Castle of Black Iron

Jinwu City was neighboring Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province, which was less than 600 miles from Embracing Tiger City. The distance between Jinwu City and Embracing Tiger City might be a bit long for commoners, which would cost a lot of time by train or airship; however, as for an earth knight like Zhang Tie, the distance of 600 miles was like leaving home for the marketplace. Even though Zhang Tie didn’t use the ability of divine dominator, he could also arrive at Embracing Tiger City in 1 hour.

After the 5th day of the lunar January, it didn’t snow in Youzhou Province anymore. However, it was as cold as usual; especially these days. After the accumulated snow started to melt, it became much colder in the air.

Flying in the sky, Zhang Tie found that the landscape below was covered with white snow. Zhang Tie entered the air territory above Tiger Embracing City before 2 pm. He then landed on a lane of a residential area which was unpopulated nearby the harbor of Embracing Tiger City.

After landing on the lane, Zhang Tie put on his snow-proof hood and buckled it up. As a result, the greater part of his face had been covered at once, only exposing his eyebrows and eyes. The others couldn’t identify the face under the hood at all; they could only identify that this man was not old.

Given Zhang Tie’s popularity in Youzhou Province; especially Embracing Tiger City, he couldn’t be identified by people on the street only in this way.

Zhang Tie just stayed with his family members at home these days. Although he also gained some messages from outside, as these messages were indirect, they were not accurate enough. Coincidentally, as he came to Tiger Embracing City to attend the meeting, he wanted to check the atmosphere in Embracing Tiger City too. As a knight in Taixia Country, now that he didn’t plan to hide in Castle of Black Iron completely, he had to care about something more or less. As Zhang Tie was also once an average person, he knew that something couldn’t be more genuine and concrete unless among the people.

There was thin accumulated snow on the ground of the lane. Zhang Tie walked out of the lane toward the outside street.

By contrast, the street outside the lane was pretty boisterous.

The moment Zhang Tie arrived at the mouth of the lane, a gate near the mouth of the lane had opened, causing a squeak. Some people walked out of there. 2 people were seeing off another 2 people.

“Second younger brother, I will hand Deming to you. When he comes to your boîte, teach him whatever you want. Beat him if he’s not obedient. Don’t spoil him. Let him do all the dirty and tired jobs in the boîte!”

The 2 people who were leaving were a middle-aged couple in ordinary dress. Given their looks, they must come from rural areas outside the city. Although they wore clean clothes, Zhang Tie could easily know their identities the moment he saw them. The man who was talking looked simple and honest.

“Eldest brother, don’t worry. I will treat De Ming as my own son. As long my family has food, we will never make him hungry!” The couple who saw them off looked a bit younger. Given the looks of the current speaker and the earlier one, they must be brothers. “I will slowly teach Deming about the affairs in the boîte. Deming could also be a boss in the future!”

“With your words, I’m reassured!”

“We’re of the same family. At this moment, you and eldest sister-in-law don’t need to be so kind to us. Deming, come over here. Bid a farewell to your dad and mom. Later on, you could only meet your parents once a few months in the Embracing Tiger City…”

A teenager with bloody eyes moved forward and knelt down on the snow before the younger couple, “Dad, mom, don’t worry about me. After I grasp talents from the second uncle and make enough money, I will buy a house in the downtown and bring you there…”

When Zhang Tie came over there, the 5 people turned around to glance at him at the same time. Zhang Tie just passed by leisurely. He didn’t let them feel that he was watching them just like a passer-by. He then came to the bustling street.

Although it was cold, after the new year festival, the street had become boisterous. After the 3rd day of lunar January, the roadside stores had opened constantly. A minority of stores would open on the 6th day or the 8th day of the lunar January for a good fortune. Only a few stores had not opened after the Lantern Festival. The bosses of these stores must be in the other provinces and had not come back yet.

There were some traces of celebrating the Lantern Festival 3 days ago on the street. The front stores were all hanging delicate lanterns. Some lanterns were even hanging over twigs on the roadside.

Zhang Tie walked on the streets leisurely. Many people on the street were in the same snow-proof hood like him. Embracing Tiger City was close to the ocean. Therefore, the sea wind was stronger in winter. These days, those who sought living outside had to cover their faces and daub fish oil over their faces in case of being wounded by the piercingly cold wind. Many people in Tiger Embracing City were in similar dress. Besides being exquisite and delicate, Zhang Tie’s dress was nothing special. Therefore, nobody paid special attention to him on the street. The back of hands and faces of some people on the street were oily too. They might be seeking a living on the wharf or the ship.

“Eldest brother, I will call a car to carry you back!”

“No need, we’ve come to Embracing Tiger City for a few times. We’re familiar with the road. When your eldest sister-in-law and I arrived at Embracing Tiger City, we’ve made an appointment with Li Dazhuang who’s responsible for delivering grains. We will wait for him at the west gate of Tiger Embracing City and go back by his vehicle. Hurry, go back, it’s cold outside…”

The street outside the lane was east-west. After coming to the street, Zhang Tie immediately turned to the west leisurely.

Even though he had turned to the street, the talk in the lane still drifted in his ears. Needless to say, Zhang Tie knew that the rural couple must have politely declined the good intention of the urban couple. Even though, the urban couple still saw him off to the mouth of the lane. After talking with each other for a short while, they had departed. The rural couple just walked 30 m away behind Zhang Tie while the urban couple had returned home and closed the door with the son of the rural couple.

After leaving the mouth of the lane for a short while, when they were a bit farther away from the mouth of the lane, the woman who was always silent suddenly uttered, “Younger sister-in-law didn’t speak just now; I’m a bit worried about it…”

The man became silent for a second before nodding affirmatively, “Don’t worry, my second younger brother is strong-minded. His words work at home. When my second younger brother came to Embracing Tiger City for developing his undertaking, his boîte was even bought by our brothers. Our family even sold about 7,000 square meters’ land. I even sold some cattle for him. Over these years, you’ve already seen that, my second younger brother is not that ungrateful. He usually helped our family; not to mention that he watched Deming growing up. Whatever, he’s Deming’s uncle. He will not mistreat Deming!”

“Although it sounds reasonable, I’m still worried about that. After all, Deming will stay in Embracing Tiger City for not only a few months. If it’s too long, I’m afraid that the second sister-in-law would feel unhappy…”

“Alas, we have to do that!” The simple and honest man let out a sigh before continuing, “In our village, those able ones would hurriedly send their children into the downtown. It’s said that Landlord Liu has sent his children into a school in Youzhou City. Old Cao has sent his son to Goldenlight City as an apprentice; even Li Laizi’s two children have been sent into the sawmill in Embracing Tiger City which was opened by his uncle. The downtown would always be safer than the rural areas more or less. A few years ago, it was safe and stable in rural areas; however, it’s becoming dangerous in rural areas now. It’s said that hundreds of villages outside cities had been cleaned by bloody figures overnight. Many people even became the food of those bloody figures. The 3-5 m high guardrails and walls outside the villages could only prevent ordinary wild beasts and burglars. Bloody figures could easily jump over them. Ordinary villages couldn’t resist bloody figures at all. A few days ago, bloody figures had already arrived at Youzhou Province. It’s said that many people were killed. We have to find a way for Deming…”

“I’m only worried about Deming…”

“The country is becoming increasingly chaotic. It’s nothing for Deming to suffer some hardships as long as he’s safe. Ah, where’s that set of jade jewelry? Bring them when we come to Embracing Tiger City next time. You give them to 2nd sister-in-law stealthily. Don’t let my 2nd younger brother know that. It’s women’s business.”

“Ahh? I keep them for Dehua’s wife in the future. No matter how poor we’re, if we want to marry a son-in-law, we have to prepare some nice-looking jewelry!”

“Dehua is in the army. He doesn’t need them for the time being. We’d better deal with Deming’s affair first! It’s better than nothing as long as the two brothers could survive! When spring comes, I will try my luck in the mountain and find some wild ginseng…”

“As you wish…” The woman nodded after being silent for a second…

Zhang Tie knew that it was very dangerous to find ginseng in the mountains of Youzhou Province; especially for fighters below LV 9. As wild ginseng grew in mountains, which were covered with mutated beasts, commoners had to risk a great danger to enter mountains. Man people couldn’t come back alive.

‘How poor parents!’

Zhang Tie let out a long sigh as he had not imagined that even Embracing Tiger City which was far away from the catastrophe of bloody figures could suffer from such a great shock. Even the villagers outside the city wanted to send their family members to the downtown and seek for a safe asylum.

After looking at the flow rate of people on the street seriously, Zhang Tie found that there were indeed more people than when he came here last two times.

Even Youzhou Province had been in such an urgent situation, not to mention the other provinces. Although there were many cities in Taixia Country, over 70-80% of people lived outside of cities. The moment the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out, the entire country was in a panic while villagers hurriedly poured into downtowns. Some downtowns might have been in chaos.

When Zhang Tie slightly frowned and thought about it, he heard a roar from the inn in front of him, “You lunatic, how dare you pretend to be a pharmacist? How could a pharmacist be so poor in Taixia Country? If you don’t have money, roll out of my inn…”

Closely after the roar, one person had been thrown out of the door together with his quilt and blanket.