The Bridge of Progress.
Ash drifted down from a sky painted red by flames.
Screams, roars, cries, the thunder of gunfire...
Shadowy figures flickered in the gunpowder smoke, people continually struck down by bullets from lever-action rifles, collapsing to the ground.
Watching the figures in the distant smoke being felled by gunfire, one after another, and their faces twisted in anger, Lin Yan understood instantly.
The Battle of Two Cities, the Day of Ashes...
"To think that on my first day of crossing over, the plot would start from here?" Lin Yan's gaze shifted to the distance.
The Battle of Two Cities.
It tells the story of Piltover and Zaun in the League of Legends universe.
The anime's plot is roughly divided between the undercity and the topside city.
The people of the undercity, having long suffered from the resource exploitation and environmental pollution of the topside, launched a protest on the bridge, only to be met with a bloody suppression.
The deaths of many of his companions made the revolutionary leader, Vander, want to abandon violent struggle and instead protect his adoptive daughters, Vi and Powder, and the rest of his family.
But his comrade-in-arms, Silco, insisted that "dignity is more important than life."
After their ideals clashed, the two fought to the death in the toxic river, leading to the complete schism of the undercity.
Vander's faction maintained peace, while Silco seized control of the "Shimmer" drug and the economic lifelines, building up an armed force to seek revenge on both the topside and Vander.
In the end, Silco's pursuit of Vander triggered a chaotic battle, and the psychologically fragile Powder, after accidentally killing her friends, had a mental breakdown and completely transformed into the crazed criminal, "Jinx."
And the scene before him was the very beginning of this tragedy.
It was all the result of the oppression that followed an attempt by the undercity dwellers to protest on the bridge, to fight for a better environment.
Bang—
"Connor!! No! No!!"
Amidst the smoke, another gunshot rang out.
It was followed by the sound of a figure falling limply to the ground...
"Felicia!!"
A stout man wearing iron gauntlets looked in despair at the two figures lying on the ground, their eyes vacant, blood continuously flowing from the bullet wounds in their chests. He ran to them as if in a frenzy, then, like a black wolf, lunged ferociously at the enforcer who had just fired...
And not far away.
Vi, in a white short-sleeved shirt, held Powder's hand. Powder obediently covered her eyes, leaving Vi to peer through the smoke, her eyes searching for something among the numerous bodies in the blaze.
Seemingly sensing that her older sister had stopped, Powder tentatively lowered her hands.
Tears and ash mingled into black streaks on her face, only to be dried by the wind thick with the smell of gunpowder.
Before her eyes was a devastated bridge and bodies lying in the ruins.
All that remained on the Bridge of Progress now was the man in the iron gauntlets and the enforcer being beaten in his hands like a rag doll.
As the two girls looked towards the man, he seemed to sense something. He dropped the enforcer in his hands and turned to look in Vi and Powder's direction.
He walked towards them without a word, his eyes filled with remorse and self-blame.
Their eyes met, and Vi seemed to understand something. Her trembling pupils shifted to the two bodies not far from the man.
The ever-strong Vi broke down in tears at that moment...
In a nearby courtyard, Lin Yan quietly watched the tragedy of the bridge protest, a shadow of gloom in his eyes.
The firelight reddened his face and illuminated the entire room.
Thud, thud, thud...
Vander walked down the street with the two children in his arms, his expression desolate.
The children's tears soaked his shirt, their faint sobs filling his soul. The image of his friends' tragic deaths was vivid in his mind, and for a moment, he couldn't recover.
Just as he walked off the Bridge of Progress and headed towards the undercity, lost and dejected, suddenly, the gate to a courtyard opened.
Under the light of the fire and smoke, a young man walked out and beckoned to Vander.
Seeing the young man's neat clothes and clean appearance, Vander merely gave him a cold glance and continued walking without stopping.
Just as he was about to step into the darkness, Lin Yan's words made him halt: "Hey, Vander. Are you really going to leave these brothers who charged the bridge with you, and the parents of those two children, here for the topsiders to deal with?"
"Come here. I'll help you bury them," Lin Yan's voice was magnetic, carrying an inexplicable sense of trustworthiness.
Hearing the voice from behind, Vander turned to look at the bodies on the bridge, then at Lin Yan standing by the gate. He pressed his lips together, a residual fierceness in his eyes. Like a cautious black wolf, he slowly walked towards the young man.
Following Lin Yan into the courtyard.
Vander did not, however, enter the room with him. He just stood outside the glass, quietly watching the figure take out bandages, alcohol, hemostatic powder, as well as bread and milk from a drawer.
"Hey, Vander! I don't care if you come in or not, but these two little ones have cried themselves unconscious. Are you just going to keep holding them like that?"
Lin Yan walked to the doorway and opened the main door. Vander kept peeking into the room through the crack in the door and the glass, trying to spot anything that might threaten his and his family's safety.
Seeing his demeanor, Lin Yan sighed helplessly, "Relax, I'm the only one home. Hurry up and come in. Besides, the wounds on your body need to be disinfected, or they'll get infected."
As Vander entered the house, Lin Yan had him place Vi and Powder in the guest room. He then had Vander wash up in the bathroom before he began to disinfect and stitch his wounds.
Never mind the notion that wounds shouldn't get wet; Vander wasn't particular about such things.
After all, the air in the undercity was far filthier than clean, hot water.
After Vander had cleaned the dirt and grime from his body, Lin Yan picked up the alcohol and poured it over his wounds.
The intense pain made him frown, but he didn't let out a single cry of pain.
Disinfection, application of medicine to stop the bleeding, and suturing.
Lin Yan's stitching skills were not great, but compared to leaving the flesh exposed, a rough suture was already quite good.
Watching Lin Yan put the medicine back in the room and come out again, Vander wrapped his clothes tightly, stood up without a word, and quietly walked outside.
It was only when he reached the doorway that he turned to look at Lin Yan inside the house: "They came with me. It's my duty to bury them."
"During this time, please help me look after 'them'."
With that, Vander once again walked towards the Bridge of Progress. Only this time, it wasn't to charge the bridge, but to collect the bodies.
Under the firelight, he found a pushcart from somewhere and, all by himself, transported the bodies back and forth for the entire night, only just finishing by dawn.
He buried all the bodies in the undercity.
Though it was dirty and chaotic, it was the place where these people had once lived.
By the time Lin Yan saw Vander again, it was half a day later.
Compared to when he had left, Vander now had a new knife wound on his abdomen. It seemed that during this time, he and Silco had already had a falling out over certain matters.
Seeing Vander clutching his stomach and limping into the room, Lin Yan, with practiced ease, took out alcohol, a needle and thread, and hemostatic powder, and gave him another round of basic treatment.
Emerging from the room, Lin Yan held two cups of hot tea.
Handing one to Vander, Lin Yan sat down heavily on a chair.
Nearby, Vander quietly felt the warmth of the hot tea in his hands. The death of his friends, the falling out with his brother, the collapse of his beliefs—these were far more painful to the strong man than any physical wound.
Just as he was lost in his memories, an abrupt voice sounded in the room.
"Vander..."
"You two shouldn't have broken apart."
A sentence without context, yet it made Vander abruptly lift his head.
His sharp eyes darted towards Lin Yan, as if he would tear him to shreds in the next second. "Who are you!"
"Me? You can call me Lin Yan. As for my profession... I'm an Arcanist who travels the world," Lin Yan said faintly, taking a light sip of his tea.
"Arcanist? What's that?"
Having spent half his life working in the mines, Vander had naturally never heard a term like 'arcane'.
According to the current timeline, even among the residents of Piltover, only a small fraction knew of the existence of the arcane and magic in the world, let alone him.
"The arcane is complicated to explain. You can think of me as a magician, a... magician proficient in prophecy."
"...Like that bunch of swindling fortune-tellers in the back alleys?"
"..."
"No, no, no~ You've got it all wrong. I'm not one of those frauds~" The corner of Lin Yan's mouth twitched.
"You say you're a magician proficient in prophecy? Prove it to me." Vander looked at Lin Yan, his face filled with disbelief.
Hearing this, Lin Yan frowned and fell silent for a moment before slowly looking up.
"Proof, you say..."
"Hmm... let me see."
"This morning, you and Silco had a falling out due to a difference in ideals."
"You tried to drown Silco in the river, but you couldn't bring yourself to be ruthless at the critical moment, and Silco seized the opportunity to escape."
"Am I right about this?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the suspicion in Vander's gaze towards Lin Yan lessened.
It wasn't just that he was certain there was absolutely no third person present when it happened today!
It was also because, when he was younger, he had once witnessed a miracle during a mine collapse.
No, it was no longer a miracle.
It was a 'divine act' far more shocking than a miracle like prophecy.
Compared to a collapsed mine tunnel being blasted open by an inexplicable hurricane, what was there not to believe about the prophecy before him?
It's just that... before that, he still needed to verify it himself!
To verify whether this Arcanist was a fraud!
His deep blue pupils glanced suspiciously at Lin Yan, his arm hanging by his side unconsciously clenching into a fist.
And then—
Swoosh!
A standard right hook came flying at Lin Yan!
A surprise attack without any warning, enough to knock out a seasoned underground boxer with one punch. But at this moment, the thrown fist was like an insect frozen in amber.