Chapter 27

Still dreamless, Zhang Tie woke up at a little past six in the morning as usual, feeling his mind as clear as crystal and his body brimming with energy, as if he had been soaked in water like a cabbage overnight.

When he woke up, Zhang Tie first glanced at the alarm clock in the room, which read 6:08. Then he looked down at his shorts, where his little brother stood tall and strong, but his mind was free of any lewd thoughts. He reached in and felt around, but there was no sticky sensation on his underwear or stomach. It had been several days since he last had a wet dream. The quality of his sleep these past few nights had been astonishingly good. He remembered that after finishing his practice last night, he had urinated in the Black Iron Castle and then came out, falling asleep almost immediately. In such a situation, it had occasionally happened for a day in the past, but now it had been four consecutive days, which made Zhang Tie think carefully about the reason. After some thought, it seemed to have started from the night he merged with the Black Iron Castle. Since the topic was the Black Iron Castle, Zhang Tie lost interest in investigating further. To him, the only thing he could understand about the Black Iron Castle was that the land inside was real and could make potatoes sprout; everything else was beyond his comprehension.

He quickly got up, dressed, and finished washing up. Then he started a fire in the kitchen and put a few washed sweet potatoes in the steamer to prepare breakfast for his parents. After picking a washed raw sweet potato for himself, Zhang Tie left the house. Today, he left about an hour earlier than usual for school.

When he stepped out, it was still slightly dark. After finishing the raw sweet potato as breakfast, Zhang Tie started running on the road. The way to school was the same, but to Zhang Tie, this old road felt different, everything was so fresh. Even the raw sweet potato seemed to taste better than before. Zhang Tie decided to try planting sweet potatoes in the Black Iron Castle in a few days, as it wasn't complicated to grow them.

When one's mood is different, everything feels different.

By the time he jogged to school, the sky had just begun to brighten, and the school gates had only just opened. Although Zhang Tie wasn't the first to arrive, he was definitely one of the first. Looking around, the vast campus was almost empty of students.

The entire senior class building was empty, and Zhang Tie was definitely the earliest to arrive among all the seniors. After entering his classroom, he felt a bit guilty and quietly closed the door.

After the weekend, the floor of the classroom was still relatively clean, but a layer of dust had inevitably settled on the desks and chairs. Zhang Tie took a dried linen cloth from the window, looked around furtively to confirm no one was there, and then confidently and efficiently started wiping the dust off the desks and chairs, not just his own but everyone's in the classroom.

The dust that naturally settled on the desks and chairs wasn't hard to clean. A quick wipe with a cloth, a few taps at the window, and it was gone. This was the first thing every student did when they entered the classroom.

After twenty minutes, Zhang Tie had cleaned all the desks and chairs in the classroom. Seeing that people had started to arrive in the senior class building, he quietly slipped out of the classroom, took his time in the school toilet, and then slowly walked back. By the time he returned, the classroom was already half full. ——This surprise should be big enough, Zhang Tie thought with satisfaction.

The students in the classroom were indeed in an uproar, just as Zhang Tie had expected. Everyone was wondering who had cleaned the desks and chairs for them today.

It shouldn't be, who would be so kind!

"Hey, Big Head, you're here..." Seeing Zhang Tie, the fatso Bari walked over, hooking his arm around Zhang Tie's shoulder, and said furtively, "Did you notice anything different about the classroom today?"

"What's different?" Zhang Tie remained calm on the surface but was inwardly grinning with satisfaction. Praise me, hurry up and praise me, I'm waiting to hear it.

"Some idiot cleaned all the desks and chairs in our class, ha... ha..."

Zhang Tie's restrained smile froze on his face, and he glared at the fatso, wishing he could punch Bari's nose again.

"Did you brush your teeth this morning? Your mouth stinks!" Zhang Tie pushed Bari away with a dark face and sulkily sat back in his chair.

Only Bari was puzzled, sniffing his hand, "No, I brush my teeth every day!"

Listening to the chatter around him, Zhang Tie felt even more depressed.

"Who could it be, who would be so bored to give us a surprise like this!"

"Right, so stupid, it can't be someone from our class!"

"Don't say that, it might hurt someone's feelings. Maybe it's a junior trying to find a big brother in our class!"

"I bet someone has a crush on me and is confessing!"

"Then why clean all the desks and chairs in the class!"

"Maybe they have a crush on all of us, hahaha...!"

"Be careful, everyone's buttholes might not be safe..."

You bastards, if it weren't for the virtue points, I wouldn't care about you at all, Zhang Tie thought, gritting his teeth. He decided to check the virtue points in the Black Iron Castle when he got back. If the points for this were less than two, he would never do such a stupid thing again.

This was just a small ripple. By the first class in the morning, everyone had forgotten about it. The first two classes on Monday morning were survival classes, which covered a wide range of topics and were taught by different teachers. Each teacher would talk about what they considered relevant to survival. Once, a teacher even spent two hours teaching dating techniques, claiming it was a necessary skill for reproduction and the most important survival lesson. The class left the students in a state of excitement for a week.

Survival class was everyone's favorite because the atmosphere was relatively relaxed. It was more like a discussion with seniors about survival experiences, so it was very popular. As everyone eagerly awaited, the teacher responsible for today's survival class finally entered the classroom.

Seeing the most terrifying one-eyed man in Black Flame City, the relaxed atmosphere in the classroom instantly froze. Everyone straightened up in their seats, not daring to breathe. Captain Colin's presence alone was enough to crush the rowdy students into nothing.

The one-eyed man stood calmly at the podium, his sharp eye scanning each face like an arrow for a full minute without a word.

Zhang Tie, unsure of what the one-eyed man was up to, was also affected by the atmosphere and felt uneasy.

After making the classroom so quiet that everyone could hear ants crawling on paper, Captain Colin finally spoke.

"Everyone has heard about the Red Scarf Bandits. I won't repeat it here. Today, I will teach you the most important survival skill related to the Red Scarf Bandits. If you encounter a member of the Red Scarf Bandits outside the school, and that person stands in front of you just like me, what would you do? Don't rush to answer. Think about it for two minutes. The correct answer will be rewarded, and the wrong answer will be punished. You can discuss it..."

As soon as Captain Colin finished speaking, the classroom erupted in chatter. If a Red Scarf Bandit stood in front of them, what would they do? Looking at Captain Colin's imposing figure and the hint of expectation in his one eye, the students' blood boiled. What would they do to such a notorious, universally despised scoundrel? The answer was obvious...

"Of course, we would kill him!"

"Right, we would all go up and kill him!"

"Eliminate the scoundrel for the people!"

"Charge up and kill him!"

The students in the classroom started shouting. Some were still hesitant, considering their options, but those with ulterior motives, seeing Captain Colin's smile at the passionate "declarations," also joined in. The fatso Bari was one of them. Zhang Tie had been observing everyone's reactions. At first, only Doug and Baghdad from the Airplane Brotherhood were shouting to kill the Red Scarf Bandit, while Bari was looking down, squinting, and secretly observing Captain Colin's expression. The others were considering their options. Seeing the enthusiasm of the others, they gradually joined in. Shaven, who had no clear idea, followed Bari's lead, and Wright and Sista, who were initially hesitant, also joined the "pro-war" camp, turning the classroom into chaos.

Zhang Tie was also considering Captain Colin's question. Unlike the other hot-headed students, Zhang Tie thought of two things: Why did the always brave and strong Captain Colin raise this question in a survival class? If he really encountered a Red Scarf Bandit standing in the classroom, what would he do?

Some people like to follow the crowd when making decisions, but from a young age, Zhang Tie had developed the habit of questioning his own heart, a lesson taught by his mother. She said that everyone's life is the result of a series of choices made in different situations, and these choices, strung together, form one's life. Life is a path of questioning the heart...

Don't care what others think; act according to your heart, and if your heart is without guilt, your life will be without regret.