During this stretch of time, Logan really did end up living with Jinx.
In the daytime, Logan would go out looking for work—and he actually found a job hauling cargo at the docks. The owner of the merchant ship was from Ionia. The man thought Logan looked friendly, and since Logan didn't have the exaggerated tattoos most Zaunites had, he even looked a lot like an Ionian, so the man took him on as a laborer. But since it was a merchant ship from outside, Logan only worked there for two days before they loaded up and left Zaun.
Luckily, with strength that didn't match his appearance at all, Logan earned an extra bonus from the shipowner. That bonus was enough for Logan and Jinx to live for a while longer.
Besides that, Logan kept seriously studying the cheat he'd brought with him.
Of course, he didn't dare descend into Spirit Blossom again, but Logan carefully examined the descent attempts. In the Spirit Blossom space, he noticed a new bar that looked like an energy meter. Once the white energy bar filled up, Logan would gain one descent opportunity.
When he first discovered it, Logan didn't know what he had to do to replenish the energy bar. The strange part was—its value was rising on its own. The increase was painfully slow, but it was definitely climbing, which meant that while Logan was in the physical world, the bar was replenishing.
But… what had he done that made it replenish?
After studying it for a while, Logan realized it was because of emotions.
The reason the energy bar rose in the Spirit Blossom space was because it absorbed emotions from the physical world—human sorrow, joy, anger, those feelings that came from deep in the soul, all of them could replenish the energy bar.
That discovery thrilled Logan. The Spirit Blossom cheat was the key to whether he could live steadily in this world. Now that he'd found a way to refill his descent attempts, as long as he avoided Thresh, Logan could keep getting stronger in the physical world.
So he experimented—and then Logan discovered something really weird.
Other people's emotions increased his energy bar far, far less than when he was just lying at home.
If he spent an afternoon outside, he'd run into hundreds or even thousands of people. Even if he wasn't interacting with them up close, Logan would deliberately move closer to people with big emotional swings—yet the increase still wasn't anywhere near as much as when he was home watching Jinx.
No, seriously… why?
After thinking it through, Logan looked at Jinx—whose emotions were basically always right on the surface—and figured this was probably some kind of "mentally ill privilege."
Anyway, it was a good thing.
————
Late at night, at a lively little market on the outer edge of the Lanes, Logan stood at a stall. He pulled a few coins from inside his jacket, set them on the counter, then looked up at the person in front of him—shirtless, wearing an apron, skin green like a big fat fish-headed… human?
"Jericho, give me one berry-sauce whitefish, and one spicy-sauce sump-snapper frog," Logan said.
"Gahihihih." A meaningless sound came out as the cleaver-wielding humanoid burst into laughter, raising the cleaver and chopping down on the board to split a sea fish.
Logan waited quietly.
The sump-snapper frog he'd bought at the restaurant before was just boiled—aside from the stink, there wasn't any flavor. But what Jericho made was different. Vi had personally verified it: Jericho's place was the best sump-snapper frog in Zaun.
Even though Logan still wasn't used to that greasy, squishy texture, he could handle Jericho's cooking.
And it wasn't just better than the restaurant—Jericho's prices were also noticeably cheaper.
Logan didn't have much money to begin with, so of course he had to stretch it.
"Guhahahai!" Jericho finished the food, packed it into two huge containers, and handed them to Logan.
Logan took them. Feeling the bottom of the containers, his palm was instantly coated in grease, and his mouth twitched.
Whatever. In Zaun, don't expect food to be clean and sanitary.
It was all damn "high-tech and ruthless" anyway.
"Thanks, Jericho." Logan gave him a wave.
Jericho looked up, laughed with that "gahaha" sound, and waved back.
Carrying the food, Logan headed home.
A few minutes after Logan left the stall, a woman appeared in the market with both hands in her pockets. She wore a cap and a red jacket, hunching forward as she walked. Behind her was a tall, slender woman who looked a little timid.
"Hey—why are we here?" Caitlyn couldn't hold it in anymore. She strode forward on long legs, closed the distance, and asked Vi in a low voice.
"Just follow me," Vi said, not answering. She walked straight up to a stall and sat down.
"Jericho."
"Ghiaaa?" Jericho turned his head. When he saw Vi, his round, fat face and tiny eyes lit up instantly.
"Gahali!"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm back. Hurry up and give me something good—and… I need to ask you for a favor." Vi patted her stomach.
"You have no idea how much I've missed this!" Vi said with a grin.
Even if the world ended today, she was still eating at Jericho's first!
God knew how much she'd craved this taste while she was in prison.
Caitlyn stood to the side, completely baffled. She looked at the grime on the counter, then looked at the "sanitation" situation behind it, and the pretty Enforcer from Topside's mouth twitched.
This… was food?
Undercity people ate like this?
Logan carried the containers and walked into the alley—but the moment he did, he narrowed his eyes.
Because at the bottom of his building, by the stair rail, two people were lying there unconscious.
And his front door was open, and loud banging noises were coming from inside.
Logan steadied the containers, then lightly hopped over the two bodies on the ground and went up the stairs.
"I knew this day would come," Logan muttered to himself.
Logan had long been prepared for Silco to come knocking.
After all, Zaun was Silco's backyard. And with Jinx painting graffiti all over the place right outside Logan's door—like a flame drawing moths—it was only a matter of time before Silco's people found them.
Very soon, Logan reached the doorway and looked inside.
His home was completely wrecked. His only two pieces of furniture—the wooden plank bed and the small table—were smashed to pieces. And inside the room, Jinx was pinned against the wall by a woman, her throat gripped, as she spewed a torrent of profanity.
"Hold still. You think I want to drag you back?" Sevika lowered her head and barked at the struggling Jinx.
If she had a choice, she wouldn't bring Jinx back at all.
This was just Silco's order.
"Then let go of me, you stupid idiot!" Jinx screamed, then opened her mouth to bite.
That bite made Logan, who was watching, nearly lose it—he almost laughed out loud.
Jinx opened her mouth and chomped her little white teeth down on Sevika's mechanical arm. Krrt-krrt—the grinding sound was sharp and unpleasant.
Honestly, Jinx's teeth were impressive.
"Ahem."
Logan made a sound.