Castle of Black Iron

Under the glare of Captain Kerlin, the five had no choice but to take out the money from their pockets. The least contributed was five copper coins while the most contributed was ten copper coins. Zhang Tie put the coins into his pocket without any hesitation. When it was Barley’s turn, the damned fatty took out nine copper coins from his upper pocket and said while shaking and presenting an embarrassed but flattering smile, “You win...”

Looking at Barley furiously, Zhang Tie didn’t say anything. He didn’t move back his hand at all. “Are you sure that was all of your money? You know what the wager was. All of it, all of it...” Zhang Tie stressed the three words. They had been classmates for several years. Zhang Tie naturally knew how much the damned fatty had since he was always the richest among them and always took groups of people to restaurants.

Barley and Zhang Tie glared at each other for a few seconds as their nose continued to bleed. Barley noticed Zhang Tie becoming increasingly confident with his raised shoulders. When Zhang Tie pretended to open his mouth to release the news, Barley’s fat face finally twisted as his acne filled face turned blue. “Ho... ho... I almost forgot that I had some more...” saying this, with his eyes closed, Barley took out four shiny silver coins from his left pocket and placed them in Zhang Tie’s hands.

Seeing the four silver coins, Zhang Tie also opened his mouth slightly. “I’m rich now! One silver coins is equivalent to one hundred copper coins. He might have stolen his father’s money again...”

This was a “huge amount of money” for Zhang Tie; however, Captain Kerlin didn’t even glance at the silver coins. With arms crossed, he kept an eye on how Zhang Tie slapped the poor guys as one of his hands continue to stroke his short mustache, which was as hard as steel needles. Zhang Tie felt a little weak under the stare of Captain Kerlin.

“Erm, interesting. Boy, what’s your name?”

“Zhang Tie!”

“You were good at being beaten. You dared to bet with them in this way. Well, I’ll remember you!” saying this, Captain Kerlin left right away.

“Bighead, we’re even...” raising his head, Barley sat on the ground so as to reduce the nose bleed. “We beat you and you also beat us. You got our money, but you saved us. To be honest, we have to thank you!”

“You’re welcome...” Zhang Tie also hurriedly took out some toilet paper from one of the trouser pockets. He rubbed the toilet paper into two columns and tucked them into his nostrils to stop the nosebleed. “After all, we’re students. It’s ok to fight. I also didn’t want to see anything happen to you, just like how you didn’t want to see anything happen to me!”

With the paper in his nose, he spoke in a low and muffled voice. It felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“Do you have more paper?” Barley stretched out a fat hand.

Zhang Tie pulled out all of his toilet paper and divided it with them. The others instantly imitated Zhang Tie’s actions to stop their nosebleed. After a while, the six boys looked at each other and felt that it was very funny. A Chinese proverb came to everyone’s mind at this moment, “With scallions into the nostrils, pretend to be an elephant.” Motherf*cker, it was really ironic. Everyone wanted to laugh, but they didn’t.

After murmuring with the others with their heads lowered, Barley solemnly said to Zhang Tie something that Zhang Tie would never have thought of before.

“After what happened today, we felt that you’re good enough. Therefore, we have solemnly decided to invite you into our organization. We hope you consider it...”

“Your organization?” Zhang Tie glared at them in a doubtful manner. These craps shouldn’t establish an organization. They were just a ragtag group.

Noticing Zhang Tie’s doubt, the crew pretended to be magnificent. Although their depressive expressions were not persuasive at all, Zhang Tie could still feel their enthusiasm.

“Out of blows, friendship grows. We have a good opinion of you; therefore, we have decided to invite you after discussion. Don’t look down on us. Saplings today might grow to be towering trees in the future. Nobody is born to be a big figure. Once we have united, we will win a place in Blackhot City sooner or later!”

The words moved Zhang Tie. Unimaginable. These guys should not be this ambitious. Compared with them, he would be the most timid one. Barley noticed that Zhang Tie was somewhat moved, so he continued, “We will graduate this year. After graduation, we basically have to serve in the army for eight years. We may encounter dangers and frustrations. It is really hard for one man to survive in this age, but brothers can always help you with whatever you meet in the future. There will always be a solution. With the help of brothers, we will not be easily bullied even in the troops!”

The last words finally moved Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie began to be interested in their organization. “What’s the name of the organization?”

“Hit-Plane Brotherhood!” said Barley proudly.

Hit-Plane Brotherhood? Zhang Tie suddenly felt a chill when he thought of the scene from this morning where the group stood and masturbated in front of the windows. It was said that people had already invented an aircraft called the plane that could fly in the sky. Only god knew how and when “masturbation” became associated with planes for the numerous adolescents. Zhang Tie could never think through how the dull and boring manual single-cylinder piston movement was related to that aircraft. He felt that the most holy place in his heart was stained when the scene of the damned fatty Barley masturbating in front of the windows that faced Miss Daina came to mind.

“I’m willing to join, but you have to promise me one condition!” Zhang Tie told Barley after several seconds.

“What condition!?”

“Nobody is allowed to treat Miss Daina that way in school from now on!” the 15 year old young man felt great when he said this. Zhang Tie was a bit thrilled. No matter what, although he was weak, he could still protect Miss Daina in his own way.

“No problem, that’s a deal. From today onwards, you are one of us!” the fat Barley responded frankly. It was not the first time for them to do this to Miss Daina. Even so, many animals in the school were doing the same thing every day; however, after today’s event, the crew also realized what they did this morning was too risky. It was truly over for them if they were seen by Captain Kerlin. It was not an excessive condition while at school. No matter what, no one would stop them if they did that at home.

Zhang Tie joined the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in this fashion. The crew’s spirit rose with their new member. They seemed to have forgotten what had happened just now. Zhang Tie also didn’t intend to give them their money back. He had made this decision, and if this damned fatty Barley asked for him to pay back in the name of the brotherhood, then he would instantly leave this motherf*cking brotherhood. Zhang Tie also understood the other members, which included Barley, Doug, Sharwin, Bagdad, Leit, and Hista. He was familiar with them as they were all classmates. The only contemporary rule in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood was being confidential about all situations regarding the brotherhood. They had no boss, and all decisions were determined through discussions.

What amazed Zhang Tie was that the brotherhood was divided into different ranks ever since it was founded several months ago. Everybody agreed with the rules and considered it to be very fair. Barley naturally enjoyed the highest rank. According to Hista’s explanation, Barley might be the largest contributor to the brotherhood; therefore, only Barley was qualified to be a Lv 2 member which meant Barley himself could vote twice each time. Consequently, a Lv 3 member could vote three times. As for Zhang Tie, since he was a new member, with the exception of Barley, he was only qualified to vote once like the others.

When walking out of the woods, the fat Barley looked at Zhang Tie and hesitantly said, “That... the money...”

“It’s mine!” Covering his pockets, Zhang Tie looked at Barley in an alert manner.

The damned fatty scratched his head embarrassingly with a bitter smile, “It’s fine. Let doug wait for another couple of days...”

When the others heard what Barley said, they showed an obscene smile.

“Doug was really unfortunate today, hahaha......” squinting his eyes, Sharwin laughed. “What bad luck!”

“He had waited two weeks for today!” Hista shrugged his shoulders.

“Let him wait a few more days...”

“Then his face will be full of acnes!”

“Hahaha......”

Zhang Tie couldn’t understand what they were talking about at all. However, he felt the way they talked was somewhat obscene.

“Hey... hey... you will know about it later. This is benefit for members!” Barley said secretly.