Chapter 61: Luck
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
It was safe on the way to the fighting club. When he arrived at the fighting club in the afternoon, there were no guests in the LV1 service area; hence, Zhang Tie decided to use the special training instruments in the training area, which could not be seen at his school at all, as his body slowly recovered. Zhang Tie had intended to test his physical condition using fthe special instruments many times to discern the gap between him and Glaze; however, he abstained from doing so in the end. He was worried that it would bring him troubles once the fact that he was a LV 1 fighter was disclosed to the public. Additionally, he had killed two people last night and was also involved in an extremely large incident. At this important juncture, he should remain low-key, reminding him of an Eastern proverb that his dad had once told him—"Exposed rafters will rot first". Glaze was a prime example of the negative consequences mentioned in the proverb. Having realized that there were many secrets hidden within himself, Zhang Tie didn't want to repeat the same mistake that Glaze had; therefore, he was determined to hide his real identity as much as he could.
It took God 10,000 years to create an olive tree, but the life of a soybean sprout would end in a week.
"I want to be an olive tree," Zhang Tie mumbled to himself.
As he had been in the fighting club for the entire afternoon, they had even provided him a meal at work in the evening. The meal at work provided for the ordinary staff was really substantial; it was even better than what he had enjoyed today at school for lunch.
Suddenly, Zhang Tie realized that he had eaten meat for three consecutive meals, which had been a humble dream that he has had ever since he was a child. Without knowing it, his dream was simply realized in one day.
Was this the legendary proverb "If one can avoid disaster, one will experience a wonderful blessing after"?
After finishing the meal provided at work, Zhang Tie felt that he had recovered a bit more. After resting for another hour, Benet finally arrived...
As usual, Zhang Tie was being fiercely beaten; however, this time, after having survived the terrifying life and death situation last night, Zhang Tie looked much calmer when facing Benet's attacks. He didn't even feel the slightest bit of nervousness this time and responded much quicker both physically and mentally. Zhang Tie could freely transition between movement and stillness. Having the mental advantage, Zhang Tie hid his physical disadvantage today and stuck it through to the very end. This time, he was neither knocked over nor did he pass out.
After another exhausting fight, Zhang Tie and Benet both threw themselves onto the ground as they panted. Seeing Benet's arrogant air, Zhang Tie started to really admire him. Regardless of the kid's family background and his character, Zhang Tie started to like this 12-year old boy simply because of his unyielding perseverance. Zhang Tie realized that those rich families might not be as extravagant, as arrogant, and as silly as commoners had thought; they must have some extraordinary traits to become wealthy.
"You are not bad" sitting on the ground as he drank from the water bottle passed by the kid, the sweat covered Zhang Tie praised. After a few times, Zhang Tie had learnt how to undo the damned head protector. Between him and the kid, there was also a slight understanding.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you simply because you praised me!" The sweat covered Benefit smirked as he gazed at Zhang Tie. "I have been immune to this naïve trick a long time ago. In order to marry Mary one day, I will definitely defeat you. To me, you are just a stepping stone. Your miserable destiny was predestined!"
Motherf*cker! Hearing his words, Zhang Tie wanted to immediately beat him up ruthlessly. After a while, Zhang Tie stood up and glanced at him. "I will be attending the survival training next Monday, so you will not see me in the next two months. I hope your fighting strength can be as sharp as your mouth when I come back!
"Don't kick the bucket; otherwise, I would not be able to realize the promise I made with Mary!" the kid retorted.
The two stared at each other fiercely before Zhang Tie had left. It was not until Zhang Tie had left the training room did Benet start to realize that Zhang Tie had recovered faster than him!
...
Leaving the fighting club, Zhang Tie didn't immediately return home; instead, he had arrived at Donder's grocery store that was near the railway station. The moment Zhang Tie arrived, Donder, who had been preparing to close the store, caught sight of Zhang Tie and harrumphed, seemingly as if he was still complaining about Zhang Tie's verbal assault yesterday.
"Do old men really care about having their d*ck laughed at?" Zhang Tie laughed at Donder's response.
Zhang Tie also didn't say a word. He simply helped Donder close the windows and the door and cleaned the store. Afterwards, before Donder had been able to speak, Zhang Tie abruptly hugged him tightly, greatly frightening Donder.
"Bad boy, what are you doing!? Quickly let go. I am not interested in men!" Donder shouted loudly.
Letting go, Zhang Tie stared at Donder with a careful and sincere look. "Thank you..."
Without Donder's two gifts, he might really have died last night, thus he was really grateful to Donder.
"Thanks for what? Didn't you have a lot of fun the other night? How did the woman feel?" Donder pretended to be calm.
Feeling embarrassed, Zhang Tie scratched his head. "I'm still a virgin!"
"You didn't look for a woman last night?" Donder became curious and immediately looked gossipy.
"I did!" Zhang Tie answered honestly.
"You didn't do it?"
"Half way!"
"Soft?"
"Hard, very hard!"
"What happened..."
Zhang Tie was embarrassed and whispered to Donder about what had happened.
"Hahahaha..." The obscene fatty laughed out loudly, almost rolling on the ground. He felt so happy. After laughing for quite a while, Donder wiped the tears at the corners of his eyes and patted Zhang Tie on the shoulder. "Boy, what did I teach you before? Don't be too arrogant! Otherwise, you will suffer from revenge! If you had asked me about that earlier, you could have discovered this problem in advance. It would be a shame if you died in the survival training as a virgin!"
"I won't die that easily!" Zhang Tie confidently said. Feeling the confidence from his words, Donder could not help but stare at Donder for quite a while. "I came to tell you that I won't be coming for the next two months!".
Smiling, Donder waved his hand. "Actually, even after the survival training, you don't need to come here. It will almost be time for you to start your new life afterwards, so there will be many things you will have to deal with. Not to mention that I've already taught you everything I can here. If you come here, you won't be able to gain any more benefits. But! If you have time, you are free to come and chat with me!"
...
On his way home after leaving Donder's grocery store, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that he had grown up a lot. That small grocery store and the Seven National Male Middle School seemed to have disappeared from his life all in a sudden. What was waiting for him was the mysterious, unknown world outside the lofty city walls...
"Let's see what Huck and Snade have left for me!"
Thinking of this, Zhang Tie sped up and ran home...
As usual, it was late when he returned home, Zhang Tie pushed open the door and smelt an aroma of chicken soup.
Unknown whether his mom was still angry about what had happened last night or because she didn't know what to say to Zhang Tie, when Zhang Tie returned home, his mom was in her bedroom. His father alone waited for him with a bitter look on his face.
"Chicken soup is in the pot. After you finish, quickly go to bed!" dad said coldly and left.
All the food was in the pot. After drinking a small bowl of chicken soup and finishing washing the bowls, Zhang Tie went back to his room.
The instant he returned to his room, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron.
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!
The familiar words gradually disappeared. Zhang Tie took in a deep breath and walked towards the two dead bodies. Ever since he had carried them in, he hadn't carefully checked them. Since only a single day has passed, their bodies hadn't begun to rot, which made Zhang Tie feel reassured.
Walking over to Snade's dead body, Zhang Tie pulled the dagger out of Snade's body. Yesterday, he was worried that blood would spurt everywhere if he were to pull out the dagger from Snade's body, which would make it difficult to deal with. Since a day has gone by, blood would naturally no longer spray from the corpse.
Although both Snade and Huck were jet black, they did not look frightening. The powerful rat poison really took effect too fast. Before it was even noticed, the violent toxicity had already killed them; it was so fast that not even a frightened expression was left on their faces.
Huck had already closed his eyes. In contrast, Snade's eyes were still widely open, seemingly as if he still had many questions.
"It was you guys who wanted to kill me first, so you can't blame me for this. I just wanted to survive..." Zhang Tie prayed silently while feeling terrified. After praying, he started to search through Snade's corpse first. He remembered that Snade seemed to have a purse filled with gold coins. After having seen it last night, Zhang Tie was no longer able to remove it from his mind.
Chapter 62: Trouble
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
As expected, Snade didn't let Zhang Tie down.
Just by searching Snade's coat a bit, Zhang Tie found the heavy purse that he had been dreaming about all day. Pulling it out of Snade's coat, he shook the purse twice. Hearing the sharp sound of the clashing of the coins, the pores all over Zhang Tie's body seemed to have expanded.
The sound was so beautiful that Zhang Tie felt it was the most pleasant sound that he has ever heard. Compared to the sound of the clashes between the gold coins, even the elegant songs of the church choirs became as boring as the quacking of ducks.
"Huala! Huala!" [1] Zhang Tie moved the purse close to his ear and shook it. Hearing the clashes of the gold coins, Zhang Tie became excited all over, both physically and mentally.
"Huala! Huala!" With two more shakes, Zhang Tie realized that what had happened yesterday was worth it.
"Huala! Huala!" With another two shakes, Zhang Tie seemed to see Miss Daina's smile...
"Huala! Huala!" With two more shakes, the whole world became alive...
With the purse in hand, Zhang Tie looked like a slow-witted guy. As he shook the purse closely by his ear, a foolish grin crept onto his face. With two more shakes, he made another foolish smile. He kept repeating that boring game for 5 or 6 minutes before he finally burst out into laughter.
Let me see the surprise inside the purse!
Opening the purse, Zhang Tie squatted on the ground and poured out all the coins from the purse. "Huala!" With one sound of clashing coins, all the coins were poured onto the ground. Seeing those silver and golden rays reflected on the coins, Zhang Tie was so excited that he almost passed out. With a quivering hand, Zhang Tie picked up a gold coin and carefully took a look at it. On the front of the gold coin was a huge locomotive releasing smoke, while the back of the coin showed the symbol of the Andaman Alliance, the 17 Star Rings. This coin was issued by the Andaman Alliance and was called the "Locomotive" Gold Coin by the commoners. Ever since Zhang Tie was born, he had never touched a single gold coin, let alone owning one. Weighing the gold coin by hand, Zhang Tie was brimming with happiness.
Zhang Tie became more energetic as he continued to search through Snade's body. This time, he found a leather bag that was secured close to Snade's waist. Removing its cover, Zhang Tie moved closer and took a whiff, only to smell a strange, medicinal scent. Inside the bag were various colorful vials. Unfortunately, the vials were not labeled, thus based on his current capabilities, Zhang Tie naturally didn't know what was inside. Thinking for a while, Zhang Tie put them back inside the leather bag and placed the bag back into Snade's coat. He was not interested in what was inside the vials, as those things had to be destroyed.
Besides the gold coins and the leather bag, Zhang Tie found nothing else on Snade's body; however, he was already very pleased with what he had found.
After searching over Snade, Zhang Tie went for Huck. There was also a purse inside Huck's coat. Seeing the purse that was as heavy as Snade's, Zhang Tie soon felt blood rushing to his head. After pouring out all the money from Huck and Snade's purses, Zhang Tie took in two deep breaths. He then continued to search Huck's body. This time, he found another leather bag with four vials of medicine used to heal wounds inside. Those medicines were produced by the Continental Pharmacists Union and were packed with their packaging and symbol. These medicines were also sold in Donder's grocery store. Opening one vial, Zhang Tie smelt it and tasted it a bit. It was of high quality. Zhang Tie found no fake substances inside. It was really difficult to buy a vial of this kind of medicine in the market, especially in the shops neighboring the railway station. As taro powder was neither harmful to humans nor easily noticed by commoners, vendors usually mixed taro powder into real medicine along with additional fake substances that would compose 5 to 20 percent of the medicine. Zhang Tie learned the means that were always adopted by cunning businessmen from Donder's grocery store.
Besides the purses, the medicine bags, and the portable equipment, nothing else was found on the two dead bodies.
After searching their dead bodies, Zhang Tie started to search through their luggage. When he was looking for clothes inside Snade's luggage last night, he had already roughly searched through it and had found nothing that stood out, thus Zhang Tie mainly searched through Huck's luggage. Opening it, he surprisingly saw a palm-sized box. The instant he saw the box, Zhang Tie became excited because that box was specifically used to store crystals that were of Level 3 or higher. Opening the box, he found two white and translucent double-headed pyramid-based crystals that were almost Level 4 lying inside the box. Feeling his spirit rising, Zhang Tie picked up the two pyramid-based crystals and looked at the two pyramids inside. He then burst out into laughter as each of the crystals was much better than the Level 3 pyramid-based crystals being treasured as top quality pyramids in Donder's grocery store. These two crystals were worth at least 10 gold coins.
Zhang Tie was highly spirited and felt like exclaiming towards the sky.
Trembling, Zhang Tie counted the coins. In total, Huck and Snade had contributed 48 gold coins, 79 silver coins, and 34 copper coins to him, which, although was nothing to some people, was a large amount of money for Zhang Tie. This money was almost equivalent to 4 or 5 years worth of his dad's salary.
In addition to the money, he had also received four vials of high-quality medicines that were great for healing wounds, with only half of a vial among the four having been used. Moreover, Zhang Tie also got two top-quality Level 3 pyramid-based crystals. In total, the vials of medicine and the pyramid-based crystals were worth about 18 gold coins.
"I'm rich! I'm really rich this time!" Zhang Tie was so high spirited that his face almost cramped.
Although the two leather bags that contained the medicine were valuable, they had obvious signs of having been used, as there were scratches on them. If the wear and tear on the leather bags were noticed by people who were familiar with Huck and Snade, then they would inevitably realize that it belonged to them, thus Zhang Tie intended to throw the two leather bags away.
After pouring out the items in the sundry box, Zhang Tie carefully stored the gold coins, the medicine, and the pyramid-based crystals in the sundry box. He then returned and began to drag Huck's body towards the Pool of Chaos, which was the best place to eliminate the evidence.
The Pool of Chaos was about 200m away from Zhang Tie. Considering Huck weighed over 150 kg, Zhang Tie gave up dragging his feet after 50 steps. Seeing that line on the soil plowed by Huck's dead body, Zhang Tie wiped the sweat from his forehead and changed his posture. He held up Huck's body and let it sit straight up on the ground before squatting against Huck's back and placing his two arms under the body's armpits. He then half lifted him and dragged him away. This was much easier than his previous attempt.
When faced with danger, people could actually burst out with great potential. Zhang Tie found it really difficult to drag away this body that weighed over 150 kg. In particular, how was he able to carry this body into the Castle of Black Iron last night when he was so weak? Zhang Tie himself had started to be proud of what he had done.
Hugging and dragging the body in such a way, Zhang Tie would inevitably cause friction between his arm and Huck's armpits. As a result, 50m away, Zhang Tie's felt a completely different feeling from the upper right arm and his upper left arm; his upper right arm that rubbed on the left armpit of Huck's body was softer. Something seemed to be padding the area under Huck's left armpit, giving off a smooth feeling when Zhang Tie dragged the body.
Could there be something hidden inside? Zhang Tie put down Huck's body and searched the area around his armpits carefully. Finally, Zhang Tie found something closely hidden by Huck's left armpit under his inner armor. He found a trivial opening on his clothes that could never be found without a careful inspection. Zhang Tie then undid Huck's coat and stretched his hand into that opening. Touching a piece of smooth cloth, Zhang Tie then pulled it out directly from that small mysterious bag.
"Wooh, it's a red silk cloth! Motherf*cker, it must be very expensive! What's the purpose of carrying a piece of red cloth? To drive away evil like what Chinese people always did?" Zhang Tie doubted at the first sight of the piece of red cloth.
Afterwards, unfolding the piece of red silk cloth, Zhang Tie realized that it was a mask that was similar to those used by the executioners who executed criminals. A man's head could be properly covered under this mask. In addition, two holes on the cloth were left for eyes and some strange floral grains were embroidered on the forehead of the face mask. There was also a black and terrifying skull between the strange floral grains.
Motherf*cker! What the hell! I've never seen such an ugly mask. The instant Zhang Tie intended to throw away this red mask, a thought flashed in his mind...
...
A terrifying red mask like that of an executioner's... Black skull on the mask... Killing numerous people in bloody ways...
Zhang Tie's face instantly turned pale. Glancing at this mask which symbolized death and blood in his hand, a few words came to Zhang Tie's mind instantly—Red-scarf Burglar...
Sh*t! The 15-year juvenile was frightened. Feeling weak, he sat on the ground helplessly...
Chapter 63: Fruit of Brilliance
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Two weeks ago when his elder brother had talked about the Red-scarf Burglars at the dinner table, Zhang Tie felt as if he was listening to a story. To Zhang Tie, a bandit organization like the Red-scarf Burglars who instilled fear into the entire Andaman Alliance and killed numerous people had nothing to do with common families like the Zhang Family. In Zhang Tie's mind, although the Red-scarf Burglars were always causing troubles within the territory of the Andaman Alliance, they lived in a completely different world.
When the curfew was imposed in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt that his life was influenced a bit; however, he was more worried about his elder brother. He hoped that his elder brother would not encounter those butchers with bloodstained hands.
The Red-scarf Burglars were infamous across the entire Andaman Alliance because of the numerous casualties caused by them. 12 years ago, the Red-scarf Burglars broke into Baroque, an emerging city, and caused the "Baroque Massacre", an event feared by everyone. After the massacre, the beautiful city which had more than 100,000 citizens was wiped out. They killed every single living being they met, whether it was man or woman, old or young, and even farm animals like chickens or dogs were not spared, finally resulting in a ghost city.
Those vicious Red-scarf Burglars frightened everybody. Although there were less than 1,000 Red-scarf Burglars in total, on average, each of them had killed at least 100 innocent residents in the Baroque Massacre...
Every member of the Red-scarf Burglars would wear a red headcover when they took action. Besides a few members who were known by their infamous crimes, the identities of the other members were not known to the public, thus the government had not been able to arrest them. In addition, they acted in secrecy, as they would disappear soon after they finished their missions. Sometimes, they would reappear abruptly, causing people to become muddle-headed.
Zhang Tie had never thought that he would be related to such a terrifying organization, let alone killing two of their members.
Zhang Tie sat on the ground muddle-headedly for quite a while before he was able to recover his composure. Afterwards, he ran towards Snade's body and undid his coat. He found the same opening on his clothes near the region of his left armpit under the inner armor and pulled out a terrifying red headcover that was the same as the one from Huck's armpit.
"Motherf*cker, this kick is for your blindness and this kick is for my blood. You bastard, is it that cool to kill people?" Thinking of how he was almost killed by the Red-scarf Burglars, his fear of the two bodies turned into fury and disgust as he ferociously kicked Snade's body more than 10 times.
After venting, Zhang Tie felt much more relaxed. Red-scarf Burglars? So what! Let's see whether or not you can bite me!
"Pei..." Zhang Tie spat onto Snade's body. Then, he dragged Snade's body by the foot towards the Pool of Chaos, much like dragging a dead dog. He found it much easier to deal with this body, as Snade was much lighter than Huck.
After taking two short rests on the way there, Zhang Tie took 5 minutes to drag Snade's body to a place near the Pool of Chaos. Exerting all his strength, he threw the dead body into the Pool of Chaos, which then slowly sunk into it. Zhang Tie then turned back and spent almost 10 minutes dragging Huck's huge, dead body to a place near the Pool of Chaos too. After a powerful push, another Red-scarf Burglar disappeared forever from this world.
Afterwards, Zhang Tie ran back and threw all their belongings into the Pool of Chaos, including the bag that held the medicine, their purses, their clothes, and the box used to contain the crystals. From then on, the two Red-scarf Burglars completely disappeared from this world, leaving no traces behind.
Zhang Tie then became thoroughly relaxed. "From now on, who would be able to link the disappearance of those two guys to me?"
He then opened the Basic Attributes Panel of the Castle of Black Iron.
——Castle of Black Iron
——Length: 1 Krosa
——Width: 1 Krosa
——Aura Value: 328
——Merit Value: 2122
——Basic Energy Storage: 43.7
——Special Output: Void
As expected, the aura value and the basic energy storage had both increased. These past few days, as more and more seeds sprouted and grew well, the aura value also gradually increased. However, the merit value almost frightened Zhang Tie. How could it increase by more than 2000 points? Zhang Tie instantly opened the log for merit value to check the reason.
——For the Gods, you have carried out righteousness by killing Snade and Huck, who were part of the infamous Red-scarf Burglars. You have punished evil and have spread the mercy of the Gods unto the earthly world. You have found justice for the numerous people who were wronged by them. As a result, merit value has been increased by 2048.
Reading this tip, Zhang Tie became moved, feeling that he did the right thing by killing these two b*tches.
After closing the Basic Attributes Window of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie arrived before the small tree again. He was really depressed about the Leakless Fruit that he had been waiting for over a week. He really wanted to see what had happened to it at that time.
The Leakless Fruit that should have been ripe was as large as a peanut kernel. Hanging on a twig, it looked really pitiful. Zhang Tie stretched out his hand as another tip appeared.
——The Leakless Fruit has suspended its growth. After the Lord's Qi and blood recovers, it will continue to grow.
Zhang Tie estimated that all of his energy might be currently used to produce more blood. According to his current physical condition, it might take him a couple of days to fully recover. That was to say, the next Leakless Fruit would grow ripe 10 days later.
F*ck! Thinking of this, Zhang Tie cursed Huck and Snade fiercely again. If it wasn't for that incident last night, he would have improved a lot since the effects of the Leakless Fruit were really great.
He had no choice but to wait!
Afterwards, Zhang Tie checked the Iron Body Fruit. The new one seemed to have just started to grow, as the fruit was just about 1/5 mature. If he wanted to accelerate its growth, he would have to find opportunities to be fiercely beaten.
When Zhang Tie turned back and prepared to leave the Castle of Black Iron, he suddenly saw something shining through the corner of his eye on the small tree.
to no opportunities to learn about it; however, after his spiritual energy was increased by six times, he realized he was able to cultivate much more effectively. Using the same amount of time, he could reach a much better result; otherwise, it would take him a much longer time to achieve such a result. This benefit alone had already made Zhang Tie satisfied. Moreover, with the help of the increased spiritual energy, he could sense more sharply and react much quicker. This was the best gift from the Gods before the survival training even began!
"Here I come, survival training!"
Zhang Tie shouted loudly in the Castle of Black Iron...