Castle of Black Iron

Bilis squatted on the side of Mr. and Mrs. Green house’s parterre, eyes red, face blue. He was quivering all over with some dew on his clothes. Given his look, this ruffian might have waited next to the stairs through the whole night. Since it was already autumn, even if he was a 30-odd youth, it was still not easy for Bilis to stay overnight outside.

The moment he caught sight of Zhang Tie going downstairs, Bilis picked himself up and walked towards him. He then immediately knelt down before him with tearful eyes.

"I will follow your orders from now on, and will do whatever you want me to do!"

Last night, Bilis didn’t even dare to return home; instead, he hid here for the night. Previously, he considered to leaving at once, but if he left this familiar place, he didn’t know where he could go and what he could do in the chaotic world.

If he stayed in Blapei, though, Bilis knew that once those people whom he had crippled recovered, what awaited him was a pain-to-death outcome. After thinking it over carefully, Bilis found that his means of livelihood was that place where he picked up the iron rod last night. That young officer who could beat him into the hell with only one word was his last hope.

Even now that person could kill him at any time, but he could also make him live at any time. He had no other choice but this.

Of Zhang Tie, after experiencing what had happened last night, he had an instinctive fear—those ruffians would use weapons to kill people, but Zhang Tie only needed to move his lips. Certainly, Bilis knew who was sharper.

"It seems that you’re not that foolish. Have you thought it through?" Zhang Tie asked him.

The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Bilis showed more awe to him. It turned out that this man already knew what was his next step. Forcefully swallowing his saliva, Bilis nodded.

"Then, follow me!"

Zhang Tie walked in to the lane, closely followed by Bilis.

...

He went to eat breakfast in a hotel on the block. He also ordered one for Bilis along with a glass of brandy to help him warm up. This made Bilis feel really flattered. Although they sat on the same table, Bilis was as obedient as a primary school student. He dared not make a noise when he drank and ate.

Zhang Tie kept eating his own breakfast without a word. He didn’t even glance at Bilis. After breakfast, he cleaned his mouth with a napkin and put down his knife and fork.

Seeing Zhang Tie putting down his knife and fork, Bilis, who kept gnawing at food, not daring to make a noise, hurriedly swallowed and put down his own knife and fork. With hands on his knees, he obediently listened to Zhang Tie’s words.

Zhang Tie was less than half his age, but before him Bilis was as obedient as a rabbit in front of a tiger.

"Your name is..."

"My name is Bilis..."

The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Bilis hurriedly answered, afraid of offending him.

"Hmm!" Zhang Tie cast a glance at him. "How much did that guy pay you to beat me last night?"

"Two... two gold coins!"

When the conversation shifted to what had happened last night, Bilis started to restlessly twist on his chair. He knew that the scumbags led by Beise would never dare to offend an officer of the Norman Empire. Beise was really a bad-luck scumbag, who didn’t even figure out Zhang Tie’s status before moving against the latter. The outcome was that everybody got a miserable lesson.

’Two gold coins?’ Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded. ’There were at least ten ruffians last night. Would they risk their lives for only two gold coins?’

Thinking of this, he found that his attitude was now different from before, especially on money.

Two gold coins was a small amount of money to Zhang Tie now, but it was a great sum of money for small figures living at the bottom of society. Of course they would agree to beat him up for over ten silver coins per person, as this amount of money were not a small figure for both villagers of Chevli and those ruffians.

Wasn’t he himself very jubilant after gaining two silver coins after being beaten up by fatty and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood several months ago? At that time, he even begrudged spending several copper coins to go to school by a public vehicle.

As he started to recall his previous living, Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded. When he spoke up again, it was already half a minute later.

Bilis was nervously watching him, afraid of him being annoyed.

"Don’t worry, I just recalled something before!" Zhang Tie smiled as he comforted Bilis. "Do you know what I want you to do now?"

"No... I don’t know!" After saying this, Bilis flattered Zhang Tie once again, "I’ll do whatever you want me to do!"

"Go to Beise and get back your compensation!"

"Ah..."

Bilis widely opened his mouth. He really had not imagined that Zhang Tie would order him to do this.

"However, the amount is not two gold coins, but twenty gold coins. You go to Beise and tell him this is the price for him finding people to beat me. I dispatch you there, so he’ll definitely give you the money!"

Zhang Tie leisurely sipped a mouthful of juice.

Bilis tried his best to remain calm as he forcefully swallowed his saliva. "Do you want me to bring this money back to you?"

Zhang Tie forced a smile as he joyfully looked at Bilis. "Do you think I’m that kind of person who would rip someone off using this affair, or that I urgently need twenty gold coins?"

"Oh, no, of course not, I just, I just..."

Since he was a bit nervous, a lot of sweat oozed out on Bilis’ forehead at once.

Zhang Tie then interrupted his speech. "No more explanations, I know what you want to say. I don’t need that money. It’s for you. You will arrange this amount of money, then take it and go find your partners whose legs you’ve broken last night. This amount of money will be for their medical treatment and settling-in allowance during this period. Tell them that you’re working for me and let them follow your orders. Do you need me to teach you about such a simple thing!"

Face blushed, Bilis thought of something before his face turned gloomy once again. "Then, how should I deal with my bo... boss then?"

"Boss?"

Zhang Tie didn’t understand what Bilis meant for a second as the moment he heard the appellation, he immediately thought of Reinhardt.

"I mean that guy who rushed towards you, the guy with a nose ring. He’s our boss. His name is..."

Seeing Zhang Tie’s narrowed eyes, Bilis lowered his voice. Finally, he didn’t even dare to look straight into at those eyes...

Saying nothing, Zhang Tie just calmly looked at Bilis, who then became as restless as if he was sitting on a needle. Under the silent gaze for more than seconds, Bilis gritted his teeth and bottomed up the cup of brandy in front him.

"I know what to do next..."

Several minutes later, Bilis left the hotel. Before which, Zhang Tie told him their secret way of contacting each other and then told him to collect recent news about the spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei.

After experiencing what had happened last night, Zhang Tie found that his power was too weak in Blapei. This place was not like Blackhot City where he had a lot of friends and brothers who could look after each other in an emergency. If it was not Mr. Green who had stealthily warned him, he might have suffered a lot from those ruffians.

Given their performance last night, among the ruffians, two of them were LV 2, one of them was LV 3 while others were all LV 1. On the premise that he had not enough binding chains and based on his current situation, he might have been wounded if he got surrounded by them.

Feeling the crisis, Zhang Tie made the arrangement last night. These guys might not help him too much, but if they could be his lackeys, they could also help him a lot. In emergencies, these lackeys could also be dispatched at any time so as to prevent a similar situation.

They were all jobless people who usually hung round with those scumbags in the entertainment venues and beer hotels at the bottom in Blapei and survived on casually solving small troubles for others. Their lives were in the poorest situation as they could only keep themselves from starving to death. They were scumbags who would fight others for only dozens of copper coins and and get killed.

What had happened last night, this kind of business paying two gold coins was the biggest one that they received for the past half a year. Their monthly compensation might not be enough for Zhang Tie to buy a pond of earthworms in Chevli village.

He only needed to throw 2-3 gold coins to these people per month to make them obediently follow all his orders. Even if they were ten lowest-level hatchet men, they would definitely work for him for only 2-3 gold coins. No matter what, he didn’t lack money now.

...

The atmosphere in Blapei wasn’t at ease yet. The amount of sentries and patrolling soldiers across the city were no less than yesterday. Zhang Tie thought that maybe what he had done to those spies of the Sun Dynasty last night had not been discovered.

He took a round in the Equipment Administration today again. Whether he was talking with Second Lieutenant Pi Ping or learning vehicle repairing after taking off his military uniform and lying on the ground, Zhang Tie felt that he was really learning a lot.

Facing such an officer who liked learning without lording over others and could get along well with other people, all the experienced technical sergeants in the Equipment Administration surrounded Zhang Tie to impart all their experiences and technologies on repairing vehicles to him. In this way, with experienced teachers’ hand-to-hand teaching and a great number of vehicles suffering from various problems, Zhang Tie today learned more than many people could learn in a month at school. .