Invent, discover, and stay as far away from Zaun as possible.

So, when he heard Li Lin say that he wanted to repay the favor of the people in Dicheng, his first reaction was "trouble".

Li Lin noticed the expression on Jace's face. "From your tone, it seems you have a strong prejudice against Zaun?"

"I don't think this can be called prejudice, because it's not just me. Most people in Upper City think Zaun is a problem, right?"

Jace glanced around furtively, making sure the people closest to him couldn't hear their conversation, and then he lowered his voice.

"Did you ever realize that Piltover was once part of Zaun?"

"How is this possible?! Piltover has been established for 216 years..."

"What about before Piltover was founded? Didn't this place exist?"

Li Lin chuckled and didn't give Jace a chance to speak. He immediately added:

"Oshra Vaz'an was once a trading post in the north of the Shurima Empire. Due to a failed canal construction, seawater flooded in, and part of the city sank into the ground, while the other part stood on the cliff.

"Wealthy and powerful families fled to the more stable Upper City, leveraging its geographical and environmental advantages to build the current Sungate Sea Lock and naming this resurgent city 'Piltover.'

"The so-called Upper City and Lower City were originally inseparable 'sisters,' and the fate of the people of the Twin Cities is even more so. Everyone knows this, but no one is willing to admit it publicly."

Li Lin's words left Jace speechless, not knowing how to refute him.

After a long silence, he said weakly, "But the history books in the Piltover Library don't record this..."

"I think with your intelligence, you should be able to tell that what I said is indeed the truth."

Jace was silent again.

His mother told him many bedtime stories when he was a child, one of which was the legend of how the wind goddess Janna appeared more than two hundred years ago and saved the people from a raging flood.

Save the people of Zaun...

Back then, there was no Piltover.

"Like I said before, Jace, your horizons are too limited to one place."

Li Lin's tone was deep, but there was no sarcasm in his words.

“We are all frogs in a well, but whether we stay there and look up at the small area above us, or jump out of the well and embrace the wider world, that is our choice.

"Since you've chosen to take risks and open up a new era, it proves that you're not someone who sticks to the old ways. You should understand the impact of this profound prejudice on your thinking..."

Li Lin didn't finish his words. He wanted to give Jace some time to think on his own, and he believed that Jace could understand the implication of his words.

All the way in silence.

After more than ten minutes, the two of them finally stopped in front of a bar on the outskirts of the dark alley.

The words "Fugen Tavern" were engraved in large letters on the plaque at the door. The bar was already open for business, with a few people sitting inside drinking or having fun.

Li Lin looked up, then turned his gaze to Jace, who was still "doubting his life", and said with a smile: "Do you want to go in? Or wait here?"

"..." Jace looked at him hesitantly, "I'll go with you."