Consciousness returned in the dead of night. The ceiling came into view. Stone-built, with pipes running across it. Nadura. He recognized it immediately. The green glow of chemical lamps swayed softly against the walls. Kain tried to sit up, and a sharp pain tore through his side. "[cold]Don't move," Silver hair in a short bob entered his field of vision. Echo stood beside him, checking the IV tube inserted into his arm. Her calm green eyes looked down at Kain quietly. "Two of your ribs are broken. If you move seriously, you'll damage your organs," "...Where's Rin?" Echo paused for a moment. That pause felt wrong. "She was taken by the pursuers. She walked out on her own," His mind went cold in an instant. Kain grabbed the IV tube. With his bare hand. He tried to pull it out. Smack. His hand was slapped. Echo's hand came without hesitation. "[angry]Ow!" "[cold]That was the point," Echo was matter-of-fact. Not even angry. Just fast with her judgment to slap his hand. The face of a physician. "If a broken rib punctures your organs, even I can't save you. Are you still going?" "..." "If you collapse now, who's going to go save that girl?" Kain's body stopped. The pain didn't fade. The urgency didn't disappear. But those words fell directly into his mind. (That's right. What good is collapsing?) Slowly, he released his grip on the tube. His side throbbed with insistence. The broken bone announced its presence with every movement. "...Understood. I'll use my head," The moment those words were forced out, a voice came from the corner of the room. "That guy's got broken ribs but his face doesn't look like he's laughing," A large man leaning against the wall whispered to his companion. His companion nodded. Four of them. Faces he recognized. The thugs who had burst into the old Vander hideout before. Kain looked at them. They looked at Kain. Everyone was silent. An indescribable atmosphere hung in the air. Echo cleared her throat and reset the mood. "Listen carefully. The pursuers stopped at an abandoned warehouse south of Salma. The informant just contacted us. They won't stay long. So tonight is our only chance," "A relay point," "Right. A temporary location before transferring Rin to their main base. We can't waste time," Echo turned to face the thugs and began explaining, drawing a simple floor plan of the warehouse in the air with her finger. Three pursuers. One named Servis, two subordinates. The warehouse is two stories. If they're holding someone captive, the back room on the second floor is most likely. While the thugs draw the pursuers' attention on the first floor, one person checks the second floor. "I'm going first," Everyone looked at Kain. "[sarcastic]Huh?" "Your ribs are broken," "They're broken. But I'm going," Echo gave an exasperated look. But she didn't stop him. After a moment of silence as if thinking something through, she let out a small sigh. "...Make sure everyone comes back safely," ───── Before departure, while the thugs were getting their equipment checked by Echo, Kain leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. During the time he endured the pain, Echo's assistant—a thin young man who handled all the odd jobs around Nadura—came to his side and spoke in a low voice. "...Why would you go that far for a girl you don't even like?" It was an innocent question. He could tell there was no malice in it. Kain kept his eyes closed and opened his mouth. "[serious]Because I like her, that's why I'm going," He realized it after he said it. It was a reflex. The words came out before he could think. Kain himself froze for a moment. He covered his mouth. With both hands. Too late. The room became oddly quiet. He slowly opened his eyes, and the thugs were all looking at him. The equipment check had stopped. Four pairs of eyes were fixed on Kain. Only Echo, standing behind the thugs, was silently laughing as she returned a medicine bottle to the shelf. Her mouth was completely falling apart. "[angry]Focus on the operation!!" One of the thugs rubbed his nose and looked away. Another started staring at the ceiling. All of them had subtly awkward expressions. "You said it," "Shut up!!" His face was hot. His side was hot too. Not knowing which heat was stronger, Kain faced forward. His voice saying "Let's go" was slightly higher-pitched. ───── The abandoned warehouse south of Salma looked unused from the outside. But the dust at the entrance showed that people had recently entered. The thugs split left and right. Kain stood at the front. A deep breath. His side ached. He ignored it. He kicked the door. "[angry]So you came looking and found a salvager. You don't learn, do you?" There was one of the pursuers' subordinates on the first floor. He looked at Kain with a slightly surprised expression. That alone told him who had come. Servis was upstairs. Kain walked straight forward to keep the subordinate's attention. His feet wavered from pain. He knew it didn't look like "someone who can still move." "Give me Rin," "[sarcastic]Not happening," The subordinate stepped forward. At that moment, the window on the left shattered. The thugs burst in. The numbers reversed in an instant. "Now!" Kain slipped past the subordinate. His feet stumbled. He put his hand against the wall. The stairs came into view. One step, two steps. His side burned. Three steps, four steps. His breathing grew ragged. He reached the second floor. The hallway split left and right. He listened carefully. A faint voice came from the right. Servis's voice. Kain ran right. A door at the end. It wasn't locked. He forced it open. Rin was in the room. She stood against the wall. Restraint cuffs were wrapped around both her wrists. Her long purple hair was disheveled. Her golden eyes looked at Kain as he opened the door. For a moment, she caught her breath. Rin's expression froze slightly. Servis stood beside her. A Hextech rifle held at his waist. He looked at Kain and narrowed his eyes. "[cold]You came again. You're persistent," "[serious]End this," Kain said it while looking straight ahead. Servis's expression changed. The gun barrel pointed at Kain. "Run," He said it to Rin. But Rin didn't move. Her golden eyes stayed fixed on Kain, unmoving. "[angry]I'm talking to you. Run!" Servis put his finger on the trigger. At that moment—— Boom!! A thug fell from the ceiling. He had gone through the ventilation shaft and crashed down on Servis from directly above. The gun barrel shifted. The shot fired into the ceiling. "Now!" Kain ran. He wedged his body between Rin and Servis. Then he grabbed the restraint cuffs on Rin's wrists. The metal was hard. His fingers trembled. But he moved them. Servis threw the thug off and stood up. Kain turned back to Rin. Rin's golden eyes looked directly at Kain. "[angry]Don't end this on your own!!" The words came from deep within his body. Not calculated. Not strategy. Just... came out. "[angry]I'm protecting you. No matter what happens, I'm protecting you!!" Rin didn't move. Her golden eyes widened. "...Why?" Her voice was smaller than usual. "[serious]Why? Because I don't want you to die," Rin's eyes wavered. Something frozen was slowly melting. Her blunt, composed face—the face that always seemed to be swallowing something—crumbled. Large tears fell down her cheeks. Rin herself looked surprised. She put her hand to her cheek. It was wet. She touched it with her fingertips as if confirming the fact. "...Why?" This time she meant something different. Like she was asking herself. "[sarcastic]You're crying," "[sad]I'm not crying," Her voice trembled. Kain said nothing. He removed the restraint cuffs. Click, the sound of metal. Rin's wrists were free. ───── A sound came from downstairs. A loud sound. The thugs were making a ruckus. Servis assessed the situation. Multiple thug voices came from the hallway outside the room. He was completely surrounded. The scarred face looked at Kain once. His eyes were emotionless. Just calculating. "[cold]I'll be back," He said it as he left, disappearing through the window. One of the thugs came out into the hallway. "That guy said 'I'll be back' again while running away today," Someone said, "Every time, huh?" A strange atmosphere hung in the air. The tension drained away all at once, and everyone had awkward expressions. Kain leaned his back against the wall and took a deep breath. His side suddenly asserted itself. The pain he'd been able to ignore until now lost its restraint, knowing the fight was over. Rin stood beside him. Kain leaned his body weight onto her shoulder as he was. He nearly collapsed. Rin silently supported him. She took his weight on her shoulder without moving a step. "[gentle]If you can't walk, I'll carry you," Echo's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. She had arrived at some point. "I can walk," He said the same words twice and took a step forward. His knees buckled. It was the third step. The thugs' awkward gazes focused again. Echo sighed. A calm sigh, but completely exasperated. ───── They returned to Nadura well past midnight. Kain was back in bed, the thugs had left, and Echo began a re-examination of Rin's arm. It was quiet. Only the low hum of pipes could be heard. The green glow of the chemical lamp softly illuminated the three of them. Echo's fingers carefully checked the circuits in Rin's right arm. A long silence. Her fingers stopped. "...It's stopped," "What is?" "The progression of the fusion. It's completely stopped," Rin looked at her own arm. The pale blue light running through it. But certainly, the fluctuation of the light was less than usual. Echo took a small receiver from the shelf and held it against the deep part of Rin's arm. A device that reads weak radio waves. Used to measure the degree of chemical contamination. The receiver displayed fine numbers. Echo's expression changed. "[serious]This isn't...a surgical program," "What do you mean?" "There's an unfamiliar code format coming from the circuits deep in the arm. A weak signal. But it's definitely there," Echo turned the receiver's screen toward Rin. "It might be data related to the entire project design. The core of the Euphinis Project itself," Rin looked at her own arm straight on. The arm she usually avoided looking at, she now faced directly. Her golden eyes reflected the light of the circuits. "Can you analyze it?" "I can't. There's no device in Zaun that can read this code," Kain lifted his head. "Then we go get one. From the upper city," Echo spoke quietly. "That means crossing the Bridge of Progress," The Bridge of Progress—the only bridge connecting Piltover and Zaun, now with Enforcer checkpoints attached to both ends after the war. For Zaun residents to cross, identification and cargo inspection are required. It can't be crossed through normal means. A heavy silence fell between the three of them. The pipes hummed. The lamp swayed. Only the pale blue light of Rin's arm shone quietly.