Castle of Black Iron

”What’s that?” Zhang Tie asked Ford.

”Based on our intelligence and the analysis of demons’ biologists, it might be an evolutionary form of the parent puppet worm!” Ford told Zhang Tie with a solemn look.

”This is a parent puppet worm?” After hearing this answer, Zhang Tie, who had learned parent puppet worm before became so amazed that his mouth could even hold some chicken eggs. In Zhang Tie’s imagination, although the parent puppet worm was very terrifying, it was as weak as a grub. However, this one was like a hill. What a sharp difference!

”Are you kidding me? This object is so huge, you tell me it’s a parent puppet worm?” Zhang Tie couldn’t even believe that the object was a living being, not to mention a parent puppet worm.

”In order to obtain this intelligence, we’ve already sacrificed a lot of people; however, our intelligence is incomplete. What we can confirm is that this object could turn alive humans into demonized puppets at a very fast speed. Have you seen these dense honeycombs?”

Major General Ford pointed at those honeycombs as he explained, ”We don’t know what’s inside them, but If the alive people entered them, they would be bound in the honeycombs and immersed in some fluid. Only after half a month, those people would turn into demonized puppets when they come out of those honeycombs.”

”Half a month?” Zhang Tie drew in a mouth of breath.

”Yes, this object could turn a normal alive person into a demonized puppet in only half a month!”

”It’s like demons’ arsenal!”

”This metaphor is very proper. This object could produce 20-30 thousands of demonized puppets in one month.”

”If this object is the parent puppet worm, all the demonized puppets that it produces will not stay far away from it. This object cannot move, right?”

”The alliance command has already inquired many experts about this question. Those experts reached a very consistent conclusion, if this object is an evolutionary form of puppet worms, the demonized puppets that it produces would be greatly different than those demonized puppets produced by common parent puppet worms. Demonized puppets of the average puppet worms would fight near their parent puppet worms; their moving distance was limited even though they could leave their parent puppet worms. Basically, demonized puppets would always follow those parent puppet worms.”

”However, those demonized puppets created by that object might be able to fight alone even if they were far away from this object. They might not even rely on that object at all. We don’t know about the details; but we can confirm that demons would not produce a pile of demonized puppets which could only move in a limited zone. ”

Major General Ford explained.

Zhang Tie became silent for a few seconds before asking, ”What does the alliance command want me to do?”

”The alliance command wants to confirm whether there are a lot of such objects in the north of Titanic Douchy and the number of demonized puppets corps that had been produced by such objects. This intelligence would pose a greater influence on the war situation across Selnes Theater of Operations.” Major General Ford explained very solemnly.

”Where did you take this photo from?”

”The object in the photo comes from a city of Viginia Federation in the north of the zone occupied by demons. That city is adjacent to the sea. We gained some incomplete intelligence nearby the sea after sacrificing a lot of people. Now, it’s very hard to gain intelligence about the zone occupied by demons. We need to sacrifice a lot of scouts and intelligence agents for a small piece of intelligence.”

Major General Ford then lowered his voice, ”In order to gain the relevant intelligence about the north of Titanic Douchy, we’ve already dispatched over 30 airships there for an investigation. They have already deepened into the zone occupied by demons. However, as airships could be easily noticed, none of them returned. Those on the airships were all elite boys. We’ve also dispatched there ground squads of scouts and intelligence agents composed of powerhouses above LV 9; however, none of them came back after entering the zone occupied by demons. This intelligence and relevant information are very important; therefore...”

Due to the special status of Zhang Tie, he didn’t need to follow anyone’s guidance in Selnes Theater of Operations; therefore, the alliance command could only negotiate it with Zhang Tie, instead of sending an order.

”I accept this task!” after thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.

Major General Ford looked relaxed at once, ”Do you have any requirements?”

”Yes, of course, I have!” Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards Lan Yunxi. After realizing something, Lan Yunxi glared at him.

”What’s that?”

”I only have one requirement. Please give me at least a viscount-level secret cultivation knowledge!” Zhang Tie said frankly.

Major General Ford had not imagined that Zhang Tie could pose such a requirement. After being silent for a few seconds, he threw a glance at Lan Yunxi. After that, he thought for a while before slowly nodding, ”I cannot promise you, but I can report your requirement to the superior. As the viscount-level secret knowledge is a rarity, can you tell me the purpose of that secret knowledge?”

”Of course, it’s used for cultivation. I’m just LV 9, due to some reason, I could not gain the secret cultivation knowledge in Huaiyuan Palace. However, the battle grows fiercer now. Therefore, I urgently crave for a secret knowledge so that I can continue to improve my fighting strength! It’s my lowest requirement.” Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.

After planting the golden seed of ’King Roc Sutra’ in the Shrine, Zhang Tie really wanted a complete secret cultivation knowledge so as to cover the method that he was cultivating. He could still hide it now; however, after he promoted to LV 11, he could not tell others that he was cultivating an emperor-level secret cultivation knowledge. Therefore, of course, Zhang Tie would seize this opportunity to obtain a complete secret cultivation knowledge. After that, his constant promotion would not arouse any doubt from others.

Now, the Blackson Humans Corridor was in a chaos. In such a chaotic situation, the high-end secret cultivation knowledge could even be found in illegal demon hunters’ market. Actually, it was not difficult for the alliance command to fetch a viscount-level secret knowledge for him.

After gaining Zhang Tie’s reply, Major General Ford left by a car under the gaze of Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi.

Seeing Major General Ford’s car disappearing into the distance, Lan Yunxi turned around and watched Zhang Tie, ”Have you long expected to wait for someone to bring you the secret knowledge?”

Zhang Tie instantly complained, ”Don’t think of me as a sinister, I almost lost my life for that secret knowledge!”

”You deserve that!” Lan Yunxi scolded Zhang Tie in a low voice.

Given her look, Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi was joking with him. Zhang Tie didn’t want to talk about the danger that he had encountered in the illegal demon hunters market. He thought that it was unnecessary to show off the frustrations and misfortunes that he had met before.

”Yes, Is the situation really that severe in the demon zone?” Zhang Tie transferred the topic. He knew that Lan Yunxi must know more than him about the demon zone based on her current status and her background as the princess of Huaiyuan Palace.

”Yes!” Lan Yunxi slightly frowned, ”Recently, that squad of elite demons decreased their frequency of appearance in Selnes Theater of Operations. Instead, more and more demonized puppets appeared there. That’s not a good hint.”

”Are demons consuming the strength of the allied human forces using demonized puppets?” Zhang Tie realized it right away, ”Don’t we have powerful knights? Why not dispatch some knights over there?”

”How do you know that human knights have not been dispatched there?” Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie with a special, solemn look.

Zhang Tie was stunned, ”Ah? You mean human knights have already attended the battle?”

Lan Yunxi became silent for a few seconds, ”From January, we’ve lost two human knights across Selnes Theater of Operations. Without knights, the Selnes Theater of Operations would be in another situation.”

Lan Yunxi’s reply shocked Zhang Tie a lot, ”That’s a major event. But why don’t I know about it? Nobody talked about it at all!”

”You won’t understand the world and battlefield of knights!” Lan Yunxi said gloomily.

...

”What is knights’ world?”

As Lan Yunxi was busy, after talking with Zhang Tie for a while, she left. Zhang Tie just stared at Lan Yunxi’s back frankly...

...

As he had already posed a requirement for a secret cultivation knowledge, Zhang Tie didn’t enter Castle of Black Iron to light his invisible surging points using leakless fruits. As long as he started to light those invisible surging points except for those on his spine and headed for LV 10, some powerhouses could sense it. They might have a doubt, ’Didn’t you want a secret cultivation knowledge after LV 9? How did you start to cultivate it before you got that?’

In order to avoid such a conflict, Zhang Tie waited for two days, during which period, he gradually relaxed himself. Meanwhile, he was preparing for the dangerous task arranged by the alliance command.

In the preparation, what Zhang Tie was interested in most was a wholly-new glider designed and manufactured by the Hoorn Republic...

That was an unprecedented glider that nobody could make before the Catastrophe. It was both a glider and a private plane which was customized for Zhang Tie with propeller as the driving force...

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