Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie was woken up by a basin of cold water. He quivered at once. The moment he wanted to move, he realized that his hands could not move. When he opened his eyes, a brilliant fluorite lamp was lifted before his face. Affected by the strong light, Zhang Tie instinctively closed his eyes again while turning his head in the direction the light wasn’t as strong.

When Zhang Tie's eyes adapted to the light, he turned and checked his current situation.

It seemed like he was inside a warehouse where many barrels were piled. This place seemed to be used to store beer. The moment he saw those beer barrels, Zhang Tie knew that he was still near Blapei because these beer barrels were the forever symbol of Blapei.

Right in this warehouse, Zhang Tie could even smell the fragrance of beer in those barrels.

Zhang Tie was sitting on a chair while two people were pressing his hands with much greater strength than he had now. Although his own current strength was almost like that of a LV 2 warrior, he felt that the two people on his sides were much stronger than him as they seemed to be suppressing him very easily.

Given their strength that was close to that of LV 4-5 warriors, Zhang Tie knew that at this moment if he wanted to fight these people with his trivial fighting strength, any one of them could casually beat him up. Perhaps he could have dealt with them all before he was wounded, but he was not able to do that at the moment.

Before him were a lot of people who were gazing at him with icy eyes, in which, Zhang Tie saw a bloody madness that he could hardly understand.

What was really out of his imagination was that these people, including the two people who held him on his sides were in the military uniforms of the Norman Empire.

'What the hell!'

Zhang Tie became slightly muddle-headed as he had not offended anybody in the Iron-Horn Army.

"Who are you, what do you want?"

After experiencing the life or death situations on the battlefield, Zhang Tie recovered his composure at once, fixing his icy eyes on these people without any fear on his face.

Zhang Tie knew that he had only one chance for a comeback. Once it was missed, he would really be in danger tonight.

"You are truly an officer retired from the Iron-Blood Camp. It's said you've even gotten an Iron-Blood medal. How many people have you killed to get that..."

One of the soldiers walked towards Zhang Tie. His face was a bit familiar, as if Zhang Tie had seen him before. But before he could recall where he had seen this person, that person punched with his fist at Zhang Tie's lower abdomen. Zhang Tie quivered all over, the blue veins on his neck raising. In a split second, sweat covered his forehead.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie didn't utter even a sound.

"Hoho, I've not realized that although young, you are a tough man!"

Saying this, that man punched another fist into Zhang Tie's lower abdomen. If not being held down by others, Zhang Tie might have been sent flying through the air. After the second fist, Zhang Tie's face suddenly turned pale while a wisp of blood appeared at his mouth corners.

"Red-hide dog, it's said that you were very great on the battlefield. Are you good at killing? Show me!"

With these words, that guy suddenly became grim and took a fierce hold on Zhang Tie's neck. Zhang Tie instantly felt it hard to breathe.

Ten seconds later, Zhang Tie started to feel dizzy.

"It's enough. Keep him alive. We need him to coordinate with us in the follow-up actions!"

Another person from the crowd opened his mouth. Hearing his words, the first person moved his hand away from Zhang Tie's neck.

After coughing twice, Zhang Tie heavily panted. Facing these people, after hearing that appellation "red-hide dog", Zhang Tie immediately understood something.

"You… are not soldiers of the Norman Empire!"

"Of course, we are descendants of the Brilliant God!"

Another person, who was that farmer lying on the roadside, walked closer. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled why that person who punched him just now looked familiar. Several days ago, when he was in Tonikas town, he had met that person. He had crashed into him on the road and almost pulled him down.

Zhang Tie finally realized that the man had crashed into him on purpose as he wanted to test his real strength. In that simple way, they knew that his real strength was almost like a LV 2 warrior’s. It seemed that these guys had noticed him at least a few days ago.

"You are the fleeing soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers Army from that airship?"

Zhang Tie immediately understood their status.

"Hoho, you’re not foolish. I like dealing with smart guys. Now that you know our status, you should understand your own situation!"

"As you didn't kill me, you must want to reach your target with my help, right?‘

"Right, if you’ll cooperate with us, we’ll consider letting you go!"

'Letting me go?' Zhang Tie sneered inside.

These people truly took him for an idiot! He had seen them and now knew where they lurked. Some of them might even be Sun Dynasty’s spies in Blapei. In such a case, how could these people let him go?

Seeing Zhang Tie become silent, that guy who had crashed into Zhang Tie slightly smiled as the brilliance in his eyes weirdly flashed. "I know what you’re thinking. Once you help us escape from Blapei, we won’t kill you. I know your experience in the Iron-Horn Army. You might not know that, but since you killed the Double-Moon Muling in a black robe of the Brilliant Feathers Army, if we could bring you back, we would make a meritorious deed. Therefore, it's more meaningful to keep you alive than killing you."

Zhang Tie sneered inside as he pretended to be dumbfounded. He understood that these people wanted to give him a beacon of hope by saying that so that he would obediently cooperate with them. They must be thinking that if he clearly knew that he was doomed to be killed, he would never be obedient.

This was a psywar, aimed to soften his willingness to resist. Additionally, Zhang Tie was just a small role—a disabled first lieutenant. Of course he was not worth for Brilliant Feathers’ Army to send an airship and so many people to arrest him here. That would be ridiculous!

"Will I stay alive if I’m taken to the Sun Dynasty?" Zhang Tie sneered. "Now that I’m destined to be killed sooner or later, why would I choose to be killed after being taken to the Sun Dynasty by you?"

"You will definitely not die if we bring you back. You might be more useful to the Sun Dynasty if you're alive. Here's one chance. As you’re only 15-16 years old, you have a lot of time left. You can experience many splendid things and have a lot of women. As you were a resident of Blackhot City before and had joined Norman Empire only for a few months, you should think twice whether it deserves you to sacrifice your life for it. If you cooperate with us, you can at least live a bit longer; however, if you refuse, you will die at once!"

Once he said this, the man took out a dagger and put the icy blade to Zhang Tie's neck.

Hearing his words, Zhang Tie exclaimed inside, 'Sharp!'.

Although the truth of those words were doubtful, each sentence was persuasive. To tell the truth, besides really stubborn people, anyone hearing them would dream of living for at least a few days more by cooperating with them.

This person was too shrewd and good at persuading people. He could never be one of those dare-to-die soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers Army on the airship, but instead could only be a spy of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei.

All the others in the warehouse had their eyes fixed on Zhang Tie. His life or death would be determined in one split second.

Through the questioning, Zhang Tie had already counted how many people were in the warehouse. Besides himself, there were twelve with none of them being farther than four meters away from him.

'I only have one chance. I should double-check it as I don't want to die together with these guys,' Zhang Tie told to himself inside.

Pretending to struggle, Zhang Tie considered it for several seconds while the dagger on his neck was being pressed with greater strength.

Zhang Tie then looked down, and his shoulders seemed to collapse at once. "What do you want me to do? I know that Blapei is under strict investigation now. Do you want me to send you out of Blapei directly?"

At his words, the dagger on his neck became loose.

"We truly want you to send us out of Blapei, but before that, we should make a chaos in Blapei to attract others' attention, which would be beneficial for us when leaving here!"

"What chaos?"

I know you can freely access the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Base, so before leaving Blapei, we need you to bring us in. If some material warehouses catch on fire tonight, the whole of Blapei would be in chaos. If that happens, we can leave much more easily!"

They man looked sincere when he said this, his eyes shiny with an exceptional brilliance.

Zhang Tie knew that the true reason that they abducted him and took him here was that they wanted him to bring them into the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Base in Blapei. They would then destroy things inside, as well as him, instead of taking him back for some reward. His life might come to an end when he took these guys into the base.

'Damn, these bitches really found a cowardly lion to deal with. F*ck!'

"If we’re going to the base, I have to change my clothes. I need to get my officer’s uniform from my residence!" Zhang Tie replied after thinking for a while.

"Don't worry, we've already prepared your clothes. You can change here. Since you have your officer certificate with you as well, you’ve saved us a lot of time!"

Ridicule flashed on his face He then waved his hand while another man in a soldier's clothes of the Norman Empire threw a military uniform in front of Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie didn't know how these people had gotten these military uniforms, but this problem was trivial right now, so he just ignored it. As spies of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei, if they couldn't do this, they would be too stupid.

Zhang Tie then pretended to change into the military uniform, but he noticed that his hands couldn't move at all. He then glanced at the person who had talked to him. That man then looked at the two men on Zhang Tie's sides, who then let go his arms.

No matter what, a great amount of people were watching Zhang Tie. Additionally he had been searched all over, so they didn't fear such a simple guy playing any trick.

Zhang Tie rubbed his wrists that had been heavily pinched by the two guys and had turned purple. Standing up from the chair, he bent over to pick up the military uniform. Under the others' gazes, he obediently took off his clothes and put on that first lieutenant’s military uniform, including the military boots.

After putting on this the military uniform, Zhang Tie naturally moved the length of his height. He faced the twelve people in the warehouse. Everybody was then in his vision and within four meters of him.

Seeing Zhang Tie cooperating with them so well, these people who were gazing tightly at him became slightly relaxed. At the same time, a wisp of a sneer and contempt appeared on their faces.

'Red-hide dog, you want to live, humph humph... It seems that the one who has gained the Iron-

Blood Medal of the Norman Empire was not as sharp as in the legend!' they thought to themselves.

Not until Zhang Tie put on that military uniform and fasten his belt, when he found them most relaxed, did he ask a casual question .

"How many people do you have? If you have too many, I cannot bring all of you in to the base!"

"We have fifteen!" Seeing Zhang Tie wanting to cooperate, the first man also slightly relaxed. He didn't know what Zhang Tie had truly meant by asking him about their numbers, so he immediately added, "Besides the twelve here, we've got three guards outside the warehouse. We've already got a military SUV. You and me will sit in the cab. When we drive in, you just tell them we're here to repair vehicles."

"Fifteen?" Zhang Tie double-checked.

"Fifteen!"

That man nodded while he giving Zhang Tie a weird look. Unexpectedly, he found an intricate expression on Zhang Tie's face.

"Then..." Zhang Tie took a deep breath as the smile on his face disappeared. At the same time, his two eyes radiated killing intent. "You can go die now!"

Soon after he said this, the twelve binding chains that swam around the mysterious rune in his mind flew out of the middle of his eyebrows and immediately hit the twelve people in the warehouse like invincible lightning bolts and chains...