Castle of Black Iron

Flying Cloud City, Shangyu Prefecture, Tongzhou Province…

At night, the roadside lamps had been lit up in Anping City. All the hotels and restaurants in the downtown had started to be filled with guests. In a hotel called As You Will in Redsparrow Avenue, Flying Cloud City, a waiter with a white towel on his shoulder was soliciting guests outside the gate.

“Come on in please. Our food and drinks are cheap. No fraud, we’ve got all sorts of drinks and food as you want…”

Flying Cloud City was originally a big city in Shangyu Prefecture with over 4 million people. However, the catastrophe of bloody figures affected over 10 prefectures 2 years ago. Shangyu Prefecture was heavily afflicted by bloody figures. Flying Cloud City had also suffered a great loss in this catastrophe. The entire Flying Cloud City along with dozens of towns outside the city had almost deteriorated into ruins. Fewer than 400 thousand people finally survived this disaster.

After two more years, the bloody figures in Shangyu Prefecture had almost been swept over. At least no bloody figure could be seen in cities and the suburbs. Even if there were, they had already hidden in deep woods and were being chased by many bounty criminal hunters. However, the damages left to Flying Cloud City couldn’t be mended within a short period.

Although Flying Cloud City was already in reconstruction over the past 2 years, traces left by bloody figures could still be seen everywhere in this city. Some city walls inside the city had not been fixed well. Ruins could also be found in prosperous areas and residential districts. After ruins were cleared on roadsides, large areas of open land were left there, most of which place had been covered with weeds.

However, the largest change to Flying Cloud City was the sharp decrease in its population. Although some beneficial policies had been executed to stimulate people to migrate in Flying Cloud City these two years, it still contained fewer than 1 million people, which was fewer than one-quarter of the former population. As a result, the former prosperous city turned a bit sluggish.

As it was in the holy war, it was already very fortunate for a person to find a job and feed himself in such a sluggish city which was once prosperous.

Therefore, the waiter solicited guests at his full efforts.

“The specialties today are pleasant eight treasures. If you consume 6 silver coins, we will gift you a pot of self-brewed dark plum spirit…”

At this moment, a person who looked a bit tired negotiated a dim alley aside As You Will slowly. When he passed by the roadside lamp, his travel-stained face was immediately recognized by that waiter. The waiter’s eyes turned bright at once as he hurriedly strode forward with a big smile. At the same time, he turned his head to have his towel circle around his neck while he started to clean the guest’s trouser legs, then the latter’s clothes as a whole.

“Come on in, friend. Long time no see. You appear having not taken food. Come on in, come on in…” the waiter passionately welcomed the guest in.

The guest looked up at the waiter with a bit shock, asking, “You remember me?”

“Why not? Haven’t you come here one month ago?” the waiter asked with a sincere simile, adding, “You even asked me something before rewarding me with a gold coin as a tip. You’re the first VIP who rewarded me with one gold coin since I became the waiter of this hotel. I even kept that gold coin till now. How could I forget you…”

The waiter said as he led the guest to a table next to the street on the first floor, saying, “Look, you said you liked to sit close to the street. You even chose this table last time!”

The guest replied with a faint smile as he said, “Give me some food and drinks…”

“Got it, please wait for a moment. I will serve you right now…”

Of course, the guest who had been in As You Will was Zhang Tie.

Over one month ago, Zhang Tie had already come to Flying Cloud City to look for the kid of Ma Aiyun and him. Zhang Tie had almost traveled across all the prefectures and cities in Shangyu Prefecture and Tongzhou Province as a whole where were affected by bloody figures and had communicated with a lot of survivors. He had tried every means he could. He even had Golden Roc Bank and the Bright Way Building in Tongzhou Province to deliver a notice with a great amount of reward for clues. However, all these didn’t work.

Zhang Tie didn’t know the look of that kid; however, if he was his son, Zhang Tie could definitely sense it and recognize him when he saw him. With this belief, Zhang Tie kept looking for his son for over one month.

Yesterday, after traveling across Tongzhou Province, with concern and the last bit hope, Zhang Tie returned to Flying Cloud City. Today, Zhang Tie kept walking in Flying Cloud City in vain…

Too many people had died in Flying Cloud City that day. Additionally, bloody figures had burned the entire city, turning it almost into ruins as a whole. As a result, many people were turned into ash. The place where Zhang Taixuan arranged that kid in the south of Flying Cloud City had completely been in ruins. Therefore, it would definitely be more difficult than finding a needle in the hay in the residential area which suffered a great casualty.

Zhang Tie had just traveled there. The ruins in the residential area had already been cleaned up. However, the weeds there were as high as 1 m. At night, some will-o’-the-wisp were floating over there which appeared very frightening. Almost nobody lived in the surroundings. That place was going to be built into a camp for city guards…

After a short while, the waiter had served Zhang Tie 5 dishes and 1 flagon of spirit. Sitting beside the window, Zhang Tie watched the sparse population passing by as he ate food numbly. He was envisioning a blood-tied teenager who looked like Ma Aiyun among the crowd…

Zhang Tie would soon leave here. If he couldn’t find his kid, he had to return to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory.

After over one month’s search, although he didn’t want to face that possibility, Zhang Tie realized that the kid of him and Ma Aiyun probably had already perished in the disturbance caused by bloody figures three years ago.

Zhang Tie had a mouth of time-honored dark plum spirit; although it tasted sweet, it was bitter later. Only Zhang Tie could taste the bitterness…