash bin.

The concealed gunman clearly hadn't anticipated her audacious move, and the earlier shockwave had left him rattled.

For a moment, he couldn't react in time and hastily fired a shot that missed Caitlyn, hitting the ground near her feet.

Perfect opportunity!

Maintaining her kneeling position, Caitlyn timed her actions perfectly, quickly raising her hand, squinting, and aiming. Her finger lightly squeezed the trigger as she fired another shot.

Another blue energy sphere shot out from the gun's barrel, heading straight for the wide-eyed gunman.

Due to the haste of her movements and imprecise aim, the bullet only hit the wall below the window, missing the gunman.

But that was enough.

An inexplicable shockwave erupted from beneath his feet, rushing upward and violently impacting his body, sending him flying and crashing into the ceiling before landing heavily on the ground.

The impact and the shockwave left him disoriented, and he lost consciousness before he could even comprehend what had happened.

On the other side of the alley, a few people hiding behind the wall witnessed Caitlyn firing her gun and started discussing:

"Damn it! This bitch actually fired a shot!"

"Don't worry, even though I heard Miss Kiramman's marksmanship is excellent, the boss is far away from her, nothing will happen."

"What the hell is that bright light? Is she really holding a gun, or is it a new weapon developed by the Kiramman family?"

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Just as the group of people was shocked by the unusual situation in the alley, a deep voice from a stranger suddenly sounded behind them:

"I don't know if the Kiramman family has developed any new weapons, but the gentleman's sense of foreboding is quite accurate."

"Who... Ah!"

One of them had just turned around, and a fist the size of a sandbag had already landed on his face. He was knocked out before he could even utter a word.

The other three saw their teammate being attacked suddenly and quickly prepared their weapons, keeping their distance from the middle-aged man.

"Who are you?!"

A man with his right arm replaced by Hextech-enhanced prosthetics and wearing a metal skull mask stared coldly at the unfamiliar middle-aged man in front of him.

"I advise you not to meddle in this!"

"You've come to the Undercity, yet don't even know who I am." The middle-aged man rubbed his fist, chuckled helplessly, "Haven't you inquired in advance about whose territory this is?"

"You... are Vander?!" The man took two steps back instinctively. "We have no grievances with you, so why did you attack my men?"

Vander laughed heartily as if he had heard the funniest joke in his life. "No grievances? Hahaha..."

After a moment, he suppressed his laughter, put on a gloomy expression, and questioned sternly, "Do you know why the Lanes are the most orderly area in the entire Undercity?"

The three men exchanged glances and understood what Vander was trying to convey.

After a brief exchange of glances, they looked back at him with a hint of malice.

"You guys are wasting your breath talking to this old man! We are three against one!"

"Right, and this old guy is unarmed, while we have weapons!"

"You think having more people is an advantage?" Vander shook his head and pointed behind the three men.

What's going on...

The man wearing the metal skull mask suddenly felt an inexplicable chill, as if he were being stared at by countless malicious eyes.

Stiffening his neck, he turned "click, click" like a rusty mechanical gear, and suddenly sucked in a cold breath.

Just a dozen meters away from them, a dense crowd had surrounded them without them noticing.

They were all fully armed, some with machetes, some with sharp alchemical mechanical devices, and many with alchemical-enhanced prosthetics.

This is bad...

At this moment, the man wearing the metal skull mask had only one thought in his mind.

"May the gray never raises to your door." Vander approached, patted the man's shoulder with a smile, and said, "The lanes sends you, and your friends, our sincere greetings."

In Benso's general store,

Caitlyn looked worried as she stared intently at the two burly middle-aged men working diligently by the bed.

Lying on the bed was Li Lin, drugged and in a semi-conscious state, after they had rescued him from the danger earlier.

After resolving the crisis, Vander had taken Caitlyn and the injured Li Lin back to Benso's grocery store to tend to his wounds.

Benso tossed a towel stained with red liquid into a basin filled with water that had been tainted crimson. He shouted outside the room, "Ekko, bring another basin of water in!"

"Got it!"

Shortly after, a young boy with white hair and dark skin, carrying another basin of clean water, entered the room.

Using tweezers, Vander extracted a piece of shrapnel from the wound, dropping it into the basin. He then wiped his hands clean, removing the bloodstains, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.

Caitlyn, who was already on edge, couldn't help but ask about Li Lin's condition. "Is he going to be okay?"

"This kid's in pretty good shape. The bullet didn't penetrate too deep, and I've removed all the shrapnel. After I stitch up the wound, he'll need some rest, but he'll be fine."

"That's a relief." Caitlyn sighed in relief. "By the way, the five people you captured..."

"Let's talk about it outside." Vander gestured for her to follow him.

The two of them walked out of Benso's grocery store and into the narrow alleyway next to the shop.

Vander casually lit a pipe with a match and leaned against the cold wall, exhaling several circular smoke rings into the air.

Silence hung in the air for a while.

Time passed, second by second.

After what seemed like an eternity, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the alley.

A woman dressed in a tattered brown leather jacket, her skin slightly dark, and heavy black eye makeup that accentuated her fierce gaze, arrived in front of Vander.

"Sevika, what's the situation?"

"They're mercenaries traveling between the Upper City and Bilgewater, hired by someone to kidnap this young lady," Sevika reported in her raspy voice.

"But none of them know the true identity of their employer. All they know is the guy's codename: C."

Author's note: C is a key character in Caitlyn's story, the one who transforms her from an aristocratic young lady into a detective and eventually the Sheriff of Piltover. I won't spoil any more details here!