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Chapter 42: Collision
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
"Then I will not invite you for dinner…" By the time Donder had said this, Zhang Tie had already rushed out the grocery store long ago like a soaring arrow.
"Be careful on your way!" Seeing Zhang Tie running off so hurriedly, Donder shook his head. As Donder had already realized that Zhang Tie was absent-minded today, he let him go back earlier than usual. However, it really surprised him that the boy had already rushed out of the door the instant he said "dinner".
...
Zhang Tie was very excited at this moment. He couldn't wait to get back home and see what the "Leakless Fruit" looked like. He even forgot the soreness and pain from his body.
There was only one thought in Zhang Tie's mind — returning home!
...
As a result of the recently added midnight curfew in Blackhot City, just before midnight, the railway station would be bustling as more and more people gathered at the flea market and surrounding shops.
In order to get back home as soon as possible, Zhang Tie didn't select the usual route; instead, he used a shortcut and ran into the populated alleys and streets near the railway station. Although these kinds of places had people of all walks of life and lacked security, Zhang Tie had always passed through this area for several years and found nothing strange about it in the least. However, there was always an exception. At a corner between an alley and a street, due to the darkness, Zhang Tie ran into another man who was exiting the alley. Neither of the two had expected that they would crash into someone else at this intersection.
That man's body only shook a bit, while Zhang Tie bounced back and fell onto the ground. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie became dazed and made a furious harrumph.
"Boy, you wanna die!?"
Zhang Tie widened his eyes and saw a tall, masculine man around the age of 40 standing in front of him. Like the average pioneer, the guy ferociously stepping towards Zhang Tie had a long, vicious face and brown hair.
Zhang Tie had not yet recovered. From this fierce crash alone, he felt like his bones were almost broken and struggled greatly to get himself off the ground. Never would he have imagined that the man in front of him would be so vicious. After having seen Zhang Tie fall onto the ground, the man had actually wanted to step on him. Seeing the man's large feet and muscles, Zhang Tie realized that he would be severely wounded if not killed under his feet.
"What's wrong, Huck?" From the alley behind the manly fellow came a thin shadow wearing a pioneer uniform. Seeing what Huck was about to do, the man instantly stopped him as he slightly raised his chin towards a certain direction. Following the direction of his chin, Huck saw a team of patrolling soldiers in a street far away. Seeing the patrolling soldiers, Huck stopped.
"Young man, are you ok?" The thin yet tall man moved from behind Huck and squatted in front of Zhang Tie with a smile. Looking into the man's slim eyes with yellowish pupils, Zhang Tie felt like he was being stared at by a cobra. At that instant, Zhang Tie felt the hair on his body standing on its end. The instant that man drew close to him like a snake, Zhang Tie smelt a fishy scent, which made him feel like vomiting.
Thinking of how Huck had raised his foot, Zhang Tie hurriedly picked himself up. No matter what, it was too dangerous for him to remain lying on the ground.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I was running just now. Sorry about that…"
"Hoho, you're so careless. Are you hurt? Come on, let me give you a hand!"
"No need… thanks…" Seeing the man stretching out his hand toward him, Zhang Tie hurriedly sat up.
"Come on, I mean it. To tell you the truth, we didn't notice you either…" The thin guy smiled, instantly grabbing Zhang Tie's hands as he intended to pull him up. Feeling the tight grip on his wrists, Zhang Tie did not have the time to say anything before he felt as if his hands were licked by a snake. Following that, he felt as if the man had searched every part of his body; from the palms, wrists, and elbows to his shoulders, armpits, waist, chest, and belly. Finally, he even searched Zhang Tie's crotch, shanks, and ankles as he pretended to pat off dirt for him. All this happened before Zhang Tie had a chance to realize what was happening. The thin man then shook his head towards Huck.
"Since it's evening, take care on your way back!" The thin man forced a weird smile at Zhang Tie as he left with the ferociously staring Huck. Soon after, they disappeared in the populated street.
In just a few seconds, Zhang Tie realized that his back had already been drenched with sweat. When the night wind blew, he shivered. Instinctively, Zhang Tie realized that he seemed to have just escaped a huge crisis.
Zhang Tie quickly left. "God bless me. I don't want to ever meet those two terrifying guys again!" Zhang Tie muttered to himself as he moved forward. Several steps later, he felt something beneath his foot. With widened eyes, he bent down and picked up the item. Under the moonlight, Zhang Tie saw a palm-sized cloth bag that contained something within. It felt neither like a rare metal nor money. Being surprised, Zhang Tie took the object out of the bag, revealing a dark red triangular wooden plate that had cracks at its center. There was nothing on the wooden plate — no patterns or characters. It seemed to have been made of common red pine, which was not very expensive. The moment Zhang Tie intended to throw it away, he noticed that the wooden plate was very smooth as if the plate was regularly used and handled by people. Zhang Tie then became curious as to why a useless plate would be held so solemnly inside this bag. Realizing that Huck had dropped the bag, Zhang Tie smirked as he placed it back within cloth bag before foisting the bag into his pocket. He then rushed home.
Half an hour after Zhang Tie left, the two men returned. Unlike before, their faces had turned pale with an indescribable fear. With oil lamps in hand, they lowered their bodies onto the ground and searched almost every corner on this patch of land. Unfortunately, they had failed to find what they were looking for.
"What should we do?" At this moment, Huck did not look vicious; the only thing that could be seen on his face was an uncertainty that would be seen during the end of the world "Snade, why not go directly to them?"
"Are you crazy?" The snake-like man called Snade stared at Huck. "You know the rules of our organization! You know what they would do if they don't see the token! Without the token, we would be killed the instant we told them who we are!"
"What should we do If we can't finish this task?"
Remembering what their leaders had done to the followers who made mistakes, Huck and Snade turned utterly pale.
"It must have been that kid. It's really unbelievable that we lost the token. You had checked it when we left the railway station. Additionally, we did not come into contact with anyone else. The token must have been stolen by that kid!" Snade concluded ferociously.
"But you had checked him just now and found nothing at all!"
"That kid is definitely experienced. He must have thrown it away when he got our token. It was too dark just now and we didn't pay attention to our feet. After we left, that kid probably picked it up and ran away!" Besides mistaking Zhang Tie as an experienced thief who lurked near the railway station, his judgment was completely correct. "Now, we can only hope that he didn't throw it away. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise, I will definitely kill all his family members and chop him into meat paste!" Huck's fat face trembled. "What should we do now? Should we go look for him?"
"No, we should go get another thief and let him lead us to that kid. If that kid frequents the area near the railway station, other people must know him!"
"Fine…"
Within Blackhot City, the neighborhood near the railway station was the most disorderly place. There were many criminals here who did bad deeds such as pickpocket, robbery, rape, etc. Those guys cooperated with the magistrates near the railway station stealthily. They were definitely an evil force in the Blackhot city. However, that night, the two more sinister men would finally deal with them tonight due to a "trivial" matter...
Chapter 43: Patience
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Naturally, Zhang Tie didn't know what the two guys had done after he returned home. When the two were searching the ground, Zhang Tie had already returned home.
As there was one more person at home as well as the baby that would be born in about ten months, Zhang Tie's parents haven't been going out in the evening for the past few days; instead, they stayed at home. Recently, supper has been more nutritious than before. Zhang Tie could tell that some dishes, which tasted really good, were made by his soon-to-be sister-in-law.
When he returned, Zhang Tie only found his mom and his soon-to-be sister-in-law at home. After he had finished supper, he saw his dad return covered in sweat while carrying ham on his back. Zhang Tie then knew where his dad had been.
Together with his dad, Zhang Tie dealt with the approximately 20 kg ham and hung it in the kitchen. As he had not smelled this kind of scent in a long time, Zhang Tie strongly inhaled. After having done so, Zhang Tie joked, "Dad, you and mom really play favorites. I've been wanting ham since a long time ago, yet you didn't buy any for me; however, as soon as my sister-in-law arrived, you bought it so soon. Your son really can not match your grandson!"
"No crap!" His dad poked his face with a finger. "If you're a man, you shouldn't eat it even after your mom has prepared it!"
"Heh… heh…" Zhang Tie smiled but muttered within his heart, "Your son really did something amazing at school today." However, Zhang Tie knew that what had happened at school would only make his dad and mom worried; therefore, he decided he would not tell them about it. "Dad, how much was the ham?"
"58 silver coins and 60 copper coins — almost 60 silver coins!" His dad complained bitterly, "It was never this expensive before!"
Zhang Tie was startled. This price was almost equivalent to one month of his dad's salary. It seemed that his dad and mom had paid a steep price for their grandson. Seeing his dad being gloomy over there, Zhang Tie moved close to him and prattled, "Remember to buy more fruits to provide enough nutrition for the health of the future baby of our Zhang family!"
"Yea, your mom also…" His dad suddenly realized that he had already fallen into Zhang Tie's trap. Being irritated, his dad chased him around the room and flicked at Zhang Tie's forehead.
...
Ever since his sister-in-law came to their home, Zhang Tie realized that his plan to earn merit value at home became ineffective. Every place in the house became clean and tidy, thus he could not even find an excuse to do housework anymore. As a result, Zhang Tie had nothing to do and could only smile bitterly. It seemed that he had to find another hidden way to earn merit value.
After supper, his mom and sister-in-law sat close and were knitting. As she had grown up in the house of a tailor, his sister-in-law was definitely good at needlework. Seeing that pair of delicate hands, Zhang Tie's mom smiled. While helping them cut rags to create insoles, Zhang Tie casually talked to them.
"There are only a few days left before I will leave home," while cutting the rags, Zhang Tie thought to himself. He only had a few days to accompany his parents in these months. According to the and the in Blackhot City and the entire Andaman Alliance, the house which was acquired through dozens of years of hard work would be inherited by his elder brother. As Zhang Tie was the youngest son, he had to leave both the house and the city and survive outside.
When a young wolf grew up, it had to leave his parents' lair. If a young eagle was fully grown, then it would have to leave the eagle nest on the cliff, flying into the sky as it strove to survive even in the heavy wind and rain. Even if it was an ant, the moment it could fly, it would have to leave its nest for the future of its descendants. In this age, similar to other living species, human beings had also formulated rules and laws to manage themselves. They started to learn from the animals and species that have shown strong surviving capabilities. The two above Acts were prime examples of what humans had to do if they wanted to survive in this age. They had to move out of the high city walls. With ambition and swords, they had to be brave as they explore the land in search for new places for humans to live. They had to fight alien clans and eliminate the dangerous species as they gradually establish new cities and human settlements that could contain more people. This was the rule of survival in this age; it had nothing to do with morality. In reality, this was what the human race needed to survive.
The cities were safe; however, a city could only contain a limited population, thus not everybody could live in Blackhot City. Using Zhang Tie's family, which had two sons, as an example, when Zhang Tie, the youngest son, completes his compulsory education and begins to serve in the army, the and the would spring into effect. As his elder brother was going to get married and Zhang Tie would soon enter society, it would not be convenient for him to stay at home, thus there were only a few days left before he would leave.
Over the past few days, Zhang Tie has tried to stay away from this topic. He tried his best to stay as close as he could with his parents and always made jokes to make them happy in hopes to lower the sadness they would feel from the eventual departure. His parents had also tried to avoid this topic. As the two months of outdoor survival training was soon, Zhang Tie knew that other families had already prepared equipment and food for their children.
Without knowing it, Zhang Tie felt the flow of time flew by quickly when he stayed with his parents. The pile of rags was soon finished being cut into pieces. It was currently a bit late, and his mom looked a bit tired. After chatting for awhile, Zhang Tie found an excuse to leave. While yawning, he washed his feet, brushed his teeth, and returned to the attic.
Back in his room, Zhang Tie looked over the triangular wooden plate carefully and finally confirmed that it was made of red pine and had no miraculous or hidden functions. Aside from the special, naturally formed grains on it, there was nothing else worth mentioning about it. If it was placed among kids' toys, others would simply take it as a building block.
Whenever Zhang Tie thought back to Huck's pair of large feet and the snake-like, slim man who searched him all over, he would feel goosebumps all over.
"Motherf*cker, two perverts! Haven't you lived a good childhood? You two play this motherf*cking thing at that age!" Zhang Tie cursed. Throwing the wooden plate directly into the cloth bag, he then tossed it into the sundry box at the corner of the room.
After having thrown the wooden plate, Zhang Tie sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was soon able to find the miraculous, arched gate between his brows. Locking onto it, he muttered to himself, "Enter!"
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!
"It feels really motherf*cking good!" Inside the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie sucked in a deep breath. Whenever he entered, he would be curious. Despite there only being a few sprouted plants with low aura value, whenever he entered here, he would feel vigorous. Even the air inside was much fresher than that of Blackhot City.
As usual, Zhang Tie checked the basic attributes inside the Castle of Black Iron first.
——Castle of Black Iron
——Length: 1 Krosa
——Width: 1 Krosa
——Aura value: 23.5
——Merit value: 56
——Basic energy storage: 0.5
——Special output: void
There was nothing special about this basic data; the aura value was still increasing due to the growing plants, and merit value did not increase today, as he had neither cleaned the desks and chairs at school nor did he do housework at home.
Closing the basic attributes window, he checked his reclaimed land. The potatoes were growing quite well, and all the niblets had already sprouted and had broken out of the ground. The sprouted potato twigs had already started to bifurcate with the longest having reached a length of almost 10 cm. In contrast, the potato in the "No.1 pit" which he had injected three merit value points for mutation and evolution was not different than before. Zhang Tie assumed that the result of the mutation and evolution might be related to the growth cycle of the species. As only a week had elapsed since he had injected the points, it was reasonable to see no change.
After checking his reclaimed land; Zhang Tie arrived at the small tree once again. Gazing at the Leakless Fruit, he thought back to its growth process. From the size of a grape, it grew to the size of an egg. From dark cyan, it changed to a dark red. Zhang Tie drooled immensely and knew that only four hours were left before it became ripe. Zhang Tie was so excited that he even scratched his face. He then forced himself to calm down next to the tree for a while. With eyes firmly fixed on the Leakless Fruit, he simply squatted by the tree until his legs became gradually numb. Picking himself up from the ground, he started to circle around the tree. During this process, he couldn't help but glance several times at the time remaining before it became ripe. Unexpectedly, there was still four hours left…
When Zhang Tie couldn't help but check it again, he suddenly realized. "Zhang Tie! Zhang Tie! You are really this impatient! How could an impatient man like you match Miss Daina in the future? One ear of wheat would grow ripe and dry within one year; a diamond would form into being after hundreds of millions of years; a bean sprout will grow up in water in two days. However, I heard it took God ten thousand years to create the Olive Tree — the king of trees! All wheat straws would be burned into ashes; all bean sprouts would turn into the wastes of human beings and animals. However, a diamond would become a piece of jewelry, and the Olive Tree would become a holy symbol. This explained the difference between patience and impatience. In which way should I live for the rest of my life? As a wheat straw, a bean sprout, a diamond, or an Olive Tree?" he muttered to himself.
Chapter 44: Ignition of the Shrine Burning Point
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Sometimes, morality and immorality were determined by whether you had patience.
Thinking of this, Zhang Tie showed a resolute expression and a victorious smile before completely retracting his hand. Sucking in a deep breath, he gave a final glance at the small tree. Zhang Tie locked onto the miraculous arched door in his mind and left the Castle of Black Iron…
Zhang Tie never knew that this small, patient choice of his had made him more mentally mature.
After returning to his small room, Zhang Tie stood there for a while. Sitting on the bed, he started to practice . Afterward, Zhang Tie took out the crystal which had been buried in the crystal sand by the windowsill and started to polish the Shrine burning point. When his spiritual energy was almost exhausted, Zhang Tie visualized the contents of the book, , once again. Realizing that there was still more than one hour before the Leakless Fruit became ripe, Zhang Tie resisted his impulses to reenter the Castle of Black Iron and fell asleep.
When he woke up from his sweet dream due to needing to use the washroom, it was already past midnight.
With the moonlight shining through the window, Zhang Tie had a look at the clock and found it was almost 4:00 am. 2 hours had already passed since the first Leakless Fruit became ripe.
Zhang Tie instantly sprung up from his bed barefoot, wearing only a pair of underwear. He then rapidly locked onto the miraculous arched door in his consciousness and disappeared from the room…
After returning to the Castle of Black Iron a few hours since he was last here, the first thing Zhang Tie did wasn't running toward the small tree to pick the fruit; instead, he pulled off his underwear, got out his p*nis, and cooly urinated in the direction opposite of the tree about 10 m away. After the pressure on his bladder had been relieved, Zhang Tie trembled from the comfort. Pulling up his underwear, he moved to the small tree. 4 or 5 meters away from the small tree, Zhang Tie smelt a special fragrance that made people feel spirited. It was the fragrance of a ripe fruit that also smelt like the fragrance given off by sandalwood. It was too mysterious to be described. Zhang Tie was completely intoxicated and sucked in deep breaths as his eyes locked onto the ripe Leakless Fruit.
Compared to several hours ago, it was completely different. Previously, it was as large as an egg and was dark red in color, but currently, it has a glossy surface and was somewhat translucent. The insides of the fruit loomed a wisp of gold.
"Gulu…" Zhang Tie couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Dragging his feet, he stretched out his hand toward the ripe Leakless Fruit.
——Leakless Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.
A semi-translucent dialogue box then appeared automatically to warn Zhang Tie.
Seeing the dialogue box gradually disappear in front him, Zhang Tie's chest rose and fell. He sucked in two deep breaths and looked decisive as he picked the fruit without any hesitation as if he were picking a peach. Moving it close to his nose, he smelled the fruit before carefully staring at it. Finally, he raised his head, opened his mouth widely, and took a large bite.
The instant his teeth broke into the marvelous fruit, Zhang's mouth was filled with the rich fragrance of the fruit. It was delicious! At that moment, all of Zhang Tie's pores expanded comfortably.
With the sound of "siliu", Zhang Tie swallowed the juice of the first bite. The first bite had only bitten off a small part of the fruit. Soon, he gave a few more bites, finishing the fruit very quickly. Judging from its texture and taste, Zhang Tie swore that he had never eaten such a delicious fruit before.
After he finished the fruit, Zhang Tie licked his lips for the juice that remained on his lips as he slowly savored its taste while questioning what sorts of effects it would bring. Before he was even able to taste the aftertaste, the effects of the fruit had already spread all over his chest and belly
A warm Qi started to rise from between Zhang Tie's chest and belly, almost causing him to groan. This wisp of warm Qi turned into a warm wave as it started to rotate between Zhang Tie's chest and belly. In less than two cycles, the warm wave abruptly moved back and charged towards the Shrine burning point as if it were a boa chasing its prey. Feeling the surging wave, Zhang Tie's face twisted. He directly sat on the ground and crossed his legs. In response to the Qi, Zhang Tie instantly entered meditation…
At that moment, an unexpected change happened at the Shrine burning point over the navel. That powerful, warm wave was swirling around his Shrine burning point like a fire dragon drilling into its own cave. As a result, the Shrine burning point, which was like a cave, was slowly absorbing the wisps of warm energy from the fire dragon, resulting in the "entrance of the cave" slowly expanding from the wisps of warm energy so that the fire dragon could drill inside. As the cave gradually enlarged, more and more energy was absorbed and the insides of the cave became brighter and brighter. At the same time, the fire dragon began to fly around the cave faster and faster.
More than ten minutes later, with the sound of a "Boom!", the cyan cave entrance directly expanded greatly as the cyan luster gradually turned to blue. However, the entrance with blue luster was still too small to allow that fire dragon in. Hence, the fire dragon continued to swirl around the entrance as it constantly injected warm energy into the cave. After around another ten minutes, the blue luster over the entrance grew brighter and brighter. With another "Boom!", the blue light turned purple as the entrance enlarged once more. In response to this, the fire dragon became more lively. The warm Qi rising between Zhang Tie's chest and belly continually converted into warm waves that supported the arrogant fire dragon while all the warm waves were injected into the wider and brighter cave entrance. About half an hour later, the entrance radiating purple light was large enough to hold the fire dragon. All of a sudden, that fire dragon threw itself into that entrance without any hesitation... "Boom!" With another huge sound, the long fire dragon completely hid itself in the cave. Radiating dazzling light, a purple luster radiated in all directions in the form of light fragments. At the place where the fire dragon and the entrance disappeared, a red sparkle appeared in its place, slowly burning as it grew into a fierce flame in the darkness. It continuously radiated heat and light to the surrounding coldness and darkness.
When he clearly "saw" a flame over the Shrine burning point, Zhang Tie cried out and burst into tears before laughing out loudly like a lunatic. Unexpectedly, he had ignited the Shrine burning point today in such manner. The effects of the Leakless Fruit were really surprising — it easily allowed him to break through the three levels of cyan, blue, and purple and directly allowed him to surge from an ordinary soldier to a LV 1 fighter.
"Is the Leakless Fruit used to ignite burning points?" Such a question flashed in Zhang Tie's mind. Feeling weird, he picked himself up to the feet.
He felt empty inside, as if he didn't have any organs, skeleton, or muscles. Right then, he felt a warm spring wind blow from the Shrine burning point in all directions and made him feel invigorated all over. His elder brother had told him that the ignition of each burning point in one's body was a process to rebuild and enhance one's physique. The feeling was very special, as it would either feel extremely comfortable or extremely painful. Besides the feeling of comfort or pain, there were also many other strange feelings. His elder brother had said that after some burning points were ignited, it felt even more comfortable than the climax of making love. In contrast, the ignition of some other burning points would even feel as painful as giving birth to a baby or like the feeling of metamorphosing from a cocoon to a butterfly.
The warm breeze from the Shrine burning point stopped after seven or eight minutes. For over a minute, Zhang Tie could hear cracking sounds from within his body. This was a process known as "Skeleton Rearrangement" that everybody who had ignited the Shrine burning point would enjoy. The entire process was really pleasant and felt like the body was being rearranged by an invisible hand. Zhang Tie felt like a machine being commissioned by an expert. Afterward, he felt that all the bones in his body fit well with each other. Additionally, the feeling of being full of vitality and the unprecedented sense of harmony made him so excited that he even wanted to loudly shout out.
In this age, only after having reached this level could you step onto the road of cultivation.
"Miss Daina, here I am. I've already ignited the Shrine burning point. Ah..."
Zhang Tie exclaimed towards the sky.
Chapter 45: Midnight Massacre
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Deep in the middle of the night, Blackhot City was covered in tranquility. Ever since the curfew was imposed, every night after midnight, the entire Blackhot City would fall asleep like a giant that they had finished their day of busy work.
Like birds singing in the daytime and the snakes chasing after mice in the night, some preferred to wander about in the night rather than the day, especially those from the areas neighboring the railway station where people of all walks of life converged. After midnight, there would still be many people wandering outside. Unfortunately, if they were captured by the patrolling City Guard Army and the magistrates, they would be punished through lashings, would have to serve in Glanceburg Prison that was located outside Blackhot City, and would become a joke to many pioneers. However, for those pioneers, this punishment was nothing serious at all.
Many people held this thought, hence why the bar in an alley near the railway station filled with pioneers, the "Treasures of the Poisonous Snakes", was extremely bustling after midnight. For the average adolescent like Zhang Tie, they would never know of the wonderful nightlife that Blackhot City had.
As for the new arrivers, Huck and Snade, they had investigated the areas near the railway station before finding the bar called "Treasures of the Poisonous Snakes". After 00:00 when the curfew came into effect, the two entered the bar as they pushed open the two doors.
The bar was not spacious inside. After midnight, the bar was boisterous, as there were around 30 people inside, most of whom were wearing the uniform of pioneers. Some talked and laughed loudly as they touched the breasts of the prostitutes beside them. Some murmured in the shadows of lights in the bar, where one would occasionally see two men scratching something hidden within their broad sleeves at the table. Some nodded when they were satisfied, while others shook their heads to show disagreement. If they could not reach an agreement, they would pull back their hands. This was the usual trading pattern among pioneers. The transaction was done within their sleeves to keep the items and prices of the trade a secret. Only the two parties involved knew what had happened, thus one would never know the topic of their conversation, even if they were planning your assassination and its price.
When Huck and Snade entered the bar, many people glanced at them and continued their own business, while other more perceptive pioneers felt as if danger was drawing close to them. In response, they stealthily moved the weapons lying on the table or beside them closer, placing them in a convenient position in case a critical situation arises.
The moment Huck and Snade sat at a table, two slightly nice-looking barmaids had already moved in front of them with slim twisting waists. They intended to lower their bodies to show their exposed, plump breasts. "Handsome boys, what can I do for you?"
"Two cups of black pine wine. What kind of food do you serve?" asked Snade.
"Toast, soybean, beef soup, and crispy sausage!"
"One set for each of us!"
"Okay!"
After the barmaids left, noticing what the two had ordered, the others moved their gazes away from them, as they knew few troublemakers would enjoy a meal before causing trouble in the bar.
Soon, the food ordered by Snade and Huck were served. Looking at the food, Snade didn't eat it immediately; instead, he took out a grass root, which looked like a dried twig, wrapped in silver wires and poked every item on their plates and the mug of beer as he checked for a change in the color of the grass root and the silver wires. After no color change was seen, they started to safely enjoy the supper. After several hours of work, the two were currently really hungry.
It was common for pioneers to test for poison by using the grass root of a Soul-Eating Thorn that was wrapped in silver wires. Silver wire and the grass root of the Soul-Eating Thorn was the perfect combination — it reacts to most poisonous substances, including the "powerful rat poison" that only required a small amount to kill a fully grown man. Almost every pioneer had this habit of testing their food for poison before eating, hence others did not find it strange when they saw this. Even the boss and barmaids considered this as a common habit among pioneers. Aside from frequent customers, many new arrivers of this bar, which was teemed with pioneers, would test poison like those two. It was just a living habit.
The guests of the bar were loudly talking about the town hall of the Blackhot City. The town hall had increased the payment for mapping the black areas north and west of Blackhot City, rising to a price of 46 gold coins per squared kilometers of black area. Additionally, for every extra square kilometer, the price would increase by 5%. Over the past few days, several waves of pioneers who considered themselves exceptional had already traveled over there in groups; however, it was unknown how many among them would return.
After finishing their meal, Huck and Snade pretended to listen to the news inside the bar before preparing to leave and called the barmaid to settle the bill. Intending to pull out his purse, Huck's purse suddenly dropped onto the ground, causing two gold coins to roll out of his purse. Huck hurriedly put away the purse. Instead, Snade settled the bill before the two walked out of the bar. Soon after they left, a man in a corner of the bar also picked himself up on his feet. Drinking the last of his beer, he purposely spilled some beer on himself. Afterwards, he followed the two and left the bar.
The actions of the man surprised no one in the bar.
"It seems like Squirrel Pond has finally found tonight's prey. Heh… Heh..." Someone inside the bar started to smirk. Everyone forgot about the three who had just left. In this world, each and every one of them had their own set of survival rules. If others didn't affect them, then most would just choose to ignore what was happening beside them. This was one of the rules of survival in this age.
The moment Squirrel Pond teetered out of the bar, he looked around and saw Huck and Snade walking into an alley on the left. Narrowing his eyes, he continued to follow them as he pretended to be a drunk man. When Pond drew close to them, the two walking in front glanced back at him; however, they seemed to not care when they saw the drunk man. Drawing close to Huck, he tumbled forward as he moved his hand inside of Huck's coat. The instant Pond's fingers touched Huck's clothes, he heard a cold sneer.
"Too slow!"
Before Squirrel Pond realized what had happened, his hand was already firmly gripped by Huck. The moment he was about to pretend to be a drunkard and shout loudly, an ice dagger had already arrived at his neck. The dagger cut into the skin and left a shallow cut. Pond was really scared and began to sweat. Afterwards, as if treating a chick, Huck covered his mouth before carrying Pond into a shadow beside the alley, a place where nobody would see.
"Take us to see your boss. We want to see him!" Huck, the manly guy, seemed to be not that patient as he threw Pond directly onto the ground and spoke in a straightforward manner.
"I don't know what are you talking about! I am… ah…" With his mouth covered, Pond couldn't make a sound. Feeling a cold sensation on his right hand, he lowered his head and saw what had happened to hand. What he found was the main artery on his right wrist had been slit open, causing his blood to pour out like a fountain. The wound looked like a mouth of a beast and had almost scared Pond to death.
"You have less than ten minutes before your run out of blood!" Snade smirked at Pond while playing with his dagger.
"Our boss is Bres, a LV 6 Black Spider. Besides him, we have more than ten brothers. If you dare to offend us, you will regret it…" Pond shouted loudly. However, he didn't notice the look of disdain on Huck's face.
"Probably, but you only have two choices now — wait here for your death or lead us to your boss who can save you…" Snade casually explained.
...
Half an hour later in the gang's base near the railway station of the Blackhot City, Huck and Snade were surrounded by more than ten gang members with weapons in hand. The battle Qi of Bres was tumbling as the hazy shadow of a two-meter tall black spider stood behind him. Excited, every member of the gang looked at Bres with admiration, including Pond, who was under the foot of Huck and was pinching the artery that had been slit on his right hand. A LV 6 fighter who had condensed battle Qi was powerful enough to lead the gang members and allow them to have a good life near the railway station of Blackhot City. He was powerful enough to tear apart anyone who dared to challenge the gang.
"What will we do?" Huck asked Snade.
"You two, I've told you that our gang doesn't have that black-haired kid nor is there such a pickpocket near the railway station. However, since you have wounded our member, you should consider how you're going to explain this to us! It's too late to regret now!" Bres smirked. Waving his hand, a group of gang fighters drew close to Huck and Snade with vicious expressions.
"Kill them all. Since they've seen us, it would be troublesome if any one of them escaped!" Snade said.
Hearing this, Bres roared furiously and shot towards Huck's head. At the same time, all the other members jumped on Huck and Snade with their weapons.
Huck then directly stepped on Pond's head, breaking it like a watermelon. He then punched towards Bres' fist. The moment Bres touched Huck's fist, his face turned pale as he saw a huge shadow appeared immediately behind Huck. Different from his black spider, the shadow behind Huck was a huge centipede with numerous legs.
"One-thousand legged centipede — LV 7 fighter! That's impossible…" Bres exclaimed in fright. The moment the two fists collided, Bres's entire arm was fully broken. Huck's fist then broke through Bres' chest and exited from his back.
With only a single move, the pillar of the gang had suddenly collapsed. The members of the gang didn't even respond to what had happened. When they realized what had happened, they immediately threw away their weapons and escaped towards the gate.
Snade avoided the incoming weapons by twisting his body like a snake and instantly appeared behind the two escaping gang members. He gently slit his dagger through their necks like a poisonous snake spitting his tongue. Before the two fell down, Snade had already appeared beside several other gang members and had slit their necks almost at the same time. After several flashes, starting from the ones who had attacked Snade first, every one of the members, including the ones who were the furthest away from Snade at distance of seven steps, stood still as they started to spray blood from their necks as if they were fountains. Then, they almost all fell down at the same time.
All of this took less than five breaths. The only things that remained were the two who stood in the courtyard and the blood stench that started to spread.
"How do we deal with these bodies?" Huck asked Snade as if killing a large amount of people was just a trivial matter.
At this moment, Snade was immersed in licking the blood on his dagger. "Let's deal with bodies now. We have to make sure that nobody finds them for at least two days!"
"Why not burn them right away?"
"Those people in that bar saw us tonight. Unless we kill them all tonight, people from the bar would definitely think that we are related to this incident. However, if we set a fire here two days later, nobody would think that way!" Snade explained in a cautious and experienced way.
"As they always appeared close to the railway station, they must have plundered a lot of things and collected them here. Let's search for them. We may get some good things if we are lucky. As for that black-haired kid that dared to run in the street neighboring the railway station, he must be very familiar with this place and always frequents here. We'd better stay nearby the railway station for the next couple of days and capture him when we see him!"
"What if we can't find him?"
"If we can't find him within one week, we'd better escape from the Andaman Alliance as well as from the Blackson Human Clan Corridor as far as possible. We'd better not be found by the heads of our organization; otherwise, we would die miserably!" Snade said calmly.
"Fine!"
...
One hour later, Huck and Snade left the base of the gang and had even locked it from the outside, fabricating the image that nobody was inside. They believed that nobody would dare to break inside within a short period considering the terrifying power of the gang. Two days later, they could absolutely eliminate them all simply through fire, leaving no evidence. Nobody would expect that the gang had already been killed two days before the fire.
"A gang? Is that worth something?" When they left the base of the gang, Huck spat towards it.
...
During that period when the gang was wiped out, Zhang Tie was igniting his Shrine burning point. He didn't realize that he had been involved in such a huge crisis over such an ordinary wooden plate.
Zhang Tie only felt that his whole life was filled with hope and he would have a bright future…
Chapter 46: We're Brothers
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
In fact, for a long time, Zhang Tie had always felt overwhelmed due to the pressure of this age. No matter how hard he worked, he felt as if he was just a small tree leaf that fell into the torrent, unable to control the direction of his life. He felt powerless and unable to change anything in this age. He couldn't make Miss Daina fall in love with him and neither could he stop his parents from feeling miserable over their deceased eldest son. Sometimes, he would even think of terrible scenes related to the people he was closest to. In those scenes, he was also powerless; he had no other choice but to struggle in vain, unable to even shout.
That night, Zhang Tie slept very well. It was almost the sweetest sleep he has ever had. The Leakless Fruit did not only ignite Zhang Tie's Shrine burning point, but it had also ignited Zhang Tie's hope for a better life.
As usual, a bit after 6:00 am, Zhang Tie's biological clock woke him up. Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie stared at the spinous roof and felt unprecedentedly alive. Probably from one of the benefits of having ignited his Shrine burning point yesterday, he felt much better today, contrasting greatly from the soreness and pain he felt all over his body the day before. Besides one or two places on his body that were still sore, Zhang Tie had basically already recovered.
I am now a LV 1 fighter! Zhang Tie mumbled to the mirror in his room as he smiled at it. By then, Zhang Tie instantly felt energetic. He made some fighting gestures and felt much stronger than before. This feeling was really cool.
Quickly putting on his clothes, he rushed downstairs to wash his face and brush his teeth. He then started a fire to make breakfast for the whole family. Before his mom woke up, Zhang Tie had already gained a point of merit value and had already wolfed down some porridge. Seeing his mom walking out of her bedroom with sleepy eyes, Zhang Tie rushed forward and kissed her on her face. "Mom, I'm heading for school…" He then ran out extremely quickly, leaving his mom staring in a daze at home. "What's making him so excited?"
After igniting his Shrine burning point, on his way from home to school, Zhang Tie could feel an obvious improvement to his physique. In the past, it would take him almost 40 minutes by foot to get to school from his house. Surprisingly, it only took him slightly more than 10 minutes this time. Although he was somewhat tired, he also felt much better at the same time.
As expected, Zhang Tie was naturally the earliest one to arrive from his grade once again. Checking the neighboring classrooms to ensure that there was no one waiting in ambush first, he then started to clean all the desks and chairs in his classroom to earn another 3 points of merit value. Afterwards, he ran outside the classroom and entered the washroom. He then wandered around the training ground and the small woods for a while before slowly returning to his classroom while humming a song.
Naturally, when those horny students found that their desks and chairs had been cleaned again, they began to discuss about it once more. It was almost described as a supernatural event. Hearing their discussions, Zhang Tie started to carefully consider different ways to discreetly earn merit value in the future. This method would not work again. He had to find another way to earn merit value in public places. Zhang Tie started to think about the tips on merit value in the Castle of Black Iron.
Do good deeds and eliminate evil——the largest mercy in the Human World;
Worship the gods and love the people——the nearest stairway to heaven;
Lucky people, please show the mercy of the creator to the secular world, so that the gods understand you;
Please receive the most sincere pleasures and appreciation presented to you by the hundreds of millions of living beings;
Just as ideas began to emerge within his mind, Barley walked up to him.
Seeing Barley, Zhang Tie faintly felt that what he did to the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood yesterday was really motherf*cking foolish. As Donder had told him, if he was just vicious and decisive enough, he would see a completely different result.
Before Zhang Tie greeted this fatty, the fatty had already cracked a big smile and walked right in front of Zhang Tie. Lowering his body, he muttered to Zhang Tie lightly, "We brotherhood members have something to talk to you about after class!"
After Barley, all the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, including Bagdad, Doug, Hista, Sharwin, and Leit, arrived. Surprisingly, these guys looked friendlier than usual. Grinning as they exposed their front teeth, they smiled innocently at Zhang Tie, making him feel really embarrassed. Instinctively, Zhang Tie lowered his head to check the zipper on his trousers…
"Here comes Miss Daina!" a horny student shouted out loudly. Then, everybody in the classroom, including Zhang Tie, rushed to the windows and peered at the sexy figure passing through. Enjoying the view of the magnificent breasts, all the horny students considered it to be the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Every window of the classroom was crowded with people enjoying the view of Miss Daina's figure. The classroom was filled with the sound of people swallowing saliva when the teacher of the first history class entered the classroom.
As the most carefree class at school, the teachers would always freely talk about various topics ranging from knowledge and major historical events before the Catastrophe to mysterious legends in the Age of Black Iron. Everything could be mentioned in history class. Although some of the knowledge seemed meaningless, they had actually expanded Zhang Tie's horizon. All the information Zhang Tie knew about the human world before the Catastrophe was mostly from the history class. Some of the horny students in the class were not interested in the contents of the natural history class in the least, thus they would usually sleep during each class. In comparison, Zhang Tie would always listen to each history class very carefully. In today's class, the teacher taught about the exploration of the universe by the human race. At that time, human beings had launched a machine that flew even faster than sound. They started to explore the two moons circling the Kun'ang Continent. It was said that they realized a major discovery during that exploration; however, commoners were not privy to this information in the least, as the human ruler did not disclose this information to the public. Therefore, even now, no one else knew what they had found. To be able to enable those metal machines to fly into the moons was a really amazing thing. Zhang Tie really longed for it and started to imagine it in the classroom.
After the bell rang, Barley glanced at Zhang Tie. They then went out of the classroom with the rest of the members from the Hit-Plane Brotherhood and arrived at a corner of a small garden under the teaching building.
"Bighead, we called you here to tell you one thing!" Barley said to Zhang Tie solemnly. "Do these guys want to beat me up? No, it doesn't seem like it." Zhang Tie felt gloomy. "What's up?"
"We brotherhood members don't agree with you leaving!"
"Don't you know that I have caused a big incident at school?" looking directly into the fatty's bandit-sharp eyes, Zhang Tie decided to explain it to them all.
"You mean you have offended Glaze's group?" crossing his arms, Bagdad said calmly. "They broke the rules first, so if they dare to give our brother trouble, then we'll fight them to the death!"
"That's right!" Doug put his big palm onto Zhang Tie's shoulder. "Trust us, bro. You have us. Don't worry, we will help you through this trouble. We are very proud to be your brothers!"
"Do they have one more d*ck than us?" Hista started to thrust his waist before placing his hand on Zhang Tie's shoulder.
"In the worst case scenario, we can set them up!" Hista added viciously. Right then, another hand appeared on Zhang Tie's shoulder.
"It's nothing serious to be beaten together with you!" Shrugging his shoulders, Sharwin put one of his hand onto Zhang Tie's shoulder.
"This is our decision about you leaving!" Barley smirked obscenely as he placed his hand on Zhang Tie's shoulder. "Don't forget that I will take you there for you to be a real man! How could you leave at the critical moment?" Everybody placed their hands on Zhang Tie's shoulders unconsciously. They did this to encourage Zhang Tie. However, they finally realized that Bagdad was still coldly standing at a distance. Everyone set their eyes on their black buddy. Feeling somewhat isolated, Bagdad also stretched out one hand and placed it onto Zhang Tie's shoulder. Thus, by then, standing at the center, Zhang Tie was surrounded by six brothers, each of whom had placed one of their hands onto Zhang Tie's shoulder or back. The whole scene was religious to some degree. All of a sudden, the youths felt as if they were doing something holy, and their hearts started to pound heavily.
"You bastards!" Zhang Tie abruptly felt like crying. At that moment, he felt very powerful. The source of his power didn't originate from his Shrine burning point but from that pounding heart. He felt like he had nothing to fear in this world anymore.
Returning to the classroom once again, the group of seven sat close to each other, feeling different from before. Yet, they couldn't figure out why. Every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood seemed stronger and more dauntless than before. They felt a sense of interdependence deep in their hearts. That was really amazing…
Fatty was also smiling as he felt that the brotherhood had become different from before. It was great! Previously, the seven of them were just like seven parts bundled together. Now, Barley felt that the seven parts had already been activated and had spontaneously already formed into a more powerful part, causing him to feel reassured. Stroking his mustache, Barley recalled the scene where the members had placed their hands on Zhang Tie's shoulders and back. It increasingly felt like it was a holy ceremony for the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. If anyone else wanted to join the brotherhood, it seemed that he could test them through that religious ceremony…
Chapter 47: The Mysterious Number Sequence
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
"This is your final history class and my last class before retirement. After this class, I will retire officially…" the teacher said to the students at the beginning of the second morning class. Hearing this news, the whole classroom turned quiet. Even Zhang Tie could not imagine that this was the last class for the teacher. Since he entered the Seventh Male Middle School, he seemed to have gotten used to this gray-haired old man who would enter and leave the classroom quietly. He never thought that the senior would bid farewell to them on the rostrum. The moment the teacher delivered the news, even the fellows sleeping in the classroom seemed to become awake. They gaped at him and felt reluctant for his will-be retirement.
"Are you really going, teacher…" a guy in the front row poured out what the other students were thinking in their hearts.
"I am already very old, and I have also served Blackhot City for a long time. It's the right time for me to retire!" The old man showed a friendly smile. "I know what you are worried about. As long as the city walls of Blackhot City aren't broken by the alien forces, my pension would be enough for me to live the rest of my life in peace. And you guys are the ones who will ensure that the city walls will stand firm forever, not me. That's why, whether I will live a peaceful life or not after retirement will depend on you! In today's final history class, I will talk to you about my experiences and knowledge of what I've seen that is required to be a powerful man who can protect the human race."
Hearing the final sentence, everybody's spirit rose. All the students sat straight instantly and stared at this revered old man with reluctant expressions.
The old man was then silent. Pulling out a small, ordinary snail shell and two pine cones from his pocket, he passed them to the front row and let the students observe them one by one. After one minute, the snail shell and the two pine cones had been passed through the hands of every student. Nobody found anything special with them, including Zhang Tie who had thoroughly checked it for a couple of seconds but was unable to find anything.
"Do you guys notice anything special about the snail shell and the two pine cones?" the old man asked. Everybody shook their heads.
"You should know that the secret for the average human to become stronger is hidden within these ordinary things! We all know that people should always be trying to ignite their burning points to improve their strength, and we also know that human fighters are classified at different levels. Some people are LV 5, some are LV 6, some are LV7, and there are even some who have reached LV 10 or higher. However, who classified our fighters? Are those classifications made by the big figures in the Fighters Union?"
Zhang Tie was startled, as he had always thought that the standards were created by the big figures. It wasn't made by them?
"Of course not, no one is entitled the right to create the standard in which billions of commoners and powerful figures pursue!"
"Teacher, then who made the standard?"
"The person who created it wasn't a human being — but a god or the laws of the great universe!"
Hearing his words, the whole classroom became bustling.
"Those standards were not made especially for the human clan, but for everything in this universe. The snail shell and the two pine cones I have shown you also follows the standard, but you didn't notice them!" Afterwards, the old man drew two patterns on the blackboard using a piece of chalk. One was a spiral curve that was similar to a snail shell, while the other was some crisscrossed lines that were similar to the pine cones.
Then, the old man turned around. "How many burning points do we need to ignite to become a LV 1 fighter?"
"One! We only need to ignite the Shrine burning point..." the students replied in unison. The old man then drew a square in the center of the square shell in a way that the spiral curve went through the two opposite corners of the square...
"What about LV 2"
"It's also one. We just need to ignite the burning point on the tail bone of the spine!"
The old man expanded the pattern and drew another square of the same size.
"What about LV 3?"
"Just ignite two burning points on the spine!"
This time, the old man double the length of the side of the square.
"What about LV 4?"
"Three!"
"LV 5?"
"Five!"
"LV 6?"
"Eight…"
The spiral curve was gradually wrapped by squares with side lengths that increased proportionally. Finally, when the old man asked how many burning points needed to be ignited to reach LV 10, nobody in the class could reply. Fighters above LV 10 were an amazing existence that the horny students could not imagine at all. For them, the world of fighters above LV 10 was as far as the Catastrophe itself...
Instead of mocking them, the teacher wrote down a series of numbers —1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… — along with their corresponding levels, 1 - LV 1 to 34 - LV 9. Finally, he turned around and looked at students with shining eyes. "Have you ever figured out a law among those numbers?"
After staring at those numbers for a while, someone finally realized. "Each number is the addition of the previous two!"
"What else?"
Looking at number sequence, something in Zhang Tie's mind seemed to burst forth; however, Zhang Tie wasn't able to figure it out.
"Why not divide the next by the earlier and figure out the law among them?"
As the horny students had learned the basics of math, they lowered their heads and started to calculate the results. The first result was 1, the second result was 0.5, the third result was 0.66666…, the fourth result was 0.6, the fifth result was, 0.625, the sixth result was 0.61538..., the seventh result was 0.619047, and the either result was 0.617647...
"Have you noticed that the numbers are infinitely close to 0.618?" the teacher poured out the truth, enlightening all the students. Yea, how could that be?
"To reach LV 1, one needs to ignite one burning point, while the human body has 33 vertebrae on the spine. When one ignites all the burning points on the spine, they would reach LV 9. Strict standards have been made for reaching each higher level. Likewise, you can calculate by yourself how many more burning points you need to ignite to become a LV 10 fighter. 55! Yes! What's next? 89! The number would grow geometrically in a terrifying way. That explained why the higher the levels were, the greater the differences would be, and this sequence…" the old man turned around and pointed at those numbers on the blackboard, "...is called Leonardo Fibonacci Sequence, which was the Golden Sequence that contained numerous secrets discovered by a human mathematician named Leonardo Fibonacci hundreds of years before the Catastrophe. It contains the universal law and the law of the creator. Look at the spirals on the right and left of the pine cones. Have you noticed that the smaller one has 5 lines on the left and 8 on the right, while the bigger one has 8 on the left and 13 on the right? The numbers 5, 8, and 13 directly correspond to the Fibonacci Sequence. You can check the squares on this snail shell curve. You will then understand the relationship between this curve and this sequence of numbers — the Fibonacci Curve or Golden Ratio. The curve is the geometric pattern of this sequence. You can find this relationship on most living begins. If you take a look at nature and the things beside you, you will find more examples. For instance, there are two groups of spirals inside the flower disc of a sunflower, and the corresponding numbers are 34 and 55, 55 and 89, 89 and 144. Similarly, you can get the same result in roses and thistle leaves. After the Catastrophe, people discovered the secrets to practice cultivation from the underground ruins and realized that all the improvement and cultivation that the human race were doing were in accordance with the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence. Even all other living beings evolve along this curve. As the curve and the number sequence is the reflection of the universal law, fighters that didn't evolve in line with this curve and the number sequence would never be considered strong by the standards of all the humans and the powerful figures..."
Hearing the explanation, all the horny students had their eyes opened, including Zhang Tie. Previously, he only knew that he had to ignite different numbers of burning points to reach higher levels; however, he didn't know why and had never put thought into it. Whereas at that moment, Zhang Tie finally understood that all the secrets were hidden in the universal law in the golden spiral and that number sequence.
"Teacher, what's the highest level after LV 10?" raising his hand, Bagdad asked.
"Even now, nobody knows the answer to this question because what comes after LV 10 is one of the most confidential secrets in any place. Knowledge after LV 10 is top secret. The most important reason being that the golden number sequence is endless as it constantly develops and gets increasing closer to the perfect number, 0.618. It has been less than 900 years since human beings stepped onto the road of cultivation in accordance with the golden spiral and have started to explore the treasures within their own body. In contrast, the universe has already existed for tens of billions of years. This means that we human beings have just started on the golden spiral. Before the Catastrophe, people were always proud of themselves. At that time, they treated themselves as the lord of the universe and everything else. However, after the Catastrophe, humankind started to realize that the human clan was just a trivial member among the numerous clans in the vacant universe and the Kun'ang Continent. The human body and human civilization might even have regressed instead of further evolving over a long period of time before the Catastrophe. When it was no longer able to regress even further, the Catastrophe and the Star of God arrived and all the rules were rewritten. People also discovered the secrets hidden within their body that would aid them in survival, leading them back onto the path of evolution. The Age of Black Iron — the end of the past and the beginning of the future..."
In the final history class, the teacher opened an unprecedented window for them which really broadened their view. For the remaining time in the class, all the horny students manually calculated the numbers in the Golden Sequence.
1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,233,377,610,987,1597…
Zhang Tie gaped when he got to the 17th number in the Golden Sequence. He couldn't believe his eyes when his line of sight fell onto the last seven numbers. "Is this the number of burning points needed to be ignited after LV 10…" Zhang Tie was really shocked.
Chapter 48: Preemptive Move
Translator: Editor:
At the end of the last history class, under the order of the on-duty class-monitor, Zhang Tie and the other students stood up and hammered their right hand onto their left chest in a show of respect to the teacher. The number sequence was something that they had never heard about. Zhang Tie considered the number sequence to be a form of mysterious knowledge, one which could not be easily obtained by commoners.
"An extremely strong human fighter should not only have overwhelming power on the battlefield; more importantly, they should have a pair of sharp eyes that are able to discern the sources of power that make him strong like the laws of nature and the universe. Through my classes, I hope that everyone of you will finally have a pair of these sharp eyes!"
After saying that, the old man left in his usual calm manner under the silent gaze of all the horny students.
Knowing that they would soon graduate, the teacher decided to give his blessings to everyone in his last class.
...
When the class was over, Zhang Tie leaned against the walls in the corridor and stared at the plants in the parterre under the stairs. The horny students couldn't help but rush downstairs to count the number of petals on the roses in an attempt to test the mysterious number sequence.
Thinking of the last history class today and perhaps even the last one for the rest of his life, Zhang Tie felt slightly dejected.
"That man is very respectable…" said Bagdad. Without Zhang Tie noticing, the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had already gotten close to him. "The relationship between the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Spiral and the relationship between the level of a fighter and numerous things in nature are definitely some form of mysterious knowledge. I have talked about this topic with some of his former students, and even they didn't know about the relationships and its secrets. The old man probably poured out this mysterious knowledge because this is his final history class..."
"Mind your own business! LV 10... I have never seen a LV 10 fighter at all. If there was a member above LV 6 among us, we would have nothing to fear at all. I've heard that Glaze's dad is a LV 6 Black Spider!" Hista said languidly.
Waving his fist fiercely, Bagdad gloomily said, "I will definitely reach LV 6!"
"Let's solve our trouble first! I feel like some guys are giving us some very unfriendly looks!"
Along the direction Leit pointed at, they found Glaze's group staring at them furiously on the other side of the corridor. Zhang Tie was evidently their target. Even when they had noticed that the brotherhood of seven turned to them at the same time, they didn't spare them a single glance; they only looked at Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie noticed them, Zuhair, one of Glaze's most devoted followers, made an aggressive and menacing gesture of slitting his throat with a thumb toward Zhang Tie.
"Leit, you're wrong. They're not looking at us, they're looking at Bighead. We're being ignored!" Sharwin said languidly.
"What the f*ck. We are the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Those bastards dare to provoke us? On the count of '1 2 3', let's go send them a greeting from our brotherhood, so they'll stop ignoring us," Barley suggested to the side. Then he started to count, "Come. 1… 2… 3... F*ck you…"
After the countdown, the group of seven, including Zhang Tie, raised their middle fingers towards Glaze's group, causing the expression of Glaze's group to suddenly become twisted. Doug had also turned around and pulled down his trousers before starting to slap his butt. He then turned around and started to stroke his little brother as he faced them. Seeing Doug's actions, all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood started to laugh loudly, frightening the people around them…
By the third class, the news of the two groups clashing and mutually provoking each other in the corridor had already been spread through the whole grade. Many people had already prepared to see what would happen. Zhang Tie's group had also prepared to fight with Glaze's group at noon or after lunch. Thinking of how they would be accompanied by six other brothers if they were fiercely beaten by the other group and sent to lay in the hospital, the group of seven looked extremely righteous and dauntless.
"If Glaze's group dares to provoke us at noon, we'll f*ck them up fiercely. Bagdad, you are the strongest one among us, so you'll be responsible for Glaze when we fight. Leit and I will be responsible for Sharon, Bighead and Hista will be responsible for Zuhair, and Doug and Sharwin will be responsible for Garner. Except for Bagdad, the six of us will form into three groups. Any group that cleared their target will go support Bagdad. Once we solve the problem of Glaze's three followers, we will fight Glaze together. No matter what, even if we are beaten fiercely, we have to at least bite off some flesh from Glaze. If anyone dares to bully our brother, we will f*ck them up…" Fatty arranged the tactics with the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in the classroom after the third class. Nobody showed any disagreement. Zhang Tie had originally planned to fight Glaze alone, as he had already been promoted to LV 1. Through last night's "skeleton rearrangement", Zhang Tie felt a bit more powerful than even Bagdad, regardless of the difference in muscles. However, seeing that ambitious mood of Bagdad, Zhang Tie didn't say anything. He wouldn't be able to explain how he had ignited his Shrine burning point so fast anyways.
In the fourth class, Zhang Tie didn't listen to what the teacher taught at all. Instead, he recovered his composure and focused his attention on his belly, which gave off a warm and comfortable feeling after having ignited the Shrine burning point. Along with this comfortable feeling, he felt an energetic wave slowly spreading throughout all his muscles and bones. The Shrine burning point was like a marvelous, small door in his body that had been pushed open. Ever since the door was open, something strange was floating from the door. This explained why a common LV 1 fighter could defeat most ordinary soldiers. The ignition of the Shrine burning point indicated that physical abilities and functions of that person have started to improve. As the history teacher said, once one had ignited their Shrine burning point, they would be standing at the starting line of evolution in accordance to the Golden Spiral, which represented the laws of the universe and the creator. The difference between a LV 1 fighter and an ordinary fighter was similar to the difference between a fighter standing on the starting line and the spectator who was watching the race outside the runway. In most cases, the spectators in the audience outside the runway would hardly be able to catch up with someone who was already on the starting line when the race began…
"I am already a LV 1 fighter. Only one level away from Glaze," Zhang Tie constantly reminded himself in the classroom and became increasingly confident.
Class was finally over. Seeing the others rushing towards the cafeteria, the group of seven stayed behind.
"Are you ready?" Barley asked. According to the tradition in the Male Middle School, whenever two groups held aggression toward each other, they would fight on the same day, usually at noon or in the afternoon when class was over. The small woods beside the cafeteria was always the best place to fight or solve personal affairs.
Everybody nodded.
"Do you remember your targets?"
Everybody nodded again.
"It's a good day for us to be famous in school. Come on, let's go!" Fatty waved his hands heroically. Then, the group of seven walked out of the classroom, brimming with confidence.
"Erm… could you please wait for me for a second…" Doug said sadly with a flushed face.
"What's wrong?" Sharwin asked as his nose turned red. "The fight will start soon".
"My stomach isn't feeling too well, I'd like to use the washroom!" saying that, Doug's face was almost lowered all the way to the crotch of his trousers. "It… might have been breakfast… and… the pulling-down of my trousers just now… I have a stomachache. It's really hard to stand it, and I don't think I can stand it any longer. I think if I don't solve it right now, it will weaken our total battle force…"The other six gaped at each other. Fatty opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something; however, in the end, he replied dejectedly, "Hurry up, we will wait for you to return!"
Everybody waited outside the washroom for ten minutes. When Doug finally came out, he looked much more energetic; however, the morale of the other six had already weakened from 90% to 60%.
"Come on, let's finish lunch first. Though, we probably won't get enough plates today…" Barley weakly waved his hand.
Nevertheless, when Zhang Tie's group arrived at the cafeteria, they could not believe their eyes. Surrounded by hundreds of furious students, Glaze's group looked really scared. At the same time, someone from the same grade was standing on a dining table and was instigating those horny students to fight them...
Chapter 49: An Influential Figure
Translator: Editor:
"Bros, are you willing to suffer from their oppression like this? Are we scared of them just because Glaze is a LV 2 fighter? Are they more dangerous than the wild beasts that we will meet outside the city walls in a week? If we dare to risk our lives to face the challenges outside the walls, then why are you afraid of them?" Standing on a dining table, a man was provoking the others as he used his limbs to make gestures. As a result, the horny students in the cafeteria became increasingly excited. He then continued, "Those who are being bullied by them, do you dare to show up? Those who don't want to be bullied by them, do you dare to show up? They are only four people, yet we have at least 400. Why should we fear them? Why should we be bullied by them? Once we unite with each other, we will definitely have no reason to fear them. Can they withstand our siege? Let's drive those bastards away from the cafeteria and never let them in before graduation. From today onwards, once they dare to take revenge on one of us, we will take revenge on them together with even more intensity. Are you willing to unite with me and drive these boring guys away from the cafeteria? Come on, men from the Seventh National Male Middle School, pluck up your courage! Miss Daina is watching us…"
Being incited, the horny students became really excited. Those who were bullied by Glaze became even more excited.
"F*ck 'em to death…"
"F*ck those bastards…"
"F*ck 'em to death…"
"It's time to end this…"
"F*ck…"
Everybody in the cafeteria became excited and gradually moved towards Glaze's group.
Zhang Tie and Barley looked at each other for a while before Barley said, "Let's f*ck 'em together with the other students…" Thinking for a while, Zhang Tie nodded. Then, the seven members of the brotherhood glanced at each other and nodded.
Seeing the student provoking others on the dining table, Zhang Tie suddenly understood Donder's proverb—"a soft tongue could break hard bones".
However, before Zhang Tie was able to put in much thought into it, Bagdad had already rushed forward and kicked Sharon onto the ground, resulting in all the horny students no longer able to wait as they immediately surged forward with furious growls. A chaotic battle started…
When the students surged forward toward Glaze's group, Zhang Tie swept his gaze at the common looking boy who stood on the table and noticed a flash of a smile at that moment. Zhang Tie became a bit uncomfortable when he realized that Miss Daina's promise was used by someone to provoke others.
In fact, if a LV 2 fighter was afraid of fighting back, he would soon be defeated by a group of green birds who didn't even reach LV 1. If Glaze were to fight them without any restraints, then the other students would have to pay a considerable price. Glaze was not a fool. Although he would stop someone from leaving and beat them fiercely after school, he didn't dare to cripple a group of furious students. He knew that if he did that, what awaited him would not simply be lashes. Even his dad wouldn't be able to settle his punishment.
Bench press: 290kg;
Deep squat: 380kg;
Maximum explosiveness of right fist: 510kg;
Maximum explosiveness of left fist: 340kg;
Maximum explosiveness of leg: 780kg;
Resistance: 13;
At this moment, Glaze could only try his best to protect Sharon, Zuhair, and Garnier while dozens of punches and kicks came from all directions. Glaze's group suffered greatly; with the exception of Glaze, his three followers cried miserably.
When Bagdad surged forward and started this whole mess, the other six members of the brotherhood were unable to push inside at all. As a result, they could only watch the awkward state of Glaze's group through the thick wall of people.
Finally, Glaze was no longer able to withstand it after having been kicked in the face and belly several times. He no longer had any choice. With a furious growl, he rushed towards several people behind him and escaped from the cafeteria with Sharon and his two other peers.
"We've chased them away... We have won…" Seeing Glaze's group escaping the cafeteria, all the horny students became ecstatic…
On the Friday one week before graduation, an insignificant student named Burwick immediately became famous within the Seventh National Male Middle School for completely defeating Glaze's group. Additionally, in the same afternoon, the physique test revealed that Burwick had already ignited his Shrine burning point, indicating that he was already a LV 1 fighter. This sudden revelation shocked everyone, as this would make him the second strongest fighter after Glaze among the undergraduates. Although Glaze was one level higher than Burwick in terms of physique and fighting strength, everybody knew that Glaze's time in the spotlight has passed. After the two events in the past two days, Glaze had lost all face in front of the other students. The day before, he was whipped by Captain Kerlin. Today, he was beaten by all the other horny students very fiercely. As a result, he was like a mouse passing the street that was beaten by every passer-by at school.
In the past, everybody would be in awe at Glaze's performance in the training grounds every Friday afternoon and would admire his records as well. However, today, although Glaze was still unparalleled in those physical aspects and in fighting strength, he could only hear sounds of dislike and ridicule. For the whole afternoon, Glaze looked dejected and kept silent. As he listened to other people admiring Burwick, he casted a hateful look at Zhang Tie from time to time.
Noticing Glaze's furious glare, Zhang Tie became gradually alert and tried to be low-keyed. Zhang Tie faintly felt that the hatred between him and Glaze was deepening.
In the afternoon, Zhang Tie was very low-key. In every assessment, he tried and performed as he usually would, though he had spared some effort. After having ignited the Shrine burning point, his physique was greatly enhanced in all aspects, and this was especially seen in the 100m dash. In the past, Zhang Tie had always spent a gargantuan amount of effort, only to get a poor mark in the end; however, this time, the result was completely different. The moment he heard the whistle, Zhang Tie had surged forward like an arrow. Surprisingly, his explosiveness and speed were obviously higher than before. He felt extremely nimble and soon rushed ahead of the others; however, glancing back at the people beside him, Zhang Tie slowed down and eventually finished in 6th place. Although he received no mark this time, as usual, he felt very satisfied with his result. Since he had spared some effort this time, Zhang Tie clearly knew that he would be able to break through 11 seconds if he tried. The marks of his other items under Zhang Tie's deliberate control were as follows:
Bench Press——140kg
Lifting force in deep squat——180kg
Explosiveness of Fists——Right Fist: 260kg; Left Fist: 200kg
Maximum Kicking Explosiveness of the Legs——320kg
Maximum Continual Armor-Breaking Spikes——52
The results from his tests were the same as usual. Aside from Zhang Tie himself, no one else was concerned about his results. Although it was a bit better than before, it did not attract any attention.
"This way, people won't be suspicious," Zhang Tie mocked himself. What had happened today led Zhang Tie to deeply understand the truth—in this age when everyone was striving for their own survival, one should remember to avoid being the target for anyone no matter where one was, as one would never know who was closeby and wanted to beat them to death. Glaze's failure was caused by his arrogance. Even as a LV 2 fighter, the proud guy was marked as a loser during his last two weeks at school. In contrast, nobody had noticed Burwick before this incident at all. He took this opportunity to climb above Glaze, becoming the new star of the school...
"Compared to Burwick, Glaze is just an idiot!" Barley said to Zhang Tie under the shade of a tree during the afternoon break. "That guy took advantage of what had happened to you yesterday and what had happened to our brotherhood this morning. He really seized the overwhelming opportunity to cause trouble to Glaze's group. I suspect that that guy has always been waiting for an opportunity to use the animosity towards Glaze to attack him and to use Glaze's threats to unite the others. This guy was actually that terrifying. He hid the fact that he was a LV 1 fighter. This guy is actually not as open-hearted and righteous as he looked; he is actually really dangerous—you have to be careful around him!"
Zhang Tie nodded and recalled the smile that flashed on Burwick's face when the others surged forward to attack Glaze's group…
Afterwards, bustling sounds reverberated from a few steps away. Without even looking, Zhang Tie naturally knew that the exclamations were for Burwick. Being surrounded by a great amount of people, Burwick was showing his obvious physical advantage as a LV 1 fighter over common soldiers. At the same time, a great amount of horny students were shouting in amazement.
That afternoon, besides Burwick, Bagdad also became eye-attractive by hitting Glaze's group…
Chapter 50: A Sword from Dad
Translator: Editor:
Nothing special happened on that weekend.
On Friday afternoon after school, Zhang Tie went to the lowest level of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club again to be a flesh-bag; however, it was different from two days ago. Zhang Tie, who had already become a LV 1 fighter, could easily deal with Andrew Benet's attacks. Sometimes, Zhang Tie could even control the rhythm of attacks from that kid, purposely allowing some of his attacks to connect on specific parts of his body. Of course, Zhang Tie would pretend to be kicked over by that kid to satisfy his vanity. Whenever he was knocked over, he would always stand up before saying, "Come on, baby". As a result, that kid would always charge toward him with red eyes.
This job of being a training partner was seen as a hard job to many people; however, for Zhang Tie, it gradually turned into an interesting game—he would receive payment to accelerate the growth of the Iron Body Fruit. Through constantly being beaten up, Zhang Tie had also noticed that his fighting skills had improved. He was able to respond to his opponent's attacks faster than before and could more accurately identify the opponent's attacking intention. As the party that was on the side of purely being beaten, Zhang Tie would sometimes even take control of the rhythm of the battle.
"That one-eyed man really helped me a lot!" Zhang Tie felt happy inside.
As Zhang Tie hadn't been knocked out from the past couple of times and had performed better than before, he felt that his standing in the fighting club had improved. At the very least, the two bastards from the equipment room would no longer mock or place bets on whether he would be knocked out again. Additionally, when he left the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, Director Beck had even encouraged him to work harder and settled his weekly payment of 3 silver and 40 copper coins. This marks the first time Zhang Tie had earned money.
Zhang Tie tightly held onto the coins in his pockets on his way home. When he arrived at his house, he realized that the coins had already become hot. Handing over the coins to his mom, Zhang Tie felt extremely satisfied at the sight of her amazed expression. In the end, his mom only took two silver coins and said she would store them away for Zhang Tie, leaving the rest as his pocket money. This was the first time he contributed to his family through his own efforts, causing him to be filled with pleasure and pride.
On Saturday, as usual, Zhang Tie helped his mom make rice brew at home; however, it was different this time. This time, his sister-in-law joined them, thus Zhang Tie felt that it was much easier than before since he had less to do. His sister-in-law was diligent and clever. She was someone who excelled at housework and had a good reputation in the neighborhood. Since her arrival at their place, she had also gradually become accepted by the Zhang's family.
Watching his mom teach his sister-in-law how to make rice brew, Zhang Tie became dejected. His mom was growing old, yet he only had a little time left to accompany her...
The lives of commoners always had its ups and downs. On the same Saturday, Zhang Tie found that the price of rice had once again increased when he arrived at the rice store with his ugly three-wheeler. This time, the price went from 4 silver and 58 copper coins per 25kg to 4 silver and 61 copper coins per 25kg. He inquired different rice stores and was quoted the same price. Additionally, he found that the prices of other foods had also rose in price at different degrees, among which the price of sugar rose the most sharply. Compared to the price of rice, the price of rice sugar had increased by more than 10% per kg this week, surpassing the price of 1 silver and 11 copper coins per kg…
However, Zhang Tie had no choice but to buy it. As a result, the Zhang Family had to increase the price of the rice brew, which would definitely weaken its sales. This would definitely prove to be detrimental to their living standards.
Hearing the news of the increasing cost of rice, the wrinkles on his mom's forehead seemed to be more pronounced, although her expression remained unchanged.
In the same evening, Zhang Tie sowed a lot of pumpkin seeds on the land in the Castle of Black Iron. Those seeds were scooped out from a pumpkin by his mom several days ago. His mom was so diligent that she felt reluctant to throw them away, hence she washed them and dried them in the courtyard. She knew that those pumpkin seeds would be delicious after being fried.
Zhang Tie sowed about 200 to 300 pumpkin seeds. Zhang Tie did this for two reasons. The first reason was the increasing price of grains. The second reason was that he had realized that the Castle of Black Iron was really suitable for agriculture. Including the gifts he received from Grandma Teresa, all the seeds he had sown the week before had already sprouted and were growing well. The potatoes and niblets especially seemed to grow better. And as a result, the Castle of Black Iron started to show more signs of vitality as the aura value in the Castle of Black Iron was growing quickly every day. By Saturday, the aura value would turn to 70, surpassing all the other values.
After throwing the bag of trash from home into the Pool of Chaos, Zhang Tie had only gained 0.1 unit of basic energy storage. After land reclamation in the Castle of Black Iron, he checked the fruits on the small tree. The Iron Body Fruit was 50% ripe; it seemed that he would be able to enjoy it after being beaten another two times. Additionally, the second Leakless Fruit would also become ripe on the next Thursday evening. This small tree had become the largest source of Zhang Tie's confidence to become prominent in this age.
Right when he exited the Castle of Black Iron and was about to cultivate in his room, Zhang Tie heard a long and sharp sound outside his window that drifted from afar. As the sound of this manual fire alarm could spread very far in the evening, Zhang Tie was immediately able to hear it, thus Zhang Tie hurriedly went over to the windowsill and opened the window as he looked into the far distance. In the pitch black night, a strong fire brightened the entire distant sky. Judging from the source of the fire, Zhang Tie felt that it happened in the old agglomeration of Blackhot City where people from all walks of life gathered. Faint cries and shouts reverberated from the distance…
Zhang Tie wondered whose house caught fire near the railway station. He then ignored it and closed the window. Picking up the crystal from the windowsill, Zhang Tie sat cross-legged on his bed and started to cultivate.
After having ignited the Shrine burning point, Zhang Tie could instantly feel the "small point" near his tail bone shaking once he entered meditation. In the opposite direction of the Shrine burning point, the first burning point on the spine became the next target of Zhang Tie. In accordance with the introduction of the history teacher on Friday, this burning point was the one burning point he had to ignite to reach LV 2. According to the Fibonacci Golden Number Sequence, he would then have to ignite two burning points to reach LV 3, followed by three burning points to reach LV 4, then five burning points to reach LV 5, and eight burning points to reach LV 6... Those burning points lined up on the 34 vertebrae on the human body. There were many secrets hidden in the vertebrae burning points. Similar to the vertebrae, those burning points were also the support and the source of a human's strength. When ignited, each burning point could enhance a person's physique and strength greatly. That explained why the other students were not a match for Glaze, a LV 2 fighter…
After entering meditation, along with Zhang Tie's spiritual energy, the energy gathered by the crystal passed into the first burning point on the spine. After more than 2 hours, Zhang Tie was only able to cause the burning point to be slightly brighter as it started to burn with a small red flame the size of a rice grain. Compared to the blazing Shrine burning point, that was only a small firefly. It was time and energy consuming for most people to practice igniting each point...
On Sunday afternoon, Zhang Tie stayed at home to take care of the rice brew store, while his dad and mom changed into new clothes and left with his soon-to-be sister-in-law with goods in hand. Naturally, Zhang Tie knew where they were heading to. In the evening, his mom and his soon-to-be sister-in-law returned in a pleasant mood. Seeing the two of them, Zhang Tie knew they must have gone to visit his sister-in-law's parents.
Today, he had increased the price for Zhang's rice brew by one copper. Despite having put up a notice in advance, their sales were immediately lowered. Today, they had only sold a bit more than half of their usual sales
"Mom, where's dad?" seeing them, Zhang Tie asked curiously.
"He's got something to deal with. He will come back later!" his mom replied in a mysterious tone.
At the time they prepared to have supper, his dad came back with a long article wrapped in cloth in hand. At the sight of Zhang Tie, his dad smiled and undid the package, revealing a sheathed, slightly arched black sword in front of Zhang Tie.
"Ah!? The Blackhot Sharp-Edge Sword…" Zhang Tie exclaimed and instantly ran forward as if he saw a treasure. Grabbing the sword from his dad's hands, he unsheathed the blade, revealing a sharp two-handed sword in front of his eyes. Etched onto the body of the sword next to the handle was two words—Zhang Tie. He couldn't help but exclaim. This was a gift from his dad.
"You will be attending the survival training next week, so here's my gift for you. Heh…heh…" His dad looked a bit embarrassed. "This is an ordinary, sharp sword made by the forge of Blackhot City. Although it can't match the swords used in the military and the sheath is only made of ordinary iron and wood, it's the best I can afford. So I hope you…"
"I love it, dad!" Before his dad was able to finish his sentence, Zhang Tie instantly hugged him as he kissed his dad's face. He was really satisfied with the gift. Zhang Tie clearly knew that this ordinary Blackhot Sharp-Edge Sword would cost his dad at least one gold coin. That was a great expenditure for his family.
Seeing Zhang Tie so happy, his dad also showed a warm smile…
"Two of you, come on. Let's eat while the food is still hot…" his mom warned them, trying to alleviate the atmosphere…
In this age, the first sword of many people was gifted by either their father or their brother. Aside from representing the blessings and concerns of their relatives, the sword also carried the meaning that the owner will be fighting for their own life with it. This was the inevitable fate of many males and their families!
In the last week before he left school, Zhang Tie, a 15-year old boy, frankly accepted his own fate along with the first sword in his life, which was engraved with his name…