Chapter 63

Sned did not disappoint Zhang Tie. With just a touch in Sned's coat, Zhang Tie found the heavy money bag that had been on his mind all day. He took the money bag out from Sned's coat, shook it hard a couple of times, and listened to the crisp sound inside. Every pore on Zhang Tie's body opened up.

This sound was so beautiful. Zhang Tie felt it was the best sound he had ever heard. Even the beautiful singing of the choir in the church seemed dull and uninteresting in comparison, sounding as boring as a duck's quack.

Shaking the money bag again, Zhang Tie felt not only his pores but also his heart bloom with joy.

Shaking it again, Zhang Tie felt that all his efforts from yesterday were worth it.

Shaking it again, Zhang Tie felt as if he could see Daina's honest smile...

Shaking it again, the whole world seemed to come alive...

Holding the money bag, Zhang Tie, like a mentally challenged child, shook it in front of his ear, smiled foolishly, shook it again, and smiled foolishly again. He played this boring game for about five or six minutes before bursting into laughter.

Let me see how much surprise this money bag can bring me!

Opening the money bag, Zhang Tie, who was squatting on the ground, turned it upside down and shook it hard. With a rustle, all the money spilled out. The silver and gold glow almost made Zhang Tie faint with excitement. His hands trembled as he picked up a gold coin from the small pile in front of him and examined it closely. On the front of the gold coin was a large smoking locomotive, and on the back was the emblem of the Andaman Alliance, a 17-star ring. This was a gold coin issued by the Andaman Alliance, known as the "Locomotive" in the market. In his entire life, Zhang Tie had never truly touched a gold coin of his own. He weighed the heavy gold coin in his hand, feeling its weight, and his heart was filled with a sense of happiness.

With this bag of money, Zhang Tie became even more motivated. He continued to search Sned's body and found a leather medicine pouch on Sned's waist. Opening the pouch, Zhang Tie leaned in and smelled a strange medicinal scent. The pouch had several slots with bottles of different colors. Unfortunately, the bottles had no labels, so Zhang Tie could not identify their contents. Given his level of expertise, he could not determine what was in the bottles just by smelling them. After some thought, Zhang Tie put the bottles back into the pouch and placed it on Sned's body. These items were to be destroyed, and Zhang Tie had no interest in figuring out how to use them.

Apart from these two items, nothing else was found on Sned's body. However, Zhang Tie was still very satisfied.

After searching Sned, Zhang Tie searched Hake. Hake also had a money bag. Seeing this equally heavy money bag, Zhang Tie almost had a brain hemorrhage. Shaking Hake's money and Sned's money onto the ground, Zhang Tie took two deep breaths to calm his excited heart and began to search Hake's body again. This time, he found another medicine pouch on Hake's waist. Inside the pouch, Zhang Tie found four bottles of wound-healing medicine. These medicines were produced by the Continental Alchemist Guild, with standardized packaging and labels. Tang De's general store also sold these. Zhang Tie opened a bottle of wound-healing medicine, smelled it, and tasted a little with his finger. The medicine was potent and of good quality, indicating no adulteration. Finding a bottle of unadulterated wound-healing medicine on the market was difficult, especially in the shops near the train station, where adulterated medicines often contained yam powder, usually 5% to 20% of the medicine. Yam powder was harmless and hard to detect, a trick Zhang Tie had learned from the general store.

Money bags and medicine pouches, the standard equipment for pioneers, were found on both men. Apart from these, they had nothing else.

After searching their bodies, Zhang Tie began to go through their luggage. He had already briefly searched Sned's bag for clothes yesterday, finding only a few clothes. Hake's bag had not been searched. When Zhang Tie opened Hake's bag, he was surprised to find a palm-sized box. Seeing the box, Zhang Tie became excited because it was the kind of box used by high-end crystal shops in Black Flame City to package crystals of grade three or higher. Zhang Tie opened the box and found two white, transparent double-pyramid crystals, each of which was between grade three and four. Zhang Tie picked up the two pyramid crystals, and the pyramid-shaped shadows inside made him burst into laughter. Each of these crystals was of better quality than the grade three pyramid crystals in Tang De's general store, almost reaching grade four. The price of these two crystals alone was at least ten gold coins.

Zhang Tie felt an urge to shout to the sky.

Zhang Tie trembled as he counted his gains for the day. In terms of money, Hake and Sned had contributed 48 gold coins, 79 silver coins, and 34 copper coins. Although this amount might not mean much to some people, for Zhang Tie, it was a true fortune, equivalent to his father's four to five years' salary.

In addition, he had three and a half bottles of high-quality wound-healing medicine (one of which was half used) and two top-grade grade three pyramid crystals. The value of these two items was about 18 gold coins.

He had really struck it rich this time, and Zhang Tie was so excited that his face was almost twitching.

Although the two leather medicine pouches were worth some money, they were already worn and scratched. If these marks were seen by people familiar with Hake and Sned, they might be recognized. Therefore, Zhang Tie planned to discard them.

After emptying the contents of the storage box, Zhang Tie carefully put the gold coins, wound-healing medicine, and pyramid crystals back into the box in Black Iron Castle. He then returned and began dragging Hake's body toward the Pool of Chaos. The Pool of Chaos in Black Iron Castle was the best place to destroy evidence.

The Pool of Chaos was about 200 meters away from where Zhang Tie was, and Sned's body weighed at least 150 kilograms. Dragging it was quite a task. Zhang Tie started by dragging Hake's feet, but after less than fifty steps, he saw the heavy body plowing a shallow furrow in the soft ground. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he realized this method was more tiring. He changed his position, lifting Hake's upper body and squatting behind him, using his hands to support Hake's armpits, and dragging him head-first. This method was indeed much easier.

In times of danger, people can indeed unleash great potential. Dragging this 100-kilogram body was tiring, but yesterday, when he was so weak, he had still managed to carry this guy to Black Iron Castle. Zhang Tie began to admire himself.

While dragging Hake, Zhang Tie's arms inevitably rubbed against Hake's armpits. After dragging for another 50 meters, Zhang Tie noticed that the feeling on the inside of his right arm was different from that on his left. The right side, where it touched Hake's armpit, felt softer. It seemed something was padded inside Hake's clothes, sliding against Zhang Tie's arm as he dragged.

Could there be something else he hadn't found? Zhang Tie put Hake's body down and searched his armpit area again. He discovered a small, inconspicuous opening near Hake's right armpit. Unbuttoning Hake's coat, Zhang Tie reached into the opening in Hake's inner armor and felt a piece of fabric. He pulled it out from the hidden pocket.

Hmm, red fabric, and it's silk, quite expensive. What does a big man need a red cloth for? To ward off evil? This was Zhang Tie's first thought when he saw the red fabric.

Then, Zhang Tie unfolded the red silk fabric and found that it resembled the masks worn by executioners. The fabric formed a hood that could cover a person's head, with two holes for the eyes and a strange pattern on the forehead, featuring a black and terrifying skull.

Damn, what taste is this? I've never seen such an ugly mask in my life. Just as Zhang Tie was about to throw the red mask away, a thought flashed through his mind...

A terrifying red hood like an executioner's... a black skull on the hood... a bloodthirsty killer...

Zhang Tie's face turned pale. Looking at the mask symbolizing death and blood, a word suddenly popped into his mind—Red Turban Bandits...

Damn! The 15-year-old boy was so scared that he fell to the ground...