Castle of Black Iron

Seeing Zhang Tie parking the car, Lan Yunxi turned to watch Zhang Tie, "What do you want?"

"I won’t go to the alliance command!" Zhang Tie started to back his car rapidly while staring at the rear-view mirror.

Under Zhang Tie’s manipulation, the powerful military SUV moved back several meters before changing its direction quickly.

"You won’t go to the alliance command?" Lan Yunxi widely opened her eyes at once.

"Hmm, I have free time now, I can show you something cool and let you know the feeling of being a poor student. I will show you the taste of being not excellent in others’ eyes..." as Zhang Tie said this, he changed the direction and headed for the southwest, instead of Mocco City.

"Are you insane? Don’t you know that this reward ceremony is mainly prepared for you? The alliance command will reward a human glory medal to you. So many big figures are waiting to see you in the command. By this chance, you can accumulate many human resources. Many people might not have such a rare chance in their lives and you refuse it?" Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie like watching a lunatic.

Zhang Tie pursed his lips stubbornly, "After all, the order of commendation has been delivered. This is just a ceremony. Those big figures have nothing to do with me. Just treat it as playing truant in the school meeting!"

Lan Yunxi drew in a deep breath, "Take me to Mocco City. I will go there!"

Zhang Tie pulled up the safety switch on his left hand and locked all the doors at once. Only he could open them.

"Douchebag!" Lan Yunxi tried to open the doors; however, she couldn’t.

"As you’re in my car, you have to follow my order. You’re abducted by me today. You should obey my intention. If you disobey, humph...humph..." Zhang Tie sneered ferociously as he kept driving forward.

Crossing her hands, Lan Yunxi sat aside with an angry look. She ignored Zhang Tie for quite a while, Zhang Tie just drove his car silently. After 10 minutes, it stopped raining while it gradually became sunny.

"Where are we going?" Lan Yunxi finally opened her mouth.

"Hehe, I thought you would not ask about that. Don’t worry. I will not abduct your wealth or sexually harass you. You will know that soon!" Zhang Tie smiled.

Zhang Tie had a good memory. After looking at the flight chart of the Selnes Theater of Operations, he had remembered that there was a glider base over 40 km away in the southwest of the Crystal Battle Fortress. He wanted to take Lan Yunxi to that place.

Realizing that Zhang Tie had made his decision to not go to the alliance command in Mocco City, Lan Yunxi didn’t speak anymore. Not knowing why, she felt completely relaxed while staying with Zhang Tie.

"Why not take off your dress?" Zhang Tie suggested Lan Yunxi. After hearing his words, Lan Yunxi instantly glared at him. Zhang Tie hurriedly clarified, "The military officer’s ceremonial dress looks nice; but it looks a bit tightening. As we’re not going to attend that reward ceremony anymore, don’t make yourself so restrictive. Relax yourself."

Lan Yunxi glanced at Zhang Tie twice before silently taking off her major’s ceremonial dress, exposing her blue long-sleeve shirt.

Watching that plump breasts under her shirt, Zhang Tie whistled.

"Actually you can undo two buttons. It’s not raining now and is getting hotter. Don’t be that restrictive, young girl!" Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva as he urged.

Lan Yunxi gave a ferocious punch on Zhang Tie’s head, causing him shriek miserably.

However, Lan Yunxi, whose face slightly blushed revealed a wisp of smile at her mouth corners at once.

...

Only after 20 more minutes, Zhang Tie had already seen that glider base.

There were two methods to set off a glider: to throw the glider by airship in the air; to drag the glider into the sky by airship. The gliders in this base set off with the second method. The gliders in this base could also serve as a supplementation of the airship troop in the Selnes Theater of Operations. This base was also available for the gliders of airship troop to land in emergency after losing contact with the airship. Across the Selnes Theater of Operations, there were over 10 bases of gliders like this one.

This base was founded on a hillside, which was surrounded by wire net. A medium-sized battle fortress was defending this place.

Zhang Tie parked outside the gate of the base, where a second lieutenant on duty requested him to get off his car.

"Please show me your ID certificate." the second lieutenant asked after glancing at Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi on his side, who looked pretty beautiful after putting off her officer’s ceremonial dress and utterly different from her real status.

Zhang Tie handed that certificate of air cavalry through the window.

After opening Zhang Tie’s certificate, the second lieutenant became stunned at once. After that, he started to quiver all over. He watched the certificate, then Zhang Tie. Then, he instantly flushed while his eyes glittered...

"Ah, sir...aww...no, your excellency..." seeing the legendary figure that shocked the entire Selnes Theater of Operations, the second lieutenant immediately stammered. He wanted to call Zhang Tie sir; however, after remembering that Zhang Tie was a sergeant first class, which was higher than him, he found it improper to use that appellation. Therefore, he changed it into your excellency at once. Only general-level figures could enjoy the appellation ’Your Excellency’ in the army. Besides generals, only the winner of a widely accepted honor could enjoy such an appellation.

"Easy bro, just call me Zhang Tie. My glider is broken. Coincidentally, your base is not far from the Crystal Battle Fortress; additionally, I was told that the gliders in your base were good. Therefore, I want to borrow one and give this beauty a ride in the air. Is it convenient?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes towards that second lieutenant as he pouted his mouth towards the copilot.

That second lieutenant watched Zhang Tie, then Lan Yunxi. He then understood it at once as he revealed an obscene smile that was familiar to all men. The second lieutenant drew in a deep breath as he immediately chested out, "No problem. Of course, the gliders of our Hoorn Republic are the best. It’s our great honor to see you visit here, your excellency..."

After hearing that second lieutenant’s words, Zhang Tie immediately knew that this base was Hoorn Republic’s frontline base in Selnes Theater of Operations. "What a coincidence!" Zhang Tie became thrilled inside.

Hoorn Republic was a small republic state in Blackson Humans Corridor in the north of Kalay Mountain Range. It only had millions of people and covered over 100,000 square km. The overall national strength of the state could not even match that of a city. However, this state was very well-known for its glider sport in Blackson Human Corridor.

In Hoorn Republic, the glider sport had already become the quintessence of this state and a part of its countrymen’s daily lives. Some figures could be used to describe the influence of the glider sport in Hoorn Republic——1 in 7 people would have a glider or a hang glider; 1 in 4 people had an experience in driving a glider or a hang glider. However, the total amount of deaths caused by the glider sport each year in other countries of Blackson Humans Corridor didn’t even account for 1/10 of that died for the same reason in Hoorn Republic. The glider and hang glider export was one of the pillar industries in this state.

It seemed that many record keepers of the glider sport across Blackson Humans Corridor came from Hoorn Republic——Of course, before Zhang Tie shot into the sky.

Zhang Tie’s arrival shocked the entire glider base. Everyone in the base from colonel Ohlson to those below him felt honorable and proud about Zhang Tie’s arrival.

In the eyes of everyone in the base, it was not a request at all; it was completely the Selnes Eagle’s confirmation and trust about the manufacturing technology of the glider in Hoorn Republic. If not Hoorn Republic’s good reputation in manufacturing gliders, why would the Selnes Eagle borrow one here soon after his glider was damaged?

Only after a few minutes, the staff in the base had already prepared a WindTalker double-seat glider for Zhang Tie.

The wing of WindTalker was wider than that of the falcon. It was relatively shorter. It was specially designed as its horizontal empennage almost connected with its main wings. Additionally, there were two vertical empennages on its end.

The WindTalker was pushed into the track and hooked with the hauling cable on the capstan of the tractor. After Colonel Ohlson nodded towards Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie appreciated him. After that, under the gaze of a lot of soldiers in the base, he cradled Lan Yunxi and walked towards the glider, causing Lan Yunxi shriek.

"Put me down!" Lan Yunxi’s face turned red as she had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so audacious in the public.

"You’re now my juvenile delinquent who plays truant with me, you’re my woman. You have to follow me!" Zhang Tie told Lan Yunxi.

Seeing this, all the soldiers in the base burst out into laughter.

Zhang Tie put Lan Yunxi onto the back seat and helped her buckle up. After that, he quickly sat in the cockpit and drew up the canopy. He then thumbed up.

Being drawn by the ground tractor, Zhang Tie’s glider soon reached above 60 km/h on the track. The glider soon rushed to the end of the track. Under the effect of the ascending airflow from below the valley, the glider immediately separated from the hauling cable and flew in the air...

The glider constantly ascended. After hovering above the base for a while, it started to fly southward. As it wasn’t raining in the south just now, it was a bit hot there. After a short while, Zhang Tie had already found an ascending thermal flow. Like climbing on stages, Zhang Tie just drove his glider and constantly ascended through accessing to thermal flows one after another.

At the beginning, Lan Yunxi looked calm as usual. However, seeing the data on the altimeter constantly rising and surpassed 10,000 m, Lan Yunxi’s face slightly changed.

Zhang Tie kept ascending at a faster speed.

"I will take you to the highest point where nobody has ever arrived yet..." Zhang Tie told Lan Yunxi.

At 10,000 m, they had already been able to see the entire Selnes Plain; however, Zhang Tie didn’t stop.

After half an hour, Zhang Tie’s glider penetrated through the thick clouds like a whale jumping out of the water and arrived at a height that Lan Yunxi had never imagined before. Nobody else could arrive at such a height by the glider.

At that height, wind softened, ground disappeared. They were stepping on undulating, white cloud sea while facing a rainbow which stretched over the sky. The beautiful scenery made them suffocated...

After recovering her composure, Lan Yunxi suddenly recalled a term "stratosphere".

"How possible?"

When Lan Yunxi was greatly shocked, the shameless voice of the guy in the cockpit drifted into her ears.

"Chick, how do you feel by playing truant? Can you coordinate with me by some shrieks? If you feel suffocated here, you can just groan for a while. If you do that, I will have a sense of achievement. Don’t worry. It’s high here. Nobody would hear that. No matter what, this is our first time to reach above the clouds. A LV 12 great battle master should be adapted to such an environment..."

"Do you want to hear shrieks?" Lan Yunxi’s voice softened at once.

"Yes, can you coordinate with me?" Zhang Tie became thrilled.

"No problem!"

After a few seconds...

"Ah..." someone shrilled in the glider. However, it was not Lan Yunxi, but Zhang Tie. A hand of a LV 12 great battle master penetrated through the back of Zhang Tie’s chair as it ferociously pinched Zhang Tie’s arm.

This was Lan Yunxi’s first time to pinch a person’s arm since she was born...

...

The reward ceremony was ongoing in the alliance command of Mocco City. The conference hall was converged with stars, including all the noble ones coming from the central states alliance’s base in Mocco City. As those being rewarded showed up one after another, the atmosphere in the rewarding ceremony became a bit weird.

Because the main character that they wanted to see didn’t appear at all.

Everybody was looking around. Many were watching the entrance of the conference hall.

Some generals sitting in the rostrum of the conference hall looked as black as the bottom of a pot. When it was close to Zhang Tie’s name, a man in colonel’s suit entered the side door of the conference hall and came to the rostrum. He then lowered his body and whispered to Howard, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Howard slightly frowned his snowwhite eyebrows when he heard the whispers of the colonel. After two seconds, when the colonel left the rostrum, General Howard recovered his composure.

"May I have your attention, please. I’ve gotten the latest news. Our Selnes Eagle was on his way here. After finding some wing demons breaking through our frontline defense, Sergeant First Class Zhang Tie gave up the chance to attend this rewarding ceremony at once. He instantly drove to the nearest glider base and chased after the wing demons..."

After General Howard finished his words, the conference hall became quiet for two seconds before bursting out thunder-like applause...

"Only such a person is worth the honor of Selnes Eagle and the Human Glory Medal!"

"Sergeant First Class Zhang Tie is a real fighter..."

"We have to ask ’Holy War News’ to make a good report for it. We need to show all the soldiers how our Selnes Eagle fulfill his responsibilities for his honor!"

"Yes, yes..."

Excessive praise filled the hall. By contrast, Zhang Tie was traveling with her woman above clouds.

However, before those noble ones finished their praises, a ground-breaking boom had drifted into their ears, causing the crystal ceiling lamp to shake.

Alchemist’s bomb?

Everyone realized what happened at once. That boom was less than 1 km away from here.

All the people sprung up from their seats as they exchanged glances with each other with the confused look...

"What’s happening?" General Howard became infuriated as he smacked the table and stood up.

After a few minutes, they knew what happened. A military SUV with the driving license of Jinyun Country was boomed by alchemists’ bomb on the avenue 1 km away from the alliance command.

The raider and all the passengers in the military SUV were killed. Besides, over 400 people were wounded and many buildings were damaged in the neighboring street.

The ones in the vehicle were an adviser and two retinues of the alliance command. 2 hours ago, the alliance command dispatched some people to investigate what happened to Zhang Tie in Crystal Battle Fortress. However, their vehicles anchored on the way there. Therefore, they could only come back by the SUVs of the Crystal Battle Fortress.

An adviser, some commoners and the SUV, the total value of which could never match that of an alchemist’s bomb. They were obviously not the real target. Who was the real target of the raider then?

After realizing that the Selnes Eagle would attend the rewarding ceremony by the vehicle of Crystal Battle Fortress today, everybody understood that the real target of the bomb was rightly the main character of this rewarding ceremony. The raider waited on Zhang Tie’s necessary route for the alliance command. At the sight of the SUV heading for the alliance command from the direction of the Crystal Battle Fortress, they launched the attack...

Everyone felt chilly at once...