The Black Iron Era Arrives

The rain that had fallen all night had just stopped, and the unbearable coal dust in the air was suddenly washed away. Zhang Tie breathed in this rare, fresh air as he walked alone on the road to school. If not for the plumes of black smoke rising into the sky from the forest of towering chimneys in the factory district in the distance, the sky would surely be bluer, Zhang Tie thought idly. As he walked, he carefully avoided the puddles of black water on the concrete road. Because of the factory district, the rainwater on the ground was murky and carried a distinct smell of coal ash. While this city provided safety, it also brought confinement and crowding.

Zhang Tie looked into the distance; that cluster of massive chimneys looked particularly jarring under the washed-blue sky.

Teachers said those chimneys were the symbol of human civilization and the guarantee of human survival and reproduction. Looking at the towering factory chimneys, Zhang Tie felt they resembled what he had often done recently, and the black smoke rising from them felt more like the liquid he had ejaculated. The black smoke polluted the air, and the liquid polluted his underwear—it was all the same. He couldn't quite remember who it was in his dream last night, only that when he woke up this morning, his underwear felt sticky and uncomfortable. This was the third time this week. Because it had been raining, the underwear from the previous two times hadn't dried yet. In this era where daily necessities were extremely scarce, Zhang Tie only had four pairs of underwear. Two were made from his father's old, worn-out undershirts, and the other two were saved for him by his older brother. So, this morning, Zhang Tie had to miserably report to school wearing a pair of half-dry, half-wet underwear.

When coarse cloth is half-dry and half-wet, its texture becomes very stiff. It felt indescribably uncomfortable inside his trousers, and as he walked, it chafed his little brother until it stung, and it was cold too. A gust of wind blew, and Zhang Tie couldn't help but shiver; the little brother of a miserable 15-year-old boy shriveled up instantly. That feeling was truly f*cking awful.

It was said that before the Great Cataclysm, human society had an extreme abundance of supplies. Back then, underwear was sold by the dozen. And not just underwear—many things, even precious items like cigarettes, alcohol, meat, and all sorts of strange goods, could be easily bought from shops or even places called supermarkets, where goods were said to be piled as high as mountains. In those days, the reward a common man could earn for a day's work, if converted into food like rice or wheat, was 40 to 70 kilograms—enough for one person to eat for half a month or even a month, sometimes more. It was said that in that era, humans could use a mysterious energy called "electricity" to do all sorts of mind-boggling things, and they had various powerful weapons. Relying on these, humans became the sole masters of this planet, arrogant, ignorant, and invincible. What a truly happy final era for humanity!

Zhang Tie often thought that perhaps it was humanity's insatiable greed amidst that infinite happiness that made even the Heavens unable to watch any longer, leading to the Great Cataclysm and the Star of God. The Heavens struck humanity down from its peak overnight, forcing them back to the Stone Age and causing them to lose forever the many magics brought about by what was called technology. No electricity, no nuclear energy, no explosives, no miraculous weapons. According to the most widely accepted theory today, a certain particle in the mysterious rays carried by the Star of God caused all matter on this planet to undergo a reversible change at the most microscopic level. The original planet was like a pot of plain boiled water; one day, God or some unknown deity found humanity displeasing and, out of boredom, sprinkled a handful of salt or chili powder into it. The boiled water was no longer boiled water, and this planet was no longer this planet.

Perhaps the only thing to be thankful for was that after the Great Cataclysm, while all things and rules had changed, steel remained just as hard and could still be used to forge swords and armor to arm human armies, and black coal could still burn, providing humanity with light, heat, and energy. Everything brought about by the combination of these two—swords, armor, thermal energy, steam engines—became the greatest reliance for humanity to survive in this era.

It took over forty minutes to walk from home to school. Passing through the slums in the western part of Black Flame City and the barren zone on the edge of the city's factory district, one would reach the school. The name Black Flame City came from the Black Flame Mountains that the city was near. It was said that before the Great Cataclysm, the Black Flame Mountains were one of the longest mountain ranges on the Kun'ang Continent. At that time, humans had built machines that flew in the sky, machines that could fly faster than sound. Even so, before the Great Cataclysm, sitting in those high-speed flying machines, it would still take several months to fly from one end of the Black Flame Mountains to the other. Taking Black Flame City as an example, this city was actually near a tiny branch of the southern part of the Black Flame Mountains. Even this tiny branch was over twenty thousand kilometers long. For many people living in this era, it was possible they would never reach such a distant place in their entire lives.

During the Great Cataclysm, the earth-shattering geological and tectonic movements on this planet caused the infinitely vast Kun'ang Continent, which spanned who knows how many billions of miles, to be split into several pieces like a loaf of bread snatched by a group of children. Other scattered fragments, who knows how many, simply disappeared. With the seas turning into mulberry fields, people today could no longer imagine the majestic posture of the Black Flame Mountains or the grandeur of this continent back then. However, even so, this world was still far too large for everyone. Even now, on the school map, the areas 800 kilometers west and north of Black Flame City were still unexplored black zones; no one knew what was there. And the entire area south of the Black Flame Mountains where Black Flame City was located—a region with an area of over 400 million square kilometers, home to over 900 million people, and composed of numerous countries, city-states, and family forces—was just a tiny, narrow strip on the entire continental map. This narrow region, with vast mountains to the north and west and endless oceans to the south and east, was a human-inhabited area with a relatively high population density. On the map, it had only one name—the Blakerson Human Corridor.

After the Great Cataclysm, it took humanity nearly 100 years to figure out what had happened to the planet. Then, the surviving humans took nearly another 100 years to slowly recover a bit of vitality. After recovering, they were horrified to discover that humans were no longer the sole masters of this planet. Not only that, but the strange Magic Beast that had appeared on the planet after the Great Cataclysm and the Dark Race from the underground all treated humans as delicious snacks and objects to be enslaved, making this planet unprecedentedly dangerous. Human survival faced an unprecedentedly severe challenge.

Today was the 889th year of the Black Iron Era after the Great Cataclysm. The surviving humans had multiplied and taken root on the Kun'ang Continent once again, and driven by countless steel and steam engines, they had reignited their ambition to conquer the world and explore the entire planet.

As proof of humanity's recovery and reignited ambition, Black Flame City had been built less than 40 years ago. Among the many human countries and city-states south of the Black Flame Mountains, Black Flame City could be considered a relatively young city—a city built by merchants and factory owners, an industrial city that held a seat in the Andaman City-State Alliance council. Like most emerging human cities of this era that were built relying on certain resources, the place where Black Flame City was built contained extremely rich coal and mineral resources. The entire city and its surrounding population of over 3 million people almost all lived by relying on the rich underground resources near Black Flame City. The Black Flame City Coal and Steel Association ruled the city. Every day, an endless stream of steam locomotives transported the coal, steel, and the swords, armor, and various weapons and equipment produced by the factories here to the outside world, while bringing other things back in.

Beneath that thickest chimney was the factory where Zhang Tie's father worked. It was a steel mill that operated almost twenty-four hours a day without stopping. From the day Zhang Tie was born until now, the factory's chimney had never for a moment stopped spitting out black smoke. In this era, humanity's determination to rise again was proven by that firm, upright chimney.

As usual, when Zhang Tie arrived at school, the school's military representative and dean of students, Captain Colin, stood at the school gate like an iron tower, staring sternly with one eye—as large as an ox's egg—at every student entering the Black Flame City Seventh National School. A half-meter-long, intimidating iron rod was slapped rhythmically against his terrifyingly large palm like a toothpick. Every student entering the gate dared not look at his scarred, eyepatch-wearing face, and they all lowered their heads and walked past quickly.

"Stop!" A poor soul not far in front of Zhang Tie was called out by Captain Colin. When Captain Colin opened his mouth, his thunderous voice made everyone around him tremble. Seeing that it wasn't them being called, everyone quickly lowered their heads and hurried through the gate, silently praying for the poor soul who had been stopped.

The poor soul's face turned pale with fright. Looking at the approaching Captain Colin, his legs shook violently, and he even started stuttering, "Ca... Captain... Colin..."

This most terrifying person in the entire school, and possibly the most terrifying One-Eyed Dragon in all of Black Flame City, liked people to call him Captain Colin rather than Dean Colin. This knowledge was a valuable lesson brought by the blood and tears of many predecessors at this school. In front of this man who was said to be able to fight terrifying monsters, any resistance or rebellion was a futile struggle; such struggle would only bring this man greater pleasure in his game.

Captain Colin didn't speak, but used the iron rod in his hand to point at the poor soul's school trousers. For some reason, perhaps because of the rain, the trousers had a small string of mud spots on them from the walk to school. Being untidy was also a sin in Captain Colin's eyes.

"I... I'll go wash it clean right now?"

Captain Colin raised his wrist, expressionlessly and slowly glanced at the shiny watch peeking out from his sleeve, struck a pose, and stood in silent concentration for more than ten seconds before slapping the iron rod against his hand again.

Captain Colin's action of checking his watch made Zhang Tie suspect that this guy just wanted to show off the expensive watch on his wrist, while his action of slapping the iron rod made Zhang Tie think of a big gray wolf wagging its tail.

"If I see you like this when school lets out, you know what the punishment will be!"

"Yes... yes..." The poor soul, as if granted amnesty, scrambled into the school as if fleeing. Zhang Tie was wondering why Captain Colin had become so easy to talk to today, when the One-Eyed Dragon turned his head toward Zhang Tie's side, quickly tidied up his thick, lion-like hair, straightened his back, puffed out his well-developed chest muscles, struck a heroic pose, and even shook his chest muscles twice in an exaggerated, flirtatious way like a vixen. A smile even appeared on his ferocious face, and that smile startled Zhang Tie.

"Good morning, Teacher Daina!"

A fragrant breeze swept past Zhang Tie, and a mature and beautiful figure walked by. Without looking, Zhang Tie knew who it was. The dream from last night seemed to become clear instantly. Just seeing the exaggerated curve of her waist and hips from behind, Zhang Tie felt as if his breathing was about to stop. Under the gaze of all the male animals at the school gate, the Goddess Daina, with her beautiful curly brown hair, walked into the school. The proud goddess merely nodded at the One-Eyed Dragon who was greeting her, and the One-Eyed Dragon's face turned red with excitement. In his distraction, the iron rod in his hand was bent by the One-Eyed Dragon's grip, revealing his terrifying strength.

At the Black Flame City Seventh National School, Teacher Daina, a widow whose husband had died at the front shortly after their marriage, was the dream lover and the object of masturbatory fantasies for all the boys in the school. She was a goddess, the school's only scenery, a flower blooming on a cliff, and also the object of Zhang Tie's secret crush. Because of her, the lives of the beasts in the school who were going through puberty seemed a little less miserable...

"In two more years, I'll have enough money to buy a house in the city's core district!" The goddess walked away, and the One-Eyed Dragon shouted at her back like a rutting lion—no, a wild boar. That annoying wild boar. Thinking of Zhang Tie's Goddess Daina moaning in pain under this beast, Zhang Tie wished... that person was himself...

"What are you looking at?" The One-Eyed Dragon, having returned to his true nature, scanned the crowd with a murderous glare. With a roar, everyone, including Zhang Tie, scrambled away and rolled into the school gate. In the air, there was still a faint trace of fragrance. Zhang Tie greedily took a few breaths. That beautiful, mature figure always made Zhang Tie feel inferior in her presence, so much so that he didn't even have the courage to look at her directly. If Goddess Daina was a swan, noble and beautiful, gliding gracefully on a tranquil lake, Zhang Tie felt he was just a duckling that hadn't even grown its feathers, the kind that had fallen into a mud pit full of coal ash. Zhang Tie lowered his head, looking at the old leather boots on his feet that his brother had worn out, feeling an inexplicable depression in his heart. Even Captain Colin was striving to pursue Goddess Daina; what could he, a poor student, give her? Masturbation? By the time he saved enough money like Captain Colin to buy a house in a safe city with high walls, by the time he was qualified to live in the city, how many years would that take? Thirty or forty years? Thinking of this, the emotions in Zhang Tie's heart instantly plummeted, but the alluring fragrance of a mature woman's body lingering in the air made that guy in Zhang Tie's pants shamefully hard again at this moment...

As soon as he entered the school gate, on a stone wall facing him were a few large characters—Welcome to the Black Iron Era.