Castle of Black Iron

There was a graveyard on the hill over 30 kilometers away to the north outside of Blackhot City. After hearing that Angel and the other girls of Rose Association were buried here, Zhang Tie walked out of the north gate of Blackhot City on the dawn of January 7th, facing the withering, chilly wind.

Knowing that these girls had been good sisters at school, their family members decided to bury them together in the same place in case they were lonely.

The accumulated snow outside the city was thick. After each step, he would sink to his knees in the snow. Zhang Tie arrived there in two hours, one step after another, wearing an overcoat.

The five new graves were very eye-catching. Zhang Tie soon came to the front of them, which had been covered with white snow. After pulling off his gloves, Zhang Tie swept off the snow from the graves, revealing their black and white photos.

Facing the black and white photos, Angel’s blonde hair, Sharapova’s beautiful face, Nya’s shiny eyes, Hiltina’s entangled hair and Mia’s lovable dimples reappeared in front of Zhang Tie.

The time when he’d indulged with these girls seemingly happened yesterday. However, they already lay icily underground.

This was a so called parting between dead people and living ones.

Hot liquid flew out of Zhang Tie’s eyes and dripped onto the icy graves.

When no more tears flowed out, Zhang Tie lowered his body and kissed each of their graves before turning around and leaving.

After leaving the graves, Zhang Tie returned to Blackhot City one step after another. At the sight of the city gate of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie didn’t enter the city. Instead, he continued around towards the south of Blackhot City.

...

The animal trading market in the south of Blackhot City also became sluggish on such a cold day. Almost nobody could be seen over there. However, the manor of Master Abyan’s castle outside the city looked more magnificent and beautiful than it had over one year ago, because the former castle could not match the current status of Master Abyan anymore.

Last year, Master Abyan was promoted from red robe pharmacist to orange robe pharmacist. As a result, he reached the 6th brilliant stage of pharmacists world and became the most influential figure across Blackhot City.

At this moment, Master Abyan had already joined Norman Empire and became one of the vice chairmen of the Pharmacists Association of Brunswick Province of Norman Empire. His reputation had even spread to Nordinburg, the capital along the north border of the Norman Empire. Recently, Master Abyan went to visit Nordinburg at the invitation of the Pharmacists Association of Nordinburg. It was said that he would come back in a few days.

In a strictly hierarchical country, like Norman Empire, Master Abyan could be the noblest officer in Blackhot City by becoming an orange robe pharmacist of Norman Empire. He had a great influence in many aspects. He was even more influential than Colonel Leibniz in some aspects. At least, Colonel Leibniz could not casually access Nordinburg like him. Compared to a colonel, an orange robe pharmacist was undoubtedly more favored by some big figures.

Therefore, under the great influence of Master Abyan, the deaths of Angel and the other girls of Rose Association were covered. It was just caused by an accident. As the assistants of an orange robe pharmacist, some young girls had touched some fatal things in a warehouse full of poisonous substances and fierce beasts, and they were killed. That was too ”normal”. This case came to an end after paying some gold coins to each family.

In the eyes of Master Abyan they were just common girls in Blackhot City, and their deaths were nothing serious at all.

Of course, they didn’t die from an accident. In fact, they were murdered.

Susan and Fiona saw many weird wounds over their bodies, which were not caused by wild beasts but humans. Additionally, their blood had seemingly been drawn out. Angel’s right hand was holding something tightly. Susan and Fiona spent some time trying to open her fingers, while tears dropped from their faces before taking the ring out of her hand.

According to the secret, popular ”regulations” followed among girls of Rose Association, after a girl took off the jewellery gifted by a man, if she threw it away, it meant she was saying good bye to the man forever. If she still held it, it meant that she wanted to give it back to the man.

’If Angel had suffered an accident, she would have thought about saving herself instead of thinking about returning that ring back to me, as I was not present at all. It was also unnecessary to do that. Therefore, Angel’s action meant that she wanted other girls of Rose Association to return the ring to me. Angel wanted to tell me that she was still awake when she took off her ring. However, she knew that she could not see me any more while she was alive, because she had predicted her own fate.

This was what Angel wanted to tell me. If it was an accident, Angel would never do that. She was doing this to tell me how she was killed.

Angel was intelligent and proud. While the other girls didn’t think about it or had been unable to do this, she did it by tightly holding her ring, leaving a key message to me.

Who tortured them to death?

The answer was clear. Nobody else could have besides Master Abyan.

If Master Abyan was an idiot, he might have lost his control about his castle or perhaps someone dared him to kill his female assistants in his castle. However, the problem was that he was not an idiot. A young, energetic and powerful vice chairman of Pharmacists Association of Brunkswick Province of Norman Empire could never lose his control about his nestle. In Blackhot City, Master Abyan was known as a strict person. Therefore, nobody would be the murderer except him. If it was done by others, Master Abyan would never manage it using his own influence.

Standing on the hill, Zhang Tie watched the manor of the magnificent castle where Master Abyan lived with icy and dead eyes.

After remembering all the details about the manor, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After half a minute, he opened his eyes. Meanwhile, he grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it on his face. After that, he turned around and left.

...

After twenty minutes, Zhang Tie got into his exclusive car matched by Black Gold Hotel in a street of Blackhot City and shut the door, causing a ”bang” sound. He tried to recover his composure and figure out his next move.

”Go to Avenue Gregory!” After determining what to do today, Zhang Tie had the driver start the car.

...

Avenue Gregory was named after the surname of the Gregory Clan, which was one of the most influential clans of CSIF in Blackhot City. In the legend of Blackhot City, over half of the houses and shops in this avenue had belonged to the Gregory Clan.

Of course, Zhang Tie’s arrival had nothing to do with the Gregory Clan. He was here for a more important thing.

The car was parked outside a post office in Avenue Gregory. Zhang Tie stared at the broad plate ”Bionne Clinic” through the window for a short while. After that, he got out of the car and walked across the road towards that clinic.

The gate of the clinic was under the broad plate. Because it was cold and the New Year festival had just passed, there were few people in the clinic. A young nurse was sitting behind the reception desk. It wasn’t until Zhang Tie came to the front of the reception desk when the nurse realized someone had come in. She hurriedly raised her head as she hid the snacks.

”Argh, mister, are you sick?” asked the nurse with a round face as she looked at Zhang Tie.

”I’m not sick. I’m looking for Doctor Bionne!”

”Have you reserved an appointment with Doctor Bionne?”

”I don’t need a reservation!” Zhang Tie smiled as he presented the special pass delivered from the Ministry of Supervision of Iron Horn Corps to the nurse.

The special pass from the Ministry of Supervision of Iron Horn Corps was also the identification certificate for a military officer of the Ministry of Supervision in execution of a mission. In regions like Blackhot City, where it had just been conquered by Norman Empire by force, a certificate from a powerful military department posed a great threat to commoners. At the sight of Zhang Tie’s certificate, the nurse changed her facial expression at once.

”Argh...please follow me.” The nurse hurriedly walked out of the reception desk and led Zhang Tie in.

This clinic only covered a bit more than 200 square meters. After passing by the reception desk, a drug storage room and a diagnosis room, the nurse led him in front of another room before knocking at the door.

”Please come in...” a voice drifted from inside.

...