Chapter 26

"Ah, Dad and Mom, you don't need to worry about me. Look, the weather is so nice outside. You two should go for a walk. The city park or the reservoir on the outskirts, it will be crowded today. Go out and get some fresh air. I run around outside every day and have already had my fill of fun. Today, I'll stay at home and watch the shop, and take a break. I train so much at school every day that I'm exhausted!"

After lunch, Zhang Tie quickly tidied up the house and then pushed his parents out the door. His father worked six days a week, breathing in dust in the factory workshop every day. His mother was even worse, spending her days in the small space of the rice wine shop, where even turning around was a hassle. So every weekend, Zhang Tie, who didn't want his parents to feel their lives were too bleak, would find ways to "drive" them out of the house to get some fresh air. Today, he would stay at home and help watch the shop.

Seeing their obedient and sensible son, his parents were naturally pleased. However, as they left, his mother still reminded him, "Remember, don't raise the price of the rice wine yet. When regular customers come, tell them about the increase in the price of rice and ingredients. Let them know that if the prices don't come down next week, we'll have to adjust the price of the rice wine. They are all regular customers, so don't make them feel we're greedy and offend them!"

"I know, Mom, you've said it over thirty times. Do you think I'm that clueless?" Zhang Tie complained, feeling a bit hurt. He was fifteen, and for such a small matter, his mother always nagged like she was talking to a child or a mentally challenged person, which hurt his pride.

"Where did I say it thirty times? At most, five times!" His mother pretended to be angry, glaring at Zhang Tie and pretending to grab his ear. Zhang Tie quickly dodged and made a face at her, then ran into the rice wine shop, shouting loudly, "Freshly made Zhang family rice wine! Sweet, fragrant, and delicious! Men who drink it become strong, women who drink it become beautiful! Don't miss out as you pass by, six copper coins a bowl, more for a larger quantity..."

"This kid..." His father smiled and shook his head.

...

Watching his parents holding hands and disappearing down the street, Zhang Tie rubbed his chin, which was just starting to grow some fuzz. He stared at them for a long time, feeling a strange sensation. For some reason, even though his parents had been married for decades, every time they went out together, they naturally held hands, making Zhang Tie feel they weren't a married couple but a young couple in love, giving off an indescribable strange feeling.

Is this what love is? Zhang Tie didn't know. Honestly, his life experience wasn't enough to fully understand and appreciate it. But seeing his parents, he felt a strange sense of happiness growing in his heart.

Once his parents were gone, Zhang Tie sat idly in the rice wine shop, holding a fly whisk and occasionally shooing away flies. The sweet smell of rice wine attracted flies, especially in the hot weather. In a few months, during the summer, they would have to hang bamboo curtains outside the shop to keep the annoying flies away. But hanging the curtains would block the carefully arranged displays on the counter, and the shop's business would decline. This happened every year without fail.

It was mid-afternoon, and the sun was high in the sky. The birds that had been silent all winter in the sycamore trees seemed to have come out of their nests, chirping happily. The dappled shadows of the sycamore leaves cast patches of light and shade on the bustling street.

Outside the Zhang family's rice wine shop, a sign written by his father the night before hung: "Due to recent increases in the price of grain and raw materials, we expect to raise our prices next week. Please understand, new and old customers..."

His adorable father, if it were Tang De, he would have raised the price on the first day the price of rice went up, not wait a whole week.

Sitting idly in the shop for half an hour, he did a few small transactions, selling about seven or eight bowls of rice wine. He put the scattered copper coins in the drawer and soaked the used bowls and spoons in the washing bucket. As the sun climbed higher, his hand with the fly whisk grew weaker, and Zhang Tie felt increasingly bored. At his age, who could sit here all weekend chasing flies? But the more bored he felt, the more he admired his mother, who had sat here for twenty years.

When people are bored, they always find something to do. In his boredom, Zhang Tie decided to practice the "Abacus Mental Calculation." This skill had many levels. The lowest level, like what Zhang Tie practiced last night, involved closing his eyes and spending a long time visualizing an abacus in his mind and then performing calculations. The second level involved visualizing the abacus almost instantly without closing his eyes and performing calculations in his mind. After all, this was a practical mental arithmetic skill, and if it took hours to visualize the abacus and required keeping the eyes closed, it would be useless. The third level involved the abacus in the mind becoming almost intangible, where the answers to any calculation would naturally come to mind. This was the essence of "Abacus Mental Calculation." From there, the visualized abacus could have three, twelve, or even more rods, and one could perform multiple calculations simultaneously, or divide a multi-rod abacus into different sections to perform various calculations and get answers instantly. This was the highest level of "Abacus Mental Calculation," and once achieved, one could be called a human supercomputer.

Zhang Tie was skeptical that anyone could reach the highest level of "Abacus Mental Calculation" where one could perform multiple tasks and become a human supercomputer. But thinking of the vague words "Recommended for Elementary School Students" on the book, he felt a bit discouraged. It was as if some people were so superior that it was frustrating. Where was the elementary school that was so amazing? Zhang Tie even suspected that the old man who sold the book might have been telling the truth—that this "Abacus Mental Calculation" book might have come from the ruins of the pre-catastrophe era. That era was full of strange and bizarre things, and items from the ruins were equally peculiar. The expensive crystals used for cultivation in this era were just insignificant decorations in the pre-catastrophe era, and many people didn't even value them. Perhaps this strange book was indeed a common elementary school extracurricular reading material in the pre-catastrophe era?

Regardless, he would practice and see. It seemed that practicing "Abacus Mental Calculation" could also help restore mental energy. Zhang Tie wanted to confirm if this was true, but the word "incidentally" made him feel a bit disoriented, and the abacus he visualized with two rods instantly collapsed...

It was so difficult to cultivate mental energy, and now there was an "incidentally"...

This was really hard to accept.

As Zhang Tie sat in the small shop, half-closing his eyes, repeatedly visualizing a three-rod abacus and reducing the time from over ten minutes to about five or six minutes, two unexpected people appeared in front of him.

The fatso Barry and Doug, the two of them riding a bicycle. The burly Doug was pedaling hard, sweating profusely but smiling happily, while the cunning fatso Barry was sitting on the back. When Zhang Tie saw them, Barry, who had been scanning the street, also saw him.

"Here it is, brake!" Barry shouted, nimbly jumping off the back of the bicycle and landing on his feet.

Doug, who had been pedaling happily, suddenly screamed in terror, "Ah, brake, where's the brake, how do I stop, ah... help me..."

Bang...

"Damn it, this is the new bike my deadbeat dad just bought me!" Barry cried out in pain.

Zhang Tie covered his forehead with his hand and closed his eyes in pain...

Two minutes later, Doug, who was rubbing his sore bottom and grinning, and Barry stood in front of Zhang Tie's shop. Seeing Doug sniffing the aroma of the rice wine and swallowing hard, and Barry's smug smile, Zhang Tie cursed under his breath, took out two bowls and spoons from under the counter, opened the clay jar, and scooped a bowl of rice wine for each of them, pushing them fiercely in front of the two.

The two immediately beamed, not even saying a word of thanks, and slurped down their bowls in a few quick swallows. Seeing Doug's tongue circling the bowl, Zhang Tie really wanted to slam the spoon on his head. Could he be any more disgusting? No, the bowls used by this guy would have to be disinfected with boiling water.

Seeing the two finish and smile ingratiatingly, Zhang Tie quickly took their bowls and spoons, his face stern, "That was on me. Now, it's six copper coins a bowl. Do you want more?"

Doug immediately looked to Barry for help. The fatso Barry patted his waist and dropped a handful of copper coins on the table, "Delicious, one more bowl each!"

Zhang Tie didn't argue, swept the money into the drawer, and gave each of them another bowl. After finishing another bowl, Zhang Tie took their bowls and spoons to the washing bucket. When Doug looked to Barry for help again, Barry ignored him and turned to Zhang Tie.

"Cough... cough... What's this, rice wine?"

"Yes, rice wine! What's up?"

"Hehe, home visits are a great tradition of our Airplane Brotherhood!" Barry laughed.

"Alright, get to the point, I'm making millions every second..."

"Have you heard of the Red Scarves?"

Hearing Barry mention the Red Scarves, Zhang Tie was genuinely surprised, "I've heard of them, what's up?"

Barry looked around, lowered his voice, and quietly repeated the news he had heard from his brother, "I only found out last night and came to inform everyone today. Not many people know this yet. Be careful in the coming days, don't wander around at night, and don't leave the city unless necessary. The Red Scarves are ruthless killers. Don't you have a saying, 'When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer'? I don't want anyone in our Airplane Brotherhood to be that unlucky fish!"

"Did you come just for this?"

"Of course, do you think Doug and I came out in this heat for fun? After informing you, I still need to tell Savage and Sista. Alright, I won't affect your millions-per-second business..."

Seeing the fatso's face, Zhang Tie felt a bit touched, "Thanks, brother!"

"Then treat us to another bowl!" Barry said with a sly smile.

Zhang Tie held out his hand, wiggled his fingers, and made a gesture everyone understood.

"Ha... ha... We're off, next stop!" Barry patted the back of the bicycle, urging Doug to get on. Doug pushed the bike a few steps, turned to look at Zhang Tie, and hesitated, "Barry says... learning to ride a bike is good for flirting!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Your bike-riding skills are really great!" Zhang Tie gave him a thumbs up.

Doug was satisfied, nodded, and pedaled off, taking Barry with him...

Zhang Tie didn't expect the news about the Red Scarves to spread so quickly. In just two days, Black Flame City was in a state of panic...

Why think about these useless things? He should just focus on practicing his "Abacus Mental Calculation." What did the Red Scarves have to do with a small fry like him? Zhang Tie chuckled to himself.

In the evening, his parents returned with the news that the city's security measures had tightened, and identity checks were required to enter and leave Black Flame City in the evening.

After dinner, the neighborhood security officer Gregory, holding a lantern, knocked on the Zhang family's door, distributing notices to each household. No strangers were allowed to stay overnight, and any suspicious individuals should be reported immediately. Additionally, a curfew would be implemented in Black Flame City from midnight onwards...

Less than half a day after the fatso Barry left, the news about the Red Scarves had spread throughout Black Flame City, creating a sense of unease.

But none of this mattered to Zhang Tie. After dinner, once the security officer left, Zhang Tie washed up and returned to his small room, entering the Black Iron Fortress. After throwing a bag of garbage from cleaning the house and cooking into the Chaos Pool, he clapped his hands and opened the basic attribute panel of the Black Iron Fortress, satisfied with the latest attributes:

- Black Iron Fortress

- Length: 1 Krosa

- Width: 1 Krosa

- Spirit Energy: 1.8

- Merit Points: 43

- Basic Energy Reserve: 0.5

- Special Output: None

...

By sending his parents out to play and watching the shop all day, he earned 5 merit points. Adding the points from cleaning and cooking, he earned a total of 8 merit points today. The potato continued to sprout, increasing the spirit energy by 1.1, and a bag of garbage earned him 0.3 basic energy reserve. This was his day's harvest...

He then looked at the Mandarava Tree of Ten Thousand Fruits.

103 hours until the first fruit ripened...

Feeling wide awake, Zhang Tie took out the crystal that had been in the sun all day, sat cross-legged in the Black Iron Fortress, and began practicing the Palace Bright Spot. Through his experience in the Black Iron Fortress, he found that watching the colorful mists in the fortress, which resembled a palette, could mysteriously calm his mind and easily put him into a meditative state...

For the first time practicing the Bright Spot in the Black Iron Fortress, Zhang Tie quickly entered the state, coordinating his breathing. Under the dual effects of the crystal and mental energy, the Palace Bright Spot in his mind soon glowed with a blue light...

The only way to survive in this era was to continuously improve his strength. To improve, there were no shortcuts—only hard work, again and again. This was the belief Zhang Tie had followed for 15 years.

Even with the Black Iron Fortress, it was the same...

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