Chapter 564 - 183 - 190

Chapter 183: Alice's Tears

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

Zhang Tie told his doctor that he was going home to convalesce. Given his current status and reputation, after prescribing some medicine, the doctor seriously told him about the matters that need attention before straightforwardly arranging the hospital discharge formalities for him.

Actually, in an occupied city facing such a military officer of the conqueror, the hospital had long wished for Zhang Tie to leave as early as possible. If something wrong happened to him, nobody knew what kind of big trouble would be brought to their hospital.

In the afternoon, Zhang Tie returned to his apartment in the Avenue Monet together with Pandora, Alice, and Beverly. This was the first time the three girls came to visit Zhang Tie's private settlement.

The residence left by Donder was very clean. He seemed to have had people send in all the furniture and daily utilities here a day before he brought Zhang Tie. Therefore, everything inside was new, and the air was filled with an aroma of fresh wooden furniture.

For some reason, when they all went inside, Zhang Tie locked the door from inside. Seeing this, the three girls all became slightly nervous.

Zhang Tie toured them around his residence. In each room they entered, Zhang Tie would pull down the curtains of the windows to make the light inside dimmer and blurrier. Therefore, outsiders would not be able to see what was happening in the room.

Each time Zhang Tie pulled down the curtains, the three girls pretended not to have seen his movements. After the curtains were pulled down one by one with the continual sound of 'shua', the atmosphere in the current room became ambiguous, and they started to breathe heavy.

On the way back from the hospital, after Angel and the other girls had left, Zhang Tie felt hot all over. His heart pounded heavily. With each beat, it would make him feel warmer, and like there was something untamed inside him.

Especially after the last near-death experience, Zhang Tie started to treasure his life.

He really wanted to do something...

The three girls all felt the scorching feeling coming off Zhang Tie.

On the way back , he had only spoken a few words. He drove so fast that everyone could predict that something was going to happen today.

After guiding them around his residence, Zhang Tie finally took them to his bedroom.

The bedroom was a suite close to the inside of the residence. The only window in the bedroom opened to a sitting room.

After opening the door of the bedroom, a big bed covered with a beige bed sheet appeared in front of them. As no natural lights were in the bedroom, even though it was day time outside, it was somewhat dim inside, especially when Zhang Tie pulled down the curtains to the sitting room. The entire bedroom seemed to be at twilight, giving a feeling of blurriness.

By then, the three girls were not able to move anymore. Zhang Tie embraced Alice with one hand and Beverly with the other. After that, he thrust his body against Pandora and took the three girls into the bedroom under their slightly symbolic resistance.

With a 'bang', Zhang Tie shut the door with a forceful kick before locking it from inside. The room then was isolated and became a more independent space.

"You bad boy, you've not recovered yet!"

Beverly bit her lip with a giggle.

"I used a miraculous advanced recovery medicament last night, so I'm completely recovered!"

The moment Alice became bashful and reserved, she was thrown onto the bed in a rude way by Zhang Tie, causing a scream.

Pandora, who had long been thrust into the room and was red in her face and ears, turned back and started kissing him hotly. Zhang Tie's free hand, in the meantime, undid the buttons of Beverly's clothes. He then embraced her and Pandora with both hands, and pushed them onto the bed.

...

The room was soon filled with gasps.

...

After losing their minds for over twenty minutes, the four people on the bed finally came to the last step. Pandora and Beverly hugged Alice on two sides to make preparation for her to become Zhang Tie's first woman. Zhang Tie's face blushed, and his breathing quickened.

At the most critical moment, he saw sad tears in Alice's eyes. She didn't resist, nor did she struggle, but her tears and sadness immediately shocked Zhang Tie. Close to the city wall, his mummy stopped all of a sudden.

"What's wrong?" he asked Alice.

Without saying anything, Alice just shook here head while tears continuing running down her cheeks...

Zhang Tie gazed at her for half a minute before lightly kissing away the tears at the corners of her eyes. He then covered her beautiful body with a quilt. After that, Zhang Tie threw himself onto the bed, panting heavily, and started to stare at the ceiling blankly.

"What's up?"

Pandora lightly kissed Zhang Tie's cheek. Beverly also drew close and laid down on his chest. Feeling hot, their cheeks red, they didn't know why Zhang Tie would stop at this moment.

"I thought back to what my mom had told me. She said, if you really love a girl, you should never let her cry for you. A man who lets his woman cry for him is not a good man!"

"I'm sorry..." Alice put on her inner clothes and buckled on her corsage again, lowering her head. She explained in a low voice, "I just... just cannot get used to it. I had a dream since I was very young, I wished to give away my most precious thing to the man who would only love me in his whole life!"

"Do you want Zhang Tie to choose you along from among us?' Beverly asked, turning her head.

"Sorry, Beverly and Pandora, I've tried hard just now; although I could persuade myself to not resist, I could not persuade myself to not be sad..."

After putting on her pants, coats, and shoes, Alice got off the bed. "Maybe I'm really not suitable to this game. My mom fell in love with a man who loved many women, and so she suffered her whole life. I don't want to be like my mom, neither do I want to fight everyday for a man with other woman..."

Hugging Zhang Tie's head, Alice let her tears drop down once again. "I only want a man who will only belong to me. I know you won't belong to me alone, so I'm sad. Do you understand..."

After explaining it, Alice gave Zhang Tie a deep and hot kiss. Then, she opened the door and, glancing one last time at Zhang Tie, left the room, going farther and farther away. After a bit over ten seconds, Zhang Tie heard Alice opening and closing the gate of the apartment.

Upon hearing this sound, Zhang Tie felt that the apartment's gate was like Alice's heart, it opened but then was quickly closed, disconnecting them.

Zhang Tie knew that Alice had truly left him, which made him vacant and dejected inside. Unavoidably, the scene of when he got acquainted with her flashed across his mind.

He had not imagined that Alice would leave him at this moment. It was really a heavy strike, leaving him empty inside.

"Can you only love one woman in your life?" Beverly asked, eyes wide-open.

Pandora's ears also stood up sharper, and she fixed her eyes on him.

Zhang Tie's mom had also told him not to cheat or lie to women who loved him.

Thinking of those words, Zhang Tie sat up in the bed and started to think about this question very seriously, 'Can I only love one woman in my life?'

During the past fifteen years, Zhang Tie had rarely thought about a single question this much dedication. He kept considering it for more than ten minutes. He thought back to Miss Daina and that nurse who had cleaned his d*ck in the hospital; he even recalled that boring Mary, as well as the cute girl named Fiona from the Rose Association and Miss Qili...

Zhang Tie considered almost all the women who had impressed him since he was born. Finally, he came to a conclusion - he would not love a single woman in his life. He might fall in love with many women, finding the cute and attractive personalities in each one beside him had, which always drove him to do something to them.

Was this the aftermath of increased secretion of hormones in one's youth? Else one was born to be sentimental or an animal?

Under Pandora's and Beverly's longing eyes, Zhang Tie really wanted to tell them lies like 'I'll only love you' or just shake his head and answer, 'I really don't know, please do not ask me anymore,' in a deep, dejected, and empty voice like that of a lost youth.

However, Zhang Tie didn't choose either, instead, he just poured out his deepest thoughts.

"In my life, I cannot fall in love with only one woman. Many women are attractive to me. I'm still crushing on Miss Daina from my school. I don't know how many women I will love in the rest of my life, however, I'm sure that I'm not that single-minded person who will only love one person till the sea dries and the stones rot away. Additionally, I have a strong sense of possession toward the women I love, I cannot stand my women falling in love with other men. In conclusion, I might fall in love with many women at the same time, however I cannot accept my women loving other men, not even thinking about that!"

"You mean you're a fickle and chauvinist guy who's honest to his women and treasure them yet is very narrow-minded!" Beverly said in a witty way while poking Zhang Tie's chest with a finger. "If any girl falls in love with you, it'll be a great test to their patience and understanding."

"You idiot!" Pandora also poked Zhang Tie using her finger with a smile.

"But since he's honest to us, should we give him a reward?" Beverly said to Pandora.

"What reward?" Pandora asked.

"Do you remember what I told you about last time?"

Beverly winked her cute eyes towards Pandora.

Pandora's face instantly blushed. "I only heard it from those girls, I've not tried it yet!"

"I've not tried it either, we can have a try on this guy!"

"What are you two talking about?"

Zhang Tie was lost in their conversation, having no clue what they were talking about.

"We want you to be tamed. In the following game, you should not use your hands. If you use your hands, Pandora and I will stop! We can only punish you for your fickleness by this method today..." Beverly teased Zhang Tie with her slim eyes as she instantly pushed him onto the bed once again.

"Stand it, baby!" she told Zhang Tie, turning to face him.

Instantly, Zhang Tie became stiff.

Chapter 184: Sincerity and Toxin-Resistance Fruit

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

Not until deep night did Beverly and Pandora leave. As they didn't ask Zhang Tie to send them back home, he feeling cool and refreshed just sent them to the bus station in Avenue Monet. After seeing them get on the bus, Zhang Tie returned to his apartment with an obscene smile.

Alice's departure was a strike to Zhang Tie. What he couldn't understand was why would a man have to tell lies when he slept with a woman. If that was his true self, why would he have to tell her a lie. If a woman loved him, why would she not love the real him?

Zhang Tie didn't know what love was, he only knew that if he loved a girl, he would treat her good and make her happy. He would try to prevent the girl from getting hurt. Additionally, he would hope to do a lot of happy things with her. Were those high requirements?

Was the truth not right or were humans to used to being hypocritical?

Was he too foolish or were the other men too smart?

Even at the most dangerous moment, Zhang Tie would face death for his beloved women without any hesitation and never feel regretful about that. However, even if one lie could let her voluntarily take off her pants, Zhang Tie would not do that as he didn't want to make them feel any reluctance in sleeping with him.

Because that was not the real him!

Thankfully, Pandora and Beverly were still accompanying him.

This was the happiest afternoon Zhang Tie had had. After only several hours, he became obsessed with the game 'little golden fish and a mummy'.

Women were truly the source of happiness.

In the end, Zhang Tie made fouls twice and almost drowned the two little golden fish of Pandora and Beverly...

When he returned to the apartment, a car, a really luxurious limo, was parked outside the gate. A fat guy that Zhang Tie was very familiar with was standing outside the gate and glancing over the environment here out of curiosity.

He was manager Hance from Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, whose weight was at least two times that of adviser Vessie.

"Manager Hance!"

The moment he saw that fat guy, Zhang Tie already knew his intentions for coming here.

"Judging from your energetic look, you don't seem like having been wounded at all!"

Manager Hance cast an amazed glance at Zhang Tie.

"That's because I have good luck!"

Revealing a smile, Zhang Tie took out his key and opened the gate of the apartment, inviting manager Hance to talk inside.

Entering the room, Zhang Tie pulled up the curtain and the entire parlor recovered its bright appearance once again.

"Boss Donder is really generous!" After visiting the apartment, manager Hance joked.

"He's my teacher, manager Hance should understand that the relationship between teacher and apprentice is almost like the relationship between father and son! It's normal for him to gift me something..."

"Of course, the entire Blackhot City knows that you have good luck!"

"Take a seat, do you drink?"

"No, thanks. I'm here for you at someone's request so as to eliminate the misunderstanding between you and them. Actually, I should've been here since I heard you were awake yesterday. However, considering that you needed a good rest, I came here a day later!"

Saying this, manager Hance pulled out two items from the inside of his coat and put them on the table. One of them was a small delicate box, while the other was a crystal gold note.

"Gregorian family?"

"Yes!" Manager Hance nodded. "Mr. Fiiq, the head of Gregorian family expresses his deepest apologies to you for there being an attempt at your life. This is Gregorian family's compensation for you!"

Looking at the items that manager Hance put on the table, Zhang Tie felt muddle-headed before accepting the fact. It seemed that he was already powerful enough that the ruling families of Blackhot City had to treat him seriously.

"Please tell Mr. Fiiq that this event was because of me, I clearly understand that Gregorian family had nothing to do with this event. I feel deeply sorry for the bad name that has been brought to Gregorian family by this event!"

Manager Hance smiled, very satisfied with Zhang Tie's reply. Previously, he was still worried that a small figure like Zhang Tie who had suddenly climbed up from the bottom would be very arrogant and difficult to deal with. So hearing Zhang Tie's words, he found this youth to be far more intelligent than he had imagined. No wonder Kerlin had a good opinion of him.

Additionally, this youth was lucky enough to even arise others' jealousy. After being struck by a lightning bolt, he could develop so fast: form the Iron-Blood hidden strength in a short period of time, and even survive the quick-acting poison blue frost. Such a good physique was really worth admiration.

"Are you still interested in playing in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club?" Manager Hance changed the topic and started to chat about the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club with Zhang Tie. "The fighting clubs in Blackhot City would open again the next week!"

"Still the flesh-bag?' Zhang Tie asked.

Manager Hance burst out laughing as if having heard the funniest joke. "Of course not, who would dare to find a military officer of the Norman Empire as the flesh bag; even if you wanted, you would not find anyone who would dare to beat you!"

Zhang Tie also started to laugh.

Manager Hance then pulled out a document from inside his coat. "This is the letter of appointment for you to be the senior adviser of the Club. If you agree, you become a senior adviser of the club as of now!"

"What privileges and obligations would I have as a senior adviser in your club?"

"Senior advisers are like our platinum customers, you can give your suggestions to the development and management of the club. The salary of a senior adviser is twenty gold coins per week. Your only obligation is to play in the Blackhot City when you are free."

"Fine!"

Thinking of Mary, Zhang Tie agreed without any hesitation. For such a good thing, if he didn't accept it, there would be something wrong with him.

Manager Hance left satisfied.

...

After sending manager Hance out the gate of the apartment, Zhang Tie came back and took a look at the crystal gold note on the table. The words '50000 gold coins, cash at sight, Golden Roc Bank' made Zhang Tie's heart stop beating for a moment.

Although he had predicted that Gregorian family's sincerity wouldn't be small, he hadn't imagined that they would give him 5000 gold coins, which would be equal to his dad's salary of a hundred years.

Big families were truly generous.

Golden Roc Bank was the largest and most powerful bank across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor. People could see the branches of this bank in almost every city of the Blackson Human Clan Corridor. Almost all the Chinese wanted to deposit their money in this bank. No matter how chaotic the Blackson region was, how regime changed and how time flew, this bank would not be influenced.

The ad words of this bank could explain everything, 'One millennium's reputation guarantees'.

This bank had existed before the catastrophe. The catastrophe had changed everything except for this bank. The fact could already indicate its terrifying and not abysmal background.

After putting down this crystal gold note, Zhang Tie opened the small box. A familiar scent wafted

out—it was a delicate, crystal, narrow-mouthed vial with green liquid inside.

The only difference between this one and that vial of Grandma Teresa's was that a line of bronze words on the vial, which looked pretty luxurious - advanced recovery medicament!

It was really as the old Chinese saying went, 'If you survive a big trouble, you will definitely have great happiness later'. Looking at the two items, Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly...

After seeing off manager Hance, he was alone in the entire apartment. So he immediately went to the hidden cell in the study from where he entered the Castle of Black Iron.

——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!

Having not seen the greeting for a few days, Zhang Tie was put in a good mood upon seeing it again.

Because the plants in the Castle of Black Iron were growing everyday, only after a few days, he felt the space in the Castle of Black Iron having become more vigorous and verdant.

Zhang Tie then walked towards the small tree. As expected, he saw two Leakless Fruits on the small tree: one already ripe, the other soon to be. As these Leakless Fruits worked as emergency blood bags, Zhang Tie didn't pick them off.

On another twig of the small tree, he saw the fresh Toxin-Resistance Fruit. It was a blue, similar to a strawberry both in size and shape. The blue color of the fruit reminded Zhang Tie of the quick-acting poison blue frost. The moment he recalled the toxicity of it, he quivered all over. That poison was really terrifying. Without this small tree, Zhang Tie was well-aware that he would have definitely died that time.

After looking at that Toxin-Resistance Fruit carefully, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and started to check the attributes of the fruit.

——Toxin-Resistance Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.

——All the tests on life will promote the life to the perfect trip of evolution.

——Toxin-Resistance Fruit from blue frost. Its effects are as follows:

1. Immunity to all minor-poisonous toxins.

2. Increased resistance to all toxins by 3%.

3. Increased resistance to nerve paralytic poisons by 7%.

4. Increased resistance to the poison of blue frost by 18%; you can remain unharmed for twenty minutes after being attacked by the blue frost.

'That's great.'

Zhang Tie almost jumped off the ground. He had heard that people who often touched poisonous substances would naturally become resistant to them. Unexpectedly, after being poisoned by blue frost, he could also complete a physical evolution against toxins. This feeling was really cool.

From the classification of poisons, many substances in our daily lives had minor toxicity. Minor toxicity was the slightest degree. Generally speaking, only after taking in above 100 grams of pure minor toxins an average person might be killed. They were rarely contained in certain substances, but went in great amount of varieties and quantities, for instance, waste gases that were emitted from some factories in Blackhot City, mosquitoes that could make your skin swell after biting you, may plants' juices or fruits, unripe tomatoes, especially herbal medicines that Chinese always used.

All the things above contained very light toxins, however, as they posed almost no harm to the human body, people didn't pay much attention to them. After all, nobody would let tens of thousands of mosquitoes to bite him at the same time or eat unripe tomatoes all day long for several months. Therefore, there were no cases of people being killed by minor toxins since ancient times till now. It was definitely 100 times more difficult for a person to collect above 100 grams of minor toxins than collecting 100 grams of quick-acting toxins.

Zhang Tie had not imagined that after being poisoned by blue frost, he could become completely immune to minor toxins. This would definitely make him healthier, and he would not have to worry about bumps on the skin after being bitten by mosquitoes anymore.

The other effects of this Toxin-Resistance Fruit also made Zhang Tie very happy. Since it greatly improved his toxin resistance, making it much greater than that of most average people, how could he not be happy?

Laughing loudly, Zhang Tie instantly picked off the Toxin-Resistance Fruit and engulfed it like how he ate strawberries...

Chapter 185: Remodeling Plan for the Castle of Black Iron

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

On the second day after recovering from his wounds, Zhang Tie felt free for the first time since returning from the Wild Wolf Castle.

Last night, he had met Miss Daina in his dream once again. In a sexy miniskirt, Miss Daina was playing the game of small golden fish and mummy with him. What a sweet dream!

When Zhang Tie was woken up by his biological clock, he lay still a for a time before jumping out of bed. After putting on his clothes and cleansing himself, he hurriedly started to formulate a plan.

Zerom had said that the prelude to a chaotic world has already started.

Donder had said that the holy war between humans and demons was coming.

Guderian had said that the Iron-Blood Camp would soon move to Kalur, the City of Machine.

After a dozens years' peace, the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty might have another heavy collision at Kalur.

Although Blackhot City looked peaceful now, nobody knew when it would be involved in even greater turmoil. The catastrophe of the entire human clan was drawing increasingly closer. The rulers of the Andaman Alliance, the Norman Empire, Sun Dynasty, and the Blackson Human Clan Corridor had long known what would happen in the future. Thus, they've long ago started making preparations for that in various ways. Only the countless small figures were still puzzled.

This explained how sad the small figures were. Not until the moment the event happened would they know what was coming to destroy their world.

'But now that I know, I have to prepare for it. Even squirrels know how to store food to tide over the winter. Of course I should behave better than squirrels. But what's my last point of defense? Undoubtedly, the Castle of Black Iron and that small tree are things that I can rely on to help me survive,' Zhang Tie thought

The scene of Grandma Teresa and those kids of the orphanage standing in the street, raising high the board, had deeply affected Zhang Tie. He saw it as a warning to himself. Facing more dangers and crises from now on, he had to make better preparations.

Yesterday, Zhang Tie felt that he had become half a man. While being obsessed with that, he also realized that he had a deep sense of responsibility. When the crisis arrived, he had to save his women from it.

After eating the Toxin-Resistance Fruit, Zhang Tie had walked two circles around the Castle of Black Iron while a thought gradually formed in his mind. He felt that it was the right time for him to remodel the Castle of Black Iron.

When the Castle of Black Iron had no sufficient basic energy storage and merit values, how could he remodel it to make that marvelous space his most solid fortress, a place where his beloved ones and himself could be protected?

There was only one answer—make a plan by himself! Human beings had the strongest manipulative ability, which could even match that space and terrain remodeling function of the Castle of Black Iron.

After considering it for several hours last night by drawing and noting in the study room of his apartment, Zhang Tie finally confirmed three objectives for remodeling the Castle of Black Iron.

Firs, he wanted to build several standard food and material warehouses in the Castle of Black Iron so that on special occasions he could prevent his loved ones from having to starve. In the chaotic world, having enough food came first.

Second, he needed to build a house in the Castle of Black Iron which could satisfy people's basic requirements for living and rest. Zhang Tie considered that in some special cases he might need to bring his parents and Pandora, Alice, and Beverly into the Castle of Black Iron. For instance, if he wanted to escape a disaster, after bring them inside, he could have a thousand times more chances to escape alone by himself, without having to carry so many people outside.

For the second objective, Zhang Tie didn't know whether he could bring big live animals or people into the Castle of Black Iron and what would happen after they were inside, so he needed to make an experiment. This was also what Zhang Tie prepared to do today.

Third, he wanted to build a simple 'biological evolution and mutation lab' in the Castle of Black Iron as the successful evolution of the yeast brought a lot of ideas to him. Some of which were abosolutely crazy. Additionally, Zhang Tie wanted to see what other functions that vial of 'Basic Aura Yeast' had. The best way to test this was to make a big jar of yeast fluid and have a drink, like how he made rice brew at home.

However, the items Zhang Tie had placed in the Castle of Black Iron so far were too simple, even less than a beggar's belongings. There was just a broken storage box, which contained a pile of items. Thinking about it, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed.

It was time to add some items into the Castle of Black Iron. As he was still enjoying a sick leave these days, he was free to do it. If not, he didn't know when would have found the time to do this.

Additionally, the gold note brought by manager Hance yesterday made him very rich, and he didn't need to worry about the prices of what he bought.

After thinking about the details of remodeling the Castle of Black Iron in his mind, Zhang Tie came to his study room and pulled open the bookshelf using the method that Donder had taught him. He then opened the door to the underground hidden cell.

This was Zhang Tie's second time entering this underground hidden cell. After closing the door from inside and feeling that the bookshelf outside had moved to its original place, Zhang Tie instantly became exceptionally thrilled.

Before Donder had left, he taught Zhang Tie another skill—Disguise.

The ten thousands lamps on the walls of the underground hidden cell brightened the entire room, making Zhang Tie's adrenaline soar. Donder had bragged that he was the greatest expert in changing looks. After seeing him changing himself into another person only after a short while, Zhang Tie believed it. Thinking that he could change his look too, like Donder had done, and appear in the Blackhot City with another status and look, Zhang Tie couldn't wait to try it out.

All the items in the cabinets and the storage boxes in that hidden cell were used to change one's look. According to Donder, the most expensive among them was the disguise mask.

The disguise mark was put in a small box on the dresser. Zhang Tie then directly went to the dresser and opened that box. There were six compartments inside, each containing a face module on which a face mark would be placed. Donder had only left one disguise look to Zhang Tie while he took away five.

Looking at the five face models with no disguise marks on them, Zhang Tie started to swear inside. 'This guy didn't even forget to take away five face marks when he left. Judging by his obscene looks after changing his image, he must have done a lot of bad things in Blackhot City these years.'

As Zhang Tie was still a birdie whose figure and looks were still young, Donder only left him a 20-odd year Chinese youth's face mask which looked not too different from Zhang Tie.

Based on how Donder taught him, Zhang Tie took up that 20 or so year looking face mask and put it onto his own face. He then slightly patted it for a minute. After that, he took up a vial of sprayer from the dresser and sprayed it onto his face twice. then continued patting it. After a short while, he felt his skin becoming slightly heavier. At this time, he took another look at the mirror and saw a 20-odd Chinese youth.

Zhang Tie smiled. In response, the 20-odd year youth in the mirror smiled as well.

This face mask was really marvelous. Putting it on, one would have a wholly new face. Just after after patting it for a bit after putting it on, it would adapt to your face's shape. With some water, it would tightly combine with the skin on the face, and no one would be able to see anything wrong with it. It would no be possible to even see any difference between the colors of the mask and the skin of the user's face.

Donder had said that these face masks were made of two very expensive materials: one was biological memory protein, while the other was the solidified active gene of a deformed octopus of the deep sea which had an adjustability many times greater than that of chameleon.

This face mask could not be easily gotten by average people in Blackson Human Clan Corridor, even in the whole Eastern Continent. Even though Donder was a hard-core disguise user, he had only collected six face masks in total. Therefore, he felt pained by even leaving one to Zhang Tie.

After changing his look, Zhang Tie picked up two vials and drank a small mouthful from each one. He then mixed them in his mouth and swallowed.

At first, he felt a bit itchy in his throat. After coughing twice, he realized that his voice had become much lower, even a bit hoarse.

"Hello!" Zhang Tie tried saying, and a different person's voice reached his ears.

The next steps were be much easier. Since it was his first disguise, Zhang Tie didn't want to make it too sophisticated. It would be okay simply to not be recognised as himself.

He then opened another cabinet. From among the dozens of wigs inside, he chose one which was yellow and longer than his original hair. After putting it on, he saw a completely unfamiliar man in the mirror.

Donder was very careful. Before he left, he had prepared more than ten sets of various clothes for Zhang Tie, fitted to his figure. He then chose gray, mid-level clothes which made him look like a small clerk from the firms in Blackhot City.

By now Zhang Tie looked completely different.

Finally, he checked all the details before the mirror for a while. After confirming that even his elder brother would not recognize him, he revealed a smile and walked to a stone wall next to the room's corner. After forcefully pushing on it, a one meter high underground tunnel opened up in front of Zhang Tie.

Lowering his body, he crawled inside...

Chapter 186: Purchasing Materials

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

The underground tunnel was dim and low, forcing Zhang Tie to lower his head. Thankfully, the tunnel was broad enough. Several ten thousand years illuminating lamps like those in the hidden cell were hanging above the tunnel which brightened the entire place.

Although reluctant to admit it, Zhang Tie felt like a rat crawling through an underground tunnel.

The two sides and the ceiling of the underground tunnel were made of stone. In order to eliminate the echoes being produced when people walked inside, a layer of soft carpet was paved on it. Walking on it, Zhang Tie thought about the scenes of Donder walking down this tunnel numerous times—was that guy using this tunnel to gather information? According to Donder, the organization behind his back had already given him a big face by kicking him here to the small Blackhot City. He might have not needed to do anything at all here.

Zhang Tie's question was solved when he reached the middle part of the tunnel. He felt something soft against his foot. Out of curiosity, he bent over to pick up it and brought it in front of his eyes.

It was a black corsage with lace which contained a layer of soft sponge inside. It was larger than that of Alice and Beverly. It was still emitting a rich fragrance, and looked pretty new, as if it was just left here.

F*ck!

Zhang Tie instantly threw it onto the ground. He thought he finally understood what the disguise skill and this underground tunnel were truly used for. No wonder Donder had always disappeared after closing up his grocery store.

At this moment, Zhang Tie could easily imagine what that guy would usually do in the evening. Although being as lazy as a dead dog lying in a chair, he turned into a timber wolf in the evening! This guy really had a special hobby. However, after thinking carefully about it, even Zhang Tie had to admit that this deed was exceptionally interesting. He had heard that some ancient emperors also liked to do this: after disguising themselves, they would always escape outside to accost women and play games of mummy and small golden fish in various patterns.

After a short while, Zhang Tie had already walked to the end of this tunnel. Close to a hidden observation window at the end of the tunnel, he saw the scene inside the chartered room of this underground bar.

It was not large, covering less than 20 square meters. The entire chartered room was much dimmer than the underground tunnel where Zhang Tie was standing in. There were a set of dark red sofa, a bed, a table, and two water-pipe like stainless steel pipes standing in the chartered room, whose function was uncertain. Besides them, there were some odd decorations. Although this wasn't a high-class place, it had a very ambiguous atmosphere.

Seeing nobody in the chartered room, Zhang Tie walked out of the tunnel after pressing a hidden switch. He then looked back and saw the entrance of the hidden tunnel behind a decorative pillar on the wall of the chartered room.

Zhang Tie then put the pillar to its original place.

The key of the room was put on the table, the place having been locked inside. Taking up the key, Zhang Tie took a deep breath, then opened the door of the chartered room and walked out.

The underground bar was very dim around the clock. The sparse lights in the bar caused many shadowy areas. Some places even seemed to have been especially arranged to be in the darkness.

Previously, Zhang Tie had heard of the 'brilliance' of this kind of underground bars in Blackhot City from Hista's mouth. However, it was his first time visiting a place like that today.

The underground bars of Blackhot City ran around the clock. They were the favorite places of workers, firm clerks, small bosses of grocery stores like Donder, soldiers of the City Guard who had put off their military uniforms and got the salary, and lewd guys like Hista.

They could drink, dance, and even rent a room. Like their lighting policy, these kind of bars took 'ambiguous' as their operating philosophy! They were neither as direct as those roadside prostitutes nor as hypocritical as those women in the rich clubs and mansions. Everything here proceeded under the dim lamp lights and shadowy ambiguity.

Women here varied from small girls at 15-16 years old, lonely young married women at 20-30 years, and sexy middle-aged women at 40-50 years. Some roadside prostitutes even came here to solicit trades. Nominally, the women here would only accompany you for paid dance or drink, however, often enough, after dancing or drinking, if the atmosphere was harmonious enough and you didn't feel reluctant to spend 2-3 extra silver coins, you would end up sleeping with them. Sometimes, if you met any thirsty young married women, you wouldn't even need to spend money except for paying for the room.

While if you didn't want to sleep with women overnight, you could solve your psychological problem on the dancing floor, at the dark corners of sofas, or on the cassette. This was what Hista, that lewd guy, had concluded.

The underground bars of Blackhot City were a treasure land where lonely men and women came for pleasures and part-time jobs.

The moment Zhang Tie came out of the chartered room, before he had even figured out the directions, he had already heard some weird voices and sounds, which were coming from inside the chartered room beside his one. That was a rhythmic sound like of clapping hands alongside a woman's groans.

In the early morning, there were men and women walking out of the chartered rooms, intending to leave the bar, while new ones were coming in to replace them.

This underground bar was very large, consisting of two floors. Each floor covered at least as large an area as ten-thousand square meters. There were at least one hundred chartered rooms in total, all of which were arranged in a clockwise manner.

There were people accessing here all day long. On that huge dancing floor and in each dark corner surrounding the dancing floor, there were men and women entangling with and embracing each other.

Several bandsmen were playing lewd music. The sounds from the Saxophone were like caterwauls.

Donder was really a bad ass!

This place was really ambiguous, lecherous, and lacked taste.

He had no idea what deals were made between Donder and the boss of this bar, but since Donder had told him that there was no problem with it and the chartered room was very safe, Zhang Tie didn't consider it anymore.

Coming out of the chartered rooms area, Zhang Tie walked through the dancing floor and hurriedly got rid of several women, dressed in exposing clothes, that wished to tangle with him on the side of the dancefloor. He then followed several pairs of men and women upward, towards the entrance of this underground bar. The light at the entrance brought him a sense of seeing the light of the day after staying in the darkness for a long time.

The entrance of the bar was located in the intersection between Avenue Monet and Avenue Starlight. Looking from outside, it was like an underground shopping mall, though in truth the inside was totally different. Several tough, tattooed men were standing at the entrance to check the tickets.

In the early morning, there were already men and women who wanted to enter the bar and were buying tickets at the entrance; 20 copper coins per person. At the same time, those coming out of the entrance would kiss each other and depart at the entrance. Seeing this, Zhang Tie became more understanding about the game rules among adults.

As he had many things to deal with today, Zhang Tie didn't waste any time. The moment he walked out of the entrance, he saw a trolleybus driving past. Zhang Tie then trotted forward, caught up with it, and jumped on it...

Ten minutes later, he got off in a stop near the railway station of Blackhot City. He then walked directly to the most boisterous warehouse and material distribution area in Blackhot City.

This was a true boisterous business area. No matter who was ruling Blackhot City, the various trucks didn't decrease in this area at all. Both sides of the avenues were filled with all sorts of brand logos and service windows of firms and business groups.

Just after wandering on the avenue for a bit, Zhang Tie had already seen a sign 'warehouse for rent'. He then walked inside. The place belonged to an agency that was responsible for warehouse rent near the railway station. There was only one 40-odd year thin man in glasses inside.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

After taking notice of Zhang Tie, who looked like a young man come here to handle affairs for some business group, that middle-aged man walked over enthusiastically.

"I want a warehouse!" Zhang Tie instantly exclaimed.

"You're in the right place. I swear to you nobody would be more familiar than me with the warehouses across the Blackhot City! Once you need, I will find it for you!" the middle-aged man in glasses said enthusiastically. "Can you tell me the size and renting period?"

"I need a standard warehouse of about 400 square meters, short rent, only two weeks!" Zhang Tie explained it simply.

"Do you have any special demands for the floor?"

"First floor would be better, that would be convenient for moving goods!"

"Do you need the warehouse to present you with the insurance policies for goods?���

"No need!"

"Well, please take a sit and wait for a moment!"

The middle-aged man walked behind a desk and took up a notebook. After checking it for 30 seconds, he put it down and smiled at Zhang Tie. "We have one here. If you only rent it for two weeks, the rent is 4 gold coins and 40 silver coins. You know, the rent is comparatively expensive for short rent. Plus the agency fee, you need to pay 4 gold coins and 64 silver coins. If you agree, I can take you to have a look at the warehouse right now!'

"Fine!"

Zhang Tie's arrival brought this man a business deal in the early morning. So he was somewhat happy as he took out of a key from the drawer and brought Zhang Tie to a storage logistics area which was not far from here.

The standard warehouses were tightly built, based on the patterns of containers. This kind of warehouse only had a gate for truck access and a small door for people. Besides that, there weren't any windows to allow the light getting inside. Additionally, the warehouse—as usual—was built with high-intensity steel tiles, which were extremely hard to break from outside.

The man showed Zhang a standard warehouse, sized more than 400 square meters with 10 m in height and more than 40 m in length.

Holding the key, the man opened the gate of this warehouse and showed Zhang Tie in. Zhang Tie entered and walked around. Finding it was very clean inside, meeting his requirements very well, he right away rented it out.

After returning to the man's office, Zhang Tie gave him five gold coins. The man then gave Zhang Tie back 26 silver coins and a 10-silver coins' receipt for the key and the lock of the warehouse. Two weeks later, when Zhang Tie came back to return the key, that man would give him the 10 silver coins back.

After walking out of the office, Zhang Tie had two warehouse keys with him.

Coming to a nearby traffic stop, he got on another trolleybus. Twenty minutes later, he arrived at a place on Avenue Bright where the well-known Golden Roc Bank was located in.

Previously, when Zhang Tie came to the Avenue Bright, he always felt self-abased. However, this time, touching the 5000 gold coins' note in his pocket, he became braver than ever before...

Chapter 187: Golden Roc Bank

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

Being located in Avenue Bright, the Golden Roc Bank was the grandest architecture in the whole avenue. At the entrance of the bank were twelve stone pillars, each a diameter of one meter. In the middle of the building, between two stone pillars, was a huge relief of a four-winged golden roc which was over ten meters in length. This huge bird with four wings was the symbol of Golden Roc Bank and the ruler of the heavens, the land and the sea, the one who ate dragons in Chinese myths and legends.

Entering the hall, Zhang Tie felt like coming into a palace. The black marble floor was akin to a mirror. No service desks were set in the hall like in other banks, instead, there were two rows of service rooms for customers to enter. Each service room could only service one customer a time, thus guaranteeing absolute privacy.

Customers who were waiting in line just stayed in the sofa area outside the service rooms for a rest. Only once the current people inside the small rooms left could the bank clerks open the doors and invited the next customers in.

Although the ruler of Blackhot City had changed, the business of the Golden Roc Bank was not influenced at all; on the contrary, it became even hotter than before. No matter who ruled the city, Andaman Alliance or the Norman Empire, the Golden Roc Bank would not be influenced at all.

Chinese people could enjoy some privileged services in Golden Roc Bank such as not having to queue up!

Under jealous gazes of many pot-bellied gentlemen in tidy clothes, Zhang Tie with an average face mask came to the door of a service room. This room was exclusive for Chinese people in the Golden Roc Bank. Differently from other service rooms, the door of this one was not dark red, but golden yellow which Chinese people favored.

The bank clerk standing at the entrance of this service room was a 20-odd Chinese youth. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming here, he made a hand gesture in greeting before walking inside together with Zhang Tie. He then closed the door of the service room.

The inside was not large, less than 20 square meters, but it was well arranged. Each part of furniture inside was delicate. There was only one desk, two chairs, and a group of sofas. Behind the desk was a trading window which was similar to other bank counters.

After motioning for Zhang Tie to sit down on a chair near the desk, the young clerk spoke in Mandarin Chinese.

"Pleasure to serve you, what can I do for you, sir?"

Zhang Tie pulled out the 5000 gold coins' crystal note from his pocket and gave it to him.

"I want to withdraw cash!"

The 20-odd bank clerk took the gold note. Not amazed by the amount, he carefully checked the anti-counterfeit label, the hidden grains and a series of special identification code on it, then finally nodded.

"All of them?'

"All of them!"

"Well, wait for a moment then please!"

Taking the gold note, the young men turned back and came to a trading window behind the desk and slightly pressed the bell button on the window. After a 'ding' sound, the window opened. The clerk then passed Zhang Tie's note inside.

"The customer wants to withdraw all the cash!'

In the short seconds until he came back, Zhang Tie felt bored and took up a service card which introduced the scope of business of the Golden Roc Bank. Besides usual businesses like bank storage and credit loan, the Golden Roc Bank's business included all kinds of other things such as financial investment, asset entrustment management, auctioning and pawning, creditors' right handling, business group financing, armored transportation, stock raising, pioneering, special personnel employment, information inquiry and release...

All this made Zhang Tie, who had come to the Golden Roc Bank for the first time, widely open his eyes. This was not a bank at all; this was obviously a monster combined of many super business groups!

Seeing Zhang Tie's amazement, that young bank clerk walked towards him. "Are you interested in our other services, sir?"

"You can provide all the services on the card?"

Out of suspicion, Zhang Tie pointed at the content on card.

"Yes! We can provide all the services on it. Our bank has numerous powerful cooperative business groups and partners which passed rigid authentications. We can satisfy all your requirements!"

"Does Golden Roc Bank provide pioneering service?"

"The most powerful business group Home of the Wild in Blackhot City is our partner. They have a business representative here in our bank. If you need, I can call him here to negotiate with you!"

Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could find a business group that provided pioneering services in Golden Roc Bank which really saved him a lot of time. Previously, he had planned to find a business group which provided pioneering services and purchase the materials needed for building houses there. Now, it would be much easier to deal with this.

"Fine! Thanks, I'm seeking for a business group that could provide pioneering services!"

"Wait for a moment then please!"

The 20-odd bank clerk left through another door in the room. Only one minute later, a 40-odd bald man came in with a pile of papers in his hands. Sitting down in front of Zhang Tie, he showed his exceptional respect, seemingly in-the-know of Zhang Tie's paying ability from the Golden Roc Bank.

"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Longe, the business representative of the business group Home of the Wild in Blackhot City, I heard you are very interested in what we can offer you."

"Yes, my friends and me have chosen a place in the wild and are planning to reclaim wasteland and settle down there. I heard you could help pioneers quickly build houses in the wild. Therefore, I want to have a consultation on that!"

Hearing this, Longe became more lively. "You've found the right man, sir, this is our business group's advantage. If you want to settle and reclaim wasteland from the wild, you have to have a safe and comfortable base. Our business group can customize any house according to your requirements in the shortest time. Can you tell me your requirements?'

As it was very difficult to temporarily find raw materials in the wild to build a house, many pioneers who prepared to settle down wanted to customize their house in advance before bringign the components to where they had chosen to build their base. There were many business groups and commercial organizations in Blackhot City which could provide this service. Home of the Wild was the best among them as their services almost covered all the problems that pioneers would face when they tried to reclaim wasteland and settled down in the wild.

"Hmm, I need a house that could accommodate 20-odd people and a super huge food warehouse. The construction of the house should not be too sophisticated. It'd be better if it could be assembled by only one tough man..."

"Do you need the house to have great defense against wild beasts? If you need, we can provide special house building materials and externally-mounted movable residence' armor."

While they were discussing it, Longe started to record everything they talked about with a pen.

"No need, there are few wild beasts over there. Even if there are, they're just our meals. The only concern is that there are few natural resources there that we could use to quickly build a house!"

"If so, we suggest you choose the No. 3 Wild House!"

Saying this, Longe pulled out a paper and gave it to Zhang Tie. Picking it, Zhang Tie saw two refreshing log cabins with triangular roofs: one was one story high, the other two. Below them were several photos of the structures and perspective drawings of the two log cabins.

"Can this No. 3 log cabin satisfy all of our demands?'

"Of course not. This is just a sample which tells you the general look and structure of this wild log cabin. No. 3 log cabin has two types: one and two stories high. For each of them, we could provide six sizes for you to choose from. The house sizes would variate from 30 square meters to 380 square meters. You can choose your specifications..."

"Can one person finish building this log cabin?"

"It won't be more difficult than stacking blocks for you to build this log cabin!" Longe revealed a smile. "This log cabin was especially designed for pioneers who settle in the wild. It consists of modules, and all the building materials are standard steel and wood. We will classify all the items. If you build it according to the instructions, you will easily be able to manage it."

"How much will it cost?"

Zhang Tie's heart was hooked.

"Based on floor area, it would cost you 23 silver coins per square meter for the single-story log cabin. The fee rises to 34 silver coins per square meter for the two-story log cabin. As the two-story log cabin features a higher efficiency on using space and materials, it would be more cost-efficient.

"As you understand, this is just the price for the building materials themselves. If you need, we can also help you build it, or at least pull the materials to the place outside the Blackhot City, but for that we'll ask for extra labor and transportation fees.

"The longest transportation distance that we can provide right now is within the region of Blackhot City that has been explored on the map. You need to pay 1% of the building price of the log cabin for each 5 km."

"I can deal with the transportation. I've rented out a warehouse in Blackhot City. You only need to transport the items there!"

"If we just need to deliver the items within Blackhot City, you don't need to pay extra for transportation fees at all!"

Zhang Tie was already imagining the remodeling of the Castle of Black Iron, yet at the same time, he was calculating the price of these lob cabins in his mind. Two-story log cabin looked much more cost-efficient with a higher space utilization rate. However, the single-story log cabin seemed to be easier to build.

After considering it for several seconds, Zhang Tie formed an image in his mind: in the Castle of Black Iron, north of the small tree that stood in the center, was a two-story log cabin that covered more than 200 square meters and was mainly used for living; in the west were two single-story log cabins which served as food warehouses; and to the east of the small tree was a slightly smaller two-story log cabin which performed as his lab.

The four log cabins surrounded the small tree and the spring, making it a small wild manor.

Chapter 188: Trading

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

The two-story log cabin, number 3B210, for the north covering 210 square meters cost 71 gold coins and 40 silver coins...

The two single-story log cabins, number 3A80, for the west covering 80 square meters each cost 36 gold coins and 80 silver coins...

The two-story log cabin for his lab, number 3B90, for the east cost 30 gold coins and 60 silver coins...

Besides them, Zhang Tie ordered many other items from Longe, which indicated that he was certainly planning to reclaim wasteland and settle down in the wild.

Zhang Tie ordered whole sets of simple modular furniture, various living utilities, and all sorts of bottles and jars. Many items in that list made Longe confused as to what Zhang Tie planned to use them for. However, now that the youth had officialy made an order, Longe would be happy to note everything else down. Big customers like Zhang Tie were rarely seen, but when pioneers were in need, his business group would satisfy them.

In addition, Zhang Tie ordered four wild seeds planting bags, two sets of toolkits, one LV 2 metal processing platform, two tons of rice, two tons of flour, one ton of dried meat and milk slices, and one ton of various foods, such as preserved fruits and cans that could stay edible for a long time

All the items that Zhang Tie ordered finally became codes like those of the log cabins on a form in Longe's hand. After saving over 10 silver coins, Zhang Tie needed to pay 237 gold coins to purchase those items.

"Do you have any special requirements?"

Seeing Zhang Tie paying for the items without any hesitation, Mr. Longe showed a more enthusiastic smile.

"One single package of these items should not be heavier than 500 kgs!" Zhang Tie requested. "The heaviest materials should be able to be moved by 2-3 people! We don't have enough people to build the log cabins."

"No problem, don't worry about this. For the convenience of wild transportation, the maximal weight of a single package is 418 kg. As long as you have enough time, any house can be assembled by a single person. Do you have any more questions?"

"How long will it take for you to prepare all of these items and send them to my warehouse?"

"We will deliver the first batch in an hour!"

"Fine, I'll wait for you in the warehouse!"

...

With a smile on his face, Mr. Longe took away the order and Zhang Tie's gold coins. In this age, all the gold coins circulating among humans were unified. Each gold coin weighed 25 grams and was made of pure gold. Therefore, the weight of 40 gold coins was 1 kg. The total amount of gold coins that Zhang Tie had paid weighed almost 6 kgs. No wonder Mr. Longe kept smiling. This was really a great business.

This was also the largest trade that Zhang Tie had experienced ever since he was born. Thinking that he had spent over 200 gold coins with a golden roc on them which were delivered by the Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie was so thrilled that even started sweating.

Mr. Longe walked out and the bank clerk, who had received Zhang Tie just now, came with a handbag. "Besides the 237 gold coins that you've requested to pay, there're 4763 gold coins. You can count it here!"

It was not difficult to count the rest of the money as these gold coins were well sealed and packaged in columns, 40 gold coins for one column. Zhang Tie counted and found that there were 119 columns and 3 gold coins inside which weighted about 120 kg in hand. This much wasn't heavy to him at all.

"This handbag is our gift. Also, as you have withdrawn a great amount of cash from our bank, if you need, we can have a car escort you to where you want in the Blackhot City!"

Zhang Tie looked at that average handbag in his hand. Although 120 kgs' gold coins looked very heavy, they actually only occupied a small part of the bag which could not be easily identified. He shook his head.

"No need, thanks..."

The Golden Roc Bank arranged for all the customers who came here to deal with businesses and withdraw cash with great consideration, especially paying attention to details. For instance, that handbag gifted by the bank to Zhang Tie was an average handbag without any label on it, which could easily hold 120 kgs inside. When one lifted it in hand, nobody would know it contained 4763 gold coins inside.

When Zhang Tie about to leave, that young bank clerk arranged for him to leave through another door in the service room. This way, the people who saw Zhang Tie enter the service room with nothing in hand would not able to see him leave with a handbag. It indirectly guaranteed his safety.

Leaving the Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie carried over 120 kgs' handbag on his shoulder; he left Avenue Bright on agile steps. After reaching a bus stop and getting on a trolleybus, he arrived at another boisterous place in Blackhot City 20 minutes later.

Usually, those figures who were born in the upper class in Avenue Bright rarely came here because any set of clothes or leather boots in the stores there were luxuries that would cost people selling here their one years' salary, without eating or drinking.

This place was animal trading market outside the south gate of Blackhot City. It was spontaneously organized by citizens to trade various livestock some dozens of years ago.

Compared to the flea market beside the railway station, this animal market was a boisterous scene on another level.

This place for trading various animals was located in a banyan forest beside the south city wall of Blackhot City. On the empty land many cages and boxes were placed, containing all sorts of animals. Simple booths stood connected to each other. Animal sounds, especially dogs' barking could be heard everywhere in this street. In opposition to Avenue Bright which was filled with the fragrance of Chinese rose and lilac, this place was filled with the smell of animals' urine and sh*t.

Big figures would never come to this dirty place, however, Zhang Tie really enjoyed wandering around here.

As human pets, cats and dogs were the most common animals here. As to others, there were various birds, some weird animals that had been caught outside the Blackhot City such as raccoons, monkeys, wolf cubs. Some other animals were brought here to purely satisfy a small amount of people's curiosity and hobby to care for weird pets such as snakes, lizards, spiders, rats, beetles, and various mutated living beings.

There were also many kinds of horses and cattle here, occupying a relatively large trading area.

The greater part of farmers and pioneers outside Blackhot City were living on this animals trading market.

The golden wolves caught in the Prairie Crescent would also be sold here. On some notice boards in this market, there were rewards for bringing in special animals. No matter what beast you wanted, or what goods you had, it would only cost one silver coin to release a notice here. If anyone met your requirement, they would come here for you.

Several local snakes [1] were maintaining market order here and managing several information notice boards to survive themselves.

As no zoo was set in Blackhot City, this place was the closest thing. Before Zhang Tie had went to work in Donder's grocery store, he had usually wandered around here. His dream as a child was to have a dog. However, his dad complained that a dog would dirty their home and influence the rice brewing business, therefore, that dream had not been fulfilled.

Even if Zhang Tie was carrying over 100 kgs' of gold, he realized that this dream of his childhood could still not be realized even now. It was easy to buy a dog, but he might not have enough time to look after it. No matter where he left the animal to stay alone, the apartment or somewhere else, it would still be irresponsible of him, and unfair to the dog.

After circling around the market, Zhang Tie came to a place in the banyan forest. This place was the favorite place of many pioneers and farmers who settled down in the wild because the things sold here would always bring people pleasure and sweetness. With only a disposable investment of a few coins, you would get endless sweetness in the future without having to take care of it.

They sold bees here.

Because many plants in the Castle of Black Iron had bloomed or would bloom, they needed insects' pollination to bear fruits.

Zhang Tie wanted to try whether he could bring many animals in the Castle of Black Iron at once. Besides that, he also had a small ambition to succeed in mutating and evolving an animal...

After some considerations, Zhang Tie found that the three requirements could all be satisfied if he brought a hive of bees in the Castle of Black Iron.

The bees sold here were greatly different from those raised by professionals. They would always use relatively sophisticated movable-frame beehives while the beehives here were cylinder ones, suitable for lazy people. These cylinder beehives were made completely of sawed-off pine trees whose diameter were about 0.5 m or so.

After sawing the trunks to right sizes and cleaning off the insides, they did some simple processing and treatment by fixing a couple solid wooden bars in the hollow part of the trunk, thus turning them into the simplest cylinder lattice beehives.

From their looks, they were absolutely like tree stools or wine barrels which could be casually put in the wild or hung under the eaves. In blooming seasons, people could collect honey for several months or half a year. Although the honey collection was much more irregular and lower in frequency, it was very convenient.

As for those farmers or pioneers who lived in Blackhot City, as long as they hung one beehive like this under their eave and raised a hive of bees, their whole family would not worry about having no sweet food. With two more beehives, they could even make some money from it.

Each beehive contained a hive of bees, a honeycomb which was as large as a bowl mouth, and a queen bee. Only after a couple of looks, Zhang Tie bought a beehive which was even bigger than a wine barrel. Together with bees, it cost him 16 silver coins in total. After paying 17 silver coins, Zhang Tie asked the seller to send this beehive along with the bees into that warehouse which he had rented out.

The seller only needed to rent a three-wheeler to carry this beehive through the Blackhot City, which would cost him less than 30 copper coins. So seeing Zhang Tie give him a whole extra silver coin, he was very happy. Therefore, he even gifted Zhang Tie a set of tools used for cutting honey and a screened hat that could prevent people's faces from being stung by bees.

After finishing his arrangements, the moment Zhang Tie wanted to leave here and return downtown, he saw a familiar person - Samira.

[1] Local snakes: influental gangsters in the area

Chapter 189: Samira's Backer

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

Zhang Tie noticed that Samira was bargaining before a booth with a businessman who sold scaly anteaters. As it was noisy here, Zhang Tie hadn't noticed him before at all; additionally, there was a small patch of person-high plants between the two of them. Zhang Tie wasn't able to see through the plants, so of course he didn't know that Samira was standing right behind them.

It was Samira's voice that had attracted his attention.

"What? It's just a mutated cuprine scaly anteater, not even a LV 1 living being. You want 30 silver coins for it? Why not go rob? At most 10 silver coins. Additionally, I will take this iron cage..."

Hearing Samira's voice, Zhang Tie, who was preparing to leave, became dumbfounded. What a coincidence!

That was true!

He turned and took a detour around that small patch of strawberry trees.

It was really Samira!

Probably afraid of being caught by Zhang Tie, after disappearing for over ten days, Samira looked more low-key. At least he didn't wear that expensive silk hat anymore. Besides, his clothes were much more average. He looked like a small steward of a rich family. However, his expression and voice didn't change even a bit.

Standing on bot of Samira's sides were two tough men who were currently lifting several iron cages. All the animals inside them were cuprine scaly anteaters.

Cuprine scaly anteater was a mutated living being which was not very aggressive. It was dark red in color with a metallic luster like that of red copper. Its flesh was very yummy, making it a very great meal.

The most special items on the scaly anteater were those scales with the metallic luster. It was said that besides being used as a medicine, they had a very powerful defensive ability which could even match that of copper sheets. Additionally, they were very light. After perforation, they became good raw materials for making scale-armor. The scale-armor of cuprine scaly anteaters had nice defence, making it the favorite of many hunters and pioneers who didn't have enough money.

The place where Zhang Tie stood was still several meters away from Samira. He pretended to watch those small animals on the booth beside him while fixing his pupils on Samira from the corners of his eyes.

...

The ten silver coins Samira counter-offered with were obviously much lower than what the hunter selling them had expected. He didn't want to sell his goods at such a low price at all. Finally, they started to bargain.

"Do you know who I am? I'm a franchised LV 3 supplier of the Military Administration of Blackhot City for the Norman Empire. These cuprine scaly anteaters would be used for entertaining the VIPs of the Norman Empire. Do you know where you live and whose rules you're following? You dare to offer such a high price to me?"

Hearing how Samira was shamelessly screaming to frighten that hunter, Zhang Tie started to swear at his shamelessness. His status as a LV 3 supplier had long been canceled. Almost all the people in the Iron-Blood Camp knew this guy had screwed Zhang Tie and were planning to find him trouble.

As for his current situation, he was in-hiding, not even daring to return to Blackhot City. What VIPs of the Norman Empire needed him to entertain them? What were those privileged families of the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City being used for?

Hearing Samira's explanation, the seller hesitated. After seeing the two tough men nearby, he finally agreed to sell the animal at the price of 15 silver coins.

Samira was pleased somewhat. After paying, he let the two tough men carry the iron cage of the cuprine scaly anteater while he looked around the banyan forest and then left.

Zhang Tie followed them at a distance of 50 m.

The south of Blackhot City was much more prosperous than the north or the west. There was a lake and a small town outside the south city wall. As there were so many passers-by on the way, Zhang Tie was not noticed by them.

After walking more than ten minutes, Samira and the other two men came to a place next to the lake and walked directly inside.

It was an exceptionally beautiful castle-type manor covering over 33000 square meters. There were several lofty and grandiose buildings inside it; all the rich men in Blackhot City had their own manors and castles.

Looking at the ten meter high wall and the team of guards in bright clothes outside the gate, Zhang Tie frowned and stopped.

Seeing a person passing by, Zhang Tie asked with admiration evident in his expression.

"This manor is really magnificent. Do you know who the owner is?"

That person stared at Zhang Tie like looking at a rustic before answering with pride, "This manor belongs to the greatest alchemist in Blackhot City, Master Abyan!"

Master Abyan! Zhang Tie understood it well now. No wonder he could not find Samira anywhere in city. This guy had hidden here. He had really found a powerful back to hide behind!

After estimating the time, Zhang Tie cast a deep look at that magnificent manor before turning back to return to Blackhot City.

...

Half an hour later, he returned to the storage area near the railway station. It was the most boisterous time of the day as cargo trucks accessed the warehouses one after another.

Taking out of his key, Zhang Tie opened the small door and entered. One minute later, he walked out again. In that short period of time he had already sent the gold coins into the Castle of Black Iron.

Less than five minutes after he walked out, the first truck from Home of the Wild arrived. Longe was also here along with the truck. Seeing Zhang Tie waiting at the entrance of the warehouse, he jumped off the truck.

"Sir, is this your warehouse?"

Longe pointed at the gate of the warehouse behind Zhang Tie.

"Yes!"

Zhang Tie nodded.

Longe waved his hands, and several workers got off the vehicle and opened the gate of the warehouse. Then, the truck drove right inside. Zhang Tie and Longe then walked in and guided the workers in discharging the cargo.

All the cargo in the truck was packaged in cartons or portable wooden cases. Therefore, they were easily moved.

While the workers were removing the boxes from the truck, Longe gave Zhang Tie three manuals.

"These are assembly manuals for the three log cabins. This batch of cargo is for the two customized single-story log cabins, each of which occupies 80 square meters. Once you transport it to the right place, based on the steps in the manuals, you'll easily build up the houses. There's an adroit worker in our business group who only needs ten hours to build a No. 3 single-story log cabin which covers 80 square meters. Each standard component has a code. You can see them on the package crates. This is just like using building blocks to build a house, as you only need strength, it'll be easy!"

Skimming over the manual for the single-story log cabin which covered 80 square meters, Zhang Tie found that the assemblage steps on it were very detailed. The instructions were also easily understood. After only several glances, he was already attempting to build that 3A80 log cabin in his mind.

After his spiritual energy upsurged again, Zhang Tie gradually found some advantages of high spiritual energy. He realized that with the greatly increased visualization, he could easily remember all the steps only by visualizing them once in his mind.

The single-story log cabin 3A80 weighed 14.5 tons in total. It consisted of 954 wooden components and laminates of various types of four major categories and 226 standard steel and iron components of seven major categories. There were 398 places in the entire house that required to be fixed by bolts and buckles. The whole building process only needed four tools: a heavy hammer, a light hammer, a wrench, and a portable standing ladder.

There were more than ten workers discharging cargo, all of them tough men. So the cargo that was only slightly less than 30 tons were soon emptied out of the truck and placed in the corners of the warehouse in two tidy piles.

The moment the truck was empty, it was driven out and another one went in.

On the second truck was a portable two-story log cabin 3B90 that covered 90 square meters, some parts, packaged furniture, and a pioneering toolkit. This truck carried almost 20 tons of cargo.

After all of it was taken out and tidily arranged in the warehouse, the truck drove out and the third one went in— it contained the grains ordered by Zhang Tie.

When the third truck was discharged, the beehive arrived.

By the afternoon, after several hours' of transportation, all the cargo ordered in the Home of the Wild had been brought in. The total weight of it all were over 100 tons. As a result, three quarters of the over 400 square meters' warehouse were filled.

After the people from the Home of the Wild left, Zhang Tie closed the warehouse's gate from inside. As a result, no sunlight could penetrate in. Only with the faint light of illuminating stones could Zhang Tie see the scene in the warehouse.

Looking at the materials piled as high as hills, he scratched his head. It seemed that he had bought too many items this time. But it felt really cool to spend money.

Zhang Tie smiled and walked in front of the cargo. Carrying over a 200 kgs' package crate, he immediately disappeared from the warehouse. Several seconds later, he reappeared. He then carried another crate of cargo and disappeared once more...

Zhang Tie became a carrier himself and started to move the cargo from here into the Castle of Black Iron one package or crate after another...

Chapter 190: Hard Work

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

The cargo inside the warehouse were decreasing by crates and cartons. Each time Zhang Tie appeared, the cargo would be reduced by 400-500 kgs, at least in the warehouse.

With nine wolves' strength in his body, Zhang Tie had super strong endurance and strength. He just kept carrying the cargo from the warehouse into the Castle of Black Iron without even knowing what fatigue was.

Two hours later, a greater part of the cargo in the warehouse had 'disappeared'. Sitting on a box, Zhang Tie started to enter meditation of 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus' with his legs crossed so as to recover his spiritual energy. Right now, although Zhang Tie felt a bit tired, he still had enough strength to continue. However, after 100-200 times of carrying the heavy boxes into Castle of Black Iron in a short period of time, even with his increased spiritual energy Zhang Tie could still not stand it spiritually.

The meditation took him over an hour. During this time, he attempted to visualize the two 13-column abacuses in his mind at the same time before using the two abacuses to carry out sophisticated four arithmetic operations.

At the beginning, Zhang Tie found that the two abacuses would present the same result. For instance, if he multiplied 3659 by 49631, the two abacus would present 181599829 at the same time. But after practicing it for a while, his heart suddenly pounded as he decided he wanted to attempt how to calculate four arithmetic operations on two abacuses at the same time. The moment this thought flashed across his mind, he couldn't wait to have a try.

However, he found it was very difficult to do two different arithmetic operations on two abacuses at the same time. After the two abacuses in his mind broke apart many times, he felt reluctant to carry out two-digit arithmetic operations on two abacuses at the same time like how preliminary students did. But even that he couldn't do smoothly. Zhang Tie felt like having returned to the time when he just started to clumsily learn to use an abacus.

The fact was that there was a common ground between practicing spiritual energy and exercising physical muscles—the harder you exercised, the better the effect would be. After practicing 'Mental Arithmetic by Two Abacuses' for over an hour, Zhang Tie found that his spiritual energy had recovered much faster than before, along with a more obvious effect. Additionally, his mindset had become clearer.

There was really one reason for it. After discovering the potential of 'Mental Arithmetic by Two Abacuses', Zhang Tie was in a good mood. Previously, according to the book, after the increase in spiritual energy, his 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus' skill had reached a bottleneck and could hardly improve even a bit. He hadn't imagined that he could play with 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus' this way after deciding to do it on a whim. This might not even have been expected by the author of this book.

'I'm now the first person who knows 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus' in this world. Is it easy to rank first on something among the billions of people and other living beings across the continent?'

Thinking of this, Zhang Tie became pleased and started to work harder.

In the next two hours, the cargo in the warehouse were quickly reduced by crates and cartons. When even Zhang Tie didn't remember how many times he had accessed the Castle of Black Iron, the entire warehouse became empty again, leaving the stump-like beehive alone.

Hugging that beehive, Zhang Tie then disappeared from the warehouse...

...

"The system has detected that Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord has brought a great amount of carbon-based smart lives in the Castle of Black Iron. The animal system of the Castle of Black Iron starts!"

Seeing this line of words gradually disappearing before his eyes, Zhang Tie, burst out laughing.

'That's awesome. I can truly bring living beings inside!'

This time, within the radius of 50 m around the small tree, the ground in the Castle of Black Iron was piled with cargo. Ignoring those items, Zhang Tie hugged his beehive and ran towards the private plot.

After over two months, the corn sowed by Zhang Tie at the beginning had already grown as high a person. Additionally, the inside of the Castle of Black Iron was becoming increasingly more lively. Many plants that Zhang Tie had sowed before had bloomed.

After meticulously putting the beehive on the ground beside that plot, Zhang Tie squatted down and pulled the zigzag-patterned ventilation iron out of the entrance of the beehive. He then squatted down with interest and looked at what would happen next.

The moment the door was opened, some bees climbed out of that opening. After being locked in the beehive for a long time, these cute guys must have been sick of it so much that after looking around, they immediately flew off into the air.

They circled around the beehive for two rounds, then flew directly towards that blooming cornfield. After that, more bees climbed out and started to fly around. Even Zhang Tie could feel that these cute guys were very excited about this new environment.

Everything in the Castle of Black Iron made these cute guys pleased, especially the patches of various blossoms. No other bees would grab nectar from them anymore. As a result, the bees immediately felt like having entered heaven.

There were over 1000 bees in the beehive. The seller told Zhang Tie that once in the wild, the queen bee in the beehive would lay eggs. If the environment was proper, this swarm of bees could soon increase their numbers. The wine-barrel like big beehive that Zhang Tie had bought could contain over 70,000 bees.

Feeling the bees' excitement, Zhang Tie also felt very happy!

After that, he opened the management panel of living beings and species of the Castle of Black Iron. Selecting the whole swarm along with the queen bee, Zhang Tie input 5000 aura value points at once and started the first mutation and evolution for these cute guys in the Castle of Black Iron.

As the aura value points in the Castle of Black Iron greatly increased everyday, Zhang Tie wanted to see what result he could get after inputting enough aura value points. It didn't matter if it worked or not: if it didn't, he would try another time and then again after that. If it still didn't work, he would try ten times, even 100 times. It was just a consumption of some aura value points. He wound't feel pained by using them at all. However, if he made it, that would be a great pleasure for him. This was a reasonable business...

The evolution cycle of the swarm of bees seemed closely related to the life cycle of worker bees who were responsible for collecting nectar. The time of the first round of mutation and evolution would roughly be the life cycle of worker bees - 56 days.

After glancing over those piled cartons and crates, Zhang Tie immediately exited the Castle of Black Iron. As it was late today, he had to leave here and could only assemble those items tomorrow.

...

Several minutes later, he opened the person-sized door a small crack from inside and looked around. He found it was already dark outside and nobody was near the warehouse. He then opened the door slightly more and flashed outside. After locking it behind himself, as well as the gate of the warehouse, Zhang Tie quickly left this storage area.

He was very satisfied with today's achievements. He brought a great amount of materials into the Castle of Black Iron and found the whereabouts of Samira. Additionally, when he practiced 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus', he had some unexpected achievements. He also verified that he could bring living beings into the Castle of Black Iron.

After today's work, Zhang Tie had more confidence in his future. No matter what would happen, he could ensure a comfortable life for his beloved people.

Two weeks later, if he didn't return those keys of the warehouse, his ten silver coins' deposit would be wasted. By then, when other people opened the warehouse, they would see an empty warehouse. In this storage area where cargo trucks accessed it every hour of the day, the person seeing this would only think that he had taken away the cargo and had no time to return the keys. He would never imagine that the cargo had disappeared after entering the warehouse.

What lunatic person would it require him to just squat before Zhang Tie's warehouse for two weeks when there were several hundreds of warehouses in this storage area? Would he be staying here just to witness that nothing was inside the warehouse when it was opened?

Even though there were truly these kind of lunatics around, nobody would believe in them. The warehouse could engulf all the cargo? Referring to this disguised face, who could find the real one. After 15 days, Zhang Tie was not sure whether he would still be wearing it or not. Therefore, although it seemed careless for him to do this, it had been well considered.

Next, he needed to open those packages in the Castle of Black Iron and quickly built the log cabins. Besides, he had to find a chance to deal with that bastard Samira. Additionally, as the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club was going to open, he would also need find time to visit there to see how Mary would react when she caught sight of him again.

Since he had not eaten for the whole day, Zhang Tie bought a loaf of bread from a roadside bakery.

He gnawed at that bread of dried meat floss and milk that he would not have afforded before and slowly walked back. Imagining the shocked and terrified expression on Mary's face when she saw him again in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, Zhang Tie suddenly felt very cool inside.

This world belonged to the powerful men!

...

After going back to the Avenue Monet, Zhang Tie spent dozens of copper coins to buy a ticket to enter the underground bar.

The underground bar in the evening was ten times more boisterous than when Zhang Tie had left in the morning. Merely beside the faint dancefloor, there were already several hundreds of people embracing and twisting their bodies. The band's music also became louder. In contrast, fewer people came here to drink at this time.

Several bald tough men in tight black T-shirts had their arms crossed as they stood in the tunnel and beside the dancefloor. In the changing shadows caused by lamp lights, they were standing still, radiating an extremely great threat to those ruffians who might have wanted to stir up trouble here.

The business in the bar was very good. There were always men and women coming out of the dancefloor and moving to the bar part of the room to drink. Some just straight away rented out a room. The price of a chartered room here was one silver coins per two hours. If they wanted to stay overnight, they needed to pay five silver coins. Zhang Tie was really confused how Donder could have changed a chartered room into a private room for sleeping with women in a bar.

Several minutes later, Zhang Tie returned to the apartment in Avenue Monet through the hidden door in the chartered room and recovered his original look in the hidden room.

Through this outing in disguise, Zhang Tie felt the advantage of hiding his status. Seeing those wardrobes and a pile of items used to change his look, he immediately moved all of them into the Castle of Black Iron.

After several rounds, he finally emptied the whole hidden room.

After a whole day's hard work, Zhang Tie started to feel tired both physically and mentally. Once he left the hidden room, he went back to the above residence and took a bath before throwinng himself onto the bed. He mentally prepared to build up all the log cabins in the Castle of Black Iron tomorrow...

However, there would always be too many unforeseen things in one's life.

The next morning, what woke him up was not his biological clock but the doorbell in the room. Someone was pulling the rope outside the apartment. The doorbell kept ringing, which told Zhang Tie that someone wished to find him.

Still dizzy from sleep, he got up. A look at the sky outside told him that it was not even six o'clock in the morning. Who would get up so early to find him? Even for brats' mischief this would be too early as no brat would get up so early.

However, the doorbell kept ringing, which reminded Zhang Tie of that person's urgency. Therefore, he hurriedly put on his clothes and came to the door. He then opened the gate of the apartment.

When he did so, he saw Barley and Doug standing outside the gate with anxious expressions.

"Something's wrong with Sharwin's home!"

That first sentence of Barley's immediately chased away all sleepiness out of Zhang Tie.