Castle of Black Iron

After linking the information that he got in Blackhot City to the information he was told by Hillman the old dog, Zhang Tie had a clear understanding about the current situation facing Blackson Humans Corridor.

The current situation was much more intense than that of one year ago. The demon army had started to move southwards. In the past ten months, three countries were consecutively destroyed by the demon army. In such a case, the countries of the Central States Union in Blackson Humans Corridor had to coordinate their forces so as to crack down on the demon disaster across the Corridor. Meanwhile, each country in Blackson Humans Corridor dispatched their elite force northward and cooperated with each other in case they were crushed by demons one after another.

At this moment, only some demon disasters in the southern countries were put to a stop. All the rest of the countries were filled with flames of war. A great number of refugees started to escape to the south after detouring around the demon-stricken areas. Since two years ago, those southern countries, especially Chinese countries, had started to transfer their population to the other continents at a large scale.

In such a large-scale holy war, the human population would be the major factor for humans to survive this war later on.

At this moment, the entire Selnes Plain between the north of Symbian Republic and Titanic Principality was the frontier for all the countries across Blackson Humans Corridor to defend against demons. The frightening super demon army was fighting the great army, which consisted of over 5 million people from dozens of human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor.

If the demon army broke the defense line of Selnes Plain, none of the forces across the vacant territory, from Selnes Plain all the way to the north of the Kalay Mountain Range of Blackson Humans Corridor, could defeat the demons. Half of the territory of Blackson Humans Corridor would fall.

After only three years, the casualties across Blackson Humans Corridor had already surpassed 100 million people.

After hearing this news, Zhang Tie felt hopeless. According to Zhang Tie’s instincts, Selnes Plain could not be held for long. As a LV 9 fighter, Zhang Tie knew the terrifying strength of that demon army, whose basic unit was made of LV 9 fighters.

If there were no more demon disasters, with a population of 1 billion across Blackson Humans Corridor, some golden armies composed of fighters above LV 6 could be formed. When fighting on the right terrains, and being assisted by large-scale mechanical troops, these golden armies might defeat this terrifying demon army. However, many countries were throwing their resources into dealing with the demon disasters in their own territory. Therefore, it was hard to say how long the human forces could stand in Selnes Plain.

...

After killing that guy called Bohr in the carriage, Zhang Tie established his prestige in the fastest way possible and became the ”boss” of the condemned prisoners in the carriage. Some smart guys immediately stood on Zhang Tie’s side. At this moment, they knew clearly that they could survive longer on Zhang Tie’s side. This was one of the laws of survival that these condemned prisoners had learned in prison.

Zhang Tie was invited to sit in the most comfortable place in the carriage, where it was closest to the air vent. Besides having fresh air, this place was also cleanest.

In the carriage, these cannon fodder prisoners, who were doomed to join the vanguard, could only get some water and some dried food rations. Their weapons were placed in some ordnance boxes, which could not be delivered to them until they got off the train under the supervision of someone from the troop. Right now those boxes were sealed with the symbol of Holy War Headquarters of Central States Alliance. If those seals were torn open by anyone before they got off the train, everybody in this carriage would be beheaded.

The first thing that was carried out in a war zone was military laws. Thousands of people would die everyday, everywhere. Therefore, it was easy for those law-enforcement teams to chop off the heads of some condemned prisoners. So even though those condemned prisoners were recalcitrant, they dared not risk their lives by opening the seals in advance.

However, the seals were opened. When Zhang Tie wanted to see what was inside these boxes, the guy called Michel voluntarily opened one box——Michel was a great thief and a trace expert. However, he was just a LV 5 warrior. Therefore, he tried to display his other talent in front of Zhang Tie.

The boxes contained common steel spears, which could be assembled in sections. There were also chest armors and helmets that were punched from thin, steel plates. The steel plates were only about two centimeters in thickness and very simple, which would not provide much defense. The chest armor could only defend one’s breast and lower abdomen while being fixed with canvas on one’s body. The helmets looked as if they could also be used as lunch boxes.

All these were the simplest of weapons and defensive fittings. Such was the special ”treatment” that could be enjoyed by vanguard members in the war zone.

After Zhang Tie saw those items, Michel sealed the box like before. Zhang Tie’s eyes glittered because of this guy’s talent.

At midnight, the train was still running on the railway. Hillman the old dog told Zhang Tie that they had already entered the war zone. Zhang Tie didn’t sleep at all. He just kept his eyes closed and practiced mental arithmetic.

Seeing that Zhang Tie was silent, all the other guys in the carriage became quiet. None of them dared to make any noise.

When the next dawn fell, after listening to the rumbles of the train wheels over night, Zhang Tie suddenly felt his heart racing as he opened his glittering eyes immediately.

”Watch out...” Zhang Tie shouted instantly, waking all the guys in the carriage at once. Many people just watched Zhang Tie with a confused look, wondering why Zhang Tie woke them up.

However, before Zhang Tie could explain, he had already heard a boom in front of the train. Closely after that, the whole carriage keeled and rolled. Zhang Tie could only just catch a metal handle beside him so as to stabilize his body...

The carriage crashed and bumped for 20 seconds due to its inertia.

The train was derailed while the whole carriage was in a mess. The wooden boxes in the carriage hit some people as they rolled around. With some terrifying bone cracks, some guys started to shrill miserably. A guy’s head exploded, spraying brains in all directions.

The carriage rolled 180 degrees, its roof and floor reversed. One box with helmets had been opened, and helmets flew out everywhere. The toilet bowl in the carriage also detached itself from where it was, spraying everything out of it, making the whole carriage as bloody and smelly as hell mixed with wails.

The only one who was safe and sound in the carriage was Zhang Tie. However, even Zhang Tie could not bear such a disgusting smell and atmosphere.

The door of such a carriage with condemned prisoners was different than that of carriages with regular soldiers. In order to prevent these guys from escaping along the way, the door of this carriage was locked from outside. It could not be opened from the inside. Therefore, the moment these condemned prisoners recovered their senses, they gathered at the door and started to bang on it.

”Let us out of here, let us out of here...” Many of them started to shout at the door.

Nobody replied outside. However, Zhang Tie could faintly hear continuous, miserable wailing from outside.

”Ah...it’s demons. It’s demons!” someone’s fearful exclamation drifted from afar.

Zhang Tie changed his expression at once as he forcefully lifted an ordnance box away from a poor guy’s legs.

”Ah, thanks, thanks.” The guy’s face was twisted in great pain. Seeing Zhang Tie moving the box away from his legs, he burst out in tears at once.

Zhang Tie immediately tore open the box and drew a bundle of half length spears with the heads out of the box. After that, he ran to the side of the door as he shouted loudly, ”Move aside...”

Those who were near the door hurriedly gave way to Zhang Tie. At this moment, Zhang Tie kicked and transformed the steel door instantly, revealing a gap from where a kitten could squeeze out. With another kick, the entire door was sent flying in the air, together with its lock catch.

The moment Zhang Tie jumped out of the carriage he caught sight of a massacre...

...

It was dawn. The long train was paralyzed on the riverside like a dead snake. Its head and last two carriages had fallen in the river. Some of the other carriages were still linked to the train, while some were not. Most of carriages had toppled over. Some armored vehicles had rolled out of the carriages and were lying on one side of the railway.

Many human fighters, who were only slightly wounded, had just climbed out of their carriages in a flurried manner when their heads and bodies were split into pieces by a black swirl...