Castle of Black Iron

The next noon, in the railway station of Blackhot City, the military train that was going to leave had already blown its first whistle, which indicated urgency and that the train was about to set off.

"Is everyone ready?" Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt asked, looking out the carriage for the last time. By then, the last soldiers of Iron-Blood Camp had jumped onto the train from the platform.

"Everybody is in!" Major Guderian cleaned his glasses. "Everybody and all the equipment is on the train! Besides one wounded soldier, everybody of Iron-Blood Camp is already in."

"Fine, set off!" Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt ordered. At the same time, he thought back to Zhang Tie’s young face and felt slightly regretful inside.

After blowing the third whistle, the military train started to move slowly.

"What a pity!"

Major Guderian took off his golden-frame glasses and slowly cleaned them with a piece of cloth. In the Iron-Blood Camp as a whole, only major Guderian and Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt knew that Gregory family had given Zhang Tie a vial of advanced recovery medicament once he left the hospital. If Zhang Tie had used that vial of medicament, he should have been able to follow in the steps of the Iron-Blood Camp. However, Zhang Tie was not here; therefore, major Guderian let out a sigh.

The carriage was filled with military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp. For Guderian’s slight sigh, nobody made any response, instead, they all kept quiet.

"Nothing to feel regretful about. This might be karma between people as was said by marshal Lin Changjiang!" Reinhardt stated, hitting the point.

...

The train sped up. Right then, people in the carriage of military officers seemed to hear increasingly louder voices shouting ’come on’ from carriages that carried common soldiers behind them.

Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt and many military officers were curious, and they looked out the windows once again. Everybody saw an SUV rushing out of the tunnel near the platform. Soon, that SUV caught up with a carriage between the middle part and the end of the train. The soldiers of Iron-Blood Camp in the carriage had opened the door and were shouting loudly to encourage the black-haired guy who was standing on the seat behind the driver.

With a large military pack on his back, he was holding a huge sword. With the encouragements, that man first threw in his luggage into the carriage before following it with his terrifying sword, letting some soldiers hold it for a moment. Finally, he jumped out of the SUV like a fierce tiger and rolled into the train’s carriage. Hit by this flesh-bomb, several soldiers screamed miserably...

Hearing the screams, all the soldiers who were encouraging him from the other carriages burst out laughing loudly.

At the last minute, Zhang Tie had arrived...

...

Five minutes later, somewhat embarrassed, Zhang Tie appeared in the military officers’ carriage where Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt was in.

"Boss, Zhang Tie, second lieutenant, platoon leader of Third Platoon, Fifth Company has recovered, I’m requesting to return to my troop!" Standing in front of Reinhardt, Zhang Tie gave a military salute to the boss of the Iron-Blood Camp.

"Agreed!" Reinhardt revealed a wisp of a smile at the corner of his mouth. Looking at this young man before him, he suddenly felt very happy. "Have you recovered?"

"Yea!" Zhang Tie patted his chest. "It’s already been a couple of days, but due to something, I’ve came back a few days later!"

"What thing?" Being a bit serious, Chief of Staff Guderian asked.

"Chief of Staff... uhm... you know that I’ve just had the circumcision... I’ve held back for over ten years and my girlfriends could not wait any more. But it was not convenient to do that in the camp..."

Zhang Tie became a bit bashful.

"Badass!" After swearing at Zhang Tie, Major Guderian couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Of course he knew how Zhang Tie had gotten his nickname ’Second Lieutenant Mummy’.

At the same time, all the other military officers in the carriage burst out laughing as well...

Zhang Tie then took a seat. As he saw Blackhot City grow smaller, many thoughts flashed across his mind.

...

At this time, at home, Alice was holding the delicate gift box packed in blue package paper, which was brought by Pandora and Beverly at Zhang Tie’s request. She was looking at the two of them with a curious expression.

"What’s inside?" she asked Pandora.

"Just open it!" Pandora smiled, encouraging her.

Alice then opened the outer blue gift box. Like all the other girls, the moment she saw the logos of Mrs. Diss and Milan as well as the flower, she also exclaimed.

When these items were put together, every girl would like it.

Alice then opened the two boxes inside, the bigger box contained a set of beautiful blue underclothes while the smaller box contained an expensive ring with a huge sapphire on it.

During the past week, Alice was in a low mood. However, filled with such a great pleasure, she immediately burst into a smile which was as fresh as a flower.

"Was it Zhang Tie who requested you to bring it here?"

Alice’s eyes were fixed on the two items in her hands, she loved them so much.

"Who else except him?"

"Why didn’t he come here himself?" Face blushed, Alice put the set of blue underclothes close to herself and found it well-matching. "That badass, lady-killer, who only knows how to make girls happy..."

"He didn’t know how to face you; therefore he asked us to send it to you..." Pandora calmly said.

"Where’s he?"

Alice’s movements became slightly stiff.

"Went to Kalur. He should be on the military train by now. The Iron-Blood Camp, which he’s in, was dispatched to join the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty in Kalur as the vanguard of No. 39 Division..." Beverly said dejectedly.

Alice’s face immediately turned pale.

"Did he say something for me before he left?" Alice’s voice trembled slightly.

"He had carved what he wanted to say on your ring!" Thinking of the words on that finger ring with a ruby on it that Zhang Tie had gifted her, Beverly started to drop off tears. So many people had sworn her as a bitch, male or female; however, only Zhang Tie knew she was as pure as ruby. With a good man like Zhang Tie, Beverly had been satisfied, no matter whether she could stay with Zhang Tie in the future.

"Wish you’ll be happier than a sea——Zhang Tie"

Taking the ring, Alice finally saw such a line of words on its back. She thought she could see Zhang Tie’s smile again...

That was a man who truly treated her well, a man who would be enraged at the sight of her being chased by a group of wild wolves, a man who would use his own body to shield her from a bolt at the most dangerous moment! When she dropped off tears before that man for the first time, that man controlled his greed at the most critical moment and silently put on his pants for her, leaving her her most precious thing.

Alice had not imagined that it might be her last meeting with Zhang Tie. When he was going to leave, he had people send this ring full of bliss to her along with a set of suitable underclothes chosen by him.

Alice then burst into tears, loudly, before rushing out of her home and running towards the railway station. She wanted to to have a look at that man for the last time, however, she failed to catch up with that military train in the end...

...

At this moment, in another place of Blackhot City, Barley, Hista, Doug, Bagdad, and Leit had taken out what Zhang Tie had left for them.

That was a leather case containing 600 gold coins and Zhang Tie’s letter to them.

The letter read as follows:

’Brothers, I will set off for Kalur. You’re my brothers. So are those brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp. They were ready to sacrifice themselves for me, so I can only sacrifice myself for them. I don’t want to make this like a will. But sometimes, I have to tell you the truth. Because I’m not god, there’s also a chance for me to not come back. Additionally, the casualty rate of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division is the highest in the Iron-Horn Army.

’If I give each of you 100 gold coins just like that, I know none of you will take it just like Sharwin. Because our friendship is worth more than this amount. Here, I want you to take them all. The reason is very simple. If I cannot come back, I just want to try my best to do something for my brothers. Why? Because the holy war between human beings and the demons will soon come.

’I was told this by the most reliable person when he left Blackhot City. I trust him. Maybe in the next few years, the situation of the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor will see a great change. Since Blackhot City won’t be safe then, you should plan to leave here as soon as possible. If I had the ability, I would’ve done more for you, but please forgive me, I can only do this. This money will be my compensation for the amount of coins that I’ve plundered from you at the beginning.

’Previously, I had a lot of words to say, but I don’t know how to say it all, so that’s it!

’If I survive and come back to find that none of you received my good intentions, I will be very angry. I swear to beat the sh*t out of any who does that.

’Hista, you bastard should better not take this money for women. You should think more about how to escape together with your women.

’Doug, you don’t look like that person who excels at making money or spending money. If you have trouble, don’t forget to negotiate with Barley that bastard. He will not let you suffer a loss.

Bagdad, when I left the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, I told manager Hance that if you would like to go there, they should arrange a very proper location for you, which is definitely better than being a serviceman in the fighting club where you are working at.

’Sharwin, no matter what happens in the future, don’t face it alone, remember that you’ve got so many good brothers.

’Barley, I know you cute Fatty are the most righteous one. I’m very happy to be brothers with you.

’Well, that’s all. Finally, I want to say, I’ve already done the circumcision and am not a virgin any more. You’d better not be curious about the process since if you knew, you’d be very jealous of me. I don’t want to wound your confidence as men and make you feel reluctant to raise up your head when you see me next time, ha... ha...

’Yours sincerely!’

Reading Zhang Tie’s letter, the group was on the verge of tears, but by the end, they all burst out laughing.

"Zhang Tie, this bastard!"

When Doug wanted to cry, he couldn’t stand but laugh, leaving a green snot bubble out on his nostril. Without thinking too much, he directly twitched it off and smear it onto the clothes of a person beside him. He even cleaned his hand on that person’s clothes...

Not until they finished reading did Hista realize that Doug seemed to have rubbed on his clothes twice just now. ’What does that mean?’ Feeling something not right, he lowered his head, and then immediately jumped up!

"Ah, Doug, you bastard! What disgusting thing have you smeared on my clothes? I’ll kill you, ah..."

...

In the distance, the military train that contained all the soldiers and equipment of the Iron-Blood Camp was driving towards the far off south. Looking at the disappearing outline of Blackhot City in the horizon, Zhang Tie mumbled inside, "See you, Blackhot City!"