Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie picked that rolled up item and took a careful look at it. F*ck, it was truly a leather waistband. Although it looked nice and was worth dozens of silver coins, it was still a bit weird to see it put together with the advanced weapons that were only available to field officers.

Hold on...

Zhang Tie found something eccentric as the buckle of the leather waistband was a bit special. It was much bigger than that of average waistbands; besides, it was two snakes that wrestled with each other. Although grungy, it was also gorgeous. The space formed by the two wrestling snakes seemed like it could be used hold the waistband.

Zhang Tie noticed a raised button under the waistband buckle. The moment he pressed it, the metal buckle jumped upward and was tightly held in his hand.

At the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that this leather waistband was a soft sword that could be fastened around his waist. Donder once sold similar items in his grocery store. However, when the handle-like snake-shaped metal item jumped out, Zhang Tie thought this was a hidden dagger. However, when he held it, he became dumbfounded as this was neither a soft sword nor a dagger but purely just a sword handle without a blade at all.

Zhang Tie took a careful look at it. It was truly a handle with a 2-cm wide gap in the hand-guard where the two snakes were opening their mouths. It was so small, just like the wound that Zhang Tie had cut on his own hand last night.

’What’s this? A hidden weapon? Although it holds good, there’s no hidden button or switch on the snake-shaped handle at all. ’

”What’s this?”

Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping who was standing beside him, asked.

”It’s a very special sword!” first lieutenant said and took the item from Zhang Tie’s hand.

”Keep away from me, I will display to you how to use this sword!”

Zhang Tie and Pi Ping moved several steps back.

”You’d better keep two meters away. This sword is a bit special, I cannot well control it...”

Zhang Tie and Pi Ping then moved several more steps back until they were two meters away from the first lieutenant. At the same time, they were wondering what kind of sword it was.

”Keep your eyes on it!”

Soon after he finished talking, the officer took a deep breath and flicked that sword in his hand. With a light sound of ”cha”, a sharp and thin sword blade popped out of that snake-shaped handle. A sharp, chilly light flashed and a steel rod on a hanger one meter ahead of the first lieutenant was cut into two parts.

And the chilly light kept sweeping over and striking in another direction disorderly for several times like a disobedient spring. Two times it even struck towards Zhang Tie and Pi Ping, who were so scared that they moved two steps back at once. That first lieutenant then forcefully controlled that sword handle to calm the freely jumping blade.

”The blade of this sword is completely hidden in the handle. You need to use your hidden strength, invisible strength, or battle qi to force it out. Because the blade of this sword is soft, thin, and flexible, it’s hard to control. If one makes a mistake, one might easily hurt himself. That’s why it has been here for a very long time,no officers wanting to select it...”

After the officer said his piece, Zhang Tie walked towards that sword. He pinched the blade which was as thick as cicada’s wings and a bit wider than two centimeters with his two fingers and took a careful look at it. At this moment, the blade was not longer than 1 m. However, he had felt before that the blade was over longer than that.

”Watch out, I’m using my hidden strength to push the blade. If I collect my hidden strength, the blade would draw back and wound your hand...”

”What’s the full length of the blade?” Zhang Tie asked.

”About 3 m. You can pull the blade by hand. I will slowly push it out using my hidden strength to show you its full length!”

Thus, Zhang Tie pinched the tip of the blade with his two fingers and moved back. Being slowly pushed by the first lieutenant officer’s hidden strength, the blade was slowly pulled out. It was truly about 3 m in full length.

F*ck! Gazing at such an exaggeratedly thin and narrow blade, Zhang Tie immediately understood the source of the creator’s inspiration.

Metallic tape!

The source of the inspiration for inventing this sword was such a common item in people’s daily life. Zhang Tie could still remember that when he was very young, he took out his dad’s metallic tape to play. In the end, because the tape drew back too fast, it wounded his face and hand at the same time. For this, he was even beaten by his mom, which really left a deep impression in his mind.

The blade of this sword was like the metallic tape which was rolled and hidden in the sword handle. One had to use special strength to push it out. Once that strength disappeared, it would draw back itself. With the exception of the materials, the craftsmanship, and that gorgeous handle, was there any difference between this special long sword and a metallic tape that cost only dozens of copper coins on principle and originality?

Was it because the inventor of this sword was once wounded by a metallic tape when he was young at home that he had such an idea when he grew up—it was definitely like that.

For powerhouses, plain clothes could be taken as rags, let alone such a delicate and sharp weapon. Besides hard control, the reason that the weapon had not been selected by others was mainly that it was designed a bit womanly in both style and usage, which was a bit inconsistent with the masculine, gorgeous, and magnificent weapons that were pursued by the soldiers who followed the Battle God.

Although others didn’t like this weapon, for Zhang Tie, it was very proper.

That waistband was basically a portable hanger for that weapon. This portable and unattractive item was mot suitable to Zhang Tie’s current situation.　

As for its usage in actual combat, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits could solve this problem very soon.

This special sword had a very proper name—Red-Snake Sword!

Red snakes were poisonous. According to the first lieutenant, there were some special red decorative patterns on the blade that had undergone special treatment. When one used his hidden strength to push it out, one would see a shiny, swimming red snake. Additionally, based on one’s strength to push it out, the colors and the quantity of red snakes displayed would also be different.

Undoubtedly, although a bit weird, this red snake sword was definitely qualified to be put in here.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Tie chose it straight away.

Because he could not easily try it here, nor did he want to reveal the truth that he had completely recovered, he chose this sword without even trying it once. Instead, he signed a document of taking it away before leaving with Pi Ping. By the time they arrived at the gate of the Equipment Center, Zhang Tie had undone his own average waistband and thrown it into a dustbin. Soon after that, he fastened the red-snake sword around his waist.

He was in a very good mood.

...

In the evening, Zhang Tie ate supper in the same hotel where he ate with Bilis last time. This time, he felt that his appetite had increased by almost 20%. It seemed like an effect brought by his preliminary recovery body. After eating the same amount of food as usual, Zhang Tie ordered one more steak, after eating which, he felt almost full.

After this meal, Zhang Tie felt that after digesting the food, the nutrients and energy in the food were making him more energetic, both spiritually and physically at a faster speed. There seemed to be one more warm qi inside him when he ate the food, which made him very comfortable.

Zhang Tie was certain since when Bilis was standing in front of him respectfully. After eating supper, Zhang Tie glanced at Bilis. After one week, the man had changed his clothes. He was wearing a casquette and looked good, at least much more decent than the last time.

”Take a seat...”

After being allowed to sit, Bilis carefully sat opposite of Zhang Tie and reported about what had happened this week.

As was expected, after the allocation of the twenty gold coins that Zhang Tie had blackmailed from Mr. Beise to those ruffians whose legs were broken by him, none of them hesitated. They all received the treatment fee and started to work for Bilis. For those ruffians, it was one hundred times more honorable to rely on Zhang Tie than that guy who had a ring on his nose.

Zhang Tie felt a bit pleasant inside as he experienced the effect of compliments and warnings for the first time. It also brought him a sense of achievement to have tamed some ruffians into his lackeys.

”I told you to collect information about those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty. How about that?”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s question, Bilis became a bit nervous. ”It’s said that those people who were responsible for capturing those people were the secret police of the Norman Empire. As they work very secretly, I could not get any relevant news!”

This answer was also within Zhang Tie’s expectations. As Bilis could tell him who were responsible for catching those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty, it seemed that he had done a lot However, people like him could only collect some gossip instead of secret news.

After the report, Bilis became a bit nervous and glanced at Zhang Tie. ”Uhm... I’ve got one problem!”

”What’s that?”

”Those people... still don’t trust that I’m working for you. They... they want to see you, their true boss before being certain!”

Zhang Tie slightly frowned at first, but soon calmed down. This was also within his expectations.

”Have they recovered?”

”Not yet, but after receiving treatment, many of them can walk now!”

”Someday next week I’ll meet them!”

”Okay!”

Bilis then lowered his head...

...

Now, Zhang Tie didn’t have time to care about this trivial affair at all. What he mostly wanted to do was to return to his residence and enter the Trouble-Reappearance Situation to try his Red-Snake Sword...