Although the concert had ended, Faen and Zeri's work showed no sign of ending.
However, because of Faen's slaughter of those chemical thugs who chose to submit to the Chem-Barons and assist them in oppressing the bottom-feeders of Zaun at the concert, all chemical factories became much more well-behaved.
They were all just trying to make a living. Originally, they thought the Azure Demon would definitely stumble under the encirclement and suppression of the Chem-Barons this time. Or at worst, his reputation would be ruined by splashing dirty water due to the abortion of the concert.
But who would have thought that the Azure Demon actually used such simple, pure violence that everyone could understand to let people know the Azure Demon's will—or rather, where exactly the Azure Demon's confidence came from.
But this didn't affect Faen's actions and will.
More and more worker organizations appeared in factories. Especially after Faen displayed overwhelming strength, workers who were originally fearful, uneasy, and watching from the sidelines also chose to quietly join the organization.
In some factories Faen frequented, worker organizations had even developed to the point where they could negotiate terms directly with Chem-Barons.
It was just that these workers knew very well that the reason they could negotiate terms with Chem-Barons was only because they were using Faen's tiger skin... And in fact, until now, Faen hadn't explicitly established a real organization, or gang, or the like.
But now, what puzzled Seraphine was that they said they were going to kill some people who oppressed the people, but the first stop wasn't a place like a factory, but an abandoned warehouse in a chemical prosthetic factory, attending a worker gathering developed by Zeri's mother, Soona.
Called a gathering, it was actually a grievance meeting.
In the abandoned warehouse of the factory, ragged chemical slaves gathered in the sultry and toxic air. Trembling coughs penetrated the damaged roof of the warehouse through crude gas masks. More than three hundred pairs of turbid eyeballs flickered with suppressed pain under the chemical lamps.
A skinny speaker limped up the wooden crate with his left leg crushed by a steam hammer, his cheap chem-tech prosthetic fingers clutching tightly onto a piece of white paper filled with names.
"Last Wednesday, after working continuously for sixteen hours, my friend Tommy's right hand was dragged into Machine No. 9!"
Gritting his teeth, the man's face was full of pain: "His severed arm is still hanging on the drive shaft. The overseer said the machine couldn't be stopped for cleaning unless we wanted the whole family's money deducted!"
Saying this, the man took out a piece of pitch-black bread.
"Brothers, you all know what this tastes like, right? The bread sold in the factory store is three times more expensive than outside, yet we have to take out thirty percent of our weekly salary to honor these son-of-a-bitch Chem-Baron running dogs! He can't remember who gave the most, but he can remember who gave the least!"
"Last week, there should have been 6 golden hexes in my pay envelope, but the overseer said I was slacking off and wasting workshop air, deducting 5 coppers. Then he said my bleeding fingers dripping on the cotton thread affected quality, deducting another 7 coppers."
Saying this, the man fiercely threw the pitch-black hard bread onto the ground: "Fuck it! Fuck it! This is just because my son fell ill, and I needed money to save my child! I didn't honor him! I didn't borrow from him!"
"But I was clearly using the money I worked hard for to treat illness, why? Fuck him!"
The man's face turned red, and he coughed violently. The people around were also filled with indignation—because the man wasn't talking about his misery, but about things all of them would encounter, might encounter, or had already encountered.
Seeing this, Faen quietly released the joy factor, preventing people's emotions from losing control instantly while also relieving the hidden burdens in their bodies through physical activation.
After slowing down, the skinny man stood up again, then struggled to grab a bell clock nearby, raised it and shook it vigorously. Hearing that familiar sound, a look of exhaustion, fear, and numbness appeared on the workers' faces first, then all turned into gnashing anger.
"This hateful work bell!" The man gritted his teeth. Lung disease made it difficult for him to breathe, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. But the man still clenched his teeth and spoke desperately—this was an opportunity he fought hard for. This was an opportunity to speak out his pain, which he fought hard for among many worker brothers suffering like himself.
There was too much suffering in Zaun. Even the victims of the grievance meeting needed to compete to be qualified to come up and tell their suffering.
"The overseer set the clock fifteen minutes fast! We have to work three extra hours every day, and one late arrival deducts three days' salary." The man panted violently, but still spoke non-stop:
"Jack collapsed beside the correction machine from exhaustion last week. Those hateful running dogs threw his corpse into the depths of the Sump. I saw it, damn it, the time on their pocket watches was a full twenty minutes slower than the factory clock!"
The man gritted his teeth, seeming to remember some unbearable past, collapsing on the ground, but refusing anyone's support. Instead, he stubbornly crawled up on the wooden crate:
"Finally, let me talk about my five-year-old Emma... Her illness was cured, her illness was really cured. But when I was taken away by the overseer for overtime, Emma was also taken to clean the chemical waste gas flue!! That's a chemical waste gas flue! She didn't even have protective gear!"
The man vomited blood while crying, beating the wooden crate furiously regardless of anyone's obstruction. Even when people beside him wanted to come up and let him rest and recover his emotions, he clutched the wooden platform tightly, unwilling to let go.
He was afraid of losing this opportunity. He wanted to make people indignant, make people unite, for this land of Zaun, for all Zaun people.
"They dragged her out by her feet upside down! Those black-hearted bastards!"
The man's breathing was becoming difficult, just struggling to widen his eyes and shouting: "My... my child... my daughter, I promised my wife I would take good care of her."
"But those animals... my child's skull got stuck at the bend, they used iron hooks... used iron hooks..."
Towards the end, the man was clutching his chest, his eyes bloodshot, roaring. Muscles on his shriveled body tensed, forehead and neck covered with shriveled veins after overexertion.
In the crowd, Seraphine, wearing a coat, had widened her eyes.
Possessing the power to listen to the voice of all things, Seraphine could feel all emotions more directly than ordinary people, as well as those true trends of thought hidden under the appearance.
And now, here, Seraphine felt intense anger. Like a suppressed volcano. Filled with uncontrollable fury, filled with unwillingness, filled with grievance.
These intense emotions were independent in the past, each person's will. But now, under a unique trend of thought, these angers gathered together, becoming a tide of fury, waiting, waiting for an opportunity to destroy everything and overturn everything.
"Damn Chem-Barons!" Zeri clenched her fists indignantly beside her, saying to Seraphine: "This is what those hateful Chem-Barons did to Zaun! We will definitely overthrow them!"
The current Zeri wasn't pretending—let alone Seraphine feeling surprised, angry, and incredulous hearing this news. Actually, even Zeri herself wasn't very clear about exactly what Zaun workers encountered.
Especially this man on stage now. Even though Zeri already knew Chem-Barons committed countless evil deeds, she still didn't expect the Chem-Barons' bottom line could be lowered further. They were actually evil to such an extent, not even letting children go...
On the side, Seraphine nodded in agreement, but then asked somewhat puzzledly: "But... what does this have to do with Piltover..."
Just as Seraphine was speaking, workers carried the man who was sobbing uncontrollably during his speech down for treatment, preventing casualties due to further intensification of emotions.
After this, Faen patted the girl's shoulder, then walked up from the side under her puzzled gaze again.
Standing on the wooden platform, looking at the pairs of angry eyes below—clearly just a group of gene slaves, not even having freedom. From birth to death, the only fate was to become consumables in Chem-Barons' factories. But Faen could feel, feel waves of power far beyond anything anyone in Zaun could imagine.
Vander, Silco... they were not the real Zaun.
These people, these pathetic, weak, lowly people for whom even breathing a mouthful of fresh air was a luxury, were the real Zaun.
Seeing Faen, people were puzzled at first. But slowly, when people saw Faen's appearance clearly, they quickly boiled over.
It's the Azure Demon—it's the Azure Demon!! Workers whispered, pairs of angry eyes turning into excitement and expectation looking at Faen. These emotions were not joy yet, but had formed hope—which is the origin of joy.
Faen didn't speak, just stood there quietly, silently spreading the joy factor in the air.
Theoretically, the emotional activation of the joy factor would make people active quickly. But now it was different—people slowly fell into silence in Faen's silence.
Just in this moment of utter silence, Faen raised an arm.
"Rather than Azure Demon, I prefer you call me Faen."
Faen said peacefully, but responded to people's guesses from the side. This made the thoughts in people's hearts turn from the original calm into scalding boiling rapidly.
"What should we do?!" A man shouted in the crowd: "Azure Demon—no, Faen! Tell us, what should we do!!"
"Go resist! Go figure out who our friends are and who our enemies are!"
Faen clenched his fist responding to that man, his voice full of solemnity and passion:
"The moment of resistance has arrived! But workers, don't be swallowed by anger! Distinguish carefully; there are still our friends among the enemies. We are absolutely not launching a counterattack against Chem-Barons purely for revenge! We won't let go of any guilty person, won't miss any traitor willing to be a Chem-Baron running dog! But similarly, we shouldn't let any innocent person suffer injustice!"
"We want to create a Zaun without exploitation, a Zaun without Chem-Barons! After we succeed, Zaun will not belong to anyone! Instead, it will belong to the people of Zaun, will belong to every Son of Zaun!"
Faen's voice was gentle at first, but slowly, it gradually became passionate. Especially in the eyes of Zeri and Seraphine, Faen almost completely changed into another person. Faen began to be impassioned, his face lighting up with joy, even dancing with joy, standing on tiptoe. In just a few minutes, the originally quiet venue turned into a sea of fanaticism.
Whether voice or action, Faen was intentionally guiding people's emotions. In just a moment, accompanied by the joy factor which already had the effect of boosting emotions, the entire abandoned factory ushered in a climax with Faen's speech.
"Our enemies are not just Chem-Barons! But all guys riding on our heads!" Faen reached out his hand and said passionately:
"Piltover nobles cooperate with Chem-Barons, letting factories producing strong pollution be established continuously in Zaun! Chemical waste liquid filled with pollutants is injected into our homeland from pipes! Our workers produced parts and raw materials, but all profits were taken away by Chem-Barons and trade nobles, making our brothers unable to even maintain food and clothing!"
"Barons sell out Zaun for profit! They suppress our compatriots to get the support of merchant families!"
"The prosperous life enjoyed by Piltovians is all because our bottom-feeders in Zaun are forced to engage in high-risk professions! We have no choice!"
Faen said concisely and powerfully: "Piltover councilors and newspaper mouthpieces stigmatize Zaun as 'sump', 'land of chaos', 'lawless land', but this is just them covering up their own exploitation of Zaun! Just like those councilors condemning Zaun's pollution in the name of environmental protection, yet ignoring Piltover's responsibility for transferring all industrial waste to Zaun!"
"Oshra Va'Zaun is the original name of the Twin Cities!!"
"Wind of Change! Let the Wind of Change blow!" Faen shouted amidst the workers' roar:
"Act tonight! Immediately establish a Mutual Aid Fund, each family saves three days of rations, youth form communications, find trustworthy brothers to pass messages with secret codes! Old workers are responsible for persuading clean factory thugs—persuade those children of workers! Do not occupy factory machines; Chem-Barons' promises are forever just empty words! And we don't need their silence; destroy them! Start from the undercity, up to the top of Zaun!"
"The final victory will definitely belong to the Wind of Change! Let the fruits of labor return to laborers, let Zaun return to the people of Zaun! Our children will grow up in hope and joy; they will remember the dawn of tonight!"
"Long live Zaun! Long live workers! The final victory will belong to the Wind of Change!"