Chapter 203: Improvements in the Castle of Black Iron
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
Zhang Tie didn't know what had happened in the animal trading market and Master Abyan's castle-style manor. According to his plan, after killing Samira with his dagger, his running speed could even match that of a sprinting wild wolf.
The two bodyguards beside Samira were left far behind him in only several seconds. They could not even catch the flying dust that had been left by Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie kept running towards south of Blackhot City before turning to the west. He picked remote areas with few people and made a big circle in the wild.
Half an hour later, having run over 30 kms, Zhang Tie stood in the woods over 10 km away from Blackhot City, on its west side.
He liked to run. He liked that feeling of being as free as the wind. This time, after killing Samira, he made another round to simply enjoy the cool feeling of running. Zhang Tie felt that each of his pores from his head to toes were cool.
After stopping in the wild woods,he burst out laughing loudly.
After looking around to ensure that nobody was near him, he took off his coat, wig, and face mask. As it was too uncomfortable to take the coat and the wig in his hands, Zhang Tie directly threw them off. As for the face mask, Zhang Tie folded it and rubbed it into a ball before foisting it into his pocket. According to Donder, this kind of memory-based face mask would recover its original look when you sprayed water on it no matter how crumpled it was, as long as didn't torn.
After doing this, the moment Zhang Tie wanted to leave, he noticed that Samira's cage containing golden uangs had been carried all the way here and was lying on the ground after a trip of tens of kilometers.
Squatting down, Zhang Tie opened the cage and poured out the golden uangs. There were 56 golden uangs of different sizes inside the cage. They were actually adorable and had a nice color.
"Today, I completed my revenge and save your lives. From today on, you should remember to be cleverer and not be so easily caught by people!"
Some golden uangs clumsily tried to turn back by standing on the ground. Zhang Tie then took them up and put them on a nearby tree trunk. Released out of the cage, all the golden uangs instantly escaped in all directions.
He didn't know whether they had understood his words, but Zhang Tie felt that some golden uangs were nodding to him when they left. Some having climbed several steps forward even looked back at their savior.
Zhang Tie's mom said that every creature had its spirit. It seemed true.
Seeing those small creatures being released and gaining freedom, Zhang Tie also felt set free. He had never had this cool sense of having achieved his revenge before. It was like drinking icy plum syrup in the hot of summer and having many beauties warm up the bed for you in cold winter.
Zhang Tie felt that a dauntless man should act like this!
As long as nobody had witnessed him killing Samira, even if Master Abyan doubted the randomness of it, he could do nothing to Zhang Tie.
Soon after this event was solved, Zhang Tie felt that even if he would soon be dispatched to Kalur, he would also feel much more reassured about his family members and friends in Blackhot City. After all, without chopping off his—Samira's, that villain's, a poisonous snake's—head, you didn't know when he would jump out of his hiding place and bite you or your loved ones.
At noon, Zhang Tie returned to Blackhot City through the west city gate.
Soon after he entered the city, he saw a bald tough guy with a killing Qi in the uniform of the first lieutenant of the Norman Empire passing by him in a car.
Zhang Tie hurriedly shouted out,"Officer Freo!"
With a sound of 'zhi…', the Mountain Cat branded military SUV braked. The tough man who was driving and two soldiers on the SUV turned back at the same time and caught sight of Zhang Tie, who was walking on the road in plain clothes.
"Zhang Tie!" First Lieutenant Freo swiftly jumped off the vehicle and came to stand in front of Zhang Tie. The moment he wanted to give him a punch on the shoulder, he realized something and hurriedly stopped. "How are your wounds?"
"Much better. The air outside Blackhot City is fresh. It's beneficial to my recuperation, so I came out for a walk!" Zhang Tie casually lied. After that, he looked at a pile of crates containing military materials in the vehicle. "How's the camp now?"
"The division has already sent an order. Three days later, Iron-Blood Camp will drive to Kalur as the vanguard of No. 39 Division! Now that the Kalur's situation is escalating, our frontier troops are in shortage. Skirmishes under the scale of battalions and regiments would occur over ten times each day... That region is becoming more and more bloody..."
Although having long predicted the coming of this day, when he heard the news from First Lieutenant Freo, Zhang Tie's heart still pounded. In the blink of an eye, the battles between two great countries had come so close to him.
It happened earlier than Zhang Tie had predicted.
Taking a glance at him, First Lieutenant Freo felt regretful and comforte Zhang Tie, "Based on your wounds, you might not be able to join this battle in Kalur. You just recuperate in Blackhot City, hope we can have a chance to see each other again!"
After patting Zhang Tie's shoulders, First Lieutenant Freo jumped back into his Mountain Cat SUV and drove away out of Zhang Tie's vision.
After standing there for a while, Zhang Tie started to run.
He controlled his speed while running past the avenues of Blackhot City, not making it too shocking. He only kept his speed at that of someone chasing after a thief once he realized that his purse had been stolen.
Zhang Tie kept running toward his apartment on Avenue Monet. In the following two days, he only left once, returning with two sacks of various fruits and a barrel of honey that he could buy in the Blackhot City. He then totally immersed himself in the reconstruction of the Castle of Black Iron.
Two days later, three artificial buildings stood in the Castle of Black Iron: two of them were single-story log cabins numbered 3A80, while the other was an independent double-story log cabin numbered 3B90. All the three buildings were purchased from Home of the Wild, and because of them, the entire Castle of Black Iron seemed to be more lively.
The three log cabins had tangerine roofs and tan walls, making them look very beautiful and delicate. Because they were designed and built in modules, the shapes of these log cabins were different from that of common residences. They looked more like wood houses of elves or dwarves from fairy tales. Whether it was styles or designs, they were all simple and chic, full of natural colors and good craftsmanship.
After being built up, the log cabins looked more beautiful than in the photos. From now on, Zhang Tie had his own grain warehouse and biological lab.
All the purchased grains were divided into two single-story log cabins.
In his lab, Zhang Tie started the fermentation using his first batch of basic aura yeast fluid. This fermentation process required water—mountain spring water from the Castle of Black Iron—fruits, honey, and sugar, all of which had been well prepared by Zhang Tie.
Like how he had fermented yeast fluid numerous times at home, he fermented almost 300 kgs yeast fluid. Being sour and sweet, this was his favorite drink when he was young. Sadly, he couldn't drink too much at home as it was meant for fermenting the rice brew. This time, however, Zhang Tie promised himself to make enough yeast fluid to be able to drink it whenever he wanted in the future.
Besides that, he also left a vial of basic aura yeast fluid in the lab so as to start its second mutation and evolution. Zhang Tie input aura value points inside like how he had done to those bees. No matter how many times he would have to try and whether he would succeed or not, he would never feel loss for those aura value points as they were produced everyday.
After doing these things in the Castle of Black Iron, in the afternoon, a day before the Iron-Blood Camp would leave for the Kalur region, Zhang Tie walked out of his apartment on Avenue Monet in unexpected high spirits in tidy military uniform and boots along with his military officer's long sword.
Zhang Tie went back home first, accompanying his parents to kill time in the afternoon. During the supper, he told them that the Iron-Blood Camp would drive to Kalur for a big fight. His mom started crying, and the atmosphere at home became very depressing. Although Zhang Tie tried to improve it, even dad and elder brother's smiles looked very reluctant.
His mom continued to add dishes into his bowl, so he lowered his head and just engulfed whatever she gave him.
It was not easy to fight Sun Dynasty's Brilliant Feathers. The fight that Zhang Tie was going to experience would be more dangerous and cruel than what his martyr bastard-eldest-brother had experienced; Sun Dynasty's army was known across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor for its savageness.
After supper, elder sister-in-law put away the bowls and chopsticks and went to the kitchen.
Zhang Tie brought his dad and mom to the chairs in the parlor. After that, he bowed in front of them three times, making a loud sound, 'dong, dong, dong'.
Although his dad didn't drop tears at supper, he burst out crying now too.
Zhang Tie stood up and revealed a smile. "Dad and mom, don't worry, I'll be back alive. Until I bring you hundreds and thousands of descendants, I will not die. You've given me a good name. I'll be as indestructible as iron!"
...
Zhang Yang then accompanied Zhang Tie out and walked with him for a long distance.
"Zhang Tie, that money..."
"They are clean. It's Gregory family's compensation to me!" The moment his elder brother opened his mouth, Zhang Tie knew what he wanted to say. Before departing, he tightly grasped his elder brother's hands. "We brothers should not care about these things. Because it's chaotic everywhere, as long as I leave Blackhot City, you will hardly get any news about me.
"In the future, if I don't come back in half a year, you should take the money and leave Blackhot City together with dad, mom, and elder sister and go to the Eastern Continent. Then, you should look after our parents well!" Saying that, Zhang Tie took out that resin card with holes on it and gave it to his elder brother. "When you arrive at the Eastern Continent, you should go find Donder and he will arrange everything for you!"
Zhang Yang's eyes turned red while he forcefully grabbed Zhang Tie's shoulder with one of his hands, tears sliding down his cheeks. Zhang Yang was also a soldier, of course he knew what would happened battlefields. In such a great war, no matter how strong a person was, nobody would dare to pat their chest and swear that they could come back alive. Zhang Yang knew that what Zhang Tie had talked at home was only to comfort dad and mom. The real truth was what he was saying now.
"Can't you just not go there?" Zhang Yang asked.
In Zhang family, only he knew that Zhang Tie was still on his sick leave. He had suffered a heavy wound along with a rare poison. As only a few days had passed since he was given the sick leave, Zhang Tie had reason to not go. If he didn't appear tomorrow, he then would be able to avoid joining this war.
Actually, the Iron-Blood Camp and the No. 39 Division which knew Zhang Tie's latest situation had seen that Zhang Tie hadn't reported to the Iron-Blood Camp. This indicated that he would not be coming there tomorrow as well.
As Zhang Tie's elder brother, Zhang Yang sincerely wished for him not to go there.
"When there was an assassination attempt on my life, all the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp immediately set out and surrounded the residence of Gregory family in order to avenge me. So this time, I have to be there even if to face a mountain of swords!"
Zhang Yang sighed. He knew Zhang Tie's personality very well. Sometimes, although his brother was a bit cynical, he was very righteous. Donder had only looked after him for two years, yet he didn't hesitate to give him the 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'. If the whole Iron-Blood Camp could sacrifice themselves for him, then he could also sacrifice himself for the whole Iron-Blood Camp.
This was Zhang Tie!
"I have several brothers and women in Blackhot City, elder brother, you must have seen them. I mean Barley, Pandora... If I cannot come back in the future, when you leave, if you are able to look after them, you'd better give them a hand!"
Zhang Yang solemnly nodded. After that, the two brothers bade farewell to each other. Zhang Yang then saw off Zhang Tie, watching as he disappeared at the end of an avenue.
...
After finishing with his home affairs, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. He then came to Fatty Barley's home. When he saw his friend, he had also just finished his supper. Beneath the building where Barley lived, Zhang Tie told him that he would leave for Kalur with the Iron-Blood Camp tomorrow. Under Barley's shocking gaze, Zhang Tie gave him a key.
"This is a safe that I rented out in the Golden Roc Bank of Blackhot City today, the number is 1067. I've put something there, as well as a letter for you. When I leave, you can go get the things inside the safe together with Doug and the other brothers!"
After being silent for a while, Barley took Zhang Tie's key. "Will you bid farewell to Doug and the other brothers?"
"No need, I cannot stand men crying in front of me; it feels like bidding farewell to a dead body. I prefer women to do that in front of me. " Bursting out laughing, Zhang Tie tightly embraced Barley. "Good luck, bro!"
After waving his hand to Barley, he turned back and disappeared in the darkness.
Chapter 204: Agreement
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
After leaving home, Zhang Tie went to the orphanage founded by Grandma Teresa. He donated 200 gold coins to the orphanage. This was the largest amount of donation that the orphanage had ever gained since it was founded. When Zhang Tie left, all the kids in the orphanage sang the hymn of the Guardian God School and saw Zhang Tie off, while Grandma Teresa kissed his forehead.
In the eyes of the kids of the orphanage, Zhang Tie was absolutely the only sage besides Grandma Teresa.
After this donation, Zhang Tie became penniless again with only several gold coins left.
...
Tonight, the eighty four girls in Blackhot City all received well-packaged exquisite gift boxes that Zhang Tie had the boutique stores send to them.
Each of them received a beautiful fresh flower, a set of Miss Diss' underclothes, and a set of jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store. On each greeting card, Zhang Tie wrote down a line of words.
"XXX, I will leave Blackhot City tomorrow, thanks for bringing me pleasure. I will remember you forever. Please forgive me for being not able to give you more——Zhang Tie!"
During this period, in the 7-8 days' edification and education by the beauties of the Rose Association, Zhang Tie finally became a half-fashionable man who started to know about various fashionable and interesting places in Blackhot City from a rustic who didn't know how to enjoy himself at all.
From those beauties, Zhang Tie learned the name of the best jewelry store in Blackhot City, the name of the best underclothes store, the location of the best coffee bar, the best tailor's store, the best hair salon, and the best hotel, as well as how to make the most delicious chocolate, etc..
The beauties in the Rose Association could easily tell the best places and the best items in Blackhot City as if they describing how much jewelry they had at home.
Many of these beautiful girls were from common families like Zhang Tie. A few of them had slightly better family conditions, none of which could match that of Benet's family. Because of differences in family statuses, it was not possible for each of these girls to have a set of Miss Diss's underclothes, neither was it possible for each of them to have a set of jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store.
To be able to wear a set of Miss Diss's underclothes and jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store while they were young and beautiful had become the dream of many girls of the Rose Association.
For many people, such a dream was over superficial and utilitarian, however, Zhang Tie didn't think so. He just felt lucky that before leaving Blackhot City, he could do one more thing to make the adorable girls happy.
This might be the last memory that he could leave them.
...
There were no greeting cards in the gift boxes that he gave to Pandora, Alice, and Beverly, because Zhang Tie had carved all the words that he wanted to say on their finger rings.
As nobody was at Alice's home, the gift carrier brought back the gift. If necessary, she would send it there again tomorrow.
...
After doing all of these things, Zhang Tie felt absolutely relaxed. Before leaving Blackhot City, he had exerted all his effort to do everything he could do. Even if he was killed on the battlefield, he would not feel sorry for them all.
He killed the one who deserved to be killed and appreciated the ones who deserved to be appreciated...
Zhang Tie felt that he had loaded off a heavy burden.
...
Under the dim roadside lamps, he walked through the streets, from the gate of Seventh National Male Middle School all the way to the station where he had watched Miss Daina many times from afar.
It was where Miss Daina always waited for the bus to go home everyday. Previously, Zhang Tie could only hide in the alley behind the station to peep at her beautiful figure; he had already stealthily enjoyed her figure near this station for three years. Tonight, Zhang Tie bravely walked onto the platform for the first time, silently standing on that place where the beautiful figure always stood.
It was already deep in the night, few pedestrians were on the streets. All the urban buses had stopped running. Nobody was in the station except for Zhang Tie. The dim road lamp near the station radiated a looming light in the dark, elongating Zhang Tie's shadow. It looked like a road that extended into the endless darkness.
Standing on the platform alone, Zhang Tie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to smell a wisp of the familiar fragrance left here while that beautiful figure got on the bus and left.
Donder said that in this age, if a man wanted to be mature, he should have done four things - f*cked a prostitute, killed someone, was sent to prison, and became a soldier.
In the past couple of months, Zhang Tie had experienced all of the above four things that Donder had mentioned. He was mature then now. And so he understood that lie which had brought him endless hope.
...
"My greatest wish is that one of my students will become a powerful fighter or a powerful man who can safeguard human beings. Then, I will well dress myself to marry him...
...
"The appointment between me and all of you is that when you are powerful enough to protect me, let me marry you, okay?"
...
"Would you like to make this kind of agreement with me?"
...
The beautiful voice of yesterday's classroom was still drifting in Zhang Tie's ears, the agreement which had thrilled him so much. Not until this moment did he understand that it was the most beautiful lie that he had ever heard.
Miss Daina was his teacher, the best teacher in his heart. She had her own life and would never belong to him. Neither would she marry him. Before Miss Daina, Zhang Tie was forever a student who could only silently follow her and hide in an alley beside the station to kiss her in his mind with his humble eyes.
In this small station, that poor, small figure was sacrificed and buried forever.
...
Zhang Tie didn't know how long he stood in that station. He did his best to recall everything he could about Miss Daina. Actually, he was so scared that after he left Blackhot City tomorrow, this would became his eternal farewell. He was afraid that one day he won't be able remember that beautiful figure anymore. He was afraid that one day he would forget her looks.
Maybe, on the day he left school, he should have collected his courage to take a photo with Miss Daina.
Zhang Tie became a bit regretful inside.
He wasn't certain from when there was already nobody on the streets...
He wasn't certain from when the fine rain had become so heavy...
He wasn't certain from when he was no longer alone in this station as Pandora was standing in front of him.
Looking at her weak body and pale face that had been wetted by heavy rain, Zhang Tie felt pained. He then embraced her while taking off his military jacket. After cleaning the water off Pandora's head, he hurriedly put his jacket over her head before taking her icy hands and forcefully rubbing them.
"How did you know I'm here?" he asked.
Looking at Zhang Tie's nervous expression, Pandora chuckled. "You told me about what you always did previously, I guess you'd be here tonight. So here I am!"
Zhang Tie was slightly abashed, feeling like a kid who had been caught while stealing candy bars in a relative's home. He then pretended to glare at Pandora as he lifted her. "What about you, why are you here alone then, it's so late!"
Revealing a smile to him, Pandora lifted her hand and took out that box which contained the ring. Although she had gotten soaked by the heavy rain, that box was still dry with not even a water drop on it.
"I've just received your gift, learning that you'll need to leave Blackhot City tomorrow, so I want you to put this ring on for me !"
For some reason, at the sight of Pandora' smile, Zhang Tie felt like crying. He didn't say anything but instantly caught that box and took out that black ring. After that, he took hold of Pandora's hand that she stretched out before him.
Pandora's right hand was tender and elegant. When she opened her palm, Zhang Tie wanted to put the ring onto her right hand's middle finger, but the moment he moved to do so, he saw Pandora shaking her head and stretching out her fourth finger. After that, she looked at Zhang Tie full of expectations, her eyes seeming to contain endless words.
There was a great difference in meanings depending on which woman's finger the man put the ring on.
Zhang Tie and Pandora gazed at each other, the whole world quieting down around them.
Seeing Pandora's open snow white fingers in front of him, Zhang Tie felt as if seeing Pandora lying on the bed and showing her open snow white legs, waiting for him to crash inside.
Identical to that day, at this moment, Pandora didn't say anything more, instead, she just looked at Zhang Tie with a pair of shiny eyes which contained all words: both of encouragement and expectation.
Whether Pandora opened her legs or palm in front of him, Zhang Tie felt that she was especially beautiful, which made his heart pound.
"I will die!" Zhang Tie solemnly promised Pandora.
"I know!" Pandora watched Zhang Tie with tears flowing out of her tears. "One day, I will die too. I just want to make an agreement with you while I'm still alive. When I'm as beautiful as Miss Daina, if you're still alive, can I take her place and marry you?"
Zhang Tie immediately burst into tears.
He pulled Pandora's hand toward himself and kissed it. After that, he put that ring onto fourth finger with great seriousness.
Both of them then smiled. After that, they embraced tightly and began to crazily kiss each other in this silent station, trying to lick all the tears off the other's face.
...
It kept raining for the first half of the night, and Zhang Tie hugged Pandora as they sat on the platform of the station. He told Miss Daina's story to her. Pandora also hugged Zhang Tie as she leaned against his chest with her head, listening seriously.
At the second half of the night, the rain stopped. Zhang Tie then lifted Pandora up and brought her to his apartment. After that, they started to crazily make love without a stop.
Chapter 205: Leaving Blackhot City
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
The next noon, in the railway station of Blackhot City, the military train that was going to leave had already blown its first whistle, which indicated urgency and that the train was about to set off.
"Is everyone ready?" Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt asked, looking out the carriage for the last time. By then, the last soldiers of Iron-Blood Camp had jumped onto the train from the platform.
"Everybody is in!" Major Guderian cleaned his glasses. "Everybody and all the equipment is on the train! Besides one wounded soldier, everybody of Iron-Blood Camp is already in."
"Fine, set off!" Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt ordered. At the same time, he thought back to Zhang Tie's young face and felt slightly regretful inside.
After blowing the third whistle, the military train started to move slowly.
"What a pity!"
Major Guderian took off his golden-frame glasses and slowly cleaned them with a piece of cloth. In the Iron-Blood Camp as a whole, only major Guderian and Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt knew that Gregory family had given Zhang Tie a vial of advanced recovery medicament once he left the hospital. If Zhang Tie had used that vial of medicament, he should have been able to follow in the steps of the Iron-Blood Camp. However, Zhang Tie was not here; therefore, major Guderian let out a sigh.
The carriage was filled with military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp. For Guderian's slight sigh, nobody made any response, instead, they all kept quiet.
"Nothing to feel regretful about. This might be karma between people as was said by marshal Lin Changjiang!" Reinhardt stated, hitting the point.
...
The train sped up. Right then, people in the carriage of military officers seemed to hear increasingly louder voices shouting 'come on' from carriages that carried common soldiers behind them.
Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt and many military officers were curious, and they looked out the windows once again. Everybody saw an SUV rushing out of the tunnel near the platform. Soon, that SUV caught up with a carriage between the middle part and the end of the train. The soldiers of Iron-Blood Camp in the carriage had opened the door and were shouting loudly to encourage the black-haired guy who was standing on the seat behind the driver.
With a large military pack on his back, he was holding a huge sword. With the encouragements, that man first threw in his luggage into the carriage before following it with his terrifying sword, letting some soldiers hold it for a moment. Finally, he jumped out of the SUV like a fierce tiger and rolled into the train's carriage. Hit by this flesh-bomb, several soldiers screamed miserably...
Hearing the screams, all the soldiers who were encouraging him from the other carriages burst out laughing loudly.
At the last minute, Zhang Tie had arrived...
...
Five minutes later, somewhat embarrassed, Zhang Tie appeared in the military officers' carriage where Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt was in.
"Boss, Zhang Tie, second lieutenant, platoon leader of Third Platoon, Fifth Company has recovered, I'm requesting to return to my troop!" Standing in front of Reinhardt, Zhang Tie gave a military salute to the boss of the Iron-Blood Camp.
"Agreed!" Reinhardt revealed a wisp of a smile at the corner of his mouth. Looking at this young man before him, he suddenly felt very happy. "Have you recovered?"
"Yea!" Zhang Tie patted his chest. "It's already been a couple of days, but due to something, I've came back a few days later!"
"What thing?" Being a bit serious, Chief of Staff Guderian asked.
"Chief of Staff... uhm... you know that I've just had the circumcision... I've held back for over ten years and my girlfriends could not wait any more. But it was not convenient to do that in the camp..."
Zhang Tie became a bit bashful.
"Badass!" After swearing at Zhang Tie, Major Guderian couldn't stop himself from laughing. Of course he knew how Zhang Tie had gotten his nickname 'Second Lieutenant Mummy'.
At the same time, all the other military officers in the carriage burst out laughing as well...
Zhang Tie then took a seat. As he saw Blackhot City grow smaller, many thoughts flashed across his mind.
...
At this time, at home, Alice was holding the delicate gift box packed in blue package paper, which was brought by Pandora and Beverly at Zhang Tie's request. She was looking at the two of them with a curious expression.
"What's inside?" she asked Pandora.
"Just open it!" Pandora smiled, encouraging her.
Alice then opened the outer blue gift box. Like all the other girls, the moment she saw the logos of Mrs. Diss and Milan as well as the flower, she also exclaimed.
When these items were put together, every girl would like it.
Alice then opened the two boxes inside, the bigger box contained a set of beautiful blue underclothes while the smaller box contained an expensive ring with a huge sapphire on it.
During the past week, Alice was in a low mood. However, filled with such a great pleasure, she immediately burst into a smile which was as fresh as a flower.
"Was it Zhang Tie who requested you to bring it here?"
Alice's eyes were fixed on the two items in her hands, she loved them so much.
"Who else except him?"
"Why didn't he come here himself?" Face blushed, Alice put the set of blue underclothes close to herself and found it well-matching. "That badass, lady-killer, who only knows how to make girls happy..."
"He didn't know how to face you; therefore he asked us to send it to you..." Pandora calmly said.
"Where's he?"
Alice's movements became slightly stiff.
"Went to Kalur. He should be on the military train by now. The Iron-Blood Camp, which he's in, was dispatched to join the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty in Kalur as the vanguard of No. 39 Division..." Beverly said dejectedly.
Alice's face immediately turned pale.
"Did he say something for me before he left?" Alice's voice trembled slightly.
"He had carved what he wanted to say on your ring!" Thinking of the words on that finger ring with a ruby on it that Zhang Tie had gifted her, Beverly started to drop off tears. So many people had sworn her as a bitch, male or female; however, only Zhang Tie knew she was as pure as ruby. With a good man like Zhang Tie, Beverly had been satisfied, no matter whether she could stay with Zhang Tie in the future.
"Wish you'll be happier than a sea——Zhang Tie"
Taking the ring, Alice finally saw such a line of words on its back. She thought she could see Zhang Tie's smile again...
That was a man who truly treated her well, a man who would be enraged at the sight of her being chased by a group of wild wolves, a man who would use his own body to shield her from a bolt at the most dangerous moment! When she dropped off tears before that man for the first time, that man controlled his greed at the most critical moment and silently put on his pants for her, leaving her her most precious thing.
Alice had not imagined that it might be her last meeting with Zhang Tie. When he was going to leave, he had people send this ring full of bliss to her along with a set of suitable underclothes chosen by him.
Alice then burst into tears, loudly, before rushing out of her home and running towards the railway station. She wanted to to have a look at that man for the last time, however, she failed to catch up with that military train in the end...
...
At this moment, in another place of Blackhot City, Barley, Hista, Doug, Bagdad, and Leit had taken out what Zhang Tie had left for them.
That was a leather case containing 600 gold coins and Zhang Tie's letter to them.
The letter read as follows:
'Brothers, I will set off for Kalur. You're my brothers. So are those brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp. They were ready to sacrifice themselves for me, so I can only sacrifice myself for them. I don't want to make this like a will. But sometimes, I have to tell you the truth. Because I'm not god, there's also a chance for me to not come back. Additionally, the casualty rate of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division is the highest in the Iron-Horn Army.
'If I give each of you 100 gold coins just like that, I know none of you will take it just like Sharwin. Because our friendship is worth more than this amount. Here, I want you to take them all. The reason is very simple. If I cannot come back, I just want to try my best to do something for my brothers. Why? Because the holy war between human beings and the demons will soon come.
'I was told this by the most reliable person when he left Blackhot City. I trust him. Maybe in the next few years, the situation of the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor will see a great change. Since Blackhot City won't be safe then, you should plan to leave here as soon as possible. If I had the ability, I would've done more for you, but please forgive me, I can only do this. This money will be my compensation for the amount of coins that I've plundered from you at the beginning.
'Previously, I had a lot of words to say, but I don't know how to say it all, so that's it!
'If I survive and come back to find that none of you received my good intentions, I will be very angry. I swear to beat the sh*t out of any who does that.
'Hista, you bastard should better not take this money for women. You should think more about how to escape together with your women.
'Doug, you don't look like that person who excels at making money or spending money. If you have trouble, don't forget to negotiate with Barley that bastard. He will not let you suffer a loss.
Bagdad, when I left the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, I told manager Hance that if you would like to go there, they should arrange a very proper location for you, which is definitely better than being a serviceman in the fighting club where you are working at.
'Sharwin, no matter what happens in the future, don't face it alone, remember that you've got so many good brothers.
'Barley, I know you cute Fatty are the most righteous one. I'm very happy to be brothers with you.
'Well, that's all. Finally, I want to say, I've already done the circumcision and am not a virgin any more. You'd better not be curious about the process since if you knew, you'd be very jealous of me. I don't want to wound your confidence as men and make you feel reluctant to raise up your head when you see me next time, ha... ha...
'Yours sincerely!'
Reading Zhang Tie's letter, the group was on the verge of tears, but by the end, they all burst out laughing.
"Zhang Tie, this bastard!"
When Doug wanted to cry, he couldn't stand but laugh, leaving a green snot bubble out on his nostril. Without thinking too much, he directly twitched it off and smear it onto the clothes of a person beside him. He even cleaned his hand on that person's clothes...
Not until they finished reading did Hista realize that Doug seemed to have rubbed on his clothes twice just now. 'What does that mean?' Feeling something not right, he lowered his head, and then immediately jumped up!
"Ah, Doug, you bastard! What disgusting thing have you smeared on my clothes? I'll kill you, ah..."
...
In the distance, the military train that contained all the soldiers and equipment of the Iron-Blood Camp was driving towards the far off south. Looking at the disappearing outline of Blackhot City in the horizon, Zhang Tie mumbled inside, "See you, Blackhot City!"
Chapter 206: Arrival at Kalur
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
After they set off from Blackhot City, they drove for two days until the military train carrying all the equipment and members of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division finally arrived at Kalur region on the third morning.
Zhang Tie was woken up by a dream. From the moment he got onto the train, he had only done three things: first, sleep; second, kill wild beasts in the Trouble-Reappearance situations; third, visualize two abacuses at the same time to practice 'Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'. Compared to those fragrant and adorable girls, it was really boring to stay with a lot of smelly old men on the train.
The ruffians were playing cards with tobacco in their mouths. The violent maniacs who wanted to have a breakthrough in the Iron-Blood Fist skill were silently practicing the movements in the carriage. In contrast, most of the veterans had their eyes closed or were calmly polishing their weapons to prepare for the coming war.
During the past day and two nights, the train only stopped three times in some small stations on the way so as to add coal and water; one hour each time. Being strictly disciplined, none of the soldiers and military officers took even half a step from the carriages.
The carriages with common soldiers were filled with smoke while the carriage with military officers felt so still that they could not even break wind.
Under this situation, Zhang Tie went to the sleeping compartment and threw himself onto the bed. With the exception of eating meals, he didn't come out at all.
...
"Wake up, Second Lieutenant Zhang Tie, we've arrived at Kalur..."
Still in a sweet dream, Zhang Tie was rocked awake by a second lieutenant above him. Opening his eyes, he found that the train had already stopped. It was noisy outside. Pushing his head out the window, Zhang Tie looked outside and found that the day was about to break. The whole station was filled with people in dark-red military uniforms and mountains of military items.
Zhang Tie immediately got up and put on his clothes and shoes. After slightly grooming himself, he came to the canteen carriage, which was now the temporary conference room of Iron-Blood Camp.
When Zhang Tie came to the canteen, a military officer ranked first lieutenant who was not of the Iron-Blood Camp was hurriedly leaving from the next carriage.
In the next minute, the first military conference was held in the canteen carriage when Iron-Blood Camp came to Kalur.
...
A map of Kalur region was hung on the wall. The center of the map was a city, the south and north of which were occupied by obvious blue or red marks. Between the red and the blue plates, there was a huge gray region which just surrounded Kalur. Holding a command pen, Major Guderian was introducing the present situation about the regions surrounding Kalur in a very concise language.
"Now, both our troops and the Brilliant Feathers are gathering in the expanse region fifty kilometers away from Kalur. The city remains neutral. On its south, namely the blue region on the map, are the Brilliant Feathers, while on the north side, namely the red region on the map, is our Iron-Horn Army. The station we are in is 87 km away from Kalur. We are here..."
Major Guderian pointed his command pen on a town called Karic in the frontier of the red region on the map.
"This narrow gray region surrounding Kalur on the map is 75 km in length, 124 km in width. It is the mountainous area of Kalur and where the most fierce fighting happens between our troops and the Brilliant Feathers. Now, many troops of both parties have been dispatched in this region. Encounters happen everyday here. Just now, I've received an order from the Division's headquarter that we have to be there as soon as possible and grab this area.
"We had another battalion there before, however, before last night, this troop had lost contact with its superior. Usually, this means that that battalion's brothers all been lost..."
Guderian then drew a direct line from Karic to that place called Solanet in the gray region. As they could all understood the contour line, they knew that Solanet was a town built on a half-hill.
Guderian then drew lines and circles on the map using his command pen and told others what to do next.
"Our first task is to grab this place again. Additionally, we have to continue to move for two weeks in this demanding region which covers at least 100 sq km and clean three enemy bases. In the next two weeks, we will give the biggest strike to the troops of Sun Dynasty in this region.
"In this task, we can only consume our own provisions and will get no relief. Fourteen days later, we can go back to the No. 4 Fighting Castle of the Iron-Horn Army near Kalur to recondition. Any questions?"
Everybody shook their heads, except Zhang Tie who felt his heard pounding as this was his first war. Unexpectedly, the moment they arrived at Kalur, without even sipping a mouthful of water, they were assigned with a task, leaving no time for a buffering at all.
"Fine, the battle maps will be delivered to each company. If there are no problems, you have five minutes to prepare. After that, we should get off the train and assemble the teams to set out!"
All the military officers then suddenly stood up and went to deliver the task to their own companies.
In the next five minutes, Zhang Tie put on that set of Sharp-Arrow Type-B lieutenant light armor produced by the Norman Empire for the first time; its alloy sheets could cover most of the key areas on his body.
Besides putting on this set of armor and taking the same equipment and provisions as other military officers, Zhang Tie also brought a container of javelins that weighed over 100 kg and held that "Man's Certificate' in his hand.
Not only military officers, even the common soldiers had completed all the pre-war preparations in the five minutes.
Wartime was the right time to display the high efficiency of the Iron-Blood Camp. From the first soldier who received the order to open the door of a carriage and jumped off the train to all the 1000-odd members of the Iron-Blood Camp, they all quietly assembled into teams in the railway station. All of this was finished in two minutes.
At this time, the Iron-Blood Camp which had assembled before the war expedition was like a fierce beast which had finally revealed its killing nature. Everybody was holding their weapons and wearing armor. They all were quiet while a heavy killing Qi rolled in their bodies.
...
"Ah, Iron-Blood Camp, here's our Iron-Blood Camp..."
When the Iron-Blood Camp was assembling in the station, the soldiers and military officers of the Norman Empire in the station couldn't resist looking with amazement at this assembling ferocious troop.
"Which division?"
"I heard it's the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division!"
"Ah! Is that the Iron-Blood Camp led by that mad Reinhardt?" someone exclaimed.
"That's great, that Iron-Blood Camp will definitely give those bastards a fierce lesson!"
Someone became excited.
Hearing the discussions, Zhang Tie learned that boss Reinhardt was well known in the entire Iron-Horn Army.
"Who's the guy holding that terrifying thing and carrying a pile of heavy javelins?"
"I don't know, but he seems very sharp!"
Zhang Tie didn't imagine that by just standing among the soldiers he would attract the attention of many people. However, as it was his first time participating in a war, Zhang Tie only felt nervous inside, not feeling like showing off at all.
"Set off!"
Soon after Boss Reinhardt's roar, all the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp started to move and trotted out of the station.
The moment they left the station, Zhang Tie understood why they were ordered to walk towards Solanet. In this frontier town where they got off the train, almost half of the buildings were destroyed in the war. Broken tiles and walls could be seen everywhere.
Buildings had been burnt to pieces while roads were seriously destroyed. As a result, the steaming armored vehicles that could only play their biggest role in plains and group assaults became useless in mountainous areas that surrounded Kalur region.
The town was covered with soldiers in dark red military uniforms of the Norman Empire. It was not strange for the 1000-odd people of the Iron-Blood Camp which rushed out of the railway station. After the troop of the Iron-Blood Camp trotted away from the railway station, they soon ran out of the town and entered the wild in only several minutes.
Solanet was at least 25 km away from here.
Only now Zhang Tie realised that it was very foolish to take this heavy sword as his main fighting weapon. That heavy sword along with the javelin container on his back, as well as some other equipment, made it that Zhang Tie carried half a ton of equipment with him. And all of that had to be carried while needing to run 25 km before participating in a war. Even if Zhang Tie had nine wolves' strength, he still felt a bit tired with this high intensity. After all, carrying loads was not wild wolfs' advantage.
However, at this time, Zhang Tie had to grit his teeth to stand it and collect his courage for himself.
Before the troop entered the mountainous area, a cavalry riding iron-horn beasts darted out from behind the troop and gave a metal cylinder that contained an order to Battalion Commander Reinhardt, who was at the front of the troop. After that, the cavalry rapidly rode away.
"According to the report of our scout brothers, those bastards of Sun Dynasty chopped off the heads of all of our battalion brothers in Solanet and piled them all on a granary's floor. Nobody survived, including the wounded and refugees. According to the latest order of the division's headquarters, also the latest task to us the Iron-Blood Camp, we will kill all the bastards of Sun Dynasty that are occupying Solanet. Do not let any one of them escape..." Battalion Commander Reinhardt growled full of killing Qi.
"Kill them all!"
"Kill them all!"
Everybody's blood in the Iron-Blood Camp boiled...
Chapter 207: The First Battle
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
To occupy Solanet and to kill all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet were two tasks with totally different difficulties. In the eyes of the decision makers of the army, there was no question whether the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division could complete this task, or what price it would have to pay for achieving it.
As a whole battalion of the Iron-Horn Army was killed by the troops of Sun Dynasty in Solanet, their heads chopped off and piled on to a granary's floor nearby, the Iron-Horn Army had to also chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty who occupied this area and pile them on a granary's floor.
That was simple, no matter how many people would be sacrificed, they had to complete this task.
Generally, rulers of the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty were wrestling hands in Kalur region, It was displayed by conflicts between colonels and the close fights between numerous soldiers.
This was the first time that all of the battalion's soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army were killed by Sun Dynasty in the combat zone. To accomplish this deployment, the amount of soldiers that Sun Dynasty had to have used to surround and attack had to have been at least twice as large when compared to the Iron-Horn Army's strength.
At this time, the advantage that the Sun Dynasty's soldiers had by outnumbering the Norman Empire in Kalur region started to be outstanding. Even if it was only a small-scale encounter or a skirmish between two battalions, the party with more soldiers could easily gain a small advantage and take the initiative.
What happened in Solanet was just the epitome of the problem that the Norman Empire faced in Kalur region.
Therefore, the Iron-Blood Camp had to fiercely beat up the soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. This way, they had to boost the morale of the entire division.
As annihilation was totally different from occupation, the fighting plan had to also be adjusted.
Major Guderian decided to have the Iron-Blood Camp attack from the south of Solanet instead of the north. After making a circle, the Iron-Blood Camp would launch an attack from the back of its enemy to cut off the escape road for those bastards of the Sun Dynasty who occupied Solanet.
This adjustment was simple, fierce, and decisive. Facing the attack from the south, the troops of Sun Dynasty in Solanet could only fight the Iron-Bloody Camp desperately. There would be no chance for them to escape to the north. Because of terrain, they would also have a great difficulty in escaping to the east and the west.
However, if this strategy was adopted, the Iron-Blood Camp would also face a great threat. Once it entered a stalemate with the troops of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet, unable to kill those guys at once, if one more enemy troop showed up behind them, the Iron-Blood Camp would be surrounded by its enemy and could only react passively.
Of course, the appearance of the Iron-Blood Camp in the south of Solanet would shock the enemy, however, at the same time, the Iron-Blood Camp would put itself into the ring of encirclement which could be easily closed down by the enemy.
This plan seemed a tad crazy because few commanders would jump into the enemy's ring of encirclement to fight, however, Battalion Commander Reinhardt was one of the crazy ones. The moment Major Guderian proposed it, Reinhardt immediately adopted it without a moment's hesitation.
Because they had to take a detour, when the Iron-Blood Camp arrived in its designated place, they had walked more than 10 km's on mountainous road.
Finally, when the first ray of sunshine cast onto Solanet at dawn, the 1000-odd members of the Iron-Blood Camp had already arrived at a place near a mountain slope to the north of Solanet and quietly lurked there.
This place was less than 1 km away from Solanet. After making a rapid march of over 30 km, the Iron-Blood Camp quietly lurked at the entrance of Solanet.
They hid in an elm forest. Although they had over 1000 people, they made no noise at all. Everybody half squatted on the ground, resting, drinking, and eating, so as to supplement physical strength as soon as possible.
They had 20 minutes to recover their physical strength.
Finally able to take a deep breath, Zhang Tie pulled out some dried meat from the inside of his coat and started to wolf it down. Meanwhile, with eyes open wide, he stared at the small village on the small hillside, which was Solanet.
At this time, several wisps of heavy smoke rose up from that village, seeming like the final breaths of several buildings that had burned over the night and now were about to die. After occupying Solanet, the bastards of Sun Dynasty burned down several houses in the village in case of being raided in the evening, so the houses kept burning through the night like several huge flaming torches.
By then, there were no local residents in Solanet any more. Before the troops of both parties started to confront each other, the residents surrounding Kalur had escaped in all directions, whether to Kalur, to the south, or to the north. Nobody wanted to stay between the two armies.
It was said that Kalur had already gathered hundreds of thousands of refugees.
The small village was filled with moving soldiers of Brilliant Feathers who wore blue military uniforms. Many of them seemed to have just woken up as they were washing their faces at the riverside in the distance.
Although having no fighting experience, Zhang Tie could estimate that there were around 2500-3000 soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers in Solanet.
As there was only one main road leading to the village, the attack plan also became very simple. The Iron-Blood Camp only needed to rush into the village up the main road and kill all the guys in blue military uniforms on the way. The key to this manouver was speed. They had better not leave enough time for the troops of the Sun Dynasty to assemble.
After eating two slices of dried meat and drinking two mouthfuls of water, Zhang Tie rested for five minutes. He felt that his physical strength was gradually recovering. They all didn't eat much, for if they did, it would influence the upcoming fight.
The rapid march with half a ton's equipment was also an all-around test for Zhang Tie's physical strength. If there were ten more km, Zhang Tie knew that he would really not be able to take it. With the half a ton's equipment, it was not funny at all. Thankfully, Solanet was in sight, and Zhang Tie let out a deep breath.
Although this 'Man's Certificate' was the number one weapon for him to show off himself, in the battle field, Zhang Tie felt it was like making a cocoon around himself.
Two weeks later, when the Iron-Blood Camp was going to re-supply itself, he considered changing his main fighting weapon. If he had to escape or make a long-distance raid, this heavy sword would really put a heavy load on him.
Zhang Tie then made a decision inside. He felt this was the first law that he understood since he jumped off the train—never slap your face until it's swollen in an effort to look fat. If not, you will suffer a great loss.
In less than two minutes after Zhang Tie made such a realisation inside, he soon learned the second law—no one would wait until you've prepared well.
The promised time for a rest before the attack was 20 minutes. However, less than 10 minutes after they started to rest, a team of soldiers rushed out of the village towards this area where the Iron-Blood Camp had hidden itself.
About 50-600 people were moving towards them. Of course, they did this not because they had discovered the Iron-Blood Camp lurking but because they were ready to leave Solanet.
When Zhang Tie thought that Reinhardt would let these soldiers leave in case of exposing their camp to the greater troop of Sun Dynasty, Reinhardt delivered his order, "Prepare for battle, kill them all!"
Because the division's headquarters' order was to kill all the bastards of the Sun Dynasty that had occupied Solanet, Battalion Commander Reinhardt didn't plan to let any of them leave alive.
After receiving the order, the two companies' brothers that had been equipped with light crossbows silently moved to both sides of the mountain path with their bolts notched and their narrowed eyes on the team of soldiers and horses.
Because this was Zhang Tie's first battle, he became a bit nervous and forcefully swallowed his saliva twice.
At this time, a powerful hand fell on Zhang Tie's shoulder. He turned to see Freo half squatting behind him.
"When the battle breaks out, all the brothers of Third Platoon will follow you and you just follow me. Don't be afraid..."
Zhang Tie nodded.
The team of soldiers and horses kept marching on, swiftly shortening that distance of 1 km between them and Zhang Tie.
They were really a team of soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. At the front rode the cavalry, holding wing-like banners. Armored soldiers came after with weapons in hand, four people per row. Lastly were another batch of riders like those at the front, however these wore relatively more brilliant armor; they looked like the military officers of this troop.
The army of the Sun Dynasty took three hundred as a unit while the army of Norman Empire took five as a unit. The two troops were different in many aspects. The 500-600 soldiers and horsesmight be a battalion of Brilliant Feathers.
The team of soldiers had not imagined that they would be ambushed not long after leaving Solanet. When bolts were shot from the elm forest on both sides of the road, instantly, half the soldiers were wounded, causing howls and cries to rise up in an instant.
"Kill them all!"
Battalion Commander Reinhardt was the first to rush out of the elm forest like a fierce tiger. With only one fist, he punched a cavalryman who had been left unstable by his flurried horse into flesh and iron pieces, and sent him flying back through the air, causing a great amount of soldiers of the Sun Dynasty to fall to the ground.
The soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp all jumped out of the elm forest like fierce tigers and instantly cut the team of 500-600 people into several sections.
The main fighting weapons of First Lieutenant Freo were two huge double-bladed axes which were like wheels. When the robust, tough, bald man wove his huge axes, he looked like a humanoid meat grinder which would grind all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty once he touched them.
In the timeframe of a wink, First Lieutenant Freo had already torn open an over 10-m long bloody path before Zhang Tie...
Chapter 208: The Fight
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
In such a raid with absolute number advantage on his side, facing a team whose fighting force had been weakened by one third by the first wave of bolts, the moment Zhang Tie rushed out of the elm forest together with his brothers, even before he had killed anyone, the war had almost come to an end...
This was not a fight at all, it was more like a massacre!
Noticing what was happening over here, the army of the Sun Dynasty stationed in Solanet had already blown the fighting horn in emergency. Soon after that, the entire Solanet started to boil with action.
"Kill them..."
Hearing some soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp shouting loudly, Zhang Tie turned and looked at the distance. He then caught sight of two military officers at the end of the column. Realizing that they were in a bad scenario, the two military officers were forcefully striking their horses to escape towards Solanet.
Some soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp were chasing after them. However, the distance between them was becoming greater. Some soldiers even raised their light crossbows and shot towards them, but the bolts crashed into the steel armor on their backs and just fell to the ground with a sound of 'ding ding'. As the horses were also wearing armor, due to the large distance, the light bolts could not even wound them.
In a blink of an eye, the two military officers of the Sun Dynasty were over 100 steps ahead of everyone. Even Battalion Commander Reinhardt could not deal with them.
When everybody thought that the two fish were going to escape after all, Zhang Tie showed off.
Since he had joined the Iron-Blood Camp till now, this was the first time for all the members to witness how this legendary Second Lieutenant Mummy launched an attack.
A spear shadow flashed across the others' eyes. Almost at the same time, a military officer of the Sun Dynasty who was one hundred steps away made a shrill shriek. Even if he was wearing a set of thick steel armor, he was still penetrated through by a heavy javelin. As a result, he immediately fell off the horse.
Hearing his shrill shriek, the other man in front of him was shocked. He then looked back while another javelin descended upon him from the sky. Without even a groan, his whole body was penetrated through by Zhang Tie's missile and he fell off the horse too.
"Yah!"
All the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp boomed, immediately raising the morale once again.
"Kill them all!"
After a growl, everybody rushed into Solanet which was less than 0.5 km away.
After making meritorious deeds in the battlefield for the first time, Zhang Tie's blood started boiling. Seeing Battalion Commander Reinhardt and other military officers rushing to the front of the soldiers, Zhang Tie also collected his courage. After shouting 'kill them all', he pulled out his 300-odd kgs fighting sword while still carrying his container which lacked two javelins on the back, and rushed towards Solanet together with the rest of the camp.
The military troops of Brilliant Feathers also responded very fast. The moment the more than 1000 people and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp rushed into the village, more than 1000 people had been already assembled inside. The opponent commander also led the 1000-odd people to rush out, aiming to have a fierce clash with the Iron-Blood Camp.
At this moment, only the assembled troops could use their biggest fighting force. As the opponent commander also knew this principle, the moment the Iron-Blood Camp rushed inside, he had already seen clearly the number of soldiers and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp. This number was a bit higher than the one they had eliminated yesterday.
But the moment he managed to assemble the troops of Brilliant Feathers in this village, he would outnumber the Norman Empire. Even if his side was raided, the opponent commander still had the confidence to be the last one smiling.
The opponent commander's confidence was turned panic-stricken when he saw the huge and bloody battle-qi totem behind Battalion Commander Reinhardt when the two troops were about to crash into each other.
This was also Zhang Tie's first time seeing Reinhardt's battle-qi totem. It was a bloody python which was spreading hell-like flames all over the place.
Generally speaking, after a person entered LV 6 and became a fighter, others could know his personal fighting strength and level only from his battle-qi totem. LV 6 fighters had a black spider, LV 7 fighters a centipede, LV 8 fighters a python, while LV 9 fighters had a bloody scorpion. These battle-qi totems were the symbols of fighters' fighting strength and level in the human world.
Zhang Tie had seen battle-qi totems many times. He firstly saw that on Captain Kerlin's body. Recently, he had also seen Glaze's dead dad's battle-qi totem. Although the two totems had different patterns, they were of the same color - black. In Blackhot City, Zhang Tie hadn't seen any battle-qi totem of another color. This was so until he saw Reinhardt's.
Reinhardt's battle-qi totem was not only as fresh as blood, but also looked pretty commanding. Additionally, that huge python was spreading flames in all directions.
This was the most direct manifestation of Iron-Blood battle qi. Besides the totem changing from black of common battle-qi to red, the whole totem was spreading rolling flames like those of hell.
This was definitely the exclusive symbol of Iron-Blood battle-qi.
A troop of about 1000 people led by a person who had formed the Iron-Blood battle qi was definitely the brand troop of Norman Empire's division.
The opponent commander finally understood whom he was facing. He also responded at once.
Therefore, when Reinhardt burst out his flaming Iron-Blood battle-qi totem, a huge and icy-blue bloody-scorpion battle-qi totem also erupted almost at the same time, which was also not a common battle qi.
Soon after that, a great amount of battle-qi totems rose up from behind, big and small. All them were black or gray, so in the whole battlefield, the most attractive battle-qi totems were that bloody flaring python and that huge icy-blue bloody scorpion.
There were a bit more totems in the Sun Dynasty's troop than in the Norman Empire's one.
At the sight of that huge icy-blue scorpion, Reinhardt seemed to come to a realisation why that battalion of the Norman Empire was annihilated by the opponents. Icy blue battle-qi totems were the result after those bastards of the Sun Dynasty had formed their sky battle-qi, which was the best battle-qi in their country. Therefore, the leader of the Brilliant Feathers of Sun Dynasty was not a commoner either.
The icy-blue bloody scorpion and the flaring python immediately sped up and left their own troops. Before the rest of their troops crashed against each other, they made a fierce crash first.
"Boom!"
A huge crack sped forth from where the two met like trains smashing into each other after reaching the highest speed, exploding a big pit with the diameter of more than 2 m on the grassland under their feet.
At the same time, Zhang Tie felt a fierce wind blowing towards him. He felt the land under his feet shudder twice and saw two figures fly back bleeding through the air. When the two landed, they charged at the opponents and crashed for the second time.
"Kill them all!"
The two troops were all in a rage now, eyes red.
When they were over 50 m away from each other, Zhang Tie launched his attack.
The javelins in the container on his back appeared in his hand one by one and were thrown out.
Almost at the same time, seven military officers of the Sun Dynasty who had burst out battle-qi totems and were rushing ahead were struck by Zhang Tie. Five of them had black-spider totems while the other two had centipede totems.
Zhang Tie moved too quickly but his throwing speed was faster. For the LV 6 or LV 7 guys, their eyes couldn't even catch the javelins that flew towards them. Their movement could not match the speed of flying javelins at all. Therefore, they were all shot to death immediately.
Some javelins could even penetrate two people at once.
Seeing this, the Iron-Blood Camp's morale rose up once again.
In contrast, the morale of the opponent became lower.
Before the two troops crashed, Zhang Tie had already cleared his container by killing seven enemy military officers. He then undid the javelin container and threw it onto the ground.
'That's better!' he mumbled inside. After relieving the over 100 kgs' burden, Zhang Tie became more agile immediately.
The two troops, totaling more than 2000 people, immediately crashed into each other on a patch of grassland at the hillside.
In a split second, numerous sounds of blades clashing against each other and cutting into human flesh resounded.
"Kill him!"
A black-spider man of Sun Dynasty who had set his hatred filled sight on Zhang Tie rushed towards him. Without hesitation, he quickly raised his broad sword and chopped at his victim's head. However, he seemed to have not noticed that 'Man's Certificate' behind Zhang Tie.
"F*ck you!"
Zhang Tie's eyes also turned red. With two hands on the handle, he immediately picked up his huge sword from the ground and sliced towards that man with a black-spider totem.
Based on facts, before 'Man's Certificate' in Zhang Tie's hand, few weapons deserved the descriptive word 'huge'—that thing in his hand was simply an over 2-m long huge guillotine used to cut fodder in the barn. With the strength of nine wild wolves' seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie exploded with amazing strength. In a split second, the broad sword in that man's hand broke in to two halves like a chopstick forcefully broken when it smashed against the guillotine, instead of being slowly cut off like fodder in the barn.
After that, Zhang Tie's huge sword smoothly sketched through the part above that man's waist.
The man then instantly became two halves...
From the time he killed this man, Zhang Tie calm down inside as he immediately entered the absolutely calm and shrewd state, like that of a spectator.
He then hefted up his huge sword. With a simple horizontal sweep, six grim soldiers rushing towards him in a fan-like formation more than 2-m away from him instantly froze. At the same time, six blood columns sprouted upward out of their waists right in front of Zhang Tie when their upper bodies slid off.
At the sight of this scene, not only the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty, even the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp behind Zhang Tie became scared. The power of this 'Man's Certificate' in the hands of Second Lieutenant Mummy was too terrifying!
Chapter 209: I Am Shameless
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
At some point, neither the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty nor those of the Iron-Blood Camp dared to be close to a 2 m. circle around Zhang Tie.
The fight kept going. After the aborted raid, the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty who rushed out of Solanet in teams continued to join the battle.
Zhang Tie was still trying his best to kill his enemies while the battle between the man with a battle-qi totem of flaring python and the man with a battle-qi totem of icy blue scorpion continued.
That was the collision between a LV 8 fighter's Iron-Blood battle qi and a LV 9 fighter's sky battle qi. Compared to Zhang Tie, that collision scared off any other persons in a circle of 10 m. After each fierce clash, Reinhardt would growl because of inexhaustible excitement.
On this battlefield, Reinhardt's growls could completely overshadow others' battle cries.
"One more..."
"One more..."
"One more..."
The whole battlefield echoed with Battalion Commander Reinhardt's lion-like growls.
Hearing such growls, all the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp gained strength while the faces of the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to turn pale. By now, needless to say, the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty already knew what kind of troop they were facing.
This troop was more than twice as powerful as the one they had annihilated.
Most of the soldiers in common battalions were LV 1-LV 5 warriors, but in the Iron-Blood Camp, the soldiers were at least LV 3 veterans. This was a very sharp difference in fighting force.
...
Some more spears thrust towards Zhang Tie. He swept his huge sword once again, breaking several spears at once. Before the flustered soldiers could move backwards, Zhang Tie rushed forward and swept at them with his huge sword. The four soldiers of the Sun Dynasty in front of him immediately spurted blood from their waists and fell to the ground.
Zhang Tie himself didn't know how many times he'd swung his huge sword, but slowly he started to change his fighting tactic in his mind. Although it was cool to slash the enemies into two halves, that required greater strength to break armor. However, usually, based on the size and sharpness of the huge sword's blade, once someone got hit by it, a 3.5 cm-5 cm deep wound would be fatal enough. As long as this wound was made by the huge sword, it would be very long. Once such a wound was made on any part of a person's upper body, it would be fatal, regardless of being horizontal or vertical.
It was wasteful to slash a person into two halves. Only 1/5-1/3 of the strength that he used to slash a person in two was already enough to kill an enemy.
After changing Zhang Tie changed his fighting tactic, few people could be seen being slashed into two in front of him. However, his fighting efficiency accelerated with less strength used up.
As Zhang Tie had not learned any sword skills, he just instinctively used that huge sword as the extension of his palm. He kept waving it like using the movement 'sword palm' in the free-hand movements of Iron-Blood Fist skill.
Besides having the super great endurance of wild wolves to run, Zhang Tie also had the wild wolves' endurance to fight.
It was hard to say whether it was because of his increased spiritual energy, but Zhang Tie felt that the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty didn't move fast enough. He could clearly see the movement trajectory of their weapons. When facing them, Zhang Tie had enough time to consider his response, whether to hold back, counterattack, or jump away. Previously, he didn't feel this way, but for some reason it became obvious in the battlefield.
These soldiers had greater speed and strength than Glaze. They were more experienced in fighting. However, in Zhang Tie's mind, these soldiers were not as shocking as Glaze to him in the training ground at school.
He didn't know that in the whole battlefield, with the exception of Reinhardt, his performance was almost the best.
Young age, handsome figure, huge fighting sword, terrifying strength, fierce and sharp fighting skills as well as amazing javelin throwing skills—all these features easily made him eye-catching. He was like a rainbow after rain.
When Zhang Tie killed another man with a battle-qi totem of black spider and three common soldiers in front of him, a tall figure appeared before him.
It was a military officer of Sun Dynasty taller than 2 m. He was as strong as an iron tower and held a mace whose spikes resembled wolf's fangs and whose rod was as high as he was tall while the battle-qi totem of centipede was rolling behind him, revealing him as a LV 7 fighter.
This man was covered in fresh blood while that terrifying mace in his hand was almost wholly painted in red, pieces of flesh hanging off it. Needless to say, all that was from the soldiers of the Norman Empire.
The huge sword and the wolf-fanged mace then collided against each other. After grunting, they both moved backwards.
"You'll be the 116th red-hide dog of the Norman Empire that died under my wolf-fanged mace. I will enjoy peeling off your hides and burying you into the soil. After that, I will smash your heads into pieces like how I hit tomatoes on the ground when I was young..."
Saying that, the terrifying tough man licked the blood off that horrible wolf-fanged mace.
"Do you want to match strength with me? You fat freak, I'm the king of strength!" Zhang Tie became infuriated. "Come here then, the one who drops his weapon first will be the real idiot!"
Zhang Tie rushed forward. Hefting his huge sword, he slashed towards the giant's head. At the sight of this, the giant revealed a grim smile. With a growl, he also wove his wolf-fanged mace to collide with Zhang Tie's huge sword.
Once...
Twice...
Thrice...
...
Ten times...
...
The sound produced by the collision of the two heavy weapons rocked the whole battlefield...
This was Zhang Tie's first time seeing such a guy who was born with great strength that could match his own. The battle qi this man practiced seemed to also be able to greatly improve his strength. This guy was really tricky.
After colliding with his opponent numerous times, Zhang Tie pretended to spit out blood while gritting his teeth to continue fighting the giant.
Besides strength, this terrifying giant had fighting skills that were no worse than those of Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie becoming a bit 'weaker' but still striving to fight him, the giant looked grimmer.
...
Finally, when the iron-tower like giant was slashing down with his wolf-fanged mace towards the huge sword, he found that the huge sword had already left Zhang Tie's hand. As a result, the great weapon was sent flying far away by the wind produced by the giant's wolf-fanged mace's swing.
But before the giant could become excited, Zhang Tie punched his waist with a move from the Iron-Blood Fists. The moment the giant sent the huge sword flying backwards, the Iron-Blood hidden strength immediately exploded in his body. Almost in a second, Zhang Tie punched over ten fists on to this giant using his Iron-Blood hidden strength.
Face turning pale, the giant felt his hands losing strength. The moment the wolf-fanged mace dropped to the ground, he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood, like a high-pressure water pipe.
The giant immediately knelt on the ground. He glared at Zhang Tie, but the moment the Iron-Blood hidden strength exploded in his body, his eyes turned red like those of a rabbit. Fresh blood flowing from his mouth corner, the giant seemed to want to say something.
"I know what you want to say; well, I'm shameless, I'm the idiot..."
While still talking, Zhang Tie swiftly pulled out a dagger from his waist and thrust it in the giant's neck without any hesitation, then forcefully rotated it.
The giant unwillingly fell down with his eyes wide-open. Zhang Tie then ferociously spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto him.
"Idiot! I've not played this trick with my pals, like throwing a ball to attract a puppy, since I was seven years old..."
It was Zhang Tie's first time to encounter such a man born with great strength which was even greater than that granted by the nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. But this time, Zhang Tie concluded that those who were smarter than him could not match his strength while those who had greater strength than him could not match his intelligence. After 'training' this giant to get used to clashing against his huge sword, Zhang Tie only played a small trick to solve this tricky opponent.
Due to his great spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt a sudden threat. He then slightly leaned to his side to avoid a spear which was thrust at his back. He grabbed it so fast, making a sound of 'sou', that the guy who wanted to ambush him couldn't even keep his balance as he tumbled forward, towards Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie then kicked at him, his attack imbued with the Iron-Blood hidden strength, sending that person flying 10 m away. After that, he held the spear and gave a sweep, slashing another opponent away. He then threw the spear, penetrating through some guy who had intended to assault the awkward tall man Beckham from the back.
After doing all that, Zhang Tie picked up that great wolf-fanged mace, which weighed almost the same as his own huge sword. He then glanced over the surrounding soldiers of the Sun Dynasty. At the sight of Zhang Tie rushing towards them with the giant's wolf-fanged mace, all of their faces turned pale and they immediately turned back and escaped.
...
This time, Battalion Commander Reinhardt also took the wind. Hearing Reinhardt's growl "Go to hell!", Zhang Tie turned and saw Battalion Commander Reinhardt's Iron-Blood fist breaking through the defense of the man with the battle-qi totem of an icy-blue bloody scorpion and landing directly on his head. In a split second, colorful brains and guts exploded out of his head and body.
Seeing this scene, everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp became highly spirited.
However, at the sight of this, even more soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to turn and run. Many of them didn't even care where they were going. They only wanted to stay as far away as possible from these gods of killing from Iron-Blood Camp.
"Kill them all!" the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp exclaimed and chased after them.
Ten minutes later, the established resistance of the Brilliant Feathers Army of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet didn't exist any more. All the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to run. Like chasing after rabbits, the Iron-Blood Camp spread a net from the south to the north and started to chase after those soldiers who only thought about escape through the main roads of Solanet.
The entire village resounded with the shrill shrieks of the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty and the sounds blades slashed people's necks.
Under the leadership of Battalion Commander Reinhardt, some people and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp moved out at a speed faster than the fleeing soldiers could escape in. After that, he led his troop back in an ever closing net. The Iron-Blood Camp had surrounded the whole Solanet.
"Kill them all! Take revenge for our brothers!" Reinhardt's emotionless order drifted across the village.
In a split second, the whole Solanet was covered with human heads rolling on the ground...
Chapter 210: Muling
Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem
Wandering through the streets of Solanet, Zhang Tie could see bodies lying everywhere. Gradually, his discomfort became numbness.
Some bodies and blood stains were there from yesterday,some from today. They belonged to the soldiers of Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty both.
Soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp who now occupied Solanet were picking corpses. All those belonging to Sun Dynasty's soldiers would be pulled out; their heads would be chopped off and piled on the drying field. In contrast, when the corpses of the Norman Empire were found, they would be gathered and buried together.
This was a job full of pain and hatred. Everybody was doing it in silence. Casually, at the sight of some groaning soldiers of the Sun Dynasty, the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp gave them another slash to the throats to end their pains.
Donder had said that there were no righteous wars between countries. At the sight of those soldiers of Sun Dynasty whose heads were being chopped off, Zhang Tie realized that some of them were only a couple of years older than him. This made him a bit uncomfortable. These people, Zhang Tie didn't hate them at all. However, born in this age, when you ended up in a situation like this, you had to fight for your own lord.
On the battlefield, you could only wish to survive yourself and not see those familiar to you die.
Maybe the one who really deserved death was that bastard who had given the order to chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Norman Empire.
The arrival of Iron-Blood Camp and what its soldiers were doing were just revenge. On this topic, the Norman Empire had only one principle—to take revenge many times greater. If the heads of 1000 soldiers of the Norman Empire were chopped off and piled up for display, then at least 2000 heads of the soldiers of the opponent had to be chopped off and piled up. That was how the Norman Empire dealt with it. Iron-Blood Camp was a troop which existed for such fights and destruction.
The small Solanet was filled with the smell of blood.
"That bastard of Sun Dynasty who had delivered the order to chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Norman Empire yesterday is caught..."
A soldier of Iron-Blood Camp ran towards Zhang Tie while shouting loudly. Hearing this news, Zhang Tie decided to have a look at how a bastard like that could look like. For because of that bastard's order, over 3000 people had died in Solanet in two days.
The most bloody area in this village was that drying field, which had been used by the villagers to dry wheats under the sun during harvest. The rest of the time, it acted as the town's square for the villagers to amuse themselves.
The drying field was located in the center of the village, which was a vacant land covering over 3000 square meters. Beside it was a spiked bell tower dark red in color and a church that nobody knew which cult it belonged to.
That guy who had given the order to chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Norman Empire yesterday was finally found in the basement of that church. After surrounding Solanet, the Iron-Blood Camp figured out what had happened yesterday from some captives. After confirming that they were telling the same, the Iron-Blood Camp killed those poor guys and searched the whole Solanet until they finally found that bastard.
At this moment, several piles of heads were erected on the drying field, which were even greatly higher than the straw piles nearby. At the sight of them, timid people might be so scared they would pass out.
"Don't kill me... don't kill me... I'm the most pious servant of the God of Brilliance... if you kill me... the God of Brilliance will punish you... argh..."
The moment Zhang Tie came to the drying field, he heard a hysterical shrill shriek which was definitely 100 times more nasty than that of the most nasty quacks of ducks that Zhang Tie had ever heard.
Along with the man's loud scream came his miserable howls for he was being beaten up.
The drying field was surrounded by many soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp, including most of the military officers present. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the soldiers in the outer ring of the circle willingly made a path for him to walk inside.
In the fierce fight just now, Zhang Tie had used his real strength to gain the approval and respect of all the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp. Although the final results were not counted, everybody understood that this youngest Second Lieutenant Mummy of No. 39 Division had killed almost a platoon's worth of soldiers of the Sun Dynasty which included at least 10 LV 6-LV 7 military officers.
Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie deserved the title of the person who had killed most military officers of Brilliant Feathers in the battle today. His excellent javelin skills deserved the two words 'amazingly excellent' not only in the Iron-Blood Camp, but even in the entire Iron-Horn Army. As long as Second Lieutenant Mummy's javelin was thrown out, no one below LV 7 within 100 steps of him could escape.
Besides, the fight between Zhang Tie and that tricky LV 7 giant was witnessed by many people. If it was a bit opportunistic to use his javelin throwing skills, the face-to-face fight between him and that giant using a 200-300 kg wolf-fanged mace could display Zhang Tie's real force. In this duel, Zhang Tie not only presented his great strength and fighting skills, but also his intelligence.
Before fighting Zhang Tie, that giant using wolf fang mace had already killed a two-digit number of soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp. Seeing Zhang Tie killing him face-to-face, nobody felt that Zhang Tie was an idiot. All the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp regarded him as a hero.
Even if having formed the Iron-Blood hidden strength, it was still rare to see a LV 4 warrior killing a powerful LV 7 opponent in the whole history of Iron-Blood Camp.
When a person reached LV 4, he had only ignited the seven burning point on his spine. If one added that Shrine burning point, he would still have just ignited eight burning points. However, a LV 7 fighter had already ignited thirty four burning points on his spine, plus the Shrine burning point, totaling in fourteen burning points. The two had three level and ten ignited burning point difference.
So seeing Zhang Tie kill that guy despite all of that, everybody felt that Colonel Leibniz had really fetched a treasure for Iron-Blood Camp from Blackhot City. Such a guy would have a super high possibility to form Iron-Blood battle qi. Great Battle God would definitely care about him a lot.
The moment Zhang Tie entered the circle, he saw a military officer kicking a flesh ball towards him. The rolling guy wore a noble's blue silk robe and a golden waistband.
Being kicked so fiercely, that flesh ball shrieked loudly. " I protest... I request for the treatment of captives in human wars as is regulated in the Brilliant Magna Carta..."
Watching that man who as embarrassing as a pig with fat filled brains and intestines, Zhang Tie believe that even Donder would be one hundred times more handsome than he was. Yesterday, this guy had delivered the order to chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Norman Empire including those of wounded soldiers and captives, and pile them on the drying field.
"Did he give the order?" Zhang Tie asked First Lieutenant Liu Xing near him, who was the military officer of Third Company of the Iron-Blood Camp and another Chinese military officer. Since Zhang Tie entered the Iron-Blood Camp, First Lieutenant Liu Xing had already expressed his favorable impression and concerns about him.
"That's him, this one is Muling of the Brilliant Feathers!"
First Lieutenant Liu Xing revealed a resentful expression.
'Muling[1]? Is that a shepherd and guide or what?' Hearing this weird title, Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded as he started to guess the job of the Muling of Sun Dynasty.
The weird title Muling was definitely unique to Sun Dynasty. Although there were many countries that unified state with church in Blackson Human Clan Corridor, only Sun Dynasty had such a bizarre profession—namely the priesthood of the Brilliant God Cult and the secular official position of the regime.
People with this position always had two roles: the first was a hardass priest, and the other an officer. In the Sun Dynasty, the title Muling spread everywhere through the country, including schools, factories, military troops, urban and rural areas, and mines. Every place with people would be matched with someone having this title. These Mulings were like disgusting tentacles of an octopus which could tightly grab the whole Sun Dynasty, leaving nothing behind.
"When a Muling wants you to confess to him on behalf of the Brilliant God, he actually wants your soul; when a Muling cares about your work, he wants your purse!" This was a proverb that had widely spread through the entire Andaman Alliance about the Mulings of the Sun Dynasty.
In the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, the most disgusting thing about the Brilliant God Cult was that no matter where the Mulings of Brilliant God existed, they would only do two things: turn others' belongings into those of Brilliant God, and turn the belongings of Brilliant God into their own.
Norman Empire was a country with a very open religious policy. Besides the Battle God Cult, this country also allowed its citizens to have other beliefs, except for the Brilliant God Cult. Because in the Norman Empire, the Brilliant God Cult was defined as a heresy. Any practitioner of this religion would be killed along with all the members of his family.
In the history of the Norman Empire, after being bewitched by some Mulings, some believers of the Brilliant God Cult had once broken out into riots in several cities and established a temporary regime. From then on, the relationship between Sun Dynasty and Norman Empire became very tense.
Anyway, everywhere in Sun Dynasty, these Mulings were people with supreme authority.
Even Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see one of the most notorious worms of the Sun Dynasty in a small area like Solanet; the meat ball was a four-star Muling, the four stars embroidered on his long robe, which was not a low rank among established Mulings.
...
[1] Muling, the pinyin of Chinese characters "牧领", which means head pastor. However, "牧" also reminded people of shepherd while "领" reminded people of guide in Chinese, that's why the MC would feel confused about that title when he heard it for the first time.