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Chapter 217: First Lieutenant Director

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

When the skirmishes in Kalur escalated, Blapei, which was only over 100 km away from Kalur, became a huge frontier material transfer station. The logistics headquarter of the entire Iron-Horn Army was also set in here.

On the ninth day since Zhang Tie woke up on the sickbed, he finally left the hospital. At this moment, half a month had passed since he had left Blackhot City. During this period, Zhang Tie had experienced a life or death situation.

When he left the hospital, if not for his luggage brought by Reinhardt and the other military officers when they came to visit him, he might not have been able to find even a set of clothes after taking off his hospital gown.

Because he had not gone to report to the logistics department, when Zhang Tie left the hospital, he was still wearing the old dark red military uniform of second lieutenant. As he had just recovered from his wounds, he still looked a bit pale and thin. Previously, for the convenience of treatment, his hair had been shaved as well. It had just sprouted out some fresh hair these days. Without the military uniform, Zhang Tie looked like a malnourished adolescent.

Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie gave a bitter smile. He then recalled something and immediately felt dejected.

After standing outside the hospital alone for a long time, Zhang Tie stopped a carriage.

"Where are you going, sir?"

The carter glanced over Zhang Tie with a pair of uncertain eyes as Zhang Tie's age was really not in line with his military uniform.

"Do you know the logistics headquarters of the Iron-Horn Army?"

Zhang Tie threw his luggage onto the carriage. As to the 10 kg-odd luggage, Zhang Tie had held it like holding a hair before, however, now, Zhang Tie found it heavy after barely carrying it from the hospital ward to here. He felt that he was even weaker than a common 15-year-old adolescent.

"Got it! It's the previous parliament building in Blapei!"

After replying, the carter shook the rein sand started the carriage.

The carriage was half-open. Sitting inside, Zhang Tie watched the city out of curiosity.

Although the fighting was just over 100 km away from Blapei, he could see no intense atmosphere here at all, instead, this city was filled with sense of relaxation. Besides the soldiers in military uniforms, commoners were walking at medium speed through the streets.

What impressed Zhang Tie were the alehouses on both sides of the streets. On the way, every dozen of meters or so, he would see an alehouse's brand waving in the air on the roadside. Although the beer business sharply declined due to the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty, he could still see people sitting inside even in daytime.

As it was located in the plains, there were no sharp magical beasts around the city. Additionally, because Blapei was in the middle of some cities, he had no city walls; neither did it have any army. The moment the Iron-Horn Army drove in here, Blapei's parliament had already raised its blue-green flag, soon after which, they declared disbandment. The only vigilante group of this city followed the in the same path.

After that, the parliamentary and the vigilante group's members pretended that the parliament had never existed before and all went back home to find their own moms. Therefore, when the Iron-Horn Army occupied this city, they could not find a single person responsible it.

Residents here seemed to only do two things in their whole lives—farming and drinking beer. Even if the Iron-Horn Army arrived, their rhythm still remained unchanged. They felt that the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty had nothing to do with them, just as if it was happening on another galaxy.

When Zhang Tie was in Blackhot City, he had heard of such a bizarre city in the Andaman Alliance. This time, after a small circle around the city, Zhang Tie realized that the legends about Blapei were not exaggerated at all.

While the carter was driving the carriage, he took out his flagon to drink beer. Sitting behind the carter, Zhang Tie could also smell the fragrance of wheat drifting from the beer.

"Sir, do you want a try? This is brewed by my wife!"

The carter passed the flagon to Zhang Tie very enthusiastically.

The moment Zhang Tie wanted to refuse, for some reason he suddenly recalled Freo. Beer, cigars, and women were the favorites of that iron-tower like bald tough man. Zhang Tie then felt a faint stab inside...

Taking the flagon, he started to mindlessly gulp it down. Seeing this, the carter revealed a big smile.

When the carriage arrived at the former parliament building of Blapei, Zhang Tie was already covered with the taste of beer. The price was only 20 copper coins; however after Zhang Tie praised his beer, the carter felt very proud and didn't even intend to take his cash. But Zhang Tie pulled out a silver coin and said it was for his beer. The carter then happily took it and drove away.

In Blapei, if you praised the beer brewed by a person's family members and wanted to pay for it, you were expressing your largest compliment to that person.

Besides some rich people who were sparsely spread through the the various castles in the city, there were few skyscrapers in Blapei. All buildings were lower than ten floors. The alleged former parliament building of Blapei was only a 6-floor building. Standing before it, Zhang took a good look at it. He felt that the exceptional dome in the middle of the roof was really like a huge beer barrel.

Compared to the sluggish pedestrians on the streets, the outside of the former parliament building, which was now the logistics headquarter of Iron-Horn Army, brought him an intense sense of war.

Lifting his luggage, Zhang Tie presented his former military officer's certificate to the entrance guard before entered the building. A young second lieutenant was really trivial in the logistics headquarters of Iron-Horn Army. Few of the to-and-fro walking soldiers would cast a second glance over Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie asked a soldier in the building about the location of the personnel affairs department. He then came to the office on the third floor of the building.

The door was open while someone was working inside, so Zhang Tie walked directly in.

"Hello, can I help you?"

The moment Zhang Tie entered, a 20-odd female military officer ranked second lieutenant had walked towards him as she asked.

"I'm here to report for duty; here's my certificate! "

Zhang Tie gave his military officer certificate to her.

Taking the certificate, the female military officer glanced at it and immediately revealed a faint expression of amazement.

"Are you that military officer from the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division?"

"If there was nobody else dispatched here, I think so!"

"Fine, take a seat for a moment please. Your personnel affairs archives have been transferred here several days ago. I'll go report to Colonel Scharto as he had told me that if you came here to report, he wanted to see you!"

"Fine, thanks!"

After saying that, the female second lieutenant immediately left.

Zhang Tie couldn't help but focus on her butt. Seeing that tightening and raising butt under the dark red military officer dress, Zhang Tie's heart slightly pounded twice.

He had not tasted a woman for over a month. Now, as he had just recovered a bit, he instinctively started to pay attention to women beside him. However, thinking of his physical condition, Zhang Tie could only give a bitter smile. Donder said, as a man, unless you're dead, you would take conquering women as the undertaking of your whole life.

Zhang Tie also realized his own change. After becoming a real man, Zhang Tie had started to pay attention to different parts on women. Even if facing the same woman, he seemed to also have a very different sense of her now.

He didn't know whether each man would experience the same process on the way to maturity, but these couple of days, he usually thought about those crazy days with the girls in Blackhot City and the enchanting night with Pandora before he left.

In the following half an hour, Zhang Tie completed all the report formalities and saw Colonel Scharto, who was responsible for personnel affairs in the logistics headquarters of the Iron-Horn Army. Colonel Scharto, who was already over 60 years old, treated Zhang Tie in a very mild way.

During their conversation, he put it straight that he already knew of Zhang Tie's heroic actions in the Iron-Blood Camp. For his bravery and military exploits, he appreciated him very much. No matter how poor his health was at present, as a military officer of the Norman Empire who had been awarded with the Iron-Blood medal, he would never be allowed to suffer from any injustice in both the Iron-Horn Army and the Norman Empire.

In the end, Colonel Scharto told Zhang Tie that there were some positions that were suitable to him in this division's logistics headquarters. Zhang Tie could choose the one that he liked the most.

Zhang Tie knew that he must be receiving the special treatment from Colonel Scharto so as to give face to General Schwartz, the regimental commander of the Seventh Regiment and the whole Iron-Blood Camp.

"Colonel, for the concrete work schedule, I have no other opinions and requirements. I know General Schwartz dispatched me here to let the logistics department take care of me, but I'm not qualified to assume any important position based on my physical condition and abilities. If it's alright, please arrange an easier position for me so that I won't make too many mistakes, regardless of the job or the treatment!"

Zhang Tie's calm and modesty left a good impression on Colonel Scharto. Generally speaking, soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp who left the battlefield due to wounds would always have a bad temper. According to Colonel Scharto's experience, all the military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp who had killed numerous enemy soldiers on the battlefields were arrogant and unyielding.

It was also not Colonel Scharto's first time having contact with military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp; however, few young military officers made him comfortable like Zhang Tie when talking with them. As the logistics department was the most profitable one, many retired military officers tried everything to grab the position with the most profit and power. In contrast, Zhang Tie's attitude for retirement was highly praised by Colonel Scharto.

'I will not let such an innocent person suffer a loss!' he mumbled inside.

Therefore, after thinking for a few seconds, Colonel Scharto arranged a position for Zhang Tie, the full title of which was the Director of No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army.

Chapter 218: Re-entering the Castle of Black Iron

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

When Zhang Tie left the logistics headquarters, he had received a new military officer's certificate. One more star was on the epaulet of his military uniform, indicating that Second Lieutenant Zhang Tie had been officially promoted to First Lieutenant Zhang Tie. Additionally, he got two months' pay and provisions. Along with various subsidies for his battle wounds, he received as much as 71 gold coins. Plus his private booty from the battlefield, Zhang Tie's purse, which had shrunk when he left Blackhot City, slightly bulged again this time as he had more than 100 gold coins in total.

As an old Chinese saying went, "Real men should not have no power while average men should not have no money", Zhang Tie felt that he was born to be an average man as he didn't care about power at all. Who knows why that was so, maybe because he was used to being poor. But once alive and having some gold coins in his pockets, he would felt reassured.

Colonel Scharto assigned a major from the Personnel Affairs Department to drive Zhang Tie around the place where he would work so as to help him recognize the road.

The alleged "No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army" was actually a maintenance plant in the logistics base in the east of Blapei City. As Blapei had no city wall, Zhang Tie didn't know whether this logistics base was in Blapei or outside it.

This plant was not desolate for Zhang Tie could see a wide area of cornfields surrounding it and a neighboring village. Strictly speaking, this plant seemed to be in the the suburbs. Close to this plant was a large-scale, airship landing field and several material warehouses.　　

There were many soldiers walking to-and-fro, as well as military vehicles, on the surrounding roads.

The major task of No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of Iron-Horn Army was the maintenance of Logistics Department's vehicles, so the plant occupied at least 10 mu [1]. Half of it was made up of semi-closed sheds and garages temporarily built using steel frame and steel tiles.Many vehicles were parked inside them for maintenance.

Besides Zhang Tie, there were in total 136 people in the No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army, most of whom were non-commissioned technical officers. Before Zhang Tie arrived here, the position of the director had already been vacant for more than five months, however, everything here was in normal operation, leaving no fault at all.

As the former director suffered from some health problems and had reached the age of retirement, he had retired before the Iron-Horn Army had attacked the Andaman Alliance.

After acquiring the relevant information, Zhang Tie understood that this position was especially provided for the aged. A first lieutenant would not be requested to repair vehicles. Additionally, no big problems would happen in this plant as it was related to repairs.

Colonel Scharto had really arranged a good position for Zhang Tie.

The major from the Personnel Affairs Department directly summoned all the 136 people in the maintenance shop to greet Zhang Tie. Among them, the one with the highest rank was second lieutenant, namely the vice director. Of course, he became Zhang Tie's assistant here. Hearing the major introducing Zhang Tie's current status, the second lieutenant looked a bit weird.

"First Lieutenant Zhang Tie was previously a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division. Because of excellent military exploits, he has been awarded with the Iron-Blood medal only half a month after arriving to the Kalur battle zone!"

Noticing the weird expressions, the major only added one sentence that immediately made all the 136 people look solemn. Upon hearing that last sentence, many people were shocked and silently swallowed their saliva. At the same time, their eyes filled with respect.

Everybody in the Iron-Horn Army understood that there were only one kind of people in the Iron-Blood Camp who were awarded with the Iron-Blood medals—terrifying butchers who killed numerous enemies on the battlefield. However, this person had received an Iron-Blood medal only half a month after he came to the Kalur battle zone, which meant that this person had killed no less than the number of people standing right here in only half a month.

Thinking of this, many people started to feel a shocking, icy killing intent coming from this young first lieutenant who had a poor face. This killing intent was the qi as fierce as tigers and wolves which had been accumulated through killing numerous people. All the tough Iron-Blood fighters would reveal such a killing intent.

After introducing Zhang Tie to them, that major turned to Zhang Tie and asked him,"First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, what do you want to say to them?"

Zhang Tie glanced at that second lieutenant with a bulging abdomen whose eyes were still filled with awe.

"Since everything has run well before I came here, I hope it will continue do so from now on as well. You can do your own work now..."

Seeing them all leaving, that major smiled and talked to Zhang Tie. "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, I can see it, Colonel Scharto appreciates you very much, that's why he arranged this position for you. Once you stay longer, you will find this position very interesting!"

The major's words were full of hints, which moved Zhang Tie a bit. However, it was not the right time to ask for the details now. He had to first find settlement.

...

Seeing that major driving away, the 30-odd second lieutenant officer with a bulging abdomen revealed a big smile towards Zhang Tie. At the sight of the luggage in Zhang Tie's hand, he hurriedly stretched out his hand, intending to take it for him.

At first glance, Zhang Tie recalled the booth owners in the railway station's flea market in Blackhot City.

Noticing that the guy wanted to flatter him, Zhang Tie didn't refuse him, instead, he straight away threw his luggage into the man's hand. Never be too polite to this kind of person; if this kind of person flattered you, you should be polite to him. Otherwise it'd be similar to a gentleman showing his courtesy to you and you spitting saliva in his face.

As expected, seeing Zhang Tie directly throwing his luggage to him, that person's smile became even more enthusiastic than before, and even the oily gleam on his drunkard's nose became brighter.

"Second lieutenant, what's your name?"

"Director, I'm Pi Ping!" After giving Zhang Tie a careful look, he added, "Would you want to take a round or go to the office to check the files and account books?"

"No need, I'm very satisfied with everything here. As I've just left the hospital today, I have no place to live. You find a vehicle and show me around to seek for a residence first!"

After staying in the hospital for such a long time, taken care of by people all the time, Zhang Tie couldn't wait to check the Castle of Black Iron.

Hearing Zhang Tie's order, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping became happier and hurriedly took Zhang Tie's luggage, walking away. "Wait a minute please, I will go get a car!"

As the whole Blapei had almost no military camps, all the available places and public facilities across the city had been occupied by the Iron-Horn Army for free. Except for No. 21 Division which occupied a military camp in Blapei and had some military officers allocated with a dorm, most of the other military officers of the Logistics Department had to rent a house by themselves. As Blapei was already the territory of the Norman Empire, of course, the soldiers of the Norman Empire could not disturb civilians and plunder their properties.

In less than half a minute, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping had already parked a Mountain Cat SUV before Zhang Tie. Opening the car's door, Zhang Tie sat down on the passenger seat. After that, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping drove out of the plant.

"Later, I will not usually come here; everything in No. 9 Equipment Administration runs like before. The major who just left here told me that the director position is very interesting. So you shall continue to deal with everything here for me. I don't want to make you lose your fun. Neither do I want to be treated as an idiot. The moment I saw you, I knew you were clear. Don't let me down!"

Sitting in the car, Zhang Tie put it straight to Second Lieutenant Pi Ping. After staying in the Iron-Blood Camp for a while, he had no mood to waste time on such trivial things. Only people who had experienced life or death situation understood that for a soldier, with the exception of life or death situations, everything else was bullsh*t.

Not having imagined that Zhang Tie would be that straightforward, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping's hand slightly quivered before recovering its composure. He even became a bit thrilled.

"Trust me, director, I won't let you down!"

"That's fine!"

"Director, what kind of residence do you want? I've stayed here for several months and have become very familiar with all the streets and alleys!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping continued enthusiastically.

"As I'm not well, I need to stay tranquil during this period. Therefore, the place should not be too noisy..."

"Oh, I know a place that you may like..."

...

More than ten minutes later, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping brought Zhang Tie to a riverside in the north of Blapei, to a block with a relaxed atmosphere to it. That block's roads were paved with fine pebbles. On both sides of the roads stood many 3-4 story civilian houses and buildings. These houses and buildings were totally different from those in Blackhot City.

This place was truly much more tranquil than the downtown, and with a nice environment.

The moment Zhang Tie's car drove into the block and started to slow down, some 8-9 old kids started to chase after the SUV without any fear of strangers.

Because there had been no casualties in Blapei when it was occupied by the Iron-Horn Army and the good deeds of soldiers of the Norman Empire had won them good reputation, the civilians in Blapei didn't fear the figures in dark red military uniforms.

"Sir, you only need to give Rabby some copper coins, I will tell you everything you want to know!" A 8-9 old boy with freckles on his face ran close to Zhang Tie, chasing after the SUV while he introduced himself.

Zhang Tie told Pi Ping to park the car. Soon after the car was parked, Rabby also stopped running.

"I want to rent a house, do you know where can I get a proper one?" Zhang Tie asked the boy.

"Sir, I know everything here. Besides some beer hotels, there are more than 20 houses for rent in the neighboring blocks. Everyone would be very happy to rent their house to a generous military officer of the Norman Empire..."

Zhang Tie pulled out a silver coin and flicked it towards the boy. The boy called Rabby had a nice catch.

"Get in the car!"

Zhang Tie glanced at the back seat. The boy called Rabby then jubilantly jumped inside under the admiration filled eyes of his pals.

...

As Zhang Tie thought that beer hotels would be filled with people from all walks of life, he finally chose a rather tranquil house whose owners were also of a simple family background.

It was a four-story house. The owners were an old couple of more than 60 years old. They had no offspring and lived on the first floor. The second one was rented out to a couple with a 4-5 old son. It was said that on the third floor lived a woman, and the fourth one was vacant, therefore, Zhang Tie lived in the fourth floor.

The rooms on there were well cleaned by the owners. Everything was well matched: two bedrooms, one parlor, one kitchen, and a washroom. As the house was made of bricks and stones, there was also a fireplace in the parlor where you could light a fire on cold days.

The rent for the fourth floor was 16 silver coins per month, not including the water rate. Second Lieutenant Pi Ping strove to spend two gold coins for Zhang Tie at once for one year's rent and the water rate. After Zhang Tie decided to live in here, the vice-president drove the car and bought many daily-use goods for him. He was as solicitous as an order.

The entire afternoon after he left the hospital, Zhang Tie was always busy: reporting for duty, arranging work for his subordinates, and renting a house. When it was the time for supper, he ate a roasted beefsteak with Second Lieutenant Pi Ping in a hotel nearby. When Zhang Tie came back to the house he had rented, it was already dark.

A melodious sound of violin drifted from the owners' room. There was no way to know who was playing it. A kid's cries drifted from the second floor while the tenant on the third floor was not there.

Going back to his residence on the fourth floor, Zhang Tie didn't lit up the lamps. After locking the door and pulling the curtains down, he sat down on the sofa besides the fireplace alone in the parlor.

It had been a very long time since Zhang Tie had felt this tired. He was very weak, to the point where he would even gasp when he climbed on to the fourth floor. When he finally reached it, Zhang Tie already felt a bit tired. His physical situation was even worse than he had imagined. Even worse than a commoner's. He was not even able to resist the wind, the idiom of not being able to bind a chicken being very proper to describe him.

As he had not entered the Castle of Black Iron for more than one month, even if he was able to enter it right now, Zhang Tie became slightly hesitant and afraid. He was a bit contradictory inside. For him at this moment, the small tree in the Castle of Black Iron carried all of his hopes.

Zhang Tie knew that it was very hilarious to count on the hope for solution on that small tree whenever he met a problem. It was almost visionary and foolish to solve problems that way. Because it was karma on what fruit the small tree would bear. It would never bear a fruit according to his own demand for no reason.

Zhang Tie only hoped that the small tree could give him a chance to recover.

After sitting in the pitch-dark house for a long time, Zhang Tie finally gritted his teeth. 'I've already died one time, nothing is more terrifying than death.'

After locking on that marvelous arch door in his mind, with a slight shake, Zhang Tie disappeared from the dark parlor.

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

[1] Mu is an ancient Chinese unit of land. It translates to around 1 mu = 666.67 square meters, so the plant is around 6666.7 square meters in size.

Chapter 219: Fruit of Judgment

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

By now, the inside of the Castle of Black Iron had become verdant. Entering it after a month and a half, Zhang Tie felt like he was in the suburban area of Blackhot City. The feeling was especially brought out by the two buildings that he had built near the small tree. They really gave him a sense of wasteland reclamation in the wild.

After loading off his burden inside, Zhang Tie treated himself as a bachelor with a cheap life. He took a deep breath and immediately thought it through. No matter what, as long as he was still alive and could enter the Castle of Black Iron, he could still use it to do a lot of things such as helping his beloved people, even if his cultivation had been completely disabled.

With this mentality, the following dialog boxes that popped out didn't shock him too much.

——Because the energy maintenance system of Castle Lord had been severely damaged, the Leakless Fruit could not collect energy. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree will terminate the bearing of Leakless Fruits.

——Castle Lord, because your bones, muscles, veins, channels, as well as your guts, had been heavily wounded and have not yet recovered, your automatic recovery function was at the edge of collapse. Your physical condition didn't even meet the minimum conditions to form Iron-Body Fruit. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree will terminate the bearing of Iron-Body Fruit.

——Based on the above reasons, because your body could not bear the renewal and the expansion of your life energy from Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree will terminate the bearing of Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. Based on the same reasons, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits will also be unavailable.

——Special alert: Castle Lord, until your health and life energy completely recover, the effects of the first Toxin-Resistance Fruit that you ate will be reduced by 92%.

The continual dialog boxes and the content inside them brought Zhang Tie a sense of being peeled off and turning from a rich man to a beggar. The price for joining the Kalur battle was so huge that he couldn't stand it.

After slightly recovering his composure, Zhang Tie touched the management panel of Castle of Black Iron to check the current basic attributes.

——Castle of Black Iron

——Length: 1 Krosa

——Width: 1 Krosa

——Aura value: 89713

——Merit value: 32135

——Basic energy storage: 712

——Special output: basic aura yeast.

The growth of aura value points was within Zhang Tie's expectation. The basic energy storage of 712 remained unchanged since he had come back from the survival training. What really startled Zhang Tie though were the merit value points. He remembered that when he checked them last time, they were just a bit over 6000. How could they increase by so much?

Zhang Tie opened the log on merit value points to check inside carefully. When the first evolved and mutated living beings "Basic Aura Yeast" formed in the Castle of Black Iron, because he killed a number of scumbags in the prison of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie's merit value points had surged to more than 6000. After that, he didn't check the merit value points any more. Based on his experiences, after he donated to the orphanage twice, his merit value points should have grown.

But he hadn't made a point to check it for a long time.

For the first donation, he spent more than 20 gold coins to buy a truck of food which won him 876 merit value points; for the second donation, he directly gave the orphanage 200 gold coins and won himself 3617 merit value points. Additionally, when he sent rice soup to the orphanage and donated 10 copper coins at the beginning, he had won more than 30 merit value points.

According to the exchange ratio, it seemed that the merit value points could not be equally exchanged by the items or money he donated to the orphanage. There was a sophisticated karma between his donations and the merit value points as payment. Based on the exchange ratio, the 10 copper coins and that rice soup he had donated when he was in the poorest situation brought him more merit value points.

Since he had no idea how that worked, Zhang Tie didn't bother to think about this question any more. What really caught his attention were the two messages after.

"On August 22, 889th year of Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord saved 61 golden uangs who were going to be killed and helped them regain freedom and a new chance at life. As a result, merit value was increased by 286 points."

...

"...Do the righteous thing for the heavens. You killed the Double-Moon Muling of the Sun Dynasty and ended his evil life, sending his evil soul into the darkness, which allowed the mercy of gods to reappear in the world. As a result, merit value was increased by 21018 points in total..."

The first log was really unexpected. Zhang Tie had not imagined that when he killed Samira in the Blackhot City and casually grabbed Master Abyan's uangs which were going to be killed for tests and set them free in mother nature, he would gain some merit value points as payment.

Of course, Zhang Tie was very pleased with these unexpected merit value points.

However, what he hadn't imagined even more was were that the merit value points he gained after killed a muling of the Sun Dynasty would be almost equal to killing 20 of the heinous red-scarf burglars like Huck and Snade. From this, Zhang Tie learned how many bad things those bastard priests and mulings who believed in the Brilliant God of the Sun Dynasty had done.

At the sight of this, Zhang Tie let out a long breath. It was worth it to kill such a scumbag and give a chance to survive for his brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp in this battle even if his cultivation base had been fully disabled for it.

Thinking of this, Zhang Tie relaxed.

After shutting off the log windows, Zhang Tie walked towards that small tree. He felt that after killing that scumbag, he would not have only gained merit value points, but also at least a Fruit of Brilliance. According to the tip just now, the Fruit of Brilliance was not included in the fruits that could not be produced on the small tree, which meant that he could still enjoy one kind of fruit.

Before Zhang Tie drew close to the twig where which used to produce the Fruit of Brilliance, he saw a round fruit. It was dark golden with wisps of golden luster on it.

What else if it was not a Fruit of Brilliance?

——Fruit of Brilliance 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.

Reading this message, Zhang Tie revealed a wisp of a smile.

He didn't immediately eat it, instead, he moved to the other side of the small tree.

Compared to the twig that bore Fruit of Brilliance, the twigs that bore Leakless Fruits and Iron-Body Fruits were cleared. Additionally, the ripe Leakless Fruits and the unripe Iron-Body Fruit had all disappeared.

Ah!

When Zhang Tie moved to the Fruit of Brilliance to check how much spiritual energy it could bring him, he was stunned. Behind the weird tree leaves of a twig beside the one that used to bear Leakless Fruits, a fruit that Zhang Tie had never seen before was hanging.

It was a weird fruit in the shape of a cross dart. It was all dark, containing a weird tadpole-like rune swimming inside like gathered starlight.

Greatly shocked inside, Zhang Tie stretched his hand toward it.

——Fruit of Judgment has become ripe. This Fruit of Judgment contains a god's rune, the effect of which is to "bind". Usage: Pick and paste it between your eyebrows, then activate with your spiritual energy. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. This fruit can only be activated and integrated by Castle Lord. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.

As he read that paragraph, Zhang Tie's hands started to tremble. However, it was not the end.

——The people who profaned celestial beings in the name of celestial beings and those people who did evil things in the name of celestial beings are doomed to be judged. Their existence is the greatest harm to all the beautiful and kind things, and the greatest profanity to gods. Their dirty lives and deeds shall be ended by sabers and swords. This is the condition for bearing a Fruit of Judgment, and the biggest award from gods to a dauntless man who dares to wave his saber towards dark forces. Ah! The brave man who spreads the gods' glorious light over his mother land. Please take this reward and use the strength gifted by it to judge those who profane the gods so as to relieve people's fear about celestial beings. Gods don't need their fear as fear is the food of ghosts. According to the law of creation, the more judgments you make, the more power you will have to judge with.

After reading this paragraph, Zhang Tie immediately understood that, the Brilliant God School was carrying out a very terrifying coercion in the entire Sun Dynasty in terms of people's belief in celestial beings. This coercion was profaning celestial beings in the name of celestial beings. They were doing evil things in the name of celestial beings. In this case, since he killed that Double-Moon Muling in the black robe of the Brilliant God School that night, the Fruit of Judgment's condition was triggered.

Looking at that cross-dart like weird fruit and that weird group of runes composed of tadpoles inside it, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie's mind. Hie instantly raised his right hand and took off the ring on his right hand.

——Ring of Energy. It can recover your physical strength 4% faster after you use it up, enabling the wearer to be more energetic. This item was made by rune master Andariel.

Although Zhang Tie had not seen a rune item before, the Ring of Energy and that Fruit of Judgment on the twig let him know that all rune items were exceptional, especially the god's rune that fruit on the twig contained; it seemed greater.

There was always a way to survive. In this case, he could still gain such a marvelous fruit, which meant that the small tree considered that he could use this fruit even now. The effect of the god's rune was to "bind", which seemed simple, yet its usage would be unknown until it was used.

When Zhang Tie prepared to pick off this Fruit of Judgment to activate and integrate it, he was stunned when his eyes caught onto a twig in the middle of the small tree. He was immediately overcome with great surprise.

Chapter 220: Redemption

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

More than a month had passed since the last time he'd entered the Castle of Black Iron. Soon after he did so this time, Zhang Tie found that his cardiac function was facing a severe challenge.

At this moment, his heart kept on fiercely pounding because right on this small tree he found a new fruit. He slightly recovered his composure as he put on his ring of energy onto his right index finger again.

He hadn't noticed the fruit until now because it was really well hidden. Compared to the various fruits that Zhang Tie had gained and seen on the outside twigs, right in the open, this one was more hidden as it was growing on in the middle of the small tree, close to the trunk. If one wasn't observing carefully, it would be almost impossible to see this fruit for it was covered by overlapped tree leaves.

It was a thumb-sized fruit in the shape of a heart, pale green of color, really like a cute peach.

Zhang Tie had never seen this fruit before.

The moment he saw this new fruit, Zhang Tie stretched his hand out to check its attributes like usual.

After slightly moving the two twigs beside the fruit, Zhang Tie put his hand on it.

——Fruit of Redemption. It comes from the strength of golden uangs. Not ripe yet.

Before Zhang Tie could get depressed from what he saw, his heart pounded so heavily that it almost jumped out of his throat when he read the following paragraphs.

——Once this fruit becomes ripe, after eating it, Castle Lord will gain 71.5 kg's strength, namely the weight of your body.

——Fruit of Redemption. It comes from intellectual living beings' appreciation to the one who gave them new life and saved them out from their death situation. Each living being's mood and awareness full of this kind of appreciation will contain great energy, especially when owned by this kind of living being. This great energy will be projected onto the savior through an infinite net and become the key to opening the sealed, precious gene bank of the savior's body. The fire of intelligence, the most remarkable trait of any intellectual beings, can light up and brighten the genes with the same properties on the savior's body and grant the savior with the same ability.

——The one who has benevolence and kindness, you are the existence standing at the peak of intellectual living beings. The God created you based on his own image. Therefore, your body contains everything like the God's. Although you have forgotten that you were great, please don't despise your trivial being now. The karma is absolutely true. If you want to get something, go pay for it as what you had paid will return to you and more. The greatest secret of life is love, which is the answer to everything. Love can open the sealed shackles in your body and liberate you from your trivial consciousness. Finally, you would enter the divine being.

...

Actually, this Fruit of Redemption should have long existed, since after he killed Samira and set free those golden uangs in Blackhot City. However, after killing Samira that day, Zhang Tie had immediately returned to his apartment and entered the Castle of Black Iron to build the two houses. Previously, because he had felt that nothing special had happened in that period, he didn't pay attention to this small tree.

Of course, he had never imagined that that small tree would have produced a marvelous fruit at that time. Therefore, this marvelous Fruit of Redemption had kept growing under the overlapped leaves of the small tree until he found it now.

Fruit of Redemption was not ripe yet. It was not edible now. For some reason, when Zhang Tie read the above paragraphs, his eyes turned wet and he wanted to cry. He had not imagined that such a minor benevolent move of setting those golden uangs free could bring him such a miracle.

Zhang Tie didn't fully understand the above words. However, after he read them, he still bore in mind two key points.

First, because the golden uangs had super great power, after he saved dozens of them, this small tree bore a fruit that could increase his strength.

Second, as many genes inside his body were not activated yet and the key to activating them was redemption, if he saved any living beings, the life trait of that living being might be passed on to him.

Zhang Tie faintly saw a beacon of hope that might help his body recover. However, he felt a thin curtain between him and this beacon of hope which stopped it from manifesting.

Zhang Tie knew that the thin curtain was his shortage of biology. Even though he knew something, even some secrets, he still could not turn what he had learned into useful knowledge. This was also the weakness of the preliminary education of Blackhot City. People learning there might know something of all common knowledge, yet they would not be deep versed in any of the fields. Sometimes, when he faced some slightly deeper knowledge, Zhang Tie would feel semi-illiterate.

The Fruit of Redemption today simply pushed open a wholly new gate open for Zhang Tie's life. He was filled with appreciation now. This space of the Castle of Black Iron and the small tree showed him the hope to move forward.

Leaving the Fruit of Redemption alone for now, Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled as he circled around the small tree twice. After consideration, he decided to pick Fruit of Brilliance before eating the Fruit of Judgment. The Fruit of Brilliance could still improve his spiritual energy which was still useful for him even now. No matter what, after he increased his spiritual energy, he could always gain a greater strength. After this, he could eat the ripe Fruit of Redemption more easily.

Zhang Tie became a bit curious about the spiritual energy of the black-robed Double-Moon Muling of the Black Feathers Regiment. Thinking of that person who had blow that weird musical instrument to control those undying monsters, Zhang Tie thought that he might have cultivated his spiritual energy.

After picking the Fruit of Brilliance, Zhang Tie sat down under the tree with legs crossed. He then threw the Fruit of Brilliance into his mouth and broke it with his teeth at once...

Because his health was not as good as before, only after sitting there for more than 20 minutes with his legs crossed, Zhang Tie felt his legs and waist starting to ache. Thankfully, by then, all the spiritual energy in the Fruit of Brilliance had been absorbed by the golden spiritual energy swirl in Zhang Tie's mind. After a rough estimation, Zhang Tie became very excited.

If his spiritual energy was regarded as one before he got the Castle of Black Iron, after the fight in the hidden cell in the prison of Blackhot City along with his cultivation these days, yesterday, his spiritual energy had almost reached 40. However, after eating the Fruit of Brilliance that contained all the spiritual energy of the Double-Moon Muling of the Sun Dynasty, his spiritual energy had immediately surged to 58, an increase of almost a half. As expected, that old guy truly had had a much more powerful spiritual energy than that of commoners.

After eating the Fruit of Brilliance, Zhang Tie slightly moved his numb and stiff body. When he glanced at the ring of energy on his right hand, he became slightly disappointed. As this was a rune item that could help him recover from fatigue 4% faster than before, without it his health would be worse.

Zhang Tie thought of it, unable to wait to pick the small cross-dart like Fruit of Judgment. According to the instructions he had read before, he had to paste that fruit in-between his eyebrows. After that, he would have to slowly inject his spiritual energy that had increased a lot into this bizarre Fruit of Judgment.

For some reason, after he inserted his spiritual energy into the Fruit of Judgment, Zhang Tie only felt that the fruit pasted on his skin of normal temperature was becoming increasingly cooler. Soon after that, the entire fruit seemed become fluid as it started to enter in to his mind, making his entire brain and head feel very comfortable and refreshed. During this period, Zhang Tie felt as if his head had become a sponge that could absorb water as that fruit's juices pushed inside without encountering any obstacles.

Finally, his hand that was put on the fruit started to touch the skin of his forehead. At the same time, that golden spiritual energy swirl in Zhang Tie's mind started to boil up. Its most middle point suddenly formed a weird symbol that Zhang Tie had seen before on the fruit. When that weird symbol appeared there, Zhang Tie's spiritual energy in his mind seemed to cheer up and started to push into that rune with all it had.

While Zhang Tie's spiritual energy was making its way into that weird rune, some information appeared in his mind. He immediately understood everything about that rune.

He knew that rune meant "bind"...

He also knew how to use this god rune.

He knew that the "bind" function of this god rune would directly work on the target person's spirit and awareness. It could temporarily shield and cut the connection between the target's brain and his body. After this connection was cut off, that target's body would remain still, like a machine not yet started or something bound by a rope.

When one third of Zhang Tie's spiritual energy entered that mysterious rune, the god rune suddenly radiated golden rays. As if having been laid like an egg, after the devouring of the spiritual energy, an item in the shape of a chain appeared beside that rune radiating golden rays. After that, it started to rotate around that rune like a snake swimming in water...

——The first binding chain has been formed!

——Starting to form the god rune's binding skill for Castle Lord.

Chapter 221: The Binding Skill

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

In this age, knowledge was very expensive, which led to the spread of mysterious knowledge from individuals to individuals, and the appearance of private libraries. It was said that before the catastrophe, there were large-scale public library in many cities and regions. Those libraries would always contain tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of books, or even millions of books. At that time, people could absorb the knowledge that they needed from the sea of knowledge at the cost of little money or none at all. However, in this age, that kind of scene was completely unimaginable.

As far as Zhang Tie knew, there wasn't a single public library in the entire Andaman Alliance, even across the whole Blackson Human Clan Corridor. In this age, all the libraries were private, while all the books were very important personal assets. To manage a private library was the same to managing a plant or a shop as they could all bring you profit.

There were two private libraries in Blackhot City. They were all operated by the families that had once predominated the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation. Although Zhang Tie stayed in Blackhot City for over ten years, he had not entered them even once. When he had time to visit there, he had no money, while when he had money, he had no time to visit.

For Zhang Tie, the position of the director of No. 9 Equipment Administration could almost be ignored. After seeing the hope of recovery in the Fruit of Redemption, he left his tenement early the next morning. He had a lot of questions and some unclear thoughts in his mind, which all needed to be solved and clearly formed by knowledge.

If this was Blackhot City and the guy Donder was still there, Zhang Tie would have definitely asked him about all of his questions. However, in Blapei, he knew no one and nobody could solve his problems or enlighten his unclear thoughts.

What could solve his problems and enlighten his unclear thoughts was only knowledge. If he wanted to obtain it, the simplest way was to go to a library. After all, he had enough time to spend there now. Like what was said before the catastrophe, he was going to "charge himself".

Although he had not recovered yet, the ripe Fruit of Brilliance and the unripe Fruit of Judgment made Zhang Tie's spirits rise in the morning once more. He looked energetic as he finally didn't feel like he was too weak to even catch a bound chicken. The god rune's "bind" effect implied that Zhang Tie could protect himself without even relying on his own hands.

After putting on his clothes and cleaning his face and teeth, Zhang Tie left the room. At this moment, he used his spiritual energy to present the list of binding skill's attributes in his mind.

God rune's binding skill!

Rank - preliminary.

The current number/maximum storage number of binding chain - 2/18.

Attack Radius - 17 inch.

Attack Effect - Spiritual attack. It can temporarily cut and terminate the nerve chain of the opponent's brain, putting a screen between the opponent's brain and its body. The one hit will be stiff all over and unable to move at all.

Applicable Targets - LV 7 fighters and those below, who have the same brain structure as Castle Lord.

The sustainable attacking time of preliminary binding chain is calculated as follows: the spiritual energy attack strength of Castle Lord minus the spiritual attack immunity effect of the opponent. After that, multiply the previous result by ten seconds, namely the basic sustainable time of one preliminary binding chain.

The maximal superposed number of binding chains that can be born by an individual being attacked is three.

These were the attributes of the binding skill after the god rune formed its first binding chain. This skill seemed to be able upgrade.

After Zhang Tie had almost exhausted his spiritual energy last night, the god rune formed two binding chains. Now, the two binding chains were swimming around that god rune like two small snakes in Zhang Tie's mind.

Zhang Tie planned to exert his utmost effort to form all the 18 binding chains in the next few days. That god rune was like a finished factory. As long as Zhang Tie constantly injected his spiritual energy into it, it could process his spiritual energy into binding chains.He estimated that the distance of 17 inches was equal to 7-8 m or so. Needless to say, the target of binding chains should have similar brain structure as Zhang Tie.

For the duration of the attack, after thinking for a while, Zhang Tie finally decided that if the target had not been blessed by some spiritual defense skill or had no similar equipment, its spiritual defense effect would be basically equal to zero. Therefore, this formula was almost simplified to Zhang Tie's spiritual energy divided by the target's spiritual energy and multiplied by ten seconds.

If Zhang Tie's spiritual energy was twice that of the opponent's, the opponent would not move for twenty seconds after being attacked by the binding chain. If Zhang Tie's spiritual energy was thrice that of the opponent, the opponent would not move for 30 seconds after being hit. Similarly, if Zhang Tie's spiritual energy was four times that of the opponent, the opponent would not move for 40 seconds.

For this preliminary binding skill, if Zhang Tie's opponent with the same spiritual energy had not reached LV 8, after being attacked with three binding chains consecutively, that guy would also not move for about half a minute. In this time, even if Zhang Tie's health was in a very poor condition, he could still stab that guy to death with his dagger.

In contrast, if he met a commoner who had almost the same spiritual energy as him at school, with only one binding chain, he would be able to keep him still for 9-10 minutes. Even if the target was Huck or Snade, after being attacked by the binding chain, they would also not be able to move for three minutes.

For spiritual defense, it had to be a rare mysterious knowledge that Zhang Tie had not heard of before. It could never be seen on commoners.

When Zhang Tie wanted to launch the binding skill, once he gazed at someone, he would be able to do a long-distance attack in a pattern that he couldn't understand. For his current physical condition, this was simply a hidden sharp weapon.

Although this preliminary binding skill only worked on people below LV 7, had very short range, and was far off of he could do with his power and combat effectiveness of when he was healthy, at least this binding skill enabled Zhang Tie to protect himself when he couldn't fight at all.

Feeling like he was "useful" again, Zhang Tie was in a pretty good mood today.

In the early morning, the tenant of the third floor was still not back as her door was still closed. When Zhang Tie came to the second floor, the 20-odd man of the couple was readying himself to leave, seemingly wanting to go to work while the 20-odd women was seeing him off outside the room while pulling a kid. They were bidding farewell to each other.

Right then, as the couple caught sight of Zhang Tie walking downstairs, both of them became slightly amazed. Not until then did they know that the new tenant who had moved in upstairs yesterday was a young military officer of the Norman Empire. Although he looked young, he was already a first lieutenant.

Seeing Zhang Tie coming downstairs, that young woman silently pulled her kid closer to herself.

Zhang Tie forced out a smile while slightly nodding to them before walking downstairs.

In the early morning, the owners Mr and Mrs Green were watering flowers, grasses, onions, and fiddleheads that they grew for entertainment in the garden outside their residence.

"Good morning..." Zhang Tie greeted the owners of the house.

Mr. Green raised his grass hat to show his courtesy.

...

Leaving the house of Mr and Mrs Green, Zhang Tie came to a tranquil street. After walking through the one meter wide street paved with pebbles for dozens of meters, Zhang Tie arrived at the avenue.

Similar to Blackhot City, when people could not take public transport, most of the commoners in Blapei would then choose carriages to travel around the downtown. This transport, which could provide convenience for people in downtown areas, had an universal name across the Blackson Human Clan Corridor - Horse Taxi.

Seeing a green horse taxi driving past, Zhang Tie hurriedly waved his hand towards the driver before jumping inside.

"Where's the best private library in Blapei?"

"Sir, there's only one private library in Blapei; therefore, no matter what, it is the best one!"

Zhang Tie was somewhat stunned.

"Well, let's go there then!"

"It's not cheap there!" The driver kept driving the carriage while shaking his head. "I really don't understand why people like reading books. Aren't beer and women more interesting than paper that could neither speak nor be eaten?

Hearing his words, Zhang Tie didn't say anything. This must be different personal pursuits.

...

After more than half an hour, the carriage finally brought Zhang Tie to his destination. After learning about the function of his spiritual energy, he had visualized two 13-column abacuses in his mind at the same time during the journey. He practiced different operations on two abacuses at the same time.

It was hard to say whether it was because of his sharply increased spiritual energy, but when he carried out different operations on two visualized abacuses, Zhang Tie felt that it went much smoother. The sense of the two abacuses' independence became more clear. Additionally, "interconnected faults" obviously decreased a lot during the calculations.

"Here we are, sir, here is the best private library that five generations of Grant Family has operated in Blapei!"

The horse taxi that carried Zhang Tie parked before a place which looked more luxurious than this city's parliament building.

After paying fifty copper coins, Zhang Tie jumped off the carriage. With his eyes fixed on this seven-story building, Zhang Tie took a deep breath.

'This private library is very large. It should contain a lot of books. I hope it won't disappoint me.'

Like high-end hotels, this private library had a very gorgeous gate. Outside it stood two rows of doormen and armored guards. The entrance was marked with the name of this library—Grant's Library.

This was a library named after its owner's family name.

The library's first floor was an elegant hall with several rest zones. In them stood dozens of rows of cabinets which looked like lockers. Zhang Tie didn't know what they were used for.

The moment he entered through the gate, he saw several plates placed in the most eye-catching place, on which were the terms of service. Besides them there was a board with reading instructions and another with instructions on using bibliographic retrieval. After carefully reviewing the two, Zhang Tie understood what the dozens of cabinets in the rest zones beside the hall were used for—they contained the list with all the books in the library and where each one is placed.

After swearing himself a rustic inside, Zhang Tie came to the bibliographic retrieval zone and started to look for books that he wanted to read. Time reading would be charged, but looking through the list was free.

The bibliographic retrieval in the library contained very sophisticated classifications. Zhang Tie spent a whole hour searching through the complex retrieval catalog cards.

After searching there for quite a while, he took the paper on which he'd copied down a couple retrieval numbers of books that interested him and came to the library's service table. The one standing behind it was a 60-odd man.

After receiving the retrieval numbers, the old man lowered his head and looked behind the counter for a while. Then, some time later, he raised turned back.

"Sir, the books you chose are available now. With the exception of the book 'Initial Exploration of Human Beings' Special Professions in Black Iron Age', 'Gods' Codes', 'Oriental Occultism Phenomena', and 'Water Knows the Answer' are all rare books that our library purchased from the ruins of the prehistorical human cities. As they're human publications of before the catastrophe, they are in the Human Ruins' Reading Area on the fourth floor.

"The charge of reading on the fourth floor is two gold coins per day. Besides the books on the fourth floor, you can also read the books on the third and second floors. The charge of books on the third floor is sixty silver coins a day. If you want to read books on the third floor, you can not read the books that you chose on the fourth floor today. Can you tell me which floor's books you'd like to read?"

The old man spoke in an inflexible manner.

Hearing his explanation, Zhang Tie almost wanted to swear at him. Although he was much richer than before, he hadn't imagined that it would cost him two gold coins a day to read books on the fourth floor.

'F*ck, this is almost equal to my dad's two-month salary.'

It had cost him only two gold coins to rent Mr and Mrs Green's house for a whole year. Although, Zhang Tie knew that the price of entering private libraries was very expensive, he had never imagined it could be this expensive.

In this age, the price of knowledge was absolutely out of most people's imaginations. With two gold coins, Zhang Tie could only read books for one day in the private library. However, the business time of the library was from 9 am. to 9 pm., which meant that he could at most read for twelve hours. During the process, he could neither copy nor take photos. He should also wear a pair of gloves and pay for the damages according to preset prices if he made any.

'F*ck!' Zhang Tie swore inside.

He then took out two gold coins. After signing a service contract, he was led into the Human Ruins' Readings Area on the fourth floor.

Zhang Tie had not seen the alleged human ruins of before the catastrophe in his life. He had only heard that most of the ruins were of cities and other regions where many humans lived, crashed by the fragments of the God's Star. They were in a special force field and existence brought about by the fragments of the God's Star. As a result, all the inanimate objects in the ruins still remained unchanged even after one thousand years, as if the catastrophe had happened yesterday.

Driven by a dream of becoming rich overnight after discovering some human ruins of before the catastrophe, numerous pioneers were heading everyday for remote areas on all the continents to explore the wastelands.

Glancing over the books on the shelves in the room that covered less than 500 square meters, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth, swearing to read as much as was the value of two gold coins.

Chapter 222: The Value of Knowledge

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

Most of publications before the catastrophe were easy to be identified. The printing skills of people before the catastrophe could not be surpassed by people of today at all. Many books in that age contained delicate images or photos, at the sight of which, people would know which age those particular books belonged to. What concerned that roughly printed book "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus" that Zhang Tie had bought from a roadside booth in the railway station which only had a few pages with no pictures except for an abacus on its cover, Zhang Tie was definitely very lucky to own it.

Consumers who were able to read on the fourth floor were matched with a personal reading room, like a chartered room. When one read on the fourth floor, one should wear a pair of white gloves. In each reading room, there was a serviceman who just watched from the side in case you tried to copy or damage one of these books as valuable as cultural relics. Of course, you could also ask the serviceman to bring you books that you wanted to read.

As a "high-end customer" who paid two gold coins in the library at once, Zhang Tie was also provided with two sumptuous meals, a lunch and a supper. If he was tired, he could also take a rest in the reading room. You could even take a nap on the sofa. The serviceman would also prepare a woolen blanket for you.

However, nobody would feel like sleeping here at the cost of two gold coins which would leave only several hours to read. At least, Zhang Tie would feel great regret if he did that. With the exception of eating lunch and going to the toilet, he was immersed in reading for the entire day. He grit his teeth, wanting to make the two gold coins cost-efficient.

With sharper spiritual energy, Zhang Tie found that he could read much faster than before. Additionally, his memory had also become very terrifying. He skimmed through the pages. He could read ten lines with only one glance, and it would take him only a bit more than ten seconds to finish reading a page.

Even with such an amazing speed, Zhang Tie found that he could still clearly remember all the content on the pages. This time he found found another usage for his sharp spiritual energy besides remembering the sizes of the girls of the Rose Association.

The fact was that Zhang Tie's two gold coins were very cost-efficient. In over ten hours, he gained a lot of knowledge and information from the books.

From the book "Gods' Codes" written by a geneticist before the catastrophe, Zhang Tie learned what human DNA was and the differences between human DNA and other living beings' DNAs. Additionally, he came to understand that millions of his gene fragments were not activated yet, which accounted for above 98% of his total gene fragments. During the very long period before the catastrophe, as no discovery was made on these gene fragments, they were taken as useless "waste genes". However, the author of "Gods' Codes" firmly believed that the creator would not just put so many "wastes" into human body for no reason.

As a geneticist, after dozens of years' research, the author found that the alleged "waste genes" in human body were not useless; instead, as their coded structures were too weird, they were not activated yet. After many years' research, the author also discovered that among the gene fragments that were not activated yet, there seemed to be weird codes that enabled people to survive in more special and extreme environments...

In the end of the book, the author of "Gods' Codes" also posed a puzzling presumption and prediction that if all the gene fragments in human body were activated, humans' DNA structure would totally change from double-spiral structure to 12-spiral structure. Maybe the alleged God's DNA was in a 12-spiral structure.

Why not in 11-spiral structure or 13-spiral structure or other spiral structures? Because basically everything was composed of energy of different frequencies. The whole universe is a huge acoustic generator that can perform all the the sounds with different frequencies. The frequencies and sounds performed by this acoustic generator can not be perfectly harmonious and balanced without being evolved from the twelve tone equal temperament of the music theory. Therefore, according to the author's presumption, the 12-spiral DNA structure is in line with the essence of the universe. This is a structure that can satisfy one's will at any place in this universe.

After reading this book, Zhang Tie recalled a human body's description that he had read in the Castle of Black Iron last night—"your body contains everything like the God's". Zhang Tie felt like he understood something now. Although the 12-spiral DNA was just a brave presumption of the author of the book "Gods' Codes", its entirety instantly broadened his vision and horizons. He saw something very exciting from the book.

By this point already, Zhang Tie felt that the two gold coins had been valuable.

In the book "Oriental Occultism Phenomena", Zhang Tie had some more surprising discoveries. The author of this book mentioned that in the east, since the ancient times, monks and masters from mysterious schools had been guiding their believers to set free various animals to cure their diseases and health problems. Many tricky diseases that puzzled doctors in hospitals could see amazing treatment effects after the patients set free live animals. The author of the book also recorded how he accompanied a businessman who had a long-term eye disease to visit a master to cure that person's eyes. The occultism master told the patient that if he wanted to cure his eye disease, he only needed to set free crabs.

After hearing the master's enlightenment, that person truly went to the crab sales center, tasked this by the mast, to buy some crabs and then set them free in the sea. He insisted on doing that twice a week. Each time he would buy several bamboo baskets of crabs. Several months later, the miracle happened. His eyes were cured without even taking any medicine.

That person then went to the temple to extend his thanks to that master and asked him about the karma. The master told that person that as those crabs on the market were supposed to be cooked by people, before they were killed, all of them would become blind first. Since the man had saved those crabs and gave them a new life and sight, as payment, they gave him their sight too.

The author of this book was a scholar in the western continent. He attributed this phenomenon to intricate oriental occultism. However, Zhang Tie knew this was not occultism at all; it was true karma. All the crabs's appreciation to that person for saving their lives converged into spiritual energy which could help that person recover his health.

The spiritual energy could not be seen by naked eye. However, water could sense it. The author of "Water Knows the Answer" was a scientist before the catastrophe. Through studying water, he found that the awareness energy of human and all other living beings could be projected onto places outside their bodies. This energy projected onto places outside their bodies then could influence the surrounding environment on macro substance level.

When this energy was projected into a cup of water, it could make water form various crystals. The more love and positive emotions were included in the energy, the more regular and beautiful the water crystals would be. The more hatred, fear, and greed were included in the energy, the more disordered and ugly the water crystals would be.

When he read this, Zhang Tie was suddenly enlightened. He understood the source of the Fruit of Redemption. Each Fruit of Redemption came from condensed positive awareness energy of some organisms projected onto Zhang Tie because of their appreciation for his act of saving them.

As Zhang Tie had that marvelous small tree, it could gather all the positive energy and present it in the form of the Fruit of Redemption. Since others had no such marvelous small trees, although the same energy worked on them and could also bring great benefits to them, they could not see it nor know the method of extracting and converting this energy into a precious item.

When he read this, Zhang Tie felt that the two gold coins were very valuable. He recalled the "story of an ugly stone" told by Donder—the same thing had different values for different people.

For a cart driver, if you wanted him to spend two gold coins to read some books, he would regard it as a waste of money. He wouldn't understand how the content in these books could benefit him either. In contrast, for Zhang Tie, the knowledge and information in these books performed as a pair of super clear glasses, enabling him to see farther and think of many things that he had not thought of before.

The alleged cultivation could be carried out in a more special pattern.

Zhang Tie was filled with pleasure.

In the book "Initial Exploration of Human Beings' Special Professions in Black Iron Age", Zhang Tie saw the introduction to that mysterious profession of rune master for the first time. In that age, due to studies and the development of mysterious runes, some mysterious and powerful professions had come into being, among which, rune master was the top one.

What concerned rune origin and their principles, the author didn't know them either. He only knew that the application of runes was related to people's spiritual energy, which might be one of the top secrets in the world. From the time when the runes appeared, they could be categorized into two kinds.

Before the catastrophe, there were many mysterious knowledges about various runes in various religions and mysterious groups in all the ancient civilized countries headed by China in the eastern continent. After the catastrophe, people discovered some runes in the earth core world and some prehistoric civilized ruins.

After one-thousand years' integration, the two rune systems formed the universal runes usage pattern in the world today.

In this book, the author only gave a brief introduction to various knowledges and mysterious professions dealing with runes. From it, Zhang Tie could see that the author didn't know much about the runes. After reading this book, besides confirming that his binding skill was a rare kind of rune skill, Zhang Tie got nothing new.

Since he read the books very fast, after finishing the previous books, he had a lot of time left. He then hurriedly read some more. As the books on the fourth floor were all relatively expensive, Zhang Tie chose to read the publications off before the catastrophe here first.

That's how he ended up reading two books on the Internet, which was a miracle before the catastrophe.

Zhang Tie was really puzzled by that marvelous Internet world. There, what Zhang Tie did in this private library was really inconceivable. With that Internet, anybody could do a lot of things: obtain mountains of information, interact with other people, make friends, write letters, talk with others, entertain themselves, make money, hold conferences, find wives, pilfer, monitor and follow-up that news, etc.. That Internet could even manipulate various machines and weapons to launch wars.

That world was really too unimaginable for modern people.

After reading the books on the marvelous Internet, Zhang Tie searched for books about organisms, especially weird animals.

In a book "Animals Galaxy", when Zhang Tie saw the introduction about some earth worms on a colorful photo, he was shocked as if struck by a lightning bolt. His body started to quiver all over. The paragraph of words and the photo finally cleared up his inspiration that had flashed across his mind last night like a light that broke the darkness.

Earth worms, as trivial annelids, had strong vitality. They could grow new parts no matter how severe their injuries were, even if they were slashed into several fragments. Because of this strong vitality property, small earth worms became one of the most powerful organisms in this galaxy.

Compared to the earth worm's super strong recovery ability, Zhang Tie's wounds were trivial.

Zhang Tie finally caught that inspiration that had flashed across his mind...

...

He ate his supper in the library too. Not until the place was going to be closed did Zhang Tie leave this private library. After that, he stopped a horse taxi and told the cart driver to drive him to a neighboring cheap adults' clothing shop. After buying several sets of average clothes for changing, Zhang Tie returned to his rental estate.

When he came back, Zhang Tie took out his pocket watch to check the time. It was already later than 10 pm. . Mr and Mrs Green on the first floor and the young couple on the second floor had long fallen asleep. With common fluorite lamps hanging above the passageway, it was neither too dark nor too bright.

In order not to wake them up with his footsteps, Zhang Tie stealthily moved upstairs with many bags of clothes, big and small. The room on the third floor was also dark, but Zhang Tie didn't pay much attention to it. However, when he came to the fourth floor, he saw a person pulling his door handle, trying to use the key in her hand to insert in to the lock, yet continuing to fail.

Chapter 223: Female Tenant and Earthworms

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

From the person's back, Zhang Tie realized that it was a woman as she wore a pair of high-heeled shoes and a short skirt, the bottom of which reached her knees. She seemed drunk. She kept swaying right and left as she tried to pull the door handle.

"Hmm... it's so strange, how can this lock have so... many holes... which one is real... are you cheating me too..." the woman murmured as if in sleep. At the same time, she repetitively attempted to insert the key into the lock, yet failed again and again...

Standing behind that woman, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on her. After confirming that this was not a trap, he finally walked close to her and patted her shoulder.

The woman slowly turned back. She was a 30-odd mature woman with wavy maroon hair. With a fair face, she would've been very enchanting, but her face was all red from drinking too much.

Because she wore a pair of high-heeled shoes, when the woman turned back, she was even a bit taller than Zhang Tie.

"Lady, this is my residence. I think you've come to the wrong place. You must live downstairs!"

Zhang Tie tried to behave like a gentleman.

"Even you... a kid.. .is also trying to cheat me?"

The woman lowered her head and watched Zhang Tie with drunk eyes before starting to cry.

Hearing the woman's drunk words, Zhang Tie was really startled.

The moment he took out his key, ready to say something more, he did not expect that the woman would quiver as she bent in her waist and made a sound, "Wu...". At the same time, she covered her mouth with his hand.

When Zhang Tie felt that something was not right, the woman had already vomited something wet onto him, splattering most of his shirt. After that, the woman felt weak and went directly to the ground where she instantly fell asleep right outside the door's of Zhang Tie's residence.

Dumbfounded, Zhang Tie just stood there. He felt a bit dizzy from the wet and weird odor of drunkenness below his neck.

"Ah..!"

After realizing what had happened, Zhang Tie burst in to shrill shrieks. He then opened the door and rushed into the residence as soon as possible. After throwing away the paper bags, he immediately rushed into the washroom. Peeling off all the clothes, he turned on the shower head and hurriedly washed himself.

Even if the cold water made him quiver all over, Zhang Tie couldn't wait a moment. He just gritted his teeth and soaped himself. After scrubbing himself clean under the shower head for ten minutes, he finally walked out of the washroom in a clean bathrobe, his mouth and face turned green.

When he walked out of the washroom, Zhang Tie was still quivering all over due to coldness. But he was furious inside. After hurriedly putting on two sets of slightly warmer underwear, he opened the door once again, aiming to find the woman trouble. Unexpectedly, when he walked out, she was still lying on the floor outside.

Squatting down, Zhang Tie patted her face and got no response, instead, his hands got wet with her tears. He then pushed her, but still got no response. Zhang Tie then became dumbfounded as he scratched his head, not knowing what to do.

Should he just leave this woman who had vomited all over him here alone?

Zhang Tie intended to ignore her, however, at the sight of her lying on the ground like this, he started to pity her.

'Well, I will send her downstairs.'

Zhang Tie's plan was not bad, however, the moment he wanted to pull the woman up, he remembered that his physical condition didn't allow him to pick that woman up. He could not even move such a heavy person by dragging her.

In the end, Zhang Tie could only sigh. Squatting behind the woman, he lifted her upper body. After that, he pushed his hands below her armpits. With his hands crossed before the woman's breasts, he intended to drag her into his residence.

Zhang Tie almost forgot that it was a woman instead of Huck or Snade. Although there was a layer of cloth between them, the soft and super plump touch of the woman's breasts made his heart pound. Zhang Tie hurriedly moved his hand lower and put them below her breasts, exerting his utmost effort to drag the woman beside the sofa in the parlor.

Previously, he could carry half a ton of items for dozens of kilometers, but right now, he felt tired even after dragging a woman for a few steps.

After getting her into the parlor and pushing hard with his hands and shoulders to place her onto the sofa, Zhang Tie was already oozing sweat all over from such a short exercise.

Sitting down on the ground, he panted for a while. After that, he took off the woman's high-heeled shoes and closed the door. Deciding that the woman will not wake up any time soon, Zhang Tie went back to the washroom to clean his military uniform which was dirtied by the woman and hung it on the rack.

It was almost 12 pm. by the time Zhang Tie finished washing his clothes. When he came back to the parlor, the woman was still sleeping soundly, so soundly that she even looked like she'd lost her consciousness.

Zhang Tie carefully glanced over her—at the age of about 30 years, she was plump and tall, and worse a short skirt, shirt and a black ceremonial robe. With concave and convex parts, her figure was very charming. Additionally, she had a good features. Sleeping on the sofa, the woman was filled with a mature woman's lure, especially that pair of beautiful and glamorous breasts beneath a thin shirt which were really like those of Miss Daina.

Zhang Tie's heart started to pound for no reason.

At this time, it was a bit cold outside. Seemingly feeling the chill in the air, the woman started to tightly hug herself around the waist. Because of this instinctive movement, she almost popped her breasts out of the collar of her shirt.

Zhang Tie then took a deep breath and moved his eyes away from the woman's sexy parts. After that, he returned to his bedroom and fetched a thick blanket to cover the woman's body. A bit later, her also threw some firewood into the fireplace in the parlor. He then poured pine oil on to the firewood and lit them. After a short while, the entire parlor warmed up.

Zhang Tie had no experience in looking after drunk women. After checking everything in the parlor, he felt it was okay and returned to his bedroom, closing the door of his bedroom as he was used to. After the whole day long torture, Zhang Tie felt tired. He threw himself onto the bed and fell asleep.

...

The next morning, he was woken up by a shrill scream. Hearing it, Zhang Tie quickly rushed out of his bedroom. When he came to the parlor, he found the woman kneeling down on the sofa, using his blanket to cover her crotch with an expression full of fear.

"Who are you? Where am I? What did you do to me last night?"

Seeing Zhang Tie coming out, the woman instantly became nervous and asked Zhang Tie the top three questions in her head.

"I'm the tenant of Mr. and Mrs. Green's house of the fourth floor. This is my residence..." Zhang Tie felt his teeth aching. "I covered you with that blanket, so please don't respond like you've been raped. Don't cover there using my blanket as you're still wearing knickers. When you were drunk last night, you lay outside my door, even vomited on me. I dragged you inside. Don't you remember it?"

With a sound of "Ah!", the woman immediately covered her mouth with her hand. She seemed to have recalled something. Although she was drunk last night, she didn't lose her memory. Putting down the blanket, she found that she was still wearing her clothes, including her knickers. The shrill scream and the movement of grabbing the blanket to cover her lower part were just an instinctive response of a woman who woke up to find herself in an unfamiliar place.

"Sorry, sorry, I drunk too much last night. I'm afraid that I went one more floor upstairs by mistake last night..."

After saying that, the woman's face blushed and she hurriedly escaped towards the door, having no face to stay here any more.

The moment she opened the door of Zhang Tie's residence, she realized that she was bare-footed. With a "sorry", she hurriedly ran back to the sofa and lifted her shoes before running out.

The moment she ran out, she found that her handbag was still on the table beside the sofa. With another "sorry", she hurriedly returned to take her handbag before leaving as fast as possible.

With the third "sorry", she returned and got her key from the sofa.

Zhang Tie was standing in pajamas in the parlor. Without saying anything, he just watched the woman going back and forth several times with her "sorry". It was his first time seeing a beautiful and mature woman in such an embarrassed state, therefore, he found it very interesting. In the end, he couldn't take it any more and burst out laughing. As a result, the misunderstanding due to being vomited all over by that woman last night immediately dispersed.

Now that he had already gotten up, Zhang Tie didn't plan to go back to sleep again. It was his big day today.

After he finished cleaning his face and teeth, he put on a set of average clothes and went out.

He ate breakfast in a roadside restaurant. When he walked out of it, he saw Rabby, who had made a silver coin yesterday, playing with several kids in a nearby garden.

Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he took a silver coin from his pocket; tossing it in his hand, he walked towards them.

The boy called Rabby noticed Zhang Tie walking towards them first, as well as the silver coin in his hand. Although seeing him in different clothes, the little boy could still remember Zhang Tie's appearance.

"Sir, what can I do for you?" Rabby asked with his eyes fixed on Zhang Tie's shiny silver coin. A silver coin meant a great amount of money for a little boy.

The other kids also ran over. With raised heads, they kept their eyes on that silver coin in Zhang Tie's hand as they forcefully swallowed their saliva.

"I have some questions, the one whose answer satisfies me will have this silver coin!"

The little boys nodded their heads repeatedly like chicks eating rice.

"Do you know earthworms?"

Everybody hurriedly nodded.

"Do you know where can I buy earthworms?"

All the little boys exchanged glances with each other while frowning their foreheads. They started to carefully think about it.

"Earthworms? Does anyone sell such little things? I've never heard of it before!"

"Sir..." After hesitating for a while, the little boy finally opened his mouth under the allure of the silver coin. "I've not heard about anyone selling earthworms in the whole of Blapei, but I know a place with a lot of earthworms!"

"Where?"

Zhang Tie revealed an interested expression.

"Last time when I went to my grandma's home with my mom, I saw a lot of earthworms. As my grandma lives in a rural area, many residents there tend to raise earthworms.

'Someone raises earthworms!' This was really a surprise for Zhang Tie. Heart pounding, he calmly asked, "Is that true? What do they raise them for?"

"They raise earthworms to feed chickens and ducks. My grandma told me that chickens and ducks grow very fast and lay better eggs after they eat earthworms!"

"Where's your grandma's home?"

"Right in the village called Chevli beside the small town Tonikas outside the city..."

"Here's one silver coin!"

Zhang Tie tossed that silver coin to that little boy who caught it with excitement.

Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could be that thrilled when he heard the news that someone raised earthworms.

He howled inside, 'Earthworms of Blapei, your savior's coming!'

Chapter 224: Chevli

Translator: WQL Editor: DarkGem

In the north of Blapei, Tonikas was a somewhat prosperous small town located in the suburbs. Beside it were vast, unoccupied lands. In an area of several square kilometers, there were some sparse farm villages. Zhang Tie estimated that the little boy's grandma was living in one of them.

By a horse taxi, Zhang Tie came to the small town Tonikas. When he arrived there, the elegant four-wheeled carriage that was only suitable to be driven on flat city roads could not continue moving forward in the wild as the path here was covered with pits, which was only suitable to oxcarts, which moved slowly, or directly riding a horse.

After paying a few dozens of copper coins, Zhang Tie got off the carriage at the small town Tonikas. He first inquired about the location of Chevli from someone in the small town, then walked directly towards it as it was only 2-3 km away from where he was now.

People in Blapei were honest and kind; additionally, Zhang Tie had his first lieutenant officer's certificate in his pocket. He was not afraid of troubles even moving alone.

The surrounding farming land was verdant and vigorous. Many farmers were working in their fields. At this time, the farmers in the farming areas surrounding Blapei had just finished sowing autumn wheat.

With wheat seeds, they could produce beer. Therefore, sowing wheat seeds became a great event in Blapei. By next summer, when they had to reap them, the people here would hold a grand wheat reaping festival.

Zhang Tie had heard from the driver that in order to celebrate the good harvest of the past year and that the wheat seeds were sowed, the beer festival, the most boisterous festival in Blapei every year, would be held next month. In it, all the girls in Blapei would present the beer which was brewed by them. The single girls who could brew the best beer would be the stars pursued by all the lads in the city. In the eyes of all men in Blapei, it was the happiest thing to marry such an excellent girl.

Zhang Tie kept walking on the path as he enjoyed the surrounding landscape. At the same time, he was considering all the details of saving those earthworms. This was the first but would not be the last deal that'll require him to set free earthworms. In order to make the Fruit of Redemption ripen and his body recover as soon as possible, Zhang Tie was well prepared to keep doing this for a long term.　

A person from another place suddenly wishing to buy earthworms that were usually taken as fodder for chickens and ducks, this would arise others' suspicions in any place. If he did not want to become their focus and be held back, he had better find a proper reason to persuade them.

Should he tell them that it was the secret to cure a disease in the east? He was afraid that everybody then would take him for a lunatic. What about other excuses then that would make others not to be curious about why he constantly set earthworms free?

Zhang Tie recalled Guardian God School which was a school that worshiped mother nature. The doctrine of this school included caring for everything of the mother nature's and letting her recover balance. The worshipers of that school loved flowers and grasses; of course, they also loved small animals. He might be able to use this point. Grandma Teresa had told him that some believers of this school truly had set free some animals that were locked up, enslaved, or going to be killed.

'Maybe I have to launch the Cave Barbarian Survival Mode once again this time' Zhang Tie mumbled inside.

After walking on the path beside a field for about one kilometer, creaks of wheels rotating around the axles drifted into Zhang Tie's ears. He looked back and saw an oxcart slowly driving towards him, carrying half a cart of dried wheat straws. The driver of the oxcart was a 60-odd man in a grass hat and coarse white linen clothes. Because the path beside the field was very narrow, at the sight of the oxcart driving here, Zhang Tie hurriedly stood aside, giving way.

"Lad, where are you going?" the old man asked enthusiastically, seeing Zhang Tie walking alone.

"Chevli!"

"Hoho, if you like, get on the cart, I'm going to Chevli too!"

The old man then stopped the ox.

Giving a smile, Zhang Tie climbed onto the oxcart and sat on the pile of wheat straws. Together with the old man, he headed for Chevli.

"Lad, you don't look like a resident of Chevli, what are you going there for, friends or relatives?" the old man asked.

"Hmm, I've just been in Blapei for a short time. I was told many families in Chevli were raising earthworms. Therefore, I want to have a look there!" Realizing that the old man might be a local resident, Zhang Tie immediately launched his "Cave Barbarian Survival Mode".

"Earthworms? Why?" the old man asked out of curiosity. "Shouldn't they be interesting only the the chickens and ducks?"

"The biggest function of earthworms is not animals' fodder!" Zhang Tie revealed a pious and innocent expression. "If I set them free in a wild field, they could make the soil more fertile when the spring arrives. Benefiting from this, the land will be more vigorous and everything will flourish. Those trivial organisms are the gifts from Gaya, the Mother of Land!"

As he heard Zhang Tie's explanation, amazement flashed across the old man's face. He then glanced over him once again. "Are you a believer of Guardian God School?"

"Yes, I lived in Blackhot City before where I made contact with the Guardian God School. I'm a pious believer of the Guardian God School!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile.

The old man then hesitated for a while. "There are truly many people raising earthworms in Chevli village and its surrounding villages. You're right. However, it might be very difficult to persuade them to gift their earthworms to you because of what you say, but you should go and try. Maybe someone really would like to do that!"

"Of course I will not let others gift their earthworms to me for nothing. No matter what, the earthworms were their private properties. Therefore, I plan to buy the earthworms that they raised before setting them free!"

"Buy them, you mean you want to buy the useless organisms?"

The old man became even more startled.

"Of course, even if I'm a pious believer of the Guardian God School, none of the doctrines tell us to plunder others' properties or support ourselves by letting others suffer from a loss for a right thing!"

Hearing Zhang Tie's words, after several seconds, the old man felt a bit a bit shameful as he asked Zhang Tie in a low voice, "Uhm... if you want to buy, how much do you want? I raise a pond of earthworms too!"

Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet an earthworm raiser in such a short time. It was really as lucky as having a pillow whenever you want to have a sleep.

"How much do you feel I should pay for the earthworms they raise there?" Zhang Tie asked the old man.

"If you can pay 20... no, only 18 silver coins for a pond of earthworms, I guess most people will want to let you have those useless organisms!"

The old man's face slightly blushed as he felt uncomfortable about bargaining with a kind young man for those little things that nobody would buy at all before.

'He's really an adorable old man.' Zhang Tie smiled inside.

"Then I will pay you 21 silver coins for one pond of earthworms..." Zhang Tie looked solemn and merciful. "As long as I can send these adorable little things back to Gaya, the Mother of Land, and enable this land to be more vigorous, I won't mind spending a bit more."

Hearing Zhang Tie's words, the old man became even more bashful.

The oxcart kept rocking on the path as it drove forward. After leaving the path, the road became a bit broader so two oxcarts could pass at the same time. However, the road situation was still not good. Sitting on the oxcart, Zhang Tie chatted with the old man and gradually learned many new things.

The old man was named Harley, a local farmer of Chevli. Many people in the village were truly raising earthworms, even many families in the surrounding villages were raising earthworms too. People raised them here for two reasons: first, it was convenient to raise earthworms; second, if earthworms were used as fodder for chickens and ducks, they could save a lot of grains.

After rocking for over ten minutes, Zhang Tie finally arrived at Chevli village, which only included more than a hundred households. Few outsiders would visit this small village normally. Especially, people like Zhang Tie, who was a Chinese youth. Sitting on the oxcart, once he entered the village together with Harley, he had caught many people's attention.

"Hey, Harley, who's that Chinese youth sitting on your cart? Is he Hanna's man..." someone started to ask standing beside the road.

"Go away..." Harley became impatient as he wove his whip. He didn't explain what Zhang Tie was here for at all. When there were fewer people around them, he became nervous as he turned back and said, "Uhm... my earthworms..."

"Don't worry, I will definitely buy your earthworms before considering others'!"

After working in the grocery store for several years, Zhang Tie owned a pair of sharp eyes. Certainly he knew what Harley was concerned about. Although Blapei's people were simple and honest, they were still not hostile to money. Especially in rural areas, like in other such places, besides selling some grains in harvest seasons, people normally would have few chances to make extra money.

Zhang Tie soon caught sight of the place where Harley raised his earthworms.

It was a small pond built of bricks and cement which was deeper than 30 cm, while covering 7-8 square meters. The small pond was surrounded by hedges in case chickens and ducks came inside to eat them. It was covered with straws to prevent sunshine from reaching it as well Beneath the straws were a pile of cow and fowl dung, duck feces, and soil.

This was how people raised earthworms. After piling up the dung of livestock together with wastes and covering them with straws, they didn't need to care about the fodder for chickens and ducks any more.

Zhang Tie knew that his last hope and the holy miracle of redemption lay in the dirty dung and wastes.

For the first time, Zhang Tie was filled with awe with the creator's arrangement for each life.