Chapter 60

Without waiting for the line of dialogue to disappear, Zhang Tie had already stumbled over to it...

What a joke, being handsome and imposing. I almost got slaughtered like a pig tonight. You can't kill me, and now it's my turn to kill you. Zhang Tie thought with a fierce determination.

Although his body was still very weak, running was no longer a problem. Zhang Tie didn’t stop for a moment. As soon as he appeared at the Black Iron Castle, he immediately ran to his storage box...

Inside the storage box were the two powerful defensive weapons that Tang De had given him for the convenience store last time—the "Strong Rat Poison" and the dagger. The dagger, apart from the poison needle, had also been coated with snake venom on its blade, making it equally lethal.

Zhang Tie decided to take a risky move.

Running to the storage box, after just a few steps, Zhang Tie was already slightly out of breath, his limbs feeling weak. He quickly took out the bottle of "Strong Rat Poison" and the dagger from the storage box, squatted down, and took two deep breaths. It took him longer than usual, about ten seconds, to lock onto the archway in his mind again.

—Get out!

In the next moment, Zhang Tie appeared in the room, squatting on the bed.

After using it for so many days, Zhang Tie discovered a pattern: he would always come out where he went in, not a step off.

The noise outside was still loud, indicating that the inspection wouldn’t be over soon. Zhang Tie took several deep breaths, then made the smallest, most delicate movements to get off the bed, let his feet touch the ground, and bent over, tiptoeing to the pile of food. He first carefully and quickly examined the positions of the cups and plates on the table, then took out the "Strong Rat Poison" and, with a light and quick motion, opened the wine bottle on the table and poured half the bottle of rat poison into it. The remaining half of the strong rat poison, Zhang Tie poured into the bowl of thick soup on the table. He gently shook the wine bottle and stirred the thick soup, then restored everything on the table to its original state, leaving no trace. After that, Zhang Tie retreated to the side of the bed, lying down lightly, putting the bottle of rat poison back in his pocket, and pulling out the dagger, holding it in one hand, and pressing it under his body in the position he had been sleeping in...

Tang De said that the amount of poison in the bottle was enough to kill twenty elephants, and Zhang Tie didn’t believe that Hack and Sneider’s bodies were stronger than twenty elephants.

Nervous, so nervous...

Zhang Tie closed his eyes again, feeling his heart beating like a drum, extremely tense. He breathed in and out through his nose, repeatedly telling himself the same thing—“I am calm and relaxed!”

I am calm and relaxed!

I am calm and relaxed!

...

In this constant repetition, Zhang Tie gradually calmed down. This was a psychological suggestion taught in school, which was very effective at times.

Zhang Tie waited for Hack and Sneider to return...

Hack and Sneider stood outside their room with cold faces for about three minutes before seeing the innkeeper and several constables walk over. After confirming their names in the hotel guest register and asking a few extremely simple and stupid questions, the inspection was over. Hack and Sneider exchanged a glance and immediately saw through the real purpose of the inspection. The so-called inspection was just a way for the constables of Black Flame City to catch a few unlucky people who hadn’t returned to their accommodations after curfew to report to their superiors. No one expected a few fat and lazy constables to find anything, but it was better than nothing!

When the two returned to the room, Zhang Tie had just lain down on the bed for less than a minute. Everything in the room was normal. The two had just been at the door and hadn’t left, so no one had come in. The food was still hot, and the two continued to eat.

Hack drank some wine first, while Sneider only ate a little of the thick soup...

Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie watched their every move with a corner of his eye. When Hack drank a large glass of wine, the hand holding the dagger tightened. He didn’t dare to focus all his attention on the remaining Sneider, as some people can sense when they are being watched.

Zhang Tie was very nervous. He was afraid that when the drug took effect on Hack, Sneider would still not have eaten anything toxic. That would be disastrous. However, after just a few seconds, seeing Sneider drink a large spoonful of thick soup, Zhang Tie was completely relieved, and the hand holding the dagger tightened even more...

Just one minute after Hack drank the wine...

“I feel a bit uncomfortable...” As soon as Hack said this, his face turned black, and he slumped backward, falling off the chair.

“Hack...” Sneider exclaimed, then immediately felt something wrong with himself and sensed movement on the bed behind him.

When Hack fell backward, Zhang Tie had already opened his eyes and slightly adjusted his sleeping posture to make it easier to stab with the dagger.

Zhang Tie’s voice was very light, but Sneider still noticed it. Sneider turned his head and met Zhang Tie’s fully open eyes. At that moment, seeing Zhang Tie awake, Sneider was even more surprised than when he saw Hack fall. However, out of instinct, he immediately pounced on Zhang Tie, the dagger in his hand like a snake’s tongue, aiming for Zhang Tie’s neck...

Zhang Tie, who was prepared, only had time to make one move—rolling off the bed to the ground, narrowly avoiding Sneider’s first attack...

When Sneider tried to stab Zhang Tie, who was lying on the ground, his face changed, and his movements slightly slowed. He then tried to throw the dagger at Zhang Tie, but this moment sealed the final outcome—many people trembled at the mention of the strong rat poison, which was even controlled by the government.

At a distance of less than a meter, Zhang Tie, lying on the ground, pressed the mechanism on the dagger, and two poison needles instantly shot into Sneider’s abdomen and thigh. The strong snake venom on the needles immediately paralyzed Sneider, and his hand, which was about to raise, was frozen in place. Then Zhang Tie jumped up and stabbed Sneider’s heart with a fierce blow.

Sneider, who fell to the ground, did not die immediately but opened his eyes wide, looking at Zhang Tie, his lips moving, “Why...”

Sneider had too many questions. He couldn’t understand why a young man who had just been checked and found to be in a state of hemorrhagic shock had recovered so quickly. He also couldn’t understand where Zhang Tie had gotten the dagger and the poison from. When they caught the young man, they had searched him inch by inch, and not even a fingernail could have escaped their search. He couldn’t understand why these things were on Zhang Tie, why, why...

Sneider died with a chest full of questions and resentment, his eyes wide open until the end.

Kneeling on the ground and panting for a while, Zhang Tie gradually recovered from the dizziness caused by anemia. The small tree wasn’t omnipotent, and his strength and blood hadn’t fully recovered. Now, Zhang Tie felt weak all over, and the previous move had exhausted him. After the strike, Zhang Tie felt sweat on his forehead and a slight feeling of exhaustion, as if he had just run a 10,000-meter race on the school playground. The past few minutes were the most dangerous he had ever experienced. In just a few moments, the fates of the three people in the room had been reversed.

Zhang Tie survived, while Hack and Sneider became two corpses.

Zhang Tie knelt on the ground, adjusting his breathing, and his mind raced, considering how to deal with the aftermath. Zhang Tie knew that he had really gone too far this time, and a small mistake could cost him his life. He needed to think carefully and leave no trace.

The scene in the room was bizarre. Two black-faced corpses were on either side of Zhang Tie, who was kneeling on the ground like a statue, motionless for a long time. The noise from the constables’ inspection in the inn hadn’t completely subsided, and some voices could still be heard outside the door.

Three minutes later, Zhang Tie, who had recovered a bit, stood up. He first checked Hack’s body and confirmed that he was indeed dead, then abandoned the idea of a finishing blow and dragged Hack’s body over to Sneider’s. He then searched the entire room, including the two bags of luggage that Hack and Sneider had. With the two bags hanging from his body, he bent down and carried Sneider’s body, disappearing from the room a few seconds later.

A minute later, Zhang Tie reappeared, this time with a waterproof cloak he had found in their luggage. He packed all the food and utensils on the table into a small bundle and hung it on his hand. He then walked to Hack’s body, squatted down, and with great effort, carried Hack’s over 100-kilogram body in his arms, disappearing again after about ten seconds.

This time, he was gone for a bit longer. About ten minutes later, Zhang Tie stumbled back into the room, pale-faced...

When Zhang Tie reappeared in the room, he had already changed into a new set of clothes from head to toe. Since Sneider’s build was not much different from his, he wore a piece of clothing from Sneider’s luggage, and over it, a hooded waterproof cloak commonly used by pioneers. After doing this, Zhang Tie carefully checked the room from inside to out.

—He flushed the blood in the toilet and used the bathroom towel to carefully clean up the blood on the floor, both his and Sneider’s.

—He righted the chair that had fallen to the ground.

—He tidied up the bed.

—He confirmed that none of his belongings were left in the room.

One check wasn’t enough, so Zhang Tie checked again. Sometimes, he felt a bit neurotic. Finally, during the second check, he picked up a few black hairs that had fallen on the bed.

Before leaving the room, Zhang Tie collected the towel used to clean up the blood, and after one last look, the room was cleaner than it had been after the inn’s cleaning. All pioneer inns required payment before accommodation, so when the two were to check out, the inn staff would only think that Sneider and Hack had left at some point, not suspect anything else.

Nodding to himself, Zhang Tie, wearing Sneider’s clothes and with the hood of the cloak pulled up to cover his head and face, slightly lowered his head and quickly left the inn. If not carefully examined, the inn staff would mistake the person leaving for Sneider, which would be the last clue Sneider left in this world...

When Zhang Tie left the inn, he glanced at the clock—11:52 PM, eight minutes before the final curfew...

The constables had just left, and everyone was used to guests like Zhang Tie slipping out of the inn right after the constables. Every pioneer was a bold person.

After leaving the inn, Zhang Tie walked for a while in the dark alleys and small roads. About 200 meters from the inn, he found a dark, unoccupied corner, quickly took off the cloak and Sneider’s clothes, and threw them into a roadside trash can. By the next morning, a homeless person or beggar in Black Flame City would find a small surprise in the trash can.

After discarding the clothes, Zhang Tie wrapped the towel, which was stained with his and Sneider’s blood, around a stone and threw it into a smelly sewer. With all evidence eliminated, Zhang Tie finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After finishing this, Zhang Tie avoided the main roads and well-lit streets, quietly sneaking back home, while thinking about how to deal with his mother’s questioning when he got home—this was the first time Zhang Tie had come home after midnight.

...

“Stop!” A low, stern voice startled Zhang Tie, who was quietly walking around the corner. Then, several lanterns shone on Zhang Tie’s face, and a squad of Black Flame City soldiers caught Zhang Tie, who was out after curfew. Zhang Tie’s eyes were momentarily blinded, and he heard the sound of crossbows being readied in the darkness. He quickly raised his hands, not daring to move.

“What are you doing?” A man in his twenties, with a sergeant’s rank, his right hand on the hilt of his sword, walked over with a cold face, somewhat wary. Once he saw that Zhang Tie was about fifteen or sixteen years old, not carrying any weapons, and had a pale face, his expression relaxed a bit.

“I... I’m going home!” Zhang Tie stammered. In just a moment, he found himself surrounded by ten soldiers, some of whom had crossbows, making him dare not move. He had already gotten past Hack and Sneider; if he failed here, it would be truly stupid.

“Going home, what were you doing so late?” the young sergeant continued.

“Today... I went out to play and forgot the time?”

“Where do you live?”

Zhang Tie gave his home address...

“Are you still in school?”

“Yeah, it’s the last day tomorrow!”

“Your area, I remember, you should be attending the Ninth Middle School, right?”

“I’m at the Seventh Boys’ School!”

“Oh, right, the Seventh Boys’ School. Is Mr. Fiore, who teaches biology, doing well?”

“The biology teacher at school is Ms. Dina, and Mr. Fiore teaches law!”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s final answer, the sergeant’s face broke into a smile, and he raised his hand. The soldiers around him immediately put away their weapons, and the atmosphere relaxed.

“Boss, this kid is your junior!” one of the soldiers said.

Zhang Tie looked at the Black Flame City guard sergeant in front of him, surprised to find that he was also a graduate of the Seventh Middle School and his senior.

“My name is Joey, and I’m also a graduate of the Seventh Middle School. Junior, it’s curfew now, why are you out so late?” The tone of the sergeant named Joey became much gentler.

“This... I went out to play tonight, and... I got too absorbed and forgot the time!”

Seeing Zhang Tie’s pale face, his unsteady gait, and his stammering, Joey seemed to understand immediately, and everyone else did too. They all burst into laughter. In the past two days, they had caught several students like Zhang Tie after curfew.

“Junior, is this your first time experiencing a woman before the survival trial? Be careful!” Joey advised, “Anyway, since we’re on the same route, follow us, and we’ll take you part of the way to avoid getting caught by another patrol later!”

Zhang Tie was surprised to find that this senior named Joey was so helpful and followed the patrol squad to a crossroads about 200 meters from his home before parting ways.

Seeing the light still on in his home, Zhang Tie felt a bit nervous. Usually, his parents would be asleep by this time, but today, they were clearly waiting for him. When he got home, he indeed found his parents still sitting, waiting for him. His mother looked furious, and his father looked submissive, as if he had been scolded by his mother. Hearing the door, and seeing Zhang Tie return, both of them looked relieved.

His mother was the first to rush over, carefully examining Zhang Tie. Seeing his pale, sickly appearance, she felt both heartache and amusement, and poked his forehead hard several times. In the end, she didn’t say anything, just glared at the two of them, huffed, and went upstairs.

Then his father came over, carefully examining Zhang Tie’s face, and poked his head hard several times. “Brat, you should know your limits. Coming home so late, your mother interrogated me, and I had to confess everything. My private savings are now empty, all because of you!” After saying this, his father turned to go upstairs but couldn’t resist turning back and asking, “How many times?”

This question made Zhang Tie’s face turn black, and he almost blurted out, “I haven’t even been circumcised yet!”

Seeing Zhang Tie’s silence, his father probably realized that the question was inappropriate for a father, so he cleared his throat and followed his mother upstairs, saying, “Your mother has heated up your dinner in the pot!”

Standing in the simple but warm living room of his home, looking at everything, and thinking about the scene an hour ago when he was being bled and the subsequent events, Zhang Tie felt like he had been reborn. Especially hearing his father’s last words, tears uncontrollably streamed down his face...

——

A chapter of over 5600 words, I hope you all enjoy it!

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