The five days passed quickly. The wound from the circumcision hadn't even healed yet, and Zhang Tie only changed the dressing himself once before his vacation was over.
The good news for Zhang Tie these past two days is that the head of his unruly member has become less sensitive, and it has gotten used to the friction against his underwear and pants when he walks around.
The bad news was that Zhang Tie found himself becoming infamous among the animals of Black Flame City. In the eyes of many who didn't know him, he seemed to have become an evil and terrifying thug, a murderer who could personally break his classmate's neck in front of thousands of people in the canteen of Wild Wolf Castle.
What Zu Haier and Gelis did to him was of no interest to the others, but what he had done to Zu Haier spread like wildfire throughout the schools of Black Flame City.
On the very first day that Black Flame City was Norman Empire, he used the Norman Empire's Savage Trial trial rules to personally kill one of his classmates. Such an impression would certainly not be well-received by those who spread rumors.
Furthermore, there were rumors speculating that the missing Gelis had also died at his hands. This rumor was indeed correct, but Zhang Tie had no intention of admitting it. He let those people speculate as they pleased, since he wouldn't lose a single hair on their head anyway.
On the night Tang De left, after dropping Pandora and the other two off at home, and after careful consideration on the way back, Zhang Tie returned home. His sister-in-law, who was pregnant and sleepy, had already gone to bed. Zhang Tie then called his parents and older brother together and told them the whole story of how Tang De had given him the apartment building and the money.
When Zhang Tie pulled out the money bag containing 400 locomotive gold coins, the other three members of the Zhang Family were stunned for a long time.
"You're saying this money was given to you by Tang De?" Dad asked Zhang Tie, his eyes wide.
"Yes, and that six-story apartment building on Monet Avenue. Tang De bought that building a few years ago and has been living there ever since. Today he also transferred it to me. All the formalities are completed. Tang De said it was a small reward for me, to thank me for giving him the < Abacus Mental Calculation >, which allowed him to perform a great service. He is the informant of a super organization in the Eastern Continent, stationed in Black Flame City. Now he is going back, so he left this little thing to me!" Zhang Tie confessed honestly, his hands on his knees.
Hearing Zhang Tie's words, Dad, Mom, and my older brother all fell silent. Although my older brother knew beforehand that * The Abacus Mental Calculation * could train mental strength and was considered a very valuable manual, he hadn't expected its effects to be this great. Through Tang De's words, everyone understood the value of * The Abacus Mental Calculation *—this book was practically an introductory textbook for cultivating mental strength for everyone. It could greatly lower the threshold for cultivating and improving one's mental strength, and could even allow many who previously couldn't cultivate or improve their mental strength to find a way to enhance it again. Its value was immense, immeasurable.
"Besides these things, did he give you anything else before he left, or give you any other instructions?" After a few seconds of silence, the father asked Zhang Tie with an unprecedentedly serious expression.
"He said that the secret of this ' Abacus Mental Calculation ' should not be told to anyone except my family, lest it bring disaster to our family. Oh, and he also gave me a card that supposedly allows me to contact him after arriving in the Eastern Continent!" Zhang Tie said, taking out a resin card with several irregular small holes from his pocket. Zhang Tie had never figured out what this card was for.
Zhang Tie's father took the card Zhang Tie had produced. He examined it closely, his tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxing until he finally let out a long sigh of relief and nodded to his mother.
"Dad, do you know what this thing is for?" Zhang Tie asked, a thought striking him as he looked at his father's expression.
"This is a business card!" Dad said with a smile.
"A business card?" Not only Zhang Tie, but even Zhang Yang, who had been staring at the strange piece of paper, was surprised. Zhang Yang took the resin card with a bunch of small holes from his father's hand and examined it carefully for a long time, but he couldn't see a single word on it. How could this thing be a business card? Both brothers had the same question.
"Of course, this is the highest-grade business card. This kind of business card isn't for people to see, but for large steam computers. The round holes on this card are machine language that only large steam computers can recognize. The specifications of this card are the identification card for the long-distance crystal remote sensing decoding communication of the Xuanyuan 6 steam computer in the Eastern Continent. If you take this card to the long-distance crystal remote sensing communication equipment in any city in the Eastern Continent, you can contact Tang De..." Dad took the card from his older brother's hand again, looked at it carefully, and even had a look of nostalgia on his face.
A large steam-powered computer? Now it was Zhang Tie's turn to be dumbfounded. This kind of thing was too advanced. He had only heard of it in school, and even the teachers who talked about it in school had never seen it.
The steam computer, developed from the steam Difference Engine, was two generations more advanced than the Difference Engine and is the greatest machine that mankind has ever been able to create—this is how a teacher at the school described the steam computer.
Zhang Tie knew that the Difference Engine was a machine invented by the mathematician Babbage hundreds of years before the Great Cataclysm Great Cataclysm, more than a thousand years ago, during the First Industrial Revolution. It was capable of performing complex difference calculations. The inspiration for this machine came from the steam-powered jacquard loom; Babbage, a mathematician at the time, found inspiration in the loom and thus invented the first steam-powered Difference Engine. The Difference Engine used various gears to perform calculations. Unfortunately, after the invention of the first Difference Engine, it didn't attract much attention, and its achievements were shelved for some inexplicable reason.
Until the Second Industrial Revolution, before the Great Cataclysm, when computers with similar functions—powered by electricity and using transistors instead of gears—were invented, the steam Difference Engine was completely forgotten. Then, the Great Cataclysm occurred. After the Great Cataclysm, when the surviving humans realized that if they wanted to survive better, they needed a calculating tool that was faster and more accurate than the human brain, the steam Difference Engine, which had been forgotten for over a thousand years, was rebuilt.
In the past, among the 17 cities of the Andaman Alliance, only the Machine City of Karur possessed the capability to manufacture steam Difference Engine. The entire alliance had only two steam Difference Engine Difference Engine. One was located in the Machine City of Karur, becoming the most powerful computing core supporting the entire Karur manufacturing industry. The other, slightly smaller one, was located in Andaman City, the former capital of the Andaman Alliance, where the Andaman Family is said to use that machine to manage their vast Lineage business.
Between the steam computer and the steam Difference Engine, there lies a middle ground: the steam analyzer, a more powerful machine created by humans based on the steam Difference Engine. The steam computer, however, is an even more powerful device, representing the pinnacle of human manufacturing prowess. Throughout the entire Blakerson Human Corridor, let alone a large steam computer, it's said that no one can even build a large steam analyzer.
"Dad, how do you know so much?" Zhang Tie looked at his father with some doubt. Even the teachers at school had never seen this kind of card before. How could his father know its origin so easily? And the expression on his father's face was too strange. His father, who was originally a little worried about Tang De's identity, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing this card!
"This... this... Dad heard about it before!"
Zhang Tie felt that his father was really not suited to lying. At his age, he still had the habit of scratching his head when he lied, and the whole family knew about it.
Zhang Tie looked incredulous. Just as he was about to hear what his mother was saying, she spoke up.
" Guoguo, what are you going to do with that house and all this money?"
His mother immediately diverted Zhang Tie's attention.
"Of course, it's going to be given to Dad and Mom, so you can be landlords and enjoy your retirement..." Zhang Tie perked up immediately at this. "My older brother is getting married, and he and his wife deserve a new house. Even if I live in another one, that apartment building still has nine units, which will bring in about ten gold coins a month, much more than Dad's salary. The family's rice wine business isn't doing well these days, and my sister-in-law is about to have another baby. This house is just in time. Give that money to my older brother. He's about to retire, and with that money, he can start a business. It's much better than working for someone else!"
To avoid worrying his parents too much, Zhang Tie didn't mention the Holy War. Zhang Yang was about to say something when he saw Zhang Tie give him a wink. The tacit understanding between the two brothers, which had lasted for more than ten years, made Zhang Yang immediately shut his mouth. Zhang Yang knew that Zhang Tie had something to say to him alone later.
My parents thought about it for a moment, looked at each other, and nodded.
"The house is yours, Mom will keep an eye on it for you for now. I doubt you can manage it all yourself. We've been living here for decades and don't want to move. It's spacious enough for the whole family, so you can move over there. Seeing that you have a place to stay in Black Flame City and don't have to live on the streets makes your dad and me feel at ease..." A kind smile appeared on Mom's face. "I'll keep this money for you too. If your older brother ever needs it in the future, I'll give it to him. Consider it a loan from you!"
Knowing that this was what his parents wanted, Zhang Tie didn't say anything more. He insisted that his parents keep the rent money as a token of his filial piety. Finally, his parents nodded and agreed to accept one-third of it, leaving the rest for Zhang Tie to spend himself.
In the end, the whole family was happy.
After his parents went to sleep, Zhang Tie quietly pulled Zhang Yang aside and whispered about the Holy War. Upon hearing this news, Zhang Yang's expression changed, and he immediately understood the reason for the recent turmoil between Black Flame City and the Andaman Alliance over the past two months.
"Brother, that money is for you. Now is the time for us brothers to work together to get through this difficult time. What's the big deal about that little bit of money? It's inconvenient for me to be in the army. The Black Flame City Guard will soon be disbanded. Of the original City Guard, the Iron Horn Legion only plans to keep a few core officers; the rest will have to retire. This is news I heard from Staff Officer Visi. The Iron Horn Legion wants to recruit and train a new batch of soldiers in Black Flame City according to their methods. So your retirement will be in the next few days. After you retire, you can use that money to do business and slowly build some connections to find a way out for your family in the southern Hua Clan country. Otherwise, if something really happens suddenly, we brothers won't have to worry; we can just pack up and run. But what about Dad, Mom, Sister-in-law, and the child in her belly? These are things we need to plan for and prepare for early. As long as you find a way out, we can find a way to get Dad, Mom, and Sister-in-law out first..."
The two brothers clasped hands tightly, and Zhang Yang nodded heavily.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for Zhang Tie to report to the Iron-Blood Battalion 39th Division... (To be continued, please search for the novel for better and faster updates!)