Chapter 44

Zhang Tie, of course, did not know that the two terrifying guys had come back. When those two were fumbling on the ground, Zhang Tie had already returned home.

Because there was one more person at home, and there might be another person in ten months, Zhang Tie's parents had not gone out in the evenings for the past two days. Instead, they stayed at home. The meals at Zhang Tie's home were also noticeably more abundant than before. From the taste, Zhang Tie could tell that some of the dishes were made by his future sister-in-law, and he had to admit, her cooking skills were pretty good.

When Zhang Tie got home, he found only his mother and his future sister-in-law there, while his father was not. It wasn't until after Zhang Tie finished eating that he saw his father return, drenched in sweat, carrying a ham on his back. Only then did Zhang Tie understand what his father had been up to.

After helping his father process the more than twenty-kilogram ham and hang it in the kitchen, Zhang Tie sniffed the meaty aroma of the ham, which he hadn't smelled for a long time, and said jokingly to his father, "Dad, you and Mom are really biased. I've been craving it for so long, but you didn't buy any. As soon as my sister-in-law came, you bought it. Am I really not as good as a grandson?"

"Brat!" His father laughed and tapped Zhang Tie on the head, "If you have the guts, don't eat it after your mom cooks it!"

"Heh... heh..." Zhang Tie laughed, but in his heart, he muttered, "I did something pretty gutsy at school today." However, he wouldn't tell his parents about school matters, as it would only make them worry. "By the way, Dad, how much did the ham cost?"

"58 silver and 60 copper coins, almost 60 silver!" His father said, somewhat pained, "It wasn't this expensive before!"

Zhang Tie was also shocked. This amount was almost his father's monthly salary. It seemed that his parents were really going all out for the future grandson. Seeing his father still pained, Zhang Tie leaned in and whispered, "We should also buy some fruit. That way, the nutrition will be enough, and the future Zhang family baby will be healthy!"

"Yes, your mom also... " Realizing he had fallen into Zhang Tie's trap, his father, embarrassed and angry, hit Zhang Tie's head a few more times, making Zhang Tie run around the house.

...

After his future sister-in-law came to live at home, Zhang Tie found that his plan to earn merit points at home was in vain. The house was cleaned and tidied up everywhere, and he couldn't even find a reason to sweep the floor. Zhang Tie could only sigh helplessly. It seemed he would have to find another way to earn merit points without drawing attention.

After dinner, his mother and future sister-in-law sat together to do needlework. Women from a tailor's family were never bad at needlework. Watching the skillful hands of his future sister-in-law, his mother's eyes squinted with joy. Zhang Tie helped them for a while, cutting some scraps of fabric for shoe pads with scissors, and chatting casually with his mother and future sister-in-law.

His days in this home were getting shorter and shorter. As Zhang Tie cut the fabric scraps, he thought, not to mention the last few months, even the few days he could spend with his parents at home were limited. After graduation, according to the "First Son Inheritance Act" and the "City Residency Act" of Black Flame City and the entire Andaman Alliance, everything in this home, including the city residency rights that his parents had worked hard for all their lives, would be inherited by his elder brother. As the second son, he would have to leave the city and family to forge his own future outside.

A young wolf must leave its parents' den when it grows up, facing the loneliness of growth alone. A fledgling eagle must leave its nest on the cliff when its wings are fully grown, spreading its wings to face the storms. Even an ant, when it grows wings, must leave its nest to explore a wider world and propagate its family. In this era, to survive, human laws and behavioral rules began to learn from the ways of nature, from animals and races with stronger survival capabilities. The "First Son Inheritance Act" and the "City Residency Act" are examples of this. To survive in this era, more and more people must bravely step out of the high city walls, armed with ambition and swords, to continuously expand human territory, fight against other races, eliminate dangerous creatures, and establish new cities and human settlements to accommodate more people. This is the survival law of humans in this era, not a matter of morality, but a reality and the need for all to survive. Cities are safe, but the population a city can accommodate is limited. Not everyone can live in the city. For families like Zhang Tie's, with only two sons, when the younger son completes compulsory education and begins his service, the "First Son Inheritance Act" and the "City Residency Act" automatically take effect. With the addition of a future sister-in-law, his elder brother's wedding is imminent, and as a young man about to enter society, the time he can spend at home is becoming less and less.

Zhang Tie had been intentionally avoiding this issue, trying to spend as much time as possible with his parents, telling jokes, and doing funny things to make them laugh, to ease the sadness of the impending separation. His parents also seemed to be avoiding the issue, deliberately not mentioning it. At school, with the final two months of wilderness survival training approaching, Zhang Tie knew that students in similar situations were already preparing for their younger brothers to leave home.

The time spent with his family seemed to be getting faster and shorter. The basket of fabric scraps in his hands was finished before he knew it. It was already late, and his mother was showing signs of fatigue. After a few more casual chats, Zhang Tie found an excuse, yawned, washed up, and returned to his small room in the attic.

Back in his room, Zhang Tie took out the triangular wooden plaque he had picked up and examined it repeatedly. He finally confirmed that the wooden plaque was indeed made of red thunder pine, with no hidden mechanisms or secret compartments. Apart from the natural lightning-like patterns on the plaque, it had no special features. If this wooden plaque were placed among a child's toys, it would probably be mistaken for a toy block.

Thinking of the guy named Hake's raised foot and the snake-like man's hands that had searched his entire body, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over again.

"Damn, two perverts, did you not have a childhood? At your age, you still carry such things!" Zhang Tie cursed, then directly put the wooden plaque into a cloth bag and threw it into the box of miscellaneous items in his room, not caring about it anymore.

After getting rid of the wooden plaque, Zhang Tie took a deep breath, closed his eyes, found the magical archway at the center of his forehead, locked onto it, and said in his mind, "Enter!"

— Welcome, noble and handsome lord, to Black Iron Castle!

This feeling was really great. Zhang Tie took a deep breath of the air inside Black Iron Castle. Whether it was an illusion or a psychological effect, although there were only a few small sprouts of plants inside the castle and the spiritual energy value was not high, Zhang Tie felt that the vitality here seemed to be growing more and more vigorous each time he came, and even the air seemed fresher than in Black Flame City.

Following the usual routine, Zhang Tie first checked the basic attributes of Black Iron Castle.

— Black Iron Castle

— Length: 1 Krosa

— Width: 1 Krosa

— Spiritual Energy Value: 23.5

— Merit Points: 56

— Basic Energy Reserve: 0.5

— Special Output: None

The basic data was still uninteresting. The spiritual energy value continued to increase due to the growth of plants, and it seemed to be increasing more each day. Today, the merit points earned were zero, with no gains at home or school.

After closing the basic attributes window, Zhang Tie went to his plot of land and carefully examined it. The potatoes were growing vigorously, and the corn sprouts had all emerged from the soil. The sprouted potato shoots had already started branching, with the longest ones growing to nearly ten centimeters. The potatoes in the "Pit No. 1" where he had invested three merit points for mutation and evolution still showed no special features. Zhang Tie speculated that the results of mutation and evolution might be related to the growth cycle of the species. It had only been a week, so it was normal to see no results yet.

After checking the plot of land, Zhang Tie went to the small tree and looked at the fruit, which had changed from a light green to a dark red, grown from the size of a grape to the size of an egg, and was now almost egg-shaped, about to ripen. Zhang Tie swallowed hard several times, checked the time, and found that it would take another four hours to fully ripen. He couldn't help but scratch his head and fidget. He squatted by the tree, staring intently at the fruit until his legs felt numb. He then stood up and walked around the tree, checking the ripening time several times, which was still four hours.

When Zhang Tie couldn't resist checking the ripening time one last time, he suddenly realized, "Zhang Tie, are you really that impatient? A man who can't even be patient for a little while, who loses his cool at the slightest provocation, how can he deserve Teacher Daina? A stalk of wheat completes its life cycle in one year, while a diamond takes hundreds of millions of years to be shaped by nature. A bean sprout grows in two days when soaked in water, but it is said that God took ten thousand years to create the olive tree, the king of trees. All wheat stalks end up as ash, and all bean sprouts end up as human and animal waste, while diamonds become treasures, and the olive tree becomes a symbol of sanctity. This is the difference between having and not having patience. In my life, do I want to be a wheat stalk or a bean sprout, or a diamond and an olive tree?"