Castle of Black Iron

For some reason, since he caught sight of that warehouse burned to ruins, Zhang Tie, sitting on the horse taxi, had a bad premonition. He couldn’t figure out the reason but felt a burden of a heavy stone in his heart, making him a bit uncomfortable.

’Who burnt the warehouse to destroy the scene?’

’Were they accomplices of those spies of the Sun Dynasty?’

That was possible. The fifteen people that he had killed that night might not have been all of the spies. There might be others in this city who might know that this warehouse was one of their secret bases in Blapei.

However, why would they ruin this place? To destroy the evidence? That was possible. But wouldn’t it be too attention-seeking to set a fire? If there were truly other spies alive, what would they do after finding that all of their partners had been killed?

’If it were me, in that case, I would definitely escape at once. I would never stay in Blapei any more, let alone set a fire.　

’I wonder whether those corpses were still in the fire. In that was the case, someone should have come here to investigate the fire accident. If more than ten corpses were suddenly found in a fire accident, it would never be ignored no matter where it was.

’In the Norman Empire, according to the rules, any scene of fire would be surrounded with a yellow cordon once it was found. That cordon would remain for a very long time. However, just now, Zhang Tie had not seen any cordon around the scene of the fire accident. Did that mean that those corpses had been moved away by the time the investigators arrived...’

It was a good day, but the previous questions made Zhang Tie feel like he was surrounded by mist.

Because this event involved him and his top secret, Zhang Tie couldn’t just ignore it. He had a weird and startling feeling about the place being burnt to ruins.

In the horse taxi, Zhang Tie arrived at the block where Mr. and Mr. Green house was located. He then got off the vehicle and made a mark on a roadside lamp before returning to his residence.

As usual, in the early morning, Mr. and Mrs. Green were still looking after their vegetables in the garden before their building. Perhaps what Zhang Tie had done on that night one week before had greatly shocked them, for at the sight of Zhang Tie this time, although Mr. Green still took off his hat to greet him, Zhang Tie saw a wisp of fear and hesitation on the faces of this old couple.

For two seniors who had peacefully lived in Blapei for dozens of years, Zhang Tie’s cold-blooded deed of ordering a soldier to chop off a person’s head without any hesitation that night made them very frightened of this military officer of Norman Empire, even if Zhang Tie felt that he was 100% merciful at that time.

Zhang Tie went upstairs. At the entrance of the stairs of the first floor, he saw the woman of the young couple living on the second floor preparing to go off to buy vegetables with a basket. At the sight of him, her face immediately turned pale.

Previously, she was walking in the middle of the stairs, but when she caught sight of Zhang Tie, she immediately became still and leaned against the guardrail of the stairs, forcing a smile and waiting for him to go upstairs first.

Zhang Tie felt speechless, let out a sigh inside, and rapidly strode upstairs, arriving at his own residence on the fourth floor.

Several minutes later, after putting on his military uniform, Zhang Tie left the residence. On the roadside, he stopped a horse taxi before directly driving towards the base of the No. 9 Equipment Administration of the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Center.

Upon Zhang Tie’s arrival, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping still expressed his passionate greetings like before; however, he obviously misunderstood the intention of Zhang Tie’s arrival. Soon after Zhang Tie arrived in the office, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping gave him an account book and a purse. As the gray income of the 9th Equipment Center was once per two weeks, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping thought that Zhang Tie was here for the money.

The top and bottom of standard gold coins of the Norman Empire were respectively spinulose tree fern and two crossed spears of the Battle God. The first one was the national flower of the Norman Empire while the second was the symbol of the national church of the Norman Empire.

Rubbing that delicate gold coin in his hand, Zhang Tie sighed inside. This life was rightly what he had dreamed of before. He could have a lot of money without doing anything each day. Although not being fabulously rich, he was already well-off. With this amount of money, he could purchase real estate or have a great number of women. After that, he could just be accompanied by a lot of women and gold coins like a pig.

This kind of life seemed being so close to him. However, Zhang Tie knew that if he didn’t try his best to run forward, he might not able to live this way for too many days before everything that he owned might turn to nothing.

For instance, there seemed to be a thing that might bring him a great trouble at the present.

Seeing Zhang Tie holding a gold coin and sighing, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping, who had been watching his face, thought that Zhang Tie might not be satisfied with his share.

”Although this share is not too much, it’s a tradition of No. 9 Equipment Administration that has been formed for many years. If you want to break this tradition, you might offend many people.

Previously there were some people in your position who wanted a bigger share, but in the end, none of them could stay long in this position!” Second Lieutenant Pi Ping carefully explained to Zhang Tie.

After all, people were usually moved by money. When one could receive a share of 10% of the profits, one would consider gaining a share of 20% percent. Second Lieutenant thought that new first lieutenant administrator might want to receive more than what he was receiving, that 20%.

After glancing at Second Lieutenant Pi Ping, who was sitting in front of him, Zhang Tie forced a smile as he put the purse inside his coat. He weighed it and felt that there were at least 22 gold coins inside, which was about the amount of his father’s two-year salary. For commoners, this was not a small amount of money.

”Second lieutenant, I’m very satisfied with the current situation and don’t have any intention to change anything, so you don’t need to worry about that!”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s words, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping let out a sigh inside.

After drinking a mouth of water, Zhang Tie casually asked, ”I’ve been in the rural area to recuperate during the past week, so why do I feel that the atmosphere in Blapei has become even more intense than last week. Haven’t those saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty been caught?”

”On Wednesday, two soldiers of the No. 21 Division got lost in Blapei. Because of this, the atmosphere in Blapei became intense again this couple of days!” Second Lieutenant Pi Ping lowered his voice. ”Because the Iron-Blood Army didn’t want to cause any more tenseness in Blapei, they didn’t release this news to the public!”

Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. ”Was that done by the spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty?”

”It’s very possible. But I don’t know the details either. It’s those red gloves of the Norman Empire who are responsible for catching those people. Pitifully, they didn’t make any achievements since they came here for two weeks ago. It seems that those guys only enjoy an undeserved fame...”

As he said this, a sarcastic smile appeared on Second Lieutenant Pi Ping’s face.

”Red gloves?” Hearing the name for the first time, Zhang Tie became confused and he glanced at Second Lieutenant Pi Ping. ”What are red gloves?”

Not until then did Second Lieutenant Pi Ping realize that this new officer from Blackhot City might not know who were those ”red gloves”, so he carefully explained it to Zhang Tie. Even if he was very talkative, speaking of those people, he still couldn’t keep from showing a disgusted expression. Nobody across the Iron-Horn Army would like those guys in red gloves.

”You mean it’s the secret police under the affiliation of the Order Review Committee of the Norman Empire who’s responsible for catching those saboteurs and spies in Blapei?”

Learning of this news, Zhang Tie was shocked inside.

”Right, those guys might be involved with the conflicts between big figures above them. It’s said that there were contradictions between marshal Lin Changjiang and some big figures of Order Review Committee of the Norman Empire...”

Second Lieutenant Pi Ping then explained Zhang Tie the inside story about those red gloves who came to Blapei to investigate the explosion case.

”Because two soldiers of the No. 21 Division disappeared, everybody doubted that it was done by those spies of the Sun Dynasty, but nobody knew what to do next. The higher officers were very irritated, so the atmosphere in Blapei became a bit tense these days. Additionally, many more red gloves were dispatched to Blapei this week...”

’Does that mean that there is another batch of spies in Blapei besides those who were killed by me?’

Thinking of this, Zhang Tie let out a small breath inside. Perhaps the warehouse was truly burnt by them. They really didn’t fear death and didn’t escape at once after the event was revealed. There might even be some unknown secret in that warehouse that they didn’t want to expose to the public. After all, he was too hurried at that time and didn’t make any careful check around the warehouse.

Zhang Tie then thought about several ”proper reasons” inside for everything that had happened.

At this moment, Zhang Tie didn’t feel that there was any connection between those ”red gloves’ mentioned by Second Lieutenant Pi Ping and him. ”Red gloves” were just a fighting tool that was thrown into Blapei by a big figure, targeting those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty. How could he be involved with those small figures?

Thinking this, although being still a bit confused, Zhang Tie just ignored it.

”Do you have an acquaintance in the Equipment Center of the Army?” Zhang Tie asked Pi Ping.

”I know every military officer in the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army!” Second Lieutenant Pi Ping proudly said.

People like Second Lieutenant Pi Ping were always well-informed. Additionally, he could help you get acquainted with a lot of friends. Although people like Leinhardt were very awe-inspiring on a battlefield, people like Second Lieutenant Pi Ping could also be very helpful in some aspects.

”Then go to drive a car, I will go to the Equipment Center of the Army.”

”What are you going to... sir”

”I was told that the one who earns the Iron-Blood Medal can receive a special weapon in the Equipment Center of the Army.”

Zhang Tie smiled. Since he was almost disabled several days ago, he didn’t think about the reward at the time. After all, he would not able to use it, however, he had completely recovered now, so of course he would go to get such a benefit. He didn’t have a proper weapon either, so it sounded reasonable to select a weapon in the Equipment Center.

Since it was the Equipment Center of the entire army, it should have many items that were better than those in the arsenal in Blackhot City.