Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie didn’t know what had happened in the animal trading market and Master Abyan’s castle-style manor. According to his plan, after killing Samira with his dagger, his running speed could even match that of a sprinting wild wolf.

The two bodyguards beside Samira were left far behind him in only several seconds. They could not even catch the flying dust that had been left by Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie kept running towards south of Blackhot City before turning to the west. He picked remote areas with few people and made a big circle in the wild.

Half an hour later, having run over 30 kms, Zhang Tie stood in the woods over 10 km away from Blackhot City, on its west side.

He liked to run. He liked that feeling of being as free as the wind. This time, after killing Samira, he made another round to simply enjoy the cool feeling of running. Zhang Tie felt that each of his pores from his head to toes were cool.

After stopping in the wild woods,he burst out laughing loudly.

After looking around to ensure that nobody was near him, he took off his coat, wig, and face mask. As it was too uncomfortable to take the coat and the wig in his hands, Zhang Tie directly threw them off. As for the face mask, Zhang Tie folded it and rubbed it into a ball before foisting it into his pocket. According to Donder, this kind of memory-based face mask would recover its original look when you sprayed water on it no matter how crumpled it was, as long as didn’t torn.

After doing this, the moment Zhang Tie wanted to leave, he noticed that Samira’s cage containing golden uangs had been carried all the way here and was lying on the ground after a trip of tens of kilometers.

Squatting down, Zhang Tie opened the cage and poured out the golden uangs. There were 56 golden uangs of different sizes inside the cage. They were actually adorable and had a nice color.

”Today, I completed my revenge and save your lives. From today on, you should remember to be cleverer and not be so easily caught by people!”

Some golden uangs clumsily tried to turn back by standing on the ground. Zhang Tie then took them up and put them on a nearby tree trunk. Released out of the cage, all the golden uangs instantly escaped in all directions.

He didn’t know whether they had understood his words, but Zhang Tie felt that some golden uangs were nodding to him when they left. Some having climbed several steps forward even looked back at their savior.

Zhang Tie’s mom said that every creature had its spirit. It seemed true.

Seeing those small creatures being released and gaining freedom, Zhang Tie also felt set free. He had never had this cool sense of having achieved his revenge before. It was like drinking icy plum syrup in the hot of summer and having many beauties warm up the bed for you in cold winter.

Zhang Tie felt that a dauntless man should act like this!

As long as nobody had witnessed him killing Samira, even if Master Abyan doubted the randomness of it, he could do nothing to Zhang Tie.

Soon after this event was solved, Zhang Tie felt that even if he would soon be dispatched to Kalur, he would also feel much more reassured about his family members and friends in Blackhot City. After all, without chopping off his—Samira’s, that villain’s, a poisonous snake’s—head, you didn’t know when he would jump out of his hiding place and bite you or your loved ones.

At noon, Zhang Tie returned to Blackhot City through the west city gate.

Soon after he entered the city, he saw a bald tough guy with a killing Qi in the uniform of the first lieutenant of the Norman Empire passing by him in a car.

Zhang Tie hurriedly shouted out,”Officer Freo!”

With a sound of ‘zhi…’, the Mountain Cat branded military SUV braked. The tough man who was driving and two soldiers on the SUV turned back at the same time and caught sight of Zhang Tie, who was walking on the road in plain clothes.

”Zhang Tie!” First Lieutenant Freo swiftly jumped off the vehicle and came to stand in front of Zhang Tie. The moment he wanted to give him a punch on the shoulder, he realized something and hurriedly stopped. ”How are your wounds?”

”Much better. The air outside Blackhot City is fresh. It’s beneficial to my recuperation, so I came out for a walk!” Zhang Tie casually lied. After that, he looked at a pile of crates containing military materials in the vehicle. ”How’s the camp now?”

”The division has already sent an order. Three days later, Iron-Blood Camp will drive to Kalur as the vanguard of No. 39 Division! Now that the Kalur’s situation is escalating, our frontier troops are in shortage. Skirmishes under the scale of battalions and regiments would occur over ten times each day... That region is becoming more and more bloody...”

Although having long predicted the coming of this day, when he heard the news from First Lieutenant Freo, Zhang Tie’s heart still pounded. In the blink of an eye, the battles between two great countries had come so close to him.

It happened earlier than Zhang Tie had predicted.

Taking a glance at him, First Lieutenant Freo felt regretful and comforte Zhang Tie, ”Based on your wounds, you might not be able to join this battle in Kalur. You just recuperate in Blackhot City, hope we can have a chance to see each other again!”

After patting Zhang Tie’s shoulders, First Lieutenant Freo jumped back into his Mountain Cat SUV and drove away out of Zhang Tie’s vision.

After standing there for a while, Zhang Tie started to run.

He controlled his speed while running past the avenues of Blackhot City, not making it too shocking. He only kept his speed at that of someone chasing after a thief once he realized that his purse had been stolen.

Zhang Tie kept running toward his apartment on Avenue Monet. In the following two days, he only left once, returning with two sacks of various fruits and a barrel of honey that he could buy in the Blackhot City. He then totally immersed himself in the reconstruction of the Castle of Black Iron.

Two days later, three artificial buildings stood in the Castle of Black Iron: two of them were single-story log cabins numbered 3A80, while the other was an independent double-story log cabin numbered 3B90. All the three buildings were purchased from Home of the Wild, and because of them, the entire Castle of Black Iron seemed to be more lively.

The three log cabins had tangerine roofs and tan walls, making them look very beautiful and delicate. Because they were designed and built in modules, the shapes of these log cabins were different from that of common residences. They looked more like wood houses of elves or dwarves from fairy tales. Whether it was styles or designs, they were all simple and chic, full of natural colors and good craftsmanship.

After being built up, the log cabins looked more beautiful than in the photos. From now on, Zhang Tie had his own grain warehouse and biological lab.

All the purchased grains were divided into two single-story log cabins.

In his lab, Zhang Tie started the fermentation using his first batch of basic aura yeast fluid. This fermentation process required water—mountain spring water from the Castle of Black Iron—fruits, honey, and sugar, all of which had been well prepared by Zhang Tie.

Like how he had fermented yeast fluid numerous times at home, he fermented almost 300 kgs yeast fluid. Being sour and sweet, this was his favorite drink when he was young. Sadly, he couldn’t drink too much at home as it was meant for fermenting the rice brew. This time, however, Zhang Tie promised himself to make enough yeast fluid to be able to drink it whenever he wanted in the future.

Besides that, he also left a vial of basic aura yeast fluid in the lab so as to start its second mutation and evolution. Zhang Tie input aura value points inside like how he had done to those bees. No matter how many times he would have to try and whether he would succeed or not, he would never feel loss for those aura value points as they were produced everyday.

After doing these things in the Castle of Black Iron, in the afternoon, a day before the Iron-Blood Camp would leave for the Kalur region, Zhang Tie walked out of his apartment on Avenue Monet in unexpected high spirits in tidy military uniform and boots along with his military officer’s long sword.

Zhang Tie went back home first, accompanying his parents to kill time in the afternoon. During the supper, he told them that the Iron-Blood Camp would drive to Kalur for a big fight. His mom started crying, and the atmosphere at home became very depressing. Although Zhang Tie tried to improve it, even dad and elder brother’s smiles looked very reluctant.

His mom continued to add dishes into his bowl, so he lowered his head and just engulfed whatever she gave him.

It was not easy to fight Sun Dynasty’s Brilliant Feathers. The fight that Zhang Tie was going to experience would be more dangerous and cruel than what his martyr bastard-eldest-brother had experienced; Sun Dynasty’s army was known across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor for its savageness.

After supper, elder sister-in-law put away the bowls and chopsticks and went to the kitchen.

Zhang Tie brought his dad and mom to the chairs in the parlor. After that, he bowed in front of them three times, making a loud sound, ’dong, dong, dong’.

Although his dad didn’t drop tears at supper, he burst out crying now too.

Zhang Tie stood up and revealed a smile. ”Dad and mom, don’t worry, I’ll be back alive. Until I bring you hundreds and thousands of descendants, I will not die. You’ve given me a good name. I’ll be as indestructible as iron!”

...

Zhang Yang then accompanied Zhang Tie out and walked with him for a long distance.

”Zhang Tie, that money...”

”They are clean. It’s Gregory family’s compensation to me!” The moment his elder brother opened his mouth, Zhang Tie knew what he wanted to say. Before departing, he tightly grasped his elder brother’s hands. ”We brothers should not care about these things. Because it’s chaotic everywhere, as long as I leave Blackhot City, you will hardly get any news about me.

”In the future, if I don’t come back in half a year, you should take the money and leave Blackhot City together with dad, mom, and elder sister and go to the Eastern Continent. Then, you should look after our parents well!” Saying that, Zhang Tie took out that resin card with holes on it and gave it to his elder brother. ”When you arrive at the Eastern Continent, you should go find Donder and he will arrange everything for you!”

Zhang Yang’s eyes turned red while he forcefully grabbed Zhang Tie’s shoulder with one of his hands, tears sliding down his cheeks. Zhang Yang was also a soldier, of course he knew what would happened battlefields. In such a great war, no matter how strong a person was, nobody would dare to pat their chest and swear that they could come back alive. Zhang Yang knew that what Zhang Tie had talked at home was only to comfort dad and mom. The real truth was what he was saying now.

”Can’t you just not go there?” Zhang Yang asked.

In Zhang family, only he knew that Zhang Tie was still on his sick leave. He had suffered a heavy wound along with a rare poison. As only a few days had passed since he was given the sick leave, Zhang Tie had reason to not go. If he didn’t appear tomorrow, he then would be able to avoid joining this war.

Actually, the Iron-Blood Camp and the No. 39 Division which knew Zhang Tie’s latest situation had seen that Zhang Tie hadn’t reported to the Iron-Blood Camp. This indicated that he would not be coming there tomorrow as well.

As Zhang Tie’s elder brother, Zhang Yang sincerely wished for him not to go there.

”When there was an assassination attempt on my life, all the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp immediately set out and surrounded the residence of Gregory family in order to avenge me. So this time, I have to be there even if to face a mountain of swords!”

Zhang Yang sighed. He knew Zhang Tie’s personality very well. Sometimes, although his brother was a bit cynical, he was very righteous. Donder had only looked after him for two years, yet he didn’t hesitate to give him the ’Mental Arithmetic by Abacus’. If the whole Iron-Blood Camp could sacrifice themselves for him, then he could also sacrifice himself for the whole Iron-Blood Camp.

This was Zhang Tie!

”I have several brothers and women in Blackhot City, elder brother, you must have seen them. I mean Barley, Pandora... If I cannot come back in the future, when you leave, if you are able to look after them, you’d better give them a hand!”

Zhang Yang solemnly nodded. After that, the two brothers bade farewell to each other. Zhang Yang then saw off Zhang Tie, watching as he disappeared at the end of an avenue.

...

After finishing with his home affairs, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. He then came to Fatty Barley’s home. When he saw his friend, he had also just finished his supper. Beneath the building where Barley lived, Zhang Tie told him that he would leave for Kalur with the Iron-Blood Camp tomorrow. Under Barley’s shocking gaze, Zhang Tie gave him a key.

”This is a safe that I rented out in the Golden Roc Bank of Blackhot City today, the number is 1067. I’ve put something there, as well as a letter for you. When I leave, you can go get the things inside the safe together with Doug and the other brothers!”

After being silent for a while, Barley took Zhang Tie’s key. ”Will you bid farewell to Doug and the other brothers?”

”No need, I cannot stand men crying in front of me; it feels like bidding farewell to a dead body. I prefer women to do that in front of me. ” Bursting out laughing, Zhang Tie tightly embraced Barley. ”Good luck, bro!”

After waving his hand to Barley, he turned back and disappeared in the darkness.